Developer Update | July 2025
The 9.1.0 Update is approaching, so let’s dive into the notable gameplay changes you can expect from the upcoming Public Test Build. Plus, stay tuned for the PTB Patch Notes where we’ll share the precise values that are changing for each of the topics below!
Read on for all the details:
NEW FEATURES
- Added a new equippable item for Survivors: the Fog Vial. Its effects include:
- Using a Fog Vial causes a fog cloud to expand outward from the point where it was used, dissipating after a set time
- Scratch marks do not spawn within a fog cloud
- Audio is muffled for anyone within a fog cloud
- The auras of players within a fog cloud cannot be read by other players
- The Fog Vial has a cooldown which recharges over time once used
- Added item rarities and add-ons.
DEV NOTE: The Fog Vial specializes in creating confusion and breaking line of sight. When it’s activated, this fog obscures your surroundings while still allowing for limited visibility within your immediate vicinity. By moving to a single, recharging use, Survivors can use the Fog Vial multiple times per Trial and don’t have to be quite so precious about saving charges, letting them be more in the moment with their vial uses.
Stay tuned for patch notes for more information about Fog Vial rarities and add-ons.
- Changed item “charges” to refer to individual uses of item, rather than the overall time it can be used for
- Adjusted the uses for this item to cover the following:
- Channel the Key to consume 1 charge and reveal Survivor auras for a limited time
- When near a closed hatch, consume 1 charge to unlock it
- Consume 1 charge to quickly unlock a chest and gain an item of Rare rarity or higher. Once a chest has been unlocked with a Key it:
- Is revealed to nearby Survivors
- Can be rummaged in by 1 other Survivor to gain an additional item of Rare rarity or higher
- Adjusted the effects of individual item rarities and several add-ons.
DEV NOTE: Keys stood out as the least-used Survivor items and were typically outclassed by other options. We’ve reworked them to offer a wider range of utility and tap into players’ yearning for higher-rarity items.
Now, the “charge” system is easier to track (think of it as “uses” rather than “use time”) and the aura-reading capabilities of Keys are improved, while also adding some team-wide utility. In addition to making it easier for the equipped player to get quality items from chests, Keys also extend that opportunity to a single teammate.
Stay tuned for the patch notes for details on Key and Map item rarities and add-ons.
- Changed item “charges” to refer to individual uses of item, rather than the overall time it can be used for
- Adjusted the uses for this item to cover the following:
- Channel the Map to consume 1 charge and reveal nearby pallet and vault auras to yourself for a limited time
- While auras are revealed, press the Use Item button again to create a beam of light (only visible to Survivors), revealing the auras of generators within the beam’s range to all Survivors
- Adjusted the effects of individual item rarities and several add-ons.
DEV NOTE: Similar to Keys, Maps stood out as an underutilized item which didn’t fit into beginner or experienced player kits. With this change, Maps retain the spirit of giving players an awareness of their surroundings, making their effects more consistent, and extending some value to teammates. Now, there’s no need to “track” objects before they show up.
- Increased total number of Character Customization presets to 7
- Increased total number of Loadout presets to 7
- Added the ability to change preset names
DEV NOTE: Whether it’s the pursuit of fashion or prepping perks for every situation, we wanted to make it easier to save your faves. Don’t worry, your existing presets will be ported into this updated system.
- Added mouse and keyboard support on the following console platforms:
- PlayStation 4
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox One
- Xbox Series X|S
Please note: This feature is not available on the PTB, as it is only playable on Steam.
DEV NOTE: Quite self-explanatory, we’ve extended full mouse and keyboard support to a number of console platforms so that players have more choice in how they approach gameplay.
- Added hotkey inputs to Custom Game spectating to switch to the Killer’s perspective.
- Added spectators hotkeys representation next to players portraits, to improve usability
- Added the option to toggle spectator hotkeys visibility and adjust them in the Input Binding menu.
- Added a visual indicator to show spectators who they are viewing.
