Luck and You: A Dead by Daylight Guide/Mechanic Update Concept

icemancat

Overview:

This guide will review the basics of one of the game’s oldest mechanics: Luck. We will be talking and discussing what luck affects, perks and powers revolving around luck, how to properly use luck, and ask various questions such as is it balanced or does it need any changes?

Important to Note/Credibility:

I have been “maining”/primarily using a luck setup on survivor since February 2017. In other words, I like to think that I know my stuff not only with this, but game design as a whole as I do have some personal experience. For those curious, my go-to Survivor build since February 2017 has been as follows:

• Up The Ante
• Ace In The Hole
• Slippery Meat
• Plunderer’s Instinct

Hopefully, anyone who reads this will learn something new.

What is Luck in Dead by Daylight?

Luck is a game mechanic that has been around since the game’s release. It is a mechanic that solely affects the stats of the survivor, not the killer.

What does Luck affect in Dead by Daylight?

As of May 2024, Luck only affects the state of one thing: the survivor’s odds of successfully freeing themselves from the hook.

A Lesson on RNG:

If you have been playing games, especially video games for a decent amount of time, you have more than likely heard of the term RNG. If you have, ok. If you haven’t, well here it is: RNG stands for Random Number Generator. It is a factor that doesn’t necessarily have to be used exclusively in video games as it is also used in applications that have nothing to do with video games. However, in this case, RNG is what determines purely random elements in the game. There are different kinds of RNG to be aware of: Reactable, Unreactable, and Unfair RNG.

Reactable RNG:

Reactable RNG is when your opponent sees the randomness in action. Although they have zero control over what may happen, they have a decent time window to react and can potentially avoid the situation. A perfect example of Reactable RNG in Dead by Daylight are Skill Checks. Skill Checks give a distinct sound cue before they appear for survivors while they repair or heal. Although when they occur is random, the sound cue is reactable. 

Unreactable RNG:

Unreactable RNG is when your opponent is given insufficient time to deal with a random outcome. Sometimes, game developers avoid this, especially if the game they are making is competitive (I refuse to open the flood gates on whether dbd is competitive or not lol). However, it is still done by game developers, the main reason is because it is a thrilling experience. From landing a critical hit in an RPG, to your fate being decided on searching the correct Jigsaw Box, the developers add it in to spice things up. The name of this type of RNG may be ‘unreactable’, but that does not always mean unbalanced.

Unfair RNG:

Unfair RNG is when your opponent is not even involved in beating you, but rather, the game itself. One perfect example of this is the hatch. This can go both ways. Let’s say that 3 generators remain and a third survivor has just been sacrificed. Neither the last survivor or the killer have any knowledge of where the hatch may spawn. No perks, no maps, no blueprint offerings, nothing. All of a sudden, the hatch appears right under one of the players. If it appeared under the last survivor, they immediately escape and the killer would find it unfair while on the contrary, if the hatch spawns right under the killer, they immediately close it and the last survivor finds it unfair. Even this example could be controversial as some would argue “I deserved that last kill.” or “I deserved that escape for being the last one alive.” It’s a tough call, but this was the best example that I could find in Dead by Daylight that seemed to fit best with Unfair RNG.

So why are the three types of RNG important to know? The reason is because game designers still need to consider the balance of their game when RNG is thrown into the mix. In other words, luck should never be the strongest factor in determining the outcome of a game, a player’s skill should. 

Skill Vs. Luck:

When it comes to balancing a game, in competitive scenarios, skill should be the #1 factor that determines who wins or loses. A perfect example of this is Counter Strike. In casual scenarios, it is more acceptable to have luck be involved in some cases that may determine one player winning over another. A perfect example of this is Mario Party. Ask anyone about whether Dead by Daylight is a casual party game or a competitive ESports game and you will always have two people disagree with each other. DBD is an asymmetrical game, so naturally, there will be challenges making the game balanced. However, DBD can easily be both casual or competitive, it just depends on who is playing the game and how they want to play it. With that being said, it can be tricky balancing Luck in DBD, but it’s still possible to fine-tune it.

