Dusekkar and Mistaking his Core for his Flaws

# Dusekkar Balance Changes Bad :(

I don’t like the Dusekkar balance changes, and if you do, let me explain to you why they will kill this character and water him down to a husk of what he was.

# Who am I? And what makes my opinions on this matter?

I am a Forsaken player who has a total of 2.5 days. The first 12 hours of this game was me switching between maining Noob and Chance, with the rest of the time being dedicated to me being a Dusekkar main. I started playing Forsaken on 6/13/25 (MM/DD/YY). That makes me relatively new, which probably doesn’t help the foundation that my opinions on these Dusekkar balance changes, but with this paper I want to be 100% honest with everything. Going back to being a Dusekkar main however, I am a level 80 milestone 3 Dusekkar with no xp boosts/VIP, and no, I didn’t spam generators, if I did I would've been at milestone 4 a long time ago. From around levels 60-75 a Dusekkar main at about 23 days of playtime helped teach me a lot about Dusekkar and little stuff that really adds up,and has helped make me a better Dusekkar main. However, with all of that said, what are the Dusekkar balance changes, and why do I not like them?

# Dusekkar as a Character and How to Play Dusekkar

# Abilities:

Dusekkar is the only 5 star difficulty character in Forsaken, and he has 3 abilities, 2 are active, 1 is passive.

# Levitate:

To start off, his passive ability is levitating which just hides Dusekkar’s footstep sfx. That’s it. Pretty useless. But the active abilities are where it gets fun.

(It should also be noted that even though it is possible for Dusekkar to not be visually touching any negative parts of the map (poison rives, black sludge, etc) because of levitate making him float off of the ground he will still receive the negative effects of the area he is currently standing on.)

# Zap:

Dusekkar has a zap that has a windup of 2 seconds, and has a cooldown of 20 seconds, and when aimed and hit at a survivor, it gives said survivor speed 1 for 4 seconds, and when hitting killer, grants the killer slowness 2 for 3 seconds. Zap goes through walls and through entities, which means if Dusekkar can hit both killer and a survivor then he chained his zap and gave killer slowness 2 and gave survivor speed 1. However, the zap can only give 1 survivor speed, so, if it goes through 2 survivors it will only grant the first survivor that got hit speed. On top of that, zap has a range of 120 studs, which gives Dusekkar the longest ranged attack in the game. Plus, unlike Chance’s gun, which can’t be aimed down sights, and only shoots where the crosshair/middle of the screen is, Dusekkar’s zap goes where the cursor currently is and can be aimed down sights. However, this can sometimes be glitchy and cause zaps to go where the user did not intend. Luckily, with shift lock enabled, zap aims just like Chance’s gun with the catch that it can also be aimed down sights. Zap is easily Dusekkar’s best ability as it is the most spammable, leaves him the least vulnerable, and greatly helps other survivors escape chase, or basically guarantees a survivor’s escape from chase if he chains a zap on the survivor in chase and the killer.

Zap is best used when the killer needs to close the most distance between them and the survivor. For example, when the survivor is losing the stamina management game and the killer is currently running, or when the killer uses an ability, such as when Jason fails a gashing wound, when John Doe puts up his spikes or digital footprint. Zap hit priority also should always be killer first, as it affects the killer the most, and then if you know you’re going to miss killer with your zap then zapping survivor is the next priority, as speed 1 is better than nothing. Other than that, every Dusekkar player, and just Forsaken player in general should know that zap is his best ability, and with all of that being said, let’s move onto Dusekkar’s third ability.

# Shield:

The shield has a cooldown of 40 seconds and casts a shield that is extremely bright and grants resistance 4 to the survivor that your cursor is currently hovering over. The shield will break if line of sight is broken for more than 2 seconds, the cursor is off of the survivor, or if 8 seconds has passed. Dusekkar gets slowness 1 for 8 seconds and cannot sprint whilst shielding. A shield is extremely risky as it leaves Dusekkar very vulnerable, so it should only be used if Dusekkar is far enough away from the killer, has elevation so the shield won’t break, the shield is being used on a survivor that is about to take a ton of damage, and Dusekkar has an escape plan for if the killer targets him. Often time killers will attempt to bait Dusekkar by starting to go towards him so he breaks shield to start escaping as soon as possible, however, the killer will then go right back towards targeting the survivor that Dusekkar was protecting just moments ago. Most of the time it is almost always worth breaking the shield if the killer tries baiting you as sometimes the killer will punish Dusekkar for not breaking his shield, which is rarely worth protecting the survivor. Most people, especially people who rarely or just don't play Dusekkar believe that shielding is Dusekkar’s best ability, however, this is plain wrong, and shields should be used as a compliment to Dusekkar’s kit and play style, rather than be the focus of it. Also, a lot of time, newer players will run towards Dusekkar whilst he is shielding them, which causes for Dusekkars position to be even more obvious, and causes killer to start focusing on Dusekkar. If that happens to you while playing Dusekkar, you should have the phrase, “DON’T RUN TOWARDS ME, THAT’LL GET BOTH OF US KILLED” copy and pasted, and break shield the moment they start running towards you, as your life is more important than theirs.

