As a killer main, this is what I think how DH should be changed (Explained in detail)
Edit:
Feels like most people don't like old DH being able to reach a window/pallet but I personally think it's fine, because other exhaustion perks also allow survivors to get a great distance. They are means to make distance for survivors. The problem of old DH is it makes to much distance (4m) which allows a lot more loops in like long side of a safe pallet. Current DH forced killer to win a mind game in close range, which makes killer fear to M1 even on face of a survivor (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZvLmjxSRao&t=38s). I think nerf the distance from old DH is the right direction to balance. To sum up:
- Old DH: 4m dash and i-frame, can reach window/pallet and close range gamble.
- Current DH: mainly used for close range gamble, killer has to bait it out. Failed mindgame would be very fraustrating for killer.
- My DH: 1m extra distance, shorter distance needs survivors to plan their route extremely well to be effective, and also useless in close range.
TL;DR
The current (and old) Dead Hard brings unnecessary mind game in chase that favors survivor. I suggest DH should mainly be used for survivors to reach a window/pallet or reposition themselves in chase, rather than gambling to dodge killer M1.
New Dead Hard:
When you are injured, tap into your adrenaline bank to avoid damage.
- Press the Active Ability button while running break into a sprint at 150 % of your normal Running Movement speed for 0.5 seconds.
Hi, I started play this game on 2019 and reached rank 1 on both killer and survivor. Recently there's a lot discussion on Eruption nerf, and people are starting complains about Dead Hard being too strong and not getting nerfed, while still some people argue DH is fine and use rate has dropped. To understand why the current DH is so debatable, I'm gonna share my thought about current meta.
Eruption (before nerf) is definitely the most powerful slow down perk. But to use it, killer needs to kick gens that are currently working on, which gives survivors plenty of time to make distance, making killer harder to get a hit. With Ruin and Pop being previously nerfed, killer has weaker abilibity to slow down the gen rush: Pain Res only regress 15% on 1 gen, jolt can affect multiple gens but good survivor knows to die at corner of the map, etc. So the best stratagy for killer brings down to get a survivor out of the game asap, which is why so many people and even streamers are saying tunneling is more frenquent right now.
This tunneling meta also makes dead hard less appealing because the Endurance doesn't stack. If a survivor got camped and hit into Deep Wound state, their DH is basically useless while SB/Lithe can still make a decent amount of distance. Legion and Deathslinger's power is also a good counter for current DH. This also makes DH's value varies among different killers, which I think is a bad design for exhaustion perk.
In my opinion, the core play of chasing is all about getting less distance to the survivor. If the killer is close enough to the survivor, they should get a guaranteed hit as they already won the chase. The problem of current DH is event killer is close to the survivor, killer has to bait their DH to knock them down, which is an unnecessary mind game. If killer lose this mind game and hit the survivor in Endurance state, they will get 1.8s on-hit sprint and maybe able to get a safe pallet, which is extremely fraustrating for killer. This is also the reason why some people saying current DH is stronger: if survivor win the DH mind game, they get more advantage than before.
In my experience of playing killer, all the frastration comes from things you get for sure but not get it. Such as flashlight save, sabo the hook while you carry a survivor. And I admit most of them have counter plays. Actually, mind game is (maybe most enjoyable) part of this game. But the mind game we got from current DH is not fun. Experienced survivor can read killers lunge attack and react before the hit lands. To counter that, killer has to respect DH and bait it out. This video made by Otz explains what it is pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZvLmjxSRao&t=38s. Surely there are people who enjoy this mind game. But my philosophy here is if the killer has 0 distance from you, you already lose the chase with no last resort.
So in align with other exhaustion perk, new DH should also be a speed boost perk but can be used actively. It would perform like old DH. But since it doesn't have i-frames anymore, if the killer is close enough to survivor, their lunge attack will get a guaranteed hit because killer's lunge attack speed is faster than 150% survivor speed. The ideal scenario of using new DH is when you didn't pay attention to killer double back in shack or jungle gym, DH will help you make a little distance and make to a pallet. The speed boost will also make survivor to easily fast vault the windows that normally hard to, such as the window on 2nd floor of the Dead Dawg Saloon main building. New DH will encourage survivors to use in chase actively, rather than holding DH to dodge a hit. Without applying Endurance anymore, it can be combined with Off The Record and other perks. Also with all exhaustion perk (except Head On) gives speed boost, killer balancing now doesn't need to worry about if their power causing Deep Wound or Not.
Q: Why 0.5 second sprint? How about 1 second?
A: 1 second would be too strong imo. 0.5 second sprint is based on my personal experience. The goal here is to make DH not able to dodge lunge attack in a very close range, and 0.5s is the same as lunge attack window. 1 second sprint would still make players to use it for close range gamble. But other numerics like 0.6-0.8s can be tested in PTB.
Q: Is new DH still a counter to Nurse?
A: I think it won't be as stronger as current DH, but definitely requires more skills for Nurse to hit you if you use DH correctly. New DH is no longer effective in very close range, but if the Nurse's blink is not percise enough, you can still use DH to run away from her blink attack.
So this is what I think about how DH should be changed. It surely has some repercussion I'm missing. But for me, new DH is consistant with other exhaustion perks and no longer a 3rd health state perk. It definitely requires more skills to use but can be shine in specific situations. Please let me know what you think about my thought.
