Dev Update January '24: Gens, FoV, Hillbilly, Onryo, And More!

Developer Update | January 2024 - BHVR

Developer Update | January 2024

By MandyLast Updated: 4:07 pm

Developer-update-2024 (1).jpg


Happy new year! Our team is back in action, and we’ve got a doozie of a Developer Update in store for you today. In this edition, we’ll be covering everything coming to Dead by Daylight in our first major update of the year, from various Killer, Perk, and Map updates and more. We’ve been busy, so buckle up, it’s a long one.

Generators.jpg


Generators

Kicking things off (no pun intended), we have a few updates to Generators. More specifically, these changes target how Generators are damaged by the Killer and how their regression can be stopped by Survivors. The goal with this update is to bring an end to excessively long matches (3 gen scenarios in particular) and at the same time improve the Killer’s ability to damage Generators. 3 gen scenarios are those where the killer aims to defend 3 generators that are close by in particular, and does not participate in normal gameplay – not chasing survivors etc, in this instance survivors are not able to make any meaningful progress to those generators.

Going forward, each Generator can only suffer from a maximum of 8 ‘regression events’ – where a regression event is any time the Killer or their Perks removes at least 2.5% of the Generator’s progress in an instant. An indicator will show the Killer if a Generator can no longer be damaged. In the overwhelming majority of games, this will not come into play. However, in scenarios where the Killer is defending a set of Generators and refusing to chase Survivors, there will eventually come a point where they can no longer damage the Generator, helping bring an end to excessively long matches.

At the same time, we want to address a point of frustration for Killers as well: Survivors working on a generator briefly to stop it from regressing, or “Gen tapping” for short. Given that the number of regression events is now limited, stopping a Generator from regressing is more meaningful than ever. To prevent Survivors from tapping a Generator to negate one of those regression events, we have made two changes:

  • The base damage from kicking a Generator has been increased to 5% (was 2.5%).
  • At least 5% of the Generator’s total charges must be repaired to stop regression, otherwise it will begin regressing again when the Survivor stops repairing.

This will help ensure that the Killer always gets some value from kicking a Generator and encourage Survivors to think twice before attempting to stop the regression.

FOV.jpg


FOV Setting

Is Shadowborn permanently locked into one of your Perk slots? Well, that’s about to change thanks to the new first-person field of view (FOV) slider. Starting with this update, Killers in first person will be able to adjust their FOV to something they’re more comfortable with, ranging from 87 degrees (the current default) to 103 degrees (the current maximum with Shadowborn).

Perks which alter your FOV (Shadowborn and Monitor & Abuse) will need to be adjusted. We’ll cover exactly how those Perks are changing later in this post.

Bear in mind this option only applies to first person field of view and therefore will not affect Survivors. Since Survivors play the game from the third person perspective, a wider FOV would add to an already advantageous camera view.

Initially this feature will be accessible through the Beta Tab in game.

Onryo.jpg


The Onryo

A few months ago, we released a major update to The Onryo. Though some players were pleased with the changes, many longtime Onryo mains felt that her gameplay had changed too much from the Killer they once loved. In this update, we want to revisit Sadako once more to find a middle ground which better appeals to all her players, old and new.

Condemned

In the last update, Condemned would spread to all Survivors who were not holding a tape whenever Sadako projected to a TV. This allowed her to spread her curse more often, but many felt that this favoured teleporting as soon as possible rather than strategically during a chase. We have a few changes in mind to restore this gameplay while keeping Condemned more prominent:

  • When The Onryo teleports, Survivors within 16m of a powered TV will receive a stack of Condemned.
  • The teleport cooldown has been removed, allowing her to teleport more frequently.
  • When a Survivor is hooked, their current Condemned progress becomes locked in, preventing it from being removed.

This will make it very risky for Survivors to ignore Sadako’s curse. Survivors will want to shut off nearby TVs and deposit their tapes before it’s too late. Speaking of tapes…

Cursed Tapes

We’ve also reviewed the way Cursed Tapes work to bring back some of their fondly remembered behaviour.

  • Cursed Tapes no longer protect Survivors from gaining Condemned.
  • Cursed Tapes are no longer destroyed or inflict Condemned when a Survivor is hit.
  • Cursed Tapes can only be deposited in the further TV from where they were picked up.

This will once again force the Survivors to spend some time crossing the map in order to delay the curse.

Demanifested

The previous update made it so The Onryo couldn’t start a chase while Demanifested. This had a side effect of making it very obvious when she Demanifested in the middle of a chase, allowing Survivors to anticipate and play around it.

  • The Onryo can now chase Survivors while Demanifested.

Additionally, many pointed out that one of The Onryo’s changed Add-Ons, Reiko’s Watch, was very fun to use. Rather than add the effect back into the Add-On, we instead incorporated it into her base kit to make the Add-On feel less essential.

  • The duration of invisibility while Demanifested has been increased to 1.2 seconds (was 1 second).

Add-Ons

With all these changes in mind, we’ve reviewed a handful of The Onryo’s Add-Ons which either no longer have a purpose or promoted strongly disliked playstyles.

