Killer Pacing & Perk Diversity — Let Perks Enhance Killers, Not Fix Their Base Game
I’ve played Dead by Daylight for several years on both Killer and Survivor. I’m not a top-level competitive player, but I understand the fundamentals of both sides and have enough experience to notice when a killer feels limited by their kit rather than by player mistakes.
This isn’t meant as a general “buff Killer” or “gens are too fast” post. My concern is that some killers, particularly older or setup-heavy killers, feel dependent on slowdown perks simply to have enough time to use their power.
Meanwhile, stronger or newer killers can often function perfectly well with little or no slowdown and use their perk slots for chase, information, anti-heal, or just fun builds.
I think basic match pacing should come from the base game, while perks should primarily change how you choose to play.
Gameplay Tweaks
- Give killers a small amount of baseline early-game protection. For example, temporarily block the generators farthest from the killer for roughly 30–45 seconds. This could end early after the first down or another meaningful interaction.
- Scale that protection based on the killer. Setup-heavy killers such as Trapper or Hag could receive more setup time, while highly mobile killers would receive less.
- Reduce the dependence on slowdown perks. Once some pacing exists in the base game, perks such as Corrupt Intervention, Pain Resonance, Dead Man’s Switch, etc. could be adjusted so they are choices rather than necessities.
- Use perks for playstyle instead of repairs. A Legion player should be able to build around anti-healing, injured survivors, chase, or information without feeling punished for not bringing multiple generator perks.
- Use offerings to specialize pacing. An offering could increase opening setup time, strengthen a small baseline hook-regression mechanic, or trade some early protection for another benefit.
- Legion quality-of-life change: After a successful Feral Frenzy hit, provide a Houndmaster-style trail toward the nearest survivor not in Deep Wound. While Legion is actively following that trail, Frenzy could drain much slower or temporarily pause until approaching that survivor. This would mainly help on huge maps without increasing Legion’s ability to actually secure downs.
- Trapper should receive setup assistance rather than simply more lethality. His biggest problem is often the time required to collect, place, reset, and reposition traps while survivors are progressing generators.
- Use perkless testing when evaluating killers. Have experienced players test each killer repeatedly with no perks and no add-ons. The question shouldn’t be whether they win every match—it should be whether their base kit gives them enough time and agency to actually play their intended power.
Closing
The goal isn’t to make every killer equally strong.
The goal is for every killer to feel like a complete character before four perks are equipped.
Base game = reasonable pacing.
Perks = playstyle.
Add-ons = power customization.
Offerings = match strategy.
Players should be thinking:
“What four perks would be fun with this killer?”
rather than:
“Which slowdown perks do I have to equip before I’m allowed to use this killer’s power?”
Comments
You don't require slowdown, it just helps as you literally say. I run chase builds often and sometimes the match just snowballs.
I think some people are just too afraid to let go of their safety blanket when it comes to killer.
And survivors don't require anti-tunneling or exhaustion, or gen rushing perks, it just helps.
But I think some people are just too afraid to let go of their safety blanket when it comes to survivor.
Both sides mate, not just survivor, both sides.
I know, Rokku_Rorru is talking only about one side so I am telling him about the other side.
im no top tier killer or survivor player by any means but genuinly, the meta stuff is not as needed as people think and it becomes crutches for them.
I win games all the time with no gen regression. I get locked in and dont usually like to kick gens and so if im not using ruin, im usually getting little value of regression due to as much as possible i am keeping someone off the gen, and often the time you spend to regress a gen, its regression is so slow that your not really saving that much time anyways. I am of the opinion that pushing people off gens and forcing a heal makes them loss way more time than 30-60 seconds of uninterrupted gen regression.
I think the focus on gen regression alot of killers have(not that its not useful) prevents them from utilising other forms of pressure and control that in your average lobby is more than enough to win games. (what happens or is needed in the top few percent of players is not something i care about or view important to consider here)
for survivors, DS would just be a waste 9/10 times. you arent getting tunneled every game. or slugged every game. same with other anti tunnel or slugging perks. sure they arent useless but you are not needing them in the amjority of your games and your locking yourselves out of actually useful perks because the meta says your supposed to use these perks. then all the newer players see the meta so you all throw on windows or ds and sb and then waste them or get no value because you end up having playstyles that cripple themselves because the only thing you know how to do is pre run, and that is only so effective when there are ways to stop it or play around it.
