Buffing/Reworking some perks (Warning: Long)
The fact is, survivors and killers have little reason to run perks other than the ones they do now. I know my loadout doesn't change much, with three of my perks being set. That's for both Survivor and Killer. The trouble isn't that these perks are strong though, it's that other perks just aren't worth running. Nobody wants every match to be the same. So to change it up, I think we should make more perks viable.
Here's some ideas (some may need more work. Many are ideas I've heard elsewhere, so they aren't totally original) feel free to share your own.
Ace in the hole
Let's be honest. This perk is pretty useless. You get to keep your add-ons if you survive, and you get an addon if you get an item out of a treasure chest. Neither useful nor fun.
Proposed Change: Guarantees add-ons are Uncommon, Rare or Very Rare.
Why: This is a small buff, and I don't think people would still run it. But at least it'd be marginally more useful. It can't really allow Ultra-Rare addons, because those can be game changing. But I don't think it should allow common add-ons either.
Any Means necessary
The problem with Any Means Necessary is that you rarely get an opportunity to actually lift a pallet. Good pallets get broken immediately most of the time.
Proposed Change: Any Means Necessary also allows survivors to break breakable walls.
Why: It gives the perk a little more use. There aren't many areas where it'd be very useful, but on most maps at least, you'd see some extra usage out of the perk. Still fairly situational, but a little more useful. And survivors have been wanting to be able to break breakable walls for a while. Probably should take more than 4 seconds, though.
Autodidact
One of the most useless perks in the game. Autodidact is hard to get tokens for, making it fairly useless.
Proposed Change: Autodidact rewards a token for healing one health state.
Why: Makes it a little easier to gain tokens, and still works with the perk name.
Babysitter
Babysitter is a decent perk. But at the moment, there's no real reason to use this over Borrowed Time. And no reason to run it in conjunction with borrowed time.
Proposed Changes: Unhooked survivor also receives 7% haste status effect for 30 seconds. Buff other effects to 10 seconds.
Why: This gives Babysitter a bigger effect, and allows the unhooked survivor to last longer in chase if tunneled. Self-Preservation also lasts 10 seconds, so I think babysitter getting a buff to that amount sounds fair. Also fits with poised. Not sure why Babysitter is only 8 seconds atm.
Better together
Better Together is a pretty underrated perk. It lets your team know if you're working on a generator, and not to lead the killer that way. It also draws survivors to work on the same generator as you. But ultimately, it's a fairly weak perk that could use a tweak.
Proposed Changes: You also see the aura of generators other survivors are working on in yellow in the same range.
Why: It'd give more benefit to the person actually using it, as opposed to the rest of the team if they choose to follow it. And if you're in a solo que (where the perk would actually be useful), chances are it might not get you much value. Not sure if this is too much of a buff, but it'd be a great solo queue perk.
Boil over
Boil Over is one of the weakest perks in the game. It MIGHT prevent you from going to the basement if you're lucky, but it's unlikely to really do much for you. And killers have perks to counter it! It's fine to have perks that counter survivor perks. But it's weird to have killer perks that counter worthless survivor perks. It'd be like having survivors with a counter to Monstrous Shrine!
Proposed Changes: Wiggle Effects on the killer increased 100%. When in the basement, Wiggle Progression is increased by 20%
Why: It'd make it a pretty niche perk still, but at least it'd have some effect (notably being a 'Don't hook me in the basement' perk). Killers could STILL get survivors hooked in the basement, but it'd be a little harder. The wiggle progression increase is equal to that of Breakout.
Bond
Bond is a pretty good perk, and might not really need a buff. But it's one of the few perks that's more for Solo Que than for SWF (who can communicate with each other.) So this is more a buff for buffing solo que than a necessary buff for making perks more usable)
Proposed Changes: Increase Aura reading to 40 Meters
Why: Just a slight increase in strength of the perk. I think it's used fairly often, people might be more inclined to run it with a bigger range. (Empathy just seems better, IMO)
Breakdown
Breakdown is a pretty weak perk for a perk that can only activate twice during the entire match. It does let you see the killer's location, so you don't go in their direction after being unhooked. But there's a good reason people don't really run it.
