Adriana Imai: A hunter born anew

Hey, so I’m a pretty new player to this game (possibly only got about a 100 hours on this game or so), and lately I’ve been trying out the killer: Skull Merchant. Alas, she isn’t very good, nor particularly enjoyable to play as and against.

I have seen the rework preview suggestions that the devs have been posting, yet I believe that it is slightly missing the mark. The drone dash and all that seem towards the edge of a “dash killer” concept. Fortunately, many seem to think that some of the aspects presented were interesting, which is the case, but it doesn’t deny the fact that it seems we’re taking one step forward and multiple steps back, as “Pixel Bush” (possibly the most loyal SM player) said in multiple videos.

Just to acknowledge: I am not a game dev, nor a game designer. This is all something that I have imagined and written down. Now, here is what I got for a rework concept:

Power Rework — “Eyes in the skies”

Adriana is a methodical predator who thrives in stealth, misdirection, and control. Using advanced tracking tech, she manipulates the environment to herd survivors and force them into tough, reactive choices. Her drones no longer serve as glorified slowdown—they hunt.

Special Ability: Stealth Drones

Adriana begins the trial with 4 to 5 Stealth Drones. These drones can be deployed on surfaces to hover slightly above the ground, activating a Silent Detection Field visible only to her.

• Survivors cannot see the detection field, but the drone emits soft pulses and dual red lights when active.

• While walking, running, or standing in the field, a survivor begins filling a Detection Meter (similar to The Singularity’s cameras). Crouching avoids detection.

• When the meter is full, the drone launches a Claw Trap, attaching it to the survivor and immediately deactivating said drone.

• A drone becomes inactive while its trap is on a survivor but will automatically reboot 4 seconds after the trap is removed or expires.

Claw Traps

• While wearing a trap, the survivor’s location is periodically shown to Adriana’s radar.

• The trap has a battery life of 45 to maybe 60 seconds. If it expires naturally, the survivor suffers no penalty or injury.

• A claw trap’s duration can be indicated by a visible light: Blue = Fully charged, until it turns Red = timer is down to halfway

• If the survivor is scanned again by another drone while the trap is active, the timer resets.
  
  
• After 12 seconds, the survivor can choose to manually remove it. But:
  • If healthy, they will be put in the  injured state.
  • If already injured, they suffer the Broken status effect for 60 seconds, instead of potentially getting into the dying state. (The time can be reconsidered.).

This creates a risk-reward scenario: do you play stealthy and avoid detection while marked, or do you remove the trap and face a consequence?

Secondary Ability: Hunting Drone

A companion drone floats above Adriana, tracking with her movement. Every 10 seconds, it charges a Precision EMP Dart that can be shot in a straight line and hits anything in a small blast radius.

• If a survivor with an active Claw Trap is hit, they are injured or downed depending on their current health state, and the trap is destroyed.

• The dart can also be fired at generators to regress them by 10% (subject to tuning), creating off-chase pressure.

• A missed shot or successful hit triggers cooldown.

*Things to note: If a Claw trap is on a survivor that gets hooked, put in the dying state or is shot by the emp dart, the trap just falls off and the drone gets set back online. Also there is readjusting to the idea of her having 5 stealth drones, but she can only deploy 4 at a time. So if one is offline or has been hacked by a survivor, then SM (Skull Merchant) can place her fifth drone down for chase potential. Once the first drone wakes up it goes back to SM as the one she just put down replaces it.

Anyway, IDK if this is way too op or too simple or just plain bad. I know it will need workshopping, but this is my idea. She now has better chase potential without it being another dash killer. Survivors finally have a killer that offers them a CHOICE, instead of forcing them to play one way against her. Give me your feedback, pls. Or don’t, but I would appreciate if so. <3