What makes you hate The Skull Merchant?
Hello everyone,
The Question is in the Title.
Feel Free to Share your thoughts.
Comments
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I believe she is mainly hated for her mechanics. It doesn't matter if it's 3 gen or 2 gen or 1 gen if she has a drone that locks on survivors. The 3 gen I wouldn't consider toxic... I only managed to last long on Haddonfield with my SM by following this tactic. I had enough (unlike the survivors who tend to complain) and did a chase which managed to get me my 2nd kill during the match.
I lot of people are experimenting with her haste boosts and try to go "out" as much as possible. In my opinion, the community gave up on her way too soon. Her human-like looks didn't help but accelerated this.
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Everyone that plays her and says "I never defend a three gen as skull woman!" Invariably starts to lose, then tosses drones on the gens and goes back to ole faithful.
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She's miserable to play as and against.
Her best strategy is to lock down gens and bore Survivors out of a match. She's honestly potentially more hated than OG Legion.
She's got a horrible reputation and I don't see that changing, probably ever. I'd rather play against 1000 Alc Ring Blight's than a single Dull Merchant.
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I've had literally one good game against a SM, where she used a chase build and used her drones as an anti-loop. Didn't use it to defend gens at all, and she got a 3k (last person got hatch). It showed me she *can* be a fun and strong killer, the wider community just chooses to use her in a lazy way.
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Her addons are insane and afford her a bunch of different play styles.
Unfortunately the whole camp gens thing is just way better.
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A lot of people are complaining about survivors killing themselves on hook. I hate it as well whenever there's no provocation for it but playing against a Skull Merchant on RPD is all you need as a reason. I'm playing solo queue and I realize it's a Skull Merchant with Corrupt Intervention and I just sigh. A survivor was downstairs in the main lobby on the pallet right outside the exit/entrance into the building and they get M1'd. Wonder how? No it wasn't mindgames, it was just a flick of a wrist in order to place a drone and, obviously, it's better to get hit than exposed. The survivor got knocked shortly after since they went into the library looking place which was a poor decision on their end but oh well. They immediately started killing themselves on hook. I tried to go for the save but, with just two tokens of her save the best for last, after injuring me earlier, I couldn't risk it and went on the loop on the outside area. I couldn't do much there due to bloodlust and got knocked down. The game was basically over at four gens but can you even blame the survivor for not wanting to play?. I tried killing myself on hook but got the 4% and guess who came right over to tunnel me out of the game? I wasn't even aware at first because of the drone effect that hides her terror radius so I didn't get far. Yet again I was stuck on a loop, but this time near the exit gate and I literally had no where to go. Based entirely on this experience, I would just like to ask these questions:
. Why do survivors DC/kill themselves on hook against her if it isn't because of how annoying she is?
. Why does Trapper need to waste so much time placing a trap on a loop, or pretending to, when the Skull Merchant can just flick her wrist and deny an entire section of it?
. Why is there a killer that promotes getting M1'd rather than staying on a loop? Save the Best For Last is literally so overpowered on her it's unreal.
. And, most importantly, how can I counter her on RPD specifically with loops far apart and keeping in mind they will definitely have STBFL?
I understand that the killer isn't overpowered and I'm not implying it but on certain maps, with loops further apart, she can be just as annoying as her three gen capability. No one realistically enjoys playing against them.
^^^ A discussion I posted earlier on. Her three-gen superiority is irritating as well. No game I had against her was normal.
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Amma keep it short and sweet, everything just a legion /knight 2.0 mix in one with a full hold my hand kit with no real requirements or thinking.
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I've yet to play against a SM as survivor so I can't comment playing against her other than what I've been hearing. She has the worst reputation for camping a 3 gen set up at the start and dragging the match on for so long.
I do play her a lot and find her really enjoyable, she does have a lot of good add ons to mix up the build you want to run. While she is the strongest holding a 3 gen, she can have a strong chase depending on build. Dropping a drone at a loop would encourage them to leave or risk getting exposed.
