LMAO Distortion. I almost played a game as Perkless Huntress.
I knew Distortion is quite common nowadays, so that's why I also brought Gearhead to hopefully burn through all the stacks.
But guessed what, it was a map of Hawkins, and I only saw the Auras THREE TIMES in the entire game. Both of them were Claudette, so I was forced to tunnel her out.
So here comes the question. Isn't Distortion a little bit too strong? Three of my perks get denied by a single Survivor perk, just like that.
PS: I kinda hate slowdown perks, so I always go for perks that provide information. But if that information can be denied this easily, it really does make sense why every Killer goes for Slowdown perks :(
Edit: I got 4k because Survivors really didn't play well. This is the prove that I'm literally a trash Huntress.
Comments
Or PTB Twins
The only change distortion needs is that token should only be able to be regained while being chased by the killer. That way, you don't just earn token just buy existing, you have to earn them. You get 3 by default. After that, whether or not you get any more is up to you
While I generally agree with your point I don't think it relates to mobility killers at all.
Distortion is fine. As others have pointed out, it really only prevents one thing, and only so long as it has stacks. I often run it, but I don't really immerse. It's just that we are in an aura reading meta now more than ever, and I just want to mitigate it a bit.
Killers who have well thought out builds with chew up your stack really quickly, and it's not terribly unusual to lose all three stacks in the first minute any not get them back when the killer is good.
And if you're a killer that can't compete without getting constant value from your aura perks…well, that's pretty much the definition of needing crutches and it's time to look at yourself a bit. Builds are all counterplay and no one is entitled to perk value.
And learning to track survs without aid should be killer 101.
In terms of truly broken perks, I think most of those dragons have been slain, and we're left with handwringing over perks like this that are largely okay.
"It's just that we are in an aura reading meta now more than ever, and I just want to mitigate it a bit."
It's not just mitigate a bit, it's almost complete immunity even when Killer brings 3x Aura perks. So now the Killer can only play with 1 perk, which usually means the match is already a lose.
"And if you're a killer that can't compete without getting constant value from your aura perks…well, that's pretty much the definition of needing crutches and it's time to look at yourself a bit. Builds are all counterplay and no one is entitled to perk value."
This can be applied to literally any perks you bring, including Survivor Meta. Perks are designed to help you, but if getting value from any perks are counted as relying on clutches, then should I go perkless to satisfy you?
I already banned myself from Add-ons and Slowdown Perks, and now the Aura Perk. So tell me, what perks do you allow me to bring that doesn't counted as clutches? Beast of Prey?
I do think distortion should just give 5 tokens and when they're gone, they're gone but maybe if you want a build to find survivors you should mix in Discordance or Tinkerer as those cant be blocked by Distortion.
I find it so weird that survivors are condemned for.....hiding when its needed. Like thats also part of the game as well.
I'm not saying that being chased at the start is tunneling, but rather I'm just trying to explain why Survivors don't want to be the 1st one found, despite that being the optimal time to be found because the whole map is your oyster.
Take your average Wesker game, for example. You being hooked firstgives the Pop+Pain Res to obliterate a Generator, then you get inevitably proxy camped because a Survivor will have to go there. Then you may as well put the unhooked Survivor on death hook for pressure. Then you may as well just tunnel them out.
I call out Lethal specifically because there's no chance to really prepare, there's no "search" phase its just immediate target. Lethal paired with strong regression or gen block is sometimes just way too much.
BaBack When face camp was allowed, the camp meta specifically was Lethal+Deadlock+NOED and that build was the easiest 2k a killer could ever ask for. Your only option as a solo is literally don't be found first.
Gearhead is pretty good!
However…
I went against it a few times and it really dosen't bother me that much due to the fact I hit Greats 99%. When I go against Gearhead, I pretend that its old Ruin and it works for me haha.
Not saying Gearhead is bad thou! Its a really good counter to Distortion.