Luck and how it affects Killers:

The Luck Mechanic itself only really affects the killer harshly if the survivor unhooks themselves in the endgame when they are hooked right next to the exit gate. Otherwise, Luck doesn’t hit the killer role too hard unless you are playing as a select few number of killers like The Trapper or The Pig. The developers have stated that they do not want luck to affect a killer’s power directly, therefore, they removed the second original effect that Slippery Meat had: an increased chance to escape from Bear Traps. Regardless, survivors who fail to unhook themselves in the early game are a massive benefit for the killer, as they essentially lost one of their 3 lives.

Luck and how it affects Survivors:

As I mentioned before, Luck only affects the odds of freeing yourself from a hook as a survivor, so naturally, survivors will be affected more by luck as it is something they can influence. Unhooking yourself could save your team the time from needing to save you or just straight up save your life, but you run the risk of gambling one of your 3 lives away and immediately being put into the second hook stage. Use with caution. 

Tactics for both sides:

Although Luck is such an old mechanic, there are still some strategies that both sides can use. 

For killer, if you notice a survivor that unhooks themselves, you could wait out 10 seconds of Endurance that survivors get. However, survivors also receive 10% Haste during that 10 seconds as well, giving that survivor a chance to reach a safe area. I prefer going after other survivors after unhooking to spread out the pressure, but each to their own as well as it depends on the situation. If the survivors develop a habit of rescuing very quickly after hooking a survivor, punish them. 

Also, do not hook survivors near exit gates at the endgame. For the reason that I just mentioned earlier, they can unhook themselves for a free escape. Even if they do unhook themselves, if you hooked them far enough away, you can wait out the Endurance.

For survivor, there are a number of tips to help improve the usage of Luck. First, take a look around you when you’re hooked. If you see someone coming for you, do not attempt to escape unless you have perks that can help you do just that. Also, in some cases, a teammate could have a perk like We’ll Make It or Reassurance. Sometimes, staying on the hook is the safest place you can be, especially if the killer has a habit of tunneling. 

Another tip is if you do plan on attempting to unhook yourself, follow these steps for the most amount of effectiveness:

1. Wait for the “Attempt to Unhook” prompt to pop up after your character does the animation of being hooked.
2. The moment the prompt shows up, count to 5 in your head. I usually do “1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, etc.”.
3. The moment you hit 5, begin attempting to unhook yourself. Sometimes, counting to 6 could work, but it’s an extremely close call at that point. I feel like anything further than 8 and you’ll be robbed of an attempt.

The “Count to 5” strategy is in place to try and wait out the optimal amount of time for a killer to make distance from you before possibly unhooking. Against killers who reload at lockers like Huntress or Trickster, this is more risky as they spend more time around you before leaving. Against mobility killers who like leaving hooks like Blight or Hillbilly, you should be completely safe to try this. I thought of maybe adding a name to this kind of strategy like some people have done with techs such as the CJ Tech, but I don’t know. Maybe the “CT5” or “ICE5” lol. ICE would stand for “In Case of Emergency”, so the idea behind it is something like “In Case of Emergency, 5.”

You should follow these tactics if the following happen (Up The Ante + Slippery Meat Only):

• Killer loops back to you: Stop Attempting. They’ll go right after you if you unhook yourself. 
• If a survivor is a decent distance away (36-48 meters), use two attempts if you have Slippery Meat and Up The Ante. Use only one attempt if you only have Up The Ante. 
• No survivors coming your way: Use all attempts after counting to 5.
• If a Leatherface is camping from a distance: Still attempt to unhook yourself. You could end up buying your team more time than if you were to just stay on the hook. 

Reviewing Luck-Based Perks, Addons, and Offerings:

Different unlockables in the game revolve around not just the Luck Mechanic, but luck in general. I want to review all of them. 

