The Trickster: A Triumphantly Talented Troublemaker Tearing his Targets Tendons and Triceps
After the Twins post, i decided to make a sort of mini-series of forum posts about each of the killers, if i find them fun, some notes that i took when playing them, and how i would personally change them, and we're moving from The Twins to the Trickster, who happens to be one of my personal favourites
The Trickster is a 110% Killer, his power lets him throw knives at survivors, landing knives will fill the Laceration Meter, hitting a survivor with a knife when the Laceration Meter is full will injure them if they are healthy, and down them if they are already injured, the Laceration decays very quickly when out of a chase, but decays slower when in a chase, you can carry 44 knives at base and have to reload them at lockers, which are highlighted in a yellow aura once you go below 6 or so knives, you also throw knives faster the longer you hold down M1, which decays when you aren't throwing knives, you will also fill a gauge that i call "The Crescendo Gauge" every time you hit a survivor with a knife, which, when filled, will let you activate "The Main Event", where you throw knives at max speed infinitely and ignoring your current ammo count until the gauge empties.
At first, this just sounds like Discount Huntress, and while you are absolutely correct, Trickster has a few things over his hatchet-throwing counterpart
For starters, he is much more forgiving, both in ammo count and in hitboxes, 5 hatchets that auto-injure/down are definitely nice, but you will be reloading very often and the hatchets have been notorious for being inconsistent due to a variety of factors, mostly lag and the inflated hitbox, Trickster doesn't have that problem, sure you'll still be reloading often but his increased ammo count makes getting injuries easier, and the knives have a much more consistent and, more importantly, smaller hitbox, Trickster can land knives through small spaces that not even Deathslinger can land, such as various boarded up windows in the various Killer Shacks, cracks in the glass on maps like Ironworks of Misery, and other such areas, making him able to get injuries and downs in areas that most Survivors simply do not expect
Second, Trickster's personality, Huntress has her iconic Lullaby sure, but Trickster laughs, he snickers, he hums to himself, he swears when he gets pallet stunned, he treats waiting in the lobby just like most of the people who play the game do, with mild boredom, he gets pumped whenever he reloads, and he winks in the pre-game prep phase, he full well knows he's in a video game and he's rocking it, and i love him all the more for it
Thirdly, Addon variety, Trickster i think is the number one killer for most amount of unique addons, and all of them cover unique situations that you can set up, planning on playing on a Indoor map? Trick Blades are (usually) your friend, Survivors bum rushing the hook? Try Cut Thru U, which gives your knives piercing, or alternatively, bring the Edge of Revival Album, which makes the knives break on any surface including the floor, filling half of a segment of the Laceration Meter on everybody in the vicinity of the (admittedly rather small) AOE, don't like how long it takes to reload and don't want to bring Iron Maiden or Melodious Murder? Say hi to the Death Throes Compilation, which automatically refills all of your knives after The Main Event ends, regardless of how long it lasted, my personal favourites are Waiting For You Watch, which increases how long Main Event lasts if you hit survivors with knives during it, Trick Blades, Death Throes, and the Diamond Cufflinks, which reveals the survivor's aura for 6 when the Laceration Meter is full, very handy on indoor and Coldwind maps.
And finally, Trickster’s Chases are fun as hell, with the chase varying depending on what map you’re on, what addons you have, what sort of loop is the survivor at, how likely are they to not run in a straight line, etc. There are very few loops or areas where Trickster's power is outright useless, he shreds at short loops and open fields, he can shoot through the gaps in the boards of most killer shacks to sneak in some extra knives, survivors on the stairs to the higher levels on the centre building on Eyrie of Crows? Send some knives their way in order to make the chase up there a bit easier, survivors are trying to loop you? Chuck some knives when they vault a window or pallet, even at base throw rate you'll still get half the Laceration Meter from a fast vault, Trickster is very lethal in the right situation, and even if you don't want to use the knives for offense, you can still scare people into running in a dead zone and then bonk them with your bat.
So the question is then, if Trickster has all these upsides, why is he considered one of the weakest killers in the entire game?
Well, there are two reasons
- He’s a 110% with no map mobility and a lullaby warning survivors when he's coming even if they aren't in his terror radius, Huntress has the same problems but her power at least can be used to get injuries and downs, Trickster cannot do this due to needing to hit 6 knives to injure someone, and if you can hit that many knives from across the map, i will personally pay for your bail should you end up in prison
- While Trickster is not useless at most loops, loops with high walls are definitely not places you want to be, if you commit to the knives then you will take a ######### eternity against a smart survivor that doesn't vault the window, hugs corners, never throws down the pallet unless they KNOW they can get a stun, and if you don't use the knives, well then you're a 110% killer with no power, which isn't very good
HOWEVER, if you ask most people, the main reason he's weak/not fun to play is that his power can't down as quickly as Huntress
While true, mathematically speaking Huntress can down a survivor faster then Trickster can at most loops, i really do have to wonder how they play Trickster if they can't get quick downs with him, my best guess is that they see how the power operates and think "it looks like Huntress so everything that works and doesn't work with Huntress applies to this killer as well"
Let me the first to tell the people who think this NO, MOST things that work with Huntress will also work with Trickster, however, the lack of ranged lethality combined with the smaller hitboxes of the knives means two things, one, he's a mid to close range killer, not a all range killer, and two, every small crevice, every crack in the boards or windows, every tiny open space that can fit a knife through it is a opportunity to get a quick knife, every small bit of time where a survivor has no walls is a bit of time where a knife might meet their back, stop thinking conservatively with your knifes and start throwing at every opportunity, one knife may not do much on it's own but it's a lot better then never throwing them at all, you are not playing Huntress, you are playing Korean DIO with a baseball bat, the sooner you realise that and start thinking creatively, the more downs you'll get with Trickster.
So, after all that, how would i change Trickster to be better?
Well, honestly, there isn't a great deal i would change, sure he's weak, sure he gets beat most of his games due to the fact that whittling down survivors does still take a while and the fact that he's a 100% with no mobility, but Trickster as he is right now is very fun, and that's all he really needs to be in my eyes.
There are still a few changes i would make though.
1.Remove his lullaby, if he was lethal at 48 Metres it would be understandable, however, Trickster is about as lethal as a plastic spoon at that range, so it would be better if it didn't exist
2.Change his chase music, compare Trickster's TR and chase music to Legion's, Demo's, Oni's, or even Ghostface's, it could be significantly better then it's current version
3.Make Knives fill more of the Laceration Meter the further the knives travel, long-bomb shots are rare but why not reward them in some way? Would help with Trickster's lack of any real range at least
And that's really all i have to say about Korea's finest DIO impersonator, he's not strong, but good lord is he fun, and really, that's all that matters in my eyes
Here's the build that i use, Lethal for getting started as early as possible, BBQ and Ruin for obvious reasons, and Brutal Strength to get rid of pallets faster, which makes getting knife hits before the Laceration decays a lot easier
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