Design Preview | The Skull Merchant Part 2

Also, scan lines always being visible means the killer can’t hide the drones behind environmental objects to ambush survivors.

So we can’t ambush with the drones, but we also probably cant use the drones against survivors that are running a tight loop, so the entire thing just has so much counterplay that survivors will almost always be completely safe if they play correctly????

Also u guys somehow made her even weaker killer then now, skull merchant cant play range set up cuz ppl can hide in lockers or behind rng or even better get hit by drone and remove claw trap

U cant play close range cuz u cant control newly placed drones

If u injure them u just m1 killer so u just turn urself into low mobility no mend legion who doesnt have add on that breaks pallets to help u out in some way

I disagree. There are hundreds of ways of overhauling her that would preserve her identity, each radically different to each other and to either version of SM we've had in the game so far.

Finding one that SM haters can tolerate may be difficult, but far from impossible.

Warning this is going to be long 

I have been a Skull Merchant main since a little before her 2.0 edition that brought her mostly to what we have right now. I just wanted to share my thoughts, completely about the proposed reworks as it largely seems this is what we are getting no matter what or at least a variation of what has been proposed. I feel I should share why I started playing merchant and why I still do in her current state. All of  these reasons are lost completely in this rework. 

- I originally started playing merchant because I viewed her as sort of a pocket Ghostface with her drones providing her the exposed effect but also absorbing her terror radius. This version of her I really enjoyed but understood it's flaws and how easy it was to counter if the Merchant didn't go all in on gen defense which could be fun too but I know that was likely a one sided experience. Regardless this version was traded in for what we were given with 2.0 and I have enjoyed this version even more.

- With version 2.0 I think I began to value her uniqueness overall, it's easy to be reductive and compare killers to one another for 1 or more similarities they have but I consistently can not point out a killer that she resembles, apart from her fitting into the trap killer archetype. I love building a web of drones I can manipulate when needed and catch survivors off guard with well placed drones, well used to on that last part. Before playing 2.0 Merchant I was a survivor main who played killer about 20% of my matches which were all only really for missions. Now the split for me looks about 60/40 the 60 in favor of survivor. I'm close to being even on both sides which I never would have if it weren't for that rework. After her recent changes I still love playing with this killer, after all there are no other killers that make the moments she does. In an inverse way from the way people view Wesker, as he can also make moments that are unique to his power. Applying pressure at a near distance, and using spacing, stealth and other pathing mindgames to secure injuries and downs in ways I haven't seen on any other killer. The unique feeling of outplaying survivors that think they are safe but really not and saving lock-on stacks for two taps or injuries without having to lose pressure where you are on the map. In my opinion she is the perfected trap killer, even with one scan line. I could go on further, and as long as I felt but I'll leave it at that; even in the state she is now I would rather play her than any other killer on the roster and with this rework I will lose that. 

- Lastly, I want to cover the actual proposed rework. I find myself able to compare and be redundant with these changes. I can see myself comparing elements of her kit like the propulsion system to Twins, the red light/green light to Doctor and the EMP to unknown. SM will effectively be a jack of all trades but a master of none, which beforehand I would have given that title to Vecna as well. So, no matter how redundantly I am, even if that's no warranted that's 4 different killers I can see in this rework and none of them are Skull Merchant. Specifically, the elements seem cool-ish. I would certainly experiment with this but I wouldn't feel like this is her. I do genuinely feel like losing her scan lines would be losing her completely. I understand that this is meant to make her completely different but it doesn't feel right, to lose 1/3 of the trap killer roster in exchange for something different entirely. Strength wise she's not doing too well, competitively she doesn't exist but her kit as it is can be changed to be better. It can be leaned into a trap playstyle and not be too oppressive because at the end of the day she just gets the first hit, especially with the haste and hinder changes she recieved. If anyone is interested on what I'd like to do to her current kit is be happy to provide that and to anyone who has read this much thank you and I would love to hear from you.  

The entire power reads like a novel while her power is nothing to do with Skull Merchant. SM is set up killer (or she was until she was nuked) and she should stay that way. People will still hate her and SM enjoyers will drop her.

The drone buddy should be named Ryan or Olaf.

This concept does seem interesting devs! Good thinking!

My thoughts -

*This design might be a little too complicated to use in the heat of things in a trial. New killers that are playing the game will really struggle with this. New survivors will struggle with this as well for sure. Vet players still struggle to a degree with more complex designs.

*I really like the global detection power, but it will be WAY too easy to counter sadly. You will likely not get any value out of it once people know how to counter.

*I love the idea of a little drone buddy, that is really neat.

*I think it would be neat to have Skull Merchant layout drones in areas she walks too, but they not only scan the area they move around in that area actively scanning for survivors. This will still give the trap mechanic that people really want to keep with her as it is her identity. I don't have all the other details layed out in my head after that, but this could be a starting point.

