Dead by Daylight Developer Update to Introduce Sweeping Changes (June 2022)

As part of the upcoming Mid-Chapter update, Dead by Daylight will receive a massive overhaul to many of the game’s core systems, including progression, matchmaking, and perks. First announced during the 6th Anniversary Broadcast, these changes are intended to disrupt the meta, with the stated goal of the update to “provide alternatives, and make perks easier to earn”. It’s an impressive list of changes and what I think are fair to call improvements, particularly in regards to the progression system. We’ll be covering all the changes below — use the Contents button to the upper right to find a particular section you’re interested in (or just read the TL;DR).

The following changes will be available for testing on the Public Test Build (PTB) next week.

TL;DR

Perks will now be directly tied to prestige. When you prestige a character for the first time, you’ll automatically unlock the Tier 1 version of their unique perks for every other character that can use it
Prestiging a character will no longer reset the character, and you’ll keep all of your items, perks, and offerings
Purchasing perks in the Shrine will now automatically unlock them on all Killers or Survivors.
Time to repair a generator is being increased by 10 seconds, from 80 to 90
Kicking a generator will now remove 2.5% of maximum progress
The time it takes to break walls and pallets, and the cooldown for successful basic attacks, are being reduced by 10%
The time it takes to kick a generator will be reduced by .2 seconds, from 2 seconds to 1.8
Bloodlust is being buffed, with the three tiers activating after 15/25/35 seconds of a chase (from 15/30/45)
All survivors will receive 5 seconds of both Endurance and a 7% Haste effect after being unhooked, with both benefits canceling if you do a “Conspicuous Action”
Meta perks have been nerfed, non-meta perks haver been buffed or modified
Matchmaking Incentives have been added — players that queue for a role that needs more players will receive bonus bloodpoints

Progression & Prestige

The grindiness of DBD has long been a sore spot for players, and the Mid-Chapter update is supposed to reduce the overall grind by a whopping 75% or so. The key change is to unlocking perks, in that Perks will now be directly tied to prestige. When you prestige a character for the first time, you’ll automatically unlock the Tier 1 version of their unique perks for every other character that can use it (with no need to purchase them from the Bloodweb). Prestiging that same character a second time will unlock the Tier 2 version of that perk, and the third prestige level will unlock the Tier 3 perk for all Survivors or Killers.

Additionally, prestiging a character will no longer reset the character, and you’ll keep all of your items, perks, and offerings. This also means that prestiging is automatic — once you reach level 50, your only choice in the Bloodweb will be to prestige that character.

Along with these changes comes an expanded prestige system. The bloody cosmetics originally gained at prestige 1-3 will be moved to 4-6, and levels 7-9 will each earn you one of the character’s unique perks in the form of a charm. After the update, your prestige level will be shown where your grade used to be, to the left of your name on the post-game screen.

Fear not, those of you who’ve sunk hours of your life and billions of your Bloodpoints into prestiging characters! You’ll be rewarded “an appropriate number of prestige levels based on how many perk tiers [you’ve] unlocked”. You’ll also keep anything you already purchased via the Bloodweb. Anyone who reached Prestige 3 on a character pre-update will also receive a special prestige icon.

Shrine of Secrets

With the changes to the way perks are unlocked, the Shrine of Secrets had to be changed as well. Purchasing perks in the Shrine will now automatically unlock them on all Killers or Survivors, just like the new prestige system does. Perks purchased from the Shrine will start at Tier 1, but higher tier versions of that perk can also appear in bloodwebs. Purchasing a perk again from the Shrine will increase its tier.

Matchmaking

Matchmaking incentives will arrive with the next patch. It’s pretty simple: if there aren’t enough Survivors or Killers in the queue, you’ll be able to gain bonus bloodpoints by playing the role that needs more players. You’ll be able to see which role needs more players from the main menu (if you don’t see any bonus on the menu, it means the pool doesn’t need a particular role at the moment).

Gameplay Updates

Depending on how much you enjoy the current meta, the gameplay updates may be the most exciting part of the Mid-Chapter for you. BHVR has decided — based on consistent feedback from the community — to try and reduce the dominance of the same dozen or so perks that show up in most games. However, they recognize that these perks are used to prevent un-fun situations in-game, and so alongside these perk changes, they are introducing changes to compensate for the nerfing or modifications to the most popular perks.

