Can we talk about perks requiring combos?
Perk synergy is nothing new, and is overall a good thing. Having perks be able tow amplify one another rather than work against each other is generally a good thing, both design wise and balance wise. Things like Spirit Fury + Enduring have been in the game for ages, but there's a pretty big difference between combos like that and newer synergies in how they get handled in balancing, and the changes to overcharge are a perfect example:
Overcharge got nerfed because a newer perk that is tied behind paid dlc made it too strong with the upcoming change. Instead of removing their synergy, they gutted overcharge's base value to make it completely worthless on its own, forcing the pair to give it an acceptable amount of value. This is different from older combos like SC+Botany, Spine Chill + Resiliance, Q&Q + Dance with me, or SF+Enduring as those had acceptable value from either perk individually, while getting a value worth two perk slots when combined. On the inverse, combos like Brine + Overcharge and Undying + any hex perk instead feel like you're using two half perks to make one whole, they often feel like each individual perk feels worthless without the other.
The combination of Brine + Overcharge was strong, and while i dont personally think op, could have still been just fine with a bit of reduction. They were only very strong when combined, so their synergy was the main thing that needed to be addressed.... Instead they gutted overcharge (the perk that many killers likely already have coming from a freemium killer,) and left untouched the one from the newer, paid dlc that is highly considered as underwhelming (specifically from a gameplay perspective, everything else about S-ko and Yoichi is great.)
They could have easily had lesser nerfs to both perks to help them retain individual value, or even just kept them both strong and blocked or lessened their synergy, but instead they created another co-dependance situation after salting the earth with the rest of the options for the intended effect (gen defense.) Perk synergies should always be worth two perk slots while their pieces being able to stand on their own, otherwise you just create more useless perks while limiting build variety (the entire point of which is supposed to be addressed with a meta shakeup in the first place.)
Comments