Why clown should be reworked not buffed
So considering that the clown change is coming soon and most likely will be next mid-chapter, I wanna talk about some of the worries which I currently have with it.
So we all know clown is definitely one of the weaker killers, but we have to look at the reasons why. His antiloop is very good, sure it may not be the best such as nurse or spirit level but downing survivors is a hell of a lot faster with his power. It's also not too difficult to use and messing up doesn't cost you as much as it would with say nurse or blight. So his downing speed is more than fine. What he lacks in however is map pressure and mobility. This is what should be adressed with him and something should be given, it could even just be something small, to help him out with this, and i can guarantee once you stack gen regression perks on him he would be quite strong.
What I'm worried about however is that they may plan on just buffing his anti-loop, which I have heard somewhere that they plan on changing him like doctor not a full on rework like freddy. Making his anti-loop stronger will do no justice for him and make vsing him incredibly boring. It would probably not make downing speed too much faster to influence the game, especially for good clowns, and I can imagine if they buff the 15% movement speed decrease or give him more bottles that he'll be incredibly boring to vs as survivor, in a way that deathsligner and spirit can be because of the limited or simple counter options.
One good suggestion i've put foward is that clown gets a second type of gas, say a blue gas for example, which lasts for an extended period said 60 seconds or so which doesn't slow down survivors but rather gives away their location so it can be used as a sort of tracking tool, and that survivors who stay in the gas continue to scream, so that it alerts the clown to those sitting on gens say for example.
I would be keen to hear other suggestions for clown map pressure buffs and thoughts on whether his antiloop should be buffed or not.
Comments
Clown can create plenty of pressure. Most players using Clown simply don’t slug enough with him. Getting 2 downs in quick succession, and being in a third chases creates all the pressure Clown needs.
That is true, but i'm not sure everyone prefers to slug 2 people consistently. I feel like alot of people would rather stronger and fairer killers witht he ability to play fun anf fairly over killers who need to 1 hook ppl and slug at 5 gens etc (obviously that's taking it to the extreme but do you sorta get my point?)
Personally he just needs some QoL adjustments and an add-on pass.
I like the idea of a separate gas to help tracking but that doesn't really fix the issue to me. Clown's regular gas can reveal Survivors and let you know the number near a gen or hiding behind a wall. What he suffers from most is the slowdowns. They fixed one by removing his slowdown when throwing but having the same time and drastic movement speed decrease to refill any number of bottles is what hurts his potential the most. Some simple fixes include passive refill of bottles, allowing refills to time differently so if he has used 2 it only takes a second to refill those two as opposed to the time it takes to refill all of them, or just dropping his movement speed from a 115% to 110% speed instead of Nurse fatigue pace while refiling.
To me, Clown at basekit isn't much worse than Trapper (which is another killer that needs some QoL adjustments) he's just punished too much for using his power. It's the same issue that the initial Billy rework had and that's resource management on top of the other juggling that killers have to do.
Yeah, that’s extreme and unnecessary.
But a key problem many players have when using a killer like Clown is that they’re too focused on every chase resulting in a hook, rather than focusing on how they can keep as many survivors out of action or preoccupied with something other than gens as possible. Clown simply needs to find survivors quickly, and end chases fast in order to accomplish this.
The only counter to a Clown that knows how to do this is extremely good stealth, something many survivors just don’t do, or don’t do well.
Yea i guess realistically, if you played a killer enough and mained them consistently, i'm sure you could stomp pretty much anytime if played well, (maybe one or two exeptions with say wraith or something).
I do feel like a faster reload spead would be nice but i understand why it's sluggish. I can imagine alot of clowns would just spam bottle throws and constantly reload if they are able to in a chase without loosing distance, because the strategy with clown is about careful, strategic and precise bottle throws to outposition survivors rather than just slow them down so they can't mak ethe next pallet.
Yea i think it's all about finding the balance between not being able to spam your power but also being able to use it consistently.
Definitely agree but if you think about the downside of Doctor, spamming his power results in loops that never end because he can't get to bloodlust so it's either loop a pallet for infinity or resort to basic m1 play until the next loop. I know clown is different because the slowdown it gives the Survivor but allowing a more liberal use of his bottles would up his tracking capabilities without removing his ability to use them in a chase.
Maybe instead of Nurse fatigue speed he could drop to revving Bubba speed while reloading? It's definitely about finding the right balance there, I just think adding a secondary power would add too much more resource management without fixing the core issues. Most Clowns will only reload after a down or after a hook because of how slow it is so they can bait the others. Even Huntress can reload faster mid chase, granted, her power actually allows her to down people so it's no big deal if they get a little distance on her.
Fun Clown idea: the clown can pull out a bottle at a fire barrel around the map to turn it into a molotov cocktail that injured survivors if they get hit by it.
Not a bad idea, but if they go that route, I think the secondary gas should carry and action speed penalty instead of a movement speed one.
He doesn’t need a more liberal use of his bottles. Players running out of bottles mid chase are wasting them and using them wrong.
It should only take one or two bottles at a loop to land a hit on a survivor.
Clown just needs more consistent reloading mechanics, and for his gas to either build up negative effects or interrupt actions, or both.
Reloading bottles is one of his bigger hurdles. Having a quick reload instead of having to do the full animation every time would be great.
And action interruption would be a huge boon for gen protection. I can't count the number of times someone did a gen in my face because they knew I couldn't do anything.
Aside from that his gas affects need a look at. His most heinous add-ons are an instant down you can spam in close quarters and inflict hindered, both with no real windup for how powerful they can be.
And at other times it's incredibly weak and barely has any lasting power. So they need a middle ground between the two.
Edit: oh and tracking inside the gas. Yeah you can mess them up, but it works both ways. Can't see ######### captain.
I would like to see this tested.
Wow, that's actually a very cool idea, for real! I think you should make a thread about it. It would be very cool if the fire barrels around the map would actually do something.
What I'm getting at with a more liberal use is that players could use his power for tracking because Survivors scream once intoxicated and by having a faster reload or at least a less punishing reload is that they'd still have bottles available for chases. He could still be "punished" for having to reload in a chase similar to Huntress reloads or Doc shocking at the wrong loop. You can't tell me as a Clown main you wouldn't want to be able to refill faster/be less hindered by refilling.
I'm a fairly competent killer and I still have those times where I need to drop a chase just to reload either because the Survivor was good enough to avoid my clouds, a random branch/odd angle caused my bottle to break short of it's target, or I've snowballed so quickly that I don't have the spare moment to refill.
Bear in mind, not everyone is a red rank killer and not all killers need high skill floors so they can be picked up and learned. With how simple his power is yet weak he is perceived I think he's a prime candidate to be one oth those entry level killers with a lower skill floor that with a few QoL changes could make him viable at higher ranks.
Im worried that he will become freddy 2 with his slows. Slows are not fun at all to go against so im worried about that if they buff him hell just become the free hit machine freddy currently is if your asleep
I don't like slugging. Making somebody sit on the ground in timeout and not letting them play the game is very boring for both parties imo. Also this advice just goes for every killer.