Who Should I Buy: Deathslinger or Oni?

TerrorUnleashed

As simple as that. I'm cycling between Doctor and Freddy (who I main) and Ghostface, with Nemesis in mind soon (I'm just not so great with him). But I've been interested in Deathslinger and Oni since their releases, and I think it's time to go for it when I get the chance... so which one?

CheeseAnton

Why make this poll if you already decided and voted? Also I messed up and meant to press Oni, please don't count my vote towards Deathslinger.

TerrorUnleashed

@CheeseAnton said:

Why make this poll if you already decided and voted? Also I messed up and meant to press Oni, please don't count my vote towards Deathslinger.

I bumped vote while navigating a tab, my bad.

AGM

I'd say both. Two very different killers. If you like FPS style gameplay, go with Slinger. If you like snowball-y style killers go with Oni, but they're both really fun to play in their own ways.

CheeseAnton

@AGM said:

I'd say both. Two very different killers. If you like FPS style gameplay, go with Slinger. If you like snowball-y style killers go with Oni, but they're both really fun to play in their own ways.

The reason they're making this poll is because they can only get one.

HaunterofShadows

MORE ONI MAINS

coley_219

oni if you are on pc and deathslinger if you are on console...imo

Leon_S_Kennedy

If you agree good with aim choose death slinger if not so much and you like speed choose oni

Chocolate_Cosmos

Oni for sure. He is stronger and probably more fun to play generaly speaking.

Also Deathslinger got huge nerf few patches ago so he is less fun and less good overall.

SadLegion

Deathslinger is honestly unplayable in his current state, clunky, unfun and weak piece of garbage. Oni is definitely a better choice

Bennett_They1Them

@TerrorUnleashed said:

As simple as that. I'm cycling between Doctor and Freddy (who I main) and Ghostface, with Nemesis in mind soon (I'm just not so great with him). But I've been interested in Deathslinger and Oni since their releases, and I think it's time to go for it when I get the chance... so which one?

Twins are a lot of fun once you get used to them.

as for Slinger v. Oni:

Scares: Tied.

Viability: Oni, at this point.

"ohohoho, that felt good to land": uh... tied again.

survivor fun: tied.

addons: Oni, barely.

Cosmetics: Oni, but neither have terrific cosmetics.

Mister_xD

Oni:

a really fun and powerful killer, someone you can sink a lot of time and training into and enjoy for a decently long time (like most Killers he isnt really viable for highest level of play, but he is a lot more viable than Deathslinger is)

Deathslinger:

just pick Huntress. should the Devs ever undo the most recent gutting, go for him! i think he was a lot more fun to play as than Oni, but in his current state i'd pick not playing the game at all over playing this guy.

in terms of Perks they are pretty equal. both got two Perks you're essentially never going to use and one Perk that can be VERY good when combined with the right other Perks.

mistar_z

Oni. Slinger's controls are clunky and janky af, and his quality of life is kind of garbage at the moment. not Twins level bad but its very annoying like old Plague.

Oni has perks synergy with more killers.

Grandkurama

Oni is more viable and fun, and deathslinger is now a worse huntress

FFirebrandd

Get Oni. After his last set of nerfs, Deathslinger has no Redeeming qualities.

Seiko300

I know I voted for Oni even back in August, and I stand by that vote, however seeing a lot of Deathslinger hate and having played a lot of Deathslinger (mostly because of the snowmen in this year's Bone Chill event) I feel compelled to throw Deathslinger a bone because he's not all bad- only undoubtedly worse from where he was before.

But since I'm assuming you've never played Deathslinger before he was changed, I think this is actually a nonfactor that people are overemphasizing too much. New players won't have any experience playing Deathslinger before and so they are only building new experience from here on out.

Here are just a few things to keep in mind when taking an Objective approach toward Deathslinger (which isn't based on an emotional response to frustration with the recent changes):

