We have temporarily disabled The Houndmaster (Bone Chill Event queue) and Baermar Uraz's Ugly Sweater Cosmetic (all queues) due to issues affecting gameplay.

Visit the Kill Switch Master List for more information on these and other current known issues: https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/kb/articles/299-kill-switch-master-list
The Dead by Daylight team would like your feedback in a Player Satisfaction survey.

We encourage you to be as honest as possible in letting us know how you feel about the game. The information and answers provided are anonymous, not shared with any third-party, and will not be used for purposes other than survey analysis.

Access the survey HERE!

Unbreakable shouldnt be basekit

Killers dont slug for the fun of it, but its got to a point where as a killer if I hook someone or attempt to, half of the lobbys perks activate and with perks like deli, ds, shoulder burden, dh, well live forever, and any perks that counteract hooking altogether

Overall, why even bother going the extra mile and buff surviviors for a literal 70 second faster death time? Its better to just slug the 4 minutes
No saves

No anti camper

No 2nd chance Perks

No wasting time

But now, the only viable strategy if your a low tier killer is slugging. Im alternatively half way screwed but at least it’s manageable because their 1 perk slot down.

But if survivors manage to get basekit unbreakable, the only logical conclusion is to camp slugs so if they do recover you can immediately kill them. And just pray its enough to get a 2k from the slow process

Maybe instead of further buffing surviviors to prevent a killer playstyle, buff a killer mechanic so theres no need to, like maybe buffing hooking? Buff hooking perks???

Itd also be nice if gen speeds were slower if someone is on hook as some sort of catch up mechanic if thetes 3 hooks with 1 gen left

Comments

  • BugReporterOnly
    BugReporterOnly Member Posts: 622

    Just saw a streamer go against a Wraith slugging right at the start of the match. It shouldn't matter if it isn't done often enough but killers like him need to have something that prevents them from doing that right at the start just to ruin people's fun.

  • Oputeeva
    Oputeeva Member Posts: 175

    Nope, it should be basekit, I'm tired of being be downed and doing nothing most boring thing in this game when you are not playing the game!

  • SidneysBane1996
    SidneysBane1996 Member Posts: 896

    Out of how many of all the people in the game who play Killer? The game has millions of players. You know 50 jerks, not a majority.

  • PreorderBonus
    PreorderBonus Member Posts: 338

    If a match reaches a point where a Survivor could use basekit Unbreakable (e.g., a 4-man slug scenario or prolonged slugging for 2–3 minutes), it would merely extend the inevitable and unnecessarily drag out an already lost match. The real solution to slugging is to avoid being slugged as a team in the first place. Once multiple Survivors are down, the killer's pressure becomes so overwhelming that basekit Unbreakable wouldn’t turn the game around.

    For instance, imagine Survivors could get up after two minutes of being on the ground if others are already downed. What would that achieve? Those two minutes were spent doing nothing, while the killer used that time to deplete Survivors’ resources. Any attempts at winning after that point would likely be futile unless in a highly coordinated comp setting

    The harsh truth is that, in most cases, being slugged is the Survivor team's fault. Another commenter pointed out a Wraith slugging from the start (a Wraith, a killer with no real chase power). How does a Wraith punish a team by slugging? The answer is simple: no one was skilled enough to loop him for any significant amount of time. Basekit Unbreakable or not, it wouldnt change a thing.

    Even if basekit Unbreakable were added, it wouldn’t actually solve the core issue. You’d get up, realize there’s nothing left to work with, and lose anyway. At that point, people would shift their complaints to something else, anti-facecam, hook respawns, tunneling, etc. The reality is that even if the game were perfectly balanced, people would still find something to blame and vent their frustrations on.

  • Tits
    Tits Member Posts: 379
    edited December 7

    Houndmaster is kinda proof that a weaker killer is pressured to play "dirty" nearly every round they are in, as every one ive seen tunnels. And then 3 escape. But slugging as a tactic is meaningfull if its just 1-2 people, 3 if another one comes at you giving you the opportunity, but by then youve alredy got a huge amount of pressure. But most killers just think " lets just end the game here at 5 gens, im not having fun anyway so why should they." And then procedes to slug all 4 and get barely any points, probly no rank ticks if they are in the higher quarter, and a lobby full of people that simply hate you. That part i don't understand because you prettymuch played for nothing, And everyone else gets nothing. Then if they ever see u as survivor in their lobby you now have enemies that you may not remember

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,981

    I've never understood this argument about avoiding survivor perks, largely because a solid half at least are ones you can easily avoid even when you go for a hook, but reading this made something click for me for another reason it's a silly argument.

