Remove Dead Hard
I admit that Dead Hard has gotten less annoying with the rework but it's still the strongest perk in the game and a major nuisance. Dead Hard has gotten weaker in some ways but stronger in other ways.
Dead Hard is the most unfun perk to play against. You have to wait out every survivor before hitting them to confirm they don't have Dead Hard or you get massively punished. It's such a cuck perk that prevents killers from lunging and hitting survivors when they've already got the survivor cornered. Even Otz thinks this perk is still annoying for this reason: https://clips.twitch.tv/CloudyUgliestChickenSquadGoals-ih6QsWm5I2w7X-cE.
It also prevents a lot of the mind game and outplay from killer. The way survivors have been using Dead Hard is to use it in a situation where killers must lunge. Say you are chasing a survivor at pallet and it's a very close chase, if you don't lunge, the survivor drops the pallet. If you do lunge, the survivor Dead Hards. There's no way around it, especially if you don't know if the survivor has Dead Hard. Here is an example of this situation: https://clips.twitch.tv/TenaciousUglyMallardUncleNox-HrJ-TjhuvYDTJkRe. You see how it's a situation where the killer must lunge and if they don't, they will get pallet stunned and miss the hit? There's no outplaying it. You can only pray they don't Dead Hard. Note that the Adam misplayed in this example by going for another loop instead of running straight to the pallet, as Otz mentioned in the clip. Instead of getting punished, Adam gets away for free because of Dead Hard.
Another example is when you at a pallet and the survivor is hopping from side to side on the pallet. They can once again force a lose-lose situation. Once you've got the survivor in a situation where they will get hit, they just Dead Hard. If you don't lunge, they vault the pallet again. If you do lunge, they Dead Hard. It's just bs. With the old Dead Hard, you can at least body block the pallet.
While it's not 100% guaranteed that Dead Hard will work, the odds are significantly against the killer in all of these situations. I elaborate more on this in this comment.
Dead Hard significantly disincentivises mind gaming in small to medium loops because Dead Hard can completely undo a major outplay or mind game the killer does. Why mind game them around a pallet when they can just Dead Hard with little to no counter and you just end up wasting a lot of time? Better to just eat or break the pallet. Note that with old Dead Hard, if you lunge, they Dead Hard, and you miss, you at least get the pallet. With the new Dead Hard, they get hit and keep running and there's usually no pallet drop, so the outcome is much worse.
New Dead Hard is also far more effective against killers that use their power to get a hit since the effect when it triggers is stronger and killer powers are usually very telegraphed making them easy to Dead Hard. For example, if Trickster got Dead Harded with the old Dead Hard, it literally wouldn't matter since the other knives would hit the survivor. With the new Dead Hard, it resets their knife counter and they make it to another loop.
New Dead Hard is also far more rewarding when it works. If you use the old Dead Hard out in the open, you only make a small amount of distance and the killer gets the hit somewhat later. With the new Dead Hard, you definitely make it a new loop if it works.
Overall, Dead hard is only slightly weaker compared to the pre-nerf and still obnoxious.
Comments
We did it guys. Dead Hard is no more after 6 years.