Surge of Darkness - A Collection Of Perk Ideas

TankMagnet

(This Perk Idea thread was previously posted on the Steam Discussion Dead By Daylight Forums, on Sept 2, 2017, and I am now moving it to the new, dedicated, Dead By Daylight Forums. I have revised a few of the perks contained within to either fit better with the current game environment or to better describe specific interactions appropriate to them, but the thread is otherwise identical to its original iteration.)

Howdy folks! This lovely topic is coming at you with a bunch of new Perk ideas, some for killer, and some for survivor. I've endeavoured to make these perks as balanced as possible, but obviously I'll need your help to ensure they seem balanced!

I'll also attempt to point out possible synergies or weaknesses for the use of each Perk, so you can see where I was coming from in regards to each Perk.

But first, as usual, a Disclaimer.

The following is a ** Wall Of Text **. If that's not really your thing then this may not be the topic for you, but thank you for your interest regardless.

Contained within are my personal ideas. These should not be taken as legitimate patch notes or as an official announcement in any way. Claiming this is in any way a legitimate announcement will result in the entity trolling you with bad perks.

By Reading this sentence you agree to post in a sane manner, and with positive criticisms and opinions... And please try to keep the trolling to a minimum. (I'm not as delusional as to believe there won't be trolling.)

Without further ado, let us start with the...

Killer Perks:

Menace:

”Your very presence is menacing, overwhelming, and it unsettles your prey, causing them to make more mistakes, to be Sloppy with their endeavours.”

Survivors who enter your Terror Radius are affected by Nervous for 10/20/30 Seconds, causing Skill checks to become Hex Skill Checks which cause Good Skill checks to reduce repair progress by 0.5%/1%/2%, and reduce success zones by 5%/10%/15%. 

If the Survivor is also affected by Ruin, then Nothing Occurs/Skill Check zones decrease by an additional 10%/both effects are combined into Calamity for 30 seconds, causing all Skill checks to reduce ANY interaction progress by 3%/6%/9%. 

Survivors affected by Nervous or Calamity become immune to Hex Skill checks for 60/45/30 seconds when the status effect wears off, and the effects are not refreshed when re-entering your terror radius.

Perk advantages:

• Is effectively a "Ruin-lite" for killers who don't want to babysit their Totem
• Allows for patrolling to have lasting effects even if you don't find survivors at a location
• Synergizes with Ruin for devastating effect and with terror radius boosts to improve area of effect
• Ruin is reapplied to Survivors once the Calamity debuff ends.

Perk Disadvantages:

• Effect has less impact than Ruin, since survivors gain temporary immunity to the effect
• Effect only applies in a killers Active Terror Radius, thus killers with naturally small terror radius, or the ability to hide their radius, will have more difficulty using this Perk effectively
• Without constant patrolling, perk effectiveness will be mediocre at best

Hex: Hopeless Dreams

”The hopes, the joys, the dreams of your prey work in your favour, affording you power as their losses grow.”

A Hex drawing its power from Loss. This Hex Totems effect is Hidden until a Survivor completely consumes an item, destroys One/Two/Three Hooks, or another survivor is Sacrificed.

Hopeless Dreams begins the match with zero Tokens, and gains one token every 3/2/1 Minutes.

• 1 Token: Consumable efficiency reduced by 5%/10%/15%
• 2 Tokens: Repair Efficiency Reduced by 3%/4%/5%
• 3 Tokens: Interactions take 3%/4%/5% longer to complete
• 5 Tokens: Sacrificial Hooks respawn 30/60/90 seconds faster

When Hopeless Dreams is revealed, an item is consumed, a Generator is repaired, or a survivor is sacrificed, remove All/Three/Two Tokens from it, Decrease the Time Between Tokens by 1/1.5/2 Seconds, and increase the debilitating effects by 1%/2%/3%. This effect repeats for each individual occurrence in a Trial.

Perk Advantages:

• Concealed until survivors find and consume an item or one dies or sabotages a hook
• Effects can very quickly become detrimental if not discovered early enough
• Effect Ramps up as game progresses, becoming more dangerous late game
• Can force survivors to scout Totems even if there aren't any Hex Totems evident, wasting time.
• Synergizes with Perks that affect Survivors equipment as well as perks that activate late game

Perk Disadvantages:

• If discovered early, the effect is essentially pointless
• While concealed, a clever Survivor may check for the totem by bringing a low quality, disposable, consumable to use
• Effects are inconvenient at best until it can ramp up
• Protecting the totem too much could reveal its presence and location prematurely

Relentless Reach:

“Your lust to catch your prey overrides all senses, triggering a maddening lunge that can catch potential victims off guard.”