It's fine. I'm currently running Empathy, Deja Vu, and Alert. Ultimate Weapon and Mindbreaker cancel those out, as do any Blindness add ons. I'm not forced to run those perks, I make a choice to. I can choose to not run all info perks if I want to ensure I get more value but I don't mind the risk. You need to weigh that up.
Even if Distortion is fine as what people in this thread has been saying, the existence of the perk isn't really encouraging players to run aura perks apart from maybe Killers that can go undetectable either.
If encouraging perk diversity is the goal, Distortion definitely isn't helping.
I often run 3 aura perks and it's safe to say after hundreds of games that distortion will block & refresh charges at a faster rate than I can burn through. Its very common to go the whole match and not see the person running distortion.
I'm not sure if there's another perk in the game that can effectively shut down 3 perks for a single slot for the entire match.
This is probably the only game I know of where one side can decimate and double the enemy team's highest score and still ask for nerfs because something is "too strong".
I use 4 healing perks and face against Plague alot of times.
This goes for Distortion too, though. Killers could find survivors without aura reading back in the day, why can't they do so anymore now?
Use "Get good at the game" for any killers' complains in the future.
A perk turning off another perk has nothing to do with skill.
Knowing how to loop well, is a skill.
You're turning this into an us vs them when these two are completely not comparable.
Knowing how to find survivors is also a skill. You're drawing up the flimsiest distinctions here.
Distortion does nothing if you find them anyway, so why would 'git gud' not apply here?
Because being skilled can prevent those gen perks from activating. Being skilled on killer doesn't prevent Distortion from blocking the aura perks.
You can be skilled on killer and not need those aura perks, but being skilled enough to need them is not the same as being skilled enough to counter the perk itself. Those are two very different things.
Like I generally never run aura perks because as we're talking about, you can become skilled enough to where they seem redundant as you have good situational awareness to generally know where survivors are. But the point is turning perks off, not being skilled enough to not need them.
Except blocking aura perks is not Distortion's value, it's the way by which it attempts to apply value.
If we’re gonna play semantics to that degree then we can stretch that every single thing in the game is just a skill issue and it devalues the point of any of these conversations.
Not really. Tons of perks don't work that way. I think it's far more facetious to claim that gen regression perks can be cancelled out by skill.
It is a 1v4, not a 1v1v1v1v1. Having bad teammates is part of the balance. “Your skill” is not the correct statement, it’s “your teams” skill. Your team does have areas to improve there even if you individually don’t. If you want a game that is only about your skill and not your teams skill you should be playing killer or another game. Solely your skill isn’t what survivor in dbd is.
We’re just not going to agree then. They are in fact blatantly canceled out by skill. I find it weird to even need to say that. If the survivors are really good you get much less value from gen regression perks and if they’re not you get high value. This is why at the highest level you see mostly passive value perks that you get even if the survivors are good such as NWO, NOED, Deadlock ect. Agree to disagree I guess.
Yes you are punished for RNG and yes some matches are lost before they start. These apply for killer as well.
I never said this was fine at all, it’s not. I’d like this fixed. I’m just saying what the reality is, I don’t like it either.
Yikes, this thread got heated fast...
I suppose my take is the killers game is all about efficiency. Trying to sniff out a Distortion user is a time sink that the killer cant afford... so:
With all this in mind, I hate Distortion users as a survivor, they cost you games, and you can see them a mile off by the way they play. By proxy I am less forgiving on them as killer. They're like drivers on the motorway who stick constantly in the middle overtaking lane; they force everyone else to have to work around them and pick up their slack.
Is the perk OP? It's strong... and I'd argue its a little BS that it charges both in and out of chase in the killers TR. The Stake Out model makes more sense (or flip it so that its earned back at a very fast rate by taking chase). However in my experience Distortion doesn't tend to work out too well for thr rest of the Survivors, which then creates a potential snowball the killer would struggle to ignore.
I see Lethal Pursuer in at least every second to third game. I'd actually wager that the increase in Distortion use directly correlated to the increase in LPs perk usage. Much as Calm Spirit increased after UWs release. Unless all 4 survivors are running Distortion (which obviously happens but I'd say very rarely) people evidently still get value from aura perks. And BBQ isn't far behind LP in use, both are in the top 10 used killer perks. I've also seen a noticeable increase in Floods of Rage lately. People wouldn't pick these perks if they weren't getting value.
