http://dbd.game/killswitch
Developer Update | May 2025
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The 9.0.0 Update will be here before we know it, so it's time once again to take a look at the notable gameplay changes you can expect from tomorrow’s Public Test Build. As with last time, stay tuned for the PTB Patch Notes where we’ll share the precise values that are changing for each of the topics below!
Read on for all the details:
NEW FEATURES
- Added a system to identify whether a Survivor’s sacrifice is an intentional attempt at “going next”.
- If a player is identified as intentionally “going next”, they will receive a Disconnection Penalty Point.
- Removed the option to self-unhook on first hook stage unless they have one of the following equipped:
- Slippery Meat perk
- Up the Ante perk
- A Luck offering
- Added “unlocks the ability to attempt to unhook yourself” effect to Luck offerings.
- Survivors are no longer instantly killed after two struggle skill checks pass without any input.
Please note: The Disconnection Penalty system is not active on the PTB, so certain facets of the “going next” penalization will not be available to test.
DEV NOTE: We’ve made the above changes in order to tackle “going next” from two directions: penalizing repeat offenses and limiting exploitability of self-unhooks. By restricting early-match self-unhooks to specific perks and offerings, this still allows players to work it into their strategy while limiting cases where it’s used in bad faith.
- Updated AFK detection system.
- Reminder: If a player is considered AFK crows will gradually begin spawning above the Survivor, beginning with 1 and capping at 3.
- Once a Survivor has 3 crows following them, they lose collision with other players.
DEV NOTE: With this updated system, we’ve adjusted how the game identifies players who have stopped contributing to a match. While the crow system largely functions as before, an additional effect at 3 crows prevents Survivors from intentionally griefing teammates with body blocking, while also preventing the Killer from holding Survivors hostage.
- Added an Auto Bloodweb button which allows you to set how many levels you want to automatically progress through, Bloodpoints permitting.
DEV NOTE: It’s no secret this is one of the most common community requests, so we’re excited to put this in your hands! It’s what it says on the tin, so check out this GIF. Even better, we’ve removed some recurring pop-ups after you see them once to make your time in the Bloodweb even more snappy.
- Updated the Mori system so that it can now also be activated when 2 or more Survivors are dead, and the following occurs:
- The second-last Survivor is Hooked and on Struggle Phase
- The final Survivor is in one of the following states (Healthy, Injured or Dying)
DEV NOTE: With this change, Killers will be able to activate their Mori earlier – so long as victory is assured – removing the need to wait for any hooked Survivors to be Sacrificed. This will let players on both sides get back into the action sooner.
- Map offerings grant a flat percentage chance of being sent to the associated Realm. This chance is no longer a guarantee.
- Map offerings no longer stack their effects.
- Map and gameplay-affecting offerings are treated as secret during the loading screen reveal.
DEV NOTE: By making map and gameplay-affecting offerings secret on loading screens, our intention is to preserve the element of surprise, preventing the opposing role from starting the match with knowledge of your strategy.
- Adjusted the following spawn rules:
- Survivors spawn as close together as possible
- Survivors spawn on the same floor (where applicable)
- The Killer will not spawn at the center of small maps
- Changed the name of Shroud of Separation to Shroud of Vanishing and changed its effect to nullify offerings that change Survivor spawn locations.
- Changed the name of Shroud of Binding to Shroud of Separation and changed its effect to spawn Survivors apart from one another.
DEV NOTE: With these changes to spawn rules, players will find their spawn locations to be more consistent when not affected by offerings.
We also know certain Shroud offerings have historically worked counter to what each role might want, so we’ve adjusted them to better line up with these expectations.
- Added a Video category to the Graphics Settings menu.
- Added a Brightness setting to the Video category to adjust Gamma.
DEV NOTE: Dead by Daylight is a game that relies heavily on the play between light and dark, which can be difficult to strike a balance between when playing on console, given the more limited options available. To help alleviate this, we’ve added a setting for adjusting Gamma, which gives players more control over how light and dark elements are displayed.
Lowest Setting
Highest Setting
- Increased spectator slots in Custom Game to 5.
- Added hotkey inputs to Custom Game spectating to quickly switch the view to a specific character and cycle through character views one-by-one.
- Added controller support for the above improvements.
DEV NOTE: Not only is Custom Match a way to easily play with friends, it’s also a valuable tool for coordinating tournament play. To help streamline its use in these environments, we’ve added hotkey support to various methods of view-switching to make casting on-the-fly even easier. Plus, with increased spectator slots, tournament organizers have the option to give viewers visibility of all players in a match at once.