# Dusekkar’s Playstyles

Before I can even cover the Dusekkar balance changes I must discuss Dusekkar as a character and how one can and should play him. Dusekkar being the *only* survivor at 5 stars makes him the hardest one to pick up and truly master, as he has many little intricacies that one must know by the back of their hand. So, let’s cover the three different playstyles

# Passive:

Passive, also known as sniper, is the most common way to play Dusekkar, and that’s finding an elevated place on the map and, well, sniping. Basically Dusekkar wants to stay as far from killer as possible as he zaps killer (sometimes chaining zap with killer and survivor)  whilst they’re in chase with a survivor to help the survivor escape chase. Dusekkar also wants to shield survivors who’re about to take either massive damage, such as those who’ve been entangled and are about to be hit by mass infection, or those who lost the stamina management game against any killer, or those who are at generator and about to be punished with gashing wound by Jason. Passive is the most map dependent way to play Dusekkar, as not all maps have elevation or good sniping spots. If Dusekkar is sniping and is being focused by killer, Dusekkars goal is to stop shielding immediately if they currently are to get rid of their slowness ASAP, or if killer is about to initiate chase and Dusekkar *100% knows* he can squeeze in a zap on killer, then he should zap killer to easily escape chase, or pop a bloxy cola if he can. However, that won’t happen most of the time when killer starts focusing Dusekkar, which leads Dusekkar to rely on skills that transfer and apply to every survivor, looping, stamina management, and juking, until Dusekkar eventually escapes chase by finding sentinels, or by losing killer. Then, it is Dusekkars goal to get back to his sniper tower as soon as he can, but if the killer is still there, he should try finding another sniping spot (most maps that have a sniping spot have a secondary, albeit, worse sniping location.) With all that said, passively playing as Dusekkar is the easiest but most map dependent way to play him, and it should NOT be relied on due to how risky it is if the killer realizes where you are and focuses you down, not letting you get back to a sniper location. But, with that out of the way, there are two different ways on top of passively playing Dusekkar, to play, well, Dusekkar. So, let’s go onto the second way to play Dusekkar.

# Aggressive:

Aggressive, also known as battle, playing like Elliot is the second way to play Dusekkar, and solely playing aggressively usually leads to more benefit then solely playing passively.

Playing aggressive is very similar to playing Elliot, just a more difficult version of him, and playing battle style is way less map reliant, and can do good on every map but horror hotel (that’s just a bad Dusekkar map, period.). To play aggressively you usually want to stay the same distance that Chance is supposed to play at with 3 stacks. Playing battle style means you must be *ruthless* with your zaps, and basically makes shielding safely impossible, as the moment you pop shield, killer will most likely focus on Dusekkar, and if Dusekkar has no sentinels to assist him, then it’s game over. However, Dusekkar will be landing way more zaps on killer and chaining way more zaps on killer and survivor when playing battle style. There isn’t much more to playing battle style other than the fact that Dusekkar will most likely end up in more chases and targeted more, so to play in battle style Dusekkar needs to be good at looping, stamina management, and juking, and that Dusekkar needs to be more precise with his zap timings than if he was playing passively.

# Switch:

The final style you can play Dusekkar is, well, a mix of the two styles previously stated. Basically Dusekkar needs to learn when he should be sniping, and when to be on the ground and zapping. For those who are wondering, it is better if Dusekkar is playing battle style if there are no sniping locations nearby, (by nearby I mean within 40-70 studs of where the action is happening) and it is better to play as a sniper when there is a sniping location nearby, as it still allows Dusekkar to not be confused in the fog as sniping from afar usually does, and it also allows him to hit precise zaps like battle style usually does, whilst also allowing him to safely shield, as if he gets targeted killer will usually still have to move and single Dusekkar out, and Dusekkar has height to his advantage, which allows him to usually have two methods of escape. Plus, if he is being chased, Dusekkar can usually have easier access to sentinels as the action was just happening nearby where Dusekkar is sniping from. To sum it up, when playing switch as Dusekkar you’ll be constantly annoying killer and if you’re good at losing killer and not allowing them to enter chase with you, then Dusekkar can constantly switch up where he is and snipe/shield, or be playing battle style when killer least expects it.

# Dusekkar’s Core Design VS Dusekkar’s Flaws

Now I must explain Dusekkar’s base kit, and the core flaws that are meant to be in Dusekkar. Dusekkar’s shield is meant to make him a sitting duck, which in turn, makes a survivor practically invincible. This inherently makes Dusekkar very team reliant, even more so than other supporters, like Elliot or Buidlerman. Because unlike Elliot or Builderman who don’t have to give anything to be benefited, Dusekkar has to risk his life every time he wants to shield a survivor. This makes Dusekkar a very analytical character who needs to be good at quickly understanding the skill of his teammates and the killer, heavy emphasis on the quickly if Dusekkar is in a brand new player lobby. This is not an issue. It is what contributes to Dusekkar being a 5 star difficulty character, and is a part of his core design. Like how other characters’ base kit and design should NEVER be changed unless it is completely broken and cannot be balanced, Dusekkar is no exception.