- Shows dead Survivor icons if joining as a spectator after getting sacrificed.
DEV NOTE: Following up on last update’s changes to Custom Games, we’ve introduced more improvements to make view-switching and tournament casting even easier. This also ensures viewers have more information about what they’re seeing.
KILLER UPDATES
- Increased Punishment of the Damned's range
- Increased the duration of Rites of Judgment’s trail drawing and trail lifetime
- Decreased Rites of Judgement's movement speed
- Added Haste and Endurance effects to Survivors saved from a cage
- Added input buffering to:
- Transition from Punishment of the Damned to Rites of Judgment
- Begin caging or killing a Survivor when the prompt is available
- Reworked his add-ons.
DEV NOTE: We’ve heard your feedback that The Executioner’s add-ons could use more variety – range shouldn’t feel like the only viable option. In addition to making range increases basekit, we’ve reworked his add-ons to introduce more interesting options, like adjusting the spread of Punishment of the Damned, or triggering effects on misses.
Outside of these changes (keep an eye out for the patch notes for add-on details!), we’ve made some quality-of-life adjustments and slightly reduced his zoning potential.
- Increased movement speed while reloading bottle
- Decreased bottle reload time
- Adjusted the effects of yellow bottles:
- Increased Haste effect
- Increased the distance and speed that smoke spreads to
- Increased activation speed
- Adjusted the effects of purple bottles:
- Decreased the Hindered effect
- Decreased how long the Hindered effect lingers after leaving smoke
- Added input buffering to:
- Charging a bottle throw
- Reloading bottles
- Adjusted several add-ons.
DEV NOTE: When it comes to The Clown’s power, his purple bottles see much more use than his yellow ones across skill levels. To better incentivize their use, we’ve given the yellow bottles a quicker activation, greater speed boost and wider effective range, coupled with some base speed increases. To compensate, purple bottles have received a slight nerf, requiring a little more throw control to get their full value.
- Increased maximum patrol path length
- Increased path drawing speed, acceleration, and strafe speed
- The Carnifex’s Standard spawns slower
- The Assassin and Jailor’s Standards spawn quicker
- Added input buffering to:
- Drawing a patrol path
- Adjusted Call to Arms add-on.
DEV NOTE: Drawing patrol paths is an important part of The Knight’s gameplay, so we’ve made it feel snappier and extended its range slightly, making Call to Arms partially basekit. We’ve also adjusted Standard spawn times for each Guard. In particular, the Standards for the two chase-focused Guards will spawn quicker to help give Survivors a little more counterplay during double team scenarios where they tend to be at their strongest.
- Increased crouched movement speed
- Increased speed of crouching and un-crouching
- Increased the speed at which the Terror Radius fades when crouching
- Increased Ambush movement speed
- Added input buffering to:
- Crouching
- Charging an Ambush attack
- Adjusted several add-ons.
DEV NOTE: Yes, we know. We buffed Pig. Outside of her traps, her ability to surprise Survivors is an important part of her appeal. By increasing her speed and making her Terror Radius fade quicker while sneaking, she’ll have more chances to act on unprepared Survivors.
PERK UPDATES
- Updated Any Means Necessary
- Updated Appraisal
- Updated Better Together
- Updated Built to Last
- Updated Déjà Vu
- Updated Detective’s Hunch
- Updated Potential Energy
- Updated Still Sight
- Reworked Streetwise
DEV NOTE: We’ve adjusted values on a few perks that had low pick rates to help buff them up. In addition, we’ve adjusted perks that affect items to make sure they’re compatible with this update’s Survivor item changes.
Stay tuned for the patch notes for specific details on these value changes.
- Updated Dragon’s Grip
- Updated Franklin’s Demise
- Updated Hubris
- Updated Insidious
- Reworked Overwhelming Presence
- Updated Scourge Hook: Hangman’s Trick
DEV NOTE: Similar to the above, we’ve buffed some perks which boasted lower pick rates and adjusted certain perks that affect items so they’re compatible with the recent changes.
