Dead by Daylight News

Update 7.3.0 | Mid-Chapter

[h2]Release Information[/h2]

Update releases: October 10, 11AM ET
Tome 17 opens: October 11, 11AM ET

[h2]Content[/h2]
[h3]Killer Perk Updates[/h3]
Furtive Chase

You become obsessed with one Survivor. You lurk in the shadows, eliminating your victims one by one. When your Obsession is hooked, gain Undetectable and a 5% Haste status effect for 14/16/18 seconds. (new functionality)

[h3]Survivor Perk Updates[/h3]
Background Player

When the Killer picks-up another Survivor, Background Player activates for 10 seconds. When you start running, break into a sprint at 200% of your normal Running Movement speed for 5 seconds. (was 150% for 4 seconds)
This perk cannot be used while suffering from Exhaustion. This perk causes exhaustion for 60/50/40 seconds.

[h3]Updated Killer: The Skull Merchant[/h3]
Eyes in the Sky
The Skull Merchant begins the match with six Drones. Press the Power button to deploy a Drone, which conducts an invisible, continuous sweeping scan. If a Survivor is detected, the Drone becomes active, which makes the Drone’s scan lines visible. Once detected by a scan line, a Survivor gains scan immunity and cannot be detected by other scan lines for 3 seconds. Survivors can attempt to hack Drones. Failure activates the Drone and partially fills their Lock On meter; Success disables the Drone for 45 seconds.

Removed the Active Zone (cylinder).
Removed remote Activation of Drones.
The Killer now starts with 6 drones.
The minimum distance between drones is now 16 meters.
The Drone radius is now 10 meters.

Radar
Press the Ability Button to open a Radar to see the locations of Survivors detected by Drones or those with Claw Traps. Each Survivor detected on the Radar increases The Skull Merchant’s movement speed. The Radar can also recall drones or change the direction of their scan rotation.

Lock On
The Lock On meter fills when scanned by a Drone and when failing to disable a Drone. When the meter is full, the Survivor receives a Claw Trap, becomes Injured, and suffers from the Broken status effect. Additional scans briefly apply the Hindered status effect. A Claw Trap broadcasts the Survivor’s location to the Killer and is only removed when its battery dies.

Removed the Exposed status effect from Lock On.

Add-Ons

Adi Valente #1: Effects last until the Claw Trap is removed.
High-Power Floodlight: Blindness status applied when receiving a Claw Trap. Effects last until the Claw Trap is removed.
Geographical Readout: Increased action speed bonus while breaking pallets and breakable walls, damaging generators, and vaulting to 20% (up from 15%). The effect is now applied for 8 seconds after deploying a drone.
High Current Upgrade: Increases the time Survivors appear on the radar when detected.
Adaptive Lighting: Reduced the bonus granted to Undetectable status to 20% (down from 50%).
Stereo Remote Mic: Decreases the Disabled State duration of drones.
Supercharge: Increased battery life of Claw Traps to 15% (up from 12%).
Shotgun Speakers: Survivors with a Claw Trap have no skill check warning. Effects last until the Claw Trap is removed.
Low-Power Mode: Decreases Drone Spawn Cooldown.
Vital Targeting Processor: Increases Hindered status by 3% when a Survivor is detected by a drone.
Brown Noise Generator: Oblivious status applied when receiving a Claw Trap. Effects last until the Claw Trap is removed.
Loose Screw: Exhausted status applied when receiving a Claw Trap. Effects last 6 seconds (up from 3 seconds).
Randomised Strobes: Increases Hindered status by 1 second when a Survivor is detected by a drone.
Advanced Movement Prediction: Reveals Survivor’s aura when they receive a Claw Trap.
Ultrasonic Speaker (formerly, “Ultrasonic Trap Speaker”): Decreases scan immunity duration.
Expired Batteries: Decreases Claw Trap battery life (50%, instead of 60%). Increases Haste status granted when Survivors are detected on the radar.
Prototype Rotor: Increases drone rotation speed.
Iridescent Unpublished Manuscript: When a drone is disabled, the drone gains a 32m terror radius for 15 seconds. During this time, The Skull Merchant gains the Undetectable status effect.

Other

Daily rituals, Achievements, Loading Tips, and Score Events have been updated accordingly.

[h3]Updated Killer: The Trapper[/h3]

When setting a Bear-Trap, The Trapper gets a Haste effect of 7.5% for 5 seconds (new effect).
The Coffee Grounds Addon has been updated to indicate it is an additional Haste effect.
When the Trial begins, 8 Bear-Traps spawn on the map (was 6).