First, Addons. There’s none that involve luck.

Next, Offerings. There are a small batch of Luck Offerings that survivors can use and are one of the few sets of offerings left that still use vague terminology like “Slightly”, “Moderately” or “Considerably”. These offerings are the following and their rarity, how much percentage of luck they add, and who they affect:

• Chalk Pouch: Common/1%/Self
• Salt Pouch: Uncommon/1%/All Survivors
• Cream Chalk Pouch: Uncommon/2%/Self
• Black Salt Statuette: Rare/2%/All Survivors
• Ivory Chalk Pouch: Rare/3%/Self
• Vigo’s Jar of Salty Lips: Very Rare/3%/All Survivors

The effects may be small, but they do add up with each other as well as other perks, increasing your odds of unhooking yourself further. Every number counts. 

Finally, Perks. These are arguably the most important of the three as they are not consumed after 1 match, they stick with you after you unlock them. There are a fair number of luck/RNG perks in the game for survivors to use.

Slippery Meat:

Gives you a 4% additional chance of unhooking yourself with 3 extra escape attempts. You now have an 8% chance of unhooking yourself with 6 total escape attempts. By itself, it’s incredibly niche and advisable to use a Luck Offering to help increase its reliability, but it can still be useful during close games. The main downside with Slippery Meat is if you are unhooked, the last one hooked without getting hooked prior, or reach second stage, then it’s a wasted perk slot. It is best when combined with Up The Ante or Luck Offerings.

Up The Ante:

My personal favorite perk in the game, this perk gives you 1 token for each survivor still alive (not including yourself) for a maximum of 3. Each token you have gives you 3% more Luck for a total of 9% from the perk. All Survivors including yourself are affected by Up The Ante and now have a 13% chance to unhook yourself. While you still have only 3 escape attempts, combining this with Slippery Meat makes this perk combo my all-time favorite as you then have a 17% chance to unhook yourself with 6 total escape attempts. Using one of the 3% Luck Offerings, then you have a 20% chance with 6 attempts. Those are pretty solid odds. The main weakness of Up The Ante is that if you die, your team then loses the effects of Up The Ante and for each teammate that dies, you lose 1 token or 3% Luck. Similar to before, Up The Ante is best used when combined with Slippery Meat. Although Luck Offerings are not mandatory when using both of those perks, they can absolutely help. 

*At this point, the perks I will review involve luck, but not the Luck Mechanic*

Plunderer’s Instinct:

Gives you a better chance of retrieving stronger items from chests. Specifically, higher rarity items. You have a better chance of getting Rare,  Very Rare, and on occasion Ultra Rare items from chests than you will of getting Common or Uncommon Items. Not bad at all, but you need to determine when you have the time in a match where it will be worth unlocking a chest. Getting a lame toolbox or medkit makes it not worth the time while better items, I would personally consider the time well spent.

Ace In The Hole:

Guarantees 1 addon to be attached to any item you retrieve from a chest of Very Rare quality or lower. There is also a 50% chance of a second addon of Uncommon rarity or lower to be on the item you retrieve from a chest. This perk, when combined with Plunderer’s Instinct, makes it worth it to take the time for unlocking a chest as it serves as buffing your items further. You can potentially get strong items like a medkit or flashlight with more charges. 

People may mention other chest-related perks like Pharmacy, Scavenger, Residual Manifest, or Appraisal. My thoughts? Not worth running unless paired with other perks that make sense to be paired with it. Combos like Scavenger and Potential Energy for efficient gen repairs, or Appraisal and Plunderer’s Instinct for maximum attempts for keys make sense. To me, running 3 or more perks dedicated to one thing in the game is a waste. Remember the build I mentioned at the start that I use? It’s a hybrid build. Half of it is dedicated to unhooking myself (Up The Ante and Slippery Meat) while the other half is dedicated to stronger items (Ace in the Hole and Plunderer’s Instinct). It is a nice, balanced setup that doesn’t take up anymore perk slots than it should.