Even better, we have more improvements coming to Custom Match in a future update. Stay tuned for more on this!
KILLER UPDATES
- Adjusted several Add-Ons.
DEV NOTE: Overall, The Artist is in a solid place balance-wise and boasts useful add-ons that meaningfully change how her kit works. To encourage even more pick variety among these, we’ve adjusted her top and bottom-performing add-ons to bring their usefulness more in line with her other options.
Stay tuned for the patch notes for specific details on these changes.
- All of The Lich’s Spells are available at the start of a Trial.
- Reduced cooldowns of all Spells.
- Dispelling Sphere's projectile moves quickly when first cast and slows down over time.
- Increased the Killer Instinct duration once Survivors exit Dispelling Sphere.
- Increased the attack cooldown period after Fly ends.
- Increased the duration and movement speed of Fly.
- Adjusted Mage Hand hold time to make it consistent for both Killers and Survivors, resolving a known bug.
- Increased the effects of Magic Items when casting the associated Spells.
- Adjusted several Add-Ons.
DEV NOTE: For The Lich, much of his power focuses on providing utility over reliably injuring Survivors. We’ve adjusted his four Spells to increase the frequency with which they can be used to ensure there’s more spell-slinging, while quality-of-life adjustments help make these Spells feel smoother to use.
On the Survivor side of things, we also wanted to ensure Magic Items feel like more viable options for countering each Spell, so we’ve buffed them slightly.
PERK UPDATES
- Updated Call of Brine
- Updated Dark Devotion
- Updated Hex: Retribution
- Updated Machine Learning
- Updated Superior Anatomy
- Updated Terminus
- Updated Thrilling Tremors
- Updated THWACK!
DEV NOTE: We’ve adjusted values on the above perks which boasted lower pick and kill rates to introduce small buffs to increase their viability. Stay tuned for the patch notes for specific details on these value changes.
- Updated Botany Knowledge
- Updated Champion of Light
- Updated Counterforce
- Updated Desperate Measures
- Updated Empathic Connection
- Updated Exultation
- Updated Light-Footed
DEV NOTE: Similar to the above, we updated values on some perks with lower performance, introducing small buffs. We’ll share the exact values in the coming patch notes.
Until next time...
The Dead by Daylight Team
Comments
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I do hope that it's no longer impossible to give up for hatch in a 1v2 scenario
16 -
- "Removed the option to self-unhook on first hook stage unless they have one of the following equipped:
- Slippery Meat perk
- Up the Ante perk
- A Luck offering
- "
…Those things should be removed from the game, so that people that want to Go Next, don't use them as an excuse for why they self-unhooked.
People are absolutely going to say "I wasn't trying to Go Next, I was trying to get value from my Slippery Meat perk".
-30 -
So much good stuff but more efforts should be put into buffing vecna's spells instead of reducing the cooldowns, it's very disappointing to see his macro skill expression reduced to pander to bad players
-16 -
So I’m ALL about the go next prevention. But restricting 4 percent changes to only being allowed with perks or luck offerings removes all those times when someone was able to 4 percent when the match was nearly lost and made it so the survivors were able to reset and stage a comeback. This is basically saying once you’re on hook you’re just there and until a teammate can get to you, IF they can, since slugging everyone out is the new meta.
Four man slugging is still a huge issue in this game so now when killers go for full slugs which tends to happen when there’s 1-2 gens left, the chance to 4 percent and make a comeback is gone unless we waste a perk slot.
I don’t mind using perk spots for certain kinds of gameplay but equipping a perk for the “chance” at a 4 percent and not a guaranteed 4 percent is a waste imo. So now everyone has to equip deliverance and hope that they’re not the first person hooked so they can get that save and get value from their perk?
Honestly this was my fear with go next prevention: That is was going to unfairly penalize genuine players just to punish the bad ones. And this does penalize genuine players and takes away their last ditch effort to get an escape and that happens quite a bit in my matches.
Also the mori update is going to penalize survivors who run unbreakable. If the killer can just simply hook and go right back for the instant mori, that takes away their chance for the survivor to use unbreakable/soul guard to pick themselves up while the person on hook is still struggling to buy them time. Whose idea was this? Lots of gamers are running anti slug builds lately to counter the slugging meta that the devs encouraged even more with the finisher mori, and now you guys are making it easier to cancel out any ability to counter a slug and try to make a comeback.