[h3]Other Killer Tweaks[/h3]
Huntress

Reloading hatchets takes 3 seconds (was 4 seconds).

Deathslinger

Reloading takes 2.6 seconds (was 2.75 seconds)
Addon: Warden's Keys - Decreases the Speargun's reload time by 0.35 seconds (was 0.5 seconds)
Addon: Jaw Smasher - Increases movement speed by 1.5% while aiming down the Speargun's sights (was 1%).
Addon: Wanted Poster - Increases movement speed by 3% while aiming down the Speargun's sights (was 2.5%).

Legion

Addon: BFFs - Earn tokens for hitting Survivors during Feral Frenzy:
- Second chained hit: 2 tokens.
- Third chained hit: 3 tokens.
- Fourth chained hit: 4 tokens.
- Fifth chained hit: 5 tokens.
- Once the gates are powered, if more than 15 or more tokens have been collected, gain a 6% movement speed boost when not using Feral Frenzy (was 4%).

Trickster

Reloading knives takes 3 seconds (was 4 seconds).

[h3]Anti Face-Camp Feature[/h3]

Survivors on the hook have an internal "camp meter" which fills when the Killer is nearby. The meter fills faster the closer the Killer is, but is slower when other Survivors are near (never becomes negative).
Once the meter is full, the Survivor gets a prompt allowing them to escape the hook with 100% probability. Survivors who take this action gain Endurance for 15 seconds.
This feature shuts off entirely once the Exit Gates are powered.
As part of this system, the Cannibal can no longer hit a Survivor who has Endurance twice in the same 0.5 second timespan.

[h3]Map Updates[/h3]
Shattered Square Map Update
The Shattered Square Map received a lot of comments at release. Some issues were related to the objects being low to the ground and hard to see, especially when it came to Killers that are navigating with a first person camera. We did a clean up and made sure that the loops feel smoother.

There were also inconsistencies with our visual and navigation language. Objects were placed in a way that it felt possible to simply climb, because of similar angles to stairs or slopes found in other maps. This was resolved by taking away some of the objects or placing assets that match the collisions.

The line of sight was very low and gave the ability for players to see across the map. A clear line of sight can be detrimental for both roles depending of the play style. We have changed the positioning of tiles with higher line of sight blockers to be more predominent.

The size of the Map was large and we decided to reduce the size to encourage encounters, make it more dynamic and reduce the time to find interactables (generators, hooks, totems, chest, etc.)

MacMillan Estate Realm Update
The Maps of the MacMillan Estate Realm have been in the game for about 7 years. The layouts and other information have been available within the community for a while, but The Entity reminded us to give players a chaotic experience. Therefore, we are adding new variations of the MacMillan Estate Realm maps to the existing pool.
[h2]Features[/h2]
[h3]Bots Improvements[/h3]

Reworked the Bots Skill Check system:
Success rates now correlate with Skill Check size.
Skill Check debuffs, such as The Doctor's Madness or Hex: Huntress Lullaby, reduce the odds of hitting the Skill Check.

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
[h3]Archives[/h3]

Fixed an issue that prevented several challenges that have to be completed in the Basement from gaining progress.
Fixed an issue that allowed the Deadly Senses and You Can’t Hide Challenges to gain progress when hitting a survivor with a Killer’s Special Attack.
Fixed an issue where the "Destructive Investigation" Master Challenge from Tome 16 - EXISTENCE was awarding the incorrect amount of Bloodpoints.
Updated the description of the "I Want It, I Got It" Master Challenge from Tome 15 - ASCENSION to reflect the update to The Skull Merchant's gameplay changes.
Updated the "Outplayed" challenge from Tome 16 - EXISTENCE to allow progress from The Dredge to grab a Survivor from a locker they just teleported to.
Fixed an issue where the "Job Well Done" challenge from Tome 15 - ASCENSION erroneously awarded progress from another Survivor's finished generator repair action.
Fixed an issue where the "Back Off!" Master Challenge and other similar challenges did not award progress from the stun inflicted after successfully wiggling out of the Killer's grasp.
Fixed an issue where the "Back Off!" Master Challenge did not correctly display the Player's progress.
Fixed an issue where the "Swarm of Darkness" Master Challenge did not correctly display the Player's progress.
Fixed an issue where the "Cellar Search" Master Challenge did not award progress from the chest in the Killer's basement.
"Remix" challenges no longer prevent the selection of random Perks on consecutive Trials on the same character.

