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Dracula has too much going for him
His kit just has no downsides. He can play essentially any tile with vampire/wolf. Hellfire has INSANE zoning, better than even Pyramid Head, and a ridiculously short (almost nonexistent) cooldown.
And then there’s bat form… where do I even start. The fact that you can get a free hit with drac’s already amazing chase, switch to bat INSTANTLY and render any distance a survivor has gained to nothing, then again INSTANTLY switch back to an oppressive chase power is just ridiculous.
Comments
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So his vampire form doesn't have big charge-up and cooldown times for Hellfire, making it super punishing to miss? His wolf form isn't dependent on getting orbs just to feel faster than 110%, and doesn't become slug speed by simply walking backwards? And his bat form lets him know exactly where the survivors are, and doesn't take away your sight of them for no reason?
What is even the argument? That he's stronger than Nurse?
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- What “big charge up”? Are we playing the same killer?
- Wolf is 115% by default. Faster with orbs.
- Use your ears. Bat is like spirit with a shorter cooldown. Yes he can’t instahit out of it but he has hellfire to make up for that.
Also just reminded me of the fact that hellfire SHREDS through basekit BT.
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he has 4 killers powers in 1
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Bats also have a 50% sound boost thet spirit dosnt have.
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the only thing I dislike about him is he can hit you through vaults with hellfire - you don’t even need to be on the floor or gets you in mid air. He already has the wolf form and the bat form to help in chase I don’t think he needed that too.
BHVR’s current trend seems to be stacking killers with every conceivable counter to anything a survivor does.
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I have to mostly disagree. Dracula is definetly a top killer. IMO atleast top 7 or 8, but i dont feel he is as frustrating to play against as people make him out to be. He very much so feels like a much more fair and enjoyable Spirit. His main playstyle is to aggresively chase down survivors in bat form which plays out very similarly to Spirit. He shares a lot of her counterplay, (Iron Will, crouching, slow vaulting, etc.) but isnt able to create the same powerful 50/50 scenarios she is. He has elements of that, but its no where near as oppresive or boring as her. In place of this he has Hellfire (and Wolf form, but i'll get into that in a bit.) which is a powerful M2 to make up for not being able to insta M1 out of Bat form like Spirit can with her phase. I honestly dont think the cooldown is as short as you described? If you look at the killers with similar powers to it (Pyramid Head and Nemesis) they experience next to no cooldown and can continously fire away at survivors. Again feeling much more fair and can feel less frustrating to play against. His zoning is definitely not better than Pyramid Heads. Its strong but it remains on a similar level of strength to PH due to their very similar slowdowns they receive while readying their power and releasing their power. I believe you have highlighted some personal frustrations with the killer and havent actually looked at him as a whole in comparison to other killers, which is totally fair. We all are entitled to an opinion. However i feel you didnt bring some actual somewhat big issues with his power that i believe should be addressed in future patches.
- Wolf form is laregly irrelevent. After losing the hug tech Wolf form lost a lot of versatility and playability that Hellfire has. Theres a very little amount of tiles and loops that Wolf can play over Bat + Hellfire, and for those it cant play (which there are many in comparison.) Hellfire can very easily play. Hellfire is overall just a much more versatile and strong option for Dracula in the chase. Wolf only offers very niche tracking capabilites.
- Medusas Hair add on. I believe this add on is one of, if not his best due to the fact that teleporting to survivors near vault locations in a chase, applying that hindered affecr, can create very unwinnable scenarios for the survivors. It makes things much more commital, which is very powerful with Hellfire, and can simply just make it so certain pallets and windows are unreachable by the time Dracula can get an M1. It helps play into those Hellfire 2 tap situations and overall feels much too oppressive.
Though i personally believe these are his only major issues and he overall feels very strong but fair for the most part.
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Ngl this is a frustration i dont understand. It wouldnt make sense considereing how Hellfire works for it to not hit over vault locations. It would be a MASSIVE unnecesary downside and would feel extremely frustrating from the killers POV. It would only make his reliance on bat form more prevelant and would kick him down the tier list hard in a unfair fashion. Nemesis and Xeno can also do this with no cooldown and Pyramid Head not only hits through vault locations but also all surfaces not affected by elevation. Wolf form is not enough of a compensation to justify a change like this. It just doesnt make sense.
