How to be successful with Ayano in Dark Deception: Monsters and Mortals.
Guide to Ayano
All credit goes to ItsJustKetchup!
Background Info
Ayano currently lacks a full body render to use that isn’t her T-Posing.
Ayano is classified as a Balanced Monster in Dark Deception: Monsters and Mortals. This means she has average stats across the board and doesn’t shine anywhere in particular. This makes her a template for the other monster classes in the game and like many Balanced classes, Ayano is a good pick for newer players to help them get accustomed to the game’s mechanics and combat. However, Ayano is anywhere but balanced in practice, as she is without a doubt the strongest character added in the DLC on launch day. Seriously, balancing in this game is a train wreck, as any and all updates and DLC we get break the game or impact the meta in some way. Monstrum gave us Borisov and pre-patch Fiend, Silent Hill gave us pre-patch Cybil and Heather, and the Creators DLC gave us 8-BitRyan and Dawko to a lesser extent.
Back on topic, what makes Ayano very good is the combination of both her attacks and her ultimate (which we will get back to very soon). Ayano’s light attack is akin to Robbie’s, being extremely good for chip damage and being somehow even more spammable. This makes Ayano solid at spacing and defensive play, which her heavy attack is also very good and very reliable at getting stronger hits in when opponents make mistakes. Both of these attacks have very good hitboxes and range, being comparable Robbie and Lucky’s attacks in particular. This can make her devastating in PvP in the right hands, especially if said player is hosting thanks to the removal of dedicated servers bringing a return to “host privileges.” Ayano can also be slippery at times thanks to her frame, letting her avoid attacks relatively well and making it hard to hit her in experienced hands as a result.
Ayano’s strengths are straightforward and easy to understand thanks to the lack of special properties. She’s a great PvP monster who can space very well and deal good damage. As for her weaknesses, she doesn’t have THAT many thanks to mostly her Ultimate, but she does have a few. The most notable one is that she is prone to being outranged herself by a few characters with better range or hitboxes than her, making them somewhat risky fights. This is absolutely applicable to the Ranged classes especially, as Ayano can’t really do much without taking corners sharply to shorten the distance or with items such as Speed Boost or Primal Fear to assist her. Her Ultimate can also be a detriment when not used properly, as she loses a lot of movement speed upon use and is very vulnerable if its stun effect is avoided. And speaking of her Ultimate, lets discuss that now, shall we?
Ultimate: Snap Mode
“Ayano switches to snap mode. In snap mode, Ayano is driven by her violent impulses and emits an intimidating energy wave. Any enemies caught in the wave are stunned in place and cannot move for 10 seconds. They are also slowed for 15 seconds. During that time, Ayano can walk up to stunned opponents and beat them with her fists, each hit doing 50% more damage than normal.”
Just a singular run through of this ultimate description is enough to raise some eyebrows…
Ayano’s ultimate is her “nothing left to lose” phase when she games over in Yandere Simulator: Snap Mode. When this ultimate activates, Ayano’s speed grinds to a screeching halt and she begins to move at a snails pace and rapidly attack similar to Slicer Dicer, but the damage is dealt much faster and increases by 50% with each hit. All this happens at the same time she stuns all players around her in a radius slightly lower than a primal fear. As a result, anyone caught in the stun radius without a shield active is more than likely screwed, as 10 seconds of stun time is way more than enough time for her to obliterate anyone around her. This is one of the very few things that can one shot Penny and her 400 hp from full health.
This ultimate is…definitely something, to say the least. Extremely strong and counterplay doesn’t really exist if she lands the stun outside of predicting it and using a shield or attempting to bait it first. The main downside of the ultimate, the lowered speed Ayano has to deal with, can be taken advantage of if the stun doesn’t land or you run into her after she initially uses it. This will be discussed further later on, but overall, the ultimate is a pseudo-barrage ultimate that many of us were dreading it was going to be, making her now associated with characters such as Lucky, 8-BitRyan, and Dread Ducky.
Maze Escape
Fair warning in advance, this and the Shard Mayhem overview sections will be short for reasons made very clear. Got that? Awesome!
Ayano is a f***ing menace in Maze Escape as of writing! This is where she is arguably weaker, however, as many Mortals have more defensive ults that are more suited to dealing with barrage-like methods of attack. Her great spacing abilities, solid damage output, and the risk of Snap Mode being ever present can make her a tough fight up close for many Mortals in the game, as it’s one thing to be up close and personal to be patient with a fight, but it’s another when being patient can lead to her slowly getting access to one of the strongest offensive ults in the game if she is left alone. This is very similar to fighting Malak, Dread Ducky, and to a lesser extent, Gold Watcher, as it is a gamble on if they will let their ult rip and just instantly kill you, so proper baiting and preparation is important if you decide to pick a fight with Ayano, especially if you are a character that can’t outrange her in some way. It is advised to attempt to bait out Snap Mode if Ayano hasn’t been killed in a while, as lacking Snap Mode will ease tensions with fighting her significantly and she can be taken advantage of when she’s slowed down during it.