Isn't this post about killers specifically tho, I could apply the same to survivor yes but never once did I deny survivors dont have similliar issues.
I actually agree with a lot of what you're saying. I'm not saying regression perks are required to win, or that you can't win games without them. I don't run full slowdown every game either.
My point is more about the difference between killers.
A killer who can immediately get into chase, move across the map quickly, injure multiple survivors, or force people off gens has ways to create that pressure naturally through their kit.
Then you take someone like Trapper. The average Trapper player is spending part of the early game walking around collecting traps, placing them, resetting them, and trying to establish an area before his power really starts doing anything. During that same time, survivors can already be working gens.
A really good Trapper can absolutely overcome that. That's not what I'm arguing. I'm talking about whether the average player has enough time to actually use the killer's intended power without feeling like they need slowdown to buy that time.
And I completely agree that forcing survivors off gens, healing, hooking, chasing, etc. is better pressure than just kicking a gen. The issue is that some killers can create that pressure much more easily with their base kit than others.
That's why I think testing killers perkless is important. Not to see if they can win, but to see if their base kit actually gives them enough agency to play the character the way they're designed.
Basically, I don't want slowdown to be required. I want exactly what you're talking about — more freedom to use other perks and create pressure in different ways. I just think some killers currently have a much easier time doing that than others.
I think we're talking about two slightly different things.
I'm not saying slowdown is required to win. Obviously people can run chase builds, meme builds, or no slowdown at all and still have great games.
What I'm talking about is how much different killers can naturally create pressure with their base kit.
A strong or mobile killer can often drop slowdown and still pressure gens just by using their power effectively. Trapper has to spend time collecting and placing his power before it can even start paying off. That difference matters, especially for the average player.
So yeah, slowdown helps everybody. My point is that it helps some killers cover weaknesses in their base design a lot more than others.
That's why I don't really see it as a "safety blanket" issue. I'd rather every killer have enough baseline pacing that people actually feel comfortable dropping slowdown and experimenting with chase, info, anti-heal, or whatever else they want.
That's not really what I'm talking about though.
I'm not saying killers "require" slowdown any more than survivors "require" exhaustion or anti-tunnel perks.
I'm talking about how different killers create pressure with their base kit.
Take Hag for example. A lot of her strength comes from establishing a trap web and controlling an area, and that takes time. A killer with strong mobility or immediate chase pressure can start affecting the map much faster.
Sure, a good Hag player can win without slowdown. That's not the point. If somebody really enjoys Hag and wants to play her consistently, it would be nice if they had enough breathing room to actually experiment with their build instead of feeling like two or three perk slots need to be dedicated to buying time every match.
Maybe they want to try a chase build, an aura build, anti-heal, obsession perks, or just something goofy for fun. They should have room to do that without feeling like they're throwing the match before it starts.
That's really the point of my post. I want the base game to provide reasonable pacing so perks can be about how you want to play, not about patching holes in a killer's base kit.
And that would actually encourage people to let go of the so-called "safety blanket," because they'd have more freedom to experiment.
Yeah, this post is specifically about killers. I'm not saying survivors don't have similar issues with certain perks or builds. They absolutely can. That just wasn't what I was discussing here.
And Ghost Face is another good example of what I mean.
Part of the fun of Ghost Face is actually playing him like a stealth killer — positioning yourself, staying hidden, stalking survivors, finding good angles, and setting up that exposed hit.
You CAN ignore a lot of that, constantly rotate gens and just play him more aggressively, and a really good player can absolutely win that way without slowdown.
But if someone loves Ghost Face because they actually want to play the sneaky stalking killer, it would be nice to have enough breathing room to do that without feeling like they're losing the match because they spent time using their power the way it was intended.
That's where build freedom comes into it too. Maybe I want aura perks to help me stalk, chase perks for after I expose someone, or just some weird fun build. I don't want to feel like half my perk slots are already spoken for just so I have enough time to play Ghost Face like Ghost Face.
That's really what I'm getting at. It's not that slowdown is literally required to win. It's that some killers have much more freedom to drop it and experiment without feeling like they're fighting the clock the entire match.
Base pacing should give you room to play the killer. Perks should let you decide HOW you want to play them.