Hillbilly.jpg


The Hillbilly

Uh oh, watch out Survivors, it looks like someone unwrapped a brand new chainsaw. It’s The Hillbilly’s turn for an update!

Overdrive

The controversial Overheat mechanic is no more; Overdrive is the new talk of the town. As The Hillbilly uses his chainsaw, it will generate heat just like before. When the heat meter is full, not only will he continue being able to use it, but his chainsaw will kick into Overdrive and gain the following effects for the next 20 seconds:

  • Chainsaw charge speed is increased by 5%.
  • His Chainsaw Sprint movement speed increases to 13m/s.
  • Chainsaw Sprint cooldowns are reduced by 10%.

The short version? Heat is good now.

Cleaning Up

At the same time, we’ve made some general improvements to The Hillbilly’s kit and smoothed out some of the rougher edges.

  • The base Chainsaw Sprint movement speed has been increased by 10%.
  • Reduced the size of the Chainsaw’s collision detection to make Chainsaw Sprints more maneuverable in maps with high density tiles
  • Camera sensitivity is no longer incorrectly tied to the controller sensitivity setting while using a mouse & keyboard. (Chainsaw controls are now equal to 100% sensitivity before.)

Add-Ons

Last but certainly not least, we have done a pass on The Hillbilly’s Add-Ons with these changes in mind. This blogpost is long enough as is, so keep an eye on the patch notes when the Public Test Build (PTB) goes live for more details!

Blight.jpg


The Blight’s Add-Ons

Next up, we have changes in store for a handful of The Blight’s Add-Ons.

Blighted Rat & Blighted Crow

These Add-Ons are fairly strong, making it far more difficult to get out of the way of his Rush in time. We have reduced the Rush speed bonus of these Add-Ons to 2% and 3% respectively (was 4% and 6%).

Adrenaline Vial

This Add-On has a lot going on, making it jack-of-all-trades. To simply it and bring it closer in line with other options, we are removing the following effects:

  • No longer decreases time to recharge a Rush token by 1 second.
  • No longer increases Rush speed by 10%.

The Add-On now does the following (these effects are unchanged):

  • Increases maximum Rush tokens by 2.
  • Increases maximum Rush look angle by 20 degrees.
  • Decreases Rush turn rate by 55%.

Alchemist’s Ring

(The one you probably aren’t surprised to see on this list.) Restoring Rush tokens on hit is incredibly powerful, so we’ve reworked this Add-On entirely.

  • Increases Rush duration by 20% for each consecutive Rush.

Compound Thirty-Three

Reducing the Survivor’s movement speed acts very similarly to increasing The Blight’s Rush speed. We’ve decided the best course of action is to give this Add-On a new effect:

  • Each consecutive Rush which is longer than 4 meters increases turn rate by 33%.

Iridescent Blight Tag

This Add-On can also be extremely powerful in the right hands. It also promotes the awkward gameplay of repeatedly slamming into a wall to take advantage of the effects of the last Rush. We’ve given this Add-On a brand-new effect as well:

  • Enables Rush to be performed without spending tokens.
  • Rush bonuses are capped after 3 consecutive rushes.
  • Blighted Corruption goes on cooldown for 20 seconds after a successful Lethal Rush attack.
Perks.jpg


Perk Updates

Next up, we’ve got a bunch of Perk updates to share!

Save the Best for Last

This Perk indirectly became stronger when the successful basic attack cooldown was reduced some time ago. Certain Killers can also circumvent the downside by using their special attack to injure the Obsession. To tone it down and make it more consistent across all Killers, we have made the following changes:

  • Each Token grants a stackable 4% decreased successful basic attack cooldown (was 5%).
  • 2 tokens are lost when the Obsession loses a health state by any means (was basic attacks).

Grim Embrace

Grim Embrace blocks Generators for a substantial duration. However, it only activates once and requires the Killer to hook every Survivor once, it can be a little inconsistent and hard to activate. Therefore, we’re adding a secondary effect on top of the existing effect:

  • The first time a Survivor is hooked, all generators are blocked for 8/10/12 seconds once the Killer moves at least 16 meters from the hook.

This will ensure the Killer is always able to get some value out of their Perk even if the last elusive Survivor manages to evade them and reward Killers who switch targets.

Quick Gambit

This Perk grants other Survivors a repair speed boost when you are being chased nearby. However, its range is fairly low, making it difficult to get close enough for other Survivors to benefit from without also putting them in danger.

  • We have increased the range to 36 meters (was 24 meters).
  • We have reduced the repair speed bonus to 3/4/5% (was 6/7/8%).

Hex: Ruin

We toned this Perk down in a previous update. In retrospect, since the Perk could already be disabled by being cleansed, the added activation condition did not feel necessary.

  • Hex: Ruin is no longer disabled once a Survivor is killed or sacrificed.

Shadowborn

With the new FOV slider being introduced, Shadowborn is now obsolete and needs a new effect.

  • When blinded by any means, gain a 6/8/10% Haste effect for 10 seconds.

Monitor & Abuse

Likewise, the FOV altering effects of Monitor & Abuse are now unnecessary considering the added FOV slider. Monitor & Abuse allows for some interesting niche playstyles as is, so we have simply removed the FOV adjustments from this Perk and left the Terror Radius effects unchanged.