During a Chase, when you achieve Bloodlust Rank 3/2/2 or higher, you gain 5%/10%/15% more Melee lunge range. Additionally, you may Lunge over a pallet or window with the Action Key to attempt to catch a survivor on the other side. 

If successful, you will quickly vault the pallet or window and injure them, or immediately grab them if injured. If you miss, then you stumble over the pallet, and are stunned for 6/5/4 seconds. 

Using Lunge puts Relentless Reach on Cooldown for 180/150/120 Seconds, or half that if you successfully catch or injure a survivor. Lunge Does Not Require Bloodlust To Activate.

Perk Advantages:

• High mobility afforded by this Perk can catch players off guard
• Punishes players who attempt to gloat or mock you (teabagging and such)
• Effective use can result in Lunge being available nearly the entire match
• Instantly captures injured victims, saving precious time
• Synergizes with perks that activate when Survivors are injured or caught

Perk Disadvantages:

• Requires Bloodlust stacks to provide any Passive benefits aside from Lunge Ability
• Intelligent survivors may move away from the pallet or window before you can Lunge
• Missing a Lunge could cause you to lose the survivor
• Long Cooldown on Failed lunges means large periods with no benefit

False Start:

”It was a trap. A well-hidden trap, but a trap nonetheless. As we toiled away, unawares, the beast watched, waiting, and then pounced once its trap was sprung.”

Once Per Trial, you may interact with a Generator to rig a False Start. When the affected Generator is fully repaired, it will instead explode in a shower of sparks, resetting to 80%/65%/50% Repair Progress, and causing survivors nearby to Suffer from Nothing/Hindered/Hindered and Blindness for 0/20/40 Seconds.

Perk Advantages:

• Can be used to narrow your patrol path
• Higher ranks make Any affected Survivors much easier to catch
• Can slow down potential "Gen-Rush" scenarios
• Makes for a very effective Trap, especially late game
• Perk is equally helpful if used early or late in a match

Perk Disadvantages:

• If the sabotaged generator is never fixed, the Perk is essentially wasted
• Single Use per match
• Provides no statistical benefits
• Efficiency will vary wildly, you may get one survivor, or four with the effect
• Intentionally ignoring the sabotaged generator may inadvertently give away the fact that it's been sabotaged

Whew, how about those killer perks eh folks? Well don't worry, it's not all about killers here, so without delaying your reading any further, let's move on to the...

Survivor Perks:

Heroic Sacrifice:

“You always were willing to put others above yourself. It's just the kind of person you are. Just because you're trapped, doesn't mean you don't intend to stop doing your best to help others.”

During a Trial, when you reach the Second/Second/Second or Third Stage of the sacrifice, you may Choose to Succumb to the entity's grasp, while transferring your life force to the other survivors. 

If you do so, 1/2/3 Survivors are healed by one health state, Their Interaction speeds are increased by 10%/20%/30% for 60 Seconds and Nothing/Nothing/They reset their sacrifice progress to one stage earlier if possible. 

You receive 1000/1500/2000 Bloodpoints in whichever scoring category is your lowest, as well as 20 Benevolent Emblem Points plus Five Additional Emblem Points for each surviving Teammate after sacrificing yourself.

All Survivors may only benefit from One Heroic Sacrifice per Trial.

Perk Advantages:

• Extremely punishing to campers, allowing you to delay them for the full struggle duration And subsequently drastically increase your teams ability to escape
• Effect activated automatically when sacrificed at rank 3
• Allows you to play a very aggressive, distracting play style to allow teammates more freedom to do objectives
• Provides Bonus Emblem Points should you end up sacrificed

Perk Disadvantages:

• No statistical benefits for yourself
• Essentially a dead Perk slot if you don't end up sacrificed
• Overly-altruistic teammates may inadvertently waste the effect
• Duplicates of the Perk across a team can result in wasted Perk slots 
• Loses effectiveness if teammates are killed or sacrificed before you are

Vital Spirit:

”While you never prided yourself on your health, you did always have a positive outlook, a natural spirit that empowered others, and you don't intend to let anyone take that from you.”

