Video Horror Society – Guide to Playing Monster (Playtest)

Monster definitely is not a very new player friendly role, I would like to help offer some general tips, advice to new players trying to overcome the initial hurdle of learning Monster!

Tips and Tricks to Playing Monster

All credit goes to Unseenvision!

What Should Your Expectations Be?

Before delving deeper into the guide. Monster is not an easy role to get into. As the first minute of the game plays a huge impact on the pace of the match, having to keep track of 4 different people, learn many different mechanics, and weapons that the game has to throw at you. With any learning experience expect to lose games. It happens to the best of us. It can be a frustrating experience. I hope this guide will help new players understand more than the absolute bare minimum and make the experience as a new player a bit more tolerable and easy to digest.

As a monster main I love this game, and I would love to see more people enjoy and have fun playing Monster! know the experience can be hard, but that’s why I am making this guide! Hope you enjoy.

Early Game

Before transforming

You have 15 seconds at the start of the game where you can run around disguised as a teen, you can end this at any time pressing a button the channel time is (.75 seconds) Transforming duration takes (1.5 seconds)

Generally (Unless you’re dollmaster) Staying in your teen form the entire duration is a fine. You want to spend your first moments of the game always looking for a teen or multiple.

What to do your first 45 seconds – 1 minute of a match

The first 45 seconds of the match can dictate the pace of the game. During this period you can always be certain that no teens have any weapons. This is the time where you can be fully aggressive trying to apply as much pressure as you can. Getting those first few hits or even a down within this time will help you flow into the match when the teens do start pumping out weapons.

What do you want to Achieve at this point?

Here are 2 decent scenarios that can play out.

• Getting 1 down
• Hitting 2-3 Separate Teens

Why are these acceptable scenarios?

Getting 1 down incapacitates that teen from making / finishing a weapon they may have started since this is the first sub minute of the game, having them continue the craft on the weapon making you potentially deal with 1 less weapon for a bit. Also another Teen will have to come for the pick up, if the teen has a weapon you are essentially taking out 1 weapon to potentially catch out another survivor who may be out of position or still crafting.

Hitting 2-3 teens may not seem like much, but it will get those teens off crafting stations for a bit, if other teens are close by the Disruption from your scream will also prevent them from crafting weapons for about 7 seconds. Potentially catching out one of the injured or uninjured survivors.

Here are 2 great scenarios that can play out

• Getting 2 downs
• Hitting 3-4 Separate Teens

Why are these great scenarios?

Getting 2 downs means half of the team is down, 2 potential weapons you don’t have to worry about, a teen with or without a weapon will have to go for the pickup, and the teen that was picked up will have to continue their weapon. Making it harder for the teens to setup an ambush or push. Their general weapon economy will be low.

Hitting 3 separate teens will allow you to have your enrage up for the 4th hit. If you can manage to find the last survivor with or without a weapon you will be able to one hit down. Now you have 3 teens injured and 1 down at this point. Weapons become riskier to use for teens if they aren’t setting up an ambush when injured, because without a Brett perk called (Vice Grip) they will lose their weapon upon being downed.

Note: These aren’t the only scenarios that can pan out I think it’s nice to at least have a goal / idea of what a good / great / and or bad starts can look like. If you are unable to achieve those example goals listed above at the start of a match, it does not mean the game is over and you just lose. It will just naturally be harder.

If you were not able to generate early pressure / After 1 minute has passed without a hit

Now, what if you had a bad start and were not able to get those first few hits in the first 45 seconds of the game? At this point you will have to respect the fact that the teens will have at least 1 weapon, if not more. During this situation you want to make sure you are aware of a couple of things.

• Make sure you are not out in the open, stick to areas where you have a lot of POV blockers and obstacles to avoid easy weapon uses and ambushes.
• Always check corners when attempting to enter any room.
• Sound is very important in this game, make sure you are listening to footsteps, running, breathing from teens that are close, Any props that are moved around in a room etc, chairs boxes.
• As the Monster you cannot play agressive all the time sometimes you do have to wait for power cooldowns, or for a Teen to over-push with their weapon or for someone to be caught in a bad spot

These are just some examples of things to look out for when you are playing from a rough start

At this point you lost your ability to be aggressive at the start. You will need to play defensive, and wait for an opening. Ideally this won’t happen every game but the games you do, you will need a backup plan and know that blind aggression is no longer an option.

