http://dbd.game/killswitch
Shattered Hope Should Be Basekit and Reworked
Overview
Shattered Hope is currently one of the least viable killer perks. Its intent—to counter survivor Boons—is solid, but in practice, it fails to provide meaningful utility given the current meta and map design. Especially when survivors choose not to bring a boon and you instantly lose one quarter of your perk inventory.
❌ The Problem:
- The perk only counters Boons, which are a niche survivor mechanic.
- On large or complex maps (e.g., RPD, Eyrie), it can take an extremely long time for a killer to reach and snuff a Boon.
- Killers only have four perk slots, so dedicating one to Boon control, which is situational and slow, is rarely worth it.
- Boons remain a problematic mechanic—survivors use them to extend chases, reduce detection, and recover from the dying state, giving them significant advantage.
- In high-level or competitive play, Boons can sometimes go unchecked because Shattered Hope is unusable in its current form.
🔧 Suggested Fixes
✅ Option 1: Make Shattered Hope Basekit
- Killers can snuff Boons without wasting a perk slot, restoring balance and fairness.
- This wouldn’t reveal survivor auras—just disables the Boon.
- You could make the basekit feature simply make each totem no longer boonable as opposed to destroyed.
✅ Option 2: Rework the Perk
- Don't do this. Just make it basekit and rework it to something not to do with boons.
🎯 Why This Matters
- Boons interfere heavily with core killer mechanics—regression, detection, and pressure.
- Killers deserve a reliable tool to counter Boons without sacrificing essential perks.
- Maps like RPD exacerbate the problem due to Boon placement and map size.
- Fixing this perk or making it basekit would improve competitive balance and perk diversity.
📌 Summary
Shattered Hope is unusable in its current state but remains an important counterplay tool killers need. It should be basekit or reworked with meaningful utility so killers can reliably contest Boons, especially on maps with multiple floors, like RPD.
Comments
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You are in the wrong year. No boon perk is even remotely strong enough for shattered hope to become basekit. If you had suggested buffing boons back to circle of healing level we could talk about it, but not in their current state. There it doesn‘t make sense at all.
1 -
I might be in the wrong year for MANY things. It doesn't mean it isn't the correct decision. If boons can be problematic circumstantially, then it should be changed.
You want to hold on to a useless perk for what reason exactly? Because it's the wrong year? Eh, no. Shall we also prevent all other correct changes 'because it's the wrong year'? Again, no.
We have a useless perk, of course it makes sense. Boons also should not and should never have been re-boonable, not in the past, and not now.
I swear some people come yapping for the sake of yapping. Use your brain. You're trying to prevent forward progression for zero reason.
-5 -
Yes shattered hope is bad. Should it get changed yes.
However making it basekit is just a stupid suggestion and not „the correct decision“ when boons are as bad as they are. Not one boon justifies making it basekit and they don‘t need to be made worse!!!
2 -
Hard disagree.
The only reason that effect was ever considered a good idea at all was because of CoH being too strong, the other boons not only aren't strong enough to warrant that, they're designed in such a way that it'd be completely counter-productive. Boons won't be a continual timesink for survivor if they aren't repeatedly blessing.
You're not wrong that the perk isn't worth it now, but that's just because you can't guarantee you'll face boons. It is nice to be able to delete the mechanic if you make the right read/guess that your opponents will have one of those perks, but that's not a good enough reason to keep the perk around.
It never should've existed in the first place, it should be fully reworked into something else.
3 -
No, it isn't a stupid suggestion - it is EXACTLY what should have been done.
- There is no other way of implementing it without using 1 out of 4 'anti boon' perks which is obviously profoundly stupid.One single survivor can bring 4 boons and put them on one totem on one floor of RPD with an RPD offering. It is problematic.
Sir have you tried taking an IQ test? Get off my post, thanks.
-6 -
😂😂😂😂😂 Read your own text and apply the stuff you call me to yourself.
3 -
That's right. You seem to do an awful lot of posting for someone with a fool's logic. Goddamn. Do us a favour and delete your forums account.
-4 -
Keep it going
0 -
Yes I was there for the initial release and as a Hag main, it actually made me quit the game and recently return. However, I had noticed it to be problematic on RPD particularly when sent there for a survivor with 4 boons. You can't track them on both floors of wherever they put it. Frankly, there is no reason they should be re-boonable. If a killer goes out of their way - meaning they leave a chase, go and travel to the boon, and then stomp it, and re-pick up a chase (lost a full chase and travel time for this) - it should not be re-boonable. Period.
