Invocation Rework: Hook States as the Cost.
Hello,
I would like to suggest a broader rework concept for the Invocation system as a whole, rather than asking for a direct buff to a single perk.
The goal is not to make Invocations meta, nor to make them consistently optimal. On the contrary, I think they should remain niche perks with a strong identity, a meaningful risk, and a reward powerful enough to justify that risk.
1: The current issue
In my opinion, Invocations have a very strong core concept: a survivor goes to the basement, spends time performing a ritual, and accepts a significant personal cost in exchange for a global benefit for the team.
The main issue is the way that cost is currently designed.
An Invocation requires a large time investment and then applies permanent Broken afterward. This creates several problems:
- the cost remains extremely punishing even after successfully completing the ritual;
- No Mither naturally becomes one of the most logical perks to pair with Invocations;
- this limits build variety;
- and most importantly, the drawback does not really feel like a true “sacrifice” connected to the Entity.
I think a hook state would be a much more fitting cost.
Dead by Daylight already has many perks built around a risk/reward philosophy. If Invocations are simply another version of that idea with a heavy drawback, they risk never developing a strong identity of their own.
In my opinion, sacrificing a hook state could be what fundamentally separates Invocations from other risk/reward perks.
It could help establish them as a real perk category with their own rules and identity, in the same way Hexes and Boons are not simply normal perks with different bonuses.
2: General proposal
Each Invocation would follow the same basic rules:
- Invocation time: 20 seconds.
- Each Invocation must be activated separately.
- Completing an Invocation immediately gives the invoker 1 hook state.
- An Invocation only activates the specific perk that was performed.
- A survivor who already has 2 hook states cannot begin another Invocation.
- Permanent Broken is removed.
- Previously activated global effects remain active even if the invoker dies.
This means that if a player equips two Invocations and wants to activate both of them, they must genuinely sacrifice both of their hook states.
I think this is important: the cost should remain proportional to the number of benefits obtained.
This avoids two opposite extremes:
- equipping several Invocations while only paying one cost;
- or making individual Invocations too weak because their price is too high.
With this system, each Invocation could be individually stronger, because the player is paying a very clear and permanent price for it.
Example 1: Invocation — Weaving Spiders
The ritual lasts 20 seconds.
Once completed:
- the invoker immediately gains 1 hook state;
- all generators permanently require 10 fewer charges to complete.
The effect remains global and permanent.
I think this type of reward fits such a significant sacrifice well: the survivor gives up part of their own survivability in order to accelerate the team’s overall objective progress.
Example 2: Invocation — Treacherous Crows
The ritual lasts 20 seconds.
Once completed:
- the invoker immediately gains 1 hook state;
- the invoker no longer scares crows for the rest of the match;
- whenever the killer scares a crow while a survivor is within the killer’s Terror Radius, the killer’s aura is revealed to all survivors for 3 seconds.
The effect preventing crows from being scared would only apply to the survivor who paid the cost of the Invocation.
The other survivors would only benefit from the aura reveal.
I think this would solve one of the main problems with Treacherous Crows: during a chase, the survivor is usually running ahead of the killer and therefore scares the crow first.
With this version, the survivor who actually completed the ritual can naturally create situations where the killer triggers the crows behind them.
3 : Why a hook state?
For me, this is mainly about thematic and mechanical consistency.
Invocations feel like pacts with the Entity. Sacrificing part of your own “life” within the Trial feels much more fitting than simply gaining the Broken status effect.
It also creates a very clear decision:
“Is this effect really worth one third of my ability to be hooked?”
With two Invocations, that decision becomes even more important, because the survivor is voluntarily putting themselves one hook away from death.
I also do not think special restrictions are necessary to prevent interactions with existing perks such as Shoulder the Burden.
Those interactions already have their own requirements and do not freely erase the cost of an Invocation.
The goal should be for hook states gained through Invocations to follow normal game rules as much as possible, so that the system remains simple and easy to understand.
More importantly, this cost would give Invocations something that very few other perk categories have: a unique resource to sacrifice.
Hexes use totems that survivors can cleanse.
Boons require survivors to bless totems in order to create an area of effect.
Invocations could instead require survivors to sacrifice part of their hook state economy.
That would immediately give the entire category a recognizable identity.
4 :Why I think this deserves testing
I do not think Invocations need to become widely popular.
They are naturally suited to a smaller group of players, and that is not necessarily a problem.
There are players who genuinely enjoy these kinds of perks and use them regularly even when they are not considered optimal.
Invocations, Boons, and other perks with a strong identity can be appealing precisely because they offer a different way to play the match.
Not everything needs to become meta in order to deserve support or future additions.
The main problem is that the current cost and structure of Invocations are so restrictive that they struggle to fulfill even that niche role.
A PTB test could help answer several questions:
- Is sacrificing a hook state easier for both sides to understand?
- Is 20 seconds a reasonable ritual duration?
- Are players willing to sacrifice a hook state for a powerful global effect? -Do multiple Invocations in the same build create meaningful decisions?
