Why Dead Hard has no competition
Sprint Burst generally can't be used mid-chase and the Killer can choose to avoid you after you use it. This generally leads to teammates dying early because the hook states aren't being balanced and wastes your perk slot.
Lithe can be suboptimal at a lot of loops. Hitting a vault multiple times is efficient and saves pallets. Lithe can discourage you from staying at a strong loop because you want to use your perk.
Balanced Landing is map specific. Its amazing when you have potential to use it, but some maps don't lend themselves to the perk. And even the ones that do can force you to play around certain structures.
Smash Hit and Head On have the same issue. They're dependent on how the Killer plays. Massive value from terrible Killers, but not much from someone playing around your perk. Especially after its been used the first time.
So why's Dead Hard so good. Simply because it doesn't have the weaknesses of the other perks. The Killer generally has to commit to a chase to see a Dead Hard use. Dead Hard lets you greed loops and play them more optimally. Dead Hard is good on every map. And even if a Killer knows for sure you have Dead Hard if you're using it for distance at loops, there isn't a ton of counterplay options and you can get value regardless.
Also, this isn't really a Dead Hard is OP post. It's more of a showcase of why the other exhaustion perks should be looked at so they're brought up to its level.
Comments
Sprint burst is still better IMO since it can end the chase before it even starts
Sb canbe used to get into better positions denying a quick hit
Lithe can be used to get to a new loop if you dont like what your at Ex: tnl walls
Smash hit you get a 4s boost for stunning the killer when they can move for 3-5s if they break the pallet almost ending the chase instantly or allowing plenty of time to get to a new loop
Dh just extendes a chase and is useless if outpositioned. Please explain how dh has no competition
I agree that balanced landing needs a tweak
SB allows far more skill expression than DH but requires more effort to use it effectively.
Sprint Burst is hands down better than Dead Hard.
Sprint Burst also gives you the ability to get away from the area in which you were unhooked, helping immensely against tunneling and soft camping killers. Sprint Burst has no requirements. Sprint Burst works against insta-downs. Sprint Burst gives you 3 seconds compared to the 1 1/2 seconds of Dead Hard.
I would be hard pressed to even say Dead Hard is worse than Lithe and in some stages, even Balanced Landing.
Some forum users obsession with Dead Hard is one of the craziest things I've ever seen.
I've been running SB instead of DH lately. I like the fact if a killer gets the drop on me while working on a gen. I can take off before they get a hit in. Getting hit before the chase begins literally cuts the chase time in half.
The only time I hate DH is when I'm facing a killer like Billy or Bubba. They don't even need to M1 you. They can just get right up on your backside and chainsaw.
Sprint Burst is extremely powerful and hands-down the one perk to get deadzone gens and even win chases before they start.
They all kind of have a niche. Sb and Dh are widely useful. While lithe and smash hit can get you away off weak pallets, head on can bail you out of the basement and balanced can open new avenues of movement.
why would anyone want that?
it’s beneficial for the team if the killer is hooking and chasing everyone. if you’re discouraging chases then other people are taking them instead and dying early
If a killer walks 30 seconds to a gen and you sprint burst away he gets no value and has to start patrolling again.
If he chases you that’s even more time wasted
It usually doesn’t work that way.
If you’re working on a gen with someone else, Sprint Burst encourages the Killer to chase someone else instead of you, which is bad if you have lower hook states then them.
If you’re working on a gen solo and the Killer got multiple people with BBQ they’ll just Pop your gen and leave to bother another gen that they know is being worked on. It wastes your exhaustion and time. It’s especially bad if its someone like Blight, Twins, Nurse, Freddy or Spirit because they can get to the next gen with little time lost.
What if all 4 people have it? Or even 2 tbh but that’s where it starts to get really strong
Its Killer dependent at best. A Nurse, Legion, Blight, Twins or Spirit literally wouldn’t care if all four Survivors ran Spirit Burst.
They’d be crying if it was four Dead Hard though
Legion has more an issue with sprint burst since he can’t even catch up to it
Sprint Burst lets you get away from deadzones, taking the risk of certain gens when used well. It lets you pick where you want to loop. The only drawback is it gives no value on fast killers like nurse or blight. But it helps in ways against 1-hit killers that Dead Hard could never.
