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Skull Merchant Increase

Is anyone else seeing WAY more Skull Merchant since her rework? I swear as much as people complained about her before I basically never saw "3 gen merchant" really but now I'm seeing her every 5-6 games or so.

I personally don't care that much except people still instantly give up against her which basically make those games a massive waste of time. Does anyone else see her way more often than they used to?

Comments

  • Xernoton
    Xernoton Member Posts: 5,883

    I am lucky to have avoided her for the most part.

    When I play against her I usually use the noob tech. It consists of me "forgetting" how to do anything in chase. I will not leave the loop and I will not pre drop the pallet, which pretty much guarantees that I go down in about 20 seconds. Fast forward 2 minutes and the game is over for me. Too bad. At least I get my 8k BP out of this very thrilling experience.

  • MikaelaWantsYourBoon
    MikaelaWantsYourBoon Member Posts: 6,564

    I will take Blight with busted add-ons but no SM. When i see her , i know it's off time from DbD.

  • Chocolate_Cosmos
    Chocolate_Cosmos Member Posts: 5,735

    It was when the rework came out for few days.

    I feel like its back to normal again, she is not a common killer, however I would say probably bit more people playing her than before because her rework is no longer just hold-3 gen Killer.

  • Nazzzak
    Nazzzak Member Posts: 5,841

    I've had an increase probably over the past week. I wonder if all the SMs who increased in MMR too quickly thanks to 3 genning are all starting to come down. Especially with the soft cap changes.

  • ChaosWam
    ChaosWam Member Posts: 1,845

    Aren't her drones basically the same principle as legion's power considering they put you into deep wounds now?

    Just apply the legion logic of playing safe at loops. Personally I'd like to see her haste stacks go because she has hindered to make up for it, but otherwise she's still an M1 killer that needs to build for chase.

  • Evan_
    Evan_ Member Posts: 547

    So she's a weaker Clown with some minor benefits to compensate for.

    The only "issue" I can see is that utilizing her powers takes pressing a button, while Clowns practice for a dozen trials until they can reliably apply their (considerably stronger) hinder + haste. Not that I see an issue with that - not every killer has to be equally difficult to use.

  • Evan_
    Evan_ Member Posts: 547
    edited December 2023

    She gets 3-7% Haste, but unless multiple survivors feed her power, it's 3%. Clown gets 10%

    She causes 10% Hinder - after multiple scans. Clown inflicts 15% instantly.

    Not having to use brain doesn't make a power stronger, it just makes it easier to use. That's why you think dropping the pallet matters for a Clown - I can assure you it doesn't for an intermediate one.

  • NomiNomad
    NomiNomad Member Posts: 3,181

    Couple days ago, I played against three Skull Merchants in a row. One of which wouldn't hook me when I wanted to go next after two others game-ended themself on hook. Just slugged me and tried to find the last person.

    Funny how people play her for easy wins and then refuse to take them.

  • HugTechLover
    HugTechLover Member Posts: 2,482

    You’re trying to go off of numbers and it just doesn’t work here. She gets both of those simultaneously. Clown does not. Idk why we are even comparing clown here.

    The power being brainless absolutely makes it stronger.

  • Evan_
    Evan_ Member Posts: 547

    Clown has multiple bottles. Nothing prevents him from getting both effects simultaneously - in fact intermediate Clowns often combine purples and yellows when it's needed to take a hit that would be impossible otherwise.

    I'm comparing SM to Clown because I'm a Clown main and SM enjoyer, and I find them really similar. I personally feel SM is a weaker Clown on training wheels. I pick her when I don't feel like sweating and want to have the same gameplay without paying attention. I also appreciate her basekit Cigar Box in form of that radar.

  • pigslittlepet
    pigslittlepet Member Posts: 483
    edited December 2023

    Yep that me bringing her numbers up. I'm maining her now as a stealth killer and I will be in all your lobbies waiting on you.

  • Xernoton
    Xernoton Member Posts: 5,883

    Good luck standing still in chase and not getting hit. Same for crouching. Crouching is also something that she can deny with minimal effort by placing the drone at a slight distance to the loop just as standing still will not when work she reverses the rotation. I mean, what are you gonna do? Always stay behind the beam and hope that for whatever reason the Slog Merchant forgets how to walk?

    In chase, all you can do is to pre drop the pallet and leave the second she sets up a drone. Because with even a least bit of effort, she removes any kind of counterplay you have. Thanks but I think conveniently "forgetting" how to play survivor is more fun than that.