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PH has the better zoning ability with his ability and can be spammed multiple times at the same loop because the cooldown is 2.25 seconds. Hellfire is a 7second CD for the attack, far from "almost nonexistent." Quite the opposite actually it's one of the longer CDs for an ability compared to most of the roster who have shorter CDs. PoTD also doesn't slow you down to a absolute crawl to use it like hellfire does, and its a wider attack. Hellfire is not better than PH's PoTD.
The reason Dracula is able to take you down is because this…I see so many survs who cannot path. They avoid 50/50s, pass up close pallets/windows, and run into open areas that make it easy for him to follow-up. You wouldn't run into an open area with a killer like Spirit or Singu on your back would you? That's like the easist survs to take down. Same with Dracula, if you don't put some objects between you or at the very least play the pallet while he is in bat form he'll down you.
Also where are these free hits Dracula gets? Is there a sale on hits going on somewhere? How do I find this free hit sale?? I could certainly use some free hits, it'd be a lot less annoying than having to earn them currently.
Post edited by Nun_So_Vile on3 -
Nvm
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he definitely needs more cooldowns on his abilities. Having 4 killers in 1 is pretty annoying.
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He at best can be considered to have nerfed aspects of 3 killer powers wrapped into one. His cooldowns dont feel like theyre anywhere near part of some problems he has. Dracula has some of the harshest cooldowns of any killer completely made up by the fact he has 3 different powers to choose from. This is fine. It feels completely fair on both sides. in fact one of those powers feels completely useless in comparison to the other two for killer. I see so many people on the DBD forums highlighting personal frustrations with Dracula and those being reasons for a nerf but no one points out his actual (granted mostly minor) issues that should be addressed. it seems that when the newest killer isnt B tier or under DBD players absolutely hate it… super boring imo.
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I know you edited this but ill explain anyway:
- Phase moves much faster than Bat form. Even without add ons Spirit catches up way faster.
- Bat form is visible to survivors while Spirit Phase is not and instead survivors have to guess her loction based entirely on sound
- (The big reason) Spirit can M1 straight out of her phase while Dracula has to switch to a different form which carries a lot of downtime to it. (Spirit can create 50/50 scenarios while Dracula cannot.)
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He is actually a very okay killer. His wolf form is useless. 99% of the time you are better off using vampire form rather than wolf form. The thing is that the vampire form isn't that crazy either, it is just slightly better Nemesis. The bats are solid though.
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Hes fine
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He better at cutting you off mid chase with teleporting than the dredge. All the bat addons are very strong. i don't think he op but i can see why players feel overwhelmed. So many things to watch out for vs one killer
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BHVR needs money and OP Killers SELL SELL SELL!
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normalize making killers unique but more punishing!!
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He just needs a bit more cooldown for his abilities for being more balanced, is pretty much free hit on almost every scenario. You need to be braindead to miss a hit with dracula.
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Dracula should not get touched unless they first buff Wolf form.
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I dont even think Vampire form is better than Nemesis. The only thng it has going for it is that it has more range than Nemesis Tentacle Strike. Hellfire cooldowns are MUCH more punishing. Nemesis cooldown is limited to his recovery time which is lower than Hellfires (and he moves much faster while in recovery too) and his charge time, also faster than Hellfires. Hellfire has a harsh 7 second cooldown. Also in tier 3 Nemesis moves faster than Dracula while charging his power. Theres also the part that Nemesis can drag his hitbox around making his M2 much more deadly in chase. Overall this makes Tentacle Strike a lot better than Hellfire, though due to his other forms (mainly Bat form) Dracula is as a whole much stronger.
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I dont think they have dropped a single killer in an 'OP' state in years. We've certainly had killers released in very strong states, like Chucky, but, even he is a much stronger killer now than he was on release, no where near 'OP'. I definitely dont think BHVR needs money because they have a paid for game that has NUMEROUS paid LICENSED DLCs that all have a large amount of paid for cosmetics that also has a very large and notable dedicated player base across multiple platforms. Youre a tad delusuional if you think they 'need money'.
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I think the only overtuned thing about his is Bat. The transform time going down made him feel so good to play, but his catchup game is ridiculous. Hellfire is fine imo, as if wolf. I'd prefer a happy medium between his old transform time and the current, but it'd probably be fine just reverting his transform time into and out of bat. Transform time being quick between wolf and vampire is fine imo.
