Disturbed Ward (Crotus Prenn Asylum)

I feel like this map is almost balanced, it just needs a reduction in size, and a nerf to the main building which has some very strong pallets

The main building needs more hooks, because this is one of the boil over favorite maps, just because of the main building.

Also, the main building is very strong, which means there should be a lot of dead zones on other parts of the map… but this doesn’t seem to be happening.

There are multiple maps with strong main buildings, where I don’t feel like the rest of the map was properly nerfed in compensation.

Feels big and the main is very survivor-sided you can get the shack into another strong loop and having an unsafe pallet around that too, feels so bad to vault the shack window into another window to a strong loop

Main building should not have 3 god pallets, size should be reduced. Sometimes there's too much space without pallets too, but that should go away with a smaller map size, I think.

I like your feedback btw. Almost feel like it’s not worth commenting because you put everything so precisely.

Only thing I’ll add is that this map is one of the ones Boil Over exploiters try and get with offerings because main building top floor even as a solo is unhookable. Sure it’s not a guarantee but the fact this is a thing means this map badly needs changing. Boil over too but that’s not in this discussion.

This map has a bad habit of spawning gens in and outside of main building, doesn't happen a lot but it happens.

Disturbed Ward has a very strong main building and the map is too big, which together make the map survivor-sided.

The main issue contributing to the map’s large size is these two sections circled here (the “cul-de-sacs”):

The map would feel so much nicer if these were removed. Cul de sacs like these are unfun for both sides because they are tedious for the killer to patrol (they are going far away from everything else), while survivors who try to do gens in these areas are cornered and don’t have a lot of places to go. This also makes them very strong for killers who proxycamp hooks at the ends of these areas (ie. getting a safe rescue can be near impossible), while at the same time making them very ideal places for sabotage plays - if the hook near the end of the area gets broken, it's very likely the killer will have nowhere else to go). Removing these areas would fix all of these issues while also reducing the map's size, something it definitely needs.

The other reason the map is survivor sided is because the main building being too safe. Since the building is in the center of the map, it is often easily accessible for survivors from a lot of places around the map.

This window is a little too safe:

Then, inside the building you always have a god pallet upstairs, a very safe pallet downstairs (basically god pallet vs. most killers), and then you either get a second god pallet downstairs (this one):

Or you get a really unsafe pallet that the killer can just easily go around (this one):

In the interest of reducing the building's safety, I would suggest making this unsafe pallet always spawn but increasing the distance between the 2 doorways just a little bit to make the pallet slightly safer but still mindgameable, and then removing the other downstairs god pallet spawn (the one 2 pictures above here), so the downstairs will always have 1 safe pallet and 1 unsafe pallet. And then nerf the window I showed in the picture a bit. The other downstairs window (the one by the breakable wall) and the upstairs of the building are fine the way they are. This is the other safe downstairs pallet (appears in 1 of 2 positions on this loop), this is a safe loop vs. most killers, but I think if the window is nerfed and the other downstairs god pallet is removed in favor of the unsafe one, then this loop can stay the way it is.

There can also be really bad 3-gens in and around the building, with the upstairs building gen + either 2 generators just directly outside of and near the building, or 1 directly outside of the building and another one on the lower floor of the building (the one that sometimes appears in the greenhouse). That greenhouse gen should be removed, there should only ever be 1 generator inside the building.

(And to clarify, what I mean by gens directly outside of the building, are gen spawns such as this one below. Having one of these + the main building gen is fine, but there shouldn't be 2 of these outside gens in the same match since this creates a tight 3-gen.)

I think that about summarizes my thoughts on this map.

The map is slightly too big, the main building is a bit too strong and because of its position easily accessible from basically anywhere. The main building has some weird collision in the ramps and some other tiles that just don't behave like they should from the looks of it. The pallets and windows it spawns are just too strong, basically makes it one of the strongest buildings in the game, and it s shape allows you run the killer for a while without him being able to really cut you off or anything...

