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Improving the Xenomorph – Players’ Best Ideas for Developers
The Xenomorph is generally considered a B-tier killer, often closer to B-, and even C-tier for players in Asia.
Since the changes in recent updates, the Xenomorph's tail attack can be easily dodged by survivors with even minimal skill or experience. When turrets are placed strategically, they become a real threat, rendering the Xenomorph almost completely harmless.
I haven't even mentioned the numerous buffs given to survivors. This explains why players, including franchise fans, almost completely ignore the Xenomorph. Playing this killer is frustrating because every action carries a penalty.
« Its tail attack doesn’t pose enough of a threat to justify the turrets or the nerf to its power »
Can we prevent Dracula from using his Hellfire spell?
Can we stop him from transforming into a wolf and performing two pounces?
Not to mention his bat form, which is far easier to use than the Xenomorph’s tunnels.
We can’t prevent Ken Kaneki from using his power, which will always injure a survivor.
We can’t stop The Blight from bouncing off walls at full speed, just as we can’t stop The Nurse from blinking.
So explain to me why the Xenomorph has to suffer such a significant penalty for its tail attack.
Survivors only need to place turrets strategically and pre-drop pallets, and its weakness is further amplified by Kwon Tae-young’s new skill: Five Moves Ahead.
If Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger have received changes that significantly strengthened them, then the Xenomorph deserves the same treatment.
It wouldn’t take much to make the Xenomorph stronger and more enjoyable to play.
There’s no need to touch its tail attack or turrets, they’re already perfectly balanced.
What the Xenomorph really needs are extra tools to offset the penalty from turrets and, above all, to justify the nerf to its power.
This is the most important point to remember: the turrets need to be justified despite their strength.
I have two solutions to choose from:
A • An additional power (rework)
B • - Improvement to the tunnel exits
- Improvement of six addons
- the addition of a mini-Mori similar to Vecna’s (Henry), which would reward using the tail attack and the presence of turrets.
" Option B " is the better choice, as it’s quicker and easier for the developers to implement.
⇒ Solution A : An additional power (rework)
I’m sharing this purely for informational purposes to offer some ideas, but I don’t think the developers will actually pursue this path. They have many chapters to create and plenty of fixes to apply to the game.
The Xenomorph could have a secondary power in quadruped mode to justify the presence of turrets that cancel its main power.
For example, it could be given the ability to leap onto a wall or environmental object, which would give the impression of climbing walls, then jump back to the ground while performing a Shred attack similar to the Demogorgon’s.
This would be a mechanic combining elements of The Blight and Dracula’s wolf form.
The secondary power could also help balance the tail attack by adding a cooldown, harmonizing its overall strength.
Of course, this is just a dream, as such a change would be very tedious to develop, requiring a rework of its addons and several adjustments.
So let’s move on to the more realistic solution!
⇒ Solution B : Multiple Improvements
Here are some changes that could push the Xenomorph to A-tier, with bigger impact and a more strategic endgame.
Tunnel Exit Improvements
Exiting tunnels now grants the Xenomorph the Undetectable status effect for 5 seconds.
Anecdote: This already happens with the Demogorgon (5 seconds) and Springtrap (20 seconds), without being affected by turrets. 5 seconds is a reasonable compromise and should be sufficient (more explanation below).
Exiting tunnels grants a 5% Haste effect for 3 seconds.
Anecdote: This effectively integrates the weak Parker’s Headband add-on into the base kit. The add-on will receive a new effect in the next section.
These two changes are minor, but they make exiting tunnels slightly more effective. This is especially helpful because some tunnels are poorly placed on certain maps, behind walls, in isolated corners, or on lower floors, far from generators, like on the Dead Dawg Saloon map.
Improvement of 6 Add-ons
The Xenomorph’s add-ons need a major overhaul to give players more options and synergy with various perks.
Affected add-ons:
• Ash's Innards
• Brett’s Cap
• Parker’s Headband
• Kane’s Helmet
• Multipurpose Hatchet
• Acidic Blood
Ash's Innards :
While hardier, mechanical beings break too when enough force is applied.• Turrets take 15 seconds longer to respawn after they are destroyed.