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I would strongly advise you to play a few matches as him, it's easy to think a killer is OP until you actually try them
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He’s just another “hold your power until you zone a survivor” type killer, that also has a mini Wesker and Spirit ability. He’s so boring to verse.
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I just leave it here:
Blink — Screech — Hit — Blink — Screech — Down.
What's with the Dracula again? :)
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I hear takes like this a lot, but for me the wolf form is the most irritating part of his power. It's basically a baby Wesker but with Chucky's camera/stealth, incredible tracking, good speed, and a fast pallet break to boot. The thing that annoys me the most is that the pounce hitbox is incredibly generous / the animation doesn't line up well with where damage is actually done. Against Wesker, who I also hate, there's at least room to counter him with objects or by running certain tiles. If Dracula is in an area that "Chucky Wesker" can't handle well, he can just turn into Pyramid Head.
Spirit feels fair to me because you can hear where she is while phasing and you get to chase against a 110% killer for a bit while her power recharges. Dracula's cooldowns are tiny, so there's basically always another power to switch to. He can fly over vaults and windows with enhanced hearing, while Spirit cannot, and despite her higher speed Spirit's power is heavily time-limited, which makes the bat form even harder to counter in my opinion. To say nothing of his add-ons, which you rightly call out.
Dracula needs at a minimum a longer cooldown before he can attack while coming out of bat form. I also think the wolf should be reverted to 110% base or the speed boost from the scent orbs should be removed. The tracking, dash, 3P camera, and low height are already great; it doesn't need enhanced speed to be good.
Post edited by notstarboard on3 -
true 😔
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I haven't seen their books, but they have >1300 employees and to my knowledge DBD is their only successful game. There's a reason they churn out DLCs every three months even as the quality of map and killer design has heavily declined and the game still has major performance issues and bugs.
Licenses also cost money, so while buying one generates interest, the cost of the license also means you need to sell more than original chapters to make the same amount of money. I'd guess the licensed chapters don't do much worse than the original chapters or BHVR wouldn't bother, but then again, the healthy mix between original and licensed chapters implies the original chapters still do pretty well. I doubt they're just running out of licenses to buy.
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Even though I like how rapid you can go from a teleport to transform out of bat into a hit (for generators near a vault), that aspect could definitely be tweaked down.
Though a lot of survivors are greedy with pallets IMO: Pre-drop it so you're not in an animlock that's in-place with the drop animation, instead forcing a 50/50 with Dracula needing to predict if you're going to move across the pallet or continue around a side, and if the later, then you can try to juke (though hellfire propagation speed could possibly be lowered).
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Drac does have a lot going on I admit...and yet I'd still rather play Pyramid Head with the new Zanshin Tactics.
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This.
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Playing as or against Dracula has left me these impressions, and what should be changed about him:
- Bat Form (I) - Needs a longer transformation time, or a longer slowdown period after transforming, so that he just can't Bat form into Vampire form, and immediately M1 you after.
- Bat Form (II) - Slightly longer cooldown on teleports
- Hellfire (I) - Needs a small nerf to its base cooldown time (Make it 10 seconds, up from 7, and he will be much fairer), and buff his stacking add-on to compensate for this, so that it reaches 40% cooldown reduction (up from 25%)
- Hellfire (II) - Needs a longer window between casting it, and being able to M1 afterwards. The window is too short for it to be punishing him for missing Hellfire.
- Medusa's Hair - Lessen the amount of Hindered. Does not need to make it as bad as Freddy's pools, but a middleground between that and the current amount.
- Wolf Form - Slightly longer penalty from missing Pounce attacks, so that he can't just M1 you right away if he misses you.
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Using Nurse as a counterargument doesn't really work.
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He is stronger than Pyramid Head for this exact reason, his camera turn rate isn’t affected, you move decently quick while holding Hellfire, you can zone survivors so that they are in a lose-lose situation, he has no counterplay in those types of situations unless the player misses. A 7 second cooldown is nothing considering he has two other abilites to help catch up or also down, aka Bat or Wolf form.
Bat form is just Spirit, your audio in game when playing on Bat mode is increased for better hearing, you move incredibly fast, you can teleport to windows for map traversal, you can still see scratch marks and hear survivors, good players will not have an issue with not being able to see survivors. The only thing is that he has to switch between modes to return to his Wolf or Vampire form, but I don’t find that too much of an issue when I play him.
