Year One Teachable Perks Change Suggestions - Killer

jesterkind · April 10, 2025

The perks that have been in the game the longest do, from time to time, warrant taking a critical eye at to see if they need to be updated or modernised. For this post, I'm only looking at teachables from year one characters, and only on the killer side- I may or may not make additional posts for the other perks from year one as well, who knows.

If I don't list a perk here, I believe it doesn't need changes, or at least not as much as the perks that are listed.

The Trapper

Unnerving Presence:

Was: Survivors repairing in your terror radius gain 10% extra skill check chance, with those skill checks being 60% smaller
Now: Survivors repairing in your terror radius gain 10% extra skill check chance, with those skill checks being 60% smaller and lacking a Great zone entirely. This effect lingers for 5 seconds after a survivor leaves your terror radius.

Notes: The issue with this perk is, plain and simple, that it accidentally buffs more confident survivors by making Greats easier. Its effect really isn't that bad otherwise; for newer players just having more skill checks is unnerving, and for more experienced players, it denies them the opportunity to gain extra progress. Giving it a lingering effect also provides a small buffer for when you're just moving around the map and occasionally "tagging" people with the edge of your terror radius.

The Wraith

Bloodhound:

Was: Pools of blood are brighter and linger 4 seconds longer
Now: Pools of blood are brighter and linger 4 seconds longer. In addition, stepping on a pool of blood grants a 5% Haste bonus for 5 seconds. You can no longer gain Bloodlust.

Notes: This perk is just outdated. The core effect is nice, and fits in with Wraith being a tracker, but it just isn't enough for a full perk slot. This new change aims to let the killer capitalise on the tracking of their injured prey by speeding them up a little, at the cost of no longer being able to rely on Bloodlust to brute force chases. It's in the same vein as Rapid Brutality; a way of closing out chases quicker that trades away Bloodlust to do it.

The Hillbilly

Lightborn:

Was: Grants complete immunity to blinds, and reveals the aura of survivors who attempt to blind you for 10 seconds.
Now: Grants immunity to the effects of being blinded, and reveals the auras of survivors who attempt to blind you for 10 seconds.

Notes: Billy's been going strong with three good perks for a long while now, and the other two aren't problematic at all. This one is, though, being a completely passive counter to a surprisingly wide variety of tools and circumstances. With this change, the blind mechanically would still go through, and the killer simply wouldn't be affected by it - this means perks like Residual Manifest and Champion of Light would still apply, challenges that revolve around blinds would still tick up, and even some killer perks would work like Two Can Play and Shadowborn.

Ideally, killers with Lightborn should also still be susceptible to flashlight saves, but this change alone would be a healthy one.

The Nurse

A Nurse's Calling:

Was: Reveals the aura of any survivor healing or being healed within 28m
Now: Reveals the aura of any survivor healing or being healed within 32m

Notes: Nurse's Calling is a perk, much like Bloodhound, that simply suffers from being power crept. In the modern era, all archetypes of perks operate with a higher average power level, and that leaves perks like this languishing a little. However, the base effect of this perk is good, so upping the radius to the average terror radius size should help it perform a little better.

Thanataphobia:

Was: Incurs a stacking penalty to action speeds for each injured survivor, plus an extra percentage for all four being injured.
Now: Injuring a survivor inflicts them with a 10% penalty to Repairing, Healing, Cleansing, and Blessing for 120 seconds or until they're healed.

Notes: The stacking effects, while cool in theory, have historically proven to be a bit of a nightmare to make useful without being overbearing on certain killers. Instead, Thana plays on the fear of death by inflicting slowdown on survivors who are being reminded of their mortality- or, looking at it mechanically, it aims to make staying injured a bit more risky than default.

The Shape

Dying Light:

Was: For every hook that isn't on the Obsession, all survivors suffer from a stacking 3% action speed penalty. The Obsession is immune, and gains a +33% buff to healing and unhooking.
Now: For every hook that isn't on the Obsession, all survivors suffer from a stacking 3% action speed penalty. The Obsession is immune to this effect.

Notes: While this perk's core effect can also be somewhat lacking in some circumstances, the big thing holding it back is simply that it buffs one of the survivors. Just leaving the Obsession immune instead of outright buffing them retains the thematic intent of the perk, but makes it actually benefit the killer and not both sides.

