Dead by Daylight No Bloodlust Test Weekend
From Friday, 20 November until today, 22 November, Behaviour Interactive turned off the Bloodlust mechanic in Dead by Daylight. DBD is an asymmetrical 4v1 survival horror game where a team of four survivors try to finish five generators and escape the trial before a monstrous killer sacrifices them all to the Entity.
Bloodlust is a mechanic that was added after the game launched. There were some issues with map design that created what are referred to as infinites. These are procedurally-generated tiles in game that allowed the survivor to loop (run around) the killer through various obstacles and buildings without ever being caught if they didn’t make a mistake. Bloodlust increases killer speed after being in a chase for 12 seconds. Bloodlust can go all the way up to Tier III, all but guaranteeing a down of a survivor. Bloodlust decreases if you vault a window, attack, or break a pallet; Bloodlust ends if you down a survivor or the survivor breaks line of sight.
This mechanic created the opposite problem of the infinite loops. Killers could tunnel one survivor out of the game just by chasing them long enough. There is very little you can do to realistically get away from Bloodlust Tier III.
Since implementing Bloodlust, Behaviour has put in a lot of work into redoing their map designs. The game is more balanced than it’s ever been and most of the true infinites are gone. Yet Bloodlust still remains.
This past weekend was a test and only a test. Behaviour collected data to see what would happen. There is no guarantee that anything will happen to this mechanic.
Naturally, I made it my goal to see how much removing Bloodlust effected killer gameplay. I am a killer main who has played since the game since it was in beta in 2016. I’m not the greatest killer in the world, but I do know my way around quite a few killers and can hold my own.
For full disclosure, I do not play the following killers at all: Hillbilly, Nurse, Oni, Clown, Spirit, and Ghostface. The first three have mechanics that have never sat right with my playstyle and I don’t feel comfortable playing them. Clown was my main until I went against him for the first time, instantly got an ocular migraine, and found out quite a few other people I know had the same problem with his gas cloud effect; I play games to have fun, not cause other people genuine physical pain. Spirit and Ghostface (and Pyramid Head, but I know Pyramid Head enough to test him out for this) are a killers that I typically have at least one survivor DC against because they’re not the most fun to go against. It didn’t feel like it was worth testing those two as the game typically is unbalanced by DCs or instant deaths on hook.
Furthermore, my own “winning” objective in the game is to hook each survivor once and at least get a safety pip. I don’t feel the need to try so hard for a 4K each game to have fun or feel successful. That’s my own choice. That also means I don’t run perks I don’t think are fun to go against like Hex: Ruin or any exhaustion add-ons. I play by the Golden Rule: if I don’t want to be treated that way as survivor, I’m not going to treat other survivors that way.
I did not get to test all the killers, but I tested a pretty wide range of killers this weekend: Trapper, Hag, Demogorgon, Huntress, Plague, Michael Myers, Deathslinger, and Pyramid Head.
The main thing I noticed is that not having Bloodlust did not change my killer strategy. I could play the same way I usually do. If a chase goes on too long, I abandon it and find someone else. It took a few hundred hours of learning the hard way, but I did eventually absorb that lesson by 2019.
Some killers were never going to be effected in a meaningful way by this change. These are killers who have abilities that let them easy travel through the map: Demogorgon, Hag, Freddy, Nurse, Hillbilly, Blight, Spirit, and Legion. Their mobility is part of their power. Demogorgon and Hag required me to change not one perk, add-on, or strategy to consistently hook every survivor at least once and at least 2K in the game.
I was more concerned with some of the slower killers. Huntress was, unsurprisingly, unaffected. Her ability is about throwing hatchets. She counters many loops and structures with her projectile weapon. If you’re chasing long enough for Bloodlust as Huntress, you need to practice aiming hatchets so you can avoid long chases.
Plague and Trapper did not fare as well. Their gameplay takes a bit of time to set up, either purging on objects to set up traps for survivors or setting up bear traps around the map. Once I had momentum, I was fine, but an early Bloodlust and down does make a difference with them. Success was as simple as adding on a perk to slow down the game. I personally don’t like running Hex: Ruin, but that shifted the balance real quick in my favor. I also had more fun and success with Pop Goes the Weasel, Dead Man’s Switch, and/or Thrilling Tremors. Then I could do my usual strategy, have fun, and meet my own win condition.
Michael Myers, Deathslinger, and Pyramid Head played the same way they always play for me. If I got the early hook, I did great; if I didn’t, it was a struggle to catch up. That’s not a Bloodlust issue, either. That’s not getting into chases on killers that don’t thrive on long chases but not having the right combination of perks or add-ons for my playstyle to find and down them fast enough.
What do I think Behaviour is going to do with Bloodlust? I don’t think they’ll completely get rid of it. I think Bloodlust Tier I is going to stay in the game. The timing might change, but Bloodlust is so helpful for brand new killers that I can’t imagine it going away for good. I do think Tier III will no longer exist unless they add it to a perk like Beasts of Prey. Even then, I think Bloodlust will max out at Tier II. Tier III was unnecessary when infinites existed in the game; it’s the equivalent of letting someone start the 100m Dash at the 75 m mark. No one needs that much of an advantage.
What we do know is Behaviour Interactive has 72 hours of gameplay data to sort through. When or if anything comes of it is unknown. It took them a long time to implement massive gameplay changes like a shift in how the hatch standoff worked and disconnection penalties. Don’t expect Bloodlust to go away anytime soon even if the data aligns with my own experience of the removal of Bloodlust not impacting killer gameplay at all.
If you’d like to see my test footage as Demogorgon, Hag, Plague, and Trapper, visit the clips on my Twitch channel. You can see how they played firsthand and what (if any) adjustments I had to make in the moment.
Dead by Daylight is available on PC, Xbox One/S, PS4/5, and Nintendo Switch. You can support me by ordering the PC game and DLC through my Humble Bundle affiliate link.