Until next time...
The Dead by Daylight Team
Comments
Peak whataboutism. But sure I'll bite because why not.
None of what you've said proves game sense doesn't exist. That's the point that YOU made. Either back it up with evidence or stop acting like it's true yeah?
Fine with most of these changes and always happy to see Survivor side get something, anything new to play with. But I'm concerned that none of the perks you mention buffing have to do with actually helping deal with the current healing meta, or with how efficient Survivors currently are on generators. Any plans to address this?
And also, when are you adding Night Shroud Haste to Ghostface? It's time. It was a hit in 2v8. People had fun with it. It would give him much needed map mobility and would make him feel really nice to play. It doesn't need to be high, just 2-3% would do. Why not add it? You buffed Legion after their 2v8 debut with some of what they got from 2v8, it's time to buff Ghostface too.
So basically, “game sense” is just a fake term that’s only used for killers?
Why can’t a survivor just use their “game sense” to know if a solo q teammate is working on a generator?
Because you’re totally expecting a killer to use “game sense” to find a survivor, when they aren’t allowed to see them, or hear them, or see their scratchmarks, or have aura reading…. and all this while a teammate is ambushing them with a fog vial and trying to confuse the killer with distracting scratchmarks or noises.
It’s so bad. It’s so very very bad, of the unrealistic expectations that killers are expected to do with “game sense”, but it’s fine if survivors just keep asking for more and more info buffs, so they don’t need as much game sense.
It's not a fake term and It does exist though, you haven't proven it doesn't.
It seems like you're just deflecting to make it about survivors in lieu of a proper argument.
Thank THE ENTITY it isn't a nerf, this perk is one of the best designed in the game and most balanced in my opinion. I feared you would make it have a timer again or gut it like poor Spine Chill or Wake Up. Now we just need a Visionary rework to bring it in line with it.
I don't mind survivors getting endurance and speed after being removed from a cage but why make his power slower but longer, his power already take 2 business to reach lol and its very easy to react to, and way the play pyramid head right is not bait survivors into thinking u are gonna use your power and go for an m1, since its that slow
im really confused about that change, if anything i expected it to be faster
I'm skeptical of these knight changes. He's already pretty bad and you're making it easier to just negate his power by holding W.
Actually in general, these killer nerfs are unneeded. The clown one especially is bad, as the fast gas helps survs way more than it does him.
Again, test it out in PTB. So far all the info we have says it's more like the thickened mist than anything we've had in the previous events. So even without the aura you should be able to look for a hook, much like we need to when Boil Over is in play (except the area of aura blocking will be limited. Once you're out of the mist, you're good).
Considering it is a survivor item, it does in fact need to provide some benefit to survivors. If the trade off is less people bringing flashlights or medkits, then whatever.
And its easy to make them throw away the match too. I've had a couple Pigs try this on me. I find a box and try remove the trap anyway. They immediately grab me and I refuse to wiggle, forcing them to do the pick up/drop dance. Then I just jump back on the box. Rinse and repeat. It wastes their time while the other survivors smash the gens.
Actually thrilled about the seven presets, because fashion. Seven perk builds is cool too, I guess.
I think it's fine change.
→ Will make Clown feel fresh to play and a bit different.
→ Opens options for more gameplay (I assume purple bottles will be 15→10 % hindred and haste will be 10→15 % haste)
Overall this is defienetly a buff to Clown, if survivors want to utilize yellow bottle they already give you hit and will result in same speed difference anyway. I'm actually looking forward to as I always ran STBL and Rapid on Clown.
Absolutely disagree. Pig's ambush has very high skill expressions when used in particular loops, sadly everyone plays Pig as M1 killer holding W whole game completely ignoring part of her power.