I assume you're referring to Nightlight stats? Perhaps what you mentioned about the rise in distortion usage is to counteract LP and BBQ. I stand corrected. On a more personal level, I rarely run LP except on Nurse and maybe Nowhere to Hide.
I prefer playing M1 Killers more so LP doesn't really benefit them much and by extension, aura perks too since chase and slowdown perks are more reliable on these Killers. The presence of Distortion also doesn't help when it comes to considering aura perks.
Until Distortion gets a change to how tokens are gained, I don't really see much value in running pure aura perks on my M1 Killers as they can't make use of the information as well as say Nurse/Blight or an orbital Huntress.
You don't get tunneled every single game so let's stop pretending you do. Even if you did tunneling isn't a perk, it's a strategy that inexperienced or weak killers use because they don't know how to apply pressure correctly or are weak at chasing.
I could pretend also that I get gen rushed every single game and it makes my 4 gen regression/blocking perks meaningless.
I personally don't care if people are running distortion it generally means I'll focus on people I can actually see first before going out my way to find the person using distortion, which is probably bad for the rest of the team. Doesn't change the fact that distortion is one perk that has the ability to completely nullify 3 information perks for the entire game.
Yea every Killer should just run perkless or otherwise it's called bad killer that relies on clutches, and should 'git gud'.
Why don't survivors loop better instead of relying on Distortion to hide? It's same for both sides.
You created this thread. Complain about Distortion. Not them.
Another person telling survivors to get good. Not them.
Nah this is still a million times less frustrating than old DH. I don't think anyone actually believes this is worse.
Distortion itself isn't even the issue, it just makes the issue more obvious which is that killers don't have a lot of reasons to not run full slowdown. Aura perks are hard countered by Distortion, other forms of tracking are useless, chase perks are pretty mediocre and killer dependant and the only really good one (STBFL) was nerfed pretty hard. With all of that, why not run full slowdown when it is consistent and powerful while everything else is just meh. Distortion is a fair perk, it doesn't need any nerfs, but it does make the slowdown meta look more appealing and I think the gap between slowdown and everything else should be addressed.
I dont find any problem with Distortion on killer side. I dont need aura perk to find survivors, and using aura perk shows aura of 1-2 survivors who dont use Distortion lead to tunneling which is strong against survivors, even if you dont want to tunnel. Even if all 4 survivor use Distortion, its one perk against their 4.
On survivor side, it punishes survivors who dont use Distortion real hard. The image OP posted showed it, they had the lowest score. Distortion doesnt need a nerf on its strength, but rather how it works. It can simply gain token in chase, or only hide aura if you have the most hook count.
Hold up, why's NWO in that list? Surely if survivors are skilled enough to cancel PGTW and Pain Res, they're skilled enough to cancel NWO?
"Even if all 4 survivor use Distortion, its one perk against their 4."
No it's not like that.. That's only true if Killer only runs 1 Aura perks, which is fine and fair.
But in my case I ran 3x Aura perks, with Gearhead that's designed to chew through stacks, but Distortion still protects them well. Now it's 3 perk against their 4, which is a massive lose.
By the way, I agree the one Survivor who didn't bring Distortion have to suffer from tunnelling, which I really don't like (I'm 12 hook guy). If only I can find someone else.. :(
Maybe it should gain a batch of tokens upon unhook?
Again, it blocks aura reading so long as it has stacks. It is absolutely not "total immunity". I played a Huntress last night who ate all my stacks immediately and I couldn't get them back because she had a perk setup where she was almost constantly triggering it regardless of where we were in relation to each other, and capitalized when they were gone. And that's wasn't a terribly uncommon experience.
A lot of killers run aura reading setups that ate redundant, or give too much time to recover stacks. If you can trigger the surv's Distortion repeatedly from distance and then again when you get close and they are out of stacks and then capitalize, it really makes distortion pretty low value. But you can't just load up on aura perks and then expect them to give you constant value. They're not supposed to be that powerful.
