Comments

• Bringing some nuance that I feel is lacking a bit in discussions around this, and hopefully a new perspective on a few things that can inform future decisions!!
  
  My immediate gripe with this PTB was the Windows of Opportunity change. I never used the perk, Five Moves Ahead was an objectively better version of its effects and deserved the nerf it got, but Windows sits in a relatively unique spot;

  There exists a stigma around Windows, one that it has largely earned, of being a perk overly friendly to new players. We've all had experiences where someone running Windows goes pallet to pallet and throws everything, leaving nothing for future chases and ultimately forsaking the team's success. That was definitely annoying lol

  But I think having a good option for beginner players to learn the fundamentals of looping a Killer is an incredibly important thing for the game to have. It could be a crutch in a lot of scenarios, but in its current state it almost exclusively caters to veteran players that can make a 10% vault bonus look incredible, and is now even worse in comparison to Five Moves Ahead than it was before; Kwon Tae-Young being a character with a 9k iri shard requirement compared to Kate, who comes free with the game in some versions.

  There could definitely be a valid argument to nerf the perk, because maybe it can be too much of a crutch pick. But it's really important to account for, when balancing a perk like Windows, who actually uses it. The people that used Five Moves Ahead before will continue to do so; I know I will at least. But the people that used Windows before will be almost entirely alienated by this change, and while nerfing the most used perk in the game is a good idea in theory, I think there will be a good number of Survivor players feeling a lot more lost in the fog than before. And frankly, if you were a Killer player that thought Windows of Opportunity was overpowered, you're kind of telling on yourself.

  Another change I was slightly confused by was the one to Sole Survivor (Down to the Last). While I absolutely love the idea behind this change, since nobody likes when their teammate decides to rat out with any perk for their whole team to die, I think the changes the perk received leave it in a state where it doesn't really accomplish anything? Making other people open gates faster is useful, for sure, but it relies on your teammates to know the perk is in play and be able to open the gates, and you to not be in a position to do so yourself, in which case the 7 or so seconds saved in a best case scenario might not be of consequence.

  Again, I love the thought behind the change, but I think it has to go back to the drawing board. In the meantime, we get left with a perk that, once at 3 tokens, arguably functions even better as a rat perk as long as you have a way to find the hatch (Left Behind, Extrasensory Perception, Clairvoyance, etc).

  Final large complaint then I can get to good things: new Borrowed Time is useless.

  I've seen a lot of people saying it's broken, and while IF combined with Off the Record, and Dead Hard, and you're hit <40 seconds after getting unhooked, and the Killer then pursues you without getting a hit for >30 seconds, and the Killer then falls for your Dead Hard CAN allow you to take an extra hit in chase that you wouldn't have otherwise been able to, we can surely agree that that is a lot of conditions to get any sort of value from the perk.

  Allowing it to cleanse any deep wound passively would at least make it decent against a couple Killers with deep wound effects in their basekit, but overall the design is just a little bit niche compared to the general anti-tunnel applicability that BT used to provide on a new player's kit. If you aren't interested in extending the duration of the Elusive status off hook, I see no reason why it could just only extend Haste and Endurance, as it does currently? Maybe it could be slightly confusing but it'd at least be functional.

  Ok, compliment time. Let's go bullet round

  • I adore the change made to Boon: Illumination. It makes it finally fit in a Boon build as a support piece that also provides conditional information as a convenient secondary!! My only change would be to let it lean more into the rapid-repositioning playstyle by revealing the Auras of Totems along with the other Auras it reveals, but overall the largest number buff in Dead By Daylight's history is a resounding success in my book, and a change I never would've thought of doing
  • Calm Spirit losing its penalty is also great! While it's less consequential with Hex: Thrill of the Hunt's rework, it's a nice QoL change that keeps a beginner friendly perk beginner friendly. Love it
  • Five Moves Ahead, although I've recently fallen in love with it, needed the change. I think this nerf could be enough to put a current version of Windows of Opportunity ahead on certain maps, while maintaining the value that Five Moves has against ranged Killers and the like. Good change that diversifies options
  • Plunderer's Instinct now works nicely in Chest builds!! It was always kind of sad that the quintessential Chest perk was kind of meaningless in builds based around it, but being able to open a chest in less than 3 seconds and having its aura read be map wide could be enough to get value with the also newly buffed Moment of Glory and similar
  • Road Life is finally a perk in the game with a function! And it's one that feels natural, like it always should've been this way. You love to see it
  • Self-Preservation got a nerf that it sorely needed. I played a lot of matches with Self-Preservation and had been begging for this nerf to happen. Some of the things the Elusive status effect lets you get away with can be disgusting, especially when combined with ways to rotate quickly or anticipate the Killer's arrival. Nerfing it allows it to continue to block Hook-based aura read without making Tunnelling the default option
  • Shoulder the Burden got what was coming to it. My only complaint with its current state is that it now sits as a perk that only works with a coordinated team, something near impossible for a solo queue player to have. I think perks like that across the board should be looked at carefully, but for now, Shoulder will finally have the risk-reward it was always meant to.
  • Solidarity working with a Med-Kit makes me so happy. I have a list of perks I call my 'pet-perks', perks that aren't necessarily widely applicable or useful, but just feel good to use and get value from. This perk was near enough to the top, and it always bothered me that it didn't work with altruistic med-kit usage, requiring me to use my med-kit for myself despite what the perk encourages otherwise. Love the change; even small, it does a lot
  • Stake Out is finally interesting!! I'm excited also to see all the Great Skill Check perk activations now that it doesn't bottleneck the whole concept. Love it, but please make it not work on Healing skill checks!

  Overall this PTB felt like Christmas morning to me, and I'm really happy with the direction a lot of the perks are taking now! A few gripes here and there but as a whole? Pat yourselves on the back BHVR, you knocked it out of the park with this one

  Now please, please. Do this kind of thing yearly instead of semi-decennial! I can appreciate the time effort and care that went into all of this, and it really shows, but this kind of large-scale shake up does so much to keep me interested in the game!

  This game has been my greatest love for just over a year now, and I look forward to another year in the fog :]

  in Survivor Perk Changes Feedback Comment by TheIdioticEnigma September 16, 2026