Eight Tips For Surviving And Hunting In Dead By Daylight

Despite fan backlash over DLC, Evolve had some pretty great ideas about how to shake up multiplayer gaming. If its legacy is experiences like Dead by Daylight, we can count ourselves lucky for Turtle Rock and 2K.

We’ve been playing Behaviour’s horror movie simulator, which tasks four players with surviving a frightful encounter with one of three different supernatural serial killers. The goals are simple. 

As the survivors, you need to find and power a number of generators, locate the exit, and get the heck out. While you’re sneaking through junkyards, corn fields, and abandoned mansions, there’s a monstrous murderer on your tail.

As that player, you have access to a special ability and unique weapons as you stalk your prey. It’s not as simple as finding the survivors, though. You need to hang them on meat hooks as they are sacrificed to a dark power.

We’ve compiled a number of tips that will help you survive or hunt. Good luck out there. You’ll need it.

Identify Which Killer Is Hunting You Quickly (Survivors)
At launch, there are three different killers to choose from. There are tells that let you know which you’re up against.

If you see bear traps on the ground, you know you’re up against the Trapper. That means you need to be careful around generators and while saving hooked friends. A bell tolling means the wraith is in play. You can hear it throughout the map when he cloaks himself, and if you hear it sound close to you, RUN. He’s slower when he’s uncloaking, so you have a chance to get some distance between you. Finally, you need to beware the Hillbilly if you hear a chainsaw revving. If you do, it’s important to adjust your movement appropriately to deal with his lunge.

Move With Purpose (Survivors)
As a survivor, you have a singular goal: find and repair the generators. While it’s tempting to sprint all over the map, you’re better off moving slowly and, sometimes, not at all.

Running disturbs the ground, leaving red scratch marks that the killer can see. There are times you need to make a break for it, but that’s only when you’ve been found. In that case, you’ll want to juke and deke instead of running in a straight line. The killer isn’t as agile as you, so knock down barricades and dive through windows to get some breathing room. Once you are clear, hide in the tall grass. Sometimes you’re better off staying put until the hunter seeks easier prey. Crouching is a good bet once you hear the heartbeat that tells you the villain is near. Just be ready to break into a sprint if you see the telltale red light that signifies you’re in his line of sight.

If the killer is near, you can also hide in a nearby closet. However, if you’re injured, that just makes you a sitting duck (more on that later).

Noise Is A Killer (Survivors)
The killer won’t know where you are unless he stumbles upon you or you make noise. There are a few ways you can reveal your position, so you need to keep your wits about you.

If you notice a crow anywhere in the map, try not to disturb it. If you do, the killer will be able to see where you are if he is in the area.

QTE moments also trigger when repairing a generator. A particular sound signals one is coming, so stay focused. If you succeed and hit the sweet spot, you even get an additional bit of the repair meter filled. Fail, and the generator backfires, losing some of your progress. If this happens, get out of the area quickly and quietly. You already know how close the killer is thanks to the audio cues, so you can decide if you want to sprint a bit and then revert to crouching, or make a careful exit from the region. You’ll also signal your location when you fully repair a generator and it becomes active.

If you get injured, you become a walking noisemaker. Your whimpers and moans give away your position. Survivors can heal one another via QTEs. Fail one and the person receiving medical attention yells loudly. It’s worth the risk to try and patch up your friends.

Don’t Give Up If All Your Friends Are Dead Or Have Already Escaped (Survivors)
It might seem like all hope is lost of all the other survivors are dead and sacrificed or have dashed out the exit. If that’s the case, you have an additional option available to you. Each map has a randomly placed trap door. It only opens when one survivor is left and a minimum of two generators have been repaired. If you’ve done that, stay on the move and keep your eyes open for the trap door. I’ve even seen someone knocked down and crawling make it out through one. Never give up.

Don’t Struggle Too Much (Survivors)
Once you are knocked to the ground, the killer can pick you up and escort you to a meat hook. While on his shoulder, try to wiggle away by alternating presses of A and D. That makes it harder for the killer to move, and if the meter is full, you’ll stun him and have a window to escape.

Once on the hook, struggling is dangerous. You have a limited amount of time before you’re sacrificed. Struggling accelerates your demise. However, there’s a very slim chance (about three percent) that you can free yourself. If you think another survivor can rescue you, bide your time. Even if the killer is standing right next to you, it gives your friends free time to repair generators and escape. If it doesn’t look like you have a savior coming, you can give it a try and hope for the best.

Read on for tips for being a more methodical killer.

Don’t Give Yourself Away Too Soon (Killer)
One of the problems with playing the Trapper is that you’ll likely be found out through no fault of your own. However, if you choose the Wraith or the Hillbilly, it’s up to you when you let the survivors know who you are.

Don’t ring your bell right away or rev your chainsaw needlessly. The longer you maintain the element of surprise, the longer you keep the survivors guessing and unsure of which tactics you might use on them. It’s a lot easier to surprise a survivor if they don’t already know to juke excessively because you have a chainsaw. Wait until the survivors disperse before ringing your bell the first time to cloak and get very close before ringing it again to reappear.

Don’t Hover Near A Hooked Survivor (Killer)
There’s temptation to stay right near a survivor being sacrificed to ensure he or she doesn’t escape. This wastes an opportunity to snare another hapless victim. If you stay close enough that you can see the hook, but far enough away that another survivor won’t be scared off by the pounding heart beat, you can bait them. Rushing in as they are freeing their comrade could get you an easy second kill.

If you’re the Trapper, you might be tempted to leave a trap in plain sight right near the hook. Don’t be obvious. Think about approaches to your victim and leave a bear trap hidden in the tall grass. Once you’ve snared another one, finish the job.

Remember: You Have More Information Than The Survivors (Killer)
You can see every generator. You know whenever one of them screws up and makes a noise. You don’t need to rush, but you do want to get a kill on the board early.

Dead by Daylight scales depending on how many survivors are in the game. That means that taking out one of the victims early leaves the other side at a severe disadvantage. Don’t overplay your hand, though. Remember they don’t know where the generators are and will be wandering around until they find one. 

If you happen to get near, they’ll have to figure out if you simply wandered past or are making a beeline for them. Stay on the move, and check the generators methodically. Know that if a sound goes off from across the map, you still might have time to get to the survivor that made the noise. If there’s no heartbeat, they might press their luck and try to keep repairing.

Surprise is your best friend. Don’t rush in if you can manage to get the drop on a careless victim.