But, let’s move onto what are actually Dusekkar’s flaws. The biggest flaw Dusekkar has is the fact he has ZERO abilities to assist him in chase, while every other support has some tool to help them in chase, while also helping their team, or they gain their chase assistant ability by supporting their team. Builderman has his turrets which he can use to help him loop, Taph has tripmines and wires which if he loops around correctly, he can throw killer off, and Elliot has delivery hour, which temporarily gives him speed 3 to escape chase. Dusekkar on the other hand, can’t do anything, but maybe zap killer if he knows chase is about to begin and there’s enough space in between him and the killer to give killer slowness 2 for a little bit. But Dusekkar being able to zap killer before chase rarely if ever happens. With most of my experience, I’ve only been able to do it in lms and there’s a decent chunk of space between me and the killer.

Now it’s time to go to the next segment that I think everyone’s been waiting for, the one, the tomorrow, the-

# Noli


Noli has one asset in his kit that hard counters Dusekkar. That being, void rush. Void rush is just a plain busted ability, along with Noli’s entire kit, and Noli needs severe nerfs. However, when we get a new character they’re usually extremely strong for a while until they get nerfed a few weeks after release. But void rush HARD counters Dusekkar. As in void rush would have to basically be nerfed to the point of being useless to Noli’s kit to not decimate Dusekkar every round. Void rush allows Noli to zoom around the map and essentially teleport to wherever he wants, and if a Dusekkar is charging up zap, or is shielding, then Noli can go to Dusekkar and kill him before Dusekkar can even really move or react.

This is an issue, as any decent Noli will be able to harshly punish (and when I mean harsh, I mean the same level as a gashing wound punishment.) Dusekkar for using *any* ability in his kit. This is an issue, as it makes playing Dusekkar useless as long as you know you’re going to face Noli. Similar issues have never been experienced before in Forsaken’s history.

This makes either Noli or Dusekkar in desperate need for a rework.

Do you know who the devs chose to get the reworks?

Was it the pretty balanced, although flawed in some areas, survivor who has been in the game for most of its lifespan?

Or was it the brand new killer that hasn't been released yet and is insanely broken?

# Balance Changes:

They chose Dusekkar to get the balance changes and rework. Honestly, if the rework is handled correctly, then Dusekkar will be able to stand his ground against Noli AND be able to assist himself in the chase in some way. So, let’s see the changes:

* Can now sprint during Spawn Protection and Plasma Beam, and they no longer slow the user heavily * Spawn Protection Duration 10s > 4s * Multiple Dusekkar’s no longer impact Resistance level for Spawn Protection * Spawn Protection wall interference timer decrease 2.5s > 1s * Spawn Protection Recently Protected timer increased 20s > 30s * Plasma Beam now grants 20 Overhealth, but every other Dusekkar reduces the amount by 2.5. * Plasma Beam hotbox is a little shorter, but wider in size * Plasma Beam cooldown is increased to 35

What does this all mean? I mean it looks like it helps Dusekkar more than it hurts him. Yeah, the shield time being decreased to 4 seconds seems pretty bad, but now he can sprint during them, and they no longer slow the user heavily.

Let’s break it all down.

“Can now sprint during Spawn Protection and Plasma Beam, and they no longer slow the user heavily”

So now Dusekkar can sprint during shielding and during the wind up of his zap. And they no longer “slow the user heavily” This highlights one of the many issues with these changes, and the fact that they are extremely vague, and although this doesn’t seem too vague,when it comes to balance changes, especially to this caliber, there cannot be any sense of vagueness.

Sprinting during shield and zap doesn’t really make too much sense when it comes to Dusekkar and his kit, as his entire kit is built around giving security and safety to protect fellow survivors. Allowing sprint kinda juxtaposes this, however, maybe it’ll just give him a slight speed boost while Dusekkar still has slowness while shielding and winding up zaps. I highly suggest that the most recently stated is true as the changes specifically state, “...they no longer slow the user heavily” which leads me to believe that the user is still slowed while zapping and shielding, just not as much as before. I don’t know how much the slowness is reduced by, but hopefully by not much as that would be damaging Dusekkar’s core, and what his kit was founded on.

Next change:

“Spawn Protection Duration 10s > 4s”

Not too much. Most people who play Dusekkar know that he very rarely uses all 10 seconds of his shield when helping survivors, and usually cancels out his shield around the 4-5 second mark, sometimes earlier if necessary. But such a large decrease usually means that Dusekkar will receive a buff, so let’s see what giving up those 6 seconds of shielding gets Dusekkar.

“Multiple Dusekkar’s no longer impact Resistance level for Spawn Protection”

Not a big change, basically allowing more Dusekkars to shield and help in a team than before, but rarely would you see 1 Dusekkar in a lobby, let alone 2 or 3. So let’s see the next change.

“Spawn Protection wall interference timer decrease 2.5s > 1s”