Some time has past and I have had more time to think about the survivalist perk. I have a better grasp on what I think could be done to boost this perk without overpowering it. Some of what I write in this post may overlap with my older post I made about the survivalist last year. That post can be found here.
The intentions of these changes are to make the survivalist perk more viable without overshadowing the nine main perks. I have attempted to keep the concepts and design choices of the survivalist as close to the original as possible. I am not trying to give the survivalist a new identity or make it something it is not.
Perk Bonuses (shown as if at level 25)
Skills
Thoughts.
Weapon Damage: This small 5% buff to damage is simply to put the survivalist's weapon damage in line with that of the firebug and field medic [battle surgeon skill]. This buff would unlikely affect the overall design choices of the original perk or make it too overpowered.
Global Damage Resistance/Heavy Body Armor/Zed Time Reload: These bonuses feel correct as they are and I don't believe they need to be changed as doing so would take away from the original design choices.
Weapon Reload: The intentions of this new perk bonus is make the survivalist feel as though it is truly a jack of all weapons; granting increased reloading speed is the most satisfying way of going about this. The way this bonus works is, effective at perk level 0, all weapons that have access to elite reloads use those animations instead. If the weapon in use does not have access to elite reloading (as is the case for most firebug weapons and a few others) you instead apply the listed reload speed bonus. This change also allows for the two level 5 skills to be changed for something more interesting and viable.
Increased Weight Capacity: I felt that having the weight capacity bonus split between a perk bonus and the support harness skill, gave the survivalist more room for versatility. Also by removing some of the weight bonus from the support harness skill, it left room for different buffs.
Survival Techniques (Level 10 skills): I felt that the original level 10 skills were too heavily weighted in favor of the melee expert skill as the bonuses from medic training felt very weak and the bonus movement speed was always more favorable as it guaranteed escape potential by pulling out your knife. Now both the level 10 skills have access to mobility and grant direct forms of a damage boost.
Equipment (Level 15 skills): This was the most confusing in terms of original design choices. Firstly, it feels very off putting that the medic skill is effectively split between the level 10 and 15 skills. Secondly, the fact that weapon harness changes your grenade to the Molotov cocktail feels very out of place. By bumping up the medic skill to a level 15 skill instead, I gave Medic gear a much needed buff while removing the out of place 15% ammo increase which now inhabits the Fully Loaded skill. Because support harness does not have the full 5 weight capacity increase, as it was split with the perk bonus, the welding versatility felt appropriate along with the change to frag grenade instead of Molotov cocktail.
Destruction (Level 20 skills): Zed-plosion was left unchanged as it is still the more valuable skill option. As for the changes made in the Spread panic skill, I felt these were necessary as this option gives firebug weapons a better chance of shining through in survivalist builds as they were most definitely the weakest weapon choices for the perk. If nothing else, the bonus resistances provided by this skill could persuade some to take it instead of the overall more viable zed-plosion skill.
Specialist Training (Level 25 skills): The Madman skill always baffles me as it is simply a worse version of the commando's machine gunner skill and gunslinger's fan fire skill. I felt it made the most sense to buff it to that of the fan fire skill as since the alternative (machine gunner) would provide a direct boost to damage which I believe is not the intent of the survivalist class. As for the lockdown skill, I feel that no change needs to be made as it is the survivalist's unique zed-time skill. On top of that, Tripwire has announced that they will be buffing this skill with the upcoming update.
"(Survivalist) ZED TIME - Lockdown: Knockdown, stumble, and stun rates are maxed to better guarantee one will trigger on most Zeds."
The intentions of these changes are to make the survivalist perk more viable without overshadowing the nine main perks. I have attempted to keep the concepts and design choices of the survivalist as close to the original as possible. I am not trying to give the survivalist a new identity or make it something it is not.