9 -
Those are some potentially scary perks slated to be buffed, dang. I'll hold off on real panic until I see the patch notes, but some of those perks are already damn good and the prospect of buffing them is a little scary.
Love to see the BP bulk spending though, that looks pretty much perfect to me!
8 -
Provided I'm understanding your reply correctly (please let me know if not!), I can confirm that in a 1v2 situation, if someone wants to give up on hook to give the other person hatch, they will still be able to fail skill checks to speed up the sacrifice.
19 -
And will it cause the dc penalty that go next prevention will cause? Also yes that was part of my question
6 -
That bloodpoint spending seems like it might be a pain for console/controller players, also, custom game improvements but still no killer bots? At least add the tutorial Trapper bot in there.
12 -
This is something we'll be keeping an eye on, so I appreciate you flagging it as a concern on your end.
5 -
When the PTB goes live, please do give the changes a chance. After you've given them a try in-game, if there are specific aspects of his kit that you have feedback on, please don't hesitate to share them with us - we'll be keeping a close eye out for feedback to share with the team!
9 -
I assume Anatomy Superior will get BUFF
They can do the same with DARK ARROGANCE and FIRE UP?
They also needs BUFFS
-6 -
Massive update, excited to see the buffed perks and especially Vecna. Looks amazing.
I'm sure slippery meat will eventually be changed (along with up the ante and luck in general) but until then this is still excellent.
Also no one will go into the trial with 1 less perk just in case they want to go next.
6 -
While I am excited for the bulk blood point spending as I often store a lot of BP for upcoming chapter. Would the Bulk blood point spending give you a random assortment of addons or does it gave a fair amount of each add-on? I worry it would make finding certain addons you prefer getting more difficult.
3 -
The Map offering is still only 20% chance right?
6 -
VECNA BUFFS AAAAAA TYSM BHVR
4 -
We learned from the survivor abandon button, that most people don't care about rare scenarios.
When survivors got an abandon button that immediate shows up when the last survivor reaches the dying state, I didn't see a bunch of survivors say "what if I had unbreakable, and my teammate abandons before I can use it"??? The vast majority of survivors were absolutely fine with getting their instant abandon button, even if there were rare scenarios where the game "really wasn't over yet".
-2 -
We'll be keeping a close eye on community feedback through the PTB, so if you have a chance, definitely give those buffs a try in-game and if you're still feeling concerned, let us know and we can pass along the feedback 😀
8 -
What about deliverance and wicked? These perks are getting changed?
6 -
I've seen people on these forums that heavily defend Going Next, and I honestly believe they often Go Next. I'm sure some of them will give up a perk or offering, if it allows them to Go Next more often.
Edit: this is especially true if 1 luck offering means all 4 survivors get the ability to self-unhook. There will be SWFs that absolutely will do this, so that the SWF can Go Next if one of them dies early.
-4 -
I'll definitely be doing that, don't you worry. Some of these are perks I already like running - especially Machine Learning, Botany Knowledge, and Champion of Light - so while the logical part of me is concerned at the buffs… oohhh I wanna see my favourite toys get shinier…
4 -
Nope! Speeding up a sacrifice at 1v2 to give another player a chance at hatch is not viewed as "going next" within this new prevention system.
18 -
When you remove the ability to attempt to unhook, does that mean survivors will no longer be able to raise their arms on first hook stage? In solo queue, it was nice to try and attempt to communicate with teammates that the killer is nearby camping by waving your arms and such. It'd be a shame to see that aspect of it gone as well.
12 -
So in the past if the Killer went for the 4 man slug they were forced to bleed out if they wanted to ensure a win, because Survivors could 4%. Now the killer is allowed to hook and end the game quicker, without risks. 4% are just randomly the killer getting screwed over even when they played perfectly. Removing them is healthy.
-11 -
to be honest slugging at 1-2 gens left isnt "toxic" thats just strategizing since then your chasing 1 survivor 1 is down on the ground and then another one has to come get that one up wich means at most 1 can be on gens
-3 -
So we are gonna see what the interaction behavior changes are in the stream?
0 -
Literally my first thought, I assume these are not in the list because they have an activation condition, so their unhook is conditonal rather than inherent, whereas these other perks make them inherent.
One question I have, @ThatRyanB does Up the ante/the luck offering seems to only allow the perso who brought it to attempt to unhook... does the luck still stack like it does before if multiple people bring these perks/offerings?