In terms of maps, Ayano performs best on maps where she has breathing room to fight and can utilize Snap Mode the best with little risk of punishment. Elementary Evil and Deadly Decadence would fit this bill the best, as Elementary has just enough space for proper fighting and the traps and bosses can provide chip damage, while Deadly Decadence is a popular map for fighting on and it’s generally a monster-sided map. Monstrum Madness is solid for many of the reasons as Elementary Evil, and good fighting spots are found in the middle and both ends of the map. Monkey Business is cramped, which makes fighting awkward. However, here is where Snap Mode arguably performs the best, as the ultimate can completely ruin the banana traps, making them ineffective at stopping her. Akademi Assault is decent since it’s open and the stairs can allow some solid ways to cut people off, but the methods of ambushing is limited to the roof and the first floor thanks to the map’s linearity. Silent Sacrifice and Stranger Sewers are infamously hard to ambush people on and while they have space, they also have obstacles that can make using Snap Mode difficult, such as Air Screamers on Silent Sacrifice and Doom Ducky collision for Stranger Sewers. Finally, Crazy Carnevil is awkward to fight on at times, and using Snap Mode during boss time or at mallet locations can risk her straight up dying.
PvP Matchups
- Performs Well Against: Doug, Bierce, Borisov, PenPen, Nikson, Dawko, Info-Chan
- Performs Decently Against: Heather, Evans, 8-BitRyan, Vince, SuperHorrorBro, Senpai
- Performs Poorly Against: Cybil, Hanako
Borisov’s only major chance against a competent Ayano is freezing her, then killing her before she can unleash Snap Mode, otherwise he can go down easy thanks to Snap Mode and having much better hitboxes and range than him. Heather can lighten hits from Snap Mode better, making it easier to constantly hit her if she manages to avoid the stun. Evans can cancel the entire ultimate if he stuns her, 8-BitRyan and Vince simply need to use their ults after baiting Snap Mode, SuperHorrorbro can poke her while whittling her away quickly with A Thousand Cuts, and Senpai can outrange her with heavy attacks (somehow) and can use Simp For Senpai to completely turn off her light and heavy hits, forcing the Ultimate or making her have to run away. However, all these assume you are able to bait out Snap Mode and avoid getting stunned by it, as all of them will die quickly to it otherwise. The best bets for taking Ayano on are the Ranged Classes Cybil and Hanako, as the two deal decent damage and can outrange her, Cybil in particular being able to completely disable Snap Mode with Incapacitate before it even goes off.
Starting now, there will be no more Teammate Viability sections. Too much to add/edit for something that isn’t really factored all that much. They will be removed from the other guides when the updating of them begins.
Shard Mayhem
If you thought Ayano was a menace in Maze Escape, throw her into the designated free-for-all environment where there’s not many defensive Ults to come across…
Ayano is also extremely strong in Shard Mayhem for many of the same reasons as she is in Maze Escape; she’s great at fighting, has great hitboxes, and Snap Mode is a busted ult. The keys to dealing with Ayano in this mode are not immediately obvious thanks to only one Ranged Class existing and said Ranged Class is rare to see because she’s the worst Monster in the game. That said, many of the tips used to deal with Ayano apply in this mode as well; keep eyes on her and make sure she never gets to use the Ultimate, and be cautious and try to bait it if she hasn’t died in a while. Preparation is key when facing this lady.
Many of the map matchups still apply here, but boss time now messes with her when she ults thanks to the sluggish movement speed. Try to avoid ulting during it if possible unless you know where the bosses are and/or they’re occupied with someone else.
PvP Matchups
- Performs Well Against: Agatha, Reaper Nurse, Murder Monkey, Brute, Fiend, Nurse
- Peforms Decently Against: Gold Watcher, Dread Ducky, Hangry, Lucky, Penny, Ayano (herself)
- Performs Poorly Against: Malak, Clown Gremlin, Robbie
Many of the monsters have ways to deal with her if they manage to avoid the initial stun of Snap Mode, but many of them can be unreliable because of the risk involved and the fact she can still attack with the barrage if she misses the stun part of it. Malak can laser her down instantly or brute force the hits to land a hit if she’s low enough. Gold Watcher and Hangry can do the same thing, but slower. Clown and Robbie can unleash their clones onto her and she will be omega screwed since ults cannot break through clones, although with Robbie it’s a bit riskier if you haven’t gotten the clones targeted to her by the time she uses it. Dread Ducky and Lucky can ult her back if they make it out of the stun alive, but chances are they’ll be hit out of their barrage, but can still kill her thanks to the stun. Finally, Penny being a ranged character gives her an advantage since outranging Ayano and her attacks and Snap Mode is the best way to beat her, but this is still Penny we’re talking about, so it has the potential to still fail.
Closing
Ayano is the latest and greatest new broken addition to Monsters and Mortals, and she is already making waves in World Play thanks to the Lucky syndrome: fantastic attacking hitboxes and a broken ult. While Snap Mode is most certainly a scary ult to face down, it is manageable if it can be successfully scouted and baited out properly. This will get trickier to do over time if she remains like this thanks to Ayano mains being able to adapt to the timing and understand the range better, but chances are something’s going to be done about her. Given how she’s already ripping up the game on both gamemodes and that Glowstick Entertainment is working on fixing the update-related bugs thanks to the recode and the engine switch to Unreal Engine 5 (rip modding), there is a decent chance that Ayano may get some nerfs during the pass-through. For now though, happy gaming and cheers to finally having new DLC content after two straight years of nothing!
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