I wonder if this data reflects closely to behaviors for pick rate.

If they didn't force you to go into Crawler Mode, I'd play Xeno a lot more. That really bottlenecks my enjoyment of an otherwise cool Killer. Maybe one of these days Xenomorph can walk upright the entire match and we can use the M2 tail attack when we feel like it. Letting us use Crawler Mode at our own leisure would also incentivize Survivors to place the turrets in spots where the Alien is more likely to use the tail. (vaults/pallets) :/

yeah it’s not super surprising to me either. I think your assessment was pretty on the nose as it’s something that people that play killer have expressed in feedback on xeno.

I remember when I first watched the Xeno trailer before it came to the game. The hype was real and thought he'd blow up hard (no pun intended 😏)

Sidenote, but Im not surprised that Artist is among the least played.

I have only seen 1 over the past year (not an exaggeration), and that 1 person was Carniveris of all people (she used us as a mop to clean the floor with). All the others Ive seen a few times, but it's weird how Artist is the one I just never see.

Anyways (obligatory Xenomorph Queen joke).

The bottom killers are close enough that they can shuffle around pretty easily. He's not that far off from some of the others.

They changed him after launching and selling him, which was a primary factor in determining the trustworthyness of this company and its products. That was a bad move on their part, doubly bad because the Xeno wasn't really over powered in a game sense. He just won a lot when approaching a pallet from 0 degrees, and that made opponents unhappy.

He suffers from very poor object to hitbox relationship, failing to hit obvious shots that are rejected by invisible walls, edges and so on. His various nerfs reduce incentive to find these edges for players.

His tunnels are a total RNG nightmare. Maybe nice maybe a detriment for him to use.

It was an excellent chapter, fairly designed, badly handled after launch and forgotten by the sellers.

It's also one of the lowest killrate, does that mean Xenomorph could be buffed or are we still adament to say it's a very strong killer that needs nothing ?

Because having a low killrate despite being the 4th least played killer in the game should be enough to recognise there is a problem beyong "I don't feel like im playing a Xenomorph and that's why people are not playing it".

I don't know what you all expected but nothing could have satisfied it. Xenomorph lurking in vents, locating you, emerging and then being very lethal, only stopped by motion tracker/flamethrower screams Alien to ANYONE with even supbar knowledges of the IP. It is perfectly on brand with the IP and that is factual. You don't feel like a Xenomorph because you are not a 7 m/s one shotting monstrosity but that's on you for not recognizing the limits of dbd. The game isn't builded around Alien mechanics such as Claustrophobia slow paced horror and ahem, let's say giger related subjects. It's a guest and it is limited righfully so. Everyone can't have the luxury as being as simple as "looks at you" or "go very fast". Obviously the Alien in dbd can't have access to everything it is capable of.

It's almost a carbon copy of the Alien Isolation formula and funnily enough, in this game, it isn't stealthy at all, you can hear it going around in vents and when below with you, it stomps and roar so loud, you are never getting surprised by it. The Motion Tracker in A:I is also precise so it's stealth is a non factor. It's scary because it is a walking "You Died", that's what they aimed for in it's dbd kit and it's deemed "unfun". I remember everyone saying "Make Alien OP in chase but let survivors have flamethrowers", yeah, that's exaclty what they have done, and it's not even that OP in chase either, a limping guy with a chainsaw is way better at moving around and downing people with no drawbacks whatsoever in his power.

The Alien could use some changes:

In very short and without going in depth :