Anecdote: I removed and replaced the previous effect of this add-on because the Xenomorph already has three stronger add-ons against Turrets: Lambert’s Star Map, Light Wand, and Emergency Helmet.
Having four add-ons dedicated to countering Turrets is unnecessary, especially since they are rarely used.Inspired by the Very Rare Add-on Self-Destruct Bolt, which also provides a benefit in Crawler Mode, this idea grants a small additional advantage while in Crawler Mode and offers an alternative gameplay option for players.
(It also aligns with the description of Ash’s Innards, which refers to applying enough force.)Note: Keep in mind that you can only equip two add-ons at a time. Stacking these benefits will make you weaker against Turrets.
Brett’s Cap :
Survivors suffer from the Oblivious Status Effect for 30 seconds, when they were within 16 metres of a Remote Flame Turret that was destroyed by any means.
Anecdote: Destroying turrets within 16 metres of survivors only happens occasionally during a trial and currently doesn’t make the 25-second blindness effect worthwhile. The Oblivious status seems much more appropriate. I based the duration on 30 seconds because the Knight has a blue add-on that grants 60 seconds if a survivor escapes a Guard, which is significant since he can summon three Guards.
Parker’s Headband :
Survivors suffer from the Blindness Status Effect for 75 seconds, when they were within 16 metres of a Remote Flame Turret that was destroyed by any means.
Anecdote: Since we’ve integrated the add-on into his base kit, I added a new, much stronger blindness effect for Parker’s Headband (based on the Brett’s Cap effect I modified earlier).
The duration of this add-on’s blindness effect may seem surprising, but it’s perfectly balanced thanks to the turret penalty that can cancel his power. The Demogorgon and the Knight have similar add-ons with long durations: Grim Iron Mask (75 seconds) and Brass Case Lighter (60 seconds).
Kane’s Helmet :
Survivors hit with a successful Tail Attack suffer from the Haemorrhage
and Mangled Status Effects for 70 seconds.
Anecdote: I integrated the Haemorrhage Status Effect from the Multipurpose Hatchet add-on, since it’s completely ridiculous to have to equip two add-ons just to apply these effects with the tail attack. Many killers already have both effects combined.
Multipurpose Hatchet :
Survivors hit with a successful Tail Attack suffer from the Broken Status Effect for 20 seconds.
Anecdote: Here’s a new effect that rewards using the tail attack and justifies the presence of turrets. It’s an add-on that becomes interesting in multiple builds and also helps counter medkits and many survivor perks.
Acidic Blood :
When damaged, The Xenomorph's unique physiology made it deadlier than ever.
When Survivors stun you within 30 seconds after emerging from the Tunnels and while you are in Crawler Mode... etc.
Anecdote: I increased the duration from 20 seconds to 30 seconds because this Ultra Rare add-on is genuinely underwhelming. Using it forces the Xenomorph to exit tunnels and stay in quadruped mode, while strategically placed turrets heavily slow him down and cancel both his tail attack and the add-on.
Additionally, survivors who know about this add-on can pre-drop pallets, making it essentially useless.
NEW Mini-MORI
Each successful tail attack applies a mark represented by a Facehugger symbol.
After 4 tail attacks on a survivor, this symbol becomes complete.
When the Facehugger symbol is complete:
- A survivor who has reached Stage 2 on the hook and is in the Dying State will be attacked after 4 seconds: a Facehugger jumps onto their face, and the survivor is instantly killed.
- A survivor, regardless of their hook stage, who has the Facehugger symbol and escapes through an Exit Gate in the Dying State, will be attacked by a Facehugger that jumps onto their face, in a manner similar to when the Reverse Bear Trap activates on a survivor by The Pig.
Summary :
- Survivor Stage 2 + 4 stacks + Dying State → killed by Facehugger
- Survivor Stage 0/Stage 1/Stage 2 escaping through an Exit Gate + 4 stacks + Dying State → killed by Facehugger
This mechanic would greatly improve the endgame and make the Xenomorph much more threatening, without making it overpowered.