Proposed Change: When you successfully unhook a survivor, the hook breaks for 30 seconds.
Why: Just gets a little more use out of the perk if you're unhooking people. 180 seconds might be too long for a secondary effect like that, but 30 seconds would probably be just about right. Basically just an insta-sabo when unhooking people.
Breakout
Breakout is a decent perk, but it's mostly for SWF and useless in Solo.
Proposed Change: See the Aura of any survivor being carried by the Killer while being carried within 32 meters
Why: Makes the perk a little more useful in solo que. Empathy doesn't let you see a carried survivor, but it's also got insane range. I think a 32 meter range would be fair for this limited aura reading.
Buckle Up
Buckle Up is the single most useless perk in the game. It doesn't even really serve a purpose.
Proposed Change: Survivors in the dying state within 32 meters of you crawl 30/40/50% faster
Why: It basically gives your teammates tenacity if they're near you. Or double tenacity if they're running it. Not super useful, but would at least have some sort of effect. I feel like a great use for this perk would be letting survivors pick up downed survivors, but then there's way too much room for a survivor to carry another survivor into the basement just to bm them.
Calm Spirit
Calm Spirit allows a little more stealth, and counters a few perks. But for the most part, there's not much reason to run this perk unless you are getting a LOT of Doctors or you were playing Elodie and wanted to avoid going deaf.
Proposed Change: Upon entering the struggle phase, you will automatically struggle.
Why: Honestly, couldn't think of any good ideas. The struggle mechanic sucks, and this would be a bandaid for it.
Camaraderie
Camaraderie is a decent perk, but could use some QoL buffs to make it more useful.
Proposed change: Survivors with Camaraderie appear in yellow instead of red, and when camaraderie is activated, they appear as White.
Why: Just a QoL buff that lets people realize the hooked survivor has the perk. I think I've seen it activate one time, and I didn't notice until it was too late.
Dance with me
Dance With Me is an okay perk, but isn't terribly useful. Alone, it nets you about 12 meters of no scratchmarks. Not terrible, but not really worthwhile either.
Proposed Change: Dance with me Hides scratchmarks for 5 seconds
Why: It's just a duration addition. I don't think it'd be all powerful to have 2 more seconds of dance with me.
Dark sense
Dark Sense is a decent perk, but it could use a small QoL change
Proposed Change: Makes you less likely to be the obsession.
Why: Makes you less likely to be the Rancor victim and not realize the killer has it.
Deception
Deception might fool a killer once, but it's unlikely to work after that.
Proposed Change: You can also enter a locker, and hit the active ability button. This will mark the locker in yellow. While Deception is active, you can hit the active ability button again to cause a loud notification from that locker.
Why: Makes the perk a little more interesting, I think. And more viable.
Deja vu
Deja Vu isn't a terrible perk, but most people don't run it because they don't need it. Can prevent a 3-gen situation.
Proposed Change: Deja Vu also shows the aura of the generators to the other survivors.
Why: Makes the perk more useful in solo que, letting your teammates kind of have an idea of what's going on.
Deliverance
Deliverance is a good perk, don't get me wrong. I don't think it needs some amazing buff. But for a perk that can only be used once, it can be disabled quite easily.
Proposed Change: Broken Status effect reduced to 65/55/45 seconds
Why: Makes the perk a little less risky. I don't think the broken duration needs to be that long. The risk in the perk is already there if you get hooked first.
Distortion
Distortion is a pretty good perk, but the limited number of tokens is pretty painful.
Proposed Change: When you are unhooked, you regain one token.
Why: There's still a hard limit to the number of tokens. (5) And you only get extra tokens if you've been hooked.
Diversion
Diversion is a fun perk, but also pretty worthless. How many killers really get distracted by the mighty pebble?