• Turrets deployment should be smoother for survivors, less time to pickup, less hindered to carry, less time to deploy, smaller radius to better place them.
• Flame turrets should be a finite ressources ala Wesker, survivors will have plenty enough to not run out in most of their matches but this would be a possibility.
• More control stations to better use tunnels, this is the biggest change and what separate the Alien in dbd from the one in Isolation. In Isolation, there is a vent every 5 meters and that makes the Alien very prone to drop on you at anytime. This would be beyond huge to have more tunnels as it is the true power of the Alien and what makes it unique. Right now it's the coolest thing ever but very lackluster as you don't have enough to make them more usefull that going from point A to B in most cases. Sometimes it's even good to go from point A to B as they are badly placed. That's unfair since in those trials, you lose more thzn half of your power just because of RNG...
• A hefty lingering undetectable after exiting the tunnels to play in the stealth fantasy of the Xenomorph, turrets are so god tier against stealth, it should not be an issue right ? Giving permanent stealth in crawler mode would be counter intuitive but having a 30s timer would incentivise the Alien to frequently use the tunnels to recharge it's stealth among other things, so a win-win design wise.
• Crawler mode should recharge even slower outside of tunnel.
• Tail strike should be 2.7 s with 1.6 m/s. Acceleration rate could be tweaked.

These changes would instantly make the Xenomorph better to play and face while keeping the Alien Isolation rythm and fantasy.

Being easier to play/less punishing and stronger overall would heal it's pickrate a lot more than going the Sadako/Freddy route for people that will never be satisfied by anything anyway. It will probably always be a niche killer alongside Singularity/Dredge and even the almighty Demogorgon that despite being loved is bottom pickrate since forever, such is the fate of being a monster killer apparently.

Alien is only played by it's mains and some occasional players and it's fine. Im not against buffs tho as they would make it even more awesome that it already is.

Xeno is just boring af imo there was SO much stuff they could've done with Xeno but all it is is "tail attack at animation lock" absolutely the most boring type of killer for both sides

Turrets being finite is debatable i agree, i don't think it would hurt tho, since akin to Wesker, it would be very rare to run out. But ut would make it's stealth potentially potent since in theory you could run out and have a very stealthy killer. I think having the possibility to run out of turrets could make the Alien's gameplay more interesting with having some ressources management. Each turret break would feel impactful and not just "free stealth killer and bodyblock". It would add another interesting layer to the Alien i feel.

I do know about the 1/4 power lose after carry and it is a very good point ! I did not go into details with my ideas but i have an in depth "patch note". I took that into consideration when i write it and the power gauge would not be depleted to 75% anymore when picking up, it would still take 8 seconds to gain crawler back as i adjusted the percentage with the new time to recharge crawler mode that is way longer. It would further incentivise the Xenomorph to retreat after a burn and recharge all lf it's advantages while keeping the fanatsy for survivors of repelling the beast with fire. The Xenomorph retreating in tunnels after getting burned is important imo, and i don't really like being able to just ignore the flames and chase for only 35s to get back such a strong power. The retreat in tunnel is important both in balance and in theme, with turrets being finite, this would also make them more impactfull albeit they already are really strong. This is really debatable of course, but it's my vision for the character i play the most.

Tail attack is not the strongest attack in the game whatsoever and plenty of other killers have lesser cooldowns for greater attacks. I don't think the Xenomorph should be punished that much for having the shortest ranged attack and in addition to turrets counterplay. It's strong i agree, but it's not THAT strong. Slightly diminishing the punishment should not break the balance while making it smoother to use and incentivise trying and not using the m1 and being a walking bait. This could get tested in a PTB and adjusted back to the original cooldown if it is indeed too strong.

My problem with your idea for the Motion Tracker is about logic and gameplay incentivise, why would the MT only work when underground, it would be bizarre. Having undetectable upon exiting tunnels would not be harmfull and actually play into the stealth fanatsy of the killer, turrets would still counter it but allow the Xenomorph to thrive when turrets are not placed or use stealth to come from bizarre angle. I disagree with your idea because playing around the lower TR of crawler mode with turrets not beeping would not intencivise people to use the tunnels. The lower TR is nice to not get pre run like hell, but you should not just walk around on paper. Playing into the "Ambush"/stealth of tunnels is imo, a better idea as it further incentivise people to play around them while making the Xenomorph stealthier overall. Turrets being finite also gives some logic to this particular change. As at some point, if they do run out, then it becomes a true stealth killer. It create some dread and desperation for survivors, even if you rarely run out, the potential is scary enough in the same vein as Wesker.

