Survivor's Guide

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First of all

Read the Beginner's Guide first.

Decoding Cipher Machines

“God-speed decoding wins you the game.”

In normal mode, you and your team are required to decode 5 Cipher Machines out of the 7 that are scattered across each map. To locate undecoded Cipher Machines around the map, look for their yellow, glowing antennas in the sky.

If you are a beginner and struggle with finding cipher machines early in the game, select Curiosity (Talent) on the Persona Web to help you locate the TWO nearest Ciphers at the start of the match. Once you become confident with knowing the locations of Machine's around the maps, you can replace that talent.

Tips for early game:

1) Do NOT Decode Together

New players may think that decoding together is a strategy early in the match, however, in cases where the Hunter discovers two or more Survivors on a cipher machine, it is severely damaging to the team.

-The Hunter will be more likely to find any Survivors decoding together. Why? This is a very small detail skilled Hunters take into account, which is how much the cipher machine's antenna (visible only to the hunter) is shaking. The big risk here is that the Hunter will use teleport to find the Survivors, before you can finish the cipher.

-A team member who is not kiting should be decoding as much as possible. What if you decode together? Two survivors won't be decoding. That means for late game, if you still have 3-4 cipher machines left, the Hunter's job will become very easy.

- Even if you do finish decoding that cipher, the both of you must relocate. It is easier for the Hunter to spot two survivors who are running in close proximity of each other.

For you to win the game, we would highly recommend that the Survivors decode separately across the map in order to ensure that progress is made on a greater range of cipher machines. It is vital that your teammates decode, whilst you are being chased by the Hunter, which brings us to Tip 2: containing the Hunter.

2) Containing the Hunter early in the match

A strong, sixty-second kite early game can help you buy your teammates time to decode. In early game, when you are found by the Hunter, run first, never risk for that two extra seconds on your cipher machine.

To contain the hunter, there are a few strategies the survivor can use. These strategies will be elaborated further in the Kiting Section of this guide.

-Send out a message

Send out a message (i.e: 'Focus on Decoding!', or 'The Hunter is near me!') so other survivors can know your relative location by looking at the top-left corner of the screen.

If your teammate sends out a signal, such as: “Open the gate, I’ll save the others.” Or “Keep decoding, I’m going in!”, that means that THEY will go rescue whilst you decode. If the Coordinator hasn't rescued yet, or is at full health and hasn't used her gun, never steal her job in rescuing that person on the rocket chair. Reason 1, you are wasting time not decoding. Reason 2, the coordinator has a natural 60% decoding debuff when a Survivor is placed on a rocket chair.

3) Survivors with debuffs in kiting ability should avoid dangerous cipher positions early game (such as Minds Eye or Mechanic). These locations are for example, in Moonlit River Park, the cipher at the center of the bridge; In Sacred Heart Hospital, the cipher that is situated against the T-wall.

Kiting

There are a few ways to kite the hunter:

1. Tight kiting: Run around a pallet when the hunter chases you. Read the hunter's movements. Areas without pallets or windows should be avoided. Change kiting areas when the hunter breaks down a pallet. Be aware of the Hunter's skill, whether he has teleport, abnormal, or blink. Blink is used by hunters to capture survivors early game, so it is good to be aware of what the hunter's skill is.

-When facing against the Feaster, change kiting areas whenever you have the chance. The Feaster's movement speed is average, but once he places tentacles down, the kiting area immediately becomes more dangerous.

1. Moonwalking: Moonwalking is the best when going against the Geisha, though it may be very difficult to master. The best counter to the Geisha is the Thief, who can use his flashlight whilst moonwalking. This requires the ability to not bump into objects behind you, whilst also ensuring that the flashlight hits the hunter. The best place to moonwalk the Geisha (or any other hunter) is the Merry-Go-Round in Moonlit River Park.

