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A Critique of the Spirit nerfs

Tohmo
Tohmo Member Posts: 250

So Spirit recently got hit with a couple of nerfs. And I want to voice my opinion about it.

So, first off. Spirit didn't exactly need to be nerfed. While she exceled in 1v1 situations, when it comes to the general flow of the game and in a 1v4, she was balanced. Though, she is powerful enough to sustain these minor changes and still be #2 on the list. But, my first point is: Spirit doesn't need to be nerfed. She needs to be changed, and give more interaction between survivor and killer.

Anyways, I'm gonna go through all of the changes and give my thoughts.

Collision during Yamaoka’s Haunting

Wonderful change, and a step in the right direction. Adds more skillful plays for both parties and can lead to some interesting survivor setups.

Window vaulting animation

Also great. Yet another step in the right direction. I'm in the opinion that survivors need to know what Spirit is up to a bit more often than at the moment, and this is a great start.

Adjusted speed curve post-phase

Not necessarily needed, but it sounds alright. Will need ingame testing to get an opinion on.

Add-on changes

The Katana Tsuba

  • Decreased the post phase speed boost duration from +0.25 seconds to +0.2 seconds.

While it didn't get hit as hard as the Wakizashi, this was well deserved. Spirit could get away with some heavy mistakes stacking both these addons.

 Wakizashi Saya

  • Decreased the post phase speed boost duration from +0.5 seconds to +0.3 seconds.

Great change. These addons are still effective, but seem to be a lot less strong. However, stacking these addons now give it a .5 second speed boost, only .25 less than the .75 the other had. Hopefully, it's still not too strong.

Yakuyoke Amulet

  • Removed recharge rate modifier.
  • Increased haunting duration bonus from +1 second to +3.5 seconds.
  • Decreased haunting speed modifier from +10% to -15%.

The Spirit carburetor's tuning guide is now gone :crab:. Anyways, I completely agree with this change. As someone who has used this addon more than a couple times, I'd say it was her strongest addon, exceeding even Prayer Beads.

White Hair Ribbon

  • Decreased charge speed bonus from +30% to +20%.

Bloody Hair Brooch

  • Decreased charge speed bonus from +50% to +30%.

Both of these are pretty good. Gives the survivor more time to react to her phasing.

Prayer Beads Bracelet

  • Phasing sound effect is now global and can be heard anywhere in the map rather than silent.

Not sure if this sounds decently good or pretty bad. I feel like I'd have to test it. It gives constant paranoia, but also gives away your spirit trickery. But overall, I think it'll turn out to be a good change.

Now, the most important part. What's missing?

As I've stated before, Spirit's strength wasn't her problem, it was her lack of survivor interaction. The Old Legion situation all over again. While these changes are a step in the right direction, she does need a few tweaks.

A.) Give survivor queues when she is phasing and where she might be. Spirit has so many queues of where the survivor is while phasing, and survivors only have one: footsteps. And if you're close enough to hear that, your close enough to get hit. This opens up opportunities for actual mindgames and counterplay.

B.) Gives some of that lost power back. Maybe decrease her cooldown, increase her phase speed, just something simple to give her some of that lost power so she can keep her high tier status.

TL:DR; Good changes, but didn't fix the core problem with Spirit.

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