Proposed Change: Creates more scratchmarks than it does, leading 10 meters away from where it was thrown.
Why: IDK this is a meme perk, and not very useful.
Flip-Flop
Flip-Flop is a very weak perk. It's decent against slugging killers, I guess. But it could be more useful.
Proposed Change: While in the dying state, see the aura of all hooks. Convert 100% of your recovery progress to wiggle progression up to 50%
Why: The cap would remain the same, but you could reach it a bit faster, making it a little more worthwhile. You'd also have a decent idea of where you should crawl toward if you could see the hooks auras.
Hope
Hope is a decent perk, but it's only active in the end game for a short period of time.
Proposed Change: Increase timer to 150 seconds
Why: Adding 30 seconds makes the perk a tad more worthwhile. Without making it overbearing for killers in the end game.
lightweight
Lightweight is an okay perk. Your scratchmarks don't last as long. But it just doesn't seem worth it most of the time. When the killer DOES see your scratchmarks, it means they're much closer.
Proposed Change: Grass and bushes do not rustle when not moving or walking.
Why: I just think it'd be a nice addition to the perk. Also a slight counter to Spirit.
Lucky break
Lucky Break is a pretty decent perk, and can fool a particularly observant killer. But I still think it needs a slight buff.
Proposed Change: After the timer has expired, your pools of blood will disappear 1/2/3 seconds faster.
Why: Gives Lucky Break an effect when the timer expires. 3 minutes of no blood pools can be great, but it can also be meh.
mettle of man
Mettle of Man is a strong perk, but extremely difficult to get to activate.
Proposed Change: Allow safe unhooks to count toward mettle of man, then increase the number needed to activate to 6.
Why: It'd still be difficult to activate. But you'd be more likely to get it to activate once in a game, without it being too easy.
no one left behind
This is another late game perk that just isn't worth it. Especially since it only activates when the exit gates are open.
Proposed Change: Let it work when the exit gates are powered. Unhooking speed is given throughout the trial.
Why: Increases its usefulness marginally. Not sure why it doesn't work from when the exit gates are powered to begin with. Doesn't need to solely be a late-game perk imo.
No Mither
The challenge perk. Seems like a fun idea, but it kinda sucks that the killer knows you have it, and can abuse it.
Proposed Change: Start the trial healthy. After being hurt, become broken. Killer cannot see the broken status effect unless 'broken' is caused by something else (such as Deliverance or Plague's vomit)
Why: I've seen this idea tossed around, and I like it. Makes the perk a challenge, but not something that screws everyone over.
Off the record
Nobody runs Off the Record when Iron Will is a thing.
Proposed Change: Also leave no pools of blood for the duration. Scratchmarks hidden for 6 seconds as a secondary effect.
Why: Off The Record would become sort of a distortion/iron will/lucky break combo after being unhooked. Scratchmarks can't disappear for THAT long, as it'd be unfair to the killer. But 6 seconds at base seems fair.
poised
Poised is okay, but you're rarely going to get too much use out of it.
Proposed Change: When the exit gates are powered, you will not leave any scratchmarks for 15 seconds.
Why: It's a small buff, but most of the game when another generator pops, you're busy working on your own generator. Very situational. With a slight buff only to the end game, it'd be a decent increase but also not too rewarding. (You have to have all 5 gens done)
premonition
Premonition is a perk that I think is quite underrated. But there's not much reason to use this over spine chill.
Proposed Change: Get An auditory warning (different) every time a teammate enters chase.
Why: It'd make the perk more useful. You'd know "The killer is busy with someone else". It'd be a different warning than the normal premonition perk. Plus you'd be sensing trouble for your teammate.
red herring
Red Herring is basically a sandbagging perk.
Proposed Change: Scratchmarks appear leading away from the generator.
Why: Makes the perk a little more usable.
Second wind
Second Wind is a pretty good perk, but could use a QoL update.
Proposed Change: Second Wind now just requires you to heal someone up one health state.