Mid Game / End Game

I don’t like branching VHS matches into Early/Mid/Late game, as realistically the Early game is what I would consider the 1st minute or so of the game. Past that is just the Mid / End game. That is what I am calling this section.

General Tracking Tips

Hitting a teen

Right after hitting a teen every monster will scream and will lock your camera into the air for about 3 seconds. Giving teens time to make distance away from you, it will also Disrupt all teens within your scream radius (28 Meters) for about 7 seconds.

Chromatic Aberration

Injured teens will leave a trail on the ground called “Chromatic Aberration” I like to call them Glitch Marks. They do not stay for a very long time. They generate about every (1.5)-(2) seconds, they will fade about every 2-3 seconds.

Sound

Sound plays an extremely important role in tracking as Monster. I highly suggest playing this game using a headset.

Here are some examples of sounds that you should be looking out for when tracking a teen, mid chase or out of chase.

• Footsteps.
• Breathing.
• Teens searching Vending machines or Waste Bins.
• Crafting sounds, each crafting station makes it’s own unique sound when a or multiple teens are actively crafting.
• Props moving like boxes, chairs, etc like picture used above.

When should you stop searching for a teen after a hit?

A general rule of thumb I go for is after hitting a teen if you were unable to follow their glitch marks, or footsteps and lose track of them. After about 10-15 seconds just move on and try to find someone else. It’s generally not worth the time investment frantically looking for someone and potentially putting yourself out of position for an ambush.

Monster Powers

Every monster has a tracking ability to help you locate teens that are specific to the Monster.

Using their power in conjunction to the tips previously will help you get a better grasp of where teens are to prepare for an ambush, or when you can attempt to be aggressive and apply pressure.

Doll Trap

Doll Masters main form of tracking Teens is their Doll Trap ability. When the dolls are set it can track teens in any state besides death up to 15-22 Meters away the Dolls icon will change to yellow. Any teen outside of that range the icon will be set to neutral a grey color.

Echolocation

The Wart will send out a pulse that is map wide. After 2.5 Seconds an image of all teens will be shown at the time Echolocation was used. for 8.5 seconds.

Hunt

The Werewolf will enter it’s “Hunting State” for 25 seconds, It will detect all teens up to 24 Meters away. You will hear a heartbeat sound that will grow faster the closer the teens are (The fastest the heartbeat will go will be if a teen is within 6 Meters of you / The slowest the heartbeat will go is 24 meters from you).

Playing Around Weapons “Fire Weapons Finished Still Working on Others”

Note: All weapons are default no mods for the sake of consistency and general understanding

Burn Weapons

Flame Thrower

The flamethrower at starts (0 meters) and moves up to it’s maximum range of (9 Meters) It takes about half a second for it to reach it’s maximum range.

• Crafting Time: 42 Seconds
• Wind Up: Slow
• Total Charges: 10 seconds
• Range: 9 Meters

General Tips

Since flamethrowers have a slow start-up if you catch a teen trying to bait you at an incorrect distance it may lead to a hit. A generally safe distance for Flamethrowers is about 10-12Ms if a teen is keeping that distance away from you try not to push.

Weak Against

• Wart: If teens are positioned incorrectly Wart can easily leap and get an easy hit even without armor.
• Werewolf: If you channel her howl just outside of about 6-7 M range even if they wind up the flamethrower you should be able to get it off without being threatened.

Strong Against

• Doll Master: Doll master doesn’t have any mobility in body to get away from a flamethrower, Good teens will always use their flamethrower on dolls to destroy them, generally flame thrower is good against dolls.

Fire Bomb

The firebomb takes about half a second to wind up before throwing. It’s the fastest Burn weapon to craft. Teens can only move at about 20% movement speed while holding up the fire bomb.