    Let's say that slugging really picks up as a tactic, and a huge majority of killers start going for slugging straight away. Survivor's hook perks and anti-pickup perks no longer work!

    …Why wouldn't they swap to anti-slug perks?

    Unbreakable, Exponential, We're Gonna Live Forever, Buckle Up, Made For This, Soul Guard, Plot Twist, Tenacity, For The People, even No Mither all make slugging weaker.

    The reason it looks like slugging is the best tactic to win right now is because fewer people expect it. If things shifted, people would just start bringing anti-slug perks, because a basic reality of this game is that your opponent is gonna have tools to respond to what you're doing, because it's a PvP game.

    Spreading your hooks and pressure is more than enough to win if you're doing it properly, too, there's not much reason to buff it. Buffing individual hook perks could be appropriate, but only because some of them are kinda weak without considering anything about slugging and hooking in general.

  • Oputeeva
    Oputeeva Member Posts: 175

    Nope I wanna basekit, end of it! I don't wanna run perk that barely gives any value, it's unfun - empty perk slot

  • trapners
    trapners Member Posts: 95

    Because the perks you previously mentioned arent neary as overpowering compared to hooking

    Ds, a 2nd chance perk is 10x more powerful than unbreakable, according to statistics

    Soul guard + unbreakable is 2 perk slots which only gives endurance for a few seconds, compared to dh which grants endurance whenever you want it

    Boon: expo? Takes time off gens, compare this to deli which literally removes all pressure of hooks

    Killers dont mind anti slug perks because they actually work as their intended, unlike perks like ds,dh, and more being exploited. Its actually manageable

    “Spreading your hooks and pressure is more than enough to win”

    Its really not. The statistics really prove the only killers that can aim for all 12 hooks are high tier killers, its literally impossible for some killers at high Mmr

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,981

    I'm not sure what statistics you're referring to here, I don't think we have access to those kind of stats, but I do think you're somewhat missing my point which is that the hook perks are only stronger when you play into them.

    For example, DS is a very very powerful perk, when you're tunnelling. If you're not tunnelling, it doesn't do anything, and if you're not hooking at all then Unbreakable is obviously going to be considerably stronger because whatever you're hoping to get out of slugging is going to be completely undone by that one perk.

    You compare Exponential to Deliverance but Unbreakable is the actual comparison there. The difference being, Deliverance has a requirement, a penalty, and can be denied through sheer luck by that survivor being hooked first. Unbreakable, though, just works, outright.

    If the killer is actually going out of their way to aggressively slug, the anti-slug perks are as a class as powerful as the hook-related perks and considerably less avoidable. You don't ever have to worry about DS, Reassurance, Camaraderie, Babysitter, or Blood Rush if you don't want to because those require you to act in a very specific way to work. There's no way of slugging that avoids anti-slug perks, though.

  • trapners
    trapners Member Posts: 95

    I referred to pick rate, and you kind of missed my point

    while yes, ds is a tunneling perk that actively only works if your being tunneled, but survivors can force killers to chase them off hook to get value. Its present in nearly every bully and meta squad for a reason

    And the difference being slug perks only function to help slugging, nothing else. Hook perks offer 2nd chance perks, extra health states, healing total health states, and just general buffs that seem overwhelming. While the most “powerful” slug perk that does more than help slugging is plot twist, which heals u a whole health state. Perks like unbreakable, expo and more only serve to stop slugging. Nothing more

    And once again, theres nothing wrong with hooks giving alternative effects like stopping tunneling and stuff, but it gets to a point where a killer can decide whether to deal with all of those passive buffs or just slug and watch them get up once or twice

  • ReverseVelocity
    ReverseVelocity Member Posts: 4,606

    Highlighting all the flashbangs and beamers is really funny when you have Lightborn on. They literally are wasted slots at that point.

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,981

    Pick rate? How would pick rate show how powerful something is?

    In any case, it kinda doesn't matter what else hook perks do if slug perks just stop you from getting any work done. After you get a hook, you have directly progressed your goal even in the worst case scenario where someone uses Deliverance to neuter your hook pressure.

    Contrast that to Unbreakable if your chase ends with a slug. Your pressure is neutered because only one survivor is occupied, and you're no closer to your goal. It's a far worse scenario for you than someone getting to heal faster once, or gain an extremely limited parry in their next chase.

    Bully squads are kind of annoying, but even in those cases, you can ignore the most powerful off-hook effects by just ignoring the player trying to force your attention. The stuff left over to be worried about is pretty minor, in comparison. Much more in line with effects survivors can get that aren't tied to hooks.

    The bottom line is, the perks you're worried about would just be replaced with equally powerful, equally damaging perks if slugging took off to become something most survivors expect the killer to do.