Why: Healing progression being split between two survivors just seems a bit unfair for a perk that can only activate twice in a match.
small game
Small Game is decent, but needs a small buff.
Proposed Change: Include a totem counter. Totem Cleansing Buff of 5/10/15%
Why: For those who fear NoED. Makes it more useful than Detective's Hunch. You'll be cleansing totems about 2 seconds faster, which might not sound like a lot, but would help when the killer might be on their way.
sole survivor
The second most useless survivor perk in the game.
Proposed Change: Every time a survivor is hooked, your scratchmarks are hidden for 6/8/10 seconds and the killer will receive no noise notifications from you. When you're the last survivor remaining in the trial, for 70/80/90 seconds you will leave no scratchmarks and make no noise notifications.
Why: I feel like this might fit with the idea of the perk, giving a little more use out of it. Makes it harder for the killer to find you when you're the only one left.
solidarity
A decent perk, but could use a QoL buff.
Proposed Change: Let it work with Med Kits.
Why: I mean, why not? You get more out of a med kit? Sure, but at half the rate. Seems like a fair trade off.
This is not happening
Bigger Great Skill checks while injured. Not very useful at all.
Proposed Change: Total Rework. While uninjured, all good skill checks while healing count as great skill checks. Receive bonus 50/75/100% BP in the boldness category. You will be oblivious throughout the trial.
Why: Just make it sort of a slightly challenging perk like No Mither, with a small benefit. (While uninjured, instead of injured)
up the ante
A luck perk, which only really affects kobe attempts and getting out of Bear Trap's. (Man, Trapper sure has it rough with all these perks countering him.) Just not very useful at all.
Proposed Change: Also increases rarity of items.
Why: I feel like luck should probably increase rarity of items anyway. Combined with plunderer's, this could ensure rarer items from chests.
Wake up
Three seconds off the exit gate is pretty slow, though the aura reading is pretty solid.
Proposed Change: Increase to 15/20/25% opening exit gate speed
Why: Two additional seconds wouldn't make it OP. But for a perk that is only useful in the end game, two more seconds feel necessary to make it useful.
bamboozle
Bamboozle is an okay perk, but it often doesn't do enough to justify its usage. A slight buff could make it more useful.
Proposed Change: Buff the Vault Speed to 15/20/25%
Why: A slight increase to the vault speed would make this perk better and more interesting.
Beast of prey
Mostly useless perk. Good for hiding your red light, I guess. But bloodlust is so inconsistent.
Proposed Change: Beast Of Prey effects remain for 8/10/12 seconds after losing bloodlust
Why: Just makes the perk more useful, allows killers to get more use out of it.
blood echo
A decent anti-exhaustion perk, but only really effects survivors who are injured.
Proposed Change: Also applies the mangled status effect to injured survivors.
Why: For the cooldown, it should have a bigger effect. This encourages survivors to heal up even more.
blood warden
Blood Warden is an okay perk, but it's really tricky to activate for an end game perk.
Proposed Change: Survivors within exit gate areas are exposed.
Why: Makes the perk a little less tricky to activate.
bloodhound
Bloodhound is okay, but most people just don't get much use out of it. Decent for new players.
Proposed Change: See the auras of Injured survivors within 4 meters
Why: I mean bloodhounds should be able to sniff out someone when they're bleeding that close to them. Slight wall hacks, but at a very short distance. Not sure if 4 meters is just too short, or if 6 meters would be better.
coulrophobia
A Decent Anti-healing perk, but only works within your terror radius. Good for stopping a heal you catch on Nurse's, but not much else.
Proposed Change: Survivors outside of your terror radius get a 15/20/25% penalty to healing progression speed
Why: Makes it a better anti-healing perk than it currently is. But half the rate for survivors outside your terror radius. (4 seconds)
coup de grace
For a limited perk, this could be a bit more useful.
Proposed Change: Let Killers choose when their lunge will be longer.
Why: Makes you less likely to lose it for bad reasons.
cruel limits
A perk that few killers will ever get any use out of. It's just too difficult to get value from a perk that sounds good in theory, but is bad in practice. Especially for a perk that's limited to 5 uses.