Escaping From Hunters

1. Avoid empty spaces.
2. Do not run in one direction even for a short amount of time. It makes the hunter's job very easy if you try to make distance from it this way. The hunter's walking speed is faster than yours and they can also do a long-range hit.
3. Memorize the best kiting positions in each map. (i.e. The factory building—use the windows to lose the hunter; the ship in Lakeside (looping around the windows and leaping through the wrecks in the ship; the Hospital (safest place on the Sacred Heart Hospital map, etc...)
4. There are obstacles and buildings which have parts where hunter cannot reach you if you are agile enough. This places always has at least one window which ensures that hunter cannot reach you if you are watching hunters moves, always run in the opposite direction as the hunter and when needed you use the window. (This does not really work against Gamekeeper because of the Hook)
5. Do not run into a Locker. While running you leave trace and you direct the hunter to your hiding place.

Remember, you leave footprints that are visible to the hunter.

Also, when you vault a window, pulling down a pallet, or vault over a pallet, the hunter gets a prompt of your location (similar to when you fail a calibration). There is NO prompt when you click the 'crouch' or 'walk' button, and then vault over windows/pallets. This does not work with pulling down a pallet.

Rescuing Survivors From Rocket Chairs

Though it may be tempting, after you rescue a teammate and you are at full health, you should avoid trying to run out of there as fast as possible. When possible, you should body-block a hit for them to buy them more time to get away. Otherwise, you are wasting time in rescuing them.

-[Tide Turner] A hunter cannot incapacitate a survivor rescued from a rocket chair within 20 seconds of them being rescued, or the rescuer, if the rescuer carries the talent [Tide Turner]. The designated role of characters such as Coordinator and Mercenary should be to rescue, and Tide Turner is a recommended talent to have.

-Attempt to trick the hunter a few times before rescuing. Reason one: the hunter might be tricked into hitting you or the chair, in which you can seize that moment of his recovery time to rescue. Reason two: it is less likely for you to be Terror-Shocked. If a hunter hits a survivor interacting with another survivor or a cipher machine, they will be Terror Shocked.

The Feaster is strong at guarding rocket chairs, due to his ability to use his tentacles to attack for him. Try to trick the Feaster into using one of his tentacles whilst at a rocket chair, so there will be a cool-down for his tentacle-attack, and you will not suffer a double-hit whilst rescuing.

Similarly, try to dodge the Ripper's fog blade attack whilst rescuing. If you feel like you cannot avoid it, run closer to him and make sure his blades hits you. The recovery speed of the Ripper's foggy blade attack is faster, but when he hits you with his blade, his recovery speed is slower. Seize that recovery time to rescue your teammate.

Count how many times a survivor was in a chair. For 3rd time you will not be able to help them, and survivor will be immediately sent back to the manor.

Escape

When enough cipher machines were decoded exit gates can be opened. They should be highlighted for you for a short amount of time when they are activated so start running to one of them (ideally to the nearest or for the one further from the hunter if you know its position).

Also it can be a good idea to already be at the gate when there is only 1 cipher machines left and you are quite sure that somebody currently decoding it.

The pro strategy that requires expert teamwork is 'priming' the cipher machine to get the Borrowed Time effect. When a survivor has [Borrowed Time], a recommended talent for every rank, they can immediately get into full-health once the last cipher machine is opened. This is useful for end-game, when one survivor has just been incapacitated. Opening that cipher allows the survivor to leap back up and gain 50% dash speed.

Team setup

It starts in the hall. Usually too many similar survivors are weaker than a variant setup. E.g: playing with 3 or 4 Gardeners thinking that destroying all the chairs will help win the game doesn't necessarily work.

Also, keep in mind that a skilled player will select a Hunter and a Trait that will help counter the Survivor's perk's.

In high tier rank matches, Coordinator or Mercenary are commonly used as rescuing roles. For them the Tide Turner talent is selected to allow teammates a 20-second invincibility time when they either rescue or are rescued from the rocket chair.

One example: Seer, Mechanic, Perfumer, Coordinator

Seer and Perfumer are decoding and kiting roles, as they both have abilities that allow them to kite the hunter for a long period of time, and they possess no debuffs in decoding (except Perfumer, but only when she misses a calibration). 
Mechanic's main role is to decode (given her 125% decoding speed). A tactic used by Mechanic is to quickly decode a cipher machine at the beginning of the match, then control your robot. That way, even if the mechanic is placed on the rocket chair, her robot is still decoding at 125% speed. 
Coordinator's role is to rescue the survivors.