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Ormond Gameplay Update

The newly renovated Mount Ormond Resort is open for the season! This update consists of layout changes to the front & back of the lodge, as well as miscellaneous loop adjustments.

The front of the lodge currently has a long row of rocks stretching across it. This can get in the way and make it difficult to traverse the map. Additionally, there’s no room in this portion of the map for any windows or pallets, essentially making it a big dead zone. We’ve given this portion of the map an overhaul to create more interesting gameplay.

Ormond.jpg


The back of the lodge, meanwhile, is comprised of mostly picnic tables. Great for enjoying a meal in the freezing cold, but not very impactful when it comes to gameplay. Pallet loops around these tables are fairly short, making them incredibly unsafe. We have similarly adjusted this area to improve gameplay.

Ormond2.jpg


Game Modifiers

Whilst these will not be in the upcoming PTB, our first limited time modifier Dead by Daylight – Lights Out, will be available to play in the coming months. Stay tuned for more information!

 

Congratulations, you’ve reached the end of this very long Developer Update! Everything we’ve mentioned here will be available to test on the Public Test Build starting tomorrow.

For more information on the Live Game Changes, please join us in the Dead by Daylight Community Discord on the 9th January at 9.30am ET.

As always, we’ll take the time to read through your feedback and make further adjustments as needed before this update goes live on all platforms in the weeks following.

Until next time…

The Dead by Daylight team

Comments

  • Any plans to let us decrease our FOV lower than 87? I want to have true tunnel vision when I tunnel

  • Can we get some Nemesis buffs? This change to stbfl is going to harm the few m2 killers that were barely playable on console.

  • @radiantHero23 said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623463#Comment_3623463

    They didn't touch the cooldowns. They remain the same!

    No long cooldowns!

    She will still need old iri tape to really be able to perform, that addon was just way too good to pass up on really wish they would give like 2 or 3 tvs base kit.

    As a Sadako main and basically 1 trick im very very glad they are reverting most of her and basically giving her some qol changes, but i think she will need more.

    We will see what happens to her on ptr though.

  • @C3Tooth said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623492#Comment_3623492

    I feel the spamming is even stronger now? No? Survivors will always be near Gens, which TVs are nearby, she can start teleport at the beginning at the match without cooldown to both denying On TV and inflict the stack even more. I dont play Sadako, I just tell what I understand.

    Survivors can still turn off tvs by taking tapes, and since tapes no longer give passive condemn, she can be played around by turning off tvs on the gen you're working on.

  • Billy changes are definitely interesting. Considering how hard it is to actually reach the overheat threshold this will encourage billy players to go for curves and the like with less punishment. Also please consider being his cooldown add-ons back to some extent (Huntress and blight both get them so why not him?)

    STBFL change is decent but I always felt like tunnelling was the issue with it. Making it not work on endurance hits seems like an easy solution without nerfing it too much

    New shadowborn sounds decent but I think we are getting a bit too many haste perks recently. They should be heavily considering dest we have another Made for This situation

    Blight changes are good but Alch ring still seems crazy good just in a different way. You should be able to easily cover any map fully now.

    Good stuff overall though I have to admit

  • @jesterkind said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623659#Comment_3623659

    Right, but doesn't that kind of assume that the killer isn't doing anything to like... stop them?

    They still need to get to one gen remaining to even start the process you're describing. That's a pretty big chunk of the match, probably about half of the overall time you spend playing. The killer doesn't achieve anything in this time, doesn't get anyone killed, doesn't create deadzones, doesn't observe patterns in what gens the survivors are prioritising, doesn't have perks to help slow the game down...?

    Honestly, even if we assume this scenario you're describing happens, what's stopping the killer from just committing to a down, letting the survivors finish the last generator if necessary, and making the rest of their play during the endgame?

    I don't see this as a real problem with the proposed system. Maybe one in a thousand games you have to put yourself in a slightly worse position by prioritising a survivor instead of gen defence, but even then, it's not like you're being forced to throw or anything.

    @Seraphor said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623659#Comment_3623659

    That would be far less efficient than simply breaking a 3 gen early on like you should do as a survivor.

    Survivors can use the “short bursts of repair + excessive hiding” strategy, to break a 3-gen at the start of the game.

    In this scenario, the only generators the survivors are repairing are the 3-gen. And since it only takes 4.5 seconds to lock in generator progress (and it’s even less than 4.5 seconds if multiple survivors are repairing the same generator), if the 3 gen isn’t all in line of sight of each other, many killers won’t be able to patrol them fast enough to catch the survivors anywhere near the generators.

  • Any plans to increase the gen kick regression values on Knight's guards since he would be kicking gens for the same 5% as them?

  • @Coffeecrashing said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623664#Comment_3623664

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623668#Comment_3623668

    Survivors can use the “short bursts of repair + excessive hiding” strategy, to break a 3-gen at the start of the game.

    In this scenario, the only generators the survivors are repairing are the 3-gen. And since it only takes 4.5 seconds to lock in generator progress (and it’s even less than 4.5 seconds if multiple survivors are repairing the same generator), if the 3 gen isn’t all in line of sight of each other, many killers won’t be able to patrol them fast enough to catch the survivors anywhere near the generators.