These changes finally make the turrets justified.
Survivors will have to be careful not to take unnecessary risks.
This will be the killer that no one dares to T-bag at the Exit Gate.
What do you think of these improvements?
I believe they would give the Xenomorph a whole new dimension.
These changes aren’t particularly difficult to implement and would finally let the Xenomorph live up to its reputation as:
“ The Ultimate Weapon ” it was meant to be in Dead by Daylight.
Comments
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The facehugger pictures are cool, I wonder how they were done.
One thing about the facehugger requiring 4 tail hits tho, by the end of the game nearly everyone is guaranteed to have the symbol finnished. Making the xeno go on a slugging spree with noone escapes death totem, causing moris to happen without stopping to do them either.
Theres also the question of where the facehuggers will come from, just poof ones flying onto you through a wall etc.
I do believe facehuggers would make a great addition to the xeno's kit and would make it feel like more of an iconic licensed killer during the round. Everyone had ideas on how the alien would work before its release, including facehuggers.
For example i thought they could make a red addon where when 1 generator left (or none), 2 facehuggers spawn in the map through an egg, which sits there and survivors can see the eggs throughout the match, if they get to close they open and spawn early. And travel around the map looking to pounce on survivors like victor, once infected it starts a death timer where the only way to not die is exiting through gates/hatch. The facehuggers can be killed with pallets and locker stuns but continually respawn till the round is over with a max of 2. (If one opens early, only that one is going around unless someone triggers the 2nd as well)
As for 5s undetectable from leaving tunnels, i think he deserves 10-20 seconds atleast seeing as people know when and where hes coming from with a loud long animations. plus turrets alredy being detectors telling survivors where he is even underground or undetectable and makes loud footsteps.
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The facehugger pictures are cool, I wonder how they were done.
For the facehugger image showing the number of stacks, I used Photoshop.
And for the image of the facehugger on the survivor, I used Flowith AI.
The goal was to create a quick visual representation to better illustrate my idea.One thing about the facehugger requiring 4 tail hits tho, by the end of the game nearly everyone is guaranteed to have the symbol finnished. Making the xeno go on a slugging spree with noone escapes death totem, causing moris to happen without stopping to do them either.
That’s a very good point.
I initially chose 4 tail hits because his power can be easily dodged and completely shut down by turrets for a certain amount of time. Using the Tail Attack isn’t always guaranteed during a trial.
Sometimes you have to rely on your basic attack to injure a survivor or put them into the dying state.It’s fairly inconsistent, and at high MMR it’s almost impossible to hit all four survivors with four tail attacks during a trial, unless they place their turrets poorly and fail to dodge any tail attacks.
However, to create better balance (both at low and high MMR), the conditions could simply be reduced:
- Survivor Stage 2 + 5 stacks + Dying State → killed by Facehugger
- Survivor Stage 1 / Stage 2 escaping through an Exit Gate + 5 stacks + Dying State → killed by Facehugger
I added one additional stack (5 instead of 4).
And for the Exit Gate condition, I removed Stage 0.Even with No One Escapes Death, the Xenomorph wouldn’t be able to go on a slugging spree, because the requirements in this scenario would be too high. Running an endgame build would be risky, since applying 5 stacks with Tail Attacks to every survivor would be very difficult, and survivors would quickly rush generators.
It’s also important to note that survivors who are aware of this mechanic on the Xenomorph would likely anticipate the No One Escapes Death totem and destroy it quickly.
That’s also why we rarely see this perk at high-level play.
A test on the PTB would allow the developers to reduce or increase the number of stacks if necessary.
It shouldn’t be difficult to find the right balance without making it too oppressive.Theres also the question of where the facehuggers will come from, just poof ones flying onto you through a wall etc.
Yes, the Facehugger would appear out of nowhere and pounce on the survivor.