The most important thing for me is the numbers of tunnels available, this would be the biggest change.

I never found Xeno frustraiting to play againts because I probably almost never faced a good Survivors who knew how to counter my power.

But as to why I don't play Xeno more… well the power is just okay and there are so many "okay" powers in this game with so many killers I simply forget Xeno even exists. Xeno power just simply isn't that interesting or deep. Since Nemesis got nice buffs, I probably rather play him since they both have almost same chase power but Nemi has better deal with pallets.

I agree with you, but i think there is more to it.

The fact that the tail attack is missed as soon as the hitbox collides with a structure plus the unintuitive hitbox on top of having the biggest punishment out of all the ranged attacks for the shortest one is a combination that makes Xeno feels really bad for trying fun shots or just simply missing. If it was only the weird hitbox, i think it would be bad, but okay~ish, but the combination of everything is brutal, especially the drag thing.

Being able to drag into walls makes Nemesis really smooth and fun, if the Tentacle collision stopped upon hitting something other than a survivors it would be an horrible killer to play. I understand that Xeno is different and that it working like that is intended and manageable, but it does make it frustrating to play sometimes. Numerous times when streamers miss a tail strike, it's because they smashed the ground, the window or a wall, a twig, something behing the survivors. It's incredibly frustrating to see your tail go trought their model but see the animation where it wags it's tail, implying that the hitbox collided with a structure and you missed. There is two animations for missing, the pointy end wagging meaning you hit something and the hitbox cancelled and the tail smoothly going back meaning you just whiffed.

Let's compare to Nemesis, since the two are always brought together:

Nemesis can break pallets, have a 6.5m range, a 2.25s cooldown, no turrets, shoots directly into a wall and drag itself into someone.

Yeah, no wonder why the Tentacle strike has a better feeling that the Tail strike. All that for 8 "free" hits that hinders so much they are almost a guaranted follow up hits and a mutation rate that slows you down a bit. With Marvin's blood and Licker's tongue, it's almost a non factor tho.

Vaccines are a finite ressources that gives informations and infection hits hinders a lot, having this in exchange of Tentacle Strike numerous ups feels great and fair.

Now you have Xeno with infinite turrets that kills both it's stealth and act as at best a free bodyblock and at worst a power denial for up to 35s. Hitting a turret is a net negative for you, and it's not a "they used a spray, they only have x left, i must infect them with Uroboros again, and i will have less CD for doing so", nope, whack a turret, don't worry they have another infinite numbers of them, it's fine it only demolish your momentum and kills stealth.

Now to be fair, turrets takes time to set up, so you kinda get something, but the turrets are so powerfull, having 1/4 survivors set up some turrets is much more worth for them than you.

The only real advantage of the Tail strike is the wind up of 0.2, Nemesis has 0.35 which is slighlty worse but Nemesis can fake while losing no distance. Xeno must commit to every tail strike. The thing is, Xeno and Nemesis are delayed by distance and mindgames, so the wind up advantage is not that insane compared to everything Nemesis has. I would gladly take 0.15s more in wind up for more range, breaking pallets and having way less cooldowns. Turrers are also worse than 4 vaccines and a 20% hindered "free hits".

And that is only the Tail strike issues, we are not even talking about Tunnels RNG which is far more aggravating in my opinion.

Xenomorph's kit is amazing in concept, but it needs some tuning to really shine, if drastic changes are unacceptable for people, then at least some QoL to make it smoother and less punishing.

Because the pickrate was mentionned, but having one of the worst pickrate and killrate is something that should be questionnable considering this killer is mainly played by dedicated player that should know what they are doing with the character.

Since we're on an Alien discussion, maybe we should also bring the add on into the discussion.

Most are uninteresting (skin, wand etc), two of them are problematic, looking at you Star map and Emergency helmet. And some are cool and usefull like Semiotic Keyboard and Self-Destruct Bolt.

Any ideas to rework some of them ?

Also, why is the cattle prod an iri and the litteral Ovomorph a brown ?

