Deathslinger is unhealthy for the game.
Deathslinger pretty much ignores the game's core mechanics and doesn't teach players much of anything to improve on or against other Killers.
Deathslinger doesn't really do looping. The odds of pallet stunning one are near zero. They just mindgame you until they quickscope through a crack, a window or on a long wall. Honestly, chases with Deathslinger come down to him whiffing shots more than they have anything to do with a survivor's skill. At best, survivors are just making his shots harder to hit, but in the end it all comes down to the Deathslinger's aim.
Deathslinger doesn't really do the terror radius thing either. It's extremely popular to run Monitor on him to get the 16m stealth radius. Even perks like Spine Chill aren't great against him because its very hard to tell how close he is because his heartbeat gives you about as much info as Freddy's dream world music. He can literally sneak up on generators and quickscope from behind a wall outside of his terror radius so there's really no reaction time for the first hit in some scenarios.
He's a cool concept and all. And I bet he'll bring a lot of new players into the game because FPS mechanics. But I don't think he really works with the established gameplay of Dead By Daylight and kinda just does his own thing.... I think there's a reason why the Devs held off on an FPS Killer for so long. Playing against Red Ranked Deathslingers feels like you loaded into a different game altogether.
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Just biased Bullyslingers wanting devs to keep him clunky oppressive while intentionally ignoring his obvious worth.
/shrug
Agree with you.
yeah weak if youre bad
how can he not down you with his power...??? this is the most uneducated troll iv ever seen
I hate Spirit, Nurse and Huntress for the same reason, but I do not see this reason to be valid for Deathslinger. He is weaker than any of these 3 characters and I find him balanced, if not a little too weak.
Because nurse isnt very great anymore and is a chore to play
I don't know how you can complain SO DAMN MUCH about so underwhelming killer?! Huntress would just hit you in situations where Deathslinger struggles to do so. You are very biased.
By the logic of the first sentence alone, the nurse, the spirit, and the huntress plus probably others are all unhealthy for the game.
Each killer should chase and play differently..it adds much more spice to the game..its way more entertaining to face a doc than a bubba
What are you talking about? He can get downs with his gun, he just has to reel survivors in with it to get a hit.
I forgot I was reading about Deathslinger there for a second. It sounded like you meant "The Nurse". But ok.
Uhhhh
Even if you are good he is pretty weak compared to other killers.
What rank, 20? I'm devotion 12 and i never play with a really good nurse. You must be a god with your whopping 250 hours on her 😂
Its really sad but, yeah, survivors having the ability to not just loop a killer but be able to troll and teabag because of a piece of wood is in the way. Its dumb the amount if disrespect you can get. And i dont mean smack talk, i mean like bodyblocking killer, teabagging, flashlight spam etc. Why should i be afraid if all i gotta do to get out of trouble is just go to a blick of wood and go clickyclicky with a flashlight till gens are done
I think a lot of people are not getting the issue here. Deathslinger is not overpowered, and in fact I think he's weaker than someone like the Huntress. However, the has the same problems as old Legion or Spirit where very little the survivors do actually matters. You can't really dodge his shots at close range because there is zero indicator he's going to shoot you until it already happens, so the counterplay is again like Spirit, just guessing if he's going to shoot. If he shoots and you dodge, great, if he doesn't shoot, he's just zoned you and now you get hit. It really isn't great gameplay at all.
The saving grace is that he's actually fun to play at least compared to say, old Legion.
I disagree. Killers viability should he dependant on the killer players skill and not the survivors mistakes.
More Spirits,Onis and Deathslingers and less legions and clowns.
I don't really care if he's "strong" or "weak," he's just fun as hell to play against because his mechanics are so different to the core gameplay. It's a little treat whenever I'm matched against the Deathslinger, and I have a ball being chased by him just to see if he can shoot me or not.
He's different, he's fun, and I don't care about always winning, so I find a lot of enjoyment in Deathslinger matches.
Which is why I used to play a load of Nurse until the devs made her unfun for people who don't hit every blink. The changes didn't make her power "trash", they just removed much of the fun components about being a mediocre Nurse, especially one who knew the thrill and power of playing her before the nerfs to her fun factor, which is why she's an extinct breed. I can't remember the last time I've faced one since the changes.
I dislike playing against The Deathslinger because he's both good at stealth and good at chases, so the only thing to do as a survivor other than hide (which is unproductive for the most part considering how quickly killers gain momentum when one survivor isn't doing something) is to keep The Deathslinger apart from the survivors. What else do survivors do beside get chased and attempt stealth (both of which are made difficult by The Deathslinger? Do gens. And that's not really fun. It's just the survivors wanting to get the experience over with because they don't find enjoyment in the match otherwise.
