How The Devs RUINED The Hillbilly

The Hillbilly used to be one of the community's favourites - but seemingly overnight, he became a distant memory. Seeing a match with The Hillbilly is a rarity in today's day and age - but why?
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#DeadbyDaylight #DBD

[@Ardetha]

Still a bit ill, so the voiceover might sound a little off - enjoy!

[@Afkboiii]

Oh no what do you have? I think you did a pretty good job so far

[@kingsantacruz2866]

Hey! I just saw your video and I think a very destructive nerf no one talks about is what they did to The Spirit. From being the Mind Game Queen, she now has an extremely hard time getting the jump on survivors as they will always know where and from which direction she is going in loops or maps (Discount Nurse). Look into it and please hear me out as it has turned one of my favorite killers into almost detrimental choice for killer.

[@Haaaaaaaaarper]

​@Paolo Tsalidis same bro, these hillbilly changes in 2020 were not only the starting of the downfall of The Hillbilly but also the starting of the downfall of Dead by Daylight. That downfall never stopped to this day.

[@Dismellion]

Definitely late but get well. On the topic: The whole heat mechanic is complete useless handicap that is not even a handicap. I seriously barely care about the heat, because if you are overheating, you are doing something wrong at this point. The fact they changed almost EVERY useful addon to have a debuff or being completely a debuff by itself like with mothers pills is just ridicolous, like "hey get stunned... hey get flashlighted" - with current metas that game has its just asking for a bully squad to make you uninstall.

[@forrestyork7142]

I know this is an older video so no one will see this but one thing you forgot to mention was the fact that he used to be able to flick his chainsaw hitbox at the end of his sprint. I thought this was a cool flavor kind of thing for him and they took that away with all his nerfs

[@darthrevan5609]

Devs: "We wanted Billy mains to not rely on the chainsaw so much so we gave it a overheat feature" Bubba mains camping hooks: *randomly swinging his chainsaw all game*

[@joev3783]

Don't forget that they also said that the overheat feature was minor and wouldn't realistically happen all that often.

[@terrypennington2519]

"We wanted Billy mains to not rely on the chainsaw so much" Is akin to saying "We wanted Plague mains to stop vomiting so much so we gave her some Pepto-Bismol"

[@joev3783]

@@terrypennington2519 "We wanted the Trapper to not rely on his traps so much"

[@terrypennington2519]

@@joev3783 OH WAIT they literally did this with Freddy! Lmfao these devs are such a joke

[@spiritupgrades]

Oh, but you're wrong, my good sirs. The Devs were actually telling the truth about over uses of the saw. Cause "pro Billys" would *always* back rev with insta saw & tinker. That was the main problem; however, did they go too far? Maybe The Devs did what they said they would do, and you must appreciate the devs honoring their word for once.

[@acheron16]

TL,DR: "This Killer is in a good place, so let's change him for the sake of change. This change probably won't change anything, but we'll still do it because we don't really know wtf we're doing."

[@BabysitterSky]

Their tiny little indie game is going on 7 years strong and has sold millions of copies. I think they kind of know what they're doing more than random commenters on KZbin.

[@ashtimbog]

@@BabysitterSky did you know that a good game can have flaws

[@BabysitterSky]

@@ashtimbog Every single game does.

[@rafflez8961]

@@BabysitterSky "strong"? Are we talking about the same game? They chased killers away for years and the game's seen pretty steady decline for at least a year or two. Queue times for survivors hit 20-30 minutes multiple times and they literally had to bribe survivors with bp to play the other role

[@BabysitterSky]

@@rafflez8961 I found the killer main guys!!! Yes strong. I'm not where you live to get que times that long but I promise you it's not like that for me or most people. And a game that's doing better than Halo on Twitch 7 years in is doing pretty well for itself. Also I'd be more inclined to take you seriously if you didn't like your own comments the second you posted them.

[@misterhyde408]

Revert it back all the Way, Billy was way more fun than going against Bubba nowadays, speaking of which with Billy's disappearance people all gravitated towards Bubba instead due to him being buffed in the same era as Billy's Nerf, being way easier to play and more rewarding

[@zandromex8985]

I think they´re both kinda absent from the game right now.

[@spiritupgrades]

Just don't bring back, back vering

[@lryiss9407]

@@zandromex8985 Bubba is very common.

[@BlueJayz474]

@@lryiss9407not as common as Myers, Huntress, Pinhead, Wesker, or even Legion.

[@lryiss9407]

@@BlueJayz474 yeah I think we both have confirmation bias because I see more Bubbas than Pinheads

[@Jacketx]

i went against a billy yesterday and the dude played so damn well, his curves we're off the charts and he knew how to completely destory strong loops and mindgame everyone, he sadly couldn't get more than 4 hooks it was super depressing seeing him play so well but it literally amounting to nothing....

[@nevadajuice836]

Most Hillbilly players throw because he's simply not worth trying to win with

[@krismer7742]

bro was this me?

[@deathberryjam907]

Yeah, I don't play DBD but my SO used to until they butchered everything and were Survivor Only Gets Buffs phase. He used to always tell me about the time when certain characters were good, and always helped me understand where and why it went wrong now. That and I love drama so I dedicate my life to it. Anywho. Yeah, learning a couple months ago what BHVR uses stats on doesnt make any lick of sense. Cause according to them, Nurse has 0.2% (exaggeration but dude this is damn near accurate lol) kill rate, while (example) Billy had a 68% kill rate. Like none of that makes any sense when you look at actual gameplay footage of the killers, Billys face camp now and thats the only way they can get any form of downs. Nurse, insta blink and your gone. Yeah Nurse is hard to maneuver and manage, but so was Billy. Soooo where is the stats going to?