I will keep thinking on this and get back to this post at later time if I come up with more thoughts/feedback.

The most complex-to-understand aspect is how the killer is supposed to actually do anything if the survivors play well.

1. Your workflow had the killer using the global reveal at the beginning of the game, but the survivors can just stop running/walking when they get the global reveal warning.
2. Your workflow involved the drones chasing survivors, but then said survivors can just run around a tight loop for counterplay, at which point the killer probably needs to stop using the drone.
3. Your workflow added scan lines to the drones, which means they can't be used to ambush survivors, because if the killer tries to chase them toward a drone that is hidden behind an environmental object, the survivors can see the scan lines, and not be surprised.

For the drone name, her lore mentions Adi Valente, who had a quirky robot companion. Skull Merchant's drone buddy could have the same name as Adi's robot companion, if BHVR could create a name for Adi's robot companion and update the lore.

Hello there :D
I personally like the changes which are about to come. Especially the combination to use the Drones. Best Part is the Drone Buddy :D (imagine it can be customized in the future like Snug :D )
Also thank you for sharing your ideas with us. I love the transparency

There's just a lot going on in her kit, all at once. It could be a lot to keep track of mentally.

Now, there's times when that works well; like Vecna or Dracula and times when it works poorly, see old SM.

It all depends on how well it flows together and how distinct it is, for lack of a better word.

My thoughts.

1. There's a Lack of clarity or visible information of what's going on exactly. Haste and Hinder would be changing on the fly with no tell to the survivor. Her power should be a bit more telegraphed of what's going on exactly. Old Spirit had the same problem when she gave literally zero information for survivors to work with so there was no counter play against her until she got the directional audio que put into her phase walking.
2. "Head shot" Any shooter games we always try to aim for the head, but when the head shoots back....

Drone Buddy suggestion:

SONNY

Scanning
Overhead
Navigational
Negation
Yokefellow

Here are my final thoughts about the changes as a #1 claw-trap down SM main, all in one place:
- drone dash is anticlimactic, goofy and needs to be replaced with a static beam attack. Effectively can accomplish the same while being much more thematic and resembling laser tagging, a part of her almost all SM mains adore the most.
- RLGL shouldn't fully be countered by standing still/crouching and shouldn't be countered at all by doing gens/healing. You can make so she has to earn this power by scanning/hitting people so it's less passive, that way you can also buff it, for example give it a minumum, uncrouchable duration of 3-5 seconds that gets extended for each survivor individually if they move. Making the entire duration crouchable, makes the power lackluster against good survivors while stomping the newer players, which is exactly what she does right now.
- Im assuming the clawtraps still have some battery so people can't just remove them instantly
- Bringing back clawtraps and changing the way of downing survivors from the previous version is a massive W and removes a lot of frustrating parts
- This rework sounds kinda cool but it definitely doesn't make her more simple which I thought was one of the goals. New players will be having a hard time from the sheer amount of knowledge required to fully understand what she does
- Give her proper visual/audio cues in chase, cause this is something the current SM is missing, arguably her biggest flaw right now
- The drone buddy is cute and I will be naming her Petunia

I'm happy to see the claw traps being incorporated in this second design preview. I quite like most of the changes proposed in the first design preview and the simplicity of the new power concept. However, I feel like a lot of the additions in this second preview are making the power too complex. Both for the killer and survivors. I really appreciate how straightforward the first concept is. It also incorporates elements from two of my favorite killers, the Hag and the Twins. Setting up stealthy traps (drones) and when triggered being able to follow up with a speedy and lethal drone attack, seems like a really fun yet simple power design. I wish the rework would lean more into the set-up/trapping aspect of SM, which seems to be lost in this second preview.

Here are my proposed changes to keep her new rework fun, simple and balanced:

• Keep the stealthy drones with invisible scan lines from the first design preview, so she stays a trap killer.
• Allow the drones to still down survivors, but only allow the Skull Merchant to control drones that have recently been activated by detecting a survivor.
• Scrap the drone buddy. It does sound cute, but it's unnecessary.
• Scrap the global detection power. It's too oppressive and free against new players and extremely easy to avoid for everyone else.
• Keep the claw traps. It's important to have a sense of direction on where to go after injuring a survivor with a drone.
• Lastly, there should probably be a tiny delay and hinder when placing a drone, so the survivor can safely reach nearby loops when a drone is deployed mid chase (similar to Artist and Hag). This will encourage careful planning by setting up drones beforehand.

With this concept the Skull Merchant will keep a similar playstyle. She'll set up drones at key areas of the map and herd survivors into them. She'll be able to catch survivors by surprise with drones placed in sneaky spots. Once a drone is activated, she'll follow up with a drone attack. She'll have healthy skill expression in the form of well-placed drones and carefully aimed drone propulsions. It'd also be cool to bring back some of the old visuals like the eye and the survivor animations.

finally a reason to run urban evasion and not get hated on.