While I don't think luck should work at all how it does, if all Luck effects were made personal only, they could possibly be made better without being so abusable by whole teams. This might make them fine. (If they were a little better withoit full team stacking it'd also impede the ability to go next as well, since you have say a 30-40% chance you self unhook)
0 -
Anything that guarantees a self-unhook - so yes, Deliverance, Wicked, and the anti-camping measures - will still work the same as before.
15 -
- Removed the option to self-unhook on first hook stage unless they have one of the following equipped:
- Slippery Meat perk
- Up the Ante perk
- A Luck offering
And what about perks like Deliverance and Wicked?
1 - Removed the option to self-unhook on first hook stage unless they have one of the following equipped:
-
Yeah and this is an issue cuz I’ve had that happen to me and I’ve seen plenty of players complain about it as well. I’m just not a fan of reducing this game down to “it’s a 1v4 where the match is “over” when two people are left.” What’s the point of playing the game at that point? If the last survivor still doesn’t have a chance at an escape for that last Hail Mary then why bother? It takes away the tension and excitement of the game if my match is over when two people are left.
And people complain about “going next” and this kind of stuff is why people do it. Because there are so many mechanics in this game where as soon as one or two things happen people see the match as being “over” so they figure why bother? This is encouraging that.
Also the go next prevention is still gonna penalize genuine players more than the bad ones because yeah they can’t take themselves out on first hook anymore but as soon as they get unhooked what are they gonna do? Nothing. Run at the killer, stand there and let the killer down them, alt tab out and walk away while they bleed out. People who decide they’re not gonna play the match out are not going to be forced to play a match that they decided they don’t wanna play, so they’re still not gonna contribute to the match. Maybe they don’t go afk to avoid a DC penalty, but I’ve seen people just run around the map, spamming wall vaults, throwing all the pallets or just cleansing totems and opening chest to kill time until the killer takes them out. Not contributing to their team in any way.
People have said this here plenty of times but until they address the reason for the go next it’s not gonna change anything. Yes a small amount of people go next because they’re just mad they got downed first but that’s not the majority of the playerbase. And now making a mechanic that increases the chances of ending the match in the killers favor at a 1v2 scenario, effectively removing any ability for a last ditch comeback, is just gonna increase the “go next” mentality. I’m interested to see how people react when killers are waiting in these 15-30 minute queues for a 5 minute match when the match is over at a 1v2 or even sooner when everyone insta abandons for a 4 man slug at 4-5 gens.
Lastly it’s interesting that survivors are more and more having to equip perks to be able to engage in certain styles of gameplay. We have to equip perks to prevent slugging, prevent camping, prevent tunneling, now we have to equip perks to be able to take a genuine shot at a 4 percent. Meanwhile killers still get basekit tunneling, camping and slugging. Those tactics take zero perks or add ons to be effective.
4 -
What exactly means "adjustments to several Addons for Artist"? Is it is just some small tweaks or an Addon Update with some reworks?
I main her since release and I'm really scared of this because it has the potential to be good but also awfully bad. In the past you nerfed some problematic addons to make them bad so they are technically no longer an issue instead of reworking them into something healthy and useful (e.g. instadown addons for Huntress and Clown).
I also feel like she deserves some basekit changes since she became a bit outdated over the years. Is there a reason why you just change some addons instead of tweaking the basekit too?
2 -
I hoped there would be more to the Extreme Hiding/not contributing to the match. It’s definitley a good first step but survivors just hiding and moving around isnt addressed this way and being Held hostage in one Place will still be frustrating as AFK crows do need some time to spawn.
as for Self-Unhooking, at this Point, just rework the whole system: no Self unhook attempts, guaranteed conditional self unhook with Wicked, Deliverance, rework Slippery Meat to also give guaranteed unhook under a different condition. And (just as a test as this would be a major change) instead of going into next stage, you unhook yourself at the end of a phase. Probably Not during EGC obviously.
rework Luck completely (Items in chest, if that Self unhook After the whole Phase makes it, luck could decrease the time)2 -
The 4% has given so many great moments. Would it be possible to not remove the attemps but instead if they fail just remove the timer reduction? That "punishment" is the reason why people can leave early in the first place.
8 -
I’m not saying slugging at 1-2 gens is toxic. I understand that because if you’re down to those gens you’re trying to get pressure. My complaint is that this new mori update is making it so that if a killer slugs two people and takes one to a hook and is waiting over the slugged survivor, for the hooked survivor to die, to get that mori, this removes a last ditch effort for the slugged survivor to get up and find hatch. I see tons of unbreakable and soul guards in my lobbies now because of the slugging meta. The person in this scenario could have used unbreakable, taken a hit with soul guard and gotten the endurance to take a chase because the person on hook was hitting their skilll checks trying to buy time. I’ve even asking my own SWFs to “hold on” so I could get my unbreakable/soul guard and try to get up and even save them from hook. In the new Mori scenario, the killer can go right back to the slugged person and insta Mori and it’s over, removing that last ditch attempt for a possible comeback.
