Dead by Daylight reveals huge Mid-Chapter perk & progression overhaul

Dead by Daylight’s upcoming Mid-Chapter update is set to introduce a slew of progression, gameplay, matchmaking incentives, and perk tweaks that will likely change the landscape of DbD for all of its players — so here’s everything we can expect to familiarize yourself ahead of launch.

Since its original release in 2016, Dead by Daylight has grown at lightning speed, introducing everything from licensed characters like Resident Evil’s Leon S. Kennedy, Silent Hill’s Cheryl Mason, and Ringu’s Sadako into The Entity’s realm, alongside gameplay changes like hooking and wiggle progression mechanics.

While a recent update, as mentioned in DbD’s 6th Anniversary stream, introduced the option to save different loadouts and a facelift to the game’s UI, the upcoming Mid-Chapter update for Roots of Dread will overhaul even more mechanics. With changes to some of the most popular perks on the way and more, here’s everything that will be arriving for testing on the PTB next week.

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Contents

• Progression system overhauls
• Matchmaking changes
• Gameplay updates & perk changes
• Dead by Daylight Mid-Chapter gameplay livestream

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DbD progression system overhauls: Perks, prestige, Shrine of Secrets

Behaviour Interactive’s blog post details that their “objective is to shake up the current meta, provide alternatives, and make perks easier to earn.” Many builds in DbD will typically utilize a smaller pool of perks that are known to be the most effective on both sides of the playing field, like Dead Hard, Decisive Strike, Pop Goes the Weasel, and Barbecue & Chilli, with the post adding that “we were also careful to consider the reasons why this meta exists and address any base game issues it may have been concealing.”

Starting off with the progression system overhaul, the way that perks are earned is going to be changed, with Behaviour noting that, as the game continues to grow, “the grind expands at an exponential rate with every new Chapter.”

• Read More: All perks in Dead by Daylight’s Shrine of Secrets

The post continues: “In the current system, you must reach level 40 on a given character to unlock all their teachable perks, then find those perks in the Bloodwebs of every other character.”

According to the studio’s data, to unlock all of the perks on each character ahead of the new Chapter, players would need to play a whopping estimated time of 4.1 hours daily — which will instead decrease to an average of 1.01 hours with the new system.

When the new system launches, players will keep any perks and bloody cosmetics that they have unlocked. Prestige levels will also be awarded pertaining to how many perk tiers have been unlocked. Those that have already reached P3 before the update will “receive a special prestige icon to recognize their achievements.”

Here are all of the progression system changes, condensed for legibility:

• Teachable perk rarity has been replaced and is now tied to prestige. Prestiging a character to Tier 1 will unlock all initial versions of their perks for every character without utilizing the Bloodweb. Tier 2 and 3 Prestige will unlock those versions of the perks for all characters.
  • Higher tier perk versions will also appear randomly in Bloodwebs after the first Tier has been unlocked.
• “Prestiging a character will no longer remove their perks, items, add-ons, or offerings. Perk slots will also remain unlocked after prestiging.”
  • Prestiging is also no longer an optional choice — after purchasing the node within a special Bloodweb, the character’s level will reset to 1 and you’ll gain Prestige.
  • The Prestige limit has now been entirely removed. Characters will unlock their bloody cosmetics at Prestige 4, 5, and 6. Levels 7, 8, and 9 will unlock their unique perks as a charm.
  • Your Prestige level will be displayed in place of grades in the post-trial menu.
• The Shrine of Secrets will also change. Here, you’ll be able to purchase perks directly, which will instantly unlock the Tier 1 version for all characters — higher Tier versions will also start showing up in Bloodwebs.
  • Purchasing a perk you’ve already unlocked will increase its Tier.

DbD matchmaking changes: Incentives

Matchmaking incentives are being introduced to the game to work towards improving the likes of wait times for matches. Behaviour states that “though many changes are planned to improve wait times and match quality, there are variables that we can’t control through code. Chief among them is the distribution of people playing each role.”