Wolf form is also strong, even with hugtech being patched, it allows you to close the distance between another survivor when in chase if you don’t want to use Bat form, and since you don’t get slowed much to the point it’s difficult to use when charging your ability, players who are patient can also use this to zone players, plus it gives you better tracking and a little bit of more speed all together. Plus he can M1 and still be short, allowing for some confusing mindgames.
He’s a horribly designed killer, he has very short cooldowns while having way too much in his kit that can guarantee downs if the player is patient and knows what they’re doing. He takes powers from other killers pretty much and it feels like he his better then Pyramid Head or even Spirit depending on the circumstances.
Sorry for the long post, but I played this killer a lot and wanted to share my personal thoughts!! :)
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yes it does. it showcases a stronger killer in the game left untouched. why does dracula need to be brought down to freddy level or even take a community average level of Demogorgon. Can we not have actual strong killers?
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Iirc wolf form has normal pallet breaking speed the animation is just front loaded aka you break the pallet instantly then stands there for 2.7s
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I agree, friend.
It is such a shame that Dracula's power is this poorly designed, because his music is good and the castle is a nice touch.
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Tehehehe, bet I can guess what killer you happened to lose to 10min before you posted this.
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No because you know the rank 20s like to complain and keep every killer neutered and watered down so they can Tbag you and get their clicks. Breaks their little minds to see a killer who isn't a complete pushover and can actually do something scary instead of getting caught in their same old tired bullshit. Notice how every suggestion would make him so laughably weak that he'd fall off. All you'd be hearing after is…Where is Drac? Whatever happened to him??
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Good to know! It still will be faster in practice, though, because he can pounce into it instead of having to walk up to it first.
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I think you must have misread my post about him, but he really is overtuned in the current form, and has too much going for him.
I suggested toning down the worst offenders in his kit, notably the short recovery time on both Hellfire and Wolf form, as well as his strongest add-on. And of course the bat form, which is his strongest tool.Once those are dealt with, I am sure he will be in a much fairer spot.
And yes, before you complain or try to argue, I have played a fair share of games both as him, and against him.In short: He is much too easy to secure downs with.
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The biggest thing is bat form is 100x better then Spirit's power.
Spirit's power - 1.5 activation, 15 second CD, 5 second duration, 7.04 m/s, Invisable, Sound queue to survivor, Blocked by normal obstacles (Vaults/Pallets), Unable to interact with props, 1 second of speed after exiting.
Dracula bat form - Instant activation, 2.5 second CD, Unlimited duration, 6.5 m/s, Visible bats, 50% louder stepping sounds, flies over vaults and pallets, Teleport to downed pallets/vault in 32 range at 12 m/s, Can interact with all props on map (Gen/Pallet/Breakable doors/Hatch).5 -
No it's not.
I actually do think Dracula is a bit too good (and I'm saying that while mine is currently p51). But Dracula can't attack out of bat form and survivors can see him and play around it accordingly. Dracula's bat form also makes an enormous amount of noise, making it nigh-impossible to track survivors by sound.
Spirit is still better. Just, as a whole, Spirit is still a stronger killer than him, not even in comparison to just bat form.
Bat form is stupid good but it's not because it's a better version of Spirit's power, it's because it completely eliminates holding W after a hit as a counterplay you can use on him.
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Im actually kinda amazed on seeing people saying that Wolf form is "good" or even "strong" and sometimes asking to nerf it.
Wolf form is bad. The tracking it has most of the time is useless as only works when you are in chase and you dont need it (mind you, this form was marketed as the "tracking tool" Dracula has) and the Pounce is extremely hard to aim and easy to miss and dodge. And for some reason, if you manage to break a pallet with it (and not getting stunned first), his pallet break animation is one of the longest in the entire game, rivaling with the normal break animation.
Bat form is good but it also did need the buffs. Before touching Dracula, first Wolf foorm needs buffs or adjustments.
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Well that would be true of any power that can close distances and break pallets or if you perfectly respect the pallet
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Maybe but there definitely is several more urgent killer kits to look upon first. Going against even competent Dracs can sometimes be fun and interesting. Going against decent Nurses, Chuckies, Xenos etc… never is.
