Dev Update January '24: Gens, FoV, Hillbilly, Onryo, And More!
Developer Update | January 2024 - BHVR
Developer Update | January 2024
Happy new year! Our team is back in action, and we’ve got a doozie of a Developer Update in store for you today. In this edition, we’ll be covering everything coming to Dead by Daylight in our first major update of the year, from various Killer, Perk, and Map updates and more. We’ve been busy, so buckle up, it’s a long one.
Generators
Kicking things off (no pun intended), we have a few updates to Generators. More specifically, these changes target how Generators are damaged by the Killer and how their regression can be stopped by Survivors. The goal with this update is to bring an end to excessively long matches (3 gen scenarios in particular) and at the same time improve the Killer’s ability to damage Generators. 3 gen scenarios are those where the killer aims to defend 3 generators that are close by in particular, and does not participate in normal gameplay – not chasing survivors etc, in this instance survivors are not able to make any meaningful progress to those generators.
Going forward, each Generator can only suffer from a maximum of 8 ‘regression events’ – where a regression event is any time the Killer or their Perks removes at least 2.5% of the Generator’s progress in an instant. An indicator will show the Killer if a Generator can no longer be damaged. In the overwhelming majority of games, this will not come into play. However, in scenarios where the Killer is defending a set of Generators and refusing to chase Survivors, there will eventually come a point where they can no longer damage the Generator, helping bring an end to excessively long matches.
At the same time, we want to address a point of frustration for Killers as well: Survivors working on a generator briefly to stop it from regressing, or “Gen tapping” for short. Given that the number of regression events is now limited, stopping a Generator from regressing is more meaningful than ever. To prevent Survivors from tapping a Generator to negate one of those regression events, we have made two changes:
- The base damage from kicking a Generator has been increased to 5% (was 2.5%).
- At least 5% of the Generator’s total charges must be repaired to stop regression, otherwise it will begin regressing again when the Survivor stops repairing.
This will help ensure that the Killer always gets some value from kicking a Generator and encourage Survivors to think twice before attempting to stop the regression.
FOV Setting
Is Shadowborn permanently locked into one of your Perk slots? Well, that’s about to change thanks to the new first-person field of view (FOV) slider. Starting with this update, Killers in first person will be able to adjust their FOV to something they’re more comfortable with, ranging from 87 degrees (the current default) to 103 degrees (the current maximum with Shadowborn).
Perks which alter your FOV (Shadowborn and Monitor & Abuse) will need to be adjusted. We’ll cover exactly how those Perks are changing later in this post.
Bear in mind this option only applies to first person field of view and therefore will not affect Survivors. Since Survivors play the game from the third person perspective, a wider FOV would add to an already advantageous camera view.
Initially this feature will be accessible through the Beta Tab in game.
The Onryo
A few months ago, we released a major update to The Onryo. Though some players were pleased with the changes, many longtime Onryo mains felt that her gameplay had changed too much from the Killer they once loved. In this update, we want to revisit Sadako once more to find a middle ground which better appeals to all her players, old and new.
Condemned
In the last update, Condemned would spread to all Survivors who were not holding a tape whenever Sadako projected to a TV. This allowed her to spread her curse more often, but many felt that this favoured teleporting as soon as possible rather than strategically during a chase. We have a few changes in mind to restore this gameplay while keeping Condemned more prominent:
- When The Onryo teleports, Survivors within 16m of a powered TV will receive a stack of Condemned.
- The teleport cooldown has been removed, allowing her to teleport more frequently.
- When a Survivor is hooked, their current Condemned progress becomes locked in, preventing it from being removed.
This will make it very risky for Survivors to ignore Sadako’s curse. Survivors will want to shut off nearby TVs and deposit their tapes before it’s too late. Speaking of tapes…
Cursed Tapes
We’ve also reviewed the way Cursed Tapes work to bring back some of their fondly remembered behaviour.
- Cursed Tapes no longer protect Survivors from gaining Condemned.
- Cursed Tapes are no longer destroyed or inflict Condemned when a Survivor is hit.
- Cursed Tapes can only be deposited in the further TV from where they were picked up.
This will once again force the Survivors to spend some time crossing the map in order to delay the curse.
Demanifested
The previous update made it so The Onryo couldn’t start a chase while Demanifested. This had a side effect of making it very obvious when she Demanifested in the middle of a chase, allowing Survivors to anticipate and play around it.
- The Onryo can now chase Survivors while Demanifested.