[@Choreza]

Bro, you literally just described all the killers that aren't in the meta.

[@nevadajuice836]

@@Choreza If you completely ignore any mechanical aspect of playing the game yeah I guess you're right

[@joev3783]

I was a hillbilly main when he had his rework. Honestly I have practically never touched him since due to his intense handicap. He used to have a lot of map pressure, so you could enjoy the actual chase aspect of the game much more, and it was really fast paced like blight is now. I miss old billy. As a sidenote, the most aggravating part of his rework was how the patch notes had a few sentences that boiled down to the following: "We really like where hillbilly is at in the game, and how the better player usually comes out on top; so we made a few changes." Then they nerfed him harder than almost any other killer in my memory besides OG nurse.

[@Seoul_Soldier]

Legacy Billy here. The patch that gutted him was the patch that made me quit the game. Now all I do is watch videos like this, missing the days where the game was actually fun to play.

[@astupidlylongnamethatstoolong]

It is funny to me that they fucking gutted billy like this, but introduced leatherface that was just better overall, then they added blight when nurse was still the fucking meta was just ???

[@numeralland9166]

nurse was changed to be balance because she was way to strong, bill was changed to be useless for no real reason

[@dankmaster9503]

I never got to experience old billy but I did decide to recently main billy and there’s so many moments where im like: man old billy could’ve pulled that off

[@watertommyz]

@@numeralland9166 nurse is still too strong...you could nerf her completely to the ground and a good player with her will still own you. She bypasses every safety net a survivor has

[@Sparxcwg54]

You mentioned in the Pig video that Pig is a big reason the "balance" team is a joke. The deletion of Billy is another big contributing factor to that as well. It's so obvious that BHVR doesn't actually play their game outside of in-studio "testing" with changes like these two, the mori system change that literally nobody wanted, and their outright refusal to do anything about Nurse

[@joev3783]

They do play the game, but unfortunately some of the more influential devs had some very problematic opinions. I will not name drop, but there was one really infamous dev who was responsible for a lot of really bad changes, and supported toxic playstyles like facecamping bubbas as an "interesting strategy." He also was involved in one of the pig nerfs, so there's that too...

[@Sparxcwg54]

@Joe V is it the same dude that had that quote about "if you didn't escape was it really a good play" when defending SBMM?

[@joev3783]

@@Sparxcwg54 It was a different person, although what you're talking about was a part of most dev's philosophies. They really liked the idea of a 50% kill rate for some reason at that time. Honestly I don't remember which specific person you are referring to, since there were a lot of devs with that stance, but the dev I'm talking about stopped talking as much a while back, due to a few PR issues.

[@Seoul_Soldier]

@@joev3783 Ah, you're probably talking about Almo. I have no qualms about namedropping. Almo is an embarrassment.

[@joev3783]

@@Seoul_Soldier My guy, you're not wrong, but you just defeated the whole point of me not calling him by name, lol.

[@justinlewis1555]

"Things didn't need to change" -Top 10 Plot Twists Of All Time

[@__Moonsies__]

325 likes and no replies? (can’t come up with a different reply)

[@Mistarpotato]

I miss being able to endlessly drift around the map with Hillbilly and even get someone while doing it, the reactions I'd get post game chat were always hilarious.

[@spiritupgrades]

Such a shame, you can blame the back revers for your lost

[@LaysarOwO]

you can still do it

[@Mistarpotato]

@@LaysarOwO Not endlessly, not anymore. Fun detected, must fix.

[@watertommyz]

You can still kinda do it on ormond and red forest. Just get the steering add ons and memorize the map.

[@canelkoc8726]

@@Mistarpotato yes you can. Even if the chainsaw did fully charge the overheat level you can still chainsaw until you end the sprint. Just don't bump into anything

[@PistolSlinginMothMan]

Bhvr is the embodiment of that one meme of that guy screaming "STOP HAVING FUN!!"

[@Justmonika6969]

Looking at the current meta...yeah...they don't like fun. DbD is in something of a purgatory right now of endless gen kick meta.

[@dumblenutz5561]

@@Justmonika6969 Gen kick meta, endless 3 gens, lots of tunneling, lots of DCing and a never ending supply of sweatlords Game feels unplayable

[@snaek2594]

they nerf fun glitches like costume mixing but leave broken shit contantly

[@peeperinos]

@Monika Senpai on the flip side, we got the gen rush meta. Yes, thats the main point, but gameplay needs to be really changed in some way... i dont build gen perks as killer because i would rather my mmr decrease from a loss. But when i hear 2 gens pop before i find a survivor that is grouped... its usually too much trouble to upkeep to patrol the spread out remaining gens. Found out some groups like to hide in lockers or sit at the far edges of the map as i make a pass, then rush to gen as im leaving for the other side of the map

[@WeskintimeASVAL679-89]

"We think Hillbilly is in a perfectly fine state." - The same patch that butchered him. I wish I was joking.

[@AmericanGadfly]

Blew my mind they included that line. Like, wut

[@tehprimelime1063]

[@dumblenutz5561]

It's like the spit on your face before they punched you

[@simbriant]

It's amazing how BHVR will destroy some killers and continuously buff others for no reason.