    So why's that a problem?

    That's only if they're at one gen remaining, so you've had the rest of the match to get work done, and in the worst case scenario you'd just chase a survivor and let the gen get done, since the survivor is your objective and the generator isn't. What's the issue here?

  • @[Deleted User] said:

    Any plans to let us decrease our FOV lower than 87? I want to have true tunnel vision when I tunnel

    Permanent ADS deathslinger has entered the chat

  • @Rulebreaker said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623563#Comment_3623563

    We do have a question on that though: does the survivors missing the skill check from oppression count as its part of the perk (similar to huntress lullaby as that adds bonus regression to missed checks)

    Peanits mentioned earlier that a survivor missing a skill check ISN'T counted as a regression event, so 'difficult skillcheck builds' are unaffected.

  • This content has been removed.
  • Knight or No Where To Hide news?

  • @C3Tooth said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623492#Comment_3623492

    I feel the spamming is even stronger now? No? Survivors will always be near Gens, which TVs are nearby, she can start teleport at the beginning at the match without cooldown to both denying On TV and inflict the stack even more. I dont play Sadako, I just tell what I understand.

    This is done to make people use tapes. You can't ignore her anymore.

    If she spamms, TVs will be on cooldown, denying any chase pressure.

    If you spam, you can't interrupt a survivor inserting a tape.

    It has a lot of downsides if you spam.

  • @Coffeecrashing said:

    Excessive hiding will be the strongest counter play for 3-gens.

    Coordinated survivors will be able to repair generators in short bursts of time (at least 4.5 seconds), then run far away to hide, and wait for the killer to patrol by, and potentially kick the generator. The survivors can then just repeat this over and over, until the killer is forbidden to kick those generators anymore, at which point they can continue the “short burst of repairing + hiding” strategy, until the generator is fully repaired.

    The 3-gen solution was supposed to fix the “way too long” game lengths, but instead will make it the optimal strategy for survivors to extend the game to enormous lengths, to repair the last generator at minimal risk to themselves.

    It also makes slugging the most effective play style.

  • Most of the changes look good, though Quick Gambit will still be garbage, I don't think the devs realise why it's such a bad perk, and REDUCING the paltry gen speed boost just to make it slightly easier to proc isn't gonna help. You still don't want to take the chase anywhere near gens being repaired since the killer can just leave you and head to the gen anytime.

    Ruin is also.... eh... like it's technically a buff and with the changes to 'regression events', Ruin will be even better because it doesn't cause them, but 100% regression is still just a bit too low to ever want to run a hex. 200% and making it auto-cleanse after a kill would have been better.

    As far as the 3-gen solution goes, it's pretty good as it should ONLY affect actual 3-genning as you should rarely ever reach 8 regression events on any single gen even with multiple gen regression perks. It does, however, mean that survivor-caused 3-gens will be harder to defend, and thus survivors don't really have to care if they 3-gen themselves since they can just play it slow and burn all the killer's kicks.

  • @UndeddJester said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623492#Comment_3623492

    Crying good? I'm guessing good...

    Seems to me her weak chase is supplemented by a strong "ignore it at your peril" slow down. Gives her a lot of reward for guessing TVs correctly as she can now lock in condemned... but guessing wrong doesn't completely kill all of her pressure, and converting chases is a Biiiig deal.

    I like the idea that ignoring condemned becomes a "get off the damned gens" slowdown... though a high level Sadako knowing where I grabbed my tape and working out my TV... 😱😱😱😱

    NGL... all changes here sound fricking awesome...

    3 gen kicking/breaking got shafted, but so did gen tapping... so that was actually a very solid pair of changes.

    Hillbilly with 100% chainsaw turn on Hillbilly basekit! Rewards for being a chainsaw nutcase!! More zoom zoom!!! Just... put it on a damned cracker for me 🤘😁🤘

    Blight changes all look reasonable, but I'll wait for a more experienced hand to rate them.

    Perk changes are all great... love Shadowborn being an alternative to Lightborn as an anti flashlight perk to catch those filthy pallet break flashlighters (I am one of said filthy pallet break flashlighters).

    Im so happy my friend.

  • @Coffeecrashing said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623664#Comment_3623664

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623668#Comment_3623668

    Survivors can use the “short bursts of repair + excessive hiding” strategy, to break a 3-gen at the start of the game.

    In this scenario, the only generators the survivors are repairing are the 3-gen. And since it only takes 4.5 seconds to lock in generator progress (and it’s even less than 4.5 seconds if multiple survivors are repairing the same generator), if the 3 gen isn’t all in line of sight of each other, many killers won’t be able to patrol them fast enough to catch the survivors anywhere near the generators.

    You think survivors are going to waste all that time on the first gen?

    Survivors already do this, it leads to a stalemate or the killer eventually loses.

    If you're playing killer well you should be slowing repairs down by presuring survivors via injurying/hooks, not religiously kicking gens until everyone dies of boredom.

