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How Do I Play Around Houndmaster?

Iron_Cutlass
Iron_Cutlass Member Posts: 3,352
edited December 18 in General Discussions

This is not a rant thread, just moreso Im really struggling and have no idea how to deal with them.

Most of the time, it feels like I only really counter them because of a bug or glitch that affects the Houndmaster's power, or in other words, it feels more like Im getting lucky than Im actually countering it.

I know the basics of "try to avoid the dog's pathing" and I tend to do so but I dont feel like Im able to make a lot of distance or take advantage of dodging when the cooldown is so short. To me, at least, it feels really tricky to play around.

There are also just many loops where I outright have no idea how to play against them. It is probably a "skill issue" on my part though.

So uh… yea… how do I counter them? I really do need the help/advice.

Comments

  • LordGlint
    LordGlint Member Posts: 8,685

    It's mostly the same counter as Wesker. She slows down significantly while aiming the dog charge. The dog's eyes glow when it is redirecting, which should let you know which of them is currently being controlled.

  • SoGo
    SoGo Member Posts: 1,530

    My suggestion is this:

    Try to loop her similarly to other killers. She really struggles when the loop has an odd shape, such as the ones on Autohaven. Just be wary around pallets and windows.

    Holding W and camping pallets is a death sentence.

    You can use clutter to make it harder for Snug to catch you.

    Houndsense is mostly not an issue, at least basekit.

  • Devil_hit11
    Devil_hit11 Member Posts: 9,082

    hold-w is not death sentence. it takes skill. you want to hide behind objects. example on ormond, use snow piles when houndmaster uses dog chase mechanic. Between loops, the counter-play the same as blight & wesker.

    as for pallets. the pallet is stronger if it is NOT dropped. there is two strategies to approach.

    the first is to greed the pallet every time when possible. her inherit slow m/s when whistling. It forces the killer to use redirect mechanic of chase of the dog. dodge accordingly to left or right.

    The second approach is that if houndmaster is far away enough, you can purposely get hit by the dog than drop a pallet to stun the dog. you can also stun dog as it comes towards you similar to demogorgon's shred.

    Houndmaster is significantly stronger vs windows and dropped pallets. this is because her dog can curve loops and vault windows & pallets. in general, vaulting windows is a bad idea because of animation lock of windows. the dog is very likely to injure you or grab you after a window vault. it's huntress problem at windows. only vault windows when the player does not have a clear angle to use the dog. Bluffing window vaults is probably your best bet to waste time but that's kinda same thing for most ranged killers in this game.

    vs dropped pallets, you want to play the game as if your playing vs curving billy. in general, you want to be ahead of the killer and go around in circles. when killer uses the dog, you want to dodge outwards from loop than return back. try avoid vaulting the pallet because dog can vault and grab you after vaulting. the goal is to make killer waste dog, lose m/s so that you can keep rotating the pallet. it's not exactly easy because most houndmaster will look for the vault attempt and use dog during animation locks of the survivor vaulting the pallet. it is all comes to same Huntress style anti-loop of "Survivor vaults pallet, use dog to hit them during animation locks". your goal is to try avoid and mitigate these situations.

    I only covered chase command for houndmaster because certain content creators think that it is too strong but it is not. it has counter-play and can be looped.

  • MaTtRoSiTy
    MaTtRoSiTy Member Posts: 2,107
    edited December 18

    Play the event so you can avoid her? It is literally the only reason I am still playing the event…

    She is so glitchy that what worked one time will not work the next, so even though I know in theory how to counter her from playing her myself, I know how unpredictable her power is so its all over the place really

  • Iron_Cutlass
    Iron_Cutlass Member Posts: 3,352

    Hold-W is not a death sentence. It takes skill. You want to hide behind objects.

    I dont think they are talking about the Chase feature. I think they are talking about Search feature, since it can be used to gain a large amount of haste and reduce distance lost.

    Not to say that you are wrong, of course, just saying that I think they are looking at the entire power and not just the Chase part of the dog.

  • Devil_hit11
    Devil_hit11 Member Posts: 9,082

    as survivor, i haven't seen anyone use search function in chase except when i am playing houndmaster. i'd say that search command is skinny line for a speed boost. the survivor i have played against don't play vs it very well but i think weakness is kinda like artist where you need to have interconnected loops or windows where you can divert the houndmaster from search path. Just hold-w pallet to pallet to pallet vs me isn't a viable strategy. i use search command about 70-60% of the time and i use chase command around 30-40% of the time. mostly around god pallets like shack or like 0 mindgame loops Like all those gideon block your way type pallets. as survivor, i haven't seen anyone play houndmaster like i do and due to the event bug, you won't be able to play houndmaster till snowman bug is fixed.