How to play the new Skull Merchant?

[Maria]

So I never really bothered playing Skull Merchant pre-nerf but after her nerf her power is initially more confusing and I literally can't understand it one bit
Pre nerf it was like this:
Place drone
Drone scan area, you undetectable, you can dead-zone because survivors get exposed
but now it's like:
Place drone, it scans the area but when it scans a survivor nothing happens and survivors get randomly injured and slowed down and deep wound?????
tf can someone explain to me how to play the new Skull Merchant?

[G-pa'sBabyGravy]

id like to know this too. I play against almost no Merchant players,but when I do my whole team just throws because of how boring she is to face even after nerf

[Maria]

Originally posted by Dwight's ♥♥♥ Goblin:

id like to know this too. I play against almost no Merchant players,but when I do my whole team just throws because of how boring she is to face even after nerf

Whenever I play Skull Merchant the entire team just throws and they want me to hook them lol

[Nyx]

Outside of chase: Pre-place drones in areas where you know a survivor is going to want to loop you. Also just pre-place them in general when you're about to head to an area that you think survivors might be, so that you get your stealth and can ambush them. You can do this even in the middle of nowhere, as you can recall a drone easily, and the undetectable is worth it.

In chase: Place drone in the loop, chase survivor around the loop. If they leave the loop (like they should,) hit them. If they don't, let the drone injure them, then continue following them while they get hindered, then down them. Placing the drones next to windows isn't a bad idea.

She's deceptively simple. Her power seems like it does a billion things at once, but when you get the hang of it, it's really not a big deal.

[Maria]

Originally posted by Nyx:

Outside of chase: Pre-place drones in areas where you know a survivor is going to want to loop you. Also just pre-place them in general when you're about to head to an area that you think survivors might be, so that you get your stealth and can ambush them. You can do this even in the middle of nowhere, as you can recall a drone easily, and the undetectable is worth it.

In chase: Place drone in the loop, chase survivor around the loop. If they leave the loop (like they should,) hit them. If they don't, let the drone injure them, then continue following them while they get hindered, then down them. Placing the drones next to windows isn't a bad idea.

She's deceptively simple. Her power seems like it does a billion things at once, but when you get the hang of it, it's really not a big deal.

Thanks

[QW<RTNY]

there is 4 steps to play SM and get fun:
1 Pick best 3 gen (prefer corner of the map)
2 fill all possible way to gens with drones
3 bring slowdown perks
4 enjoy the game

[MarylandManson]

Originally posted by NorthernBlaze:

So I never really bothered playing Skull Merchant pre-nerf but after her nerf her power is initially more confusing and I literally can't understand it one bit
Pre nerf it was like this:
Place drone
Drone scan area, you undetectable, you can dead-zone because survivors get exposed
but now it's like:
Place drone, it scans the area but when it scans a survivor nothing happens and survivors get randomly injured and slowed down and deep wound?????
tf can someone explain to me how to play the new Skull Merchant?

Hex:Undying, Hex:Thrill of the Hunt, Hex:Devour hope, Hex:Pentimento. Don't camp, drone the gens.

[zukene]

Someone else already explained it pretty well but heres a more in depth explanation of how the scanning survivors part works.

When a drone scans a survivor it goes into scouting mode (spins faster with visible beams) if it was previously in stealth mode.
Each time a survivor is scanned they gain a stack of "lock on." When scanned 3 times they get a claw trap.
While they have a claw trap (lasts 45 seconds) you can constantly see them on the radar which means you also have a small haste boost. If they were healthy when they got the claw trap they become injured. If they were injured they become deep wounded.
If a survivor is scanned again while they have a claw trap you see them with killer instinct for 3 seconds and they become 10% hindered for 6 seconds.
If you see the 3 dots on the hud that means its a claw trap, triangles mean they have some lock on but you cant see how much as killer.
I forgot to mention any lock on goes away if you down the survivor.

[Broccoli & Cheese]

Play like trapper. But the trap only injure survivor when they "step" into it 3 times.

[Voidlines]

Skull Merchant is best played by knowing where to put drones, when to use the placement to use the undetectable to reach survivors on objectives, and denying strong loops. Other people have basically explained it pretty well already here, but if I can add something I'd like to suggest the way I play her personally, which is to absolutely go ham on the undetectable.

Unsure of what perks you have, but for an example I run things to mess with survivor's senses like Dark Devotion to give a fake TR to someone, and the recently buffed Furtive Chase paired with her own perk Game Afoot to give you more undetectable without using the drones. She also has some addons to increase the undetectable she gets from placing a drone and give survivors oblivious when they get hit by a claw trap.

Another tip is to be very aware of your drone placements and take note when one is missing. Survivors do think she can hold 3-gens with her drones, but they can crouch walk and disable drones or ignore them completely to do a generator nearby. I've broken SM 3-gens because some have gotten so used to survivors disabling drones near gens and don't bother looking half the time.