  • warp1die
    warp1die Member Posts: 502

    What's wrong? You have to look at the question more broadly. I look at the potential of the survivors and prepare for all the tricks they are ready to give me. Unlike the survivors who have already asked for their totem nerf ;)

    A less prepared killer would simply become a funny toy for the survivors. Some are too proud to take Lightborn. Calling it a useless perk slot. I am looking for practicality. I will take everything that can bring me victory. Unlike the survivors, I am used to adapting.

    Although you tactfully kept silent about the flashbangs bug that was never fixed.

  • ReverseVelocity
    ReverseVelocity Member Posts: 4,606

    No, I'm just saying you're highlighting beamers/flashbangs as a reason to slug in that lobby when they literally do nothing to you since you have Lightborn equipped.

    Also nobody mentioned the Flashbang bug in this thread so there really wasn't a point in bringing it up, but for the record I think it should be fixed ASAP.

  • warp1die
    warp1die Member Posts: 502

    I didn't want a slug as Clown. For once I wanted to play hooks and these survivors came. It just happened that way. It was easier for me to wait for the last mori than to run around the map and look for the rest of the survivors. The survivors were strong enough in the chase to waste their friends' 4 minute timer.

    I usually give everyone a hook even after a slug of 4 survivors. The only difference is that there are 4 of them instead of 12. When I play slug there is a build like Dredge where Knock Out is taken as the basis of the build.

    In the case of Clown, one of the tests for hooks. I don't believe in slowdowns.

  • Yoshirama
    Yoshirama Member Posts: 404

    If you’re gonna start a match just to watch for 4 minutes how everyone bleeds out, then don’t play. If you’re on a point that you need to slug every match because you don’t feel able to play normally just go to another game.

    Slugging should be punished, same as tunneling

  • trapners
    trapners Member Posts: 95

    “Tunneling is bad, killers who hook repeatedly are playing unfairly and deserve to be punished”

    “Wait, killers that dont hook me repeatedly play unfairly and deserve to be punished”

    Whats next, your gonna yell at killers who win chases against you?

  • trapners
    trapners Member Posts: 95

    Your actually wrong about this.

    As boring as it sounds per time you get a down is 180 seconds, pair this with the fact it takes 24s to heal urself with unbreakable and thats 7.5% of their bar gone, which doesn’t seem like a lot until you realize you can only use unbreakable once, so you have to repeatably go down after that and hope a teammate revives you in time as you slowly die, or bring expo or no mither which has its own drawbacks

    Also, if your calling this method useless, how come your complaining against it?

    “Bully squads are kind of annoying, but even in those cases, you can ignore the most powerful off-hook effects by just ignoring the player trying to force your attention”

    I can also ignore the hook based perks by..not hooking them? In some instances I literally have to acknowledge the surviviors trying to get my attention if the surviviors are trying to get a save.Your giving me alternative routes when slugging is the simplest and most optimal choice

    “The bottom line is, the perks you're worried about would just be replaced with equally powerful, equally damaging perks if slugging took off to become something most survivors expect the killer to do”

    Would a build of unbreakable, boon expo, well gonna live forever and soul guard really EVER be as oppressive as lets say ds, dh or otr?

  • NarkoTri1er
    NarkoTri1er Member Posts: 666

    it isn't slugging as a strategy that should be punished, it's bleeding out that needs something as a counterweight to let people be able to at least bleed out faster or vote collective give up when in this situation

  • CrypticGirl
    CrypticGirl Member Posts: 721

    I can guarantee that if a faster bleed out or give-up option is implemented, we'll see even more Killers going for the 4-person slug at the start of the match to force those give-ups or faster bleedouts. Since many Killers already believe that slugging is more optimal than hooking, the last thing we need is to incentivize slugging even more.

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,981

    I'm not calling slugging useless, to be clear.

    What I am saying is that if you decide to aggressively slug everyone instead of hooking them, and the survivors bring anti-slug tools, you're going to not get very much work done. Tactically slugging as a way to increase pressure while still fundamentally going for hooks can be a good decision depending on context.

    The reason this doesn't seem the case now is because players don't tend to bring anti-slug perks. They do bring hook-based perks because hooks are a fundamental element of the game and they assume they or their teammates are going to get hooked in the same way they assume they'll have to repair generators and deal with chases. If people swapped to anti-slug perks as a rule, you'd find that slugging becomes significantly less powerful for winning you games on its own, that's my point.

    You have to down and slug someone many times to bleed them out, if you aren't able to get everyone on the ground at once. You only have to hook people three times to kill them, and you get more from the act of hooking them too.