I personally think the achievement of leaving this map specifically unharmed is way too stressful

Disturbed Ward is heckin massive. Like ridiculously massive, and the sleeves with 2 jungle gyms in them exacerbate the issue, as does the very safe main building that can be run into from just about anywhere on the map with the speed boost from an m1 killers m1.

Main building has a breakable wall you have to break if you don't have bamboozle, then it also has 2-3 God pallets after that which is crazy. It also has a deceptively strong window on a ramp, but don't tell the survivors how strong that window actually is. Beyond that it's big issues are artificially increasing map size since you either need to go around it, or navigate through it to go from side of the massive map to the other. It being central also means that it can be run to from anywhere, or that a survivor chased there can get to just about anywhere.

7 jungle gyms is also insane, especially with 2 sets of interconnected jungle gyms being guaranteed. That's always going to be reasonably strong, but if you get a particularly strong gym into another strong gym it's absurd.

On the flip side the landmarks don't have guaranteed pallets, and trying to do a gen by the greenhouse can be a death sentence without a single pallet or window within 32m. Shooting fish in a barrel isn't fun, but neither is trying to fistfight a fish in ocean.

Main building needs less pallets and breakable walls and then the map would be fine.

So annoying to be on as killer

very strong main building for survivors

Massive air of foreboding. Everything is burnt and the there’s (almost) no way out. Constantly checking in and out of the asylum as you escape the Killer. Story wise are we the Survivors patients? Is the Killer a former patient too?

Thematically it’s amazing. Being trapped in the Asylum grounds with the Killer is classic.

While I think Disturbed Ward does generally slightly favor Survivors (I don't think any one section of the map is absurdly unbalanced, but there are a few factors that favor Survivors slightly enough that when added up, it begins to make a difference), I wanted to take a moment to appreciate the design of the map and point out all of the gameplay affordances that the map offers, and point out the things that are really fun about the map! With these appreciations in note, I have a proposal for possible tweaks to the map at the end of my post to improve gameplay without removing the identity of the map.

I'd like to start by giving my 2 cents on the oft-cited "cul-de-sacs" of the Disturbed Ward, as discussed in these posts:

The deep end of these cul-de-sacs are far out of the way from Killer patrols; however, the shape of these pockets give Killers the upperhand when they approach on patrol:

These cul-de-sacs have one way in, and one way out. This means, that should Survivors want to leave these pockets, they have to run into the Killer, should the Killer stand their ground and zone players into the cul-de-sac. While these gens may be out of the way from patrols, this gives Killer an advantage on approach:

I believe having areas of treacherous gameplay for Survivors is important for Dead by Daylight to have, as not only does it give opportunities for Killers to have reliably strong areas to play around, but it also further enhances the theme of Horror.

Treacherous areas for Survivor also require players to switch up their playstyle within a match depending on where the action takes place, making sure Survivors can't become too comfortable in playing one way throughout a match, require them to think critically about the choices they make.

Something worth noting about these tiles is the appreciation for the spawn logic: NEVER do 2 jungle gym tiles spawn next to each other in these tiles, making sure they aren't ever too strong in their configurations.

Unfortunately I do agree that, should the killer take a patrol deep into these "cul de sacs" and find no one is there, there is a ton of time wasted. These pockets are huge risk-reward areas for the Killer to patrol to, but the risk can make or break the difference between a win or loss.

The Main Building of Disturbed Ward is incredibly fun to play around on both roles: It has a very unique and memorable shape, and there are TONS of opportunities for mindgaming, holes to drop through and surprise someone or sneak away, and tons of opportunities for both roles to engage in stealth gameplay in and around Main.

The strength of Main's window loop pictured below could be lessened; it's relatively safe for Survivors to play around, it's quite awkward for Killers to maneuver through the debris outside (although that extra distance required to navigate around the debris does give Killers more time to catch up... if they don't trip over the rubble), and allows Survivors to pretty reliably get in and out of the building, and chain together with the other tiles in the map.

