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Why isn't Hag more popular to play as?

Been playing her alot lately and been having a blast. I mostly stick with mid tier killers that don't require much mechanical skill cuz...controller. If I get GOJ as Myers or Bubba, I groan just thinking about that main building. For Hag... not a problem. Free hits at every USUALLY troublesome window.

You'd think this would make her more popular. You can get away with just using low lvl addons too. Why is her pick rate so low? Mind you... I'm sure half the reason I steamroll so many teams is because they have no clue how to play against her due to low pickrate... but it is confusing why you have such a strong killer with such a low pickrate.

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Comments

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,553

    I was just skimming through killrates and such. On average, she beats out the majority of the cast...but has the 2nd lowest pick rate. You think that 1 team of super survivors is enough to make people forget about all the other games where they stomped?

  • TheArbiter
    TheArbiter Member Posts: 2,618
    edited December 2023

    Ever since they added the ability for people to disarm her traps without needing a flashlight I have seen 0 people play her. It is extremely easy to disarm and bait her traps now

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,553

    I feel like that's both a nerf and a buff. While it's true survivors don't need a flashlight for it anymore, a survivor can't erase the traps mid chase anymore either. It's like a Trapper who doesn't need to fetch his traps and always has one in hand. The obvious ones will be ewon't. (Right next to hooks), but the whole web of traps wont.

    Also the smaller model and TR means survivors are less likely to see you placing all the traps.

  • GeneralV
    GeneralV Member Posts: 11,345

    Because Hag is easy to get the basics figured out, but she is hard to be effective with. And now that her traps can be removed without flashlights, it is a bit more difficult to go up the ranks with Hag.

  • TheArbiter
    TheArbiter Member Posts: 2,618

    The problem is tho that while you may not be able to disarm mid chase if you see the trap you can still bait the teleport, on top of that another overall nerf to hag is the fact that maps are continually getting brighter and brighter, outside of some maps like Swamp Hag traps are really easy to see

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,553

    Theoretically you may be correct... but in actual practice, she's doing just fine. Currently there's only 5 killers with higher killrates than her, Ironically one of which is Twins who has the lowest pickrate.

  • TheArbiter
    TheArbiter Member Posts: 2,618
    edited December 2023

    And that doesn't surprise me at all, Hag is designed to be a Pub stomper, once you get to higher mmrs tho and have more SWFs she begins to fall apart


    Edit: Forgot to mention too that Hag is free on some platforms so many people will have to go against her as some of their first matches in DBD ever which I think might inflate her numbers as well

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,553

    Her being free just means she's more readily available for new players to play as.

  • Chocolate_Cosmos
    Chocolate_Cosmos Member Posts: 5,735

    I will tell you my personal view on why she is in one of the least picked Killers for me (2nd best after Nurse).

    She is small (FOV) and she is slow, that's a first big dislike for me. I don't like slow killers, it just feels worse. Second, you can only chase Survivors in your web of traps otherwise you are worse than M1 Killer and you are trowing the game. So you rely on your power to catch people but the power is area limited and set up reguired. Third, you kinda have to camp / gen camp with her to win, that's kinda boring tbh.

    Trapper for example is much more fun for me because his traps are not reguired to chase and down people. You can still do basic stuff with him.

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,553
    edited December 2023

    I'd agree if her range was tiny, but even with just yellow addons I can teleport halfway across the map. That hardly feels like I'm camping hooks/gens. It's just the same feeling of trying not to spread yourself too thin you have with most killers.

    If people managed to avoid trigger traps outside of chase, the movement speed can feel annoying to move around... but if your scrambling them, they tend to trigger trying to go back to their gens or go for unhook or anything else that requires them to move. Had a game last night where I got 3 downs within 10 seconds in different parts of the map. Her snowball potential isn't bad.

    Low FOV though IS annoying...

  • duygu
    duygu Member Posts: 333

    her power isnt chase oriented. most players prefer powers that are usable in chase from the start e.g. wesker, huntress

  • solarjin1
    solarjin1 Member Posts: 2,165

    Bad at chasing and most effective at camping/hook trading (boring). The shoe addon the only reason i like her. Rapidly clicking one button every second all match might have something to do with it.

  • FrenchBagels
    FrenchBagels Member Posts: 193

    Hello, I play Hag often. General consensus is that no one likes being downed to a well placed trap. That’s about it.