Scene Partner:

While in the Killer’s Terror Radius, looking directly at the killer causes your character to scream. You can then see the killer’s aura for 5 seconds. At the end of the 5 seconds, there is a 50% chance you scream again, with each successful scream showing the killer’s aura to you for 2 seconds more each time until you stop screaming. The perk then goes on cooldown for 60 seconds. This perk can be handy in a chase, but can also screw you over when trying to avoid being spotted. Also, do not use this perk with Calm Spirit, it won’t work if you do. 

Dramaturgy:

Can only be used while healthy. Press the Active Ability button to run knees high for .5 seconds, followed by gaining 25% haste for 2 seconds. After the 2 seconds are up, one of the following random effects will occur:

1. Gain the Exposed Status Effect for 12 seconds
2. Scream, but nothing happens
3. Gain a random Rare Item with random addons and dropping any item you may have already been holding
4. Gain 2 more seconds of 25% increased haste. 

You gain the Exhausted Status Effect for 40 seconds and all outcomes cannot occur twice in a row. This perk is very interesting. For those that know Super Smash Bros. Melee, there is one character in that game that has a move that functions similar to Dramaturgy. That character is Mr. Game and Watch. Mr. Game and Watch can swing a hammer that shows a random number 1-9, with 9 being the strongest outcome. However, the last prior 2 numbers shown cannot appear again until swinging 1 or 2 more times. 

For example, let’s say you swing a 7, then a 3. Those two numbers are banked and cannot appear again until you swing once more. Let’s say you swing again, and a 2 shows up. The 3 gets pushed back to where the 7 was and the 7 is thrown back into the pool of possible outcomes that can show up.

Dramaturgy functions just like Mr. Game and Watch’s hammer move. Let’s say you activate Dramaturgy at the start of the match, hoping to get the Exposed outcome out of the way so you can use Dramaturgy with a 100% safe guarantee. Instead, the Scream outcome occurs. That scream outcome cannot happen twice in a row and now, the next time you activate Dramaturgy, the remaining 3 effects all have a 33% chance of occurring. You activate Dramaturgy again and the Exposed outcome occurs. The Exposed outcome is then put on the shelf and the Scream outcome is put back in the pool. Now, you can use Dramaturgy optimally in a chase with no risk of exposing yourself for a one-hit down.

There’s even more to Dramaturgy: the Item Outcome. Although the items are restricted to Rare quality, the addons have no such restrictions. This means you can get Brand New Parts on a toolbox or an Antihemorrhagic Syringe on a medkit, two extremely good addons that Ace In The Hole cannot acquire. It’s an interesting case on whether to use Plunderer’s Instinct and Ace In The Hole or just use Dramaturgy alone. Some may even think Dramaturgy has powercrept Plunderer’s and Ace In The Hole for being able to have access to such strong addons, but it is unable to give Very Rare items, the next tier of items mostly stronger than Rare items.

Bardic Inspiration (PTB):

While standing still, press the active ability button to do a performance for 15 seconds and buffs survivors within 16 meters. After the performance, a d20 is rolled and based on the outcome, the effect lasts for 60 seconds if the performance is finished successfully. The following are the outcomes based on what number the d20 rolled:

1: Scream but nothing happens

2-10: Skill Checks give +1% progress

11-19: Skill Checks give +2% progress

20: Skill Checks give +3% progress

The perk then goes on cooldown for 60 seconds. Once again, this is a very interesting perk built around RNG and the first perk that involves the use of a d20. With the perk only having a 5% chance to fail, it seems quite handy, especially when used around more survivors. The efficiency of generator repairs can drastically go up when you get high numbers rolled. 

Is Luck Balanced?