  • @squbax said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623476#Comment_3623476

    I am glad that you got your desired killer back but I must say that I agree with the previous poster, there is no risk anymore against onryo,I can count in one hand the times the demanifest flicker worked against me in chase, because ya know checkspots and safe corners exist so thats something. Also who on earth gets down by an onryo in less than 60 s ? is an m1 cmon at least a gen should be done per chase if not more if you are decent at looping.

    And how are tales scary?, I take one go get rid of codemn even if she is chasing me as getting hit doesnt punish me, get the tape off in her face same as old onryo and lmao. Yes she can interrupt you putting the tape with a tp, I will give you that however a good team should have multiple people putting tapes and disabling tvs.

    My honest opinion she will no longer be a pubstomper, still since the average player is awful at the game she will still hold a decent killrate, but against any team that is not actually horrible at the game, much like any m1 killer thats not singularity she will get clapped.

    Did you play against old onryo?

    A good old onryo?

  • Quick gambit changes are bad honestly no one is gonna use that for 5%

  • @NerfDHalready said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623458#Comment_3623458

    this is old sadako and if they don't bring old iri tape back her condemn mechanic will go back to being irrelevant and non existent once again. we'll see

    Not entirely. Look at what @Peanits told us above. Condemned is inflicted around ALL tvs in a 16m radius. It can't be ignored. Tvs are around gens. 7 tp are enough to condemn and it has no cooldown.

    She's a scary killer.

  • @I_Wanna_Muffin said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623466#Comment_3623466

    She will still need old iri tape to really be able to perform, that addon was just way too good to pass up on really wish they would give like 2 or 3 tvs base kit.

    As a Sadako main and basically 1 trick im very very glad they are reverting most of her and basically giving her some qol changes, but i think she will need more.

    We will see what happens to her on ptr though.

    I don't think she will need a form of iri tape. Cooldowns on tvs are extremely short.

    This on top condemned around all tvs is enough for crazy map pressure that CAN'T be ignored.

    She's good. Really good.

  • @jesterkind said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623686#Comment_3623686

    So why's that a problem?

    That's only if they're at one gen remaining, so you've had the rest of the match to get work done, and in the worst case scenario you'd just chase a survivor and let the gen get done, since the survivor is your objective and the generator isn't. What's the issue here?

    The “short bursts of repairing + excessive hiding” strategy also works at the very beginning of the game.

    And there’s no “just chase a survivor”, if the survivors are literally just repairing for only 4.5 seconds, then running far away until the killer has patrolled past the generator. Against many killers, the survivors can use their voice comms, or the visual terror radius, to excessively hide from the killer.

    Im already playing against many survivors that pre-leave generators at the first sign of a terror radius. This anti 3 gen mechanic just makes that the optimal way to break any 3-gen, at any point in the game.

    And another survivor strategy would literally be “hide around the map, and repair various generators for 4.5 seconds, then hide some more”. Imagine how frustrating it would be, as killer, to just patrol generators over and over, and never finding survivors, and instead finding barely any progress on any of the generators. This would be a valid strategy, because eventually the generators would become damage immune if the killer tried to kick them repeatedly.

  • @I_Wanna_Muffin said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623466#Comment_3623466

    She will still need old iri tape to really be able to perform, that addon was just way too good to pass up on really wish they would give like 2 or 3 tvs base kit.

    As a Sadako main and basically 1 trick im very very glad they are reverting most of her and basically giving her some qol changes, but i think she will need more.

    We will see what happens to her on ptr though.

    i am pretty sure they're reverting her add-on's. ring drawing will now apply condemn to all healing actions and iri-tape will now reset TV's as it did before. It just looked full revert.

    the two buffs which are invisibility increase and the condemn change look meaningless. I don't care to hook people. there is no point in hooking people if i am playing for condemn in old version. She's back to being slug killer that slug people under TV's and teleport to them. In other words, very under-powered because I have to commit to chases with pathetic chase potencial to down survivors.

    STBFL is a nerf to m2 killers that play like m1 killers such as Demogorgon, so m1 killer. They make it sound like m1 killer are over performing.

  • The 3 Gen "fix" is a problem. Players myself included often complain about certain play styles. Slugging/tunneling. The killers who play by mixing Gen control and chase and tries to avoid tunneling and slugging are most punished for this. So when killers abandon more pleasant playstyles because the Gen objective is no longer viable this will be the reason. The harder you make it to protect the gens the less reason a killer has to leave a injured survivor....now tunneling and slugging are the last viable win strats for killers. This will choke the game.

  • Prerunning counters nowhere to hide.

  • @jesterkind said:

    Interesting changes for sure...

    I'll see how the generator stuff shakes out, but on paper, I like it. It (further) disincentivises stacking four slowdowns, incentivises thinking about your regression more, and also maybe kinda-sorta encourages some currently decidedly not-meta picks like Ruin, Oppression, Thrilling Tremors, etc. I'm all for those things, so I'll have to test and see if it has any major flaws.

    Billy changes look great, even if Overdrive turns out to be nothing just altering his collision and speeding up his chainsaw by default should help him a ton. Big fan of that.

    Onryo... I'll test her, but moving back towards her worse iteration isn't a great idea on paper. These changes look like they should at least preserve the better changes made to her, at least.

