Developer Behaviour Interactive is constantly monitoring the meta in Dead by Daylight. While Killer abilities can’t be tweaked every season, the most used perks by Killers and Survivors certainly can. With every mid-Chapter update, the current meta, including the most used perks in the game, are reworked and rebalanced to shake up how people play the game. This guide outlines every perk changing in the mid-Chapter update for Roots of Dread.
All Survivor perks being reworked in the mid-Chapter update
This list shows every Survivor perk that will be changed in some way as part of the Dead by Daylight mid-Chapter update for Roots of Dread.
Dead Hard
Makes a Survivor immune to damage or dash for a short while. It’s being altered to provide the Endurance effect for 0.5 seconds instead, allowing Survivors to get a speed boost if they dodge a Killer’s attack instead of being a sprint button you can spam.
Decisive Strike
Once unhooked, Survivors can trigger a special skill check when picked up again that causes them to instantly wiggle free from a Killer. The perk will now deactivate once the gates are unlocked, and the stun duration has been reduced to 3 seconds.
Borrowed Time
Gives Survivors you unhook the Endurance effect for a short time. The time that Endurance is applied for is being extended to 6/8/10 seconds, and the movement bonus speed it grants is being upped to 10 seconds. The effects will be canceled if the Survivor performs a conspicuous action.
Iron Will
This perk makes grunts of pain quieter. The noise reduction is being reduced to 75%, and the perk won’t activate if a Survivor is Exhausted, making it more unreliable.
Self-Care
Allows Survivors to heal themselves without a Med-Kit at 50% speed and boosts Med-Kit use. It will now no longer boost Med-Kit speeds, and its overall speed is being reduced to 25/30/35%.
Spine Chill
Increases action speed and skill checks when the Killer is nearby and looking in your direction. This is being tweaked so that it only activates if the Killer has a clear line of sight to a Survivor, but the perk will linger as active for an additional 0.5 seconds to prevent it from flickering and provide a small overall boost. An icon will appear on-screen that grows when the perk is active, depending on how close the Killer gets. Finally, the perk’s speed boost is being completely removed.
Calm Spirit
The perk will now allow you to open chests and cleanse totems silently, though the speed for doing those actions is reduced by 40/35/30%.
Saboteur
Allows Survivors to identify Scourge Hooks. Their auras are shown in yellow when being carried, so that Survivor can avoid them at all costs.
Botany Knowledge
The healing speed of this perk is being buffed to 30/40/50%. Applies a 20% efficiency reduction to any med-kits you bring into the Trial.
Off the Record
Gain the Endurance effect for 60/70/80 seconds after being unhooked, though that effect is lost when you perform a conspicuous action. The perk won’t activate once the gates are unlocked.
Lucky Break
You can now recharge this perk by healing other Survivors. Every Survivor you heal increases the perk’s charge by 1 second.
Pharmacy
This perk formerly guaranteed a Med-Kit when first searching a chest. It will now only activate once you’re injured, guaranteeing a Med-Kit from a chest every time you need it.
Sole Survivor
As well as hiding your aura, the perk now boosts generator repair speed by 75% and gate/hatch opening speed by 50%. This only happens when you’re the last standing Survivor in the Trial.
Distortion
You can now regain Distortion Tokens by spending time in the Killer’s Terror Radius. You get 1 Token for every 30 seconds spent in the Terror Radius. A small audio cue plays when the token gets used.
Lightweight
This perk is being buffed so that it also makes scratch marks, the red lines Killers use to chase Survivors, more sporadic. Overall, it will make you harder to track, which is aided by your scratch marks fading 5/4/3 seconds sooner than everyone else’s.
Déjà Vu
Grants a 5% bonus repair speed to the three generators this perk reveals.
No One Left Behind
The mid-Chapter update adds a 7% movement speed increase to all Survivors you unhook. The perk will now also be activated once the gates are powered instead of open.
Dark Sense
The perk now activates when a generator is powered. The next time the Killer is within 24 meters of you, their aura will be revealed for 5/7/10 seconds, then the perk will deactivate.
Tenacity
The perk will now also reduce grunts of pain by 75% when in the Dying state, making you harder to hear as well as being faster at crawling away from the Killer.
Hope
There is now no duration limit on this perk, meaning late-game saves are back on the table.
Overzealous
Cleansing a Hex totem will double the repair speed bonus that the perk grants.
We’re Gonna Live Forever
The Bloodpoint bonus is being removed from this perk so that points don’t dictate loadouts. In addition, instead of getting a token for certain actions, you’ll now grant the Endurance effect on Survivors you heal while the perk is active.
All Killer perks being reworked in the mid-Chapter update
This list contains every Killer perk being reworked in the Dead by Daylight mid-Chapter update for Roots of Dread.
Inner Focus
Currently allows you to see the scratch marks of Survivors within 32 meters. This is changing to remove the distance requirement, allowing all keen-eyed Killers to see scratch marks when looking for them.
Barbecue and Chilli
Currently, this perk allows Killers to see the auras of distant Survivors for a short time after hooking one of them. Every Survivor hooked provides a small stacking Bloodpoint bonus. The aura reveal will remain the same after the mid-Chapter update, but the Bloodpoint bonus is being removed.
Hex: Ruin
This perk makes generators regress automatically while not being worked on by Survivors, providing the Hex totem is standing. The regression the perk provides is being halved from 100/150/200% to 50/27/100% to bring it in line with other Hex perks.
Pop Goes the Weasel
After hooking a Survivor, this perk causes your next kick to instantly remove 25% progression from a generator. The perk is now being reworked so that the kick removes 20% of the most recent progress made to the generator, not its overall progress, slowing down the regressive power of the Killer.
Corrupt Intervention
Blocks the three furthest generators at the start of the match for a short period of time. This perk will be changed to free up the generators after a Survivor enters the Dying State, meaning that a Killer has claimed their first victim. This should make matches more balanced for most but not all Killers. The Plague certainly won’t be affected.
Tinkerer
Makes the Killer undetectable for a short period and provides an auditory indicator of a generator when it’s been repaired by 70%. The perk will now only activate once per generator, making it slightly less useful overall but still very powerful.
Hex: No One Escapes Death
While the Hex totem is standing, all Survivors become exposed once the gates are opened. The strength of this Hex isn’t changing, but Survivors will now be able to see the totem when within four meters of it. That range increases to 24 meters over 30 seconds, meaning it’s slightly less effective as a Killer comeback tool.
Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance
After hooking a Survivor on the Scourge Hook, the generator with the most progress will explode. This notifies the Killer and causes the generator to lose a large amount of progress. The progression removal will remain, but the explosion and noise notification from the generator or screaming Survivors will be taken away, giving Killers far less information.
Overcharge
This perk is being buffed so that it increases a generator’s regression rate from 75% to 200% over 30 seconds.
Eruption
The generator regression penalty this perk applies is being upped to 10% and the duration of the incapacitated effect will now last for 15/20/25 seconds.
Knock Out
Causes Survivors in the Dying state to crawl 50% slower for 15 seconds and reduce their recovery speed by 25%.
Coulrophobia
A