The window vault out of the greenhouse is very strong until the Killer breaks open the door next to it, and even then it's still decent, however there is an oft-overlooked cutoff route that I think, if utilized more by Killers, would significantly change the trajectory of many chases through main:

The Disturbed Ward offers so many opportunities for Killers to cut off Survivors. Routes like the one shown above are severely underutilized, and I think should these kinds of routes be taken more often, games would be heading in a different direction. Maybe if there was some way to make these routes more obvious to players (draw their attention to these routes, especially this one that requires them to traverse elevation (gamers don't look up)), they would be taken more often?

Disturbed Ward is one of my favorite maps to play on, as I feel every area across the entire map is pertinent to every match, and that's thanks to Main Building's easy flow into and out of every section of the map. That's why it's important that the strength of a few of the resources around main be reassessed, so the map can keep its identity and place within the realm.

There are many maps in DBD where matches feel like they take place disproportionately in only a fraction of the entirety of the map: Since RPD's rework, most of the action in most matches takes place in the main front hall. Haddonfield's games take place mostly in one side of the street or the other, Azarov's Resting Place takes place on one side of the long skinny "bone" or the other, etc.

I like that the action on Disturbed Ward plays out fairly equally throughout a match.

Now, I want to discuss some hypothetical changes, and critically + practically discuss some proposed changes I've seen both here and elsewhere, and after discussing these, ultimately propose some changes that I think would address player concerns without removing the features that players love from Disturbed Ward:

If we do eliminate the deep pockets by bringing the tiles closer into the map and eliminate the inner walls (which block Nurse blinks), to turn the map from looking like this:

To looking more like this:

Objectively, the map would be smaller and easier to patrol for Killers. However, now we've opened up an incredible amount of easy synergy and opportunities for reliable maze tiles to be chained into each other, not even factoring in connecting filler loop pallets:

Suddenly, the Killer has lost their upper hand on approaching these tiles, and now Survivors can easily start pre-running to other tiles. This gives Disturbed Ward the same kind Survivor-sided advantage that's currently plaguing some areas of Ormond right now. The above solution, as it is, would create a whole new set of problems.

I also hesitate to suggest shrinking the map down to this size or any smaller, as I fear making the map too small could make it very frustrating and unfun to play on as Survivor. Yes, it is a large map, but thanks to the size of Main Building there are already surprisingly relatively very few pallet resources on this map, with the main resources for Survivors to run on the map being window vaults found on the maze tiles throughout the map.

Replacing a few of these maze tiles with filler pallet tiles while also reducing the map size as shown above could potentially make the map too barren for Survivors to play around in late game, and recreate an issue found on some maps where Survivors keep chasing in one section of the map because they know it's unsafe to go elsewhere.

However, replacing the left cul-de-sac with pallets could potentially create ample distance between structures, should the map be shrunk down:

It's worth noting that this garden section of the map in front of the Asylum's entrance has almost no reliable structures: These are very wide, open treacherous areas of the map where a generator always spawns, and only a couple pallet resources will spawn nearby. The Disturbed Ward is large, but large swaths of it are contained back here where there are minimal resources:

For this entire section of the map, there are only 2 resources that ever spawn:

So, while these garden sections of the map do take up a lot of space, chases through here usually are very difficult for Survivors to carry for long periods of time, and are usually pretty fatal late-game.

The gardens are a great space for gameplay, as the lack of resources makes Survivor stealth incredibly important; contesting these generators is important for both sides (they are strong generators for the Killer to patrol, so it's important for Survivors to attack these and important for the Killer to not lose them too early), and the gardens offer tons of stealth opportunities thanks to the trellises and large hedges, making sure this area of the map isn't completely unplayable.

Overall, this makes the gen spread of Disturbed Ward fairly reasonable: Just less than half of the generators are relatively unsafe for Survivors to stay at for too long (which is good), and the main building is constantly being frequented and pressured by both sides thanks to the map's flow, which makes it a consistently exciting place to be.