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I'm delusional thinking that BHVR, a company, wants to make profits?
What? Yeah, thanks for reminding why I should avoid going on these forums.
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Wolf form is fine. It's got a lot of great applications in chase. I have no problem landing the pounce unless I'm going for super risky ones. It's great for chasing survivors trying to hold W in chase who haven't been injured yet, since healthy survivors are difficult for the bat form to follow. The tracking is great at any tile with a window that you can't hit over with Hellfire, since you get killer instinct when a survivor vaults that lets you know what direction they're running. The boosted speed from the scent orbs can pressure survivors to drop the pallet earlier than they want.
The reason breaking the pallet is a bit slower than other killers who can break pallets with their power is because it's just one of Dracula's powers.
Vampire form is also fine.
The only problem with Dracula is the random buff they gave his transformation cooldown. He felt great and fluid to play at 5 seconds. At 2.5 you can hit a survivor and then bat form back on top of them immediately, it's stupid.
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Wolf form is fine. It's got a lot of great applications in chase. I have no problem landing the pounce unless I'm going for super risky ones. It's great for chasing survivors trying to hold W in chase who haven't been injured yet, since healthy survivors are difficult for the bat form to follow. The tracking is great at any tile with a window that you can't hit over with Hellfire, since you get killer instinct when a survivor vaults that lets you know what direction they're running. The boosted speed from the scent orbs can pressure survivors to drop the pallet earlier than they want.
Im sorry but the Wolf form is far from fine.
If the survivor is holding W, even if its not injured, Bat form is still miles better. You can clearly hear footsteps and see scratch marks, ofc the survivor can try to juke you but you can also catch it much better and faster than the Wolf form. The killer instinct its too short of a duration and most of the time you have clear view of the window and you already see the direction the survivor is running into. The boosted orbs are the only thing that can maybe help you in certain tiles that you are not able to use Hellfire well. Also, if you are hitting most pounces i would say the survivors are not playing very well. The times where Pounce are most likely to hit its if you are in a narrow hallway or if the survivor is just not looking behind them and going in straight line.
Again, Wolf form was marketed as the "tracking tool" and the track is only worth in chase where most of the time you know where the survivor is.
And also i still dont see a reason why it breaks pallets THAT slow when by doing that you are also putting yourself in a position to be stunned instead.
Vampire form is also fine.
On this i agree. Vampire form is mostly fine i think.
The only problem with Dracula is the random buff they gave his transformation cooldown. He felt great and fluid to play at 5 seconds. At 2.5 you can hit a survivor and then bat form back on top of them immediately, it's stupid.
5 seconds never felt great and fluid. If i did transform into Bat to quickly teleport into a window, when i did reach it i still did need to wait more seconds to not even see the survivors until i could transform. Transforming sometimes was more of a burden than a good thing.
Now i can fully utilize shapeshift depending on the situation. Maybe at the end 2.5 seconds is too short? Maybe, but 5 was far too long, and i even say that 4 seconds would also be too long.
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Wolf form is fine insofar as it's one of 3 different powers Dracula has.
The lunge is really not that hard to hit with on keyboard + mouse if you have good reflexes. Once you get a feel for how far the initial dash goes, you can also do things like lunge forward as the survivor is rounding a corner, pivot, and then lunge into them for a hit.
Wolf form is great for tracking, you can see scent orbs from pretty long distances and it would be the best form for chasing survivors over open ground if they hadn't unnecessarily buffed his transformation cooldown.
You can tell what direction survivors run after they vault a window, but not if they kept moving. They could stop moving after breaking LoS and try to mindgame. With wolf form you know if they're just committing to a direction or not.
I think it's a bit iffy for you to be saying that I'm playing against bad survivors, when the ones you're playing against continue to keep running while healthy after you've shifted into bat form, instead of immediately walking and trying to hide to throw you off. It's impossible to hear breathing in bat form over all the screeching. It's not impossible to figure out where they went, but I could just use wolf form and the scent orbs for a similar effect, considering I haven't hit them yet and they aren't speeding off from being hit.
As for the part about bat form, what you're describing is the reason why bat form didn't use to be overpowered. Survivors should have counterplay against you. Now it is overpowered with the 2.5 second cooldown since they don't have counterplay. You just show up in the window and insta-shift back. It's basically a THIRD chase power now, it should only be for moving around the map.
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