Save The Best For Last:

Was: Hitting survivors that aren't the Obsession grants a stack up to 8. For each stack, basic attack cooldown is reduced by 4%. Using a basic attack or a special attack on the Obsession removes 2 stacks.
Now: Hitting survivors that aren't the Obsession grants a stack up to 8. For each stack, basic attack cooldown is reduced by 4%. Damage a survivor with a basic attack or a special attack on the Obsession removes 2 stacks.

Notes: This is more of a QOL update than a buff. Right now, any special attack regardless of what it does will trigger this perk's downside, meaning killers like Trickster could lose all their stacks in one chase via each knife taking off two stacks. While this isn't a tremendous downside considering these killers often don't want to use STBFL anyway, changing it from using a special attack to damaging with a special attack is a lot less sloppy and a lot more intuitive.

The Hag

Hex: Ruin:

Was: While the hex is standing, generators automatically regress at 100% of the base speed.
Now: While the hex is standing, generators automatically regression at 150% of the base speed. Hex: Ruin deactivates when a survivor dies.

Notes: The developers evidently agreed that this perk was nerfed too harshly in 6.1.0, but in my opinion they walked back the wrong part. Buffing the speed but having it disable if someone dies allows it to complement and enhance healthy, skilful play but disincentivises tunnelling. It still wouldn't be to its old power, but more of an active buff than it is now.

The Doctor

Overcharge:

Was: Kicking a generator causes it to ramp up from 80% of the default regression up to 130%, over the course of 30 seconds. Additionally, survivors touching that generator spawns a difficult skill check that takes off an additional 4% of progress if failed.
Now: Hooking a survivor activates Overcharge for 30 seconds. During this time, generator regression is increased to 200% of the base number, and touching generators for the first time during the duration spawns a difficult skill check that causes survivors to scream if hit successfully. Overcharge then goes on cooldown for 30 seconds.

Notes: Overcharge is a difficult perk to balance. Making its numbers too good can cause problems, as potent but unearned regression can cause matches to stall out in the extreme cases- and even in less extreme cases, can simply feel cheap and frustrating to play against. Retooling Overcharge to debuff all gens after a hook allows it to be strong because it's earned, and adding the scream gives it a small information element to direct the killer away from the hooked survivor.

While the numbers may be up for tuning, this new version of Overcharge is stronger, more fair, and opens up additional synergies with perks that set multiple generators regressing at once.

Overwhelming Presence:

Was: Survivors within your terror radius suffer from a 100% penalty to item use efficiency.
Now: Survivors within your terror radius suffer from a 100% penalty to item use efficiency. Additionally, survivors using items within your terror radius have their auras revealed. Both effects linger for 5 seconds after survivors leave the terror radius.

Notes: Similar to Unnerving Presence, a very similar perk, Overwhelming Presence would benefit a lot from having a buffer on its effect being active. In addition, the perk could use a little extra oomph to justify its use, and catching survivors with an aura would be a good way of making the perk feel more worthwhile.

The Huntress

Hex: Huntress Lullaby:

Was: Hooking a survivor adds a token, and each token decreases the delay between the audio cue and the skill check appearing until five stacks, at which point it's silent. In addition, failing skill checks incurs an additional 6% penalty.
Now: Hooking a survivor spawns a hex that affects only them, incurring silent skill checks and an extra 6% penalty on them until it's cleansed. No other survivor can cleanse it for 90 seconds, and the aura of the totem is revealed to the affected survivor within 16 metres.

Notes: If that new definition is a bit confusing, think about it like making Lullaby work like Plaything. Currently, the perk has the same scaling effect framework as Devour Hope, for vastly less effect. Changing it this way gives it more utility, flattens its effect to be much more consistent, and overall gives the game more variety in how hexes work.

Territorial Imperative:

Was: If a survivor enters the basement while you are more than 24 metres away, see their aura for 6 seconds
Now: Kicking a generator marks it for 45 seconds. If a survivor comes within 16 metres of a generator while it's marked, they scream, reveal their aura for 6 seconds, and become Oblivious for 20 seconds. Applying Oblivious this way puts the perk on cooldown for 30 seconds.

Notes: A strong contender for the weakest perk in the game, Territorial Imperative also exists in a space where it's hard to buff without only making it useful for defending basement hooks- something that already gives the killer enough of an advantage. Instead, this suggestion plays on the "territorial" theming by marking territory and being hyper vigilant of unwelcome intruders to that space.

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That's year one of the game's characters, June 2016 to July 2017. What do you guys think?