Surveillance could use a buff — the 16-second yellow aura is too easy to lose
I've been testing Surveillance recently in builds that can create generator regression consistently, including with Pain Resonance and Surge.
I really like the concept of the perk. Tracking which generators are still regressing and learning when Survivors return to them should be valuable macro information.
However, after actually using it in matches, I think Surveillance could use a small buff.
The main issue for me is the 16-second yellow aura duration.
During a chase, the Killer is naturally focused on the Survivor: their pathing, pallets, windows, attacks, positioning, and using their power. Constantly turning around or scanning distant generators to check whether an aura changed from white to yellow is often unrealistic.
More importantly, the yellow aura does not wait until the Killer is available to use the information.
A Survivor can stop a generator from regressing near the beginning of a chase, the generator turns yellow, and by the time that chase ends the 16-second window may already be completely gone.
So even outside of chase, there are situations where you never get a realistic opportunity to use the information because the important Surveillance event happened while you were occupied.
I don't think Surveillance needs a full rework, and I don't think it should provide effortless tracking. But I do think its current information window is too unforgiving for how busy normal Killer gameplay can be.
There are several ways this could potentially be improved without making the perk excessive:
• Increase the yellow aura duration from 16 seconds to around 24-30 seconds.
• Give a subtle audio or HUD cue when a regressing generator changes to yellow. This would not need to be a full Loud Noise Notification — just enough to tell the Killer that Surveillance has detected something worth checking.
• Alternatively, give a Loud Noise Notification when a generator stops regressing, but limit it to once per generator, or give that notification its own cooldown to prevent excessive information.
These are just possible options rather than changes that all need to happen together. The goal would simply be to make the information Surveillance provides more realistically usable.
The perk can already provide useful information when you happen to be free to check generator auras at the right moment. The problem is that in more demanding matches, the Killer often isn't free at that exact moment.
That makes the perk feel considerably weaker in practice than its concept suggests.
Surveillance also appears to have a very low usage rate in community-tracked statistics. Low usage by itself doesn't prove that a perk is weak, but I think it is another reason why a modest usability buff would be worth considering.
I would be interested to hear whether other Killer players have the same problem with the 16-second yellow aura window, and what kind of small change would improve it without making the perk too strong.
Comments
i dont think the perks main purpose is to provide you mid chase information. I think its primarily to find where you need to go to enter the next chase
I agree that its main value is probably outside of chase and helping you decide where to go next.
My issue is that the 16-second yellow aura can appear and disappear entirely while you're still in chase.
So by the time the chase ends and you're actually ready to use Surveillance for that "where do I go next?" decision, the information may already be gone.
That's why I think a slightly longer yellow aura duration would improve the perk without changing its intended purpose.
i have no issue with it being extended to be clear, i run into the same problems myself, i get very tunnel vision as im looking for 1 specific thing and end up zoning out some of the meta info so gen aura perks i have alwasy struggled to get use of because i do not notice gen auras when im on the hunt as im looking for survs.
but again, i dont think the devs made the perk for that in chase info, as the duration seems sufficient for out of chase info.
i am all for perks beyond just the same 10 being used so im not against the change.
Yeah, I think we're actually pretty close on this.
I agree that Surveillance probably isn't meant to be something you actively monitor during chase.
My main issue is that the yellow aura can trigger during the chase and expire before you reach the out-of-chase moment where the perk is supposed to help you decide where to go next.
So the problem for me isn't "I want to use Surveillance mid-chase." It's more that the information can disappear before I realistically get a chance to use it for its intended post-chase value.
That's why I think a modest duration increase would make sense without changing the perk's identity or making it automatic tracking.
And yeah, I'm with you on wanting more perks to be realistically usable instead of seeing the same small group all the time.
I think the perk is fine, if you want value look around every 16 seconds its a very powerful perk as is.