Perk Bonuses (shown as if at level 25)
| +20% Weapon Damage (0.8% / Level) [buffed] | +25% Global Damage Resistance (1.0% / Level) [no change] | +25% Heavy Body Armor (1.0% / Level) [no change] |
| +75% Zed Time Reload (3.0% / Level) [no change] | +20% Weapon Reload (0.8% / Level) OR Elite Reload [new] | +2 Increased Weight Capacity [new] |
Skills
Weapon Handling (Level 5)
[new] Fully Loaded | Nimble [new] |
|---|---|
Increase magazine capacity of weapons 50% and carry up to 20% more ammo for all weapons. | Increase shooting speed by 25% and reload speed by 10%. |
Survival Techniques (Level 10)
[new] Fallback | Melee Expert [altered] |
|---|---|
Increase damage with your 9mm pistol and knife 85% and increase weapon switching speed 50%. Increase movement speed by 10%. | Increase melee attack speed 20%, inflict 50% more damage, and move 25% faster when using any melee weapon. Increase total health 25%. |
Equipment (Level 15)
[altered/buffed] Medic Gear | Support Harness [altered] |
|---|---|
Increase the potency of all your healing 30% and decrease the cooldown of your syringe and healing darts 100%. Your grenade becomes a healing grenade. | Increase carrying capacity by 3 and your grenade becomes a frag grenade. Increase welding proficiency 30% and you can repair doors. |
Destruction (Level 20)
[no change] Spontaneous Zed-plosion | Spread Panic [buffed] |
|---|---|
Zeds you kill have a 30% chance to explode, damaging and stunning nearby zeds. | Increase explosive and fire resistance 50%, and area of effect of all explosives 50%. Burn effects last 150% longer. |
Specialist Training (Level 25)
[buffed] ZED TIME - Madman | ZED TIME - Lockdown [no change] |
|---|---|
During zed time, all your weapons shoot 3x faster and reload in real-time. | During zed time, the power of all incapacitation methods are increased 200% for all weapons. |
Thoughts.
Weapon Damage: This small 5% buff to damage is simply to put the survivalist's weapon damage in line with that of the firebug and field medic [battle surgeon skill]. This buff would unlikely affect the overall design choices of the original perk or make it too overpowered.
Global Damage Resistance/Heavy Body Armor/Zed Time Reload: These bonuses feel correct as they are and I don't believe they need to be changed as doing so would take away from the original design choices.
Weapon Reload: The intentions of this new perk bonus is make the survivalist feel as though it is truly a jack of all weapons; granting increased reloading speed is the most satisfying way of going about this. The way this bonus works is, effective at perk level 0, all weapons that have access to elite reloads use those animations instead. If the weapon in use does not have access to elite reloading (as is the case for most firebug weapons and a few others) you instead apply the listed reload speed bonus. This change also allows for the two level 5 skills to be changed for something more interesting and viable.
Increased Weight Capacity: I felt that having the weight capacity bonus split between a perk bonus and the support harness skill, gave the survivalist more room for versatility. Also by removing some of the weight bonus from the support harness skill, it left room for different buffs.
Survival Techniques (Level 10 skills): I felt that the original level 10 skills were too heavily weighted in favor of the melee expert skill as the bonuses from medic training felt very weak and the bonus movement speed was always more favorable as it guaranteed escape potential by pulling out your knife. Now both the level 10 skills have access to mobility and grant direct forms of a damage boost.
Equipment (Level 15 skills): This was the most confusing in terms of original design choices. Firstly, it feels very off putting that the medic skill is effectively split between the level 10 and 15 skills. Secondly, the fact that weapon harness changes your grenade to the Molotov cocktail feels very out of place. By bumping up the medic skill to a level 15 skill instead, I gave Medic gear a much needed buff while removing the out of place 15% ammo increase which now inhabits the Fully Loaded skill. Because support harness does not have the full 5 weight capacity increase, as it was split with the perk bonus, the welding versatility felt appropriate along with the change to frag grenade instead of Molotov cocktail.
Destruction (Level 20 skills): Zed-plosion was left unchanged as it is still the more valuable skill option. As for the changes made in the Spread panic skill, I felt these were necessary as this option gives firebug weapons a better chance of shining through in survivalist builds as they were most definitely the weakest weapon choices for the perk. If nothing else, the bonus resistances provided by this skill could persuade some to take it instead of the overall more viable zed-plosion skill.
Specialist Training (Level 25 skills): The Madman skill always baffles me as it is simply a worse version of the commando's machine gunner skill and gunslinger's fan fire skill. I felt it made the most sense to buff it to that of the fan fire skill as since the alternative (machine gunner) would provide a direct boost to damage which I believe is not the intent of the survivalist class. As for the lockdown skill, I feel that no change needs to be made as it is the survivalist's unique zed-time skill. On top of that, Tripwire has announced that they will be buffing this skill with the upcoming update.
"(Survivalist) ZED TIME - Lockdown: Knockdown, stumble, and stun rates are maxed to better guarantee one will trigger on most Zeds."