-Could this system support new Invocations without making them either useless or oppressive?
I think Invocations have enough identity to become a true sub-category of perks, comparable to Hexes or Boons.
They do not need to become meta.
They simply need a central mechanic unique enough to justify their existence as a category, and I believe sacrificing hook states could fulfill that role.
Thank you for reading.
Comments
This would actually make the invocations even worse as you would easily become the number one target with one less hok required to be wiped from the game. Downsides of the invocations aren't the issue, the issue is the time investment and countermeasure.
Weaving spiders don't work on any blocked gen, with blocking gen perks being meta and more to come I feel like it's very high risk to activate invocation without real knowledge whether it's working. If you finish it as killer pick up someone with thrilling tremors, well you are perma broken for no effect.
Treacherous crows are just useless against half of the killers as they have inbuilt stealth or small TR where you will get zero value and even if you have large TR killer the 2s 4x per game are not worth the perk slot at all.
MAIN ISSUE - time investment (even your suggested)
You have to go into basement (cca 20s) to perform the ritual, you have to be uniterrupted by the killer otherwise if you give killer free hook in basement your team lost, adn killers love running lethal pursuer. Then you perform 60s ritual (80s total) to get injured and broken and save 50s of gen but pressuring none in a time. If you go to solo gen at the start of the game and finish it you give your team 20x more value to increase chance of winning rather than wasting over 80s for little bit faster gens. If you don't perform asap, the reason to do so is irrelevant. I had many teammates doing ritual at 2 gens left, losing us the game again. I'd say Treacherous Crows might be good in full swf with related build as it gives you wallhacks. If whole team runs calm spirit and eye of belmont you can get some decent aura, still not worth the time investment and perma broken, but at least something. But to be honest at this point you can run Fogwise, Salvation Cry or whatever and have way better info for no downside and time wasting.
My suggestions to make Invocations somewhat usefull?
With those they might be more "viable" while still being extra risky and potentially game losing.
Thanks for your feedback. You bring up several interesting points, especially regarding the time investment and the fact that some Invocations can lose a lot of value depending on the killer or the situation.
That said, I think there is an important difference between your approach and what I am trying to propose: my goal is not necessarily to make Invocations meta, or directly competitive with the strongest information or progression perks.
What I would like is for them to become a real perk category with their own identity, a clear cost, and a reward that feels meaningful enough for the players who genuinely enjoy this kind of gameplay.
Regarding the time investment, that is exactly one of the reasons why I am suggesting a 20-second ritual.
With a ritual that short, there is no reason a survivor has to rush the basement at the very start of the match. Even if the killer is running Lethal Pursuer, you can simply wait for a better opportunity: when another survivor is in chase, when the killer is occupied elsewhere, or when the match has already progressed further.
To me, that is actually one of the main benefits of this change: the Invocation becomes a tactical decision that you can make at the right moment, instead of something you feel forced to justify as early as possible.
The current system pushes much more toward that “I need to get value from this no matter what” mentality, especially because permanent Broken strongly encourages pairing Invocations with No Mither. If I already know that I am going to be Broken for the entire match, I have a strong incentive to perform the Invocation as early as possible just to justify the build.
With a hook state as the cost, it would be different.
I could equip an Invocation in a more normal build and decide during the match whether activating it is actually worth the sacrifice. If the situation is not favorable, I can simply choose not to use it.
That kind of decision-making is exactly what I find interesting about the idea.
As for the 20 seconds themselves, I do not think that is an unreasonable time investment in Dead by Daylight. Survivors already regularly spend time opening chests, cleansing or blessing totems, or doing other secondary objectives that can take a comparable amount of time.
Of course, the basement adds an additional layer of risk, but that is intentional. I still think Invocations should retain a meaningful element of danger.
Regarding Treacherous Crows, I understand the argument around Calm Spirit and Eyes of Belmont, but I think that situation remains fairly specific.
In solo queue, or even in a duo, it is uncommon to be able to rely on multiple teammates running exactly the perks needed to support that synergy. It requires several specific perks and, ideally, communication.
That is precisely why I suggested that only the survivor who actually paid the cost of the ritual should stop scaring crows.
It would allow the perk to function more reliably on its own, without giving that benefit to the entire team for free.
I also think it is important not to solve the current problems only by massively increasing the numbers.
For example, reducing every generator by 20 charges or giving Treacherous Crows a 10-second aura reveal would certainly make those perks stronger, but that is not necessarily the goal.
I would rather see Invocations remain relatively niche while offering effects that feel unique and strong enough to justify a real sacrifice.
To me, the success of a rework would not be seeing Invocations become perks that everyone runs.
It would be seeing players who genuinely enjoy this type of mechanic being able to use them regularly without feeling like they are actively handicapping their team, while still keeping enough risk to prevent the category from becoming oppressive.
That is also why I think a PTB test would be useful: it would help determine whether 20 seconds + 1 hook state creates that kind of meaningful decision-making without pushing Invocations toward the meta.