• Read More: Dead by Daylight codes

Adding that this is affected by everything from time of day, to your region and rating, matchmaking incentives looks to provide players with bonuses for opting into a particular role that needs to filled. These are also unique to each player, depending on region and matchmaking rankings. If a player has cross-play turned off, these incentives will be disabled.

• Displayed on the main menu and the ‘ready’ button, a Bloodpoint bonus will now be offered to players that choose to opt into whichever side is lacking players, ranging from 25% to 100% depending on how much that role is needed.
  • If you’re looking to get into a match as fast as possible, these also indicate which role has the quickest queuing times.
  • Survivors playing in a group may also receive bonuses depending on current need, if your group’s average matchmaking rating is in demand.

DbD perk changes: Generator, Killer, camping & tunneling updates

Speaking about the current perk meta within the game, Behaviour mentioned that some perks have a “dominant usage rate”, and while individual perks have been addressed in the past, this hasn’t been enough to reduce it, and so 39 perks in total are set to be updated — with a goal of reducing the current meta’s reliance.

Gameplay elements such as camping, tunneling, and generator speeds are also receiving changes, which we’ve detailed below:

• Generators: The time it takes to complete a generator has been increased to 90 seconds. Kicking a generator as a Killer will remove 2.5% of progress.
• Killer: Breaking pallets, walls, and kicking generators are now 10% quicker. The basic attack cooldown is reduced by 10%, and Survivor’s speed boost upon being hit is also reduced by 10%.
  • Bloodlust tiers will now activate after 15/25/35 seconds.
• Camping & Tunneling: Survivors will receive a 5-second Endurance effect and a 7% Haste effect, also for 5 seconds, after being unhooked. These will be canceled if a Survivor does a ‘Conspicuous Action’ while these are active, including generator repairs, healing, cleansing, and opening exit gates.

For the perks themselves, Behaviour has looked into tweaking both ends of the spectrum — from those that are used often to ones opted for less so. While they note that they “understand that many of you have grown attached to your favorite perks and loadouts. Unfortunately, shaking up the meta inevitably leads to a few changes,” their goal is to provide alternatives for particular playstyles, all while increasing which perks are viable for that approach.

The ‘meta’ perks that will be receiving updates in Dead by Daylight’s Mid-Chapter are as follows:

Killer

• Barbecue & Chilli: Bloodpoint bonus has been removed.
• Corrupt Intervention: The perk will now deactivate once a Survivor enters the dying state.
• Hex: Ruin: Regression speed reduced to 50/75/100% from 100/150/200%. Deactivates after a Survivor is killed.
• Hex: No One Escapes Death: Survivors will see the Hex Totem’s aura within 4 meters upon activation, increasing to 24m over 30 seconds.
• Pop Goes the Weasel: Removes 20% of the generator’s current (not total) progress.
• Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance: The loud noise notification is now removed, and instead of exploding, a generator will now spark upon losing progress.
• Tinkerer: Can now only be activated once per generator.

Survivor

• Borrowed Time: Extends the duration of Endurance by 6/8/10 seconds, increasing the movement speed bonus by 10 seconds for any Survivor you unhook.
• Dead Hard: Provides the Endurance effect for 1 second when activated. If the Killer’s hit is prevented, you’ll gain a movement speed boost.
• Decisive Strike: Stun duration has been reduced to 3 seconds from 5. Will now deactivate once the Exit Gates are powered.
• Iron Will: Grunts of pain reduction have been lowered to 25/50/75% and will not be active when Exhausted.
• Self-Care: The perk’s healing speed has been reduced to 25/30/35%. The efficiency bonus has been entirely removed.
• Spine Chill: Will now only activate when a Killer has a clear line of sight to the Survivor. Vault speed boost has been entirely removed. A lingering effect of half a second has been added to prevent the icon from flickering.