[@w1llrg]

It always felt like 2 different devs with conflicting opinions wrote this patch note lmao

[@kuilu]

The basekit nerf was absolutely ridicilous, instasaw was a slight annoyance at most, doesn't mean you've gotta gut the whole killer.

[@Justmonika6969]

It was a really easy issue to solve. All they had to do was change Carburetor to do something else entirely that was useful and then maybe lower the numbers on the other charge speed addons. Basekit Billy didn't need touched at all really. If anything, they could have buffed basekit Billy by giving him some QoL so new players could get into him.

[@glitchyfolks]

It’s like they’re fucking brain dead

[@nevadajuice836]

Another thing Is that instant-saw while arguably annoying you could not say was broken. If it was in the game right now it couldn't be his best build or add-on combo.

[@kuilu]

@@nevadajuice836 100% agreed.

[@Tokki_001]

Sad that they buffed their 2 of 3 original killers but made a complete mess with Billy. Hope he revive soon 🙏❤️

[@spiritupgrades]

As long as they don't bring back revving, or his going to get nerf all over again

[@owl_uwu1297]

@@spiritupgrades Back revving is still very much in the game... Nothing has changed there. If you get back-revved and go down, It is your mistake as your positioning was poor enough to allow it.

[@spiritupgrades]

@@owl_uwu1297 is not as bad as it was back then & the overheating mechanic has saved me more times than I could count. You can't feather that chainsaw for too long without the cooling add-ons & most good Billys dont run them.

[@sttate]

Conspiracy theory: Devs intentionally ruined Hillbilly to sell DLC killers because Hillbilly was the perfect killer being fun, powerful, high skill cap, *and* fair, so a lot of killers probably went full f2p and just played Hillbilly. Ruining him made a lot of people buy more killers I bet.

[@spiritupgrades]

@@sttate you havnt deal with back revving, did you?

[@zubleo8590]

Everyone agrees that Old Billy was so fun to play against. You own them on chases and it's just GG. They own you by insta-down and you just take the L without saying anything because you know they deserve it. Unlike today where everything seems to give you the expose effect or exploding generators every freaking minute.

[@TheDoctor1715]

Yeah I'm new and that whole gen meta you guys have just sounds awful. I've been maining pyramid head since I started and all my perks are just anti heal pressure because it feels way less cheap than just turning off the generators over and over again

[@bigmanliam]

@@TheDoctor1715its pretty fair since survivors also use bs strats like flashy saves, wiggle builds, and prove thyself

[@unreadbread]

@@bigmanliam Flashlight saves aren't a "bs strat" and prove thyself is nowhere near as strong as the best expose status perks

[@bigmanliam]

@@unreadbread flashies are bs and prove thyself saves crazy time on gens

[@bio4389]

@@bigmanliamprove thyself waa nerfed

[@Mr.nesser]

Hillbilly was the first Killer I ever got to Rank 1 as killer. Yes, Rank 1, back then when ranks were a thing and dedicated servers didn't exist. I dropped Billy, because they changed his chainsaw animations from what they used to be, Billy felt so disgusting to play. I still wish we could get old Billy back

[@stryker0363]

The closest rank I got to was like 5 or 6. Those were some fun times and coming back years later was a wild adjustment

[@Mr.nesser]

@@stryker0363 can imagine with so much having changed

[@lussor1]

Why ranks are useless now? I used to play in 2020, i remember in rank 1 matchmaking as killer was very hard. Now its rare to find good survivors

[@Mr.nesser]

@@lussor1 back then the ranks determined your matchmaking, now it's a hidden mmr system that doesn't really work

[@bingoviini]

Fun fact The "stun" Hillbilly gets is about 3 seconds, no matter if you hit a survivor, a wall or nothing Ofcourse hitting a survivor is the best option beacuse they die, but hitting a wall is takes as long as wiffing

[@riddleharriet]

Old Billy...we will forever miss you.

[@spiritupgrades]

Yeah, Nah, I'm glad that back revving was nerfed & hoping blights speed addons are next. However, did they go a little bit overboard? Yeah, a little bit, but hey, thats what happens with ruinners. They like to ruin things

[@asain3586]

@@spiritupgrades Skill up then. Looping is a thing

[@spiritupgrades]

@@asain3586 Im guessing your a blight main?

[@spiritupgrades]

@@lazypayday4476 So what do you bring to the table?

[@spiritupgrades]

@@lazypayday4476 what about your response to your other comment

[@IGN_OFFClAL]

I think that you made an excellent point at the end of the video about colliding with random stuff on the map. I thinks it's kind of absurd HOW MANY THINGS on a map have collision that messes with blight rush, chainsaws, hatches, and the like. I think that before we talk about how we can fix issues with any particular killer, we need to make sure they actually work on each map. Map issues are stupidly frustrating.

[@Acidburn1155]

I just bought and starting playing blight after coming back to the game, last time I played was pre nerf Billy so It had been a while. But ya the amount of times I'll be sprinting with him and try to slam into a tree or something and it just completely not register that I hit something and push me to the side. The few times I've played as Billy since coming back have been pretty awful as well, with the collision boxes of the environment seriously not helping. As an ex Billy main I feel bad for how the did my man dirty.

[@detectiveinnitkid2880]

Although I still love billy and he is still my main, I find it incredibly sad that he was so neglected by behaviour. Also not ever seeing any billys after the nerf is sad because I still think he's one of the funnest and most nerve racking killers to go up against.