Additionally, many pointed out that one of The Onryo’s changed Add-Ons, Reiko’s Watch, was very fun to use. Rather than add the effect back into the Add-On, we instead incorporated it into her base kit to make the Add-On feel less essential.
- The duration of invisibility while Demanifested has been increased to 1.2 seconds (was 1 second).
Add-Ons
With all these changes in mind, we’ve reviewed a handful of The Onryo’s Add-Ons which either no longer have a purpose or promoted strongly disliked playstyles.
The Hillbilly
Uh oh, watch out Survivors, it looks like someone unwrapped a brand new chainsaw. It’s The Hillbilly’s turn for an update!
Overdrive
The controversial Overheat mechanic is no more; Overdrive is the new talk of the town. As The Hillbilly uses his chainsaw, it will generate heat just like before. When the heat meter is full, not only will he continue being able to use it, but his chainsaw will kick into Overdrive and gain the following effects for the next 20 seconds:
- Chainsaw charge speed is increased by 5%.
- His Chainsaw Sprint movement speed increases to 13m/s.
- Chainsaw Sprint cooldowns are reduced by 10%.
The short version? Heat is good now.
Cleaning Up
At the same time, we’ve made some general improvements to The Hillbilly’s kit and smoothed out some of the rougher edges.
- The base Chainsaw Sprint movement speed has been increased by 10%.
- Reduced the size of the Chainsaw’s collision detection to make Chainsaw Sprints more maneuverable in maps with high density tiles
- Camera sensitivity is no longer incorrectly tied to the controller sensitivity setting while using a mouse & keyboard. (Chainsaw controls are now equal to 100% sensitivity before.)
Add-Ons
Last but certainly not least, we have done a pass on The Hillbilly’s Add-Ons with these changes in mind. This blogpost is long enough as is, so keep an eye on the patch notes when the Public Test Build (PTB) goes live for more details!
The Blight’s Add-Ons
Next up, we have changes in store for a handful of The Blight’s Add-Ons.
Blighted Rat & Blighted Crow
These Add-Ons are fairly strong, making it far more difficult to get out of the way of his Rush in time. We have reduced the Rush speed bonus of these Add-Ons to 2% and 3% respectively (was 4% and 6%).
Adrenaline Vial
This Add-On has a lot going on, making it jack-of-all-trades. To simply it and bring it closer in line with other options, we are removing the following effects:
- No longer decreases time to recharge a Rush token by 1 second.
- No longer increases Rush speed by 10%.
The Add-On now does the following (these effects are unchanged):
- Increases maximum Rush tokens by 2.
- Increases maximum Rush look angle by 20 degrees.
- Decreases Rush turn rate by 55%.
Alchemist’s Ring
(The one you probably aren’t surprised to see on this list.) Restoring Rush tokens on hit is incredibly powerful, so we’ve reworked this Add-On entirely.
- Increases Rush duration by 20% for each consecutive Rush.
Compound Thirty-Three
Reducing the Survivor’s movement speed acts very similarly to increasing The Blight’s Rush speed. We’ve decided the best course of action is to give this Add-On a new effect:
- Each consecutive Rush which is longer than 4 meters increases turn rate by 33%.
Iridescent Blight Tag
This Add-On can also be extremely powerful in the right hands. It also promotes the awkward gameplay of repeatedly slamming into a wall to take advantage of the effects of the last Rush. We’ve given this Add-On a brand-new effect as well:
- Enables Rush to be performed without spending tokens.
- Rush bonuses are capped after 3 consecutive rushes.
- Blighted Corruption goes on cooldown for 20 seconds after a successful Lethal Rush attack.
Perk Updates
Next up, we’ve got a bunch of Perk updates to share!
Save the Best for Last
This Perk indirectly became stronger when the successful basic attack cooldown was reduced some time ago. Certain Killers can also circumvent the downside by using their special attack to injure the Obsession. To tone it down and make it more consistent across all Killers, we have made the following changes:
- Each Token grants a stackable 4% decreased successful basic attack cooldown (was 5%).
- 2 tokens are lost when the Obsession loses a health state by any means (was basic attacks).
Grim Embrace
Grim Embrace blocks Generators for a substantial duration. However, it only activates once and requires the Killer to hook every Survivor once, it can be a little inconsistent and hard to activate. Therefore, we’re adding a secondary effect on top of the existing effect:
- The first time a Survivor is hooked, all generators are blocked for 8/10/12 seconds once the Killer moves at least 16 meters from the hook.
This will ensure the Killer is always able to get some value out of their Perk even if the last elusive Survivor manages to evade them and reward Killers who switch targets.