My favorite build to use on her Brutal Strength, Bamboozle, Weskers fast vault perk, 4th perk can be changed up, but I like Oppression. The two add ons both purple, can't remember what they're called. One slow survivors by 5% the other one speeds up all your actions. Meant to catch survivors and end chases very quickly.
I throw 3 drones down at w/e gens 4th drone always keep for loops. I don't really go for 3 gen unless survivors do it to themselves.
Forgot, her drones are busted on maps with multiple floors like RPG, The Game, and the Silent Hill map. Since you can place a drone above or below a gen forcing survivors to either take the exposed or go way out the way to disable it.
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Every game against her is 40+ minutes of the dullest goddamn gameplay you’ll ever experience.
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I'd finish faster if I told you what doesn't make me hate her, but if you insist... well, everything.
For a skull merchant, the skull motive is only ever present in the drones and it's not like it's easy to see in normal gameplay, so a pretty failed power fantasy there.
80% of her character design direction is "make her a femme fatale", which translates into really awkward walking animations, a really stupid mori where the survivors just stand there waiting for her to grope them and her first cosmetic being some sort of really ugly Lady Gaga-esque skin made entirely to show as much body as possible.
Her base skin is atrocious, with that really stupid glittery mask that makes me want to rip it off whenever I see it.
She has every single killer gimmick on her applied in the most awkward ways: Stealth, insta-downs, killer instinct, a tracking that bypasses aura reading, auto-pallet breaking, the ability to be in more than one place at any given time thanks to the drones, now she even has Haste... It's like they didn't know what to do with her and just put everything on her.
She can 3-gen from across the map. It doesn't matter if you did all center gens and left 3 on each corner of the map, she can and most definitely will put drones on all of them. You'll take one of them out, she'll get a speed up and put it up again. 1 hour stalemate, yippie!
Her power is made in such a way that, if you want to max your efficency, you will have to camp but people will hate you for it. If you want people to have fun facing you, you have to actively throw the game and use your power in a less efficent way to at least give an opening to survivors to do something.
And she reads manga. I didn't know where to put this, but it pisses me off so much. Like, her whole thing is that she's a sexy and nerdy murderer. It's like they want you to like her for the most surface level appeal they could think of.
God, I can't stand her.
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You underestimate my irrational desire for honor and my stubburness.
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Her easiest stratergy is 3 gens that take ages to resolve. I'd argue a good skull merchan still puts drones on gens but is able to probably utilise the haste and utility from them to effectively down survivors without it taking 10 years. To an extent it's the opposite of Oni. Getting value out of Oni's demon form is easy but obtaining it is the hard part new players struggle with while with Skull Merchant setting up drones and trackers is easy but properly capitlaising off them is the skilled part. The issue here is if someone isn't skilled they can set up drones and slowdown the match but then can't capitalise off this and just end up stalling for ages, this causes survivors to give up because neither side is significantly progressing the game and as a result the skull merchant wins. As she won she doesn't feel the need to improve and continues playing the way she did before.
As someone who has played as her and against her I will agree with most people that a bad skull merchant who stalls out the game with a 3 gen is boring to play against and play as however a skull merchant who understands how to utilise her more agressive tools can be very interesting and fun to play against and as. The issue isn't that her 3 gens are too strong or the best way of playing her, it's that they're often the default way to play and are good enough that people never feel like they need to move on from it.
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her kit is just very boring to play against easily the most unfun killer they added since twins
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I wouldn't say I hate her, because I've frankly not played enough against her to really build experience against her.
That said, she's surprisingly very stealthy and sometimes seems to come out of literally nowhere without warning even though the drone zones she crossed were not active, which doesn't feel very fair.
It just feels difficult for casual players to face her, in my experience. I don't think I've escaped against her yet.
(Also, her walking loop is very ugly. It looks like she's sliding on the ground more than walking, it's very uncanny)
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The short answer is: Everything.