    Ormond is pretty interesting. I do agree with the changes listed, but they're not what I would've done- addressing that godawful window on the top floor of main and maybe putting a hook or two on the second floor to prevent unhookable-build abuse would've been top priority for me, but cleaning up the front area so it's not as dead should be good too.

    Not much I really dislike here! I think the STBFL change is unnecessary and Quick Gambit is still going to be a bad perk, but I wouldn't consider those real detracting factors. Excited to test it!

    All it is going to do is change the meta again, but still maintain functionally the same meta.


    Right now the main build is corrupt + pop + pain res + flex perk

    The new build will just become: corrupt + Grim embrace + deadlock + flex perk (probably something like nowhere to hide). So now you can still kick gens, you get your 5% and you get passive slowdown without having to think about it. So functionally this changes nothing. Also "stacking 4 slowdowns" is basically required at a high level because of how efficient survivors can play, so again its not changing anything. If anything the change to grim embrace makes the meta even better here because its all passive slowdown now.

  • @Coffeecrashing said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623692#Comment_3623692

    The “short bursts of repairing + excessive hiding” strategy also works at the very beginning of the game.

    And there’s no “just chase a survivor”, if the survivors are literally just repairing for only 4.5 seconds, then running far away until the killer has patrolled past the generator. Against many killers, the survivors can use their voice comms, or the visual terror radius, to excessively hide from the killer.

    Im already playing against many survivors that pre-leave generators at the first sign of a terror radius. This anti 3 gen mechanic just makes that the optimal way to break any 3-gen, at any point in the game.

    And another survivor strategy would literally be “hide around the map, and repair various generators for 4.5 seconds, then hide some more”. Imagine how frustrating it would be, as killer, to just patrol generators over and over, and never finding survivors, and instead finding barely any progress on any of the generators. This would be a valid strategy, because eventually the generators would become damage immune if the killer tried to kick them repeatedly.

    This method you keep parroting makes no sense.

    A kick will now inflict 5% regression or 20 seconds worth of regression. In order to deplete a gens 8 regression actions a survivor will need to repair 40 seconds worth (almost half the generator) before they start to gain any ground.

    Then you take into account the tine spent hiding and it'll take you upwards of 3 minutes to repair a gen this way.

    No one who isn't sandbagging their team is going to do this willingly.

    It's literally only useful in a stalemate situation where you're already forced (by the killers actions) to spend ages working on a gen.

  • @Seraphor said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623686#Comment_3623686

    You think survivors are going to waste all that time on the first gen?

    Survivors already do this, it leads to a stalemate or the killer eventually loses.

    If you're playing killer well you should be slowing repairs down by presuring survivors via injurying/hooks, not religiously kicking gens until everyone dies of boredom.

    I’m saying survivors could do this strategy at ANY POINT IN THE GAME. Maybe they’ll purposely create a 3-gen, then use this strategy at the end of the game to break the 3-gen. Maybe they’ll start the game with this strategy. Maybe they’ll primarily focus on the easy generators, but will make sure to place 4.5 seconds of progress on the 3-gen, to help start the damage immunity on the 3-gen.

    And it’s absolutely world shattering that you could take a scenario of “survivors are literally repairing for 4.5 seconds, then excessively hiding”, and turn it into “the killer is making everyone die of boredom by religiously kicking generators”.

    How are most killers supposed to find survivors, if the survivors are literally excessively hiding far away from generators? Are killers supposed to check behind every single object on the entire map? This game is currently balanced around the fact that excessively hiding causes a stalemate, or “excessively long 3-gen” as some people like to call it. Under the new anti-3 gen mechanic, excessively hiding would be rewarded by damage immune generators, which means the survivors get rewarded for excessively hiding.

  • @Coffeecrashing said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623692#Comment_3623692

    The “short bursts of repairing + excessive hiding” strategy also works at the very beginning of the game.

    And there’s no “just chase a survivor”, if the survivors are literally just repairing for only 4.5 seconds, then running far away until the killer has patrolled past the generator. Against many killers, the survivors can use their voice comms, or the visual terror radius, to excessively hide from the killer.

    Im already playing against many survivors that pre-leave generators at the first sign of a terror radius. This anti 3 gen mechanic just makes that the optimal way to break any 3-gen, at any point in the game.

    And another survivor strategy would literally be “hide around the map, and repair various generators for 4.5 seconds, then hide some more”. Imagine how frustrating it would be, as killer, to just patrol generators over and over, and never finding survivors, and instead finding barely any progress on any of the generators. This would be a valid strategy, because eventually the generators would become damage immune if the killer tried to kick them repeatedly.

    I don't know, man, this seems like a really, really unlikely scenario.

    If that ever happens, I don't even think adjusting this system is even the right call for fixing it? Surely the better option would be to improve killer tracking, both through perks and the basekit.

    I'll be honest, this seems like a giant stretch.Even if survivors do this, it's still within the killer's power to stop them by just choosing not to defend that generator cluster. It's not even throwing, that's honestly better in general.

  • @Reinami said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623496#Comment_3623496

    All it is going to do is change the meta again, but still maintain functionally the same meta.