Quick Gambit
This Perk grants other Survivors a repair speed boost when you are being chased nearby. However, its range is fairly low, making it difficult to get close enough for other Survivors to benefit from without also putting them in danger.
- We have increased the range to 36 meters (was 24 meters).
- We have reduced the repair speed bonus to 3/4/5% (was 6/7/8%).
Hex: Ruin
We toned this Perk down in a previous update. In retrospect, since the Perk could already be disabled by being cleansed, the added activation condition did not feel necessary.
- Hex: Ruin is no longer disabled once a Survivor is killed or sacrificed.
Shadowborn
With the new FOV slider being introduced, Shadowborn is now obsolete and needs a new effect.
- When blinded by any means, gain a 6/8/10% Haste effect for 10 seconds.
Monitor & Abuse
Likewise, the FOV altering effects of Monitor & Abuse are now unnecessary considering the added FOV slider. Monitor & Abuse allows for some interesting niche playstyles as is, so we have simply removed the FOV adjustments from this Perk and left the Terror Radius effects unchanged.
Ormond Gameplay Update
The newly renovated Mount Ormond Resort is open for the season! This update consists of layout changes to the front & back of the lodge, as well as miscellaneous loop adjustments.
The front of the lodge currently has a long row of rocks stretching across it. This can get in the way and make it difficult to traverse the map. Additionally, there’s no room in this portion of the map for any windows or pallets, essentially making it a big dead zone. We’ve given this portion of the map an overhaul to create more interesting gameplay.
The back of the lodge, meanwhile, is comprised of mostly picnic tables. Great for enjoying a meal in the freezing cold, but not very impactful when it comes to gameplay. Pallet loops around these tables are fairly short, making them incredibly unsafe. We have similarly adjusted this area to improve gameplay.
Game Modifiers
Whilst these will not be in the upcoming PTB, our first limited time modifier Dead by Daylight – Lights Out, will be available to play in the coming months. Stay tuned for more information!
Congratulations, you’ve reached the end of this very long Developer Update! Everything we’ve mentioned here will be available to test on the Public Test Build starting tomorrow.
For more information on the Live Game Changes, please join us in the Dead by Daylight Community Discord on the 9th January at 9.30am ET.
As always, we’ll take the time to read through your feedback and make further adjustments as needed before this update goes live on all platforms in the weeks following.
Until next time…
The Dead by Daylight team
Comments
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Sadako got what she deserved!!!
I'm honestly almost crying right now.
They listened and even made reikos watch part of the base buffs.
Big, fat THANK YOU to all people that helped to make this happen!
9 -
Uhh, I think they changed the wrong part of Ruin...
And Blight add-on and STBFL change is not bad than I expected?
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Excessive hiding will be the strongest counter play for 3-gens.
Coordinated survivors will be able to repair generators in short bursts of time (at least 4.5 seconds), then run far away to hide, and wait for the killer to patrol by, and potentially kick the generator. The survivors can then just repeat this over and over, until the killer is forbidden to kick those generators anymore, at which point they can continue the “short burst of repairing + hiding” strategy, until the generator is fully repaired.
The 3-gen solution was supposed to fix the “way too long” game lengths, but instead will make it the optimal strategy for survivors to extend the game to enormous lengths, to repair the last generator at minimal risk to themselves.
12 -
Don't we get a new Survivor this month? Aren't they going to be in the PTB?
2 -
Yes but now she is weak killer again. Old Sadako's problem was TV cooldowns was so long. They brought old Sadako without fixing problem. I'd be fine if they would look at that too but no... They just ignored.
This is really shame.
3 -
This is about our girl.
We finally got our killer back!!!
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Massive W on Billy and Blight. Billy's gameplay on cluttered maps is what drives me away from him. Glad to see they're addressing his collision
4 -
They didn't touch the cooldowns. They remain the same!
No long cooldowns!
3 -
ok, having now read the thing
i just wanna say
3 -
Cooldowns was fine because you were building stacks on all survivors if they were not holding tape. Now you are limited with 16m area again and TV cooldowns will hurt her.
I really hated this upcoming rework, she was just fine after last rework. Fun and strong.
And you can't even destroy tapes now. There is zero risk to hold it.
6 -
Doesn't Nowhere to Hide hard counter this exact strategy?
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The only 2 things I'm looking forward to are Billy coming back and being able to use Ruin to avoid kicking gens again I'm ngl
2 -
Wait, you BUFF Ormond? Is it joke?
