Another Skull Merchant Discussion
I play solo Q for the most part, simply because a lot of my friends have moved on from DBD. The problem is that means I put my faith in random teammates. Sometimes they're awesome, other times they're either new or a bit scatterbrained. Which is also fine despite the frustrations at times. The real issue I've noticed is the immediate choice for a random survivor to just give up because they don't like [insert Killer here] or the perk combos they're using. I say "Skull Merchant" because right now, playing against her almost ALWAYS guarantees a survivor running straight to her like a lemming to a cliffside.
I also play as her frequently because I actually like her playstyle, her design and her multifarious nature. But every-other game, I'll get someone who straight up gives up on hook or seeks me out to try and leave as fast as possible without consideration tot he fact that the game relies on team effort for the Survivor's success.
It's baffling.
Sometimes, I feel so bad I end up playing super nice to appease the other poor souls being left with a massive hinderance by their teammate's choice. But I queued up to have a fun, and intense game, not to just play nice and give everyone a heaping supper of BP at the expense of an actual game.
Yes, she can be very frustrating, but she actually DOES have counters; You can Stop moving for the tiniest second to allow the radar to pass over you, or crouch for that moment, you can disable drones or just work on gens without worrying about it revealing you since they're movement based. The Skull merchant HAS to actively chase you or others to get proper usage of her Power.
But everyone is just so up in arms about her that 99% of the time, they just refuse to adapt, refuse to learn how to handle her. Because "Buttt CHASE WITH HER IS BORING SHE JUST PUTS DOWN A DRONE AND AND AND"
There are SO MANY more powerful, more frustrating characters that can get a leg up on you, yet this is the Killer that is apparently too much to bear.
But actually, no, this issue is far too common and not just with Adriana. People are quick to give up when the going gets tough, because "It's not fun versus [Insert Killer that 99% of the time is The Skull Merchant]."
My question is, what is your definition of fun then? Because the character is a Chase and Trap Based one with ailments as her schtick and tracking.
So there should be plenty of fun in outmaneuvering her Drones, in successfully lasting the duration of a Claw Trap's Clutches, in performing a clutch Drone Hack just as someone else is about to run through so you spare them the Hinderance as they're mid-chase. Heck she's even got jumps care potential which everyone really seems to love on any other Stealth character.
This problem is based on ignorance, on a willing refusal to participate simply because the person throwing the game refuses to acknowledge that they need to learn the counters, that they need to understand and realize sometimes things aren't going to go as smoothly as they anticipate. You're up against so many different playstyles on so many different characters; there's gonna be players who are bound to outplay you.
Obviously, there's a lot of people who actually DO try their best or just have fun in the situation without worrying or being angry. But I find myself in more and more matches where Someone chooses to give up simply cuz they don't like the commitment of hitting "Play".
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It really is strange how people don't even know about skull merchant but decide to complain 24/7, I suspect BHVR could do SM rework 100 times and people would immediately go hook suicide against that entire variations of SMs
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I play her from time to time, casually though (still my fav main together with Oreo)
I guess the sting with the whole "chess merchant" and predator hype is still being felt no?
Highly suggest you look up PixelBush' 1.5 vid about SM, both to learn her further and play against her.
Put the drones away and shes just your regular m1 killer hehe
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- Haste after releasing drones, ability to recall drones in any time, from anywhere on the map
- Undetectable on demand with simply releasing drone
- Giving survivors Broken status effect, also deep wound if already wounded
- Giving survivors Hindered when they have claw trap, triggering instinct
And if you pair that with meta build and some nasty addons, what would you expect exactly?
If someone brings her, I assume they want easy game, so I go straight to basement to make the game even easier for them.She shouldn't have this much in her basekit, period.
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She doesn't get Haste after setting down a drone, for the record. She gets Haste when a drone scans someone.
It's also worth pointing out that other killers do comparable amount of things, they're just not all literal status effects so it stands out less. There's exactly one status effect I don't think she needs - Deep Wounds - and the rest all make perfect sense and aren't particularly egregious.
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She has to walk all the way to the other side of the map to replace the drone. Lots of time wasted. Plus it’s hard to see from a distance if the drone was hacked or not.
There’s still a cooldown on drones with her undetectable. It also doesn’t last long.
She’s B tier at best.
If you stand still completely don’t get scanned.If you’re crouched you don’t get scanned.
drones can be hacked for 45 seconds. (Like I said before she has to walk across the map to put it back. Big time waster)
they provide far less intel than before.
they don’t expose you anymore
she can’t manually activate them anymore for intel on demand.
she can’t 3 gen well with them anymore by if you’re not moving on a drone nothing happens
It’s easier than ever to counter her. People just choose not to. Not her fault.
Is she perfect by design, no. What killer is?What would you suggest that’s reasonable that she should have? I’m all for bringing back Skull Merchant 1.0. FR.
She’s literally an M1. Claw traps in SM 1.0 were way easier to apply. (Not saying in 2.0 they’re not)
Post edited by MechWarrior3 on1 -
And yet all this is required by getting scanned MULTIPLE times.
- Haste only comes into play if a Survivor is Scanned. It isnt automatic on placing a drone, a survivor has to be detected.
- Undetectable lasts 8 seconds basekit and is on a cooldown. Also, Wraith Onryō say "Hi".
- Claw Trapped Survivors have to be scanned 3 times (which they have immunity between scans for 3 seconds basekit), and the deepwound is meant to be something that potentially allows for time waste because an broken survivor can just do a gen if theyre not being pressure.
- The Hindered and Killer Instinct are again meant to create an active threat if you dont treat the drones with proper respect.
That's the concept. MULTIPLE scans that can be put off or avoided all together so long as you do things like. Oh I don't know, crouch, leave the drone range, move behind an obstacle, Etc etc etc. you can literally just force her to attack normally and use the sprint to leave the active range.
Learn the counters its very VERY simple.1 -
Everyone is so traumatized by a design that isn't even in the game anymore. It's physically painful how many matches against her or as her is completely tipped because of survivors throwing a tantrum.
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For real. I'd be fine with the deep wounds being removed but again that's a sort of "Buildup of danger" thanks to being scanned.
Plague literally breaks you all game, makes you loud, reveals you with stink lines, applies geographical information if you touch vaults, and you can't get in a locker because low and behold its suddenly covered in puke.
Legion applies deepwound, has buildup of speed/Haste per hit, has detection in a range of 40 meters (his terror radius increases by 8 meters) and a technical insta down if he gets enough feral slashes.
ANyone can sound overly complicated if you just list the attributes.2 -
Except maybe Huntress.
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They did a good job changing her they can't do much more. She is now mid tier not strong not weak and can't 3 gen. She will be like a lot of other killers not fun to play against but it is what it is. Most killers are boring to face and Skullie can't change her past.
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