The biggest change is unquestionably the increase to generator speeds: the time to repair a generator is being increased by 10 seconds, from 80 to 90, and kicking a generator will now remove 2.5% of maximum progress. This goes hand-in-hand with the nerfs to slowdown perks (see below) which currently dominate the meta.

Killers are also being generally buffed, based both on community feedback and on average kill rates. The time it takes to break walls and pallets, and the cooldown for successful basic attacks, are being reduced by 10%, (from 2.6 seconds to 2.34 for generator kicks, and from 3 seconds to 2.7 seconds for basic attacks that land). The time it takes to kick a generator will be reduced by .2 seconds, from 2 seconds to 1.8. Furthermore, Bloodlust is being buffed, with the three tiers activating after 15/25/35 seconds of a chase (from 15/30/45).

Camping and tunneling are also being addressed, mainly in response to the overwhelming popularity of Borrowed Time, Decisive Strike, and Dead Hard. All survivors will receive 5 seconds of both Endurance and a 7% Haste effect after being unhooked, with both benefits canceling if you do a “Conspicuous Action” (any activity that isn’t running, vaulting, or dropping pallets).

Perk Changes

These changes are meant to compensate for the following perk nerfs:

Barbecue and Chili – Bloodpoint bonus removed
Hex Ruin – Regression speed reduced to 50/75/100% (from 100/150/200%)
Pop Goes the Weasel – Removes 20% of current progress (from 25% of total)
Corrupt Intervention – Will disable once a Survivor is put in the Dying state
Tinkerer – Can now only activate once per generator
Hex: No One Escapes Death – The Hex Totem’s aura will now be visible within 4 meters when it activates, increasing to 24m over 30 seconds
Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance – Loud noise notification removed, Survivors will no longer scream upon activation
Dead Hard – Dash removed, will now grant 1 second of Endurance when activated
Decisive Strike – Now deactivates once the Exit Gates are powered, Stun duration now 3 seconds (from 5)
Borrowed Time – Extends duration of unhooked Survivor’s Endurance by 6/8/10 seconds, increases Haste effect by 10 seconds
Iron Will – Grunts of pain reduction lowered to 25/50/75% (from 50/75/100%), no longer active while Exhausted
Self-Care – Heal speed lowered to 25/30/35% (from 50%), item efficiency bonus removed
Spine Chill – Now only activates if Killer has line-of-sight to the Survivor, 0.5 second lingering effect added, vault speed bonus removed

The following non-meta perks have been buffed or otherwise modified:

Calm Spirit – Can open chests and cleanse/bless totems silently, at a 40/35/30% reduced speed
Saboteur – Allows Survivor to identify Scourge Hooks when another survivor is being carried (the Scourge Hooks have yellow auras)
Botany Knowledge – Healing speed improvement increased to 3040/50% (from 11/22/33%)
Off the Record – Upon being unhooked, Survivor gains Endurance for 60/70/80 seconds, until they perform a Conspicuous Action
Lucky Break – Each second spent healing another Survivor increases the duration of Lucky Break by 1 second
Pharmacy – Will now activate when Survivor is injured, and guarantees an Emergency Med-Kit when searching a chest
Sole Survivor – Now increases generator repair speed by 75%, exit gate and hatch interaction speed by 50% (when you’re the last Survivor alive)
Distortion – Now gains 1 token for every 30 seconds spent inside the Killer’s Terror Radius
Lightweight – Now makes scratch marks fade 3/4/5 seconds sooner (from 1/2/3 seconds)
Deja Vu – Survivor can repair revealed generators 5% faster
No One Left Behind – Activates when gates are powered (instead of opened), grants 7% Haste effect to Survivors you unhook
Dark Sense – After a generator is completed, the next time the Killer comes within 24m of you, their aura is revealed for 5/7/10 seconds (the perk then deactivates)
Tenacity – Now also reduces grunts of pain by 75% while in the Dying state
Hope – Now lasts forever once activated
Overzealous – Repair speed after cleansing a totem now doubles if the totem cleansed was a Hex
We’re Gonna Live Forever – Bloodpoint bonus removed, actions that granted a token now instead activate the perk’s secondary effect — while active, healing a Survivor from the Dying state grants them Endurance for 6/8/10, and then the secondary effect deactivates.