• Crafting Time: 35 Seconds
• Wind Up: Slow
• Total Charges: 1 bottle
• Throw Distance: 20 Meters
• Area of Effect: 3.2 Meters
• Burn Time: 10 seconds
• Fade time: 2 seconds

General Tips

Fire bombs have a pretty noticeable audio cue when a Teen is winding up the throw. Since it takes about half a second to wind up before they throw it you have some time to react. The Fire Bomb is a really good ambush, and area denial weapon, unarmed teens could lead you to someone who has a Fire bomb. Try to get the teens to use it as an Area denial. as it is a bit weaker wasting the weapon (Unless they have Bottled up.).

Weak Against

• Wart: Armor / Leap combo negates a lot of the Fire bomb’s power. If a Teen is the using Bottled up mod you can Armor and eat their extra Fire Bomb charge.

Strong Against

• Doll master: If you are mis-positioned teens can throw a fire bomb into a room that you are controlling a doll in. Since Dollmaster does not have much mobility on his body it could be hard to react as teens could already finish the wind up when you stop controlling a doll to check who is nearby.
• Werewolf: Howl has a base range of 30 Meters, However someone with a fire bomb can wait outside the range and get a long range kill on you, Howl also has a 1 second channel time and puts you at a full stop (Meaning if a teen is fast enough they can wind up and throw a fire bomb at you for the kill since windup for fire bomb is about half a second).

Solar Flare

The Solar Flare is a sentry weapon, it activates upon the Teen summoning it which takes a little under a second. After it is summoned the Teen needs to wind-up before the Flare starts to fire. The wind-up takes a little less than half a second. Teens move at about 10-15% move speed while firing the Solar Flare.

• Crafting time: 42 Seconds
• Placement time: (.5) – (.7) Seconds
• Total Charges: 8.5 Seconds
• Range: 8.2 Meters
• Wind up: Medium

General Tips

While the Solar Flare is summoned if you stand nearby it will slowly start to deplete it’s charges. The charge in which it depletes increases over time. The higher the pitch the Solar Flare emits will indicate this is happening. Standing just barely inside it’s range allowing you to immediately walk outside it’s range even if the Teen starts firing it is the best way to drain it’s charges. Forcing the teen continue losing charges, or dismiss it.

Weak Against

• None

Strong Against

• All monsters: Solar Flare is the only weapon in the game that can properly Area denial. Making you take alternative routes. Teens can keep their teammates safe while crafting or healing. This weapon is hard to deal with try to run out it’s charging as much as you can.
• Wart: Just armor up and try to eat the weapon, watch out for other weapons before eating a flare.
• Doll Master: Summon a doll and force the teens to use the weapon or eat it with the doll.
• Werewolf: Make sure the Teen who has the Flare is within your Howl’s range before using it.

Purify Weapons

Radiant Cross

The Cross’s range is 7 Meters, It takes a quarter of a second for it to reach max range in a cone in front of the Teen. Think of it as a faster but shorter range Flame thrower.

• Crafting Time: 42 Seconds
• Total Charges: 7 Seconds
• Range: 7 Meters
• Wind up: Fast

Holy Slingshot

• Crafting Time: 42 Seconds
• Total Charges: 2 shots
• Wind up: Slow
• Area of effect: 2 meters
• Purify Time: 6 seconds

Sacred Staff

• Crafting time: 27 Seconds
• Warm up time: 1.4 seconds
• Total Charges: 7 seconds
• Wind up Time: Slow

Cursed Weapons

Cursed Sword

• Crafting Time: 42 Seconds
• Wind up Time: Fast
• Total Charges: 10 swings
• Trail Duration: 1.5 Seconds

Infernal Eye

• Crafting Time: 42 seconds
• Summoning time: 2.7 Seconds
• Total Charges: 25 seconds
• Damage Radius: .75 Meters

Enigma

• Crafting Time: 27 Seconds
• Warm Up Time: 1.4 seconds
• Wind up Time: Slow
• Total Charges: 7 seconds

Shock Weapons

Raygun

• Crafting Time: 42 seconds
• Wind up time: Very Fast
• Total Charges: 28 Shots
• Range: 40 Meters

RC Flyer

• Crafting Time: 42 Seconds
• Summoning Time: 2.1 Seconds
• Wind up time: Very Fast
• Range: 8 Meters
• Total Charges: 55 Seconds

Shock Sphere

• Crafting Time: 27 Seconds
• Required Charges: 3
• Wind up: Very Slow (2.2 seconds)
• Total Charges: 22 Seconds
• Damage Radius: 1.2 Meters

Who Should I Play First?

