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Skull Merchant Stealth Changes

Remedicist Remedicist
in Feedback and Suggestions

I want to make the Skull Merchant a stealth tracking killer rather than an area-denial tracking killer. Here are the changes I would make. Anything that I did not mention or change is assumed to have not been changed (Ex: claw traps still break pallets when vaulted, and survivors still become exposed when failing the drone mini-game).

Removed abilities:

  • Survivors no longer become exposed when being detected by a drone
  • The Skull Merchant no longer gains the Haste status effect for each survivor that is being tracked
  • The Skull Merchant can no longer place a new drone in the area that the previous drone has been deactivated in until the claw trap battery runs out (however, the Skull Merchant will get the drone back when the previous drone is deactivated and can place it somewhere else instead)

Added abilities:

  • The Skull Merchant will gain the Undetectable status effect anywhere on the map whenever a drone is tracking a survivor. This effect lingers for 10 seconds after a drone is no longer detecting a survivor. In addition, the Skull Merchant's lingering Undetectable status effect after she leaves an active drone area herself is increased to 10 seconds as well
  • A survivor that has a claw trap on will suffer from the Oblivious status effect until the claw trap battery runs out (the survivor will still activate any drone in scanning mode when walking into its area with a claw trap on, but this will not cause the battery to refill to full duration again)
  • The Skull Merchant gains a 10% buff to action speed of breaking pallets, breakable walls, or damaging generators whenever she is in an active drone area. This effect lingers for 10 seconds after leaving the area of effect. Additionally, she gains an extra 5% buff to this action speed for every individual survivor that is being tracked by a drone specifically.

I have listed reasons for my changes below.

Comments

  • Emeal Emeal

    Please talk some more about why you think the current Skull Merchant does not cut it compared to the other Killers so the dev team can get some insight into why they should pursue these suggested changes.

  • Remedicist Remedicist

    @Emeal said:

    Please talk some more about why you think the current Skull Merchant does not cut it compared to the other Killers so the dev team can get some insight into why they should pursue these suggested changes.

    Sure, I can do that. I'll give my opinions on why I think the current power is unhealthy for the game, while the new one is more thematic and fun.

    Current problems with the Skull Merchant:

    • Regardless of builds, her current power promotes very long matches and stalemates. She is currently designed to lock down an area effectively by making survivors have to stay away from their main objectives in a 3-gen perimeter. It is very hard to break her bulwark of a defense because the drones expose survivors quickly (and the duration of the exposed is very long) and she has eyes on anyone in her drone area at all times.
    • Really, the exposed part is the main problem here because it forces survivors to have to get rid of the drones. This idea makes sense in theory because the survivors need a reason to get rid of the drones. However, this promotes Skull Merchant to stay near her drones and 3 generators at all times so that she can instantly down a survivor near her and prevent survivors from completing their objectives. Additionally, in chases, this forces survivors to have to leave loops which is not super interactive,
    • The other problem that promotes this playstyle is that the Skull Merchant can immediately place a drone in the area that one was deactivated. If even one survivor is sacrificed or the survivors have no group cohesion, this defense is incredibly difficult to break because the survivors with claw traps on themselves can no longer walk into the drone areas without activating the drone areas, rendering their action of getting rid of the drone useless.
    • Her Haste status effect also causes issues. When she is tracking survivors, she can patrol around her drone areas very quickly. This enhances her stalemate and 3-gen potential even more. This also makes chases unfun on the survivor side because the Haste status effect makes looping her rather unpredictable since it throws off timing.
    • On maps with multiple floors, these problems are intensified. She is able to protect generators on multiple floors by activating her drones and exposing survivors. Survivors can't even deactivate the drones without even being on the same floor as where they are set up.

    How my suggestions would fix these problems:

    • If her drones can no longer expose survivors, and new drones can no longer be placed in the areas that the previous drones have been disabled, her 3-gen potential is severely reduced, and the matches will not be as drawn out as they currently are. However, she then requires a power that makes her viable and still gives survivors a reason to disable her drones beyond just being tracked.
    • By allowing her to get her drone back immediately even when a claw trap is still active, she can still set it up somewhere else, such as when she is in chase. Since she no longer exposes survivors in her drone area, this will make chases more fun and balanced for both sides as she can use the drone to grant her the Undetectable status effect and buffs to breaking/damaging action speeds, as well as hide her red stain around loops without forcing the survivor to leave the loop. In this sense, it gives a buff to the killer for utilizing her drones rather than severely hindering the survivors.
    • Why would a survivor be encouraged to disable a drone if the claw trap now debuffs them with the Oblivious status effect and the drones no longer expose them? Three reasons:
    • 1) A drone that is tracking any survivor now makes the Skull Merchant Undetectable no matter where she is on the map. This is a hindrance to the entire survivor team rather than the one that is being affected by the Oblivious status effect since everyone can no longer hear her TR or see her red stain.
    • 2) Additionally, disabling a drone now makes the Skull Merchant unable to place a new drone in that area where the previous drone was disabled for as long as the claw trap is active (she will get the drone back though and can place it somewhere else instead).
    • 3) In addition, drones that are tracking survivors give her a buff to action speeds for breaking and damaging objects. This can be bad if she is chasing a survivor. I believe this is better than giving her a Haste for every survivor that is tracked since that makes disabling the drone hurt their teammates if they are being chased.
    • I believe stealth tracking gameplay fits her thematically according to her lore. Skull Merchant wasn't a territorial killer. She hunted down her targets secretly and tracked their every move. This new power would display that.
    • Her drones will still affect multiple floors. However, since she no longer exposes survivors, this won't be as much of a nuisance for them on maps with multiple floors. This will still be beneficial for the Skull Merchant though because if she places a cleverly hidden drone on a specific floor, and an objective or point of interest is on the other floor, the Skull Merchant will effectively be Undetectable for a long period of time.
  • DaddyMyers_Mori DaddyMyers_Mori

