Thanatophobia is a very interesting perk
For most killers, you want survivors injured so that you can track them and down them easily, and this perk adds the benefit of a global slowdown. That means this perk must be good, right?
Well, sort of. The main thing to understand with Thanatophobia is that it forces survivors to heal. For most killers, that is not that good. But for three types of killers, this is game-breaking. Which types? Instadowners like Bubba, injury-based killers like Legion and Plague, and harassers like Wraith.
Why those two types? For killers like Legion and Plague, it makes sense because survivors should almost always be injured thanks to your power, and while downing them is the hard part, the added slowdown can give you a lot of time.
For killers like Bubba, it does not really matter what health state the survivor is in as you will just down them anyway. The key to this game is to have them waste time healing. By the time it takes for one person to heal, you have already downed another. After all, the best way to play against killers like these is to play injured and gen rush, but when being injured is punished, it puts them in a bad place.
Finally, killers like wraith benefit from this perk because ideally you should be bouncing from one chase to another, and making it so that the person you just left has to heal first instead of just gen rushing means that you can bounce from survivor to survivor much more easily.
Overall, Thanatophobia is a perk that excels in certain conditions but backfires when not in them. I would not recommend this perk unless you know how to properly apply pressure.
Comments
Yep, as a legion main I've probably been able to save some gens just by a 10% slower repair speed, 8 seconds can mean ALOT in this game, just like the 5 seconds of a brown toolbox.
It's a specific killer perk, when used correctly, can make your games easier.
Unfortunately, its effect is so minor that survivors can literally just ignore it. The effects aren't even greater than 20%. Even Blood Echo which is considered to be a terrible perk has a more powerful effect than Thanatophobia, being able to completely nullify exhaustion perks and having the same benefits of making survivors want to heal.
I wish they didn't nerf the perk. I found it interesting to go against. Admittedly, it was sometimes annoying to deal with Sloppy Butcher and Thanatophobia together but it was a threat and you had to adjust your strategy of risking your precious time healing through slowdown or doing the gen through slowdown while injured.
Nowadays, whenever I see Thanatophobia, I just heal without much of a second thought.
Thana is most effective on inexperienced players.
Those who know the strats won’t bother healing, and will just continue to bang out gens.
Additionally, any player with Resilience pretty much negates Thana altogether, not to mention multiple experienced players with Resilience and Spine Chill in their builds.
Players shouldn’t ever really be concerned by Thana... they should be concerned by a group of Solo teammates who aren’t wise enough to counter it.