Literally the least skill expressive dash power in the whole game
Its 48.9% so more like 49%. And high MMR is the top 10% of the playerbase, so in total 6 million players. If you have 3 strong players and they bring a beginner friend, that's a high MMR match I reckon. I have seen 4 stevegulls in high MMR or people doing invocations or a SWF who thought Legion was boring so they all just didn't mend or a squad that ignored gens and went for blinds and stuns instead, etc… So I think that the average competent high MMR SWF has at least a 1.1% higher escape rate than the average hih MMR SWF.
This is besides the point of your post, I know, but I keep seeing people list Wake Up while talking about perks that were gutted. I don't truly understand why- the last change that perk received was a buff overall.
What makes you say it was gutted?
This
I'm already starting to have mental health problems because of the constant bugs with her random TPs out of nowhere
Game sense involves the game itself, and REASONABLE predictions that can be made. People might use game sense to predict where the players spawned in a game, or where the generators/pallets/windows/hooks/hatch/totems are, because it turns out the game doesn't completely randomize where they are located, and a player can find patterns in the spawning placements if they have played the game enough.
Game sense can also say things like "I've seen a survivor teammate in chase for over a minute, and now I see their aura because the killer just placed them into the dying state, so I'm using game sense to predict that most (or all) of the pallets in that surrounding area are gone".
But the important thing is game sense is VAGUE PREDICTIONS based on observable information, and/or based on patterns in the game itself (the game itself = not people).
Game sense does not give killers psychic powers. And it's very often misused in places where the killer would need psychic powers in order to actually know what is happening. When a SWF sets up a fog vial ambush, and the killer can't see their target survivor, or hear them, or have scratchmarks, or have aura reading… and the SWF teammate is purposely trying to mislead them by running around the area… then game sense doesn't work anymore. There isn't any information to based guesses off of, because the game took them all away.
And the important thing is that without the fog vial, then game sense might be meaningful, because the killer is allowed to actually see/hear/aura-read, and have observable information to help them figure out where the target survivor is.
…I gotta ask, man, if your position is that game sense as a concept doesn't apply to this situation, why on earth did you START with game sense not existing at all and being a fake term?
I don't know where you get 48.9 from as the BHVR stat im referring to is 48.2%, unless BHVR put out new stats recently.
Nightlight is not a reliable source and I don't know where your other numbers come from with respect to high MMR.
Because 99% of the time, it's being used as a fake term, to tell killers to get better at the game. The vast majority of the time, the killers are expected to use this "game sense".
You are not arguing the point. Alright let's take your number of 48.2%. is it really that far-fetched that a SWF that tries to win, has a 1.8% higher escape rate than average due to all the examples I gave?
I like Spies from the Shadows. If it triggers in an area where survivors have no reason to be in, it's probably a survivor running to a box/using a box.
Oh, well there goes my team scout build… (Detective's Hunch/Map/Crystal Bead)
Well, it may end up even stronger now?
Maybe. Idk.
I swear, survivor players in this game have had their hands so carried by daddy BHVR for so long that they don't even know anything about killer's powers.
Do you even know that if a knight leave a guard to "camp" a hook, you can just run into the guard, he will aggro you, and then as soon as you unhook your teammate, the guard will disappear without hitting you?
I mean, at least, learn the basics of the game, damn
I don't see what point you're trying to make. The average escape rate for solos and Swf overall is in the low 40s.
mmm. ThatRyanB quoted Kaethela's comment:
"Kaethelea: Currently, Deja Vu adds the marked gens to your map, if you have one. Maps are being reworked to only show things in a range, so adding things to maps doesn't happen anymore, so Deja needs to be adjusted to account for this."
ThatRyanB after quoting:
For those asking in this thread, yes, the adjustment coming to Deja Vu is related to its (often lesser-known) Map effect. This is because the effects op Map items are being adjusted with this update.
So I'm assuming that Perks that used to add auras to maps no longer will do so. But yeah, maybe, idk.
I told you my point in my original reply but you focused in on the 48% escape rate.