Proposed Change: Close all windows/vaults on the map after a generator is completed for 10/15/20 seconds.
Why: The shortened duration in exchange for being a map-wide effect makes the perk more useful, but not overbearing.
dark devotion
A decent perk that gets you the undetectable status effect, but goes away when there's no obsession. Which doesn't make it as useful as it could be. Especially with new perks like Trail of Torment, which allow you a potentially longer duration of Undetectable nearly limitless times.
Proposed Change: Increase Duration to 20/30/40 seconds
Why: A slight increase to the duration, since the perk only works on the obsession. Just lasting a little longer makes the perk a little more usable.
dead man's switch
A perk that basically relies on Survivors leaving generators at certain times.
Proposed Change: Increase the duration to 40/50/60 seconds. Gens blocked by Dead Man's Switch regress at normal rate
Why: Adding regression to the perk makes it more useful, adding duration makes it easier to actually get use out of. I could see people using this if it did.
deerstalker
Deerstalker is a decent perk if you slug, but it needs a secondary effect.
Proposed Change: When a Survivor gets healed up from the dying state, see their Aura for 3 seconds.
Why: Just gives it a little more use.
dying light
Dying Light just isn't strong enough to get much value out of because it doesn't affect the obsession.
Proposed Change: Reduce the healing speed buff for the obsession to 15%
Why: Makes the perk a little more useful for anti-healing. Makes it less of a trade off.
fire up
Fire Up is a perk that you just won't get much value out of. The change is just really small until end game, at which point there shouldn't be as many pallet drops (and obviously no generators to kick!). The vault speed increase is nice I guess. But it needs to be combined with other perks to get much use out of it.
Proposed Change: Buff the numbers to 5/6/7%
Why: Gives the perk increased value. Now at 3 gens done, it's worth the same as enduring. A simple number buff is all that's really needed. 4% is just too low for how little value you get out of it in early game.
Furtive chase
Honestly the best use of Furtive Chase is probably to keep changing the obsession. Everything else is just kind of... 'meh'. Decent to pair with Nemesis and Make Your Choice maybe, but even then that's three perk slots for one thing.
Proposed Change: Works on anyone, not just the obsession. Still creates an obsession every time there's an unhook.
Why: Makes it so you don't have to keep switching targets, which you don't want to do as killer.
Gearhead
Honestly Thrilling Tremors does what this perk does better, just for a shorter period of time.
Proposed Change: Skill check odds are increased by 20%. Works with Great Skill Checks too.
Why: Really does not need a counter. Makes it more likely to actually get use out of.
hangman's trick
One of the worst killer perks. Absolutely pointless because the range is so short.
Proposed Change: Increase the range to 4/6/8 meters
Why: The 16 meters in the PTB was definitely too much, but I think 8 meters is just fine. It'd make it a strong tracking perk and absolutely worth running. Just a small buff of 2 meters.
Hex: BLood favour
A Hex with a cooldown that doesn't really do that much. After hitting someone, chances are they're going to keep running. And if they drop the pallet, they probably waste it unless it's a very strong pallet. It's honestly not really worth the risk of running.
Proposed Change: Blocks all pallets within 16 meters for 15 seconds after entering chase. Retains the cooldown.
Why: This would be a perk worth running, and the cooldown would be justified. Instead of just blocking a MAYBE pallet save in the rare case that it happens, it'd instead actually become a little useful in chase.
hex: HUntress lullaby
A decent hex totem, but one that just doesn't get enough value.
Proposed Change: Can also receive backwards skill checks. Regression buffed to 8%.
Why: For a hex perk, it should be a bit stronger since it can be lost before it has ANY use.
hex: The third seal
Another fairly weak hex that could use a buff to make it worth the risk of being cleansed.
Proposed Change: Survivors affected by the third seal, see all hex totems as dull totems.
