Which role do you prefer? Killer or Survivor? Why?

Despite loving both roles and the thrills they provide, personally I have to go with playing as Killer. The Killer may be difficult sometimes but even if all four survivors escape it’s still a match full of action and interaction. Playing as Killer feels like constant engagement.

Why do you prefer your favorite role?

Answers

  • Shroompy
    Shroompy Member Posts: 6,587

    Killer as skill expression is a lot more apparent and as you mentioned, filled with interactions.

  • Exerlin
    Exerlin Member Posts: 1,352

    I prefer killer. Survivor is fun, but when compared to killer, your individual skill doesn't matter as much. That makes it harder to see when I improve as survivor, and that makes it harder for me to learn how to improve as survivor. The frustration of having a good killer and bad teammates comes up very often in solo queue, but most of my survivor friends whine more than they have fun with the game.

    I'd rather queue up for killer, as the heavily one-sided games are at least half as frequent as my survivor games. I also feel like there's less pressure on me to perform well since I have no teammates. Plus, I'm never hooked or slugged so I'm always able to do something the entire match. Killer's just more active, so it's the most fun role imo

  • edgarpoop
    edgarpoop Member Posts: 8,328
    edited September 2023

    Really depends on what I feel like and what matchmaking is doing. I play a healthy amount of both.

    I really like the macro gameplay aspect of survivor and nerd out on it. There's a lot that goes into being a good survivor, and chase is just one aspect. I constantly think about positioning, where I need to be, and when I need to be there. It's fun to crank out 3 solo gens, not give the killer free hits via poor positioning, and then also seal the game with a long chase when it counts.

    Another fun aspect of survivor are the hidden plays that don't really stand out but make a huge difference. I think the best survivors are able to anticipate and process information quickly. An example: you see the last gen at about 60% as the killer is hooking a player for their first hook. You have one hook yourself. The two players working the gen are on death hook. Instead of waiting to see what the killer does after hooking, you start running for the unhook before the killer even does it. You make the most brazen, aggro unhook which distracts the killer from the two death hook players finishing the gen. Instead of potentially stopping the gen, the killer is looking at a 1k. Those subtle plays are super fun to me.

  • Thusly_Boned
    Thusly_Boned Member Posts: 2,939

    Totally depends on my mood. Just got off work and want to chill and have fun? Survivor. Want a lot of engagement and skill expression? Killer. Killer more than survivor requires me to be in the right state of mind; it's more stressful and that's not always what I want.

    But more often than not lately I've been playing whichever side has the bonus, which has led to a lot of sleepwalking through killer games I didn't really want to play.

    In that way I prefer the old perk based BP bonuses because I didn't feel compelled to play one side or the other for any reason but wanting to.

  • Dreamnomad
    Dreamnomad Member Posts: 3,916

    I genuinely hate playing as survivor. I'm not that good at it for one thing. But more then anything, I feel like I just don't have much control over the outcome of the game. Other survivors don't unhook you? Sucks to be you. Run the killer for a long time but gens aren't getting done? Sucks to be you. Try to work gens but other survivor being chased runs the killer right to you? You guessed it. Sucks to be you.

  • Thusly_Boned
    Thusly_Boned Member Posts: 2,939

    I largely agree, but there's two sides to that coin - you can always deflect blame for the loss onto your teammates as well (and boy, how people love to do that), and often do without even thinking about it.

    As killer, you lose, that's on you. And I would be fine with that (I was never the one for group projects anyway), except that RNG and maps are things that have a lot to do with the outcome as well, but you're still your own team. And that can feel bad, man.

  • Dreamnomad
    Dreamnomad Member Posts: 3,916

    That's the thing I like about killer. Win or lose, I know that the outcome was largely in my hands. I also like that I'm basically guaranteed a decent amount of bloodpoints. I hate the discrepancy in bloodpoints between the two roles too. Even when survivors get the 100% bonus, I know that 9 times out of 10 I'm better off playing killer. Even if none of what I previously mentioned was a factor, I just like the role more. It's more fun running around whacking people then it is running around being the one whacked.