If you play as a Gardener and you break chairs, you are putting your team in a dangerous position for three reasons.

  1: Every time you break a chair, you alert the hunter of your position. 

  2: You are not decoding. Your teammates are depending on you to decode as fast as possible, especially if they are kiting the hunter for 60 seconds.

  3: Broken chairs may not necessarily help yourself, or a team-member who is kiting the hunter. For one, the hunter can carry the skill [Abnormal] to fix rocket chairs. The hunter can also carry the talent [Hindsight], which increases their attack recovery speed by 6% if you break more than 2 chairs, and this effect can multiply for every chair broken after that.

Character tactics

Decoder

Mechanic

- Spawn the doll early in the match (Doll 125% decoding power > normal survivor)

- 1st priority of decoding in a safe place, other roles must give the decoder to mechanics

- Do not ever use your doll to rescue, unless the door is open and you are guaranteed to escape.

- Rescue only when 2 or more survivors are injured/ chaired.

The Mind's Eye

- Fastest decoder in the game, but is rather slow at vaulting over windows and pallets and has very limited vision.

- It is recommended that you do not play The Mind’s Eye unless you are familiar with the map.

- Use echo immediately. This will allow your teammates to position themselves/prepare to kite if the hunter is near them. If the hunter uses headphones, they can hear the direction of your ability so beware.

- The best Mind's Eye users will never see hunter for the entire game.

- Be prepared to kite and get tunneled as The Mind's Eye. As you are the fastest decoder, a good hunter will try to find you first.

- Do not rescue unless you're the only one uninjured or if you're near the chair and you know that the cipher is primed. Stick to decoding ciphers whenever you can!

-Broken Windows is a must for all survivors, but is definitely required for Mind’s Eye players.

Rescuer

Coordinator

-1st line rescuer in small maps

-Often, if not always, used in high-tier matches.

-Able to shoot the Hunter

Shoot the Hunter when they are carrying a Survivor. The ballooned Survivor is immediately freed from the Hunter's grasp onto the ground. Shooting the Hunter will also leave them stunned for a few seconds. Be careful with this tactic, however, for the Hunter can counter this by releasing the Survivor when they see you rushing their direction with a gun.

Only shoot when you have a CLEAR aim, without any walls or obstacles potentially blocking your bullet and wasting your shot.

Get time for yourself or for another Survivor to run away.

Shoot while the match is at an early stage to avoided the Hunter levelling up with their skill.

- If needed, switch places on a chair with a rescued Survivor. Coordinator stays quite long in the chair, which gives time to others for decoding.

Mercenary

-1st line rescuer in large maps

-Can take two or more hits to be knocked down since he has delayed damage effect.

-Run away from rocket chairs when hit twice with your ability.

Forward

-Sometimes used in high-tier matches

- Requires good controls and no lag.

- His ability to stun hunters and rescue survivors from balloons make him a good rescuer and kiter. It is recommended for the Forward to carry [Tide Turner] as well.

-Avoid using the rugby ball to escape. If possible, always make a U-turn and stun the hunter.

Kiter

Magician

- Often used in high-tier matches

- When you create an illusion change direction, immediately. It is even better if you can create the illusion right before a corner or a wall or some kind of other obstacle.

- When played correctly, the Magician's illusion can block the attack of the hunter.

- Be aware of your weakness. The Magician takes longer to rescue when chaired and requires a good rescuer to go for the rescue. Be sure to bring broken windows as to not get downed too quickly and make your team rescue you early game.

Seer

-Now commonly banned in legendary match.

- Always try to look at the hunter whenever you're kiting. Best way to gain owls is running around the carousel in Moonlit River Park, and especially constantly staring at a certain hunter (Geisha).

-The Seer can see the hunter(s) for five seconds after the game begins.

Perfumer

- Very strong kiter if perfume is used correctly

- Occasionally acts as 2nd line rescuer

- Will raise Hunter's presence point, making it extremely difficult for another kiter to kite later on.