[@somegamingfan1277]

Gonna have to agree with this statement.

[@panzerscoutempire27]

well all maps that came out since midwich just suck for Billy

[@bigmanliam]

Theyre busy making boring killers and horny cosmetics

[@tastezemelon7229]

The overheat mechanic had the potential to actualy add more depth to the hillbilly as well as remove his weakness of being easy to dodge when paying attention by increasing the chainsaws hitbox, the sprint speed, but removing insta downs. Due to this being difficult to do on command it would add an actual resource managment aspect to the hillbillys kit, like the change was intended to do. Instead it has remained a completely pointless addition that punishes fun and interesting uses of the power and pushes new players away by making practicing curves harder outside of a few increadibly gimiky addons, with the only semi-worthwhile one being pighouse gloves which is a purple.

[@nurpthelegend9706]

I used to be a Hillbilly main back in the day. These changes rubbed me the wrong way so bad I quit DBD for 2 years lol. Still would love to see my boy fixed so that I can get to driftin' like back in the good ol' days.

[@Mr_Mistah]

Bro the drifting was so fun! I miss that

[@Shadow-Morgana]

This change to hillbilly was basically the biggest F you from Behavior to players that didn't have any problems with him

[@joev3783]

Yeah, this nerf and the UI change were the biggest insults I can recall tbh. Granted I was one of the hillbilly mains when he was nerfed.

[@Shadow-Morgana]

@@joev3783 I mained him when the game first came out on console I stopped playing him ever since that stupid change massive sad moment

[@joev3783]

@@Shadow-Morgana Yeah the patch notes that said they thought he was fair and rewarding was the worst part. They legit said "We're happy with how the better player usually comes out on top; so we made a few changes." I know they were trying to soften the blow, and that they thought it was a minor change, but that felt like a slap in the face tbh.

[@Shadow-Morgana]

@@joev3783 literally 100% Agreed

[@BkGamer00000]

@@Shadow-Morgana Who do you main now?

[@angryface5557]

If i remember correctly the overheat was basicaly an (anti camp)/(anti hold your power forever) mechanic that was aimed toward booba but added to billy because they have the same power, turned out it was a devastating blow to billy while bubba never in these 2 years since the addition of this mechanic was in any case a problem there is some people that dont even know bobba have an overheat mechanic, for me it was a useless change and badly added on top of that. true bhvr style!

[@kingol4801]

Bubba can enter tantrum pretty regularly though. Unless you don’t play Bubba on advanced level

[@amezzeray2]

I never played Billy. Perhaps once or twice for adept but I never bothered to learn how to play him. But here's the thing, as a surv main he was an absolute pleasure to go against. So despite my lack of playtime, I mourned with you all. I do not understand the changes.I go against him so little atm that I actually get super excited when I do. I stand with you Billy mains!!

[@Haaaaaaaaarper]

We Billy mains appreciate your comment. Even tho most of us quit the game after attending to his funeral and being sad about BHVR not listening and in fact spitting at their entire community.

[@sgt.zaitsev287]

We are so fucking back

[@darkshybandits7154]

A bit sad you did not talk about how they nerfed sky billy as well. Before you could jump on roofs on certain maps and pull some really cool stuff with the speed add-ons. This was also nerfed recently by them, by making him drop down really fast when he uses his chainsaw in the air.

[@Olmeuu]

They really just hate it when we have fun

[@kingol4801]

@@Olmeuu I mean, most of DbD players have fun only when they break the game, bully killers or exploit unintended meta….. Kinda deserving corrective action.

[@tiltedbandy6038]

I would genuinely come back to play if they reverted Billy.

[@Haaaaaaaaarper]

+1

[@Haaaaaaaaarper]

i think a lot of people would

[@ratinc.t3748]

@@Haaaaaaaaarper +2

[@JunimoUncanny]

Well well well

[@newtonbrent8405]

LETS GOOOOO

[@Rin._Azvrehound]

I'm surprised he didn't even mention crackbilly. I honestly thought that was a lot stronger and even more dangerous.

[@CertifyDBD]

definitely was but it was a lot harder so you saw it less often

[@larryblankenship8202]

​@@CertifyDBD "saw it" nice.

[@maximusthegoat8034]

@@CertifyDBD yeah, because it required you to be a skilled flickbilly, and most people seeking strong addon combos, usually were shitters, who didnt even play billy.

[@blecis74]

I had a game a while ago where I was played Billy and at the end of the match one of the survivors said that they were happy to see someone playing Billy as Bubba is far more common. It’s annoying that Billy is so rare perhaps rarer to see than Demogorgon (who isn’t available to buy anymore).