Soloqueue and SWF will always have a divide, the idea that the game should be balanced around 4 soloqueues who can't communicate, make constant mistakes and often don't even bring a full load out, having a 50% escape rate makes no sense. In addition to making no thematic sense, competetive games like dbd should be balanced around people trying to win. Yeah, we should balance for casuals too, but not at the detriment for, not just top level play, but even just high MMR play.
The stats you used it shows that soloqueue having an around 40.4% escape rate and 4 people SWF 48.2% leads to an escape rate of 42%.
Currently if both sides are strong the game is relatively well balanced. We should not change that just because one side is more susceptible to bad play.
Sadge, map tracking has been removed entirely per the discord preview.
I don't think they should balance around solo Q exclusively, but instead find a middle ground between swf and solo q. currently they balance around not just Swf overall, but around the strongest high MMR 4 stack which represents only a small minority of the survivor player base.
it's okay if a small percentage of the strongest survivor teams escape more than 50% using 3rd party apps (which is basically cheating that can't be controlled) if the overall escape rate for survivor player base is 50%. killers don't face those teams most of the time anyway. the game should not be balanced to ensure a small percentage of "cheaters" escape less than 50%. if I really had a choice I would never have introduced SWF feature in the first place since that makes balancing a nightmare and ruins the atmosphere of dnd anyways since this game is not supposed to be comp CS GO with map call outs
Same.. and it has been literally 6 months now.. 😒
Even more funny to read that like 90% of people still screaming for a rework or nerf .. who is playing Nurse even anymore and how good can that be, if she is legit simply unplayable with her bugs atm?
Well overall the perk is already very niche and don't get me wrong, it was and still is very useless:
It can only be used once per match to do a single specific thing. Someone else might open before you do or you might not even make it to endgame. This made it so the perk was most useful in a 1vs1 situation when opening the gate, which got nerfed to the ground. Now it makes it so you open gates faster the more people are alive, which is also useless, because if 4 people are alive in endgame there's probably 0 pressure to open the gates and you can take as much time as you need, turning the perk into a "win harder" perk or a counter to Remember Me, which is already barely used anyways.
It was overall a huge disappointment for me what they did with it. When I saw that it was getting changes, I was hoping for a rework that actually made it a good perk. Maybe changed it's effects or gave it a new secondary effect like what they did with Poised. But it was a numbers change that killed it's main purpose, which was inherently selfish, effectively burying an already barely used perk.
Keep the good work im happy about removing the item depletion. I was introducing some newer players to the game and they felt like quiting because we ran into franklins 2 out of 4 games. They were upset about the unfairness about not being able to use their items
All michonne's perks are powerful and very game-changing, and this perk alone is on a different level of being powerful!
I see the point in it being possibly used to create lose loses around pallets setting up for pallet saves. However I still feel Conviction is probably fine. Yes someone may use it to get up again by saving it but you'll just be broken a few seconds later when you get up; any Killer with good gamesense will see that and go for you, or simply let you down yourself and then come for you when they hear you scream.
If you really do combo it with Plot Twist, bear in mind that you still only get to use Plot Twist once in the end, and once during the round. That wastes more time and takes you out of the round for a while, since most people in a SWF know you having Plot Twist is intentional and will not waste time healing you because you'll get up with haste anyway. And since Plot Twist is limited to only two uses, but Conviction is ANY TIME you heal someone, it a) counters the Healing meta by giving the Killer down pressure 30 seconds later, b) isn't a constant deal with every down, making it a fair but risky perk with some possible synergy and strong uses.
I really think the concern around Conviction+Plot Twist is very overblown, and won't be useful except in SoloQ, or to prevent slugs for the 4k which some people find annoying (I don't, I really don't care if a Killer wants to slug for a 4k but that's just me). Besides, speaking as someone who plays a LOT of Killer, trust me, a 3k is enough of a win. You can pip with a 3k, you win the game on a 3k. Why are we all so terrified of getting a 3k instead of a 4k, because we want the Mori? Alright, so just hook them and hunt the last one during the Hatch game if you want the Mori so bad, or bring a Mori offering. Problem solved. I do worry it may negatively affect people going for Killer Adepts, since you need to 4k for those - another reason I think those need to be changed to "8 hook as X Killer with their three unique perks" or something.