4 -
For the mori update, if we're removing the ability to self unhook without perks or offerings why are we still checking if the 2nd to last survivor is in struggle state? Shouldn't it just be are other survivors hooked, then allow mori if yes?
-1 -
The bloodweb improvent is HUGE, but guys, u need to able an option to spend your bloodpoint prioritizing more or less rarities, i always want the max iridescent as posible and with this method i cant control about that, so, i cant use this benefit from the bloodweb improvement. U need create this system where people able for choose betwwen "spend less bloodpoints as posible or preferece to better reward in bloddweb?"
4 -
Exactly. There have been so many great 4 percent moments in this game that are going to be gone now just to “punish” bad players who are still not going to contribute to the match anyway once they get unhooked. The vast majority of people trying to go next are not going to contribute just because you prevent them from leaving the match. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve unhooked people I saw trying to “go next” and they just stood there off hook and went afk or they ran around just sandbagging and spam throwing all the pallets.
2 -
A big part of the Go Next problem is that survivors have a quick and easy way to ragequit, that bypasses the DC penalties. The upcoming Go Next solution absolutely makes that harder.
Zero people are saying the goal is to 100% get rid of absolutely everyone in the universe that wants to Go Next. The goal is to reduce the percentage of games where this happens.
-10 -
I wish you had buffed more weak and underused perks. Stuff you never see like Self Preservation, Cut Loose, Boon: Illumination, Scourge Hook: Hangmans Trick, Hoarder, Overwhelming Presence, etc…
11 -
Good question! In cases where a self-unhook isn't possible, players will still be able to struggle while on the hook, simply without a chance of escape or penalty for failure.
3 -
I like most of this, except the map offering changes
Like can we please just either remove them or turn them into Realm bans? The changes don’t solve the issue of the offerings being used to rig matches, it just makes them have a chance of being completely useless or rigging a match
9 -
There's a lot of confusion from other people regarding the new mori conditions. It says the second survivor has to be "healthy, injured, or dying" for the finisher mori to activate. Some people are interpreting that as the killer can mori a healthy survivor. I assume it's just awkward phrasing and of course they have to be downed to be mori-able. Can you please clarify?
7 -
Does that mean a SWF can bring 1 luck offering, and the SWF can Go Next if one of them dies early?
-1 -
To be honest, this might actually be a benefit to the game... because the killer can hook the last survivor instead of slugging for the 4k for perks like BBQ and Chilli, Alien Instinct or FttE and actually play the hatch game.
-1 -
I am afraid too.
Start the chanting, we have to manifest that only good will come from this change!!!
3 -
4%s were flawed not only in griefing aspect, but also RNG aspect where one successful kobe could have significant impact on match outcome so i'm very glad they removed it.
-10 -
I’m also not saying that the goal is to get rid of it 100 percent. What I am saying is that this is going to unfairly punish genuine players and as someone above said, it removes so many great 4 percent moments that happen in this game, many that have turned the tide of matches and made them more exciting. So we’re making the game less exciting now to punish a minority of the player base who again, are likely still not going to contribute to the match in any meaningful way by being kept in the match.
I really hope this doesn’t happen but right now it doesn’t look promising
11 -
What about the times you're on hook and no one comes to save you. On multiple occasions, I've run kindred, and my lovely teammates have let me go to second phase. Trying to 4% was the only way you had a chance of getting off hook.
17 -
Far as understand the notes no... they all state the person who brought that offering can, not anyone else.
I'm not sure if luck offerings still stack luck for the whole SWF though...
3 -
Are there any plans to address that adding blue to items,perks, etc has created an accessibility issue for many players? Color blind can't tell the difference between the blue and purple and others can't see it against the backgrounds thus creating eye strain and headaches.
11 -
This is good, thank you for taking this into account.
Can this also be applied to Endgame Situations? E.g. when all Gens are powered? When I get hooked at this point, I just want to get out of the game and not risk one of my teammates trying to get me (the Killer will be camping anyway since they have nothing else to do anymore), so I just do my regular attempts and be out of the game. Would not really make any sense if this would also be punished, since this is no classic "go next"-scenario.
13