[@ollolool]

Actually before his rework and very early in the game billy had the ability to flick his chainsaw when he stopped running, sorta like oni, but they removed that, that was way before overheat though

[@XDarksoulX1129]

"seeing hillbilly is a rarity nowadays" *me who sees a hillbilly every other match in 2024

[@simonperske7069]

its because of his buff

[@evilgod5666]

This is why the Hillbilly is completely extinct from this game. I am pretty sure someone at BHVR got destroyed by Billywilly and decided to put an end to his legacy

[@kingol4801]

No. Developers balance things around CONCEPTUAL power budget, not in-game experience (which is subject to numerical bias). Old Legion was pinnacle of on-paper character design. I low-key want Hitchhiker from TCM to appear in this game with old Legion’s power to him (as well as trapper traps). Billy has: Map mobility Instadown at all times + camping Pallet break Doing donuts around loops. On paper Billy is stronger than Blight, since blight needs his second dash to do anything AND cannot insta-down. So, by this spectacular (no irony here, this is a flawless logic that I fully support), Billy gets nerfed and Blight gets buffed. People don’t understand that game balance is about about in-game experience from the developer’s perspective, but about artistic meaning - will of creator to implement something in-game accurately to the lore. Example: Myers having add-ons to kill survivors is shining example of developer’s genius, since that perfectly embodies the character they tried to artistically convey. This is not “League of Legends” where in-game balance is a multi-million tournament concern…. This is DbD, a party game with every character being unique. And difference and uniqueness implies some being extremely bad and some being extremely good when translated from on-paper to gameplay. And that is a compromise I can live with. Artistic value > “fun”.

[@breadfaceuk3823]

Who ever decided to nerf hillbilly chainsaw and addons needs putting in maximum security prison for life for the trauma that hillbilly mains received

[@Technature7567]

11:33 - It should be noted that the same developer would state a year later, after he left the team, that he mostly said what he said here because he was still affiliated with the team and was just 100% against the heat mechanic in the first place. In fact, when it became clear it was going to happen, he attempted to create add-on ideas that would give the Hillbilly benefits for overheating the chainsaw. Sadly, Big Buckle and Pighouse Gloves were the only add-ons that made it.

[@KingSolstice621]

I'll honestly never get over this. I love Billy so much, but now you are punished for using your chainsaw. You are actively encuraged to M1 now, and it feels so annoying

[@TheGamingGalaxies]

This has aged beautifully - now he's at least A Tier :3

[@Fedesalazaar]

If you play him perfectly he's S tier, better than Blight i would say

[@BlackDeath662]

@@FedesalazaarI feel like Blight fell off second place due to his big tech being gone and idk about s tier

[@Moses_16]

@@BlackDeath662fr and his most recent argument for S tier (double iri) just got hard nerfed. imo only Nurse and MAYBE Billy is S tier but blight spirit and artist are A+

[@Seoul_Soldier]

BVHR's absolute murder of the Hillbilly was why I pretty much quit the game. I had every Billy skin at the time, even legacy and they rendered him completely unenjoyable to play for me. Bonus points to BVHR that every new map (or map rework) also double as a shit Billy map. Most Billy mains (who even still play) have transitioned to either Oni or Blight. The darkest of us are now Bubba mains.

[@dankmaster9503]

It’s the other way around for me I actually used to play blight but decided to main billy

[@advcrim77]

@@dankmaster9503 congratulations on switching from a ferrari to a Nissan

[@iaminyourwalls3889]

THEY FINALLY FIXED IT. AFTER A YEAR.

[@citiLP]

After 4 years bro

[@janbosman3310]

Meh, not rlly

[@R.K.994]

BILLY IS BACK AFTER THE LATEST PTB !!! THEY GAVE HIM NOS !!!

[@Benjo_]

14:45 those hanging vines on yamaoka :( that tiny twig that juts up on most tree trunks :( any tip of any bush or twig :( 14:12 that hit was sick btw

[@Nade-ey8no]

I think it was just on the PTB, but his Lopro Chains add-on that's actually pretty good atm, was originally an ultra rare (very rare currently) and it would make the chainsaw ALWAYS make the survivor go down by 1 health state, instead of only for a little bit after breaking pallets.

[@joev3783]

That is correct. I honestly thought it was intentional at the time, as a billy main, due to all the new downsides his add ons received. They just coded it wrong, which is a problem for completely different reasons, lol.

[@NeoCinnamon]

Actually fun fact about balancing that not a lot of people consider who aren't in the game development industry is the fact that when you are balancing a thing in a game it's really helpful to at first go big, make drastic changes. Because you want to see what is the fine balance of overpowered and garbage. Them nerfing Billy to the ground was in a way good, because it not only allowed for them to see just how strong he was, but just how the nerfs made him weak. The issue is that from there Behaviour imo should have then buffed him up accounting for any of the underlying problems. If they did the nerf and it was too much then they can pull back the nerf a bit to properly balance him. From my understanding they did the first part pretty well, but because they didn't do the second part well, or at all, Billy went from being unbalanced because he was too good, to unbalanced because he is no longer good whatsoever. I forgot to mention why it's better to make a bigger change than a smaller one, while making smaller changes it's hard to figure out the proper level of change that needs to be made. If they simply adjusted some numbers by a tiny amount it wouldn't have done enough to actually do anything and it would have taken a lot longer to reach that middle ground between good and bad by slowly lowering them into perfection. Taking unbalanced to unbalanced shows you why things work and don't work, allowing for a way faster and better process of balancing as you find the perfect middle ground in only a few balance updates.

[@rorykincannon1166]

Revert them! He was a great killer before and came into the game nearly as perfect as is possible. His old addons also let you play fun things like bumper Billy!

[@davidkray8971]

THE RISE OF BILLY. Praying Bhvr keeps him like the PTB

[@reavenedwards1690]

As an OG hillbilly main I really do miss the old hillbilly...

[@maximusthegoat8034]

same man, i even play on those old 1.9.3 versions to relive the old days, even if only with friends or for a few matches, it feels good.