So with all of the addons, offerings and perks covered, one important question stands: Is Luck balanced? The answer: Yes. The Luck Mechanic itself would have to be balanced, especially since it has undergone very minor changes over the past 8 years while DBD has been active. In terms of perks revolving around RNG, I would say they are all balanced with a couple of exceptions. Depending on how strong Bardic Inspiration is, it could possibly be too strong. We’ll have to wait and see though as it is still in PTB. Also, if all survivors use Up The Ante and Slippery Meat, it could be quite strong and as a result, cause the killer to just slug instead as there is zero point in hooking a survivor if they’re going to jump off anyway. This can cause an unpleasant experience for both the survivor and killer, but thankfully, there is a very easy solution that I will cover in a bit. Although the next section in this guide/suggestion concept may be redundant, I still think it is different enough to be worth mentioning. 

Is Luck in a good spot now?

We already covered that Luck is balanced, but what I mean by this question is more from a standpoint of if Luck is doing enough. In most cases, yes it is. I’m not suggesting changing the RNG for map generation or anything like that, I’m now thinking on whether the Luck Mechanic can affect more than just improving the odds of unhooking yourself. It’s finally time to discuss it: What else can, or should, Luck affect?

What else can/should Luck affect?

Aside from Up The Ante and Slippery Meat, Luck could possibly affect all of the other perks previously mentioned. 

Starting with the most popular consideration, Plunderer’s Instinct and looting items from chests. This has been talked about for years and I even asked if Luck does affect items from chests a few years ago which a dev themselves confirmed that it doesn’t. This was a little disheartening, but understandable at the time. Now that I have more knowledge of the game and game design overall, I wanted to revisit this. 

If Luck were to affect the items from chests, it would have to do it in a way that it is not too broken. For example, take the base percent chance of unhooking yourself, 4%. Let’s make that our threshold for every survivor's base Luck attribute. Now for Luck to affect the rarity of items from chests, we need to look at modifiers. Plunderer’s Instinct has a hidden modifier with its vague descriptions. In the game, it says “Slightly/Moderately/Considerably” when describing the odds of better items from chests. In the game’s code, a modifier describes this as “1/2/3”. This modifier is independent from luck, but perhaps luck could affect the modifier a little. 

To explain this a little further, as the Luck modifier increases, the better odds you’ll have of getting higher rarity items until you reach a whole number. When you reach the benchmark numbers of 1, 2, or 3, you surpass a tier of items and no longer acquire them. Plunderer’s Instinct can still serve as a Perk to increase the odds of better items and decrease the odds of weaker items, but when combined with good enough Luck, the survivor should no longer be getting garbage-tier items. 

Something worth mentioning is the maximum Luck modifier, 16%. This is with both Up The Ante and a 3% Luck Offering. Regardless of whether you use Plunderer’s with 16% total luck, that should be the maximum allowed for this instance, meaning that Up The Ante would have to be changed so that each team of survivors is only affected by one instance of Up The Ante maximum as well as the modifier capping at 16% in case multiple people use luck offerings that affect everyone. This is to make Luck balanced as you will soon see more things Luck can affect.

This was just an extremely rough draft of what the new system could look like and is of course, just a suggestion.

The next perk to look at is Ace In The Hole. Luck can easily increase that 50% chance for a second addon. For example, full tokens of Up The Ante can increase the chance for the second addon to 59%. If we really wanted to, luck could even affect the quality of the addons you get from the perk. 

Scene Partner is also easy to look at. Luck can be added to the percent chance to scream again (50%). Same deal as Ace In The Hole, Up The Ante used with Scene Partner now gives you a 59% chance to scream again for longer aura reading.

Dramaturgy is a little tricky like Plunderer’s Instinct. One possible suggestion is that luck could decrease the odds of negative outcomes and increase the odds of positive outcomes. Let’s look at a table again to see it visually:

The negative outcome that Dramaturgy can give is the Exposed Outcome. Since the Scream Outcome provides no benefit or drawback, it is a neutral outcome, therefore, luck will not impact its odds specifically. However, since the Item and Extra Haste Outcomes are both positive, their odds will increase while the Exposed Outcome’s odds decrease. I am aware this table does not cover the scenario for when there are two positive outcomes and one negative outcome and two positive outcomes and one neutral outcome, but this is a drafted concept on what luck could do for Dramaturgy.