It would work similarly to how the cats appear during ONI’s Mori with his Murderous Grizzly legendary outfit… or like the guards during the Knight’s Mori.I do believe facehuggers would make a great addition to the xeno's kit and would make it feel like more of an iconic licensed killer during the round. Everyone had ideas on how the alien would work before its release, including facehuggers.
For example i thought they could make a red addon where when 1 generator left (or none), 2 facehuggers spawn in the map through an egg, which sits there and survivors can see the eggs throughout the match, if they get to close they open and spawn early. And travel around the map looking to pounce on survivors like victor, once infected it starts a death timer where the only way to not die is exiting through gates/hatch. The facehuggers can be killed with pallets and locker stuns but continually respawn till the round is over with a max of 2. (If one opens early, only that one is going around unless someone triggers the 2nd as well)
The idea is excellent, but it introduces a lot of constraints and could even become unbalanced with specific builds.
For the first case: This would make the Xenomorph dependent on an addon, and that’s not what we want. No player or franchise fan would want to see Facehuggers only appear by equipping an Ultra Rare addon… the Xenomorph would end up in the same position as before.
For the second case: If Facehuggers appear when there’s only 1 generator left (or none), the killer will have to equip perks to block the Exit Gates… and it would even become mandatory.
How are players supposed to notice a Facehugger moving around the map given its small size?
Especially knowing it would be fairly silent, unlike Viktor or the Zombies.
Even by adding an indicator to help the survivors, it would only make them useless and predictable.
And it would be difficult to determine the death timer without unbalancing the Xenomorph.
Can Facehuggers pounce on survivors who have never been hooked?
Can the killer pick up a survivor with a Facehugger on their face?
How long will the survivor stay down before being able to get up?It’s also not really “Lore Accurate”, because a survivor escaping with an alien inside their body would logically be considered dead. Many fans wouldn’t appreciate that detail 😕
The Mini-MORI I’m proposing is meant to reward Tail Attacks and strengthen the Xenomorph’s endgame. It’s like a return on investment.
And the most important point: it justifies the presence of turrets, which completely shut down his power.With a stack system, it actually rewards the player who suffers the slowdown and power denial from turrets throughout the trial.
And it’s much easier to balance by adjusting the conditions up or down.I’m also thinking about the future, since this idea would also strengthen the Xenomorph in 2v8 mode, which is extremely important.
As for 5s undetectable from leaving tunnels, i think he deserves 10-20 seconds atleast seeing as people know when and where hes coming from with a loud long animations. plus turrets alredy being detectors telling survivors where he is even underground or undetectable and makes loud footsteps.
I had considered 10 seconds, but I decided to give him only 5 seconds with a slight speed status (like his old, mostly useless addon), because I took into account all the addons he has plus the changes I proposed for five of them… not to mention the Mini-MORI.
Thanks for your comment!
I really hope the devs can take these changes into account to make the Xenomorph more fun to play and cut down on the frustration from its gameplay.
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Frankly the nerf to xeno's tail attack was unneeded
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Wall/Ceiling climbing was originally considered, but was scrapped since the game's design cannot support vertical powers.
Also Facehuggers would work better as a basement hook aesthetic instead of as a mini mori, as Xenomorph already brings the hive with it on all maps, by replacing hooks on all maps with the Nostromo hooks.
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Yes, I knew this idea had been considered. However, the first suggestion I made was not about climbing walls or ceilings. It was more about a leap onto a wall or a piece of the environment while staying stationary (like Blight's power), followed by a second leap in the direction you're looking, with an attack. That’s actually why I suggested this solution only as a plan B.
I don’t understand your idea. How would a “basement hook aesthetic” improve the Xenomorph?
What exactly does it involve? What’s the goal?The mini-mori is meant to reward the tail attack, just like Vecna’s (Henry) or Michael Myers’ powers. Also, near the exit gate, it adds extra strategic pressure on survivors, who will have to decide whether to save a teammate in danger, at the risk of getting a Facehugger symbol. This strategic aspect fully justifies the presence of the turrets, which are already a significant handicap for the Xenomorph, especially after the many changes and nerfs to its tail attack. Facehuggers will have a real and meaningful role and won’t just be a cosmetic effect on a hook.