9 -
So glad to see these changes. Timing your overdrive will be interesting to see. And it won't hamper his gameplay anymore. And it gives him a chance to have newer addons basically for overdriving maybe for longer or easier!
(Also the lesser hitbox on objects is great!)
2 -
Ruin/Haunted/Undying is my all time favorite perk trio and I've missed it
2 -
Thank you for bringing old sadako back, that’s all I want to say, also do hope to give feedback once the ptb start
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If you don't know / knew how to play her, that's on you.
She's /was by far not as bad as you put it right now. I played her for long enough time to be really good. With these sort cooldowns and her old kit, she will be a force to reckon with. Tapes are incredibly scary now. Due to her building it up faster now (if she's good) you WILL want to use them. If she finds out which TV you need, you need serious teamwork to stop her.
They even improved her chase by making reikos watch partially basekit.
The rework made her dull and watered down. This is what she needed.
I'm sorry, but on this, I stand my ground and defend it.
I fought hard enough for this.
2 -
As expected, the 3gen nerf will hurt the most to anyone who doesn't play around it.
3 -
Oh really?
Thank you for making this clear, now it looks better than i understood before.
2 -
Well this is... not as bad as expected.
STBFL should only receive the later change as long as M1 Killer are so dependend on it, it doesn't make or break the perk, but again the weak get weaker.
And honestly, who looked at Ormond and thought "Yes, this are the changes the map needs to be balanced"?
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How to read Grim Embrace. Will be 48 seconds max?
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She is in my roaster too and i am also played her long enough.
But building stacks on survivors from any teleport was just better. This was just best part of her new kit. And i thought they removed this but Peanits explained at above, she will work similar to her new kit. So i am fine now.
0 -
Weren’t we supposed to also get a graphical map update with this PTB/midchapter?
also, Ruin change is kinda unnecessary imo and could still use some small buff in regression , no?
New survivors/characters are usually not covered within the dev update. They should still come with the PTB tomorrow!
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Oh?
That's interesting. The cooldowns in the TVs will remain the same though, yes?
And Projection will give one whole stack of condemned, correct?
Just to confirm.
3 -
Im not sure about Gen kick, a Gen kick with survivor instantly touch Gen will take 12.25sec just to gain back the exact progression. About 5-6 kicks in real match will add an extra Gen. Seems alot for me.
10 -
Any tp removed any strategic tp during chase. It became a spam fest. They even mentioned that in the dev notes.
Survivors should be able to circumvent being condemned by playing smart in chase.
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Now I'm crying.
2 -
😁
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I feel the spamming is even stronger now? No? Survivors will always be near Gens, which TVs are nearby, she can start teleport at the beginning at the match without cooldown to both denying On TV and inflict the stack even more. I dont play Sadako, I just tell what I understand.
2 -
Interesting changes for sure...
I'll see how the generator stuff shakes out, but on paper, I like it. It (further) disincentivises stacking four slowdowns, incentivises thinking about your regression more, and also maybe kinda-sorta encourages some currently decidedly not-meta picks like Ruin, Oppression, Thrilling Tremors, etc. I'm all for those things, so I'll have to test and see if it has any major flaws.
Billy changes look great, even if Overdrive turns out to be nothing just altering his collision and speeding up his chainsaw by default should help him a ton. Big fan of that.
Onryo... I'll test her, but moving back towards her worse iteration isn't a great idea on paper. These changes look like they should at least preserve the better changes made to her, at least.
Ormond is pretty interesting. I do agree with the changes listed, but they're not what I would've done- addressing that godawful window on the top floor of main and maybe putting a hook or two on the second floor to prevent unhookable-build abuse would've been top priority for me, but cleaning up the front area so it's not as dead should be good too.
Not much I really dislike here! I think the STBFL change is unnecessary and Quick Gambit is still going to be a bad perk, but I wouldn't consider those real detracting factors. Excited to test it!
2 -
I was already content enough with demanifest chase being back, reikos watch being restored and not seeing anything about TV cooldowns being touched but this fact actually makes me happy.
3 -
Yeah I don't know about the gen changes. I'm fine with 8 max regression events per gen. But 5% and 5% to stop regressing will massively buff perks like Pentimento, Thana, Dying Light, and Gift of Pain. It will be hard for survivors to make net positive progress in a 3 gen scenario. This change may actually have the opposite intended effect at the end of the day. It might change the way a killer sets up a 3 gen, but this could lead to some slogs.
11 -
Ruin is a regression event? Because if that's the case these changes would make that perk even worse, you could use it to your advantage to exhaust the 8 events.