  • MarylinMonhoe
    MarylinMonhoe Member Posts: 132

    Played against a hard Kris 3-Genners yesterday, God this was awful

    A real cliché, one in a million

    She never left right from the beginning the 3 gens area (we were in the Disturbed Ward)

    All those gens outside, 2 were really close, 1 in the burned area in front of shack, the 2nd one 60m away in a straight line (there was no hill that could've slowed her down a bit) and the third one was in this maze tile, some kind of triangle

    Of course Surge

    We hacked a drone, another one just popped

    The result ? A mere 1k, a 32min game

    How can she enjoy this kind of gameplay

  • Azulra
    Azulra Member Posts: 504

    Actually I'm a Skull Merchant main and I can confirm that crouch walking right before the scan lines hit you does work against her. I've had survivors doing it against me and it does work. Even more so if they have Urban Evasion-

  • xEa
    xEa Member Posts: 4,105
  • Hex_Ignored
    Hex_Ignored Member Posts: 1,955

    Skill floor is pretty much non existent and she is a pub stomper. That is an incredibly appealing combination for casual players

  • HamsterEnjoyer
    HamsterEnjoyer Member Posts: 765

    This is actually giving me 2nd hand embarrassment reading especially the 'She holds a 3 gen' because it shows you either


    A. Have no idea how to play against her and are getting stomped by noob skull merchants

    or

    B. you're just lying for upvotes on dbd forums which itself is kinda sad😭

  • Xernoton
    Xernoton Member Posts: 5,883

    And I can tell you what your play is. Reverse the rotation. If drone is still somewhat near the loop, then the beam moves too slow for the survivor to keep on running but it's too fast for them to just crouch underneath. Even if they do manage not to get scanned, the crouching will take a while and you'll easily get the hit.

    Depending on how close the survivor is to the drone you can adjust the rotation and force either lock on stacks or hits. That's the problem with this killer.

  • ChaosWam
    ChaosWam Member Posts: 1,845

    Trying out both myself this is pretty accurate.

    I can't really wrap my brain around Clown's gameplay, just the way I play in general clashes with his bottles and all the tricks you can do with them while SM is pretty simple and allows me to make stealth builds I find personally appealing without spending 1000 hours on getting steamrolled trying to figure out the best bottle throws for every loop.

    If I were to spend that much time I'd dedicate it to Huntress because the axes are more straight forward in terms of skill expression.

    But aside all that, the similarities of Clown and SM are there, just applied differently. I'd call SM 'Clown light with a hint of Legion'

  • HamsterEnjoyer
    HamsterEnjoyer Member Posts: 765
    edited December 2023

    Okay again proving my point. And "THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY HATE HER!" I've literally never had someone insta dc when I play her and shes the only killer I even play besides Tiffany occasionally but that aside, I don't care that you hate her because everyone else does its still embarrassing to see someone so bravely admit to being bad against a killer and not knowing how to counter one (whos already been nerfed 20x over even when she was a purely M1 killer).

    And again its so funny because just like when she could actually hold a 3 gen (She cant now and saying she can is showing again your inexperience against her) the complaints about her apply to several other killers as well yet shes the only one who is vocally complained about so yes again its about you not knowing how to play against her and just raging because instead of learning how she works and whats best to counter her you just say shes OP and leave it at that.

    Also it does prove both of those because current skull merchant literally cannot hold a 3 gen against half decent survivors who know what they're doing and if you're still trying to 3 gen as Skull Merchant that shows that that Skull Merchant is a noob who doesn't understand how her new power works and if youre constantly dying to that scenario then thats like me complaining Huntress is OP because I pre drop pallets while shes readying a hatchet


    TL;DR version: 2nd hand embarrassment is even worse now

  • HamsterEnjoyer
    HamsterEnjoyer Member Posts: 765

    Her rotation has a cool down to it and in order to pull something like this off you'd need to know the timing of how to do it without it over shooting

  • GeneralV
    GeneralV Member Posts: 11,693

    I saw her once before the rework, and then I've never seen her again.

  • jamally093
    jamally093 Member Posts: 1,695

    Been having her all night and people still do the usually three gen tactic which fun fact gets extremely boring since I know she can have potential and is a chase killer instead of gen oriented.

  • Xernoton
    Xernoton Member Posts: 5,883
    edited December 2023

    You do not need "know" the timing. You easily see how fast the beam moves compared to a survivor and can react to it. There is not need to follow an exact number value.