Seeing a Facehugger “in action” during a mini-mori at the end of a match will give players and fans a real sense of experiencing Aliens, which goes far beyond a simple aesthetic element that doesn’t strengthen the Xenomorph.
In the Alien films, including Aliens vs. Predator, the Xenomorph lets Facehuggers jump onto their prey when they are nearby.
That’s why I don’t understand your approach, especially since having a Facehugger as a decorative element in the basement doesn’t make any sense: it implies that the survivor already has an Alien inside them and should logically die, even if the Facehugger is removed with a timer.
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For the wall climb, they should have tried wall cling. Use the same coding as the Hux's pods. The xeno can "shoot" itself up to a location then becomes undetectable and cannot move. From there, it can pounce off of the wall injuring any survivoes it hits.
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While i like the concept, i think its a bit similiar to the blight/wesker: "Jump to wall, dash attack to survivor"
Depending on the timing its either useless (the delay between perching on the all and jump-attacking is too long) or survivors will hate it cuz its another blight/ghoul dash attack.
More power to weakish killers, but something like this will alarm the horde lol.
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That's basically just Insidious 2.0
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By aesthetic, i'm talking about decorating the basement as being part of the Xeno hive, with ovomorph eggs placed by the hooks, and that facehuggers latches themselves onto any Survivor who gets hooked down there, and that they fall off when unhooked. Which will cause chestbursters to kill the Survivors on death hook as an animation instead, before being pulled up in the sky by The Entity as usual afterwards. The goal is to be more of an easter egg.
Giving Xenomorph a mini mori akin to other Killers won't ''justify'' the turrets more, because you're still need to get them to death hook and down them like before. Gameplay wise, it doesn't accomplish what you claim it does, because it is still essentially no different than before besides a new death animation at the end when they have the facehugger symbol, which at that point they would have otherwise just have been killed on the hook instead.
I do not believe Xenomorph either needs nor fits having a mini-mori, it makes sense for Myers & Henry to have it due to aspects of their characters that supports giving it to them.
Plus Facehuggers are more of a Xeno Queen thing, than it is a Xeno Drone thing.
Post edited by Smoe on1 -
Well, yeah, thats the point. Xeno is naturally an ambush killer thematically. Give it a saliva drip tell.
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Thematically fitting perhaps, but wouldn't really translate well into gameplay. While Xenomorph is wasting time doing nothing but wait for one of the Survivors who just by chance walks by its exact location, Survivors will in the meantime be working on gens.
Not to mention how half of the maps are outdoor maps, so it's not only a power that waste time and is entirely reliant on Survivors comes by in by chance, but also that Xeno gets a map that's either indoor or has more indoor sections than just shack too.
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I mean, I'd use it in chase. Great for mindgames. Instead of a killer just stopping in place for a few seconds, it adds a level of vertically to it. Ghostie for example can use stealth mid chase to mindgame. Would be interesting to think the killer is still on your tail only for him to ambush you from above. Naturally, the TR would not go away instantly upon hopping up somewhere (similar to insidious, as you pointed out).
It just adds an option, and there's no harm in giving options. If I had a choice of having a wall ambush and none, regardless of how niche it may be, I will still take the wall ambush.
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I'm inclined to disagree. Any Survivor with more than 3 brain cells and a bit of game knowledge will quickly figure out what Xeno is doing, especially as the chase icon around the Survivor portrait will disappear a few seconds after Xeno crawls up in the ceiling.
Plus when was the last time you saw someone use Insidious for mind gaming during chase and get value out of it?
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You give survivors too much credit, ha. That being said, it would be utterly useless in high mmr. In chases for sure, and waiting for ambushes arent exactly viable at high mmr where gen efficiency is peak. Regardless, having a niche ability because it fits the killer thematically wouldn't harm anything, and if you feel shenanigans should ensue, why not have the option. Not every match is a sweatfest.
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