    To address that last sentence specifically: The answer to that question is yes, if you are aggressively slugging. Anti-slug perks would be absolutely as oppressive to a killer playing in that way as DS and OTR are to a killer that's tunnelling, and easily infinitely more oppressive than those perks are to a killer that isn't tunnelling.

  • warp1die
    warp1die Member Posts: 502

    I'll let you in on a secret that's whispered among killer mains. You can't camp, tunnel, or slug someone who's good at chasing. Maybe that's the incentive survivors need to get better at chasing. Killers always tend to save strong survivors for last.

    Indeed, from my experience, a 4-minute slug timer allows me to almost accurately determine the strongest survivors. Survivors who are strong in chasing have the shortest slug timer. While survivors who are not strong in chasing spend almost all 4 minutes. I'll even say more, I've met survivors who calmly ran for almost 3-4 minutes of their friends' slug time.

    I'll wait. Maybe the survivors will finally show that they are capable of adaptation. Without yet another begging for a base set or a nerf. A world where the meta of each other is dynamically changing. Only in my experience, the survivors do not even know how to use Unbreakable, let alone Boon: Exponential or Plot Twist.

    There was a thread here where a person gave advice on how to counter slug. This thread was not popular, because it is much easier to complain than to become a better player. That's why we are here, where they talk about bad killers, and not where they advise how to deal with slug.

    I am for the meta to change. It doesn't matter what. I just don't want to see another 2 years of the slow and aura meta. It's just not funny anymore, any funny killer build gets nerfed and we go back to the boring meta again. I sometimes get the feeling that the survivor side wants to see 4 slows or aura perks on Huntress forever, playing like her life depends on it.

    I'm a little tired and want a 12 hook meta. A viable 12 hook meta, not like the current one. Otherwise, I'll just look for alternative ways to win. If they don't offer me ways that the survivor side would like.

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,981

    People on the forums complain and ask for nerfs. People in game, to an extent, do actually adapt.

    Besides, do you want to take the risk of them adapting, or just hone your fundamentals so you can win without the shortcuts that tend to get nerfs and counter-pick perks designed around them?

    I think it's likely slugging will get nerfed in some way because, to be fair, a lot of its counterplay does rest on perks, and that's not ideal. It's the state tunnelling and camping were in for a while, albeit not as bad because there is some basekit counterplay, so I think it's likely we'll get some adjustments to it. Best to learn how to adapt to that ahead of time, don't you think?

  • Vixxie
    Vixxie Member Posts: 9

    Every Onryo player slugs the entire team and refuses to hook. A lot of Bubba's do this as well. I've had countless matches where everyone was left on the ground in the killer's face and they just stood there and waited for us to bleed out. I've even jump in a locker so they're forced to carry me, they just drop me on the ground. People actually do this, and it's a huge issue. There's no counter or balance for it, and its unfair to the people being slugged. I'd understand if you slugged everyone and then hooked everyone. But they dont. Games should be fun. Where is the fun in just laying on the ground waiting to die? It's a waste of time, and that's all these people are trying to do; waste our time. They have literally no other reason to slug 4 people and just stand there and wait for us to bleed out. It's poor sportsmanship and something needs to be done to discourage refusing to hook.

  • warp1die
    warp1die Member Posts: 502

    Yes. I'm ready to take a risk. Nothing in this game scares me anymore. So far, all the nerfs to the sad tactics of camping and tunneling make me a better player. True, not in the ways that a survivor would like to see. Many years have passed, and I'm still here, no matter how much all these nerfs try to drive me away. The only difference is that for the surviving side, with each such nerf, it gets worse and worse. I will never tire of repeating this jar of spiders in which the survivors locked themselves.

    My principle is simple: I will find a way to kill a survivor. Another thing is that I would like 12 hooks, not a slug. The main key point is killing. Yes, I will be sad knowing that the surviving side is not having fun, but I will still take what is due to me. Therefore, as I said earlier, make it pleasant for the survivor to die (12 hooks and chases), otherwise the killers will look for alternative ways to kill you.

    My prediction for the unannounced mori shop. If the killers show solvency at the level of Feng Min suits. I think slugging as a tactic will be safe. Otherwise, I don't see why they introduced basic mori into the game and some silence on the slug issue.

  • Iron_Cutlass
    Iron_Cutlass Member Posts: 3,368
    edited December 9

    Killers dont slug for the fun of it

    If it was to some degree "fun", why would players do it? Why would they actively play or engage in the game in a way that intentionally makes it miserable for themselves?

    The truth is that some people do find it fun. Obviously it isnt going to appeal for everyone, but there is enough of an appeal for players to do it.

