The Basics of Killer Pressure in Dead By Daylight: A Beginner's Guide

I wanted to have this post up and ready for the FNaF release, but better late than never!

Before we begin, there's an important thing I need to mention first: The idea of "pressure" in DBD can be quite nebulous within the community, so when I lay out my definition of what that word means, it's so you can easily understand the concepts I'm conveying. It may not be what others mean when they use the word, and quibbling over the exact definition of that particular word would be outside the point of this post.

With that out of the way, let's get into it!

If you've been paying attention to DBD's community for any length of time, you may have heard some variation on the phrase "the killer's time is four times as valuable as a survivor's time". If you haven't, well, now you have! This is an important concept to keep in mind, as it forms the basics behind the idea of "pressure" for killer— however, first, you must understand why that statement is true and when that statement is true.

The idea goes like this: Because at any moment a survivor could be doing a generator, it should be assumed they are doing a generator, and the time you spend as killer is measured in up to four survivors progressing their objectives. Sounds scary, but the most important part of that idea is the phrase "up to", because you - the killer - are very, very able to lower that number. Let's look at the following hypothetical:

You're playing killer, loading into a match versus Meg, Dwight, Claudette, and Jake. When you first gain control of your character, all four of those survivors can be working on generators; every second you spend is four seconds of potential generator time.
Let's say you get into a chase with Meg, though. That leaves only Dwight, Claudette, and Jake able to do generators; Meg can't do gens while she's being chased, after all.
Now you've downed Meg. Congratulations! You sling her on a hook and shortly after get into a chase with Dwight. You may think that leaves Claudette and Jake to do gens, but remember— someone has to rescue Meg. So, Claudette peels away, and Jake sticks on his generator.

Just from one chase, you've occupied three different survivors at different moments; for a brief moment before the save, and for a little time afterwards, there is only ONE survivor capable of doing generators. Down Dwight, hook him, head to go chase Jake… and the cycle repeats!

This hypothetical gives us the most useful definition for pressure on the killer side: "Survivors who are forced or heavily encouraged to do something other than generators". Chased survivors, hooked survivors, and downed survivors can't do gens— and the latter two heavily encourage someone else to come off gens to help them, too.

A killer player that not only plays very actively, but does so by creating scenarios that force a response, will notice the effects of pressuring survivors; specifically, that the generators get done slower, giving them more time to keep the ball rolling and generate more pressure. Of course, actually doing this can be tricky - it's a PvP game, after all, your opponents can outplay you - but it's the most solid foundation you can start from.

So, how do you act on this concept? Let's get into specifics for some quick, basic tips.

• First and foremost, hooks are some of the best pressure you can get. Leaving someone on the ground (or "slugging", if you're newer to the game) works too, but hook stages progress faster and hooks themselves fully immobilise survivors alongside actually progressing your own objective, making them the best standard. If you have a hook, don't stick around it, capitalise on it- get to a survivor and chase them.
• Try not to spend too much time looking for survivors. Checking generators you think are being worked on is all well and good, but ideally you want to go from one chase straight into another; information perks are extremely useful for facilitating this, but you can also keep track of survivors throughout the trial and get a sense for where they might be at any given moment. Hard to work on, but very worth it. Good example perks: BBQ and Chili, Lethal Pursuer, Gearhead, Alien Instinct, Friends Til The End, Nowhere To Hide.
• (Similarly, don't fall into the trap of kicking generators too much. They're not your objective- don't give your actual objective time to run away if you can help it! Kicking generators should be done with a purpose, like activating a perk or because you've already downed a survivor next to it and you might as well.)
• Injuring survivors and moving on to someone else is a form of "soft" pressure as well, since survivors generally want to be healed but are entirely capable of progressing their objective while injured. Perks or killer powers that make you stealthy can urge survivors to heal, not wanting to be downed out of nowhere, and there are perks that specifically target injured survivors as well. Risky to rely on, but something to keep in mind all the same; some killers are better at spreading injuries than others, too!
• Certain killer powers have secondary objectives built in that can create their own pressure. For example, the Pig has her Reverse Bear Traps, that force survivors to run around interacting with map objects lest their trap pop and kill them outright; her pressure is the best in the game, but other killers have their own forms all the same. They'll amplify your regular pressure, but won't replace it; you'll still need to leverage hook pressure.
• Certain perks can fill the same role, most notably Hex perks, which push survivors to find and cleanse your lit totems. They carry risk, as survivors doing this turns your perk off for the rest of the match, but time off generators is time off generators all the same.
• And, of course, the better you are in chase, the quicker you can create pressure. Fast chases aren't everything in this game, but it's undeniable they help. Perks like Save The Best For Last and Rapid Brutality are the most obvious here, but can be deceptively difficult to use; perks like Enduring, Brutal Strength, Hex: Blood Favor, and Bamboozle are also good picks for denying resources.

It's a simple concept on the surface, but with a lot of depth. There are a lot of different ways of approaching this game, most of which start at the loadout screen; you have a great many tools available to try and grease the wheels of keeping pressure rolling, so experiment, find what works for you. Remember- if you leave them alone, they'll do generators. Can't be having that, can we?