[h3]Audio[/h3]

Fixed an issue that caused the Hooked On You music not being played on Trickster's Paradise Beatdown outfit.
Fixed an issue where the French voice didn't match the text in Tome 15 "The Absolutely Horrifying Maniacal Puppet Show. Guest Starring, Ashy Slashy. 2." Entry.
Fixed an issue that prevented The Xenomorph to hear Generators while in Tunnels.

[h3]Bots[/h3]

Bots can now attempt to self-unhook.
Bots now break a stare-down with the Killer earlier when standing still on opposite sides of a Remote Flame Turret.
Bots now try to look for potential Killer approach paths when doing long interactions, taking breaks from turning the camera slowly around.

[h3]Characters[/h3]

Fixed an issue that caused any Survivors grabbed by the Trapper while vaulting towards him to be seen clipping into the ground.
Fixed an issue that caused The Doctor to able to see inside of Lockers by walking into them.
Fixed an issue that caused survivor Yun-Jin Lee's Tome 17 'Smart Outfit' arm to break when using a flashlight.
Fixed an issue that caused the Camera to clips through Wraith's 'Saber-Toothed' weapon after hitting a survivor.
Fixed an issue that cause the camera not to transition properly when using the Cenobite’s Summons of Pain.
Fixed an issue causing The Xenomorph's tail attack to be able to hit Survivors behind it
Fixed an issue causing The Xenomorph's tail attack animation not to match the collision

[h3]Environment/Maps[/h3]

Fixed an issue in Lery's Hospital where the side of a generator was blocked by assets
Fixed an issue in Pale Rose where a groups of blockers were too close and prevented possible navigation between them

[h3]Perks[/h3]

Fixed an issue that caused the Territorial Imperative perk not to activate when a Survivor enters the basement.
Fixed an issue that caused the Pain Resonance Perk to be able to explode a Generator blocked by the Deadlock Perk.
Fixed an issue that caused the Blood Pact Perk’s icon to appear dimmed when the Haste effect is active.

[h3]Platforms[/h3]

Fixed a crash on Nintendo Switch that could happen when interacting with the Friends menu.

[h3]UI[/h3]

For consoles, the Loadout search bar virtual keyboard now appears in the player's selected language rather than English.
In the Store UI, exclamation marks for content in a new DLC will now correctly disappear on viewing that content.
The name of the character properly changes when changing to a preset with a Legendary outfit equipped.
Wait for mystery box animation to complete before advancing Bloodweb to next level.

[h3]Misc[/h3]

Equipped Charms are now always visible on the displayed character in the Store.
Fixed an issue that caused the Flame Turret’s light to remain visible while vaulting.
EDITED: Fixed a bug that resulted in a different distance achieved between male and female Survivors during fast vaults.

[h2]Public Test Build (PTB) Adjustments[/h2]
[h3]Bots[/h3]

Bots no longer pick up Items with nearly no charges remaining.
Fixed a crash that could occur when playing with a Bot having the Reassurance Perk.
Fixed one vault location on the Nostromo Wreckage that Bots were unable to use.

[h3]Skull Merchant Update[/h3]

Increased Drone rotation speed while in Stealth mode from 50 degrees/sec to 60 degrees/sec.
Increased Drone rotation speed while in Scouting mode from 75 degrees/sec to 85 degrees/sec.
Increased Drone detection radius from 8 to 10 meters.
Decreased Drone initialization time from 1.5 to 0.3 seconds.
Recalling Drones no longer puts the power on cooldown.
Recalling Drones is available at all times, regardless of the cooldown.
Added the ability to change a Drone's rotation direction while using the Radar.
Drones always deploy facing away from you and only rotate after the initialization phase is over.
The Randomized Stobes Add-On properly increases the duration of the Hindered status by 1 second.
The Adi Valente #1 Add-On properly reduces skill checks by 20% and not 50%.

[h3]Anti Face-Camp Feature[/h3]

Added 7 second grace period for the Killer to be able to leave the area before the system kicks in.
Carrying a Survivor in the radius stops the progress bar from building up.
Dying Survivors in the radius slow down the progress bar.
Vertical distances are now treated differently to avoid unintentionally triggering the system through floors.

[h3]Perk Updates[/h3]
Furtive Chase

Changed functionality: when hooking the Obsession, gain Undetectable and a 5% Haste status effect for 14/16/18 seconds.