    Right now the main build is corrupt + pop + pain res + flex perk

    The new build will just become: corrupt + Grim embrace + deadlock + flex perk (probably something like nowhere to hide). So now you can still kick gens, you get your 5% and you get passive slowdown without having to think about it. So functionally this changes nothing. Also "stacking 4 slowdowns" is basically required at a high level because of how efficient survivors can play, so again its not changing anything. If anything the change to grim embrace makes the meta even better here because its all passive slowdown now.

    Stacking four slowdowns is a detriment at all levels, it is not a requirement.

    As for the meta, yeah, people are always gonna run slowdown for as long as slowdown exists, so I don't think it's fair to judge any general change to the game on whether it's achieving the impossible even when it isn't trying to.

  • @Peanits said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623507#Comment_3623507

    I can confirm this is how the regression works, in case anyone's uncertain!

    Is anything going to be done about how fast the first few gens go? Part of the problem with 3 genning is in how survivors spawn and how the first chase goes. In my typical games as both sides, the flow of the game is basically dictated by how many gens get done before the first down. If no gens get done, the killer wins, if 3 gens get done, the survivors win, and if 1-2 gens get done the game is relatively balanced.


    The reality is at high levels, that during the first chase it is common for the survivors to complete 2-3 gens before the killer even gets their first hook. This naturally creates a "3 gen" in the process due to how the game is fundamentally designed, because survivors spawn opposite killers they tend to work gens on their side of the map naturally creating a 3 gen.


    Given that the game is literally DESIGNED in a way that killers are supposed to be stronger later and weaker early game, 3 genning seeming like an intentional mechanic to the game, not some kind of flaw. So i guess my point is again, is anything going to be done about early game basically being non-existent due to how fast those first few gens can go?

  • @Peanits

    Does Grim Embrace's initial hook refer to the first hook until the third Survivor, or does it only take effect on the first hook for the first Survivor?

  • @jesterkind said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623741#Comment_3623741

    Stacking four slowdowns is a detriment at all levels, it is not a requirement.

    As for the meta, yeah, people are always gonna run slowdown for as long as slowdown exists, so I don't think it's fair to judge any general change to the game on whether it's achieving the impossible even when it isn't trying to.

    Watch a tournament sometime. There is a reason they always run 3-4 slowdown perks.

  • @Reinami said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623751#Comment_3623751

    Watch a tournament sometime. There is a reason they always run 3-4 slowdown perks.

    Eh? Why would a tournament be relevant here, we're talking about the game as a whole.

  • @Reinami said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623513#Comment_3623513

    Is anything going to be done about how fast the first few gens go? Part of the problem with 3 genning is in how survivors spawn and how the first chase goes. In my typical games as both sides, the flow of the game is basically dictated by how many gens get done before the first down. If no gens get done, the killer wins, if 3 gens get done, the survivors win, and if 1-2 gens get done the game is relatively balanced.

    The reality is at high levels, that during the first chase it is common for the survivors to complete 2-3 gens before the killer even gets their first hook. This naturally creates a "3 gen" in the process due to how the game is fundamentally designed, because survivors spawn opposite killers they tend to work gens on their side of the map naturally creating a 3 gen.

    Given that the game is literally DESIGNED in a way that killers are supposed to be stronger later and weaker early game, 3 genning seeming like an intentional mechanic to the game, not some kind of flaw. So i guess my point is again, is anything going to be done about early game basically being non-existent due to how fast those first few gens can go?

    3 genning is still a viable strategy.

    Any decent killer who does this doesnt need to kick their selected 3 gens 8 times to win this way. The vast majority of the time you will either secure all your kills or the survivors will manage to outplay you, well before you've kicked a gen 8 times.

    This only impacts those who relentless defend a gen at the expense of all other objectives, for a prolonged period of time.

    If anything it'll make defending gens easier. Your kicks inflict 5% regression, and survivors need to be able to repair for a solid 4.5s before they halt regression, so until you use up you 8 kicks, gens will be much more easily held down. So considering most don't make 8 kicks as it is, this sounds like a buff to killers who aren't Skull Merchant.

  • @Peanits said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623500#Comment_3623500

    It is not. Only things that cause an instant 2.5% regression or more (not counting Survivors missing skill checks) count as a regression event. Since Ruin has no instant regression and only gradually removes progress, it does not count as a regression event.

    How would this work with skill check regression perks such as Hex Lullaby, Merciless Storm, Oppression, etc? With the survivor failing checks due to a perk would the perk still do the extra regress or would those be locked out after 8 times on a gen?

  • @Seraphor said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623752#Comment_3623752

    3 genning is still a viable strategy.

    Any decent killer who does this doesnt need to kick their selected 3 gens 8 times to win this way. The vast majority of the time you will either secure all your kills or the survivors will manage to outplay you, well before you've kicked a gen 8 times.

    This only impacts those who relentless defend a gen at the expense of all other objectives, for a prolonged period of time.

    That is not actually true, in fact this might make it more viable as survivors to intentionally 3 gen themselves in order to get the killer in this scenario where they can no longer regress gens. And yes i know what you are going to say: "Solo queue, average survivors blah blah" you obviously don't play against the teams i play against and that is fine, but you really should try to understand how the game plays out for people with 5k+ hours.