Sorry for the Google translated English. Please let me write it down.

I'm glad that the claw trap is back, thank you. If we don't bring back this mechanism, we can come up with a new plan. Personally, the problem with the current plan is that it's unclear how accurate the drone's attacks are, and it destroys the identity of the trap killer. However, the return of the claw trap will solve these problems.I also thought the EMP darts looked interesting, but I feel it's an idea that should be reserved for another killer, so I'm not in favor of them in this rework.

It's a rework that adds abilities while leaving the base kit as is. It's similar to the Doctor's rework. This way, the management can do what they want, and fans probably won't complain.

First, the drone's ramming attack will gain one scan stack, and the existing scanline will remain the same. By utilizing add-ons and allocating it to scanline strengthening and drone ramming attack strengthening, customization will be increased. Depending on the add-on, it can become a drone specialized in ramming attacks, or conversely, a drone specialized in traps. The advantage of this plan is that it solves the problem that Skull Merchant had, that even if a survivor has two scan stacks, they are practically useless if they just stand there. Also, if the advantage of ramming is small, it won't be a problem even if it has the same power as Viktor.

Second, the global detection ability is unnecessary. The only situations where it is useful are beginner hunting, tunneling, and rescuer hunting. I don't think it provides a good play experience, it unnecessarily complicates the ability, and it reduces the number of buttons available for rework ideas. There is also no need for an eye icon to appear on survivors when they look at the radar. It looks cool at first glance, but it's sad that you can't use the radar to do legal wallhack chases while looking behind you.

I think the drone's ability to move is revolutionary as a trap killer, and it also gives it a more drone-like feel.I think being able to use add-ons to create various play styles to suit your tastes makes it even more drone-like.

I will also write down the key configuration.

Left click, attack. Right click, place drone. ctrl, check radar. ctrl+left short click, reverse drone rotation, ctrl+left hold click, control drone, ctrl+right click, retrieve drone.

Key configuration for the drone you are controlling. Move with awsd, Left hold click, drone ram. Right click, switch control to Skull Merchant.

In my proposed rework, the electrical gauge would not be necessary.

I would like to use a trap killer after all. I would appreciate it if you could give it some thought.

I'm a main chess merchant and no likes this rework

The best part about this post is the comments negatives and votes against this rework because even if push these changes and destroy the SM original this killer will continue to be hated

I don't want to play twins 2.0 bores me, want to playing chess with undetectable effect.

People hate SM no matter the changes, I'm still playing merchant and many players are disconnecting even against a killer tier F.

I’m really liking most of the Skull Merchant rework, it’s a solid step forward. But I’m on the fence about the new “Drone Buddy.” Not because it’s a bad mechanic, but because it feels a bit too close to the Predator’s shoulder cannon (Plasmacaster). If Predator ever joins the game, it would suck if that iconic weapon gets left out because another killer already has something similar. I'm sure alternatives for the drone buddy abilities have been discussed in length internally, but if I had to offer one, I would prefer it gave bonuses, for example, undetectable/killer instinct/haste, and it cycled through all of them.

This power design much better fits the concept of a high-tech tracker than the previous iterations of SM. The Claw Traps effectively being bombs attached to survivors that she chases down and detonates is a clever idea. Overall I'm looking forward to this rework, sounds interesting to play as and against. Lay drones as traps in loops, herd survivors towards loops, hit them with drone, attach Claw Trap, then chase them down and blast them. It's a little complicated but it's good that it requires effort so long as it's powerful enough to make the effort feel worth it.

As much as this is better from the previous preview. It still feels a like a nightmare for survivors. Here is the rework I would recommend

Keep the buddy drone the same and make its projectile a straight with the aoe.

She will only have 4 invisible drones that suffer interference from generator spots by the entity. These drones will have no scanning line but the original large scan radius that it had on release. It can’t see through walls. Any survivor that’s visible in its line of sight for 4 uninterrupted seconds activates chase mode. It will only chase that survivor and other drones can’t be placed near each other. Chase mode is when the drone loses its invisibility, makes aloud noise and emits a cone like scan line that builds up the tracking meter as it hovers over the survivor. This will not apply haste or hindered

the drone will chase you till it run out of battery. It will not injure or maim. The claw trap itself won’t even break survivors. But it will have a full minute to where the skull merchant will see you on the radar. There will be no way to remove the claw trap when it applies.

strengths: this will enhance her tracking and allow her to use it constantly and sometimes deter someone from staying in a loop. She will have a good range attack to pair with her tracking.

Weaknesses. You won’t be able to effect multiple survivors at a time with the drone. If you get close enough you can still hack the drone. The drone following you can be hacked to disable it before you get a claw trap. She will have no haste or hindering.

And that’s my suggestion.