Nightmare: My Overambitious and Unnecessarily Complicated Rework Alternative

First Order of business... GeneralV trumps literally everything I say here!

Of course, we all know that the man, the myth, the legend, our very own @GeneralV is the real voice of the Nightmare, and his rework I fully support. Even with my own personal preferences regarding Freddy, very few people have put the time in that he has, and as such his rework should always be front runner…

It largely includes Freddy being mostly reverted, but with his teleport power kept in tact. For those interested his version is available here:

This rework I am behind for the unique experience and identity it offers Freddy, however there are few concerns and elephants in the room that give me a lot of concerns about the realism of seeing this rework being realised...

• This version of Freddy was heavily review bombed by survivors, forcing the rework from BVHR. This alone makes a revert of Freddy a very unappealing gamble for BVHR right out of the gate.
• Old Freddy was typically countered by more skilled players using old Self Care to get skillchecks. Self care was meta and common back then, but now this is far less feasible and unlikely to be an option.
• His slow down is extremely strong, like Pinhead or Pig on crack. Even though he is just an M1 killer, his gameplay being that of constantly wanting to yoink the team into the dream means survivors have to constantly miss skillchecks (10%) to get rid of this huge repair penalty. Combined with his TPs, this level of slowdown will be far, far too much to handle for your casual/new soloQ team, and the problems of the previous 2 issues get amplified significantly.

While I don't see myself having too many problems with this direction... I just can't see it being well received by the general DBD populace... and the recent thread about extending gen times only to raises my concerns even more. There is also the issue that with add-ons relating to skillchecks, punishments via skillchecks are generally considered to be something that hurts newer players far more than veterans.

My Rework Goal

So as a long term fan of the character/films myself, and with the renewed hope of Freddy coming up for changes at some point, I wanted to put forward my own suggestion as a possible alternative. I understand the Freddy we have in DBD is 2010 Freddy, but even so a lot of the main tropes of Freddy are kept alive in that film, and tbh it has grown on me recently (thanks largely to a discussion with the General), so this is the version I will happily target.

The main ambition of this rework is to hybridise the best parts of OG and modern Freddy with some new stuff. I would want him to take the constant unneasy feeling of never completely knowing exactly how far you are from being pulled into the dream (which is what the original achieved), but combine it with the idea that once you are in the dream, you are in Freddy's domain (which the newer version achieves… passably well…). With this mind, I want to : -

• Have a clear distinction in the presentation of Freddy between survivors in the dream, and survivors who are awake.
• Make it far more unclear to survivors when they are vulnerable to the dream. A big part of Freddy in the films his victims don't know when they're sleeping/in his dream until its too late.
• Make it more difficult to escape the dream.
• Maintain Freddy's Global Presence via his TP, and grant him his omnipotent knowledge of you being in his domain.
• Give Freddy an interesting and thematically satisfying chase power (Instead of this raw gen slowdown). Bonus points if it makes Freddy feel like he has a wide variety of abilities from the films.
• Gives a good reason to come off gens and escape from the dream if Freddy pulls you in.

The Rework

Power: Dream Demon

SURVIVOR SPECIAL STATE: MICROSLEEP (AWAKE)

The mere presence of The Nightmare induces Microsleep in awake Survivors, causing them to passively build up microsleep in the trial.

• Each survivor has a pool of 100 charges of microsleep. At 100 charges the survivor falls asleep and enters the Dream World.
• A survivor's current microsleep charges are not shown to survivors, and is only visible to the Nightmare.
• Microsleep builds at a rate of 1 c/s, up to a maximum of 80 charges.
• Conspicuous actions increase the microsleep charge rate to 2 c/s, up to a maximum of 80 charges.
• Missing a skillcheck immediately adds 20 charges of microsleep.
• Microsleep can also be gained from the Dream Projection and Dream Torment: Nightmare Visions abilities of the Nightmare (see below).
• Survivors who are awake cannot hear the Nightmares Terror Radius, and can only hear a non-directional Lullaby instead.
• Survivors greater than or equal to 80 charges of microsleep will see the Nightmare intermittently when he is within 24m.

SURVIVOR SPECIAL STATE: ASLEEP

Survivors who fall asleep automatically enter the Dream World and suffer from the following effects while inside it:

• Causes them to be susceptible to damage from basic attacks by the Nightmare.
• Causes them to be susceptible to Dream Torments from the Nightmare.
• Allows them to hear the Nightmare's 24m terror radius.