Why: It'd be good for hiding your other totems, but only after hitting a survivor.
hex: Thrill of the hunt
A decent perk, but it almost always has to be paired with another hex totem or two. Making it really risky.
Proposed Change: No longer Token Based. Just increases totem cleansing time as long as its active.
Why: It'd make it a bit more useful to pair with just one hex totem.
monstrous shrine
This perk requires you to hook survivors in the basement, and even then you get like... 5 seconds out of it? Total waste of perk.
Proposed Change: Survivors hooked in the basement suffer from the blindness status effect. Upon being unhooked, survivors are Mangled and suffer from the Oblivious, Blindness, and Exhausted status effect for 20/25/30 seconds.
Why: Makes the perk a lot more meaningful for all it requires. Meaning survivors who come off the hook will take longer to heal, won't be able to immediately use their exhaustion perks, and are oblivious and blind.
Overcharge
Not many people miss too many of these.
Proposed Change: Applies an immediate regression of 2.5% to a generator
Why: This basically removes the time you spent kicking the gen, from the generator. Seems fair. Not sure if it should stack with Pop or Not. Maybe?
overwhelming presence
How many survivors use items inside your terror radius? If you're going against flashlights, you'd probably be better off bringing lightborn.
Proposed Change: Survivors in your terror radius are affected by a 5/10/15% repair speed debuff
Why: There should be a perk that makes it harder to pop a gen in a killer's face. Overwhelming Presence seems like a good choice.
predator
A perk that makes scratchmarks harder to see on walls
Proposed Change: Makes Scratchmarks brighter.
Why: Makes it easier to see scratchmarks, instead of arguably harder.
spies from the shadows
A Decent perk, but it varies by map.
Proposed Change: Increase change to 26/34/42 meters
Why: Get more alerts from crows. The perk is actually pretty solid on indoor maps surprisingly.
surge
This is a pretty good perk as it is, but it's cooldown is nasty and sometimes you just don't get much use out of it.
Proposed Change: Radius increased to 40 meters. Cooldown reduced to 50/40/30 seconds.
Why: Some cooldown is needed, but I don't think it's that much. And I think a 40 meter range makes it more likely to hit more generators.
surveillance
A decent perk, but usually not worth running.
Proposed Change: Bring back the bug that let us see gens that are fully regressed still in white.
Why: It was a good bug, and made the perk much better.
territorial imperative
This perk is pretty much useless unless you hook someone in the basement or you have survivors who like to go chest diving. Relies way too much on survivor actions to be useful.
Proposed Change: Also applies to killer shack.
Why: I mean it's called the killer shack, even though it's often survivor sided. Still wouldn't be terribly useful. Though sometimes a generator spawns in the killer shack.
thrilling tremors
A good perk by all means, but it just has too long of a cooldown.
Proposed Change: Reduce cooldown to 50/40/30 seconds
Why: A simple 10 second change makes this perk much more valuable, but still not oppressive.
unnerving presence
A decent perk, but one that often doesn't get much use. Skill checks still aren't that hard to hit.
Proposed Change: Increases the progression penalty to 20%
Why: Just makes it a bit more useful.
unrelenting
If you miss a lot, I guess this perk is pretty useful. But it's not really that useful.
Proposed Change: Reduces missed attack cooldowns by 30/40/50%
Why: Just an increase to the cooldown makes missing attacks less painful. Right now a missed attack at base has a 1.5 second cooldown. With Unrelenting right now (Tier 3) saves you about half a second. With the buff, it'd be .75 seconds. So not a huge difference, just one that'd make the perk a little more worthwhile
Comments
The changes for unrelenting, surge, spies from the shadows, predator, thrill of the hunt, third seal, blood favour, furtive chase, dying light, deerstalker, dead man switch, dark devotion, cruel limits, coup the grace, beast of prey, wake up, small game, seconds wind, flip flop, distorsion, diversion, dance with me, better togheter and breakdown, are honeslty very good. But the other changes... I don't think are the best ones for buffing the perks in the right direction.
Anyways good job.