If The Deathslinger had been around at the beginning of the game, he would have been by far the most powerful killer, no question. That was the only time when survivors could find significant enjoyment and ways to occupy themselves outside of being chased and/or doing gens, and he would have driven the survivors to advance upon the so-called "gen rush" meta even sooner.
So, yes. I agree with OP that The Deathslinger's design and implementation is unhealthy for the game. It yet again drives survivors toward the one thing that can prevent their impending doom.
While I dislike playing against The Deathslinger, I really enjoyed playing against terrifying Nurses before the changes. Those games were solidly among the few that made me feel like I was in control of what difficult decisions I had to make. I often threw my life away for altruism points because I'm a bloodpoint slave (another thing wrong with this game, imo, but that's for a different discussion), but I never felt too exasperated by my utter defeat. I knew what good Nurses could do, and I was rightly afraid. I almost understand what a good Deathslinger can do, but I have a very good grasp on what he cannot do: protect gens efficiently. So, I focus on gens to just get out of the match. There's no real test in a chase for me. I'm too average, and I have low framerates and often suffer from high latency. And therefore, Pop and Ruin and the like serve to just bandaid the greater issues presented by a killer's inability to be everywhere at once and the lack of fear that should normally alleviate that issue.
TL;DR Deathslinger is unhealthy because he makes survivors clearly focus on gens more intently than do other killers. Fix issue of fear removed by comms and overall survivor knowledge from auras and portraits, do other overall balance stuff NOT related to chases, and then tone down The Deathslinger's overwhelming ability in chase (against most survivors), and suddenly, many people could feel much happier about playing this game.
Edit: #revertNurse (except the reappearance change from the survivor side)
Negates looping.
Hard to stun with a pallet.
This is logic for him being unhealthy.
Yet Nurse has existed for years. 🤷♀️
He does have a sound cue. When he aims and has you in his sights there is a ringing noise.
Just because you didnt pay attention doesn't mean it's not there.
Not with the gun alone. He still has to use a basic attack. The gun itself cannot down people with just shooting. That is why I compare his power to Legions, because they both have nonlethal powers.
I mentioned this to @Joelwino, but he cannot down people with the gun alone. He has to use a basic attack to down people, like Legion has to. There isn't even a way to down people by just shooting them.
THIS. Horror my [BAD WORD]. There's no horror in this game unless you let your girlfriend play it when she's never played it before.. And by the next day she'll realize what a joke the killers are and start 'clicky clicky' at exit.
My only gripe is that it doesn't feel like there is much you can do once he spears you. You are pretty much always going to get hit unless you just so happen to be on the other side of some object. It does feel like old Legion in some ways, not nearly as bad though.
I think an easy fix would be to make it so that he can't reel you in and move at the same time. He can do one or the other, not both. This means he would have to stop reeling for better positioning, and when he's repositioning that gives you a chance to wiggle free.
lol that’s false he’s actually a better killer than huntress lol if you play huntress at red ranks it would be considered a miracle to even hit a survivor with one of your hatchets
Same has been said about Nurse and Spirit. They're still here, why not keep Deathslinger?
Can we stop with the "nerf X killer" thing? If you played killer at all you would know Deathslinger is incredibly weak right now, I'd barely put him in mid tier honestly. You could use this argument for Huntress, Spirit, or Nurse, and it would still be bad. Even with Monitor he's at 110% ms with literally no map pressure, so if you just do gens while he is chasing you'll win most of the time.
And who cares if you can't pallet stun him? Not all killers are meant too be hit by pallets, Nurse and Spirit are examples again. Billy, Leatherface, and Demo all have powers that break pallets on contact, Legion literally vaults them. Plus most of the killers i listed use mind games at pallets, they don't even need too break them. Unless it's a really small loop getting shot by Deathslinger will only waste his time.
All in all, he really doesn't need nerfs and I hate posts like this that are only going too make a weak killer even weaker. What he truly needs are buffs too his reload speed and ms. His power doesn't justify having such a slow MS.
Deathslinger is pretty fine the way he is. To be honest, I haven't really seen many people playing him lately (1 over the past few days).
Ok, there's a way to make him stealthy? There's a lot of ways to make a killer stealthy. But he can't down people just by using his gun. If you don't want to worry about getting stealth hit, bring something like Premonition or Spine Chill. Some kinda intel perk that'll inform you if he's near - and guess what? It'll work with other killers too! Utilise your 3rd person camera, look behind you in chases or while doing gens. He can't shoot through walls, nor can he see through them. Meaning, if you can see him, he MIGHT (first person perspective) see you, and you've got time to make some distance. A gen in a closed off space is fine because you'll be in his TR before he comes into view, so you'll still hear him before you see him while he likely won't have a solid idea of your whereabouts.