You Begin the Match In the Borrowed Time State (Duration: 30/35/40 Seconds). Whenever You Are in The Borrowed Time State, it can be Paused through the use of Self-Care, but only a teammate, or the use of a Medkit, can heal you out of it (unless you are the last survivor remaining, in which case it reduces the speed at which you self-heal by 50%).

Your Crawling speed is increased by 5%/10%/15%, Your bleed out timer doesn't begin ticking for 10/15/20 Seconds and your Aura is hidden from the killer for 10/20/30 Seconds whenever you enter the Dying or Borrowed Time State. 

Whenever you are healed to the Healthy state, all nearby teammates (8 meters) gain Vitality for 15/30/45 Seconds, which increases movement speed by 2%/3%/4% and Interaction speeds by 3%/6%/9%. 

If you are sacrificed, Vital spirit Does Nothing/Nothing/Triggers one final time, affecting all Other survivors.

Perk Advantages:

• Increased crawling speed and aura blocking synergizes with self-revival perks or noise reduction perks
• Encourages an aggressive, distraction oriented style, with an emphasis on escaping
• Provides a noticeable benefit to teammates
• Effect guaranteed to activate at rank 3 when sacrificed

Perk Disadvantages:

• You are very vulnerable if teammates don't find you quickly upon beginning the match
• Escaping when injured can be difficult
• No direct benefit to yourself outside of Dying or Borrowed Time States
• Very obvious when you are using the Perk

Reckless Charge:

“There is no way you are standing for this! Your anger has reached its peak, and so you hurl yourself at the beast, full force and full of fury.”

Unlocks the Reckless Charge ability. 

Use the Action Key to Charge at high speed directly ahead of you a short distance (2-3 meters). 

If you connect with the killer, they are stunned for 3/4/5 Seconds, and drop any carried victims. However, you will take one health State worth of damage and suffer from Exhaustion for 90/80/70 Seconds. 

Missing the killer or hitting terrain will inflict the health damage and stun you for 4/3/2 seconds. Injuries sustained from Charging are 60%/45%/30% slower to heal via Self-Healing.

Perk Advantages:

• Active means of rescuing captured teammates or assisting in their escape
• Charge provides invincibility frames over its duration (approximately 1.5 seconds)
• Encourages and synergizes with high-Altruism Perk builds

Perk Disadvantages:

• Unreliable form of chase escape due to injury and stun components
• Missing a Charge can put you in dangerous situations
• Self-healing reduction means you must rely on your team to heal you
• Charge distance and invincibility frames based on contact with killer/terrain, shorter charges have less invincibility frames
• High Risk, High Reward Perk

Promise of Power:

“You heard it one night, a subtle voice on the wind offering aid. Unquestioningly, you agreed, desperate for any means to escape this place, to survive, even if just one more night.”

Promise of Power begins the Trial with One/Two/Three Tokens. Each Token increases your Interaction speeds by 3%/4%/5%, and Skill Check zones by 1%/2%/3%. Cleansing Dull Totems will add a Token. 

Each Token Will grant 0/0.5/1 Emblem Point in your Poorest Quality Emblem upon conclusion of the Trial if you survive.

When you reach stage 2 of the sacrifice, and again when sacrificed, your teammates will suffer Blood Price for 60/50/40 Seconds, which reduces their interaction speeds by 30%/20%/10%, and Skill Check zones by 15%/10%/5% and you will Lose Half of your earned Tokens when you reach stage 2 of the Sacrifice.

Perk Advantages:

• Affords you a considerable statistical boost
• Boost ramps up as you cleanse Totems
• No cap on Tokens
• Synergizes heavily with stealth perks
• Penalty only an issue if you get caught

Perk Disadvantages:

• Extreme reliance on avoiding discovery
• Risky Altruistic actions disincentivized due to negative effects
• If found and caught early, negative effects will be extremely debilitating to your team
• Very vulnerable to camping strategies

There you have it folks! Four perks for killers and survivors each, with some potent and interesting mechanics behind each one!

What did you like? Dislike? What would you add? Remove Entirely? I look forward to your positive comments and critiques, I just hope you survive long enough to post them, otherwise you might be... Dead By Daylight.