    Most survivors are used to automating looping with most anti-loop killers, but Hag is a preemptive anti-loop killer. Thus, someone that goes up against a scroll wheel Hag is gonna have a pretty bad time because they didn’t get a chance to loop. Most Hags don’t take chase for good reason, and survivors can’t make up their mind if they want a chase killer or not. Also, she had a bad history of proxy camping.

    Just a polarizing killer overall.

  • Devil_hit11
    Devil_hit11 Member Posts: 8,870

    plays very defensive/relies on camping, cannot take initiative when winning , get bullied easily by swf from following you and disarming traps/setting off traps on purpose, 4.4 m/s.

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,553

    That's a reason to not like playing AGAINST her, but I was asking why more ppl don't play AS her.

  • FrenchBagels
    FrenchBagels Member Posts: 193

    My bad. I read through it wrong.

    Anyway, mainly because Hag gets slightly boring with the usual playstyle.

    1. Bind teleport to scroll wheel
    2. Place at intersections/god loops to deny survivor movement
    3. Slap on early/mid game gen blocking like Corrupt/Deadlock before it starts
    4. Good to go

    Blight sorta has hug tech and other little tricks that help with skill expression. Weaker too. Hag has trap placement, which to some is boring. Once you know the ins and outs, really you just re-trap around half the map and ignore the rest and let the scroll wheel do the work. There is Mint Rag and Rusty Shackles but the playstyle doesn’t really deviate much. Overall, boring killer at face value, but one you come to appreciate if you enjoy a defensive playstyle, which not a lot of people enjoy over high octane Blight or Wesker.

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,553

    I should probably try corrupt... Been just running Surge, sloppy, Franklin's and huntress lullaby. I like the idea that I can utilize perks that work for basic attacks with her.

  • Alice_pbg
    Alice_pbg Member Posts: 6,556

    Edit: Forgot to mention too that Hag is free on some platforms so many people will have to go against her as some of their first matches in DBD ever which I think might inflate her numbers as well


    as someone who played their first killer game as hag... can confirm I did not inflate her numbers at all.



    as for OP.

    Hag is niche. like Trapper.

    we "play defense". (usually)

    that playstyle just doesn't appeal to a lot of people.


    even if I think Hag is actually very versatile in how she can play, and has been for a long time. most people don't wanna bother.

    she has a slightly higher skill floor to be played than most killers, and a pretty high skill ceiling but not very comparable to the big ones. so people who want an easy killer pick someone else, and most people who want the mechanical complexity pick someone else too.


    this leaves all 5 of us who like hag. because going "boo!" and slapping people is fun.

    there was a time I had make your choice purposefully on lvl1 on her, so it would recover faster. fun times. people just refused to crouch...


    that is my theory on her pick rate

  • Nazzzak
    Nazzzak Member Posts: 5,689

    She does well in low MMR I imagine, but the higher you get the harder it probably gets to win. I suspect that's why they had the recent change, where flashlights no longer work on her traps. Because it's a change that's likely to help her in higher MMR brackets while barely having an effect in lower MMR brackets. Higher MMR survivors are more efficient at setting off/wasting her traps.

  • appleas
    appleas Member Posts: 1,128

    She is excellent at proxy camping. I assume she suffers against experienced players because she needs that first down to get the ball rolling which is harder to get in difficult games.

    Trapping a dropped item after Franklin works a good portion of the time

  • NerfDHalready
    NerfDHalready Member Posts: 1,749

    because she is your everyday swf clown, unfortunately. she preys on survivor mistakes, and that's not all that abundant on high levels and comms destroy her just like trapper.

  • not_Queef
    not_Queef Member Posts: 828

    I find that Hag games are one extreme or another. Either I obliterate the survivors and feel bad for them or I get matched with a coordinated group that knows what they're doing and get given the run-around all game.

    I don't find either of these situations to be fun and there is no in-between.

    Also, she is one of the biggest DC and hook suicide factories in the game.

    I don't know why anybody would ever play Hag except to annoy solo plebs.

  • Spare_Them_Mori_Me
    Spare_Them_Mori_Me Member Posts: 1,687

    I tried hag back when I started the game. I found that Trapper just did it better, but the tricks one can do with camera turning and such made Hag really fun to try. I might give her more time now that I know the game. :)

  • edgarpoop
    edgarpoop Member Posts: 8,373

    She might be my strongest killer, but her games can be a bit tedious. They often run a little long for my liking. You constantly have to set up with her. She's just really burst-y with her damage, so you have longer periods of downtime where you set up again. And her games tend to slow to a crawl once a couple players are dead because survivors tend to crouch walk everywhere.