-1 -
There's a very good reason they should be reboonable: It's the entire purpose of the mechanic.
A radius of buffs that survviors spend time setting up, that the killer can disable with a quick animation, forcing them to go spend time setting it up again if they want the buff back. The whole interplay is supposed to be the survivors trying to get enough value out of it before it's snuffed to pay for the time spent setting it up.
There's supposed to be a sort of trap element to it. If you spend too long relighting boons, they're not giving you enough value to not be a detriment. There are definitely some maps boons are better on than others, and something like RPD does raise a legitimate question as to whether boons should go through floors, but there's no reason to consider Shattered Hope basekit. It doesn't make any logical sense from a game design perspective.
2 -
Tbh, boons are pretty useless anyways. I find it extremely rare to come across survivors running a boon perk/build. I see what you're trying to say, but making the totems unable to cast an effect to nearby survivors after snuffing the totem is just nerfing the boons at that rate. Making them one-time use. Besides, boons are fine with where they are at and I find totems are hard to locate when you're running a boon perk. You can just simply listen out to figure out where they are. Simple. 🤷♂️
Nice suggestion though, but I disagree.
2 -
In my opinion they should not. The killer might as well not snuff it at all since the time to set it up by one of four survivors is nothing compared to the time taken for a killer, particularly on problematic maps. They are niche, yes, but can be problematic when you cannot afford to snuff it out - especially when it simply gets re-booned.
There are 5 totems in the map. Why is it a problem that the survivor simply goes to the next totem to boon it? At least then they are limited to 5 and you have got the most problematic totems out of the way if the match necessitates it.
-3 -
There are 5 totems in the map. If you're running a boon build you have the option to bring a map to locate totems easily if needed. In my opinion there is no reason survivors should not be made to go to the next totem after a problematic totem, on a floor above, that the killer spent 1 minute finding and traversing to (4 survivors can be on a generator during this time BTW) for them to re-boon it. Make them go to the next totem.
-2 -
It doesn't really work like that.
There are five totems, but the only boon that works regardless of which totem it's put on is Circle of Healing, and maybe Illumination if you don't want to use it more than once.
Totems need to be near the action for boons to function, because they're designed to be a back-and-forth. If the totem near the action is snuffed, on many maps you have one, maybe two spots left. On some you have zero.
They're not mapwide, and only two work without the killer nearby. They're not designed to work this way.
2 -
Well they can be near the action until they get broken with basekit shattered hope. Then they are not near the action since the killer spent precious time going and snuffing it. Since the boon can reach literally half the map of RPD and takes 1 minute to locate and snuff, let's look at implementing this.
-2 -
Yes. They're near the action until they get broken, so the boon mechanic has been completely deleted from the game. The mechanic's intention no longer functions.
There is an olive branch I can show you here. Boons breaking when they're snuffed is a non-starter, it doesn't make any sense. What you're clearly more annoyed at is maps like RPD, though, so let me ask you a question.
Would boons take anywhere near as long to snuff relative to how much time survivors get to benefit from them if they didn't go through multiple floors? If in order for survivors to benefit from the boon, it has to be as close and easy to access for the killer as it would be on other maps?
1 -
It just seems RPD is the issue. 🤷♂️
Boons are perfectly fine the way they are. They're powerless in a way.
1 -
There are more perks I'd like to see basekit on killer - corrupt, noed, nowhere to hide, pain resonance, dead mans switch, grim embrace, pop goes the weasel, no way out, sloppy butcher. Don't make game perk reliant when killers are on rough spot of being extremely underpowered.
-2 -
Boons are too niche in their use for the killer to have a basekit ability that destroys them. It would make them even weaker than they are now.
Make boons better, then make Shattered Hope basekit. Boons would finally be worth including in a survivor's loadout, and the killer would have a consistent tool for limiting their use.
3 -
Having those perks as basekit for Killer is literally a gigantic buff tbh. Unless they're reworked so they are balanced, but other than that it will just buff the killer side significantly.
1 -
I appreciate your detailed explanation about how totems and boons function near the action, and I agree that placement matters significantly. Great — the survivors got to use the boon until the killer managed to get rid of it. And it should be permanent given the time it takes for the killer to do so compared to the very little time it takes for just one out of four survivors to place or renew the boon.
Letting survivors use the other four totems, even if they are not in ideal spots, still gives them an advantage without making the perk overpowered. However, on complex maps like RPD, the spatial layout makes it disproportionately difficult for killers to effectively contest multiple totems scattered across different floors. Even if only a couple of totems remain near the main action, survivors can still leverage these to maintain boon benefits, especially with coordinated team play.