  • @Reinami said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623763#Comment_3623763

    That is not actually true, in fact this might make it more viable as survivors to intentionally 3 gen themselves in order to get the killer in this scenario where they can no longer regress gens. And yes i know what you are going to say: "Solo queue, average survivors blah blah" you obviously don't play against the teams i play against and that is fine, but you really should try to understand how the game plays out for people with 5k+ hours.

    I'm sorry I'm not in the 5k+ hours club, I guess us measly 2.5k hours peasants are just clueless about the game.

  • @jesterkind said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623730#Comment_3623730

    I don't know, man, this seems like a really, really unlikely scenario.

    If that ever happens, I don't even think adjusting this system is even the right call for fixing it? Surely the better option would be to improve killer tracking, both through perks and the basekit.

    I'll be honest, this seems like a giant stretch.Even if survivors do this, it's still within the killer's power to stop them by just choosing not to defend that generator cluster. It's not even throwing, that's honestly better in general.

    So if survivors do this strategy, your advice is to just “not to defend that generator cluster”? Does that mean the killer is supposed to just give up?

  • Overall pretty happy with these patch notes I have to say. Excited to see pretty much all of this go live.

  • @Coffeecrashing said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623746#Comment_3623746

    So if survivors do this strategy, your advice is to just “not to defend that generator cluster”? Does that mean the killer is supposed to just give up?

    How are you spending so much more tine and effort kicking gens instead of chasing and downing survivors?

    I swear you come up with some of the most bewildering killer-main takes sometimes.

    If I ever have to spend that much time on gens and not on survivors is almost always already a lost cause.

  • The 8 limit is way too restricting. That means killers can only use eruption 4 times per gen at best, and if they have any other gen damaging perks, that makes even less times eruption can be used.

    Why make eruption cause 2 uses to be used up? In order for it to work it HAS to be kicked first, so every time eruption is used, it's two uses used up.

    Killers now are also punished for kicking low damaged generators. Have pop? Can't dare kick gens any more unless the generator is at least 50% damaged, otherwise you use up your 8 charges for a measly 5% vs a higher percentage pop kick.

    Why is it every damn patch makes killers have more and more things to balance and worry about all while having to abide by survivor laws? This is getting ridiculous. There a generator! Oh, I'm not allowed to damage that. If I do, then I can't use any of my more significant damage perks.

    This ridiculous 8 limit needs to apply to kicks only. BHVR said this is supposed to only affect people who 3 gen at the beginning of the match. How does this remotely only affect those kinds of killers? This hurts E V E R Y K I L L E R who uses any kind of regression perk. Not to mention, survivors will no longer care about them 3 genning themselves since it does not target just killers who protect 3 gens from the match start as BHVR said it would.

  • @Coffeecrashing said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623746#Comment_3623746

    So if survivors do this strategy, your advice is to just “not to defend that generator cluster”? Does that mean the killer is supposed to just give up?

    How on earth do you get "just give up" from "don't waste too much time defending one generator cluster"?

    Your job isn't to prevent any generators from being repaired at all. It's to kill survivors. Yes, sometimes that will involve intentionally letting certain generators be completed to better control the trial and bait survivors.

    This scenario you're describing is only a problem if the killer cares (too much) about defending a 3-gen instead of progressing their objective.

  • "Tunneling has become such an issue that we are going to buff DS. Like a year from now, until then we reworked STBFL to encourage and reward tunneling."

    *Mmm, chef's kiss*

  • Ok so:

    3 Gen: I don't really keep count how often I regress the same generator but I think 8 times is fine.

    Onryo: If I'm reading this correctly, tunneling as onryo seems kinda strong which I'm worried about.

    Hillbilly: I'm glad billy is getting buffed! Overdrive seems a bit weird.

    Blight: I'm glad these are getting changed! I don't really know how good increased turning is though. I don't play blight but I don't really want another killer with almost no good addons (Freddy, Pyramid Head, Demogorgon, etc.)

    Perks: Stbfl change is wack. This feels like a nerf to the weaker killers and that's it. Grim Embrace is great. I always wanted to use this perk since it incentives going for everyone for a good effect similar to no way out and old bbq. Quick gambit is a bit worrying given current gen speeds. Ruin got the wrong thing changed.

    Ormond: To my understanding this map got buffed?! I hope not.

  • Just checking, are we gonna impose any hard limits on the number of times a survivor can be healed or nah?

  • Super looking forward to Billy!

    Happy with the Blight addon changes.

    Curious to see how Onyro feels to play as and against. She's been getting a lot of attention recently.

  • @Krazzik said:

    https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/comment/3623589#Comment_3623589

    Peanits mentioned earlier that a survivor missing a skill check ISN'T counted as a regression event, so 'difficult skillcheck builds' are unaffected.

    Just paranoid that because it's FROM a perk it'll trigger. Intentionally or not.

  • Hillbilly will receive good changes. That's good. I like it. What about second Chainsaw Killer? What about Bubba? He needs some tweaks. Are there any plans to buff him in some way?

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