A possible buffer for Hex Perks?

TotesRider · July 13

Kinda inspired by a thread i saw discussing why hex perks are unpopular for killers.

I was thinking of some potential ideas that could help alleviate some of the frustrations us killer players have with hexes.

So what do y'all think of a sort of buffer period at the start of a trial before hex perks start to work? Like let's say it works like corrupt intervention where hex perks won't activate until either a survivor is down or some time has passed?

Granted this idea is kinda tricky when dealing with perks like Ruin that's supposed to help stall the early game.

What do you think?

HerInfernalMajesty · July 13

Yeah definitely I’m all for trying new things with totems.

When playing Survivor I do enjoy cleansing totems if the tempo of the match allows me to. The challenges where I have to cleanse five totems are fun because it lets me use my totem build: Small Game, Detective’s Hunch, Kindred, and Open-Handed. I’ll use these perks while bringing a map that can track totems.

Case-in-point, those challenges are really fun. The only time I cleanse is if I’m doing a challenge, playing stealthy, or if I see a Hex totem.

What I really want to feel on the Survivor side is that totem hunting is a worthy side objective. Making Hexes be high risk high reward is fine if the gimmick wasn’t already ingrained into us which is why obviously perks like Pentimento exist.

One thing I find fascinating is how much value Bloodwarden gets. We all know that gates almost always get 99%. It’s dominated the minds of the Survivors. It’s just one perk! The whole totem system should have that impact.

There aren’t enough Hexes like Pentimento. Hexes need to work in all sorts of crazy ways. It should be when as a Survivor you have no idea whatsoever what you’re in for when cleansing. Maybe cleansing will activate something maybe it won’t, but if you don’t then the Killer gets to keep their power. It makes the rng aspect of it switch from totem spawn locations to the effects of the Hexes themselves. Some Survivors are brave and will cleanse, some are careful and would rather work around the Hex power. Survivor player cautiousness vs risk taking personality itself becomes the rng. And beautifully enough the counter to it all can be booning a totem.

@C3Tooth Has great ideas about this topic.

Blueberry · July 13

Well they could still be active at the start, just not make them show lit on a totem until your first down or 60 seconds, ect.

So they could hypothetically cleanse it early if they spawn and start breaking dulls, but they could also just be wasting time.

mizark3 · July 13

They have shown that they can make a totem become lit mid-match (see Hex:Face The Darkness/Plaything), so just adjust all totems to work the same. Hex: Devour? Only spawn on first unhook granting a token. Hex: Huntress Lullaby? Spawn on first hook. Hex: Crowd Control? On first fast vault after a chase (so people don't vault a window on spawn to cheese it). Hexes that should be there from the start? Maybe spawn in 15-30s (randomly) from the start of the match. There might even be a case to simply spawn in all Hexes at 60s instead, but I prefer the idea of them spawning in when they become relevant.

In addition, some people might cleanse totems they spawn next to in order to prevent totems from spawning at all. In order to counter this, simply Entity Block totem spots until the above 15-30s random timer runs out. Make sure to use the loud anti-3gen Regression limit to help newer players find totem spots. Also this might be good to be mutually exclusive with Corrupt Intervention. Either protect totems, or protect gens, and since we see how bad for the game 4 slowdown is, this might be needed.

Also since we have Pinhead and box spawn logic (spawn the furthest from all players), we can reverse the logic and make Hexes spawn away from Survivors, (and ignore the Killer). Just re-use the code logic, and swap Killer and Survivor for the distance values.

As a separate final buff, I'd say 1 'Pentimento' styled respawn should be basekit. You can place a totem on any cleansed totem spot once per match (replacing the first cleansed totem from your perks) back at 0 stacks (if applicable). Alternatively, we could map each perk to a D-pad/keybind, and that determines which totem you replace. Also, potentially as a separate buff to Shattered Hope, increase this (by 2) to 3 respawns (or even just by 4 to 5, it really isn't in a good spot right now, but this also might be too rough fighting up to 6 Ruins [see old Forever Freddy]).

So to sum up

Spawn totems when the first token/action relevant happens, or randomly 15-30s otherwise (Haunted Ground/Ruin)
Entity block totems during the above timer. (To prevent pre-cleanses to prevent Hex Spawns).
Spawn Hexes away from Survivors using Pinhead box logic but for totems
Allow 1 totem respawn per match (resetting tokens to 0) with a Pentimento style respawn (aka using the Rekindled Mechanic)

Many of these are broad statements/suggestions other people have made, but just pinned down to more specific things.

C3Tooth · July 14

Make Hex perks lower risk with lower strength. Act as a side objective for survivor. Using a single Hex perk can force survivors to cleanse 3-4 totems. And because it only activated after a hook, so survivors spawn next to a Hex and cleanse it is no more possible.

I dont think Hex perks should get a buff, but changed how they work, at least that killer dominate the Totem game.

Royval · July 14

make all totems not be able to be broken until the first gen pop.

ARTRA · July 14

I would love that hexes have a strong power and a weak one that last when broken.

Like huntress lullaby, you miss skillcheks being harder but keep 6% fail penalty or devour hope keep that 10 seconds speed after hook.

Marioneo · July 14

Modernize all old hex perks to be like new hex perks they don't light until the condition is triggered

Ruin = lights when a survivor progresses a gen

Devour hope = lights when the first survivor is hooked

JPLongstreet · July 14

https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/420082/a-possible-buffer-for-hex-perks

How about they combine the gen blocking and totem blocking effects both to Corrupt Intervention, and adjust the duration as need be? Often the totem spawns are unfortunate for the killer, and that should be looked at too.