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I personally absolutely hate her design and the chase music hurts my brain.
Gameplay wise I don't like the fact that she has 4 drones that gives her information all the time. No matter what she gets info where you are or which gen are people on. You can't do anything about that fact.
Also i really think with spammable drones she shouldnt have that long of an exposed period.
Hate to say it but she is my only GG go next killer. No hate to the players i just don't want to waste my time.
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She's truly horrible to play against. The reasons why should be blatantly obvious even without all the other posts in this thread explaining why so I'm not gonna bother elaborating.
Her design is also horrible. It's a Kardasian with a weird mask. That's all.
As for playing her? Her entire power does precisely nothing (bar zoneing) unless the survivors actively choose to interact with it. They don't stand in the drone area? No exposed. They don't approach your drones? No benefit from undetectable. They don't hack drones? No haste boost. Your entire power is to bore them into going into the area you want them to enter. Every part of her basekit is badly designed and reeks of laziness. Her add ons have some potential but when tied to a power so pitiful they lose any redeeming qualities they might have had.
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Skill expression. It's not really present with this killer. Her entire power and counterplay is a decision-making simulator.
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I'm with ya. I play Skull Merchant with totem defense over gen defense. One game I played with her I kicked-and-droned only one gen, and it was neat enough completion to justify. Still got a 3k by the end.
I focus drones on defending Thrill of the Hunt and Devour Hope.
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To play as her, the most optimal plan is 3 gen for 40 minutes, thats boring as heck. I can understand some slowdown mechanic but damm.
As survivor is slow grinding those 3 gens little by little until someone gets bored and raguequit, then F game.
And well, lore is not that interesting either, selfmade millonaire(?) otaku.
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Everything
They need to completely change her powers
If they remove the whole drone concept I would be very happy
But at least change it so it could be actually fun to play as and against
Maybe after that I would even bear her character design that is utterly awful
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She's miserable to play as and against. She's a very weak killer, her only viable strategy being 3 gen-ing.
Also her lore and character design are terrible.
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The bedazzled mask - just why? Every time I see the jewel encrusted-sorta-gas-mask, I burst out into giggles.
Overall aesthetic - I've seen a lot of people say that she's supposed to be a 'femme fatale' character. IDK if BHVR ever said one way or another, but if that was the goal, it's a swing and a miss. I would say if it was possible to swing once and miss twice, that'd be closer. I think she looks awkward - like a teenage girl putting on her Mom's high heels for the first and trying desperately to imitate a catwalk on uneven ground. In short, I don't find skull merchant remotely sexy or scary, much less both.
Oh, and the predator/wolverine claw thing looks borderline ridiculous.
Drones - interesting concept, but the mechanics of her drones means that she's going to be a 3-genning monster no matter what perks and/or add-ons that she chooses. Everything that she could use (perks and add-on wise) only means that she will be better at some other piece(s) of game play AND be able to 3-gen harder.
I've faced a few skull merchants who didn't start off 3-genning, yet as soon as 1 or more gens popped, they'd start 3 genning and this Killer can make almost ANY set up a 3-gen. Doesn't matter if the survs started in the middle and worked strategically out, if there are 3 gens left in play on the map, she can effectively guard them. The only exceptions might be the really big maps. Just to contrast, I play Trapper mostly when I play Killer and there is a certain distance where if the gens are that far apart, you won't hold it well for long, SM's limitation is much MUCH more generous.
And if it's a map with a close 4 gen? yeah, not one of my fonder DBD memories.
Post edited by EQWashu on3 -
Meh, she’s fine to me.
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Just had a match where a Mikaela was unhooking a Jill but instead of doing healing both ran to the shack to complete a gen. It was half complete and instead of deactivating the drone they completed the gen but both got exposed / downed eventually.
I am starting to see more and more mistakes on survivor side and less 3-gen tactic on SM's side. Instead, they engage in a chase around jungle gyms with drones used which is a great tactic.