    Damn that sucks, we need another Sadako?

  • Devil_hit11 Devil_hit11

    @Remedicist said:

    I want to make the Skull Merchant a stealth tracking killer rather than an area-denial tracking killer. Here are the changes I would make. Anything that I did not mention or change is assumed to have not been changed (Ex: claw traps still break pallets when vaulted, and survivors still become exposed when failing the drone mini-game).

    Removed abilities:

    • Survivors no longer become exposed when being detected by a drone
    • The Skull Merchant no longer gains the Haste status effect for each survivor that is being tracked
    • The Skull Merchant can no longer place a new drone in the area that the previous drone has been deactivated in until the claw trap battery runs out (however, the Skull Merchant will get the drone back when the previous drone is deactivated and can place it somewhere else instead)

    Added abilities:

    • The Skull Merchant will gain the Undetectable status effect anywhere on the map whenever a drone is tracking a survivor. This effect lingers for 10 seconds after a drone is no longer detecting a survivor. In addition, the Skull Merchant's lingering Undetectable status effect after she leaves an active drone area herself is increased to 10 seconds as well
    • A survivor that has a claw trap on will suffer from the Oblivious status effect until the claw trap battery runs out (the survivor will still activate any drone in scanning mode when walking into its area with a claw trap on, but this will not cause the battery to refill to full duration again)
    • The Skull Merchant gains a 10% buff to action speed of breaking pallets, breakable walls, or damaging generators whenever she is in an active drone area. This effect lingers for 10 seconds after leaving the area of effect. Additionally, she gains an extra 5% buff to this action speed for every individual survivor that is being tracked by a drone specifically.

    I have listed reasons for my changes below.

    i don't think skull merchant is meant to be stealth killer. She has 2 second of undetectable in drone radius but I believe this is not for stealth. its related to red light mechanic at loops. Beast of Prey grants undetectable when reaching bloodlust 1 but the perk originally was not about stealth. it was about hiding red light and undetectable shares same status effect as hiding red light.

    The anti-red light is supposely meant to make skull merchant more difficult to loop at tall-wall tiles when a drone area is active. It is not for stealth. You can use an oblivious add-on called brown noise generator that grants 15 second of lingering oblivious to be stealth killer if survivors ignore drones and do not disable them.

    if you want to play stealth killer, consider playing Wraith or Ghostface which have on-command stealth. You could also try John Medical file Pig as stealth build. Skull merchant is in a fine place now in comparison to her PTB unlimited 3 gen state. There is no need to change anything.

    Otz has video on youtube called Knight vs Skull merchant that showcases how to play skull merchant. These change are terrible and unnecessary. They put her into a worse position then PTB iteration of the game. Stop trying to delete killer powers and turn the killer into an m1 killer with no prospects of chase.

  • DaddyMyers_Mori DaddyMyers_Mori

    @Devil_hit11 said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/374674/skull-merchant-stealth-changes

    i don't think skull merchant is meant to be stealth killer. She has 2 second of undetectable in drone radius but I believe this is not for stealth. its related to red light mechanic at loops. Beast of Prey grants undetectable when reaching bloodlust 1 but the perk originally was not about stealth. it was about hiding red light and undetectable shares same status effect as hiding red light.

    The anti-red light is supposely meant to make skull merchant more difficult to loop at tall-wall tiles when a drone area is active. It is not for stealth. You can use an oblivious add-on called brown noise generator that grants 15 second of lingering oblivious to be stealth killer if survivors ignore drones and do not disable them.

    if you want to play stealth killer, consider playing Wraith or Ghostface which have on-command stealth. You could also try John Medical file Pig as stealth build. Skull merchant is in a fine place now in comparison to her PTB unlimited 3 gen state. There is no need to change anything.

    Otz has video on youtube called Knight vs Skull merchant that showcases how to play skull merchant. These change are terrible and unnecessary. They put her into a worse position then PTB iteration of the game. Stop trying to delete killer powers and turn the killer into an m1 killer with no prospects of chase.

    I love how all Skull merchant "reworks" make her useless, I guess they want to fix her by nerfing into oblivion, so they don't have to play against her.

    But I will bet none of authors actually main Skull merchant.

    I play her quite a lot and I am fine with her. I don't really mind playing against her too.

    I would make it so only survivor with claw trap can't disarm drone to help soloQ, but that's it.

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