If, to keep the identity of the map's gameplay as it is, the map stayed the same but generators in the cul-de-sacs reliably spawned towards the center of the map, then strong 3-genning opportunities will arise in this corner of the map (even with the anti 3-gen system, which genuinely works really well, it can take a while to break these 3-gens, which is not fun). This would keep the map's identity without it changing shape, but would leave those deep pockets devoid of relevant match gameplay that's not worth Killers chasing into those cul-de-sacs as there are no objectives down there. This is not an ideal solution.

I think a better way to break up the map and also making it smaller to make it easier for Killer patrols, while keeping the identity of the gameplay, and also not creating situations where generator spawns are too close would be to reshape it very slightly to make only one of the Cul-de-Sacs shallower while keeping the inner wall to prevent easy chaining of tiles, such as this:

I would choose the left-sided Cul De Sac to shallow out as it is already in close-ish proximity to the adjacent Maze Tile above it. The bottom cul-de-sac is farther away from the right-side maze tile, making it harder to reach in a chase, so the strength of this side does not need weakened too much. Only having one pocket section of the map to have a high-risk/high-reward patrol cul-de-sac rather than two would greatly ease Killer patrols, while still keeping one that offers Killers an area of upper-hand advantage on the map.

The semi-pocket remaining on the left side (created by keeping the inner wall separating the two tiles) can create a smaller microcosm of the gameplay that gives Killers an upper-hand in the larger version of the cul-de-sac, without granting as many easy loop-chaining opportunities.

If it is determined the above proposal still has too many maze tiles, I think replacing the left cul-de-sac with filler pallet tiles while maintaining the inner wall to keep these pseudo-cul-de-sacs in this type of configuration could also help improve map gameplay by removing Shack's proximity to too many maze tiles:

In this configuration, I think no section of the map here is too isolated from each other to act as its own island separated from the rest of the map, as from any direction Survivors can head inwards towards Main to keep the chase going, and take the chase to another side of the map (rather than staying in the isolated map section for too long).

I think either of these layout tweak propositions, combined with some small changes to Main building (making multi/intra-floor chase routes like the one I recorded a video of more obvious and eye-catching for both roles, while reducing the strength of the one window vault surrounded by debris) could greatly improve chase flow throughout the whole map for Killers, without removing fun gameplay opportunities for either role from the map or flipping the tables and making the map too strenuous and difficult to play on as Survivor.

Do not touch the "HOLE" it would be a cardinal sin.

Oh, Xeno and Sadako don't have tv in one main of one map? Shall I tell you about all the places that spawn no lockers for Dredge?

(Seriously though, good mention for the map discussion, just highlights how neglected Dredge is in this regard)

Main building is awful. Very survivor sided. Im sure it’s not the intent by any means but good thing about this map, that’s really the only issue! It’s a good map in general in my opinion.

Disturbed Ward has one of the most complicated, maze-like main buildings in the game. It also has a mix of multiple strong pallets and strong windows, which is unusual. This makes it very survivor sided. However, this wouldn't be a problem if the map wasn't so big. Considering how large the main building is, the map is ridiculously large. The loops and jungle gyms outside the main building are taken from maps that have much smaller, less safe main buildings and can thus stay balanced with these loops. On Disturbed Ward, they make the map even more survivor sided. The generators are also spread across the map, making them difficult to patrol. This, combined with the main building, makes this map very survivor sided.

The size also leads to there being a lot of empty space at the edges of the map.

Overall, the map has an incredibly strong main building for survivors, and it is very large, which makes it survivor-sided.

One of the most survivor-sided maps in the entire game. It's very big and has too many filler pallets and maze gyms. Main building is incredibly strong even without pallets. My suggestions are to reduce the size of this map, remove one god pallets from the main building, and remove one maze tiles.

I think its almost balanced bit svr sided but plays more comfy for svr a lot

Please stop making appear 2 gens in the same building, is ridiculous

This map is weird. On one hand I really like it on both sides, but on the other had I hate how big it is and how many strong and combinable loops there are. I once looped a Legion for 4 min at 1 Gen left on this map with 3 pallets left standing all over it. True WoO and Adre helped, but this should not be possible with a map of this size. There should be deadzones so the killer can catch me at that stage of the match.