Dead by Daylight’sJuly 19, 2022 Mid-Chapter patch was a great patch for players who prefer the role ofthe terrifying killer.Though several killer perks were nerfed, many others were buffed, and many crutch perks for survivors were nerfed into the ground. Killer players will be pleased to hear that both Dead Hard and Decisive Strike were heavily nerfed, and that many important buffs have been applied to the killers.
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Fromfaster animations to improved aura readings,there is no shortage of boons for killers in this patch. Survivors with good coordination and teamwork can still easily dismantle a killer’s entire plan, but for the more casual audience, thisDead by Daylightpatch was very killer-sided. Here are a few of the most important changes to killers and killer perks in the patch.
10Bloodlust Activates Faster
Many survivors are great at looping killers, especially onmaps that favor the survivors. Sometimes, a killer may find themselves in a prolonged chase with a single survivor. This can be frustrating at times for the killer, but the recent buff to Bloodlust should hopefully alleviate some of that tension.
Bloodlust activates after a certain number of seconds pass in a chase with a survivor.It has three tiers, with each tier offering the killer a slight speed boost to ideally catch up to the survivor and end the chase.
The new buffed values are:
9Faster Killer Actions
Many actions have been sped up for killers. Killers will now take less time to break pallets, break walls, and damage generators. The cooldown after a successful hit on a survivor has also been reduced (3 seconds to 2.7 seconds), meaning that all killers’ hit animations will rest slightly faster. This isn’t always applicable or helpful, but this small buff can lead tomore hits on more survivors in a shorter time period.
Breaking pallets and walls now takes 2.34 seconds as opposed to the previous 2.6 seconds. This change will often feel invisible, as survivors have to seriously misplay around a breakable object in order for this small buff to lead to a hit. Finally, the animation of kicking a generator has been reduced to 1.8 seconds.
8Generator Damage Buff
A small buff has been given to the default generator damage animation. Before the Mid-Chapter patch, killers without Pop Goes The Weasel or some other generator damaging perk could kick a generator to begin regression, but the kick itself didn’t do any damage.
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After the patch,kicking a generator without any perks to buff generator damage now deals an instant 2.5% of regression.The animation also begins generator regression as normal. This small buff synergizes well with perks like Dragon’s Grip, Eruption, and Call of Brine.
7Jolt Buff
Before the Mid-Chapter patch, Jolt was a mediocre perk at best. It wasn’t bad by any means, but there were so many better options that Jolt was rather weak. The Mid-Season patch brought a heavy nerf to Hex: Ruin and balanced Pop Goes The Weasel around the new generator damage buffs, so Jolt has moved into a better spot in the generator slowdown meta.
Jolt also received a nice buff with this patch.The cooldown for Jolt’s activation has been removed,meaning killers can chain Jolt procs together and deal big damage to nearby generators. If that wasn’t enough to consider giving it a try, it should also be noted that Jolt joined the general killer perk pool afterDead by Daylightcouldn’t renew its license with the teams behindStranger Things. This means that everyone has access to Jolt, even if they don’t ownthe Demogorgon.
6Ruin Nerf
The Hex: Ruin nerf stands as one of the biggest nerfs to killers in the Mid-Chapter patch. The perk’s core power remains with all the same numbers as before, butthe hex totem now disappears after the first survivor is killed by any means.
This means that once the first survivor dies, Hex: Ruin cleanses itself and reverts back to being a dull totem. This is a huge nerf for one of the most widely used killer perks, but there are plenty of slowdown options still available to killers after the nerf.
5Tinkerer Nerf
Tinkerer was another widely used killer perk to receive a nerf in the Mid-Chapter patch. Like Ruin, Tinkerer retains its core power. Once a generator hits 70% completion, Tinkerer will proc and show the killer the generator’s location. It will also make the killer undetectable for up to 16 seconds at the highest tier.
The main difference is thateach individual generator can only trigger Tinkerer once now.Before, a generator could regress below 70% and trigger Tinkerer multiple times. This feature has been removed, making Tinkerer a lot weaker, but much more balanced.
4Thanatophobia Buff
The Nurse’s Thanatophobia perk has gotten a small buff. The perk was already very powerfulon killers like The Legion,and now will be even better. Thanatophobia grants stacks for each dying, hooked, or injured survivor. These stacks increase the time it takes for survivors to complete multiple actions, including repairing, sabotaging, and totem cleansing.
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Thanatophobianow inflicts survivors with a 5.5% penalty at the highest tier.With the maximum amounts of stacks, this results in an 18% penalty to repair speed, cleansing speed, and sabotage speed. This perk can really snowball a game in favor of the killer, and it’s often difficult for survivors to play around.
3Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance Nerf
Pain Resonance received a small nerf. The perk’s generator slowdown values remain the same, which keeps this perk in the upper echelon of the slowdown meta.
Before the patch, survivors working on the generator affected by Pain Resonance would scream. This gave the killer the info on both the location of the highest progression generator as well as how many survivors were in that area working on it. After the balancing patch, Pain Resonance still blows up the highest progression generator, butthe survivors working on it no longer scream.
2Unhooking Changes
This gameplay change shook things up for both killers and survivors. After the Mid-Chapter patch, survivors now have a modified version of Borrowed Time as a base kit ability. This means that every survivor now grants the endurance buff to the person they’re rescuing from a hook.Rescued survivors receive five seconds of endurance, as well as a 7% speed boost,when they’re unhooked.
Instead of remembering which killers are running Borrowed Time, killers should now remember that every survivor has Borrowed Time in a sense. It will now be a little harder for a killer to tunnel a survivor out. Tunneling can be a valid strategy, but it isseen as toxic by many players.Still, this change will definitely change up how killers play around the hooks.
1Lethal Pursuer Buff
Lethal Pursuer was a strong perk for the killer’s early game, but after the first 10 seconds of information were given, it deactivated. This meant that players running this perk essentially played with three perks for the remainder of the game. Lethal Pursuer was reworked with the Mid-Chapter patch and now synergizes very well with other aura reading perks.
The perk’s core power remains, but the buff it receivedboosts the duration of all other aura reading perksby two seconds. This might not seem like much, but the fact that Lethal Pursuer works with so many other killer perksand addonsmakes it one of the most flexible perks in the game. Sometimes, all it takes is an extra two seconds of sight to bring down a survivor.
Dead by Daylightis available on Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, Steam, IOS, and many other platforms.
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