Play around Pain Resonance and Dead Man's Switch combo

How to play around the latest strong combination of Killer perks.

Understanding the combo

The latest strong combo of perks allows Killers a very strong grasp on the generator objectives. It can create an insane amount of pressure and can feel overwhelming if one does not know how to at least partially play around it. Let's break down the perks so we understand how they interact to make a combo.

SCOURGE HOOK: PAIN RESONANCE

At the start of the Trial, 4 random Hooks are changed into Scourge Hooks:

The Auras of Scourge Hooks are revealed to you in white.
Each time a Survivor is hooked on a Scourge Hook, the following effects apply:

The Generator with the most Progression explodes, instantly losing 9/12/15 % of its Progression and starting to regress.
Survivors repairing that Generator will scream, revealing their location.

DEAD MAN'S SWITCH

After hooking a Survivor, Dead Man's Switch activates for the next 35/40/45 seconds:

While activated, any Survivor that stops repairing a Generator before it is fully repaired causes The Entity to block the Generator until Dead Man's Switch's effect ends.

Affected Generators are highlighted by a white Aura.




This Killer combo essentially allows the Killer to take away the choice a Survivor has. Normally if a Killer only runs Dead Man's Switch a Survivor has a choice. Do they stick to the gen or do they sacrifice the gen progress temporarily to save a teammate? Pain Resonance however makes the gen with most progress explode regressing it by 15% and then Dead Man's Switch immediately blocks it for 45 more seconds of normal regression. While this combo does take 2 perk slots it easily outperforms Pop Goes the Weasel, another gen pressure all-star.

How to play around it

I think more than anything this combo is frustrating. The loss of control over such situation is what actually brings Survivor's morale down. It can easily create a Sysiphus-like scenario where one tries to roll a boulder up the mountain only for it to roll back down before it reaches the top.

However there are ways to play around it and definitely be more prepared:

1) Timing is everything

Let go of the generator right before someone is hooked. The gen with the most progress will still regress but the combo won't take place and you won't scream to reveal your location. Eventually identifying which are the 4 Scourge Hooks and which are not will also nicely improve your chances to survive.

2 ) Split the gens

When faced with this combo try to NEVER work on the same gen with someone else. Survivors need to remember that only the gen with the most progress will explode and be locked out. If Survivors split the gens so that everyone is working on their own they will have astronomically better chances to actually make progress and complete enough objectives to escape.

Another reason to never work on the same gen with someone else is because if only one Survivor lets go off the gen, Dead Man's Switch will still trigger and lock it for everyone.

So remember, split the gens!

3) Kindred will save your life

The perk Kindred will help you and/or the whole team to understand who should do what. It allows for better organization and to prevent everyone triggering Dead Man's Switch unnecessarily. Also especially great in random queues where communication is limited.

4) Saboteur builds and Breakdown

Saboteur builds might be back in fashion. The Killer can not trigger the combo if they can't hook you onto the Scourge Hook. Also seriously consider running Breakdown (a Jeff Johansen teachable). Breakdown will break the Scourge Hook after you're unhooked and it will remain disabled for 180 seconds/3 minutes!




All in all, I think this combo is very strong but in no way unfair. I enjoy finding out ways to play around very aggressive and punishing tactics and am glad for new kinds of challenges. I definitely believe Survivors have more than enough resources and toys to be up for the challenge. The game still very much depends on a lot of other factors and overall pressure the Killer/Survivors can create. See you in the fog!

[Kaysin]

this is a nice combo if you have fast killers like blight.

[SickPsyko]

Kindred FTW <3