Dredge is just a better Sadako
Dredge and Sadako have a very similar gimmick of being able to travel across the map quickly (which is honestly their biggest gimmick for both of them). They are both M1 killers that can be looped very easily other than this even when their passive gimmicks are rolling (Nightfall and Condemned). Even though Condemned is an amazing fast execution, Nightfall will happen multiple times in 99% of matches whereas Condemned executions will rarely take place.
Let's compare. I am assuming they can take any perk they want in the game so we don't take those into account.
Sadako Pros vs Dredge:
Traveling is instant and only requires phasing out (Dredge takes a long time without Nightfall to go long distances).
Traveling close to survivors gives them a stack of Condemned that may allow her to execute in the future.
Taking away her ability to travel makes survivors gain stacks of Condemned towards execution quickly, forcing them to turn in the tape and not work on generators.
Able to remove terror radius at will (but not able to attack while in it and you can also hear her if you are listening regardless).
Dredge Pros vs Sadako:
Being able to travel can never be blocked, just slowed.
You get killer instinct when exiting lockers you teleport into telling you exactly where survivors are. You can also see outside of the locker.
You can grab survivors who are in the locker you teleport into (can also be a negative as it makes it very easy to flashlight you coming straight out).
You can only be slowed from traveling once per locker per match (you can take tapes forever against Sadako).
You actually exit locked lockers only about .5-.75 seconds slower than Sadako comes out of an actual TV before she can move with a lock on it. It is also about the same noise level as her base teleport so it isn't even more revealing.
Teleporting to a locker is nowhere near as revealing as it is when Sadako teleports to a TV especially map-wide. Sometimes you can't even notice it.
You have no terror radius while waiting in a locker, giving you a chance to make surprise plays.
Ability cooldown is so short, you can bounce between lockers easily during chases multiple times. This forces survivors to make different loops or try to bait you to teleport into them.
Able to exit lockers much more quickly than Sadako comes out of a TV.
Nightfall is a much stronger version of Sadako's demanifest (but cannot be done at will most of the time).
Locking a locker makes it so the survivors also cannot go into it mid-chase or hide in them if they are doing a generator next ot them.
Looking at these, the only thing Sadako really has going for her vs Dredge is the fact that she can teleport much more quickly around the map. While a perfectly played Sadako will also give enough stacks to force people to carry a tape eventually, this is extremely hard to pull off so the stack feature is not as pressuring as it should be. If she were able to gain these stacks passively as well just like Dredge does for Nightfall, it would help her map pressure quite a bit.
Just my 2 cents on the matter. I'm sure there are things I've missed and I am not making this post to bash Sadako. I think she could use some buffs to be in a much better place. I expect Dredge will be mid to upper B tier at best since he can be looped so easily after the dust settles, but he is extremely fun to play as.
Comments
I understand the complaint, and I get the comparison, but if you start off by reducing their powers to 'Gimmicks' right off the bat, it reads poorly.
Yeah... I went against a Dredge and then a Sadako yesterday. Dredge felt way more oppressive than her by a lot. I wasn't even concerned at all going against her. She even managed to get 4 stacks of condemn on me during a chase (I couldn't switch direction quick enough and was barely in radius to get a stack) and I was starting to freak out a little because I was 2 away from insta death (no hooks on me yet). Yeah... I got hooked and we got an easy 4 man out. That's literally the closest I've ever been to getting full condemned, most games I literally ignore it the whole time. She literally threw the game to get me that far in condemned and still didn't get it.
Sadako can probably be helped by reworking and leaning more into the Condemned mechanic. Make it easier to max out, though that'll likely require needing to change what you get for maxing out since an easily obtained quickie mori is a bit much to get easily. Maybe make it a Death Hook thing like with Pyramid Head.
Dredge is more effective overall than Sadako. The only thing they really have in common though is they both can broadly speaking teleport, Dredge isn't "Sadako 2.0".
If you think Dredge can be looped very easily then you do not know how to use him correctly.
Quite possibly. Or you don't know how to pull him into loops that aren't around lockers. He doesn't get a speed boost when he's phasing out to possibly teleport, so it's honestly not that hard to bait in most medium-large loops. Although most large loops have lockers in them.
Some killers are stronger than other killers, which is fine. Except Demogorgon, he has to continue to be weaker than Sadako.
Nurse is just better Dredge.... wait, she is better than anyone. Oh, well.