- Good Times to Use Her Perfume

Before jumping from a height

Before vaulting a window

Right before a Hunter lands a blow on you

Thief

- An old kiter, not commonly seen nowadays with other strong character(s)

- Sometimes used in high-tier matches

- Sadly, dazing the hunter usually doesn't work. It is very easy to defend against it as a Hunter

- Thief's moonwalking is best when the Hunter is Geisha.

-Even though the Thief’s flashlight is a very unaffective item, he can also work as a supporter character, as his chest-opening buff allows him and other survivors (Lucky Guys, especially) to go through chests much more quickly.

Supporter

Lawyer

- When the teammates are decoding, destroying and healing will be increased 10% within 8 meters from him and rocket chair 's time increased by 5%.

- As the great navigator, he shouldn't kite the hunter at all.

Priestess

- Not used in high tier matches.

- Create a portal as an escape route if hunter appears.

- Use your portals on wide 'walls' or on large objects to make the portal tunnel as long as you can.

- Before rescuing, make sure too have at least TWO portals ready, you never know.

- Her Portals Is Useful in Late Game due to the fact they can teleport when used at a correct time -She is better partnered with a doctor due to their healing buffs which can alter the game -Her main weakness is her portals also take a lot of time and she cant kite as she has a kiting debuff -She also is slower by 10% when decoding which makes her preferably a rescuer over a decoder -Rarely used on Legendary Rank because more survivors can rescue better and has no decoding debuff

Dancer

- Dancer is a great survivor which is capable of all sorts of kiting and also can act as a decoder. Dancer was a kiter before the new update where her Decoding debuff has been removed

- She has 2 main types of music boxes The Slow box is preferably better when you get distance from a hunter.It is also best to use it from a building behind the survivor caught. Ex: Leo’s Memory Use The Slow Box on the wall behind the chair on the little shack. Her Buff “Duets” make her immune for the slowing effect which guarantees a possibly long kiting time

- Her Fast Box is Preferably Used for a Decoder :(Mechanic , Mind’s Eye) to make use of their fast decoding speed which if added by the fast music box can rush a cipher easy in the first 5 minutes.

- Her Skills are preferably better to be used on a building which has a large space that can be advantageous for her box. A Great Way to make an easy win is As soon as the fifth cipher pops , put a slow music box on the center of the place your standing .Since you arent affected by slow music you can easily escape even if the hunter teleports , blinks or has detention.Her Main Map is The Moonlit River Map where space is large and wide which is an advantage for her kiting abilities.

Explorer

- Rarely used in high-tier, due to the amount of time spent on collecting pages rather than getting to decode.

- Pages could be found in very empty/wide spots, can be easily seen by hunters if you're not careful of your surroundings.

- However, if you died (or sent back to manor as game would call it), other teammates can pick up the book you left at your death spot and can help you continue picking up pages, decoding ciphers faster.

- Reminder that only 3 pages shown per map, whether or not there are 2-4 explorers in the team. Hence, recommended to only bring 1 explorer if you want to

Doctor

- Rarely used in high-tier matches

- Use Doctor and First Aid talents.

- You can heal yourself, so go and rescue others from chair. Especially from hunters who loves camping.

-The Doctor is capable of healing the smallest of damage, which makes her a good counter against hunters like the Soul Weaver or The Photographer.

Against Hunter tactics

Photographer - Joseph

- If you are hit in the mirror world, Joseph is probably near you, and should opt to go away. When you are placed on a chair in the mirror world, I suggest trying to free yourself, though it works only if the Hunter leaves your area-which usually doesn't happen. It is better if you run far away to a fellow survivor, who can immediately heal you when you are incapacitated. It is useful to know that Joseph can not place you on a chair in the real world.

- Doctor is a good counter against the Photographer

- Try to not decode ciphers which are very near to cameras ex. the shack in Sacred Heart Hospital, graveyard in Red Church, especially when the cameras are up. High possibility or chances that Joseph will try to "jumpscare" and terror shock you with swings already charged just before exiting the mirror world.