Welcome, Why Don’t We Talk Around the Campfire Fire?
Dead By Daylight— a horror game that needs five players. Four survivors and one killer. This is a game of cat-and-mouse where you play an asymmetric match, where your goal is either two things: survive… or hunt down the survivors and feed the entity. Hmm, now that I think about it. This sounds like every family reunion ever! Anyway— moving on, this game is a blast to play, especially if you can rope into a group of friends. Now, I imagine you’re itching to play, but you don’t want to jump in blind. A lot of things have been added to this game since it launched. Now, I’m going to do a run-down on all the basics. This is probably going to feel survivor-sided; that’s mostly due to the killer’s main worry being their power and perks. However! I’m still going to talk about the killer’s side, but just not as much as the survivor’s side.
Repairing Gens & Applying Pressure
Survivor:
If you want to survive the match, you need to repair generators. Five— you need to have five completely repaired; when they’re finished, the doors will light up.
Now, the generators will spawn equally throughout the maps. Since some of the maps are dark, you will have a hard time finding them. However, here’s a tip.
This will be your saving grace; nine times out of ten, this is always visible. Oh! And you have a chance of spawning beside or near one. However, you need to watch out for skill checks.
Skill checks can either help or slow your repair speed on the generators. Luckily, you’ll get an audible indicator that lets you know a check is about to appear… Unless the killer has a perk that blocks the indicator. There are two different skill checks: good and great skill checks. There’s not much of a difference other than great checks give you more blood points and speed up the processes by one percent. Another thing about skill checks, they also spawn when you’re healing someone or yourself.
Killer:
Alright, baby killers, I can see you already stressing about how to find generators quickly. They will be visible to you from the get-go.
Plus, when one of the survivors messes up on their skill checks, you will get both a visual and audible indicator.
Now, you’re not completely hopeless about stopping the survivors. You can do two things:
- Chase the survivors away and go into chase
- Chase the survivors away and kick the generator
Kicking the generator will reduce the repair progress. The longer it takes a survivor to get back to it, the more damaged the generator will be.
Stealth & Scratchmarks
Survivor:
What better place to start than the moment you spawn? So, the most important thing for survivors to do is two things: repair generators and stay out of sight. There are three movements you can do: walk, run, and crouch. Now! Listen to me when I say this… please, please, please— don’t underestimate crouching in this game! When I started I thought “huh, I can just outrun them and walk in a different direction.” Crouching can get you out of some of the most sweaty chases; not only is it quieter out of the three, but it helps you blend in more with the map. One more thing, when you run, you leave behind these red tracks called scratchmarks.
Now, these won’t be visible to you as a survivor. To killer— on the other hand— this is very much seeable, especially if you brush up against walls or trees. They can and will climb up on those objects. However, you’re not completely clueless about where the killer is. When they’re close to you, you can hear either a lullaby or a heartbeat: the closer they are, the louder it will be. In my opinion, I recommend you play with headphones.
Killer:
As the killer, you only have one movement. It may feel slow, but— I promise you— it’s not slow. Especially since you can keep up with a running survivor! Now, I told you about how you can track survivors by using the generators, but there is another way to track them. Scratchmarks— they appear when a survivor is running.
These will help you track down running survivors.
The Chase & Chasing
Survivor:
Ok, this is where the game truly starts. Once you have a killer on you, you will start hearing the chase music; most of the killers that can be played have a unique version. The goal is not to get hit two times. One hit will put you in the injured state, which will give you a short speed boost. The second hit— you’re done for the count.The next part will be getting hooked, but I’ll talk about that later. You can escape the killers using perks and flashlights… However, I’m just going over the basics; so, I’m just going to talk about two things: vaulting and pallet stuns. Vaulting is an action you do on pulled-down pallets and “windows”. However, if you find yourself on the wrong end of the stick and get hit twice, you will enter the dying statue. The only thing you’ll be able to do is crawl. You can heal yourself to a point; you will need another teammate to finish the job and pick you up.
Windows normally look something like this; most of them are obvious, but there are a couple of sneaky ones. It will take some time to remember where some of them are. Now, on to slow and fast vaulting. The slowest speed is 1.5 seconds, and the fastest is 0.5 seconds. There is another speed called medium, which 0.9. The only negative about it is that more of your body is exposed, allowing the killer to get closer. As long you keep bobbing and weaving, you should be able to escape chases without a problem!
Killer:
Now… killers, once you find a survivor and stay on them, you are starting a chase. The clearest hint is that your chase music has kicked in. Your goal is to hit the survivor twice. Once you hit them the second time, they will enter the dying state. When that happens, you can pick them up and hook them. You need to make your choice wisely about what hook you’re going to use. If it’s too far, the survivor can and will wiggle out of your grasp. A pallet stun and flashlight blinds will make you drop the downed survivor as well. By the way, killers can vault too, but their vaults are very slow.
Better Start Wiggling
Survivor:
So, you are in the dying statue and you’re being carried by the killer. What should you do— wiggle. You better wiggle like your life depend on it!
It’s pretty much the same as skill checks; the only thing different is the movement of the red line. The line moves back-and-forward like a ping ball. A bar will appear at the bottom, showing you the progress of wiggling out the killer’s grasp. Although, you will have more of a chance of saving if someone does a flashlight save or pallet stun.
Hooked
Survivor:
When you’re hooked, you’re at your most valuable. There’s not much you can do in all honesty; you can try to unhook yourself, but I highly advise against it. You only have a four percent chance of it working. The best way to get unhooked is to wait for one of your teammates. Now, there are three phases to being hooked. Once you enter the second phase, you have to struggle against the Entity’s claws ( more skill check); if you mess up, you will die quicker. The third phase— you’re dead.
The white tally marks tell you what phase you’re on. For example, one mark equals being hooked once. Once you’re off the hook, you will be injured.
Healing & Teamwork
Survivor:
Let’s get one thing clear: teamwork is what going to make you last in Dead By Daylight. Regardless if it’s you distracting the killer or fixing gens. You can’t heal yourself unless you have a medkit or the self-care perk. Your teammates can heal you, so you better seek them out if you’re hurt… Just don’t lead the killer to them.
Doors & Hatch
Survivor:
Once you have all five generators up and running, the doors are ready to open. With that said, you will have to open them manually. There are always two doors for every map. So, if you find yourself unable to open one due to the killer being close, try the other one. However, the location of the doors will only be reviled for only a couple of seconds.
When you find this box beside the door, that’s what you need to pull down. The lights on top of it give you an idea of how close it is to opening. Now… there is another way of escaping. There’s a thing called a hatch: it spawns once there’s a greater amount of gens fixed than survivors. However, it won’t open until there’s one person left.
