Can all killers be viable and game balanced at the same time

Let’s just put it like this. If every killer was “red rank viable” then red rank players would have their way but low ranks would suffer. Not saying we should balance around low ranks but every killer being top tier wouldn’t be balanced. We still need mid-tier and steppingstones in this game.

Doubtful. Most killers are either power dependent or basic systems dependent. Killers like the Trapper, Clown, Doctor, Pig, Shape, ect deal with the game's normal mechanics and lack the mobility to cover the map and move survivors around. I sort of wish there was some sort of baseline mechanic to help those killers, like an out of chase large movement speed increase so they can actually get from point A to point B.

We have as much variety as the players let there be.

@Lemming that would be abused by moonwalking. Moonwalk hit the survivor, moonwalk again easy down.

It depends.

If you make clown's bottle effect last 10 seconds with the movement speed reduction by 50% he is going to be viable at red ranks but there won't be any kind of counterplay and the lower ranks will be massacred. The killer gets everything handed to himself without adding any kind of skill to the equation.

What you should do is to increase the skill ceiling for the killer and let the game balance itself. If they can introduce something skillful for the clown, he will be viable at red ranks but he will also not be a pain in the ass in lower ranks because unskilled survivors will go against unskilled killers and unskilled killers won't reach the full potential of the killer they play.

I think nurse is a great example. I might be wrong but as far as I remember the nurse has lower kill rate around brown-yellow-green ranks than in red ranks.

There should be 1 or 2 easy killers for the beginners but the entire roaster should not revolve around yellow ranks.

TLDR; They can achieve viable killers in red ranks if the said killer has actually a good skill ceiling like the nurse or the huntress without massacring lower ranks.

@TreemanXD

Yh, because rank 20 Nurses are broken, right?

Technically yes but it's easier said than done.

@Judith the meta making a good deal of kits nonviable simply due to the fact that you NEED to be able to get quick downs in order to be a good Killer. If that was fixed then it might be much easier but we already have an entire thread discussing how much of a headache THAT causes.

I don't blame you. There is a reason it hasn't been fixed already and it isn't because there is no problem, instead it is because the easiest solutions cause even bigger problems.

@TreemanXD

My point is: everyone starts from the bottom.

If you see a Nurse at rank 20 she is probably awful, just like the rank 20 survivors who are facing her. You can apply the same logic with any killer. Killers at rank 20-15-10 should have the same knowledge of the game's mechanics as the survivors who are facing them, that means that even if the killers are strong they might not know how strong they truly are, therefore they're not using every tool in their arsenal.

Have you seen any rank 15 Billy use curving? No, because that's what experienced killers do.

You cant balance a game around low rank players, you have to balance it around high competitive players.

It's not that players of this game don't like challenge its just that the game itself doesn't provide a good distribution of challenge.

Challenging games for killers come from survivors being generally good at the game. The point this breaks down is that when survivors are really good most killers even played optimally struggle against the limitations of the game. When good survivors are also really toxic individuals the challenge becomes uninviting because bad behavior is rarely taken very well.

Challenging games for survivors are extremely dependent on a killer being good, but since survivors have very few things to get good at doing they can outpace killers in overall game mastery. Where this breaks down is that survivors who are really good have already surpassed the amount of challenge the game bring to them. Survivors who aren't good can feel trapped and bad behavior issues on the killer side matter as well. Survivors also lack variety as they are at there core the exact same. This caps what challenge can exist for them.

Stats wise really good survivors will almost always outperform a really good killer player as to make up for being generic mechanically survivors have far more things at their disposal to improve their chances. Not all killers have addons that enhance their power to a place where they need to be truly respected.

The most challenging thing to do in the game is learn how to play Nurse and the second most challenging this to do is learn how to loop properly and consistently.