Comments
But, that was the most popular use of DH before, you know the part that killer can't counter, especially M1 killers.
You are just bringing back the DH for distance to safety.
People can think of the new DH as annoying but at least never makes me feel like i can't do anything as killer.
Even now seeing videos of the old DH and seeing survivors just DH to pallets and windows not ever being in danger just makes me cringe.
This is my reworked version to make it better.
When you are injured tap into your adrenaline bank to avoid damage.
Press the active ability button to trigger the endurance effect for 0.25/0.50/0.75 seconds.
Failing or succeeding to use dead hard will deactivate the perk for the rest of the match. When you get hit with dead hard, gain the broken status effect until you are downed.
Yeah it’s like old DH but with less distance (3m sprint vs 4m dash if I remember correctly) and no I-frames. I personally think getting slightly extra distance during chase is fine. SB and Lithe also allows players to get a decent distance but no one complains about it. The annoying part of current DH is that killer has to bait DH out before landing a hit. With no Endurance effect, new DH won’t make killer respect DH if they get very close to you. The problem of old DH is that it makes too much distance and can dodge a hit. I think nerf the distance and I-frame rather than make it a real 3rd health state is the right direction.
Instead of making DH once per trial, adding prerequisite could also be a way to balance. Unlike SB or Lithe, DH only needs press F. So adding something like DH is only active after you took a protection hit, or after you complete X% gen progression, or after 1 survivor is sacrificed. Just exploring ideas.
Actually its only a 1m Sprint, 2 of those are just regular survivor movement.
Still, this only makes DH good against M1 killers, since you can make extra loops.
People complain, but the good thing about the new DH is that counters top tier killers more than the weaker killers
And again, people didn't use DH to dodge hits before, people used it to reach safety in loops, that was the part of the perk that you couldn't counter
This new DH you have to dodge the hit.
Honestly i would prefer a perk that counters DH, similar to how legion and deathslinger counter DH, they could introduce a perk that inflicts deep wound on M1s
"I suggest DH should mainly be used for survivors to reach a window/pallet or reposition themselves in chase, rather than gambling to dodge killer M1."
This was what it originally was.
It sucked.
It sucked for a damn reason.
I'd rather keep chasing because I was outplayed than keep chasing because I can go ######### myself.
Speaking only from someone who plays in solo queue.
Hardly anyone runs deadhard in solo queue. And most killers wait it out. I use to run it ALL THE TIME until I started learning how to loop the killer better and just use my environment to my advantage. There are so many other great perks better than deadhard IMO.
Why don't killers just wait out the deadhard? It's a useless perk.
Because on some killers like Ghostface for example, you can only wait out DH in the open or at a short loop. On 50/50's and god loops, you have to win a mindgame to get the necessary distance + land a hit from maximum M1 range (which is quite easy to DH).
You mostly only hit seasoned loopers with M1 killers right before the pallet drop if you've won the mind game...DH will excuse you from losing the mindgame...when the mindgame is all the killer really has.
Imagine scoring a longshot hit in dodgeball and the guy just ignores it and keeps playing. Same energy.
Dead hard is fine as it is leave it alone. If you find it an issue you're not using your brain enough. Looping requires thought, Timing dead hard requires thought. How many hits have you got in the game where you've been like ######### I hit that?
Hit reg in this game right now is all kinds of broken not to mention the amount of vpn abuse going on with killers consistently red bar connection.
Dead hard is not easy to use and can be really inconsistent at best. Several time's I've used dead hard and still gone down due to lag. There are a lot more problems with the game than just 1 perk.
500ms endurance effect really is not a long time. But I guess people don't realise that is how little time it actually lasts.
1m sprint will be much less effective than old DH and requires survivor to plan their route really well. Also fewer loops you can get compared to 4m dash. Lithe, Balance Landing also help survivors get extra loops or running to a jungle gym/safe pallet. That's the natural of exhaustion perks, they will make killer spends more time in chase. 4m dash being too strong is because players abuse it to get more loops on the long side of a safe pallet, where killer has no choice but follow them rather than mind games. I think this is also a map design issue, new maps just introduce more safe pallets rather than place for mind games. But with nerfed distance killer now spends less time to catch them.
The point of current DH that forces a mind game is quit annoying in my experience. It's just some garbage seconds in chase and extremely fraustrating if you failed and that's why I call it unecessary mind game. Even you say current DH counters stronger killers more than weaker killers, DH will still make a couple more seconds in chase for M1 killers.
Legion and Deathslingers are counters to DH but relies on Deep Wound state, which will make killers, perks, add-ons design harder. So making DH a speed boost could also solve this problem.
They wait DH because if they hit on Endurance, survivor will get 1.8s speed boost which is too harsh. That's why people say current DH is stronger than before: prize you get from winning this mind game is more than old DH.
Honestly, i just don't find the new DH annoying, not compared to the old.
And there is also the fact that the perk is the definition of unreliable because of lag and the necessity to play mind games.
And i find mind games more enjoyable then "I have this skill so now you can't do anything", maybe reducing the hit speed boost from DH would be a better solution, maybe 1.8 is just too much, but i am not sure but i think M1 killers are not put in their regular cooldown timer when hit a DH, which again just makes the power better at countering M2s and powers like Blight and nurse.