What material would make for the worst killer doll to fight?

I’d say porcelain or yarn. I’m assuming we mean any killer doll, not just BJDs?
Porcelain, as mentioned above, will shatter. You might win but you’ll pay the price.

Yarn is underrated. I crochet plushies on occasion. It’ll absorb any impact, survive any fall. If you try to hit it with a baseball bat, it’ll just bounce and keep coming at you. However, the yarn is also incredibly strong. With sufficient size, a yarn limb is quite capable of grabbing around you and holding. Should a sharp weapon cut the yarn of the haunted doll, the loose tails can be used to fight as well. A single strand can be surprisingly strong. Should you defeat this horrible haunted creation, the remnants may endanger your pets.

From a haunting logistics standpoint, it’s not unusual for babies and children to receive crocheted toys. There’s plenty of opportunity for hosts and to remain discrete.

I may be biased as I own a (not very smart) cat who has tried to eat yarn on many occasions.

 

I am going to go with resin.

I definitely agree with all of your arguments for vinyl @Cryptid. But I gotta say, after watching enough Asian horror, resin seems to be the way to go. They are heavy and since the joints can move in all kinds of directions, attacks from them would be harder to dodge. The internal tension cords are a kind of built-in weapon of its own. They can shoot projectiles (like hooks) or just wrap the cord around a vital part of the body. This means they can pack even more damage because of this feature. But probably the biggest winning point is how nigh-indestructible they are. I'm not talking about the fine details, those get rubbed off over time. I am talking about structural components. They're not brittle like porcelain, doesn't burn like wood, harder to break than PVC/ABS, and the chipped edges can act like a cutting surface much like porcelain.

Oh, and let's not forget, if they have glass eyes, burning them means you're standing in the warpath of flying, exploding baubles...

So yeah... resin. Definitely resin.

 

I was also thinking resin... Just because I thought it was the stronger and sturdier material(I am a lay person)- That it would do more damage trying to physically attack. After reading your entry for vinyl I was tempted to change my mind. I do however think that at least that one will have the better speed/sneak attack due to the lighter weight material.

 

I'm thinking wood... Massive splinters!

 

This is really interesting, I love reading all the replies. I guess they all have their plus sides and down sides. I love @Azure Agape 's views on yarn and that's definitely second on my list, but personally I also vote for resin. Unlike porcelain it is difficult to break and unlike wood it can handle some heat. The possibility to just move limbs into any direction is a big plus for a haunted doll, I mean, who'd expect hands coming to you while you're sneaking up to it from behind. Also, with a resin BJD, I'd imagine the haunted doll to be able to swap out eyes (when broken or just when feeling like it), change wigs and be undercover as a different doll. Also elastic is easy to replace so that would also be a plus.

 

I’m gonna go with resin! I once had an Iplehouse EID man fall on me from a shelf… doll was fine but it was definitely a big ouch moment for me

 

Resin and vinyl are sturdy, yes, but porcelain dolls are historically possessed and DEFINITELY users of black magic so I doubt one would even get close enough to them to harm them without being changed into a doorknob?

I would absolutely hate to fight resin, too, though - imagine being snapped between the joints and then gassed with a Toxic Fume Fart

 

I agree about vinyl! It's not particularly sharp or heavy, but... killer dolls don't have to kill with their bare hands!

All the other options just seem very easy to dispatch to me. A hammer can make quick work of porcelain, ABS and resin. Fire can deal with wood and cloth. But vinyl dolls are pretty durable, especially large and thick Chucky style ones.

 

I don't know vinyl but isn't it soft? That would make the killer doll's footsteps quiet. A resin or porcelain doll would make little tippy tap sounds as it looks for you around the house, which is horrific, but also gives away its position. Unless it can find thick socks or slippers...

 

I'm definitely in team wood as well. Can't stab a wooden doll! Sure, they're vulnerable to fire, but how would that work in a practical sense? I sure don't have a fireplace in my house, and just holding a lighter up to wood isn't enough to set it alight. So long as the doll isn't wearing flammable clothing (naked doll???), there's little you can do!

Also: does a nutcracker count as a doll in this context? I don't want to get bit by one of those!

 

I was swayed by all the arguments, but after reading @Azure Agape's post, I'm #teamyarndoll now.

 

i feel like porcelain has the most potential to really hurt you in a quick fashion - having been cut by broken porcelain before has left me scarred for life in both senses! lol

also there's the classic horror factor to them; some of them are downright scary looking, and as cobaltconduct said they have frequently been purported to be haunted... so they can easily employ psychological warfare if they choose!

 

I went with wood, for massive splinters (I had one deep inside the bottom of my foot when I was a child, I still remember the torment of it being removed). It's also really, really versatile! Said dolly can get a pencil sharpener or a knife and just start making stabby bits out of itself. Fire isn't really that much of an issue, as these dolls aren't worried about hurting themselves - if you do manage to catch it on fire, it's just going to keep coming at you and end up burning you. And then just stop drop and roll to put itself out, only slightly charred for it's trouble xD

 

Rather than the resin our dolls are made of, I'd say... lucite. It's a little tougher and less breakable.

 

Out of the once listed, I'd say wood. Provided that it's a nice, heavy, slowly grown wood and and well designed body (no thin bits that snaps off easy) that can be increadibly durable. Fire wouldn't be much use against it unless you first fixed the doll to the spot and had time to work and that would be true for most of the other materials listed as well.
Wood is shatter resistant. Dense wood is wear resistant. It's doesn't care much about solvents. (Seriously, if I was fighting a vinyl doll, pure acetone would be my weapon of choice unless I had acess to a blow torch.) Water could warp it over time, but not out right destroy it.
So my vote is on wood.

Outside of the list, though... Maybe stainless steel? It would take a lot to damage a living doll made of steel to the point where it is no longer a threat. If it decides to make itself into a sharp edged weapon it can keep an edge all right too.