The last perk is Bardic Inspiration. Although it is still in the PTB, I think it is important to cover its potential when combined with Luck. In Dungeons & Dragons, there are things called proficiency bonuses which are added to the end of a roll of the dice. A Survivor’s Luck amount could be added to the result of the d20 roll, but it runs the risk of being overpowered. Therefore, Luck should also have a sort of modifier effect similar to how it works with Plunderer’s Instinct. Here is another table for how luck would work with Bardic Inspiration: 

This makes it so that when you use Luck with Bardic Inspiration whether you use Offerings or Up The Ante, the numbers have subtle, yet balanced improvements to getting an improved result. With 1% Luck for example, rolling a 1 is now instead a 2, rolling a 10 is now an 11, and rolling a 19 is now considered a 20.

Aside from perks, the only other thing I can think of would be having Luck maybe affect Skill Checks and the odds of them showing up. However, it is debatable on whether or not you want Skill Checks to show up. More experienced players would argue yes because they can hit great skill checks more often while newer and more casual players would argue no because they are not yet skilled enough. That’s kind of the answer right there. They are skill checks. There isn’t a whole lot of room for luck to affect them.

Addressing Concerns:

With all of the suggestions I’ve made, I’m sure there are/will be concerns that will pop up. In anticipation of some of those concerns, here’s me addressing 4 of them.

4% off the hook while everyone is slugged is unfair:

I disagree. I’m already hearing some things about fixing slugging but I’ll have to go back to watch the 8th year anniversary broadcast. Anyway, there hasn’t been anything done in response to this for the past 8 years so I don’t believe anything needs to be done here. 

It is unfair jumping off the hook in front of a face camping killer:

If we’re talking before the endgame, there is already an anti-camp mechanic now in place. However, I’m assuming this is in response to a killer just sitting in front of someone they hooked during the endgame because the anti-camp mechanic gets disabled after that. My thoughts? Try making it your mission to hook everyone once before the end game. That way, there will be no more scenarios of people jumping off the hook in the endgame. Or if you are tunneling survivors, then try not doing that anymore. You are giving survivors a chance (unhooking themselves) to escape if you save them for the end. 

Giving Up on Hook:

What’s funny is that perks like Up The Ante currently help mitigate people from doing this as well as shared luck offerings. However, the people who are doing this will just run to the killer to give up anyway or worse, sandbag you as punishment for keeping them in the game. To the people who do sometimes give up early, no matter what, please don’t sandbag the rest of us if you unhook yourself.

Luck Abusing:

If you have seen the video made by Otzdarva on “Luck Abusing SWF”, go check it out if you want. Although I wouldn’t call it “abusing luck”, I’d call it more like “taking advantage of luck”. Basically what happens in the video is a SWF all runs Up The Ante, Slippery Meat, and Vigo’s Jar of Salty Lips. This makes it near impossible to fail at unhooking yourself. My response? I did kind of hint at this earlier, but I suggest changing it so survivors can only be affected by one instance of Up The Ante at a time. This is because if we consider all of the buffs and new synergies we made luck have, it is unnecessary for Up The Ante to be that strong to the point of it stacking with other instances of itself. 

Thanks for Reading!

Thanks a bunch for reading this guide. The new Bardic Inspiration perk is what pushed me to finally finish this little side project. I feel like I did alright with giving luck a solid update without changing the core original elements that make it such an enjoyable experience for myself and I hope others. I’ve got more things in the works such as lore dives and chapter concepts but in the meantime, enjoy this guide on the luck mechanic and let me know what you think of the suggested changes! 

Thanks,

icemancat

feederle

This might just be better than the bible, very well done. Makes me hope they end up doing at least something similar with what you presented in the future (they won't) (nice title btw)