  • Dwight_Fairfield
    Dwight_Fairfield Member Posts: 7,041

    Probably because she's slow, she's not a chase killer. Chases are the most interactive part of the game. She sets up her web then waits for survivors to tread into it.

  • MrDardon
    MrDardon Member Posts: 4,033

    She can't chase, which is arguably the most fun part as Killer. You just setup your web and wait for Survivor to run into it.. that's it.

    That's why I never play her without Waterlogged Shoe/Scarred Hand, it allows her to actually chase.

  • Aven_Fallen
    Aven_Fallen Member Posts: 16,285

    Tofu has a good answer for that:

    And this is also why I highly dislike Hag. I maxed her out (which was back in the day P3-50 with all Perks) and then basically never played her again. Since now I unlock new Perks without needing to level up Bloodwebs on other Killers, there is 0 reason for me to play Hag. I have even 100 Event Cakes on her I will never use.

    For me, she is just boring. You cannot chase and all Hits you get basically boil down to free Hits you get when someone steps into a Trap. For people who enjoy building Setups, she might be alright. And I enjoy it as well with Trapper. However, with Trapper I can also chase normally.

    I guess she is just so different from other Killers that you really have to enjoy her playstyle, because regular playstyle is not possible with her, since you cannot chase with her.

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,553
    edited December 2023

    She still chases, you just herd them into the traps. You make it sound like she just waits...

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,553

    That entire video says nothing about playing as Hag. It's about why he doesn't like to face a Hag. Also...yes...She still chases. She just doesn't chase the same way you would as a 115 killer and she's picky on which chases to pick if theres no pre-set traps. This is not some completely passive killer that just waits for something to happen and doesn't know where the W key is.

  • A_Skinny_Legend
    A_Skinny_Legend Member Posts: 919

    I remember, years ago, the same question was asked by members of the community and the common response was that her ability was boring, that people did not enjoy playing her as she could only focus in areas where she had set up her web of traps, having a limiting gameplay experience when compared to other killers, like speed killers.

    This aligns with the view that one of the most fun experiences that can be had while playing as a killer is to get into a chase with a survivor, hag’s power cuts most of that out of the equation, she also has her base movement speed reduced to account for this.

    I personally enjoy playing hag, she’s one of my favorite killers.

    There is a discussion being had right now about what constitutes a chase in this game. Not sure if you’ve posted in it yet, I’ve only skimmed the thread. But for the sake of using your interpretation of a chase, I think that people are talking about a chase that goes on for x amount of time, long enough for people to be satisfied with. Not really sure if that means much since people will have a varying sense how how long a chase should last until it no longer feels satisfying.

  • DrDucky
    DrDucky Member Posts: 675

    Because she is a killer that needs specific knowledge to play, you cannot just pick her up without having some knowledge. Blight for example is so obvious, you dash quick and hit people, even if the skill required is high, its still very obvious how to use him. With hag you cannot just right click and chase since you will lose very quickly.

  • The_Daydreamer
    The_Daydreamer Member Posts: 744

    Yeah basically this. You mainly trap everything hoping or forcing a survivor to go into it and even when a trap gets activated, it does not feel.. nice? I don't know it's not the same excitement when a survivor steps into a trap from the trapper. I simply don't enjoy her power no matter how good or bad she is.

  • pseudechis
    pseudechis Member Posts: 3,904

    She requires good trap set up to be really effective and is lacking in any pressure beyond that. She plays a strong defensive game but that is generally frowned upon and has been hit heavily by a lot of the more recent changes.

    Even a bad trap with Trapper costs a health state if it catches someone, but bad trap position with hag just gets you closer to the survivor into a rather underwhelming chase.

    If you set up well she shines and can be really fun. A lot of players struggle against her too as you said probably because of the low exposure to her. She was a lot more common before a lot of the hex totem and hook defense changes. I mean there are killers with more engaging powers now that can't be as hard countered as she can.

    Also while some of her addons change up her power, it really just changes it so she is now an M1 only chaser with no overt pressure beyond that, aside from the hindrance effect, which isn't much. Having high cost addons that change your power into just general gameplay with no real power isn't great.