It's like with Pyramid head, the Goblet is an iri but not the tape or the Misty Days painting ? That's bizarre.

I'm not surprised, the nerf to the tail attack didn't feel right and I'm convinced it's completely bugged. I'm one of those who enjoy playing a variety of killers and I've hardly touched Xenomorph since release.

Stop robbing him of his tail hits and people will play him. Make the hitboxes a little more generous for the power role, geez. CoD doesn't even require this level of precision for hits to land.

Xeno's gameplay just isnt that interesting when comparing it to other killers, and Crawler mode just feels like something thats unfinished. The original name for it "Runner Mode" (was in the PTB) also suggests this.

The tunnels and the flame turrets are pretty cool, but Xeno itself needs something more. Youre barely in your normal form, and you should have some sort of ability while in it, and you can change to Crawler mode at will while also giving it some other kind of ability (maybe even keep the tail whip, but still give something to the normal one) just so the gameplay feels a bit more interesting and not so 1 dimensional

For me, the flame turrets are incredibly annoying and repetitive. Completely turns me off from the killer.

Was the bug present on console? I'm a PS5 player, so I remember that when the Xeno came out the tail was much easier to hit, but I think I still got the slower movement when recovering from a tail attack. The difference after the nerf was night and day either way.

I feel like the Xenomorph is in a similar place right now that the Singularity was before his big glow-up. It's hard countered by the survivor items.

I feel like they should either:

A. Do numbers buffs to make the killer's experience less impacted by the turrets, similar to what they did for Singularity, possibly by increasing the stealth aspect of the killer or by tweaking

B. They should restore it to the state it was immediately after release (sans the bugged parts), where the tail is incredibly powerful and survivors need to use the turrets to get it out of Runner Mode or risk going down very quickly.

It was on PTB before xeno was released, i don't think there are PTBs for console.

Basically what happened was that you didn't get slowed down at all when you missed a tail strike. The original numbers were similar to other killers like nemesis where you would have:

• 2 second cooldown on missed tail attack
• moved at 3.68 m/s when you missed a tail attack(20% slower than base)

But because of the bug on PTB xeno didn't get slowed down at all when you missed a tail attack. When they released it from PTB, they fixed the bug (which was good) but then also nerfed the missed attack cooldown significantly, so now its:

• 3 second cooldown on missed tail
• 2 m/s movement speed on missed tail

Basically, they fixed the bug, but because the "tail was too strong" they also nerfed it, but the point of the tail being strong was because it was bugged, not because the original numbers were actually too good. 2 second at 3.68 is super standard these days and is usually what they go for. Vecna works that way, nemesis works that way, houndmaster works that way, pyramid head, etc.

The point of xeno unlike these other killers is that the power SHOULD be strong, because turrets can make you an m1 killer. They should at least buff the numbers back up to standard killer amounts and then see what that does, or massively nerf or even remove the flame turrets and just make the power work all the time with some kind of cooldown instead.

There was some patch as well that made the tail feel less good, but i think that's just been a bug since that patch.

I looped a Xeno around it's turrets and saw his tail get aim dressed into the turret.

Xeno is fun, but man when you miss or get lame Control Points they really feel bad.

Tunnels should feel awesome, but there comes a time when the spawns do nothing for you and the survivors are too aware

From the survivor side Xeno is a perfect killer, I only wish the opposite were also true

His tail is designed for pallets and windows. If you win the 50/50 you're guaranteed a hit.

My issue with him is his mobility. The tunnels are amazing in concept. Being able to track them from underground is his best feature. Issue I have with that is that's not the focus of his addons. He has one I think??? That helps him see them from underground.

But it's fixed locations, and gens fly to fast if you only use the tunnels to move around. Which honestly you should be... it's Alien...

Idk

I disagree. I've played against good xeno players and while yes you don't have to 50/50 to get hits especially against noobs, it definitely is at pallets and windows.

That audio q you get while in chase when he goes to use m2 helps you avoid it while running. But like neme and pyramid head if it's used at windows and pallets it's a hit