[@reavenedwards1690]

@maximusthegoat8034 same just a few matches will completely help my day

[@WittingStudios]

Devs: We heard that Hillbilly was not strong enough. So we nerf the Pig.

[@dxrkyn1604]

I really miss when The Nurse and Billy was the only S tier killer. They we're really that good but at the same time, they're pretty easy and fun to play against. God I miss those days (I mean spirit is there but like, Beads hard carried)

[@salmon_wine]

Spirit wasn't the worst to me when I would play scummy streetwise Nea lmao... But you are so right- the best meta was when the S-tier were Nurse, Billy, & Spirit and the A tier was Huntress, Myers, and Hag. I like to call it the "jumpscare meta"... Nurse cross-map blinking you off of a gen, Light-speed Billy flying at you randomly, Spirit yoinking you off of a gen, getting crossmapped by Huntress, Myers in general, and (of course) the jumpscare queen herself

[@Dralaios]

There's an old saying. Don't tinker with something that works. The hilbilly was perfect as it was. Yeah, some nerfs to the insta saw addons is fine, but everything else should've been the same as it's always been. Back in the day, when hilbilly players including myself was running around spamming the chainsaw so it sounded like the hillbilly had trouble starting his chainsaw was always hilarious. But devs in a nutshell tend to balance things that are fine instead of things that aren't.

[@kingol4801]

Except balance is all-times good now. Nurse is perfectly balanced assymmetrical killer (same as Evolve monsters). Good Nurse player can only defeated by the COMMON EFFORT of 4 other players. Which is what any FAIR asymmetrical game should be like - odds are stacked against majority of players, not minority. Blight with speed add-ons is honestly lame…. Lame because he needs those speed add-ons base-kit to function. Blight without add-ons is a poorer version of Legion. Even Myers/Leatherface found a good niche of being lore-accurate character. Same as Sadako. Lore accuracy > “fun”. The ONLY character that is beyond poorly implemented is Wesker. He was supposed to be a FASTER nurse lore-wise (but limited to LOS, as Nurse’s Iri add-on). Instead they downgraded Wesker so hard from his lore-accurate version that he is borderline not enjoyable. Ideally, Wesker should press “E” and instantly teleport behind the player within LOS (teleportation is always point-and-click, like many Dota2 or old League of Legends mechanics). Nemesis is honestly one of the few genuinely awesome implementations, that keep his lore-accuracy in consideration.

[@theshowstopper1968]

I played billy before these nerfes, and can say it's a sad state to see him now, especially after they removed skybilly and spacebilly

[@minihalkoja590]

Ah yes, the last straw that broke the camel's back. The camel's back being my motivation to play this trainwreck of a game. Good to see that BHVR is still standing by their choice to give every Billy main the finger.

[@Ленивыйканал-в5э]

I heard somewhere that basekit billy nerfed more. They nerfed collisions, so now you most likely miss survivior with your chainsaw. And they nerfed one tech, when you can in the end of your sprint (special animation) flick and still get survivor, who was not on your screen, but close enough. It was before big nerf, and people complain about that too. P.S. Sry for poor english.

[@DevelonLP]

I feel like alot of Killers mains (billi) left after the nerf, me included i mean i did play huntress then but gave up on the game. But i do enjoy the content from you and with these Videos its always a memory lane Trip, thank you.

[@TvjaMonitori]

One of the most not needed nerfs in the game. He was so greatly balanced all around. Fun to play and fun to play against. They only needed to tweak few of his add-ons. Or just remove one of the charge speed add-ons and he would have been fine. There are still some really good Hillbillys but even when you master him there are so many things against him. Maps, you have to master the use of overheat meter that you don't do that everytime and become M1 killer at that point. And even when you master all of them it still is very punishing to play and the new camera view aswell. Billy really needs to go back the way he was.

[@LotteLattes]

Hell they didn't even need to remove his charge addons just making it so they dont stack would've been enough. I miss my boy

[@Haaaaaaaaarper]

U did the OG Hillbilly Mains very proud with this Video, thank you.

[@Vulgar_Worlock]

We are so back

[@elliebingo]

I started playing DBD a long time ago, around when the Pig came out and seeing as I didn't have any DLC; Billy became my go to killer, I can't remember why I tried him but instantly I just clicked with him way more than the other 4 killers, I loved sprinting around the map and hitting a chainsaw hit while I still sucked ass at the game was a massive dopamine hit, I stuck with him through thick and thin for years. Getting better and having fun, the nerfs hurt; they really hurt but I kept going. I became very good at basekit Billy, who is still a good killer if you were already good at Billy. I'd never have stuck with him through the learning curve if I was constantly being punished for just TRYING to use my power, the stun from hitting walls was bad but I'd have overheated so often while sucking and trying to get better that I'd have given up. What really broke me has been map design, or the lack of it. Maps are dogshit, especially the ones released recently; I stopped playing before Borgo came out but still RPD, EoC and GoJ are pathetic for Billy, coupled with indoor maps, you're basically stuck backrevving because what else are you going to do. You can't really use addons to change shit up because almost all of his addons are pathetic, it's double speed or basekit because all the other addons are either going to screw you over trying to use them more often than they help you, or just too punishing. I miss old Billy, but to put on my little tinfoil hat; I think there's a conspiricy. Billy is a free killer, and if he's that good and fun then people aren't going to buy DLCs when they have Billy. So what do you do? Nerf Billy and buff Bubba while releasing Blight. Two DLC killers who are now stronger than Billy with similar playstyles to be like "hey you liked Billy? cool cough up bitches".

