Singularity sucks to play as so badly
I know that in theory he can be very strong. But having the terms of your power dictated by Survivors is awful and makes him feel incredibly frustrating and unfun to play. The steps required to use his power effectively are not only almost unfeasibly complex at times, but also extremely vulnerable to very simple Survivor counterplay. EMPs are available all the time at absolutely no cost or risk to Survivors. Using his power in chase or during patrol actually makes me feel less able to catch Survivors than if I just ran at them, since either they hide behind a pixel of geometry that prevents me from slipstreaming them or they just use an EMP and remove my power completely. I can't help but wonder whether the fear that his power would be too strong led to his counters being overtuned. I'm pretty sure this is also borne out in his poor kill rates at virtually every MMR level.
Breaking it down, here are the two big issues with Singularitym along with possible solutions:
1: EMPs are too common and too easy to use. Imagine if using a First Aid Spray meant that Wesker couldn't charge at you or anyone nearby, and it could be used while running, and respawned passively without limits. There's no risk to carrying or using an EMP– the movement speed penalty is negligible, since they can be used at long range very quickly– and no other Killer bar perhaps Trapper has the situation where he effectively has no power because Survivors can totally disable it. Additionally, I've seen players use an EMP and immediately run to a printer, where a new one is waiting for them already. The ease of access and use makes the otherwise amazing prospect of spreading Slipstream between Survivors redundant, since at least one of them will simply use an EMP and remove all infections in a wide area. I would recommend altering the EMP item so it is harder to use (reducing their effective range, and perhaps one requiring the survivor to stand still as it charges), harder to acquire (printers no longer automatically generate EMPs beyond the first set, for example) and/or carries some other risk (perhaps they render the carrier Oblivious like Cenobite's Lament Configuration.)
2: His biopods are unwieldy and unreliable. When they've not been disabled by EMP, it's very hard to properly use Singularity's other feature: his cameras. The range of their placement is often unsatisfying, requiring you to get so close to the target location that any surprise advantage you may have possessed is lost. Ditto for removing biopods that have been misplaced or EMP'd. Their field of view feels a little strange and underwhelming, and it's often hard to place them correctly so you can actually see anything. There are a number of structures where placing them at all is very difficult and time-consuming. Moreover, I'm increasingly seeing Survivors who know that even slightly obscuring themselves can prevent a biopod from Slipstreaming them, especially given the inbuilt delay. There are lots of pieces of terrain that you'd think wouldn't prevent a Slipstream but still do, leaving you powerless to stop that generator completion or that heal. A lot of these issues feel like a QoL matter more than anything. An increased range to placement and removal (or an increased range to detection and Slipstreaming), a slightly decreased time to Slipstream and a reassessment of Slipstream's 'hitboxes' through biopods would all be welcome adjustments to make him feel less clunky.
Please do something to make our beloved murder robot more accessible to players who aren't pro! I love his concept and I know I'm not alone in that, but at the moment playing him is such a miserable experience.
Comments
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I don't think Singularity is really that strong either or at least strong in a way that is worth using over others.
Singularity can basically ignore hold w, but so can killers like Blight, Wraith, and Oni who have speed powers and don't require as much setup as Singularity.
You also have a small period of faster vaulting, pallet breaking, and spirit fury + enduring, but the window is so short it can often not matter with the distance survivors start from you after the teleport.
At least if Singularity was very strong if mastered, he would just be similiar to nurse who I see often enough because there is a pay off to learning her. Then you add on the frustrations as playing him as you listed and you get a killer that is not attractive to play as.
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I think the point is that you don’t have to be a pro, you just need to practice with him. He hasn’t even been out long enough to have put in a good amount of hours into.
And no, EMPs don’t need nerfed AGAIN. At this rate killers will just say get rid of them altogether so they can just teleport directly on to a survivor’s back.
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thats a good way to put it, Im also disappointed with Singularity.
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It's been a month since his release (June 13th 2023). If people need over a month to get good with the killer, then that killer requires being a pro.
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We have no way of knowing how many hours people are putting into him. There were people on this same forum two hours after he was released saying he was terrible and they were never playing him again and begging for buffs. People don’t want to put time or brain power into getting to learn how to play him properly.
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what is so hard about him? he puts pod then look at it, goes into camera, shoots camera then press his arm at the survivor to get teleport's. It is a lot of steps but none of the steps are particular hard or challenging to be successful at.
You also have a small period of faster vaulting, pallet breaking, and spirit fury + enduring, but the window is so short it can often not matter with the distance survivors start from you after the teleport.
I think it just comes down to his teleport+overclock being too weak. only two of his add-on improve overclock and every add-on is some strange bonus that does practically nothing of value. I am not entirely sure what they could do to improve him. I wonder if he would be any better if he had faster lunge velocity to lunge into pallets quicker. like 30% lunge velocity. Would that make him too strong? either way I have only played vs singularity twice since PTB. fairly unpopular killer.
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I was really looking forward to this killer but every time i pop a pod down its emp about 10 seconds after.
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The point is that all of those steps are finicky, imprecise and subject to sabotage by Survivors with no real effort.
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I suppose. singularity does take getting used to. if you ask me, singularity power is artificial skill-ceiling. he's over complicated for nothing for marginal reward. I think he would been more attractive killer if his design did not include infections or EMP's. he could just been hold-gun out, TP and the camera could been just some side-tracking and global map teleportation. If you teleport out of a camera, it could have like a cooldown similar to freddy gen teleport of like 30 seconds. perhaps he would been more popular if his artificial skill-ceiling was simplified. either way my issues with him is overclock not being potent chase tool over playing other chase killers and low variety add-on set.
The joke holds true. He was not programmed to harm the crew. My joke? He was programmed for the survivor's fun.
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