There are currently 3 Monsters in VHS Ultimately it is up to you who you want to play first. Whoever you have the most fun with is who you should play. However I will give some basic insight as to why you might want to play each of the 3 Monsters.

I will be giving a quick overview of the monster assuming you know their abilities already.

Note: These are also all my opinions there is no right or wrong.

Dollmaster

• Difficulty: Medium
• Mutations Dependent?: No

Perks: Rate from Bad / Decent / Good / Great

• Ambush: Bad
• Deadly Bite: Decent
• Hidden Agenda: Tier 3 Good / All other tiers Bad.

Strengths

• High Map Control
• If you like puppet like playstyle from other games.
• Has high potential for comebacks
• Great at shutting down weapons

Weaknesses

• Low mobility
• Can be easily rushed with weapons
• Once a lot of your dolls are disarmed it’s hard to regain pressure

In my opinion the current best monster in the game. No other monster can shut down crafting stations, have a high presence on the map at all times as Dollmaster can. He is insane at making comebacks, a lot of inexperienced teens will have a hard time dealing with your dolls. Dollmaster at last stigma is a power house, due to him being able to lock down the last 2 stations with his dolls and run around eating stun weapons with his body.

Werewolf

• Difficulty: Hard
• Mutation Dependent?: Somewhat | Savage Mutation is almost a must have.

Perks: Rate from Bad / Decent / Good / Great

• Ruthless: Good
• Scream Fest: T1 Bad | T2 and T3 Decent
• Body Count: T1 Bad | T2 Decent | T3 Good

Strengths

• Fast can get around the map.
• Has an excellent early game.
• Able to be Aggressive if Teens are swarming / Grouped up with weapons.

Weaknesses

• Can feel very cooldown dependent.
• Struggles against teens who are properly split up, and spacing your howl
• Teens with good spacing are hard to deal with, almost near impossible to catch up to in some scenarios.
• Tracking the entire team is a bit harder to do.

Werewolf may be the worst Monster (does not been she is bad) in the game currently, however I do think She has some redeeming factors. You can easily get a down or potentially 3-4 hits in the early game giving you a lot of pressure fast. If you let the match slow down which will at some point, it will be hard to recover. Werewolf also feels extremely cool-down dependent requiring you to use both Berserk, and Howl to catch up to teens in certain situations. Werewolf also struggles with teens properly splitting up and having weapons ready outside your howl radius. Mechanically Werewolf isn’t the hardest, but I do think they are a hardest Monster to play and do consistently with.

Wart

• Difficulty: Easy
• Mutation Dependent?: No

Perks: Rate from Bad / Decent / Good / Great

• All Consuming: T1 and T2 Bad | T3 Good
• Easy Target: Great
• Lethal Weapon: Great

Strengths

• Has an amazing gap closer and slowdown ability
• Can make both defensive and aggressive plays
• Amazing in the 1v1
• Decent mobility
• Can shut down weapons easily.

Weaknesses

• Can’t deal with multiple weapons very well.
• Teens that know how to properly kite you with their weapons are a struggle to deal with
• Using your abilities too early can cause you to be extremely vulnerable.

Wart is an extremely simple Monster, I think he is the easiest monster to pick up and play. A lot of his Strengths do make-up for his weaknesses. I would argue he could be as good as Dollmaster or slightly better in the right hands. Armor let’s you deal with weapons a lot easier than the other Monsters, Leap can allow you to do aggressive plays on Teens who push a bit too much, or who may not be ready for it. Wart has the 2 best perks in the game even with the nerfs. So playing him first may be the best option to secure Lethal weapon, and Easy target on the other Monsters.