[@ianmccamman3177]

Now there nerfing his speed add ons as well. I personally love versing and playing the Hill Billy, and would love to see at least his base kit reverted.

[@venomthegirl2006]

"And now in 2024 Billy go brrrr"

[@mrin5tinct45]

Whether they revert him back or change addons or basekit they NEED to do something. 2 yrs and nobody has said the change was a good idea. And with more killers coming out the less he being picked when he was a joy to play as and against

[@Kryllzors]

as a survivor main i LOVED playing hillbilly at 2200 hours played hillbilly is the only killer i evre got to p3 after the nerf i never touched killer again. it sucks i miss billy

[@Gia1911Logous]

And now they're like "oh, Billy has only 2 good addons, let's nerf them lmao"

[@xanshen9011]

I think they did change hillbilly once before his nerf. When he was first released bumping into objects was much more forgiving but at the cost that when he was sprinting it was basically a straight line.

[@spooky0_0.]

I used to be very dedicated at Billy before the nerf and going against him was always a ton of fun... I remember that I won a lot of matches, even without add ons or perks, feeling really satisfied and that I was getting better. Now look how they massacred our boy.... 😢😢 We'll never forget you Billy ❤️❤️

[@kingmonke4664]

in 2024 billy has been super buffed. it’s a good time to

[@nagashtheundyingking4404]

I just hope the trapper gets reworked one day being the original as well as the face of the game

[@kbennett365]

I think the real issue, for me even tho I don't play billy but once in a while when I did, was the animation changes for him.

[@Polygonlin]

I miss playing Hillbilly SO. MUCH. But, Blight is my new best friend. And i love his character/Lore just as much, if not more.

[@Haaaaaaaaarper]

There is nothing more I have ever missed in a Video Game. Quit the game at 3.8k hrs because of these changes.

[@snazzypotatoes2177]

This video continues to age like a fine wine. RIP doom engravings and death engravings

[@BrookieSmallz]

Back in the day Billy used to be able to run around the map almost constantly with his chainsaw. NO OVERHEAT! It would really make you fear sneaking in tall grass or cornfields which I actually loved. You had to make sure there was some type of jungle gym near you to survive. Now he is completely ruined.

[@dailyhoodmemories5531]

I love all of your documentary videos man they are so perfect thank you so much for creating them ❤️

[@Bub8les]

Only thing I can talk about his change in addons is tinkerer, affected his addons after it’s change but it’s an indirect change to them

[@schiedinator8074]

Playing Billy and against good Billys was always fun. Never played him with addons often really. Mostly just the brown once if even any.

[@icyjonathan69]

they need to revert billy, im a survivor main but if i would play killer, billy would be my go to but ever since they changed billy i havent even touched him

[@HeshO-yi3hh]

Devs with the last PTB: wanna se more?

[@CorgiusLord]

Revert the nerfs. The Devs have no fucking clue what they were doing and I stand by that statement to this day.

[@Assasscene]

They still have no clue. 😂

[@patrickvstheworld7017]

I really miss old Billy and how strong he could be. Props to anyone that still plays him

[@jaei6680]

I remember playing billy at launch while everyone and their mother was playing wraith. The consensus was that billy sucks because hitting chainsaw hits was impossible on good survivors.

[@NighttimeNubbs]

Got into DBD a month ago and found this channel yesterday. Feels weird to hear Hillbilly being a rarity where at least in low ranks he's one of the killers I run into more often. The matchmaking in this game sucks getting Commando Pro across the map right as I finished a gen from a Hillybilly clearly too skilled to be paired with a fresh player. I suck with him but he can be nasty with the right hands/map.

[@akemiakemiakemi2431]

This video is about older Hillbilly. Nowadays, start of 2024, he is stronger than ever, and now very common.

[@NighttimeNubbs]

​@@akemiakemiakemi2431​Oops, thought I mentioned the time gap of when the video was released. It's just wild joining the game 8 years in and finding out things like facecamping wasn't addressed until last year or how different the UI can be 2 years ago watching DBD KZbinrs.

[@OurHereafter]

"Plastic jug" Devs: no thats gloves "Chainsaw blades" Devs: no thats like, leaves or something lol

[@CursedPersonz]

I think he's still playable even with all the feelsbad changes. But all the random objects sticking out everywhere make it impossible to play on certain maps which I think is the biggest reason people don't play him. Maps counter him more than anything else.

[@nathaniel6546]

Garden of Joy and Eyrie of Crows are awful with collisions, but all the other maps are pretty much fine from my experience. Of course the most common offerings brought by survivors are those maps though.

[@maximusthegoat8034]

yeah hes still a solid killer, just not as strong cus he doesnt have the busted addons, new maps suck though i most of the time bring an offering when i play him

[@acaprogamer6561]

You explained everything to very detail about billy,as a 3000 hour hillbilly player(all the way from 2017),i think he just needs his useless addons changed/removed and overheat removed,despite if that gets changed,his lags will be removed at start of sprinting those first frames,and you just left over the fact that they removed interesting mechanic(bug),while buffing the nurse...out of words.I just hope they show him some more love in the future!