• Deathslinger still has a ridiculously quick ADS time. I'd disagree with anyone saying he feels clunky, because although yes he is slower to ADS than he was before he is still WAY more responsive and quick to react than a Huntress can hope for even with an uncharged hatchet toss. Let me repeat: Deathslinger can still shoot more quickly than huntress can, this is as cold a fact as cold hard facts go. This means that a Deathslinger will have a much easier time responding to spontaneous window vaults than a huntress can- being able to have a later reaction but still netting the same result.
• Deathslinger's projectile speed remains unchanged. So although he can no longer quickscope, the projectile still moves as fast as a fully charged huntress shot. If you can aim well, this means that survivors will still have a difficult time dodging at closer ranges, especially if you have the ability to predict where a survivor will be, whether they will run into your shot, or dodge backward and thus dodge into your shot. This combined with his comparatively quick ADS time means that survivors will still have a tough time dodging a good deathslinger in any circumstances at closer ranges.
• Deathslinger's projectile hitbox is ridiculously small, and in Dead by Daylight- this is a good thing. It means that when playing Deathslinger you have a much smaller chance of the projectile colliding with assets on the map on its way to seeking your target. It also means that Deathslinger can land shots between small gaps between assets that Huntress physically cannot damage through- though this isn't the most frequent thing in the world it DOES happen. This is all compared to Huntress hatchets, whose hitbox is a literal box / rectangular cube, it has greater vertical height and is therefore frequently subject to completely breaking if even the smallest edge comes in contact with anything on the map that isn't a survivor. The end result when it comes to hitting a survivor is also no different than huntress, because survivors do NOT have custom hitboxes tailored to their specific character models. A survivors hitbox is actually a capsule which covers encases their entire body, and extends in areas slightly above and around them. Meaning if you're a deathslinger aiming for center mass, and a survivor dodges and you hit slightly to the left, or maybe even slightly above, it all counts as the same hit regardless.
• Deathslinger also has no ammo. Though this comes at the small expense of having to reload after every shot, the reload animation is both quicker (than Huntress) and can be done mid-chase from any position on the map, allowing you to maintain chases and thus pressure on any given survivor. Whereas a Huntress without Hatchets is dead in the water, and subject to the whims of Map RNG. Depending on the map, you may have to travel farther and farther distances in order to find the nearest locker which takes both time, and sacrifices pressure. This makes Deathslinger more consistent from a "sustainability" perspective, although this becomes less of an issue for Huntress at higher and higher skill levels where you are most likely landing your shots far more frequently.
• Deathslinger still has no lullaby. Though the increase to his Terror Radius to a standard 32m can only be seen as nothing but a loss and pure nerf, it's important to remember that Deathslinger does not have a lullaby. Meaning that survivors will not be as quickly aware of his presence as a Huntress, and though he will no longer get as much use out of terror radius reducing perks like Monitor & Abuse or Furtive Chase, he can still take full advantage of Terror Radius eliminating perks like Tinkerer, or Trail of Torment, unlike Huntress who will always have the lullaby to alert survivors and negating the use of these perks.
• Deathslinger has access to the Deep Wound Status effect in his base power. Though this is a small factor- it is worth mentioning nonetheless, as it still functions as a minor source of slowdown, and specifically can be used to greater effect when switching between targets rather than pursuing individual chases. Leaving one person afflicted by the deep wound status affect to chase another forces the first to mend before anything else, and potentially give you the opportunity to re-engage chase again and down them before they can fully heal. This also means that deathslinger can benefit a little better from anti-heal builds, more than huntress can- although mending isn't considered a healing action, it still means survivors will spend more time injured than normal, and you can capitalize on that with perks like Sloppy Butcher, Thanataphobia, Nurse's Calling, Coulrophobia, in addition to more niche perks like Hysteria, Dying Light, Gift of Pain, etc.
• And if we're talking about changes we should also not neglect the buffs that went largely unrecognized by most of the community. Although deathslinger lost what were some of the strongest points of his kit, he received increased movement speed when Aiming Down Sights to 85% (up from 75%) and more importantly, the cooldown animation after a survivor breaks free from the chain has been significantly reduced to be the same as that of a successful hit. Although these small benefits by no means completely make up for what was lost, they are small consolation benefits nonetheless, and the latter specifically is greatly noticeable. And more or less negates the penalty of getting an initial hit on a target that you weren't able to completely reel in.

Concluding:

The first four positives alone make Deathslinger an overall far more forgiving and new player friendly killer than Huntress ever will be. This is not to say that Huntress is particularly difficult to play, but that Deathslinger takes many of Huntresses weaknesses and covers them up. Infinite ammo, a faster projectile that can't be easily dodged while it's in the air, faster ADS time, etc. In addition to this, a decent chunk of Huntress's strength comes from being able to hit long range or even cross map shots- meaning if you play Huntress but can't or won't hit survivors from great distances you may as well play Deathslinger who is more dangerous in your average mid-to-close ranges that a chase usually occurs in.

Playing Deathslinger (regularly) again after having not played him since the changes went through- my enjoyment of this killer has actually been surprisingly reinvigorated. Hitting just a regular shot with the redeemer is still incredibly satisfying, and hitting a long range or otherwise crazy shot even more so.

The lore and concept of the Deathslinger himself, I find to be incredibly unique and fascinating. A wronged and now vengeful engineer / inventor turned bounty hunter in a dark horror western fantasy is by far one of the more distinctive chapters, and small details like the sound of his bony jaw cracking into place or his malicious cackle really sells the idea of the Spooky Cowboy. The Hat, Frock Coat and Redeemer all contribute in their own ways to the singular and timeless aesthetic of the character.

Again, Oni is definitely the answer here as far as a contest between the two, but I wouldn't count Deathslinger out completely, and the responses I've seen make it sound like you should never try him. Despite his changes, I've rediscovered how fun he is to play (although there may be a little bias here because Deathslinger is uniquely capable of taking on all the Snowman shenanigans right now) and I think the character is still worthwhile to look into.

Although obviously he'd be more worthwhile, if the devs would give him some quality of life changes.

DredgenWar237

Deathslinger is my preferred killer, but I acknowledge that I'm in the minority. You're more likely to like Oni for...well see the other comments. I ain't writing all that out.

Ssajbambusa

DeathSlinger is ridiculously weak and actually frustrating to play as after his nerf. I went into details about this too many times already, it's up to you, but Oni is actually strong and fun for both sides.