The time investment required for a killer to travel, locate, and snuff these totems often outweighs the benefit, particularly when survivors use the time to progress generators or reposition. This creates a situation where killers are penalized for trying to counter boons, making perks like Shattered Hope a weak and situational choice that costs a valuable perk slot.
Making Shattered Hope basekit would restore balance. It would allow killers to apply consistent pressure without having to sacrifice perk diversity or chase time.
Ultimately, the goal is not to remove boons entirely, but to make their counterplay more viable and fair for killers, without forcing them to spend disproportionate time and resources on a niche mechanic.
-1 -
That would be fair. If boons got buffed, then Shattered Hope could possibly be basekit. But currently, boons are just powerless.
2 -
They don't need any changes. Their currecnt form is very balanced and it would make killers more consistent overall and open path to other builds without being at 1 gen at 4mins into game. If not, at least make time to repair a gen about 120s, so the game overall feel more consistent for killer players that actually want to play in a normal and healthy way.
-3 -
Well, Shattered Hope can be made basekit and then the boons can be balanced from there. However, reboonable boons is a very silly mechanic given the time investment for killers vs survivors and in order to tackle problematic map offering situations. Period. That's all. Thanks for your inputs but you're wrong.
0 -
Re-booning a totem is time-wasting for survivors... it just looks like the map is more the issue instead of the totems themselves. If you're struggling, then that's a skill problem tbh.
-1 -
I'm sorry, but that seems like a skill problem with the killer you're playing as if the gens are going to one left insanely quickly. Increasing the time it takes for gens to be completed will just make it killer sided. The gen completion timer is fine as it is. Unless, if it's a SWF team then fair enough. But in general, just no.
-1 -
It is MORE time wasting for killers. Quick maffs.
-2 -
I beg to differ. I've played killer multiple times and never found boon totems an issue. Therefore, it's your skill as killer that needs improving.
0 -
Good to know that you've played killer 2-3 times my friend. I've been playing killer and survivor since 2017. Your input is not valued. Please stop commenting on the forums.
Thanks.
-1 -
I main killer and survivor XD
Maybe stop complaining and don't play Killer if it gets on your nerves?
0 -
I again reiterate that your newbie input is not valued and your opinion holds no grounding. Thank you for your comments and good night.
-2 -
Someone is getting salty... it's way past your bedtime!!
-1 -
lol shattered hope should have been basekit from the very beginning but hey, at least the survivors are wasteing times with boons that don't really do anything anymore. after the circle of healing meta left nothing really seams that impactful from boons anymore. basekit or not, they just aren't impactful enough to matter anymore.
2 -
Firat of all, killers can snuff boons without the perk, perk makes that totem is destroyed in the process, and in some cases I don't want the totem to be destroyed, so destroying it as basekit is not a good idea.
Destroying totem being basekit may be a good idea if its alternative - killer may either snuff the boon in short, half a second animation, or break totem with boon in longer, 3 second animation.
Shattered hope can then get other effects.
Like
1. killer instinct while sniffing boon.
2. Aura while breaking totem.
3. Disabling all boons when breaking totem.
4. Increase break totem animation to 10s, but removes boon perks from broken totem boon caster.
5. Anything wild.
And then you can introduce new boon that prevents killer from either breaking or snuffing booned totem (using both such boons cancels them out).
-2 -
If Shattered Hope was made basekit, we would have more freedom with Boons and make them actually worth bringing.
So, I would agree, under the condition where Boons get some much needed buffs.
3 -
Bringing a specific load out is alway a risk. And it's how the game works. For example you bring full vault build and end up on Gideon or bring overcome and face the instadown killers. There is no guaranteed use of a build every game. And as a killer, the only boon I bother snuffing is shadowstep, apart from that it's waste of time because other boons are meh.
Edit: If any change is done to the boons, rather than shattered hope being basekit i would like to see the boons been limited to use once per totem, 5 times total. That would make it that you can deny booning specific area anymore.
0 -
Honestly if anything boons should be faster to put up if they are gonna be left unchanged. I really love the perk concept for survivor, but it takes time.
Bring thrill/hex builds if you wanna counter boons, they take forever to put up with that, I suppose you could also bring pentimento with Shattered Hope… If it was made baseline, it'd be VERY annoying. So no, I don't think baseline boon breaking would be healthy.2