SURVIVOR SPECIAL INTERATION: WAKE UP

Survivors can escape the Dream World by : -

• Being woken up by an awake allied Survivor. (6 seconds)
• Reaching and interacting with a Dream Transistion Item (Adrenaline Vile/Steam Vent/Fireplace/Alarm Clock) (3 seconds)
• Being rescued from hook wakes up the survivor (Instantaneous)

SPECIAL PASSIVE ABILITY: DREAM DEMON

• The Nightmare is invisible, inaudible and non-interactable for awake Survivors.
• The Nightmare can see, but cannot injure awake Survivors using basic attacks or abilities.
• When a survivor is asleep, or when an awake survivor reaches greater than or equal to 80 charges of microsleep, their aura is immediately revealed to the Nightmare for 6 seconds as soon as they are greater than 28m from the Nightmare. While they remain over 28m from the Nightmare, their aura will be revealed again every 30s. (This pulsing version is to ensure no weird interations with Distortion perma blocking an aura reveal).

SPECIAL ABILITY: DREAM PROJECTION

When targetting a Generator press and hold the Secondary Power button to charge the Dream Projection meter. While charging the Dream Projection meter the targetted Generator will spew blood and a Projecton of the Nightmare will begin to spawn, visible to both awake and asleep survivors. The Nightmare is not slowed casting this ability:

• Dream projection takes 3s to charge. Release before fully charged to cancel the Dream Projection ability.
• Once the Dream Projection meter is full, teleport to the projection, putting the teleport on a 45s cooldown.
• Any survivor within 16m of the Nightmare after he teleports to the projection immediately gains 20 microsleep.
• Each survivor that is asleep reduces the cooldown of Dream Projection by 15% up to a maximum of 60% faster recharge.

SPECIAL ATTACK: SADISTIC SHADOW

The Nightmare casts his shadow along the ground and through walls that grows larger in a cone over distance. The centre of the shadow gains more powerful effects based on how far it travels. The Nightmare enjoys drawing out the torment of the victims in his domain, and being hit by his Shaow inflicts differing Dream Torments based on how close they are to death.

• Sadistic Shadow takes 1s to charge.
• Shares the same animation on the Nightmare as Dream Projection. While charging/charged the Nightmare is intermittently visible to awake survivors.
• When released the shadow moves at a speed of 11m/s.
• Cooldown between each cast is 5s.
• Reduces the Nightmare's movement speed by 20% (3.8m/s) when charging Sadistic Shadow.
• The Shadow spawns Freddy's claws down its central line after 8m (0.8s) to mark it's centre hitbox. The centre hitbox is approximately 60% of the overall width of the Shadow.
• The only audible indication of the Shadow is a drone originating from the shadow itself, not at the point the shadow being cast. Otherwise it's merely the animation of the Nightmare casting the ability that serves as a warning it is being cast.
• Each survivor hit by the shadow experiences a Dream Torment.

DREAM TORMENT INTERACTIONS

• Nightmare Visions: An awake Survivor hit by any part of the shadow will gain microsleep at a rate of 8 c/s up to a maximum of 100 charges, and see the Nightmare intermittently when he is within 24m.
• Omnipresent Mockery: An asleep Survivor hit within 8m, or the outer area of the Shadow will be affected by Omnipresent Mockery. A projection of the Nightmare's face/head appears out of the floor/wall next to the survivor and their aura is revealed to the Nightmare for 8s. 30% chance for the head to laugh.
• Deadly Shadow: An asleep and healthy survivor hit by the centre point of the shadow within 8 to 14m of the spawn point of the shadow will be affected by Deadly Shadow, creating an invisible projection next to that survivor. The Nightmare can press the ability button again to immediately teleport to that projection and swing with a basic attack to injure them. This effect cannot occur more than once during any cast of Sadistic Shadow; once a teleport has been taken a new projection will not be created for any other survivors the shadow hits.
• Blood Snare: An asleep and injured survivor hit within 8 to 14m of the spawn point of the shadow will be affected by Blood Snare. A bloody pool of hands will grab and claw at the survivors legs, causing them to scream and holding them fast, trapping them for 1s unable to interact with pallets or windows. The survivors can then move again, pulling their feet free of the hands over 2.5s, suffering a 80% hindered effect for the duration.