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,981

    By all means, take any opportunity you see to earn a kill.

    At the same time, though, I would suggest that you prepare to adapt again when the shortcut you're taking gets nerfed. It's up to you whether you want to try and excel with the fundamentals, or take whatever tactic seems strongest at the moment- just understand that unfairly strong shortcuts, or tactics that leave your opponents without much to do, are inevitably going to be changed.

    The devs don't actually have to bend over backwards to make playing the fundamentals even stronger than the shortcuts, in a lot of cases they just need to nerf the shortcuts. People will eventually have to stick with the more conventional and skill-expressive elements of the game if the alternatives are just made worse.

    Seriously, though, slug if you want, I'm not telling you not to as some kind of authority figure. I just recommend learning the fundamentals instead because you'll be a lot safer from nerfs that way.

  • warp1die
    warp1die Member Posts: 502

    I'm interested in listening to you. At least you're trying to show that hooks work. I respect that. I can even learn useful information for myself.

    The only thing I'd like to convey is that, unfortunately, the killer side is mostly played by someone like me, not you. This is truly a tragedy for survivors in the long run. When I go to play as a survivor, I see people like myself.

    Let's just answer one question honestly. Have survivors become happier this year after receiving all the buffs to basic hooks and other perks from camping and tunneling?

    Personally, I see that it has become much worse. If we overdo it with nerfs towards the killer, we can repeat the situation of 2020, when they changed the rank system for us.

    (By all means, take any opportunity you see to earn a kill.)

    I'm a player of the old faith. In my time, trying to kill survivors was not something shameful. I'm still not tired of playing for kills. The only difference is that in 2016 I was softer, and a year ago I considered slugging just fun. I don't mind hooks. I want to play them, but I get a game on Clown in this thread. After that I want to go back to playing slug.

  • trapners
    trapners Member Posts: 95

    Okay, lets assume for a minute your right, and slug based perks are as strong as ds and other perks

    …what does that have to deal with now? Currently all survivors run the same build. Inevitably yes they will adapt to meta slugging but I doubt the perks in question gives them a extra health state, 2nd chances and practical immunity from the killler. All slugging based perks do is pick you up.

    You said slugging then hooking is practical, but when people do that, surviviors gets picked up and the pressure does a circle all over again, and then u gotta worry about ds, dh, exc exc. why not just slug for the 4k to begin with to avoid that? Yes the surviviors can pick themselves up but it takes time, doesnt buff them beyond that, and it takes a portion of their dying state timer each time. Inevitably they will die. Its a slow process assuming that by some miracle they all run no mither or boon expo but once u have a 3-4k slug even if they can pick themselves up theres not much they can do

    I think its better to play rather than speak hypotheticals. Play as killer and youll notice how much easier gamestyle is.

    ..and when inevitably survivors do switch their builds, im sure there will be a new meta. Like there always is. My guess is that killers will simply camp the slugs so when they do go up, they go back down, immediately!

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,981

    Right, so, there are two points I'd like to make in response to that.

    1: The first is a repetition. Remember, the buffs survivors can get from hook perks that aren't related to camping or tunnelling are pretty minor and often have comparably strong analogues that don't require hooks. Dead Hard is the only one I can think of off the top of my head that doesn't have a strict analogue, but there are Exhaustion perks that activate more than twice and are significantly easier to use, so survivors arguably have stronger options there.

    Stuff like simply healing faster or getting information on the killer, though, they can just get from other perks. If those effects bother you, hooks aren't really relevant.

    2: The second thing to mention is related to your assertion about how the meta would develop, with killers camping slugs to down them again immediately. Let's say that's true, and killers also won't lose the game on the back of it. Is that good for the game?

    If there were a reasonably implemented basekit Unbreakable, killers would still be able to aggressively slug and get value, but there'd be some room for survivors to have active gameplay in response to it. Isn't it tremendously bad for the game if only one side of any trial gets to have active gameplay and a chance at outplaying their opponent? Shouldn't we be pushing for a state of the game where everyone gets to make plays and consider their options, instead of having no options?

  • trapners
    trapners Member Posts: 95

    I had a whole essay pre typed out but then I realized i was taking the forums like a discordian mod

    Spin a wheel with my user and yours, if it lands on my user slugging is valid and u can’t complain

    if it lands on your username ill back down and call slugging inhumane

    And if you cheat these results may nothing but a p100 SM find you in your next few matches

  • Anti051
    Anti051 Member Posts: 700

    It's to counter gen rush.

    If you don't pressure the survivors hard at the start, then you can't get mad if gens fly.

    And no, there isn't time to gauge whether the group you've been matched with is smart or derping.