Any killer can be good at high ranks if someone puts enough practise into it, but there are simply some that are naturally "better" for it than others. Deathslinger at high ranks are hard to face? I'd hope so! I'd hope any high rank killer is a challenge. High rank Huntress is deadly too. There's always someone who will be skilled with a killer and absolutely dominate with them. Games aren't supposed to be easy, you're not supposed to escape every game no matter the skill level. There shouldn't be a solid way to beat every single killer with the exact same tactic. You're complaining about him because he's different, because you can't use the same old tricks. Killers aren't here to teach you anything, especially other killers or how to loop.
Looping? Isn't a problem. I am by far, no where near skilled at chases, but I know that if he's really desperate to shoot you with his gun.. Loops are great! He's like looping Huntress, if Huntress couldn't down you with her hatchets, and had a small stun every time she missed a throw. He's not supposed to be looped like "every other" killer - so many killers have different looping mechanics built into their ability anyway! Spirit can phase around loops faster, Clown can slow loops with a bottle in moments when outspeeding him is crucial, Trapper and Hag can place traps around loops and windows - perks like Spirit Fury and Bamboozle can help end chases quicker, Huntress can chuck a hatchet at you and injure you from the other side of the loop. Really the only difference is that everyone's learned how to counter these killers - There's no second thought when getting chased by these killers because they've been around enough that we have these cautions in our heads in a chase; It's Spirit, watch the grass, it's Huntress, don't run straight and preemptive pallets won't work, it's Clown, mindgame his bottles and stay ahead enough, Trapper, be cautious around pallets and windows, try to scope out your area pretty well before you work on it.
@GamerCustard
Deathslinger is just gross. Survivors have games that consist of holding M1 and chases that are based are on the Killer's aim not their own skill. You can't "outplay" Deathslinger... you can gen rush him faster than can get kills but that's it because no one will last long in chase whether they're a Rank 1 or Rank 8 if you get a bad map.
His biggest issues are just that there's no reaction times for him. A 16m terror radius and a shot with no warning sound + fast travel time doesn't allow counterplay.
Increase his terror radius to 32m. Give him a warning cue like Huntress. And maybe make his reload time faster to compensate and even increase his range from 18 to 20m. Then he'll be interactive to play against.
Lol, let's completely gut him and give him a faster reload and a barely longer range to "compensate".
No, if you do that to deathslinger, he needs 115% or the ability to down people with the harpoon.
@gatsby
A killers aim.. Is based on skill? Trying to hit a moving target can't be easy - That's why you shouldn't run in a straight line. But I didn't mean you needed skill to play him. I said you needed skill to play him well, play him so you come out with high kill counts every time you use him. But you can "outplay" him in a manner similar to that of Huntress - dodging and weaving - but there are a few killers that get harder to beat depending on maps.
One of the points I was trying to make, though I didn't explicitly mention it (though I probably should have, to be honest) is that as he's only just come out, no real solid counterplay has been formed.
It shouldn't have to be all dependant on terror radius. Like I'd said, the difference in perspectives (1st v 3rd) mean that, unless he's absolutely certain of your exact location means you'll see him before he sees you and unless he comes around the corner with a precise ADS or into range, there is time to get away. You're not always gonna get away unscathed, but its about optimising both distance and surrounding environment so that if he gets you, its unlikely to result in a hit. Turn his range into a disadvantage because the further he shoots, the riskier it is to reel in. use the time to shift infront of an object. He already slows when he goes into ADS mode.
I would only say extend TR as a result of an add-on instead. Give him a sound if he aims in your direction, but aside from that, utilise perks and other senses to locate him.
I'm sorry, that wasn't meant to be a wall, I can't compact things very well ;-;
You can literally mindgame Deathslinger in the open. You don't even need to lose LoS. He punishes you if your predictable, that's it.
I think he's fine and agree with basically what everyone is saying. The only thing I think he really needs is a slight increase in the time to aim scopes down and maybe an add on to make it back to what it was. The insta shot thing is stupid and has no counterplay. I cant spend my entire chase swirving and looking behind me.
He's not Huntress. The travel time on the harpoon is extremely quick and it's a straight shot with no warning.