Background Player

Increased sprint speed to 200%.
Sprint Burst no longer triggers at the same time as the Background Player Perk.

[h3]Shattered Square Map Update[/h3]

Reviewed loops that were noted as too strong and reduced the number of pallets spawning in the map.

[h3]Misc[/h3]

Fixed a crash that could occur in the Splash Screen.
The Sacrificial Ward Offering no longer disables Map Repeat Prevention.
The Shape’s arm no longer stretches during the standing Mori from the Survivor’s perspective.

Developer Update | October 2023

Greetings ghosts and ghouls! We’re back with another Developer Update, this time covering all the adjustments on the way following our last Public Test Build (PTB). We unveiled some major changes during this PTB, including the new Anti Face-Camping mechanic and an overhaul to The Skull Merchant’s Power. You’ve left us with plenty of feedback to go through, and we’d like to share a few tweaks we’ll be making when this update goes live (and a few more in the minor patches that follow)!

[h2]The Skull Merchant[/h2]

With the overhaul on the PTB, we set our sights on the frustrating strategies that emerged due to how The Skull Merchant’s Power worked. While we’re pleased to see that she was no longer a gen-defending powerhouse, we noticed many felt that she was left in a weaker state. The intent of this update is not to weaken this Killer overall, so we’ll be making a series of adjustments to address some of the feedback we received.

[h3]Scanning[/h3]

During the PTB, many Killers reported having difficulties scanning Survivors with their drones, making the frequency of Lock On lower than we’d like. To ensure that her Eyes in the Sky are a truly tools of torment (sorry), we have a series of changes in store.

First, we noticed that because drones always rotated clockwise, it was far less likely that Survivors would be scanned if they were also running a loop clockwise since the beams would cross their path less often. This is most noticeable on tiles which Survivors ideally want to run in a clockwise direction anyway to line themselves up for a fast vault.

To remedy this, The Skull Merchant can now toggle the direction her drones rotate while using her radar.

This way, you can swap directions to force the beam to cross a Survivor’s path more often. Experienced Killers who know the best ways to run certain tiles will also be able to pre-emptively choose the best direction for the loop they’ve deployed their drone in.

Second, some found drone management to be a little stressful, largely since recalling a drone would put your Power on cooldown. This forced the Killer to rush to recall drones that are no longer needed whenever they had a moment of downtime so their Power was ready for their next chase.

To address this, drones can now be recalled at any time and recalling a drone no longer incurs a cooldown.
[h3]
Eyes in the Sky[/h3]

Third, we’ve made a series of smaller adjustments to make it harder for Survivors to cross through a drone’s effective area without being scanned:

Increased the drone’s radius to 10m (was 8m).
Increased the drone’s rotation speed in Stealth Mode to 60 degrees per second (was 50).
Increased the drone’s rotation speed in Scouting Mode to 85 degrees per second (was 75).

Lastly, to give The Skull Merchant more control when deploying a drone, the drone’s beams now face directly in front and behind her by default, allowing skilled Killers to scan Survivors as soon as they’re deployed. We have also decreased the drone’s initialization time to 0.3 seconds (was 1.5 seconds) so they activate more quickly and feel more responsive.

Combined, these changes will make The Skull Merchant feel better to play and more consistent now that her drones can’t be used to defend generators.

[h2]Anti Face-camping[/h2]

Anti Face-camping is here- and so is the Killer. This mechanic aims to provide Survivors with counterplay for some of the most egregious cases of camping. From what we observed on the PTB, the system seems to come to the rescue when needed most, though we’ll of course continue monitoring and make adjustments as needed. However, there were a few rough edges which we’re looking to refine before this goes live.

[h3]Grace Period[/h3]

One of the most common critiques of this mechanic comes from the way the meter immediately starts to fill before the Killer could possibly walk away. Although this alone wouldn’t cause Survivors to free themselves, this understandably feels as if the game is wrongly treating you as if you’re camping.

There will now be a 7 second grace period before the meter starts filling after hooking a Survivor. This will give the Killer an opportunity to walk away before the system kicks in, with a little wiggle room to kick a nearby generator or reload at a locker.

[h3]Dying & Carried Survivors[/h3]

During the PTB, dying and carried Survivors did not influence the fill rate of the meter. The former led to some awkward scenarios where a dying Survivor with a Perk that allowed them to pick themselves up could force the Killer to stay nearby, while the latter both exacerbated that strategy as well as punishing the Killer for hooking multiple Survivors in the basement.