Why nurse can just blink again if they get close with first blink blight can bounce again legion is going to est a 5s stun when their power ends I just dont like how dh is a mistake eraser or a greed giver
not really if a survivor dead hards me once. Optimal play on my side they get zero value again from head all game. Dead hard on works when you're injured so you use it less often than sprint burst. People say if they get to pallet in time they get the hit. sure they'd have to be at the perfect angle, if they are too close to the pallet they dash past it and I hit them cause I know they have dead hard
I have to disagree with not being able to use Sprint Burst mid-chase. Good survivors know how to 99 the exhaustion and can make a lot of distance with it.
That's true I guess, but it not any more value than the other exhaustion. How'd you get 5 seconds or 3.2m? It feels alot more like 3 secs. most of the time near end game also pallets are broken and even if they make it to a windows they have to be far enough to have time to hop over it .
A storeable speed boost/hit absorption is just too good in most situations compared to a mediocre speed boost.
Sprint burst can make certain dead zones safe but has the downside of slowing you down outside of chases.
Sprint Burst is far more superior than any other exhaustion perk.
Dead hard is bad on bad players, but OP when in the hands of good survivors.
Right now for Exhaustion we have:
All of them have weaknesses as OP mentioned:
The other thing about all of them, is that SB/Lithe/BL/SH all are telegraphed, and you know when they happen. they also always happen very early on in the chase with the exception of Smash hit.
Then we come to dead hard. Survivors will have it in every single chase, because it is available as soon as they are injured. If survivors use dead hard to dodge a hit, they are using it wrong. The strength of dead hard comes from "dead hard for distance" If i'm looping a survivor around something that we both know takes 2 loops before they have to drop the pallet, but then they try to get an extra loop, they just dead hard, and get the window. Or dead hard and get the pallet. Instead of ending the chase outright or being used immediately. It happens after you have already put work into it. You already have injured the survivor, and spent time, you are looking to land that down. And then suddenly, they dead hard for distance, which has no counter and get to reset, but not end the chase.
It allows you to reach pallets you otherwise couldn't, on top of all of that, unlike the other exhaustion perks, it is a "oops" button. If survivors make a mistake, they can often just dead hard to a nearby pallet or window, and they just "fixed" their mistake. You can't "play around" dead hard on good survivors because they aren't using it to dodge a hit, they are using it in a way that is uncounterable for the killer other than to just not chase them.
In the hands of good survivors, dead hard is an extra health state because you have to hit them once, then get them within striking distance, then they dead hard to safety, reset the chase with a pallet, then you have to hit them again.
Yes SB is better but the killer will just leave alone from the start or try to get you elsewhere.
So in a way its better for you alone but maybe you ######### your teamate
Sprint Burst is good, but isn't better than DH IMO as others are saying. DH allows for aggressive/bold plays with the safety net of knowing you can probably dead hard to the closest pallet/window if the play goes wrong.
It's also great against certain killer abilities, most notably: Nurse, Huntress, Trapper, Doctor, Pyramid Head. And decent against dodging lunges from killers like Oni, Blight, Spirit and Pig.
I wouldn't call other perks' situationality "weakness." Dead hard makes much less ground per second than any of the other perks do, and it's a balance between accessibility and distance gained. Smash hit isn't on-demand and it gets you a 4 second sprint.
Also keep in mind that dead hard is a lot more obvious than other perks. What makes it so obnoxious to a lot of people is how in-your-face it is. It just feels really powerful, because you see that you can make the hit, and then have it snatched away very quickly, even if that does just mean a few extra loops. Balanced landing and sprintburst give you those effects much earlier, and making it to a loop so that they can loop feels a lot less like a slap in the face, although often times, that's much more impactful than dead hard. Dead hard is the cocky one who shows off a lot but doesn't really get much done, other exhaustion perks are the quiet professionals who can do incredible things with subtlety and quietude.
That's good in the early ranges, but I started recognising this as a bit of an issue, since back when I was using it, everyone else would be on death hook and I'd still be at zero chases.
You just clearly showcased why DH needs to be brought down in power.