Houndmaster is a Shameful Killer Design
Since her release, Houndmaster has been extremely frustrating to play due to how unresponsive her controls are. It’s nearly impossible to aim where the dog should go accurately — I often find myself shaking my camera multiple times just to get the game to register the target (whether it's a generator, an exit gate, or even a simple directional input).
The Chase Command is another huge issue. The dog frequently stops halfway through the command, failing to reach its destination because it gets stuck on terrain. This happens constantly in places like the center of Lery’s Memorial — it’s very noticeable and outright ridiculous.
Then there's the 8.7.0 nerf:
“Dog's vault speed during Chase Command reduced to 0.65s (was 0.45s)”
This nerf feels like the final nail in the coffin. It now requires frame-perfect timing to command a chase after a survivor drops a pallet, which is unreasonable. Many killers have powers that create a mindgame around pallet drops — like Nemesis, Huntress, Alien, Pyramid Head, even Dracula — where the killer pressures the survivor with an active ability, forcing a decision. That used to be the case with Houndmaster too.
But now? The whistle barely creates pressure, and if your ping is high (100ms+), using her commands becomes nearly impossible. If you're above 100ms, you might as well just surrender.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. I’m convinced Houndmaster needs serious adjustments — both in responsiveness and overall design polish.
Comments
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0.65 does not require "frame perfect timing" to get a grab at a pallet. You can't actually believe the game should be modified to balance around 100ms+ ping players.
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I agree fully. I main Houndmaster, and seeing a nerf to a really balanced killer like her feels shameful. Besides, the dogs vaulting and catching survivors is the survivor's own fault anyway for predropping
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There’s also a bug with her dog too if you fall off a ledge, temporarily your dog by any means will not be able to be used. So if they have balanced landing. Goodluck. If they don't. Goodluck!
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the problem is her design is unfun to face, i think they are afraid of making it even more unfun to face
i agree she is fun to play, but playing against her is mind numbing.
-3 -
I disagree. I think she is a lot of fun to go against. The issue is the swarm of bugs revolving around her.
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My problems:
- Search Command is really finicky and it takes ages to aim it, and god forbid you want to target a different gen other than the one you just aimed at.
- Houndsense disappears from all survivors whenever a survivor gets saved from hook or flashlight/pallet saved.
- She is supposed to have stun voicelines, but I have never heard them.
- Her add-ons are really not good aside a few exceptions.
- The dog pulls the survivor TOWARDS a pallet mostly, even though you are in the opposite way.
- Snug sometimes gets stuck at a random piece of map geometry and stays there for god knows how long, and you cannot free him with commands.
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For sure. Hopefully they can fix this. Snug has an issue to if you fall off any ledge he will just get stuck.
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I know for a fact that BHVR knows the issues we have with Houndmaster, they just need to find time to crack the problems.
Im therefore posting my biggest issues with her.
1.Search command is too difficult to aim, you spend too much time trying to aim it and so most of the time I just dont use Search most of the time, when I could. Please fix this ASAP.
2.Houndmaster ought to be able to change her mind of the Command mid charge, allowing for free swapping of commands before we issue the command to Snug. Why? Because most of the time you can easily forget what command is selected and so you end up having to undo the charge losing distance and pressure.
Like ive said many times before, I would consider Houndmaster perfectly designed was these two issues mended.
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Shes so fun to play against wdym? Her chase power is actually super balanced and fun to work around, its actually more dodgeable unlike Nemesis' whip and Xeno's tail
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- Make the vault time 0.5
- Increase base speed of the chase speed
- Increase houndsense duration and circle the dog emits at least by 50 %
- Make houndsense to cause magled and hemorage instead of deep wound
- Decrease the time it takes to wiggle from dog by 15-20 % to create a situation where the struggle actually does something
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Thats too much. No killer inflicts sloppy Butcher without add ons. Her chase speed should stay a consistent 35 M/s as it is now (sometimes bugs and is slower or faster). Houndsense doesn't need a duration buff, but its circle could be made more consistent when tracking people through walls and obstacles though. The vault speed should be completely reverted and I'm perfectly fine with a grab duration nerf
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Why are you guys so crazy after such small number change on dog vault? It almost makes no difference and I play this killer a lot.
What I don't like and what is shamefull on this killer how bad the scouting command is… like why does it take forever to aim at gen? Why it is so inconsitent? Why its so random at times? Why I can't aim where I want to? such things annoying me on this killer.
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Just played her today, and I gotta say the vault speed nerf is not that big of a deal.
I did discover 2 new bugs tho, one where I constantly heard the Search Path sound until I sent Snug away, it resolved itself so no problem there, and a visual? glitch where the dog phases through pallets.
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Both are known issues. Snug phases through pallets sometimes when a survivor drops a pallet and snug was sent while the stun window ended, but the pallet is still being dropped into a stationary prop. When you redirect he phases through the pallet
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This sort of thing is why I don't understand ANYONE putting Houndmaster in A tier. She's way too buggy to be up there. She's more of a high B at best.
She's glitchy and needs work, just like how the Knight's guards always glitch. AI on Killers is glitchy. We have two case studies now.
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I never said I expect the game to be balanced for players with over 100ms+ ping. That only makes the problem worse
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The comment about frame-perfect timing was clearly hyperbole — obviously nothing in the game is truly frame-perfect. But the truth is the timing window has been significantly reduced, which feels like an unnecessary punishment for a killer who, at best, is Tier A.
- If you don’t anticipate the pallet drop, the Dog gets stunned and goes into cooldown.
- If you’re even slightly late activating the chase after the pallet drops, the survivor escapes.
After all of that effort you still have to go around the pallet to actually deal a health state.
“Imagine if Huntress hatchets took 0.5 seconds to be thrown after you released the wind-up button.”
Except Huntress hatchets deal a health state instantly.So does this nerf even make sense? Give me one valid reason. If you want to keep it at 0.65s, fine — just explain why.
-1 -
Fine, I will.
Imo, both the 0,45s and 0,65s are bearable, and neither makes or breaks the power. She has other issues and strengths that matter more.
All this change does is give the survivors a smidge more of a window to react. You can still easily win the pallet mindgame with patience, most survivors just drop the pallet and get bit.
What this change is good for, is making the survivors stop complaining and giving them counterplay they desire.
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I honestly enjoy playing as her and against her, the issue as people have mentioned here is the bugs.
I don't think the nerf is the problem, it's literally the dog and how jank it is, sometimes the trail doesn't even match the dogs path.1