Dodging it isn't easy in the open. Most of the time getting caught in a dead zone is a death sentence at Rank 1 against Deathslinger. Dead Zone applies to pallets with short walls like on Autohaven, Macmillen, Temple of Purgation etc because there's really no mindgame or chance for a pallet stun because he'll just shoot over and drag you. So even in areas that would be somewhat safe against most Killers you can have nothing to work with. Because of his lack of warning sound you can't even re-actively crouch like with Huntress
Um, no. Every other killer I can glance back and forth. If I do that with Deathslinger I get shot. Besides, a ranged instashot killer on DbD's dedicated servers is kinda unfair anyway. There's been numerous times I'm well out of the way, or hell through the window and already on the side of it (Out of range) and I'll still get hit. Instashot shouldn't be a thing unless its an add-on.
Slinger is in a good spot in my opinion because of what he lacks in map pressure he make up in amazing chase potential
But is that design healthy. The Killer gets gen-rushed and the chases are about as interactive as working on generators
It was proven long ago that Spirit DOES NOT move grass in phase. Staying awake against Freddy via walking to clocks is a severe waste of time likely to get your team killed, and guess what Freddy likes to do most? Run an addon that makes it so that that's the only way to wake up. Those aren't counters. You won't see any good survivor run to the other side of the map to use a clock. The only time it's useful to do so is if you're already at it, which you won't be when you fall asleep. I don't understand why people say "Well just stay awake" like that's a legitimate option. Doing that will get you killed, and it's much better to just treat him like Clown if he's puddle Freddy. The only time you should be waking up is if you almost have a gen done and he is in a chase, blow the gen up when it's close to 99% and you can wake up others, but don't go running to clocks every single time you doze off. t's really annoying when people say things like they 100% know what they're talking about when they've proven that they don't by saying things are counterplay that were proven NOT to be counterplay and talking down to people. If you're going to tell someone they don't know how to play, at least know what you're talking about.
There’s gonna be so many times that you play this game before you become used to the “scariness” and it becomes more of a game about routine and muscle memory.
i believe that they could’ve implemented a story mode with their “own” killers and survivors to create more immersion into the horror aspect of the game
?? Except that he can down injured survivors with his gun when he brings them in???
He still has to down them with a basic attack. His gun, like Legion Frenzy, cannot down people alone.
People never seem to read what I am actually saying when I type...
Death Slinger is like, Mid or Mid Top tier at best my guy.
He has some pretty exploitable weaknesses, biggest one being, he can't just down an injured person with his ability like Huntress could over a pallet, he has to actively hit them, which can be quite tough sometimes, especially against experienced survivors.
Also, no semi-truck hitbox like Huntress, it can be pretty unforgiving at times.
he should be able to JUMP in order to shoot from higher spots like cars and make it FUN
I don't fully agree with your whole post and reasonings, but I do also hate deathslinger. We agree on that much. People are saying he's weak, which he may be in terms of map and gen pressure, but most killers have that issue. That's a map thing though, not a deathslinger thing, but oh well. He really doesn't have a real counter. He's just annoying and wholly unfun to go against. I've not played as him because I don't wanna put people through that torture. I hate him.
They've been doing a lot of killer lately who don't need a brain.
Oni -> Billy to ****
Deathslinger -> Just aim well and voila, you don't need a brain either.
I'd argue he's one of the healthiest killers in the game. You can avoid him if you're smart and slick, but he can still catch up to you and his range is pretty far. Once he catches you, though, that's when things really get tense. It's a better situation than most killers at launch, I'd argue he's probably got the healthiest loadout thus far, I don't think he'll need any updates or reworks in the future. He's a powerhouse with a small weakness.
I feel like a lot of this is down to Deathslinger being the newest Killer. After a couple of months new Killers tend to fall down a little due to players being more adept at escaping from them and having a better understanding of their abilities.
I mean what's so wrong with a killer that you have to play the game differently around. I agree that his lack of counter play makes him frustrating to play against but, I dont know how you could nerf him without making him useless as he already struggles to apply map wide pressure as it is. Basically in 1v1 scenarios hes easily one of the top killers in the game but because of his speed and limited range that are necessary to keep him in check he ends up kinda weak compared to a lot of killers since his kill times aren't that great and he cant snowball very well either.
my opinion on Deathslinger is very biased FYI. I've been playing dbd as of now about a year and 2 months very consistently at least logging in like 5 days a week since a friend gifted me it, and I've put in about 1,800 hours. Deathslinger is the worst thing to happen to MY experience playing dbd. Never in a video game have I been so FURIOUS playing against an opponent. Me and my friends played a bit of dbd on my birthday and, on our 2nd game, we fought a deathslinger. Yeah, we all stopped playing dbd after that. It was so intolerable and gloomy fighting deathslinger that we all ######### got off after just our second game that day. Before that match I was having a good time on my birthday and Deathslinger just ######### on my parade and my 2 other friends. I've never had fun against Deathslinger and I absolutely hate him with all my guts.