Add Ons

Brown

• Garden Rake
  • After hitting an asleep survivor with Dream Torment: Omnipresent Mockery, for 10s the Nightmare:
    • Recovers from pallets stuns 20% faster. Does not include when carrying a survivor.
    • Breaks pallets 5% faster.
• Kids Drawing
  • Reduces the range of Sadistic Shadow by 2m.
  • Grants 200% bloodpoints in the Devious category when hitting a Survivor with a Dream Torment.
• Sheep Block
  • Survivors hit by Dream Torment: Nightmare Visions suffer from the blindness status effect for 60s.
• Wool Shirt
  • Initiating a fast vault immediately grants 5 microsleep to awake survivors.

Yellow

• Cat Block
  • (Unchanged) Using Dream Projection triggers killer instinct for 4 seconds on all survivors within 16m of the Generator you teleported to.
• Green Dress
  • The aura reading from Dream Demon on asleep or near asleep survivors last an additional 1.5 seconds.
• Nancy's Sketch
  • (Unchanged) Reduces the cooldown duration of Dream Projection by an additional 2% for each asleep Survivor, up to a maximum of 8%. (Stronger as the dream is harder to escape now, and Nightmare has vision)
• Outdoor Rope
  • Increases the speed of Sadistic Shadow by 8% (0.88m/s)
• Prototype Claws
  • After hitting an asleep survivor with Dream Torment: Omnipresent Mockery, for 10s the Nightmare:
    • Recovers from pallets stuns 20% faster. Does not include when carrying a survivor.
    • Breaks pallets 10% faster.

Green

• Blue Dress
  • The aura reading from Dream Demon on asleep or near asleep survivors last an additional 3 seconds.
• Jump Rope
  • Increases the width of the centre of Sadistic Shadow by 6% (I don't have a width value for Doctor, which I'm basing this power off as a narrower/longer version of that…. but I imagine this value would be one that couldn't be tweaked much)
• Nancy's Masterpiece
  • (Unchanged) Reduces the cooldown duration of Dream Projection by an additional 3% for each asleep Survivor, up to a maximum of 12%. (Stronger as the dream is harder to escape now, and Nightmare has vision)
• Paint Thinner
  • After hitting an asleep survivor with Dream Torment: Omnipresent Mockery, for 10s the Nightmare:
    • Recovers from pallets stuns 20% faster. Does not include when carrying a survivor.
    • Breaks pallets 15% faster.
• Unicorn Block
  • Injuring a survivor after using Dream Torment: Deadly Shadow inflicts the Haemorrage effect for 90 seconds.

Purple

• "Z" Block
  • (Unchanged) Using Dream Projection triggers killer instinct for 6 seconds on all survivors within 16m of the Generator you teleported to.
• Class Photo
  • (Unchanged) When channelling Dream Projection, the following effects apply:
    • All Generators spew blood.
    • Suppresses the appearance of the Husk.
    • You can no longer cancel Dream Projection.
• Pill Bottle
  • After hitting an asleep survivor with Dream Torment: Blood Snare the survivor is trapped for an additional 0.5s and suffers hindered for an additional 0.5s.
• Swing Chains
  • Injuring a survivor after using Dream Torment: Deadly Shadow inflicts the Mangled effect for 90 seconds.

Iridescent

• Black Box
  • Unlocks the ability to use Dream Projection on completed generators.
• Red Paint Brush
  • Survivors start the trial with the following microsleep levels randomly distributed between them: 10, 40, 70, 100.

Points of Consideration/Final Word

1. Why is the Sadistic Shadow ability the one to pull survivors into the dream?
   The old ability targetted a specific survivor, and I wanted to retain some of the "dream powers" idea of the Nightmare in the current form. Unfortunately cause the dream yoink is a target ability, if I want a dream power, it also needs to target onto an asleep survivor using the target logic, as Dream Projecion is already on the second button. If I made a dream power on a point and click target ability, the Nightmare simply turns it on with no skill required, and making an interactive ability that works this way seems basically impossible.
   
   Instead I made Sadistic Shadow an easy to hit skillshot for the benign effects, with a hard to hit skill shot in the centre for the stronger effects.
   