    Myer's addons take him from M1 chaser to either see through walls stealth jump scare monster or if you take his more expensive ones then yeah he still chases but can project power further by insta-downs and auto moris. What do hag's addons do? She can no longer teleport but can now chase like any other M1 killer without a power. Wow sign me up for that!

    She's a fun killer just lacking in tools to project any power beyond a good trap setup. I still have a soft spot for her though, the first killer I ever got a 4K with.

  • Aven_Fallen
    Aven_Fallen Member Posts: 16,285

    It is not really hard to get the Hag-perspective out of it. Except if you just dont want to do that.

  • Emoba
    Emoba Member, Alpha Surveyor Posts: 514

    She's not that strong. Especially without Rusty Shackles. People are simply too scared of her traps, don't know about the subtle counters you can do and, as you said, her abysmal pickrate doesn't exactly help people learning/remembering the match-up.

  • Alice_pbg
    Alice_pbg Member Posts: 6,556

    not at all. unless you wanna assume.


    LordGlint is correct, in the video bit all that is talked about is how he feels to play against hag.

    and how it feels to play as and against something are not necessarily the same. in fact are rarily the same.

  • Aven_Fallen
    Aven_Fallen Member Posts: 16,285

    Trying hard as well, huh?

    It is really easy. She is a 4,4m/s Killer. If you have a trap in an area you get a hit. This hit is mostly guaranteed. If you dont have a Trap, you are a 4,4m/s Killer without any power. Great.

  • drsoontm
    drsoontm Member Posts: 4,903

    She is very easy to counter. One needs to be god-level to use her at high MMR.

  • egg_
    egg_ Member Posts: 1,933

    chase hag sigma hag

  • Hensen2100
    Hensen2100 Member Posts: 339

    Hag has been battered by all of the latest meta's and having survivors just be able to wipe away traps was the total nail in the coffin imo. I have legit have not played a single match of Hag since they introduced that change.

    Never thought I would see the day that Trapper was better than Hag but I think we are there.

  • edgarpoop
    edgarpoop Member Posts: 8,373

    Beyond just knowing trap placement, nobody has mentioned that she's easily the most physically demanding killer to play at a high level. It sounds dumb, but spamming your CTRL key nearly the entire match for multiple matches in a row puts a strain on your hand.

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,553

    I'm just picturing you spamming the key when you really don't need to be spamming it...like in the loading screen, lol.

  • edgarpoop
    edgarpoop Member Posts: 8,373
    edited December 2023

    Gotta warm up and get in the Hag mindset. But for real, I can only do 2 or 3 games of Hag before I get fatigued. Scroll wheel isn't viable IMO because teams can harass your traps and bait out bad teleports if you're sending that many TP requests per second, and you lose red stain control, so I stick to CTRL.

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,553
  • MrDardon
    MrDardon Member Posts: 4,033

    Yeah and that's the problem.. for me. You herd them into the traps. There is no mindgaming nor interaction within the chase, nothing interesting. You just hold W while scrollwheeling and wait till they eventually trigger one of your traps. For me that isn't chasing, it's just autopiloting, you walk around existing till you can teleport and hit someone.

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,553

    That's not herding at all. Do you think herd dogs just chase sheep and the sheep random end up in a pen? If a trap is to the left, I'm going to try to get you to go THAT direction. I might place a trap to the RIGHT of the loop you're at within your view so you don't go that way. You know there's a trap there, so now you run where I wanted you to.

  • Alice_pbg
    Alice_pbg Member Posts: 6,556

    and my opinion on how it feels to play her is probably different from yours.

    describing the character is not saying how it feels to play the character.



    and she does have a power. which is really simple to use in chase. not optimal or desired, but pretending she becomes useless just makes it seem you are not even pretending to wanna have an actual conversation. so why should I reply to you?

  • drsoontm
    drsoontm Member Posts: 4,903
    edited January 2

    First things first : a Happy New Year to you and your close ones. 😊

    I've not played for a while and the Hag even less but as far as button presses, I'm pretty sure I press buttons more often as a Nurse.

    That's almost all I'm doing. (I think it's the same button on my config but I may be wrong.)

    It's one of the reasons almost all my controls are on the mouse : less travel. (e.g. Button 4 to blink and the same or its neighbor to place traps.)