Isn't anybody else seeing a change of pattern here?
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They probably did that on purpose. If a SM game drags for too long I stop caring about Exposed because I'm bored and don't care if I die. No point in healing if you plan to let yourself get Exposed.
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No, this happened a couple of minutes in with a Merchant actively chasing everybody. As mentioned I see a changed playstyle more and more which begs the question what the next reason for hatred will be for her if the "3-gen" isn't viable anymore.
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Her lore, her visual design, her chase music or the memory of the agony she inflicted on the playerbase, take your pick
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Sorry to say but maybe they just wanted to get out of the game?
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Depends on my mood but as the forums most valient skull merchant defender yeah pretty much
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pretty self explanatory really.
Survivors core skill comes from looping, staying in a small area to conserve resources.
Placing a drone means you either stop looping and W away, or get exposed and go down earlier. So either an artificially fast chase or waste more resources.
not to mention the 3 gen. Normal killers will eventually lose the 3gen, after getting some hooks and stuff. But SM can justhold it start to finish. If you work on the gens, she knows and you get exposed. If you cleanse the drones, she knows where you are for 30s and gets a speed boost. So if you cleanse all the drones, everyone is on her radar AND she patrols faster/wins chases quicker. Most people I see just dont cleanse or heal. Because if you cleanse it while injured she knows where you are and can down you in one hit, and if you dont she still knows where you are and can down you in one it except you dont waste time cleansing or healing. You just deal with constantly being instadown while she optimizes her patrol thanks to her iphone 5 radar.
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I don't hate her but I can see her power is causing some issues and people don't like to play againts her if you play her the best way possible. She needs some mini-rework / rework.
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i don't want to fight for a win for 40 minutes, not worth it and you most of the time can't win anyways against a 3 gen defending sm with solo q teammates.
so it is her "superior" ability to defend 3 gens for me.
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Even if she doesn't 3gen, the chase build is miserable to face.
Stacking haste and bloodlust while slowing the survivors. She moves up to like 135% speed with no terror radius or red stain while survivors are slowed to 95%
Not to mention faster pallet breaks and vaults, bloodlust, and the claw trap pallet break.
The survivor is forced to leave the loop or get exposed, but the haste and hindered guarantee a hit between tiles or at every unsafe tile.
All for simply placing a drone at a loop. Little to no mechanical skill.
She doesn't so many different things that she has no identity and her appearance doesn't help.
When a good billy saws me, or oni flicks me, or blight times rushes to hit me at a good tile i feel outskilled, im impressed. When a huntress prediction snipes me I'm impressed.
When a knight or merchant places ######### at a loop controlled by ai or rng, with no mechanical skill or player input, zoning me into a free hit, i feel like an noc in someone's single player experience. I feel robbed and frustrated.
And that doesn't even mention the 3gen experience.
It sucks for people who somehow enjoy these killers, seeing the community despise a character you enjoy so much, but i find them very boring to play as I can't get better with them or improve, I'd rather play oni or something personally, and dread going against them. It is what it is. I'm curious of the changes planned for 💀🛒
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False accusation. I main Skull Merchant and used to 3 gen and put drones at generators until I realized how hated my beloved Adriana was for doing that. I now never 3 gen even when the match comes close. I used to fall back on it like you said but I don't anymore and still get 3 or 4 kills most of the time. I would get more 4 kills but because she is so hated I let 1 live usually to show not every Skull Merchant is bad.
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Nothing any Skull Merchant has ever done annoys me as much as my teammates who won't even try and play.
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Playing against a skull merchant just hits different..in the worst way possible. For real though it’s the 95% of SMs strategy.
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I dont. :)
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still boring to play against if you ask me
Still a killer i suicide against
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She is hated mostly because of her 3-gen playstile. Although i reckon she is kinda weaker in that playstile, the impression the "Chess Merchant" left on the community is too strong to be looked away. Maybe with time the hatred on her will diminish
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