Therefore, dying will slow the meter (as though they were standing) so long as they are in the area, and carried Survivors now pause the progress bar completely.

[h3]Verticality[/h3]

When this feature was tested on the PTB, it treated both horizontal and vertical distances equally. However, this had a side effect of detecting Killers on different floors as camping even if the shortest path to the hooked Survivor was rather long. This was especially noticeable on indoor maps such as The Game.

In a later update, the meter will be weighted more heavily toward horizontal distance than vertical. This will make the meter a little more forgiving if the Killer passes by on another floor.

[h2]Perk Updates[/h2]

We received a bunch of feedback on the two Perks which were tweaked in this past PTB, so we went back to the drawing board to deliver a new set of changes.

[h3]Furtive Chase[/h3]

We initially increased the terror radius reduction for each token, though many still did not find this a very appealing choice. Furtive Chase will be receiving a rework when the update goes live.

When hooking the Obsession, gain Undetectable and a 5% Haste status effect for 14/16/18 seconds. When the Obsession is rescued from the hook, the rescuer becomes the Obsession (unchanged).

With this new version, Furtive Chase rewards the Killer for switching targets and allows them to find a new Survivor to chase more quickly after hooking.

[h3]Background Player[/h3]

This Perk is most often used for saving teammates, allowing you to get into position quickly in key moments. However, since the Killer’s pickup animation is shorter than the Perk’s duration, it would usually be too late to save your teammate by the time the speed boost ended.

Therefore, Background Player now causes you to sprint at 200% speed (was 150%) for 5 seconds (was 4 seconds) when the Killer picks up a dying Survivor.

This way, Background Player will allow you to cover more distance quicker than before, potentially allowing you to get into position in time to make the save.

[h2]The Trapper[/h2]

We were delighted to see such a positive reaction to the adjustments we made to The Trapper. As we dug through the PTB feedback, we noticed many of you found it impractical to wander so far to gather your traps at the start of the match. While The Trapper is still in the spotlight, we’ve decided to make one more change as soon as we’re able to.

The Trapper’s Bear-Traps will spawn closer to generators. This way, you’ll have to stray less from your usual patrol routes than before to collect a trap.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to squeeze this change into the initial release, but this will be a part of one of the smaller patches in the coming weeks!

[h2]Shattered Square[/h2]

Last but certainly not least, we have a few more adjustments on the way for the Shattered Square. We received some feedback regarding the strength of certain pallet loops and the number of pallets overall. For the update’s release, we have reviewed the loops in question and slightly reduced the number of pallets which spawn.

[hr][/hr]
And that brings us to the end of this Developer Update! We want to thank you as always for taking the time to test out the changes on the PTB. Nearly all the adjustments mentioned in this post will be available when the update releases, with the rest following in a minor patch shortly after. We look forward to hearing what you think!

Until next time…

The Dead by Daylight team

Don't miss the Haunted by Daylight Livestream on October 13th

A few days before the Haunted by Daylight in-game event starts, we’ll be hosting a jam-packed livestream highlighting everything you can expect from our scariest event yet. Not only that, but we’ve arranged for an epic surprise that will explore the world of Dead by Daylight like never before.

On October 13th (2PM EDT), watch the stream on Twitch, on YouTube or even here on Steam!

There's plenty of fun lined up this year, and we’ve got you covered with a comprehensive roadmap highlighting everything coming to The Fog over the upcoming weeks. You can read more here.

See you in the Fog,

The Dead by Daylight team.

Forget face-camping, Dead by Daylight update buffs its worst killer

Dead by Daylight slays its horror game category competitors with its fun multiplayer gameplay and unique cast of iconic slasher film killers. Behaviour Interactive keeps its game regularly updated, with steady new content releases and balance adjustments to ensure quality gameplay experiences for both killers and survivors. Dead by Daylight will receive a plethora of game-changing updates this season, including anti-face-camping measures and adjustments to one of DBD's most infamous characters.

Read the rest of the story...

Update 7.2.3 | Bugfix Patch

Bugfixes

Survivors are no longer able to pass through Locker collisions in certain cases.
Add missing animation for Survivor placing "Blast Mine" or "Wiretap" traps on a Generator, preventing Survivors from becoming invisible and unhittable in certain cases.

Note: With this bugfix, we are reenabling Flashlights, along with three Perks: Dramaturgy, Appraisal and Residual Manifest.