Against good killers, I am not getting constant value from them perk, and sometimes next to none. If you chew up a surv's Distortion stacks and they can keep close enough to keep replenishing them without you noticing they are there, that's pretty much a red flag that you probably rely on your aura perks too much and not enough on actually looking and listening.
And I play a lot of killer, and sometimes I don't get any value from my aura perks, but it doesn't ruin the match for me.
And there are many meta perks in the game that aren't crutches. But if your go-to build being countered means you can't compete, then that means those perks are have become crutches for you. It's like when old DH (which was the mother of all crutches) was nerfed and a lot of players instantly became very mid, while better players simply adapted.
DBD is set up where any build can largely be hard countered by another. And it's all down to chance, so everyone should be prepared to play with little or no perk value.
Listen I will take being in a chase and actively doing things than slowly walking around the map for 3 minutes as gens slowly progress and I find absolutely nobody. At least during the chase centric meta I was actively doing things, the stealth meta we're currently hurtling towards will literally be doing nothing, get into a chase that lasts about 35 seconds, go back to doing nothing. It's so boring lol
I haven't read through the entire thread, so idk if this has already been mentioned. But in regards to OPs question: "So here comes the question. Isn't Distortion a little bit too strong? Three of my perks get denied by a single Survivor perk, just like that."
The short answer is: No, it is not too strong.
Distortion is save or suck and not OP at all. - If anything, the issue is that there's over exposure. But this is not because of the perk strength but because it's literally the only perk that somewhat reliably helps you out if a killer has aura read.
You want to know which aura-perk a killer has equipped? Distortion is your only option.
You don't want to get your aura read every single time? Distortion is your only option.
You want to be somewhat save from getting tunneled out/found in a very vulnerable situation? Distortion is your only option.
Just introducse some more ways of dealing with aura read perks and I'm certain that you'll see more diverse perk use. There's plenty of people who use distortion just to know how to play the match as a whole. Idc if my aura gets seen - I just want to know when that happens so I can adjust my playstyle.
Now, as for going full aura read as a killer, read: with an extremely onesided build, that is a gamble. And as with all gambles: you win some, you lose some.
I do generally think that complaints about Distortion are overblown, but there is something to be said about lone wolf survivors who hide all game at the expense of their teammates.
While it should still be a 'viable tactic', like all of these things it shouldn't be too strong with no risk, and Distortion can make it too reliable.
So I'd be down for changing the recharge condition to 'in chase' rather than just 'in the killers terror radius', so that as a survivor you're compensated for killer engagement one moment, with stealth afterwards, providing some risk-reward management and basically functioning as a loose anti-tunnel perk rather than just an 'anti-gameplay' perk. If that results in a too significantly lower recharge rate then up it to 4 tokens.
"But if your go-to build being countered means you can't compete, then that means those perks are have become crutches for you."
Are you forgetting that MMR exists? If my whole build gets countered with just a single perk, how can I compete with Survivors that has equal skill as me when I'm in such a huge disadvantage? Sure you might say 'git gud', but unless I'm far better than Survivors (Which shouldn't be when MMR exists), the match is probably already a lose for me.
It's like playing Doctor against 4x Calm Spirit. Against Survivors with equal skill there really isn't much thing you can do as half of your power gets denied. It's definitely still playable, but it'll be an incredibly hard match.
upon getting hooked may be. If you mean gaining tokens when unhooking others. It doesn’t change that other get found because they dont have Distortion, get hooked. And the one using Distortion unhook them then gain tokens again.
The same thing happen with Friend til the end. The Aura-Expose has to give to the least hooked survivor.
I meant upon getting unhooked, don't want those tokens firing while you're on hook.
I disagree heavily. There is way more counter play to a stealthy playstyle than there was to the old chase meta. Yeah it's not exactly fun spending so long looking for someone, but it was way less fun finding someone and knowing that it didn't matter because you couldn't catch them anyway.