is it even possible to play the twins when the new DLC comes out?.
imagine the new perk [Conviction] with [power struggle], [Plot Twist], and [Tenacity] or [Soul Guard], or even better… [Smash Hit].
the survivor can use conviction and the moment the killer pick him up the same survivor will get up, stun the killer with smash hit, run to any pallet far from the killer, (the survivor have 30s to do that before they go into Dying State, 30s is a lot of time btw) then recover 15%, if the killer has no mobility like [nemesis, deathslinger, plague… etc] then the killer will take time to catch up and if the killer pick that survivor up he'll get stun with the pallet again.
imagine 4 survivors doing the same thing, the killer can't do anything about it.
https://www.twitch.tv/otzdarva/clip/ElegantPlumpOrcaOSsloth-LhnBzS3DmL2zyFmlwhy should it be, if nurse and blight have better kill rates, and are free
I have the same oppinions as well as for killer, franklin is a random nerf that killed the perk, overwhelming only works if people use the items within range, too situational, mediocre killers like knight became useless, and mediocre killers like clown have become digusting to play against.
I feel like Twins is going to be dead due to this perk. Fortunately I don't slug, only leave the occasional couple second pressure down, so I won't be affected. But I worry for Killers that are heavy on slug pressure - Oni, Myers, Twins, Billy, etc. This perk could easily knock them all down a tier. If that's what it takes to make slugging less common so be it. But there has to be a more elegant solution.
I remember when Circle of Healing killed Twins; Charlotte physically could not pick up to hook before the victor victim would be picked up. Twins players seem to always have it rough
What the heck! You censored Vecna's mori at some point! It no longer shows off the survivor's skeleton having its flesh ripped off before it collapses to the ground. I understand that it was pretty gory, but this is supposed to be a horror game. Now the camera is off angle and just shows mostly empty air.
What gives?! I hope this is a bug of some sort… Vecna sucks so bad already he definitely didn't need this as well.
It's a bug, a few youtubers covered it. If it was intentional it would have shown up in a patch note.
even if you don't slug the twins don't have time to switch back, then pick that survivor who has PS!
Watch this clip:
https://www.twitch.tv/lynxi/clip/SpunkyPatientBananaChefFrank-wC6Pj4OduG8uiVTDif the killer (not just the twins) downed the survivor under a pallet, they can't check around if they can pick up or not
A good killer will check first, then pick the survivor up, but with the perk Conviction, it's going to be a very big issue, by the time the killer looks around, the survivor will recover 25%
I repeat what I have said earlier: certain killers must slug in big maps to have any kind of chance, because the maps are too large to patrol without travel powers. Devs need to balance the maps or give every killer a travel power or fix the issue some other way.
Conviction is certainly an issue and probably needs a limit. I think 2 per round like Plot Twist is probably enough.
Yeah a plot twist style refresh would be good.
Once per trial and is refreshed when the final gen is done.
I'm not sure about once final gen is done would make sense, because of how it works. I do think maybe once per hookstage, so you get two. One on first hook, one on second hook. The perk would need you to get healed from your injury off hook, and then get hit again. Then you can make risky plays with the perk like this, but it would be fair.
It just should neither be infinite nor active in the endgame. We already have an antislug for endgame; it's Plot Twist.
Regarding the changes, the most intriguing isn't to do with the characters or perks: It's noted on the 9.1.0 update, killers and survivors (including outfits) are now classed as "Unlocked" rather than "Owned".
Is there something happening regarding one or more licenses which may result in them going?
Picture taken from DStrike video.
Or they're just changing the wording because "Owned" sounds weird. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Good catch! To put your mind at ease here, this is purely a wording change - nothing is changing aside from that. It's important that we comply with global laws, which can sometimes necessitate wording changes.
I hope that helps clear this up for you - I totally get how it can feel to see a sudden change!