Will people stop saying Spirit doesn't take skill?
This is a statement I've heard far too much and it irks me the more and more I see it.
Make no mistake, I'm not arguing that a killer that is completely opaque in everything they do and can stand still for a few seconds to get free hits is somehow fair/balanced. I will however argue that those that say "Spirit doesn't take skill" are very, very, VERY wrong.
"But all you need is a good headset!"
Yes, having a headset helps massively. She is a killer that relies on audio, whereas other killers like Nurse rely on visuals and LoS.
Saying Spirit only needs good headsets is like saying Nurse doesn't take skill because she only needs a good pair of eyes.
There's a lot more to it.
There's identifying the survivors' pathing — are they running INTO you, towards a pallet, slow/double-vaulting a window, etc. You need to be able to understand where the survivor is going, especially if you're phasing at a distance before you can even hear anything.
Measuring the distance between you and the survivor - You rely on your ears and with how sounds are in this game, that's a lot harder than it sounds. Some survivors are louder than Demo after stubbing his toe, and then you have Ace with his built-in Iron Will. You need to understand how far a survivor is before you end phasing, which means learning how loud a survivor is when you're X amount of distance. Complicating matters are things like Stridor that makes survivors louder, Iron Will that silences/muffles grunts of pain—it's going to take a bit of practice.
Managing your gauge - Any Spirit main knows how bad of an idea it is to use the entity of your power gauge unless you need the speed to reach somewhere like to Pop a gen or something. Considering the gauge depletes by 5 seconds default, that's pretty difficult. It requires you to learn when you should be using your power and when best to conserve it. Or hell, when best to wait for it to recharge before phasing somewhere to catch a survivor off guard.
I'm sure a good Spirit main will be able to list a lot more ways Spirit requires a lot of practice (I don't often play her; I'm just an edgy Legion main). I will reiterate; I'm not arguing if Spirit is balanced or not, or that her add-ons aren't more busted than a poor door after it jammed on Oni—I'm saying, playing her isn't playing "easy mode" where you just need a headset/Stridor and you instantly win (though it would be equally asinine to say those don't help).
Is she as hard as Nurse? No. Nowhere close. Is she as easy as Freddy with a good headset? Maybe against rank 20s, but against good survivors, no. Winning against good survivors means being good with Spirit; not just that you have a good headset.
Comments
Maybe survivors should just adapt and git gud
"To get good at Spirit all you need is a good headset."
Well then...
"To get good at Nurse/Huntress all you need is a mouse."
Because it's true. Nurse/Huntress with a mouse is literal EZ mode. After being forced into crossplay and seeing the BS hit registration from Huntress hatchets (aka generator sized hitbox) and Nurse blinks (the kind where she hits you before she even reappears from a blink, never seen a console Nurse get these kinds of hits and I know some of the best on Xbox), I've honestly lost all respect for PC Huntress/Nurse players. Slinger too I guess but I never had respect for that bastard.
If you can't hit a hatchet or a blink 100% of the time with a mouse sell your PC and take up some other hobby please.
He was also playing against complete POTATOES that game. You'd never be able to do that against actual good survivors. He 100% cherry picks his games for YT.
Survivors that fall for the stand still trick are potatoes. Literally all you need to do is break for the next loop and force her to phase without having LOS while she starts phase. I never understand how in the hell someone could think slow vaulting a pallet back into her, or ######### me just staying at the loop and trying to play HER game is ever going to work. Just run away it works most of the time. Unless she has speed she usually can't catch up to you before you make another loop, unless you have really bad positioning.
Spirit doesn't need skill.
I am living proof of this.
I do not have a working headset. Surround sound is enabled and functioning and yet half of my headset does not work. If anyone is to my right I cannot hear them, at all.
I only play spirit in a voice call with loud people. It takes a lot of effort to hear people. I don't use add-ons, or stridor.
I still 4k almost every single game as her, despite the fact she's the only killer I have level 50 that I never play.
She does not need skill to play. I will continue saying that until someone proves me otherwise.
Spirit requires a lot of solid game sense and strong prediction of survivor tactics; you can't dominate with her if you don't know what you're doing, same as any killer. Her skill floor is a lot higher than, say, Nightmare or Doctor, who both perform really well in the hands of inexperienced players because their tool kits are inherently very forgiving and let them find survivors easier. You're going to eat a lot of crow as Spirit until you understand a lot about what survivors are likely to do, and know a thing or two about the habits of the specific survivors you are facing.
People just say things take "no skill" when they're being edgy 17-year-olds who want to feel better about their own mistakes, and would rather blame a loss on the system.
It's called an exaggeration. Yes it takes a little bit of skill. But not much and when you do learn you're ridiculously overpowered especially against solos.
Spirit takes skill to a degree. But Stridor spirit absolutely does not. The only part of a spirit's skill (outside of normal killer gameplay) is tracking survivor's when phasing.
The thing is though, spirit has many unskilled areas, including:
But at least the unskilled AFK window strat and bump into survivors whilst phasing strat are no longer possible.
I think she does take some skill but there is a big difference between a Spirit and a Spirit using a headset. I like the mindgame aspect of phasing a lot but I think the audio part should be removed during phasing so it becomes more of an even mindgame where you're guessing based on your own judgment and visual cues.
Exactly but I don't think egotistical survivor mains are ready to admit that's facts yet.