2. Why does Sadistic Shadow have so many effects?
   I wanted the Nightmare to feel like he has a lot of different powers in the dream, as for Freddy to feel like Freddy, the scope of what he is capable of should not feel limited. With that said, I didn't want to have an awkward means of cycling through them and I wanted his dream projection available at all times… I attempted to solve this by having Dream Torment be multi-effect that changes it behaviour based on the distance the power is used and the survivor health at the time they are hit.
   
   I was inpired by abilities like that of Camille from League of Legends, and thought there isn't an ability like this in DBD, and it might work out quite neatly. That said just having a long range sweep like this would be crushingly strong… so I made it a narrow 2 part ability.
   
   
3. Why can't the centre of Sadistic Shadow hit at close range?
   Sadstic Shadow is a damaging skillshot like Artist Crows or Pyramid Head PoD, that spreads out like Doctor Shock Therapy or Vecna Flight of the Damned. The further it goes, the harder it is to juke left and right. I also didn't want it to just ape the best parts of these powers and be a overpowered boring window/pallet lock off. This means in order for there to be meaningful counterplay a skilled survivor needs somewhere they can run, and with this we have a unique mind game where you can juke towards the Nightmare to avoid the damage. The Nightmare can also bait it by using Dream Projection (the same animation without the slowdown) instead, and cancel it.
   
4. Why is Sadistic Shadow a projectile not an instantaneous effect?
   Sadistic Shadow doesn't work like other ground abilities like Doctor of Pyramid head by marking an area then striking it, it's basically a ground projectile that moves along the floor, so is meant as an anti-distance/zoning tool. Although it is fast, it is not instantaneous, and the Nightmare can use it to cut off paths ahead of the survivor over 8m. Juking towards the Nightmare to eat the Shadow early before it inflicts its more dangerous effects is a valid response, but when used through walls with no audible warning, breaking line of sight against the Nightmare is not such a good idea. Keeping him close as an M1 killer is the easier way to track what he's doing, and ensure he is not getting more value out of his Ominpresent Mockery to line up a more devastating Dream Torment effects against you.
   
5. The Dream Torment effect (Blood Snare) on an injured survivor is worse than the effect of Deadly Shadow… why?
   Freddy is not intended with this rework to be a ranged killer. The Sadistic Shadow ability comes back fast, and the main idea of the Nightmare in this version is to use his global knowledge and surprise yoinks into the dream to score hits early. With the Nightmare's strong map wide knowledge and quick "stealth" hits, his Dream World needs a reason for survivors to care enough to try and escape it.
   
   The quote unquote "damage" abilities of his power are fast, wide, far reaching and hard to see. They are hard to hit, but mostly serve as a "don't try to hold W" type ability, to force sideways and even backwards jukes. The Deadly Shadow Torment teleports you closer to the target; it is very on brand for Freddy to appear and dig you in the ribs then let you run, and has synergies with the likes of rapid brutality and STBFL.
   
   The Blood Snare is weaker to keep to the theme of him tormenting his victims, letting them squirm. From a gameplay perspective, this is to keep Freddy mostly relying on his M1's and map mobility to get downs. The survivor here can still make use of pallets and windows if they are nearby, unless Freddy has to detour quite heavily, but he should be able to make a hit most of the time. This also buys time for body blocks (although this is mitigated if noone else is within the dream).
   
6. The pallet add-ons are gone… sadge…
   I tried to preserve the dream pallets idea somewhat by allowing the Pallet add-ons to be stacked to grant instead grant a fast stun recovery and pallet break speed. This naturally synergises with Freddy's own perk Fire Up, as well as allows a psuedo version of Dream Pallet to be created using some combination Enduring, Brutal Strength, Spirit Fury, or Fire Up. Has potential to be nasty with the likes of Hubris.
   
   I never thought this was that appropriate, as Doctor already kinda does this already, and his power isn't so reliant on them as Freddy's in this scneario.
   
7. This seems like a load of buffs, Freddy already has a high killrate…
   Freddy right now catches new players out a lot because his terror radius doesn't help them work out where he is coming from once they are asleep. This new Freddy has his TR and will need to work for his downs. A survivor might be able to juke him long enough to reach a wake up point or another survivor and escape.

Overall I wanted Nightmare much less predictable. The numbers are up for debate, but obviously this is a major rework. I took my best shot at what would work, but without a PTB to refine it and alike. I have no illusions this will ever actually be a thing… but it was fun to write, and I hope if nothing else, it might inspire some interesting ideas for some smarter DBD folk than me.

Cheers! 🤘