Question for the killers mains.

Knowing when to drop chase it not easy for a lot of people.

I typically think of how long I have already been chasing, if the Survivor has been hit during the chase, was already injured, or is still healthy can also play a part in this since it is often more ideal to leave a long chase if you have already gotten nothing from it.

I also like to consider the location of the Survivor, nearby resources they have access, and perks they are using that could extend the chase further. If a Survivor runs themselves into a deadzone, of course Im going to take my hit, see where they ran, and decide if it is worth it for me.

Finally, it is important to consider playstyles. Some Survivors actually loop while other Survivors camp pallets and instantly drop them when you get close. While camping pallets might be boring to go against, it burns through resources faster, so you get hits later on you otherwise would not get since Survivors have less to work with.

TLDR; there is a lot to consider, it is mostly personal preference and experience that dictates what you do.

Freddy used to be an excellent teacher on this subject because you could see everyone's auras while they were in the Dream World. So if you were chasing someone and you know what the other 2 or even 3 survivors are doing that creates an opportunity for decision making. Maybe chasing the survivor isn't worth it when all of the others are trying to get skill checks on generators. Or maybe you're about to catch them and the others are wasting time, so you can commit.

I am using Freddy as an example because he is the killer that I play, but in his current state that idea of controlling the map doesn't exist. At least not in the way it used to. These days, if it looks like I won't be able to catch the survivor any time soon then I'll drop the chase.

I rarely let a chase go much beyond bloodlust 1, but it's subjective. The skill of the survivor, the strength of the tiles they are running, if they're taking you away from unfinished gens, and a number of other factors can go into the decision to drop the chase. And really a lot of it just comes down to putting a lot of time in game to develop that sense. One good rule of thumb - don't chase people who obviously want to be chased (unless they are clearly delusional about their chase skills).

And not letting your ego get in the way. Not knowing when (or getting tilted and being unwilling) to drop chase is probably the biggest issue for inexperienced killers. You'll hear tall tales of five gen chases (I've seen one, literally one of these in about 5K hours), but allowing chases to go on too long will absolutely ruin you.

I'm not a killer "main" (I play both sides about equally), but it's really difficult to answer that question because it depends on many different factors in the game. I'd recommend watching some educational YouTube videos for advice about how to chase and tips for deciding when to drop chase. For me personally, I will usually only drop chase if I know the survivors is likely going to be able to continue looping me through a series of strong tiles chained together without using pallets. Other than that, if I know I will down them eventually while also forcing them to use pallets, that helps give me a better chance to win later on.

That depends on the match, the survivors, your killer, the map, your loadout and a variety of other things. Unfortunately there is no one size fits all approach here.

Personally I almost always play completely without slowdown, so I cannot chase after someone for a long time. That means I'll look for an opportunity to get an easy hit and when I realise, I won't get it, I'll take the first convenient moment to switch targets.

Especially on high mobility killers I often drop chases and begin "poking" the survivors until something has to give and I get an easy hit / down. However, you cannot do that forever. At some point you will need something to slow down the game, so you'll have to commit to a chase even when it may take a little longer.

Some ways to make your chases shorter are to play around exhaustion perks, use your own chase perks, know which tiles to mind game and which to brute force, picking your target(s) and proper zoning.

If you can pressure a survivor towards the edge of the map when they use their exhaustion perk it becomes a lot harder for them to get to stronger loops. Likewise you can try to bait out an exhaustion perk and immediately switch targets if even for a moment. You'll have a chance to find that survivor again while they're still exhausted.

Perks like STBFL, Bamboozle, Brutal Strength and Rapid Brutality can shorten your chases quite a bit.

Some tiles in the game are so strong, that it's not worth it to spend time on mind gaming. Especially if the survivors look out for you and use check spots. The shack is one such loop for almost all M1 killers (Doctor is a bit of an exception) and so are jungle gyms and some main buildings. By extension even brute forcing can take too long, so if you need a really quick down on a killer without an effective chase power for that loop, it might be better to leave as soon as you realise they'll make it there.

Picking your target is a strategical decision that survivors won't always appreciate but in general, you want to go after the survivor with the least protection. Meaning, if you find someone that's injured, they'll likely be a better target than someone that's healthy. The same is true when you see 2 survivors and one is much further away or far more skilled than the other. Some games I'll ignore one survivor until they are an easy target either because they are in a bad spot or all the resources are gone.

Proper zoning can make a huge difference. All killers have the ability to zone survivors because the survivor has to maintain distance. If you can position yourself between a survivor and their strongest available loop, then they won't get there without giving you something in return (mostly a health state or exhaustion perk). This also very important when you break pallets or chase someone around a loop. You pretty much always want to stand between them and their strongest available resources. There are some exceptions with specific perks and killers.

With more experience you'll learn to recognise some hints on when to leave a chase and how to keep a chase short. But everyone has a bit of a different approach to these questions.

Amanda for 2vs8 pl0x!

Commit.

A famous last advice before 4 man out…

I'll drop chase after maybe 2-3 pallets are dropped, or if they have a lead on me and run somewhere stupid like shack, a jungle gym, or main. I'm bad with time on this game, so I could be chasing them for 20 seconds or a minute before I drop. It depends.