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Pyramid Head — Punishment of the Damned Control

Ennui Ennui
in Feedback and Suggestions

I really enjoy playing Pyramid Head, and I would love to main him, but the biggest thing holding me back is his M2, Punishment of the Damned.

I don't think the ability necessarily needs more range, damage, or a larger hitbox. My main issue is how restrictive and awkward it feels to control.

When Punishment of the Damned is activated, Pyramid Head becomes extremely limited in his movement. While holding the power, you can essentially only move forward with W, while turning feels very slow and unnatural. The turning almost feels like steering a large ship rather than aiming an attack.

Because of this, survivors can sometimes avoid the attack simply by taking a very small step to the side. This can make hitting the ability feel less like rewarding good prediction and more like hoping the survivor doesn't make a tiny adjustment.

My suggestion

I'd like to see Punishment of the Damned receive slightly more responsive movement and aiming, without fundamentally changing how the power works.

For example:

  • Allow A/D/S movement while charging the attack.
  • Make Pyramid Head's turning while charging more responsive.
  • Keep the attack's current range and general hitbox.
  • Keep the commitment and charge-up time.
  • Keep the ability's ability to travel through walls/pallets.
  • Do not significantly increase its speed or damage.

I'm not suggesting that Punishment should become impossible to dodge.

Nemesis' tentacle is a good comparison here, not because I want Pyramid Head to have the same attack, but because Nemesis' power feels much more natural to control. You can make small adjustments to your aim and movement instead of feeling locked into a direction.

Survivor counterplay

I think it's important that this change wouldn't remove the survivor's ability to dodge Punishment.

Survivors would still be able to:

  • Break line of sight.
  • Move unpredictably.
  • Pre-run away from Pyramid Head.
  • Change direction while he's charging.
  • Force him to commit to a prediction.
  • Use the environment to avoid the attack.

The goal isn't to make Punishment a guaranteed hit. The goal is to make the killer's control of the ability less janky.

I think there's an important distinction between an attack being difficult because it requires prediction and an attack being difficult because its controls are restrictive.

Pyramid Head is one of my favorite killers, and I genuinely want to play him more. If Punishment of the Damned had smoother, more responsive control while keeping its existing counterplay, I would personally be much more interested in making him one of my main killers.

I'd love to hear what other Pyramid Head players and survivors think about this.

Tagged: Killers

Comments

  • SpyUA SpyUA

    I enjoy playing pyramid head and I feel it's a nice feature to have to make him feel unique, you can still play well with this and it's more fun imo, I assume you haven't played him much so if you will play him more then you will get used to this and you might enjoy this.

  • Ennui Ennui

    @SpyUA said:

    I enjoy playing pyramid head and I feel it's a nice feature to have to make him feel unique, you can still play well with this and it's more fun imo, I assume you haven't played him much so if you will play him more then you will get used to this and you might enjoy this.

    he is fun to play, and i have played him a few many times, but me personally, his M2 is starting to dawn on me, and starting to feel a bit more janky

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