2 -
The Billy changes and Blight add on nerfs are a huge W.
The three gen solution.......jury is still out. I need to see it in action to pass any judgement.
The change to STBFL is not bad at all. I honestly was expecting them to gut it but its still a decent perk.
2 -
Crying good? I'm guessing good...
Seems to me her weak chase is supplemented by a strong "ignore it at your peril" slow down. Gives her a lot of reward for guessing TVs correctly as she can now lock in condemned... but guessing wrong doesn't completely kill all of her pressure, and converting chases is a Biiiig deal.
I like the idea that ignoring condemned becomes a "get off the damned gens" slowdown... though a high level Sadako knowing where I grabbed my tape and working out my TV... 😱😱😱😱
NGL... all changes here sound fricking awesome...
3 gen kicking/breaking got shafted, but so did gen tapping... so that was actually a very solid pair of changes.
Hillbilly with 100% chainsaw turn on Hillbilly basekit! Rewards for being a chainsaw nutcase!! More zoom zoom!!! Just... put it on a damned cracker for me 🤘😁🤘
Blight changes all look reasonable, but I'll wait for a more experienced hand to rate them.
Perk changes are all great... love Shadowborn being an alternative to Lightborn as an anti flashlight perk to catch those filthy pallet break flashlighters (I am one of said filthy pallet break flashlighters).
1 -
48 seconds for each fresh Hook once you moved 16m away.
And then when all are hooked, the usual effect.
@Topic:
Interesting changes. Excited for the Billy-Changes, especially happy that they reduced the stupid Chainsaw-Hitbox.
I am concerned about Onryo. Mainly because I cannot test the impact of the changes, might be alright, but locking the Condemned-Progress could be nasty. WIll need to test this.
Not a big fan of increasing Kicks to 5% of lost progression. I think keeping it at 2,5% and let the Survivor repair 2,5% as well would also work out.
5 -
If this brings back Hillbilly this is going to be my favorite update in years.
3 -
Fairly good changes.
Billy and Blight finally get what they deserve.
Ormond hopefully becomes less dead.
I dislike the STBFL and Ruin changes.
Onryo is....undecided for me.
The 3-gen solurion is actually pretty well thought out.
0 -
I re-read it, and I think its not that bad. It goes like this:
- Kick a 50sec Gen, it dropped to 45sec.
- If a survivor instant touch the Gen, Gen stop regressed and gain progression. If they touch for 4.5sec and stop, nothing happens. If they touch less than 4.5sec, Gen regressed again.
I think it fair, 8 kick max per Gen is not too many, but also not little.
0 -
the onryos weak again lol all because of "onryo mains" (its really just survivor mains pretending). i would say i cant believe bhvr fell for that stuff but im genuinely not surprised. i hope her license holders revoke the license from bhvr because she shouldnt be treated as a survivors toy.
3 -
STBFL: "2 tokens are lost when the Obsession loses a health state by any means (was basic attacks)."
Me, the obsession: *Goes to a corner for a nice Plot Twist* ...
7 -
Imagine kicking gens to the point of this becoming a problem lol I think I kicked two gens this weekend.
1 -
I'm wondering if the Hillbilly update will come with any sound design changes.
Part of what I didn't about playing him after his first rework was the screeching high-heat chainsaw and his silly "blaarg!' noises.
Sadako changes look interesting, hooks permanently saving current condemn progress is a good idea but I'm worried that she'll still be unfun to play against. Will have to check PTB.
1 -
That is my concern as well. Ruin would be better if it is made to ignore or be unaffected by the 'regression events' entirely. Would make it good again without being OP.
0 -
I am glad that you got your desired killer back but I must say that I agree with the previous poster, there is no risk anymore against onryo,I can count in one hand the times the demanifest flicker worked against me in chase, because ya know checkspots and safe corners exist so thats something. Also who on earth gets down by an onryo in less than 60 s ? is an m1 cmon at least a gen should be done per chase if not more if you are decent at looping.
And how are tales scary?, I take one go get rid of codemn even if she is chasing me as getting hit doesnt punish me, get the tape off in her face same as old onryo and lmao. Yes she can interrupt you putting the tape with a tp, I will give you that however a good team should have multiple people putting tapes and disabling tvs.
My honest opinion she will no longer be a pubstomper, still since the average player is awful at the game she will still hold a decent killrate, but against any team that is not actually horrible at the game, much like any m1 killer thats not singularity she will get clapped.
0 -
I don't see the point of this change.
1