[@محمدعلي-ق1غ3ي]

Old Billy 😢

[@camryngarcia3975]

Your literally the best underrated KZbinr. People need to see your vids, there so good😢

[@armasapee]

This aged like wine

[@drewlovs]

I think Billy should get his changes reverted back, because having to wait mid chase before you can use your chainsaw again if you sprint around the map is a bad mechanic. If BHVR is going to add a overheat mechanic to 1 killer's chainsaw, and leave the other untouched, it is very unbalanced, plus, Billy and Bubba are very buggy with their hitboxes

[@tempereroly9118]

Now it finally got buffed

[@messatine]

You forgot to mention crack billy and double chains. Personally I think his add-ons did need a change, but his basekit was fine. My hypothesis is that they had no idea what to change his add-ons to because Billy was so simple so they had to come up with a basekit change to have his new add-ons affect something. Too many of his add-ons affected his rev speed and cooldown

[@lucilovesick3938]

Make Hillbilly great again. Who isn't happy when you play against a Billy?! Win or lose its always a good laugh.

[@taragnor]

Yeah playing against Billy is way more fun than against Blight.

[@Beowulfr23]

By far the saddest part of this is when you realize people like hill billy because IT REWARDED HARD WORK and gave players no matter the skill level joy/despair equally as you stated. I mean just look at KZbin videos featuring Billy every match it starts with, "how good a hill billy are they?" He's one of those characters people bully instinctively in games as to not let them evolve their style of play. I sat here for a moment and tried to think of an analogy that fits this situation and I found it the relationship between Billy players and survivors was like dancing. With the Billy players often coming in as people without dance experience while the opposite can be said for the pro ones. And as viewers and players it was breath taking watching as both player and killer tried not to over step but make things interesting I.E not being minge or tunneling.

[@Horrorbear91]

I think while not completely necessary, the overheat mechanic isn’t the worst. It was a fine addition. It was nerfing and completely changing most of his add-ons that really did him in. Most of the changes are so incredibly niche and have a near 0% chance of getting any value in games. Most times I play him now, it’s literally without any add-ons. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@joev3783]

Honestly, if you didn't rev the chainsaw much, you're right. The problem was that revving was used for mind games, and techs, and a bunch of other fun features. In other words, revving was the thing they took an issue with, even though it was the source of a large piece of fun in his chases. Tbh I rarely cared about add ons for old billy anyway because his basekit was so fun. Now I can't even use his basekit as much.

[@Warcrafter4]

It makes most fun but slower billy saw plays nonviable due to it. Aka its literally a "No fun allowed" mechanic as it only punishes you for going for unorthodox plays while being useless if played normally. Its by definition is a bad mechanic as it only punishes creative uses for his saw while being useless in every other situation. It purely removes options instead of adding them or giving trade offs. All while its removal would only make billy more creative rather then more powerful.

[@CertifyDBD]

this is definitely true, as mclean said in that clip, it really doesnt have that large of an affect on games, but when you add that on top of add on nerfs, the chainsaw not getting along with new maps, and overheat its just too much for some people. its not worth it to play him, incredible effort for little reward.

[@rakeshsspiceclub5554]

Hillbillys new gimmick addons are much more fun than his old ones. Love his stealth addons and that they got rid of insta saw addons. What they should do to him to fix him: Return him his bump addons, Cooldown and make his overheat much less punishing. The whole overheat mechanic point is to prevent facecamping, so just make it it overheats very quickly around hooks. Make his stuns less punishing, and make his yellow turn rate addon base

[@PancakesTsuki]

Did spirit go through any wacky changes? I’d like to see her I like learning old dbd lol

[@CertifyDBD]

no, basekit remained pretty much the exact same as now, she used to have collision with survivors when phasing which was incredibly frustrating to play against and she also received some add on changes

[@PancakesTsuki]

@@CertifyDBD I like to see a more in depth video like this one here but if the changes were not big like others ig u rlly can’t ik she used to be OMEGA OP though I think it be cool

[@CertifyDBD]

@@PancakesTsuki yeah bro mother daughter ring (still in the game) and prayer beads (replaced) was just the worst, the absolute definition of uncounterable, you couldnt hear she was phasing and she would just grab people off gens

[@ineligible2267]

Appreciate you covering this, I've been a Billy main for years and this video pretty much summarises exactly how I felt when they randomly announced such unnecessarily brutal nerfs on him - this alone has made me play him far less than I used to, and I imagine other Billy mains felt the same Call me biased but I would absolutely welcome a full reversion of the changes made, I can understand the charge time addons being nerfed but the overheat mechanic genuinely adds nothing to his gameplay and only makes him more punishing for people to learn, while also punishing experienced players for wanting to make full use of their mobility

[@coggear1135]

Same here dud

[@kayleighos]

every time i rewatch this video the more i realise the devs absolutely couldn’t care less about what the people who support their game think and feel. they change things unnecessarily even if the things they change are a fan favourite as they are :/

[@misteriosydioses]

We all miss good old billy, in a whole year I only played against a billy twice.

[@animeprofilepicture8783]

Poor Billy :( I still 4k swfs to this day with him just to spit in there faces, he's S tier in our hearts

[@Prodominatrix]

They can keep the overheat but they need to drastically change the bump and collision mechanic, make it more like blight where you can slide on some objects

[@Gentar1864_]

Nice content bro! Keep it up!

[@tizzi91able]

We should do a petition. I’m play mostly survivor but I also enjoy playing killer. I’m a 60/40 player. I vote to revert back the old hillbilly for sure. He was so fun to play and play against