Dead by Daylight’s non-meta perks which will be receiving an update in the Mid-Chapter are as follows:

Killer

• Eruption: Generator regression speed penalty is increased to 10%, and incapacitated effect duration is upped to 15/20/25 seconds.
• Coulrophobia: Increases skill check speed by 50% on top of its current effect.
• Dark Devotion: Whenever the Obsession loses a health state, Dark Devotion activates.
• Jolt: This perk’s cooldown has been removed.
• Knock Out: Knock Out will now also cause dying Survivors to crawl 50% slower for 15 seconds and reduces their recovery speed by 25%.
• Lethal Pursuer: Extends the duration of all aura reading effects by 2 seconds on top of its existing effect.
• Overcharge: Causes a kicked generator’s regression speed to grow from 100% to 400% over the course of 30 seconds alongside its current effects.
• Scourge Hook: Gift of Pain: Action speed penalty has been increased to 10/13/16%.
• Scourge Hook: Monstrous Shrine: Converts all basement hooks to Scourge Hooks, and they will grant 10/15/20% faster Entity progression if the Killer is farther away than 24 meters.
• Thanatophobia: Action speed penalty has been increased to 4.5/5/5.5% per Survivor up to a maximum of 18/20/22%.

Survivor

• Botany Knowledge: Increases healing speed efficiency by 30/40/50% up from 11/22/33%.
• Calm Spirit: Open chests, cleanse, and bless totems silently at a 40/35/30% reduced speed alongside its current effects.
• Dark Sense: When a generator is powered, Dark Sense activates. When a Killer comes within 24 meters, their aura is then revealed for 5/7/10 seconds before deactivating.
• Déjà Vu: This perk grants a 5% repair speed bonus to revealed generators.
• Distortion: For every 30 seconds that you spend within the Killer’s Terror Radius, you’ll gain 1 token.
• Hope: This perk’s duration has been removed entirely.
• Lightweight: Alongside the current effects, your scratch marks will make you harder to track, while also fading 5/4/3 seconds quicker.
• Lucky Break: Each second spent healing another Survivor increases Lucky Break’s duration by 1 second, but cannot exceed the starting duration.
• No One Left Behind: Activates when the Exit Gates are powered, and grants a 7% movement speed bonus to Survivors you unhook.
• Off the Record: Once unhooked, gain the Endurance status effect for 60/70/80 seconds. This is lost when performing a ‘Conspicuous Action’.
• Overzealous: If you cleanse a Hex totem, this perk’s repair speed bonus doubles.
• Pharmacy: Activates whenever you’re injured, and guarantees an Emergency Med-Kit when searching chests. This can happen multiple times in a trial.
• Saboteur: Survivors with this perk can identify Scourge Hooks, and auras are shown in yellow when they are being carried.
• Sole Survivor: When you’re the last Survivor in the Trial, Sole Survivor also increases your generator repair speed by 75% and your exit gate and hatch action speed by 50%.
• Tenacity: Reduces your grunts of pain by 75% when in the dying state alongside its current effects.
• We’re Gonna Live Forever: Bloodpoints bonus has been removed.

For a full breakdown of each Perk’s changes, we’d recommend checking out the full blog post for more detailed insight.

Dead by Daylight Mid-Chapter gameplay livestream

On June 27, 2022, at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET / 4 PM BST, Behaviour Interactive will be hosting a live stream, detailing gameplay for DbD’s upcoming Mid-Chapter update.

• Read More: Best Survivors & Perks in Dead by Daylight

Be sure to tune into their official Twitch channel to check out a hands-on look at everything you can expect once the update goes live. We’ll be sure to embed the video below once it goes live for your convenience.

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So, there you have it — that’s everything you need to know about Dead by Daylight’s upcoming Mid-Chapter gameplay updates.

For tips and tricks to help you emerge victorious from your next Trial, make sure to check out our guides:

Best Survivor Perks in DbD | All Killers and Perks in DbD | Is Dead by Daylight crossplay? | Is Dead by Daylight on Xbox Game Pass? | Dead by Daylight codes