  • BlightedDolphin
    BlightedDolphin Member Posts: 1,854

    I like playing both but I would say killer slightly more just because I don’t have to worry about a teammate DCing.

  • HerInfernalMajesty
    HerInfernalMajesty Member Posts: 1,759

    Except in my case I’m still the one who gets hit by every pallet in the entirety of the Entity’s imagination.

  • Aven_Fallen
    Aven_Fallen Member Posts: 16,186
    edited September 2023

    Eh, depends. Mainly on my mood and how my experience with a certain role was.

    Currently I prefer Killer because my Survivor-experience is not really good. I got sandbagged by the same Elodie twice today and in the same game had to bleed out for 4 minutes. And I had a Haddie today who was always cancelling my heal when I tried to heal her against a Spirit with 4 Slowdown-Perks (including Sloppy Butcher). This lead to the heal regressing all the time, because she apparently did not understand what Hemorrhage does.

    And stuff like that makes it really hard to enjoy Survivor. As Killer I dont have any teammates who can annoy me, when I lose, it is on me and not anyone else.

  • Justa335i
    Justa335i Member Posts: 223

    I play whatever I need to while completing the tomes 😉

  • CrypticGirl
    CrypticGirl Member Posts: 650

    I main Survivor, because Killer games are just boring to me. You patrol gens, find Survivors, chase Survivors, hook Survivors, and that's it. Snore.  

    As Survivor, you do gens, save teammates, heal teammates, loop the Killer, maybe do totems or chests occasionally. Not to mention trying to coordinate with your teammates to the best of your ability without direct communication. It's just so much more involved.

  • Xernoton
    Xernoton Member Posts: 5,799

    I prefer playing killer. It gives me a feeling of control over the match and I also like the mechanical skill expression, that some killers have.

    However, for me killer is also the more stressful and frustrating role. I can play a bunch of survivor matches, die in every single one of them and still have the time of my life because I couldn't give a flying ######### about whether or not I escape myself. I'll be the one, that runs back after the exit gates have been opened and my team mates have already left to save the Feng, that is being camped by a Deathslinger with noed or die trying.

  • EvilBarney666
    EvilBarney666 Member Posts: 334

    I'm a killer main. Reason for me is I find survivor to be extremely boring. It's essentially hold M1 on a gen. Oh here come the killer, run around a car 6 times. Drop a pallet. Run around 4 times till killer breaks pallet. Run to next loop.

    At least with killer there is so much more to juggle. When do I activate my power, who do I hook, how good can they run, which gen to defend etc. So many different variables and each killer has their own abilities. I just find it to be much more engaging.

    I have fun even as a killer main, because I don't care if I win or lose. I just do what I can.

  • totallynotamegmain
    totallynotamegmain Member Posts: 658
    edited September 2023

    I play killer because survivor is boring to me. Holding mouse 1 all game is not exiting

    and running only light-born is funny

  • Venusa
    Venusa Member Posts: 1,489

    I only play the side that has the bloodpoint incentive.💸

  • MimiDBD
    MimiDBD Member Posts: 302

    Before I shut down most of my playing time I started with about 2000 hrs. of killer. Then around 1500 on survivor. The last roughly 1000 I played was whomever had the bonus (which I don't like btw). Both roles are lacking and completely annoying to me.

    Killer - You would think (keyword there) that your skill matters more but unfortunately there are a few too many variables that can dictate the course of the match. This rng I would not mind if it couldn't be so one sided at times.

    Killer - MMR, Solos, SWF, map offering, tile spawns, number of pallets, gen spawns (locations), etc all dictate the flow of the match at too high of a level IMO.

    Survivor - MMR, Killer used, Solo Q, Lost teammates, gen spawn (locations), pallet count, etc still can dictate to much.

    Needless to say both roles suck and there is too much rng to tell when you are skilled. Am I good for being on a win streak or is matchmaking screwing up (most certainly)?. Am I good or did I get a decent run on maps? Or where they all solos or baby killers?

  • 09SHARKBOSS
    09SHARKBOSS Member Posts: 1,328

    killer for the adrenaline

  • Hex_Ignored
    Hex_Ignored Member Posts: 1,887

    Since I like getting lots of bp I prefer killer. Even if I have a bad game as killer I usually still get 25k+ bp. Meanwhile, a bad game as survivor can realistically end with you getting less than 10k bp.

  • drsoontm
    drsoontm Member Posts: 4,857

    Killer : more active (gens are a snore fest) and you don't depend on your teammate's plays (solo queue).

  • Vanishlord
    Vanishlord Member Posts: 555

    Depends on my mood, tomes or if I feel I need a break but I always play at least one match of both.

  • MrDardon
    MrDardon Member Posts: 4,009

    I'm an incentive main. I usually go for which role has incentives. If my friends are on I usually swf, except one where we do random Killer builds and play that Killer simultaneously.

    If there are no incentives (which rarely happens) I switch role after every match.

  • ChaosWam
    ChaosWam Member Posts: 1,830

    I find survivor either way easier or insanely annoying depending on the teammates I get paired with.

    But I do enjoy killer far more regardless. I like theory-crafting builds and constantly wish less powerful perks/addons got some love.

  • Krazzik
    Krazzik Member Posts: 2,475

    Killer, mainly because I'm not heavily reliant on getting decent teammates to win.

  • MikaelaWantsYourBoon
    MikaelaWantsYourBoon Member Posts: 6,564

    Killer


    Because there is no teammate will throw the game. It's all on my skills. And more chill than survivor role.

  • solarjin1
    solarjin1 Member Posts: 2,110

    i prefer survivor but play killer 60% of the time because i feel it mandatory to know every killer inside and out. Survivor is more intense/heart pounding but very frustrating (solo q things). killer more fun and having more control over the outcome will always feel better. My favorites are slinger, PH, & trapper. I'm a meg main forever tho.


    2020 i bought dbd and immediately uninstall after multiple encounters with the wraith. I would later be Reincarnation around the time of wesker release date. I was officially born aug 29h 2022 as a baby meg. Here a pic


  • BubbaDredge
    BubbaDredge Member Posts: 815

    I'm here to be killer. I get whatever survivor experience I want from single-player games, PZ, 7D2D, I love struggling, hiding, etc. But I come to DBD to be the monster, I don't get that experience anywhere else.

  • Talwuzhere
    Talwuzhere Member Posts: 17

    Started as survior and slowly been working my way to killer.

    Most days I can mindlessly hop into a survivor match if I want to throw on music and relax. I enjoy the silly moments between survivors and the rare ones with killers. There's also the proud feeling of running + having a killer leave you. Other than that I enjoy the perk variety and interacting with chests/pallets/etc. I also like meeting people and making new friends along the way - I've made a lot of friends through survivor. :)

    Killer is fun in its own way in that I'm relearning a lot of stuff from the killers pov. How survivors think, run tiles, killer specific power, gen to map layout, etc. Its different in that I'm anxious to perform well and have to force myself through the uncomfortable feeling but very rewarded when I pull off a good play or match. Beyond that, I enjoy being able to decide if a match should be played seriously or meme-y depending on how I feel. Theres also something different to be said about a p20 survivor or p20 killer imo.

  • CorvusCorax86
    CorvusCorax86 Member Posts: 1,072

    I think you pretty much summed up why I like killer better. But given the toxicity of players this is the role that is easier for me to lose interest in while playing as a survivor remains "chill".

  • Rulebreaker
    Rulebreaker Member Posts: 1,955

    We favor the killer role more. You don't need to rely on anyone but yourself and are in charge of your entertainment. Teammates can't do something to put you in a worse place, you can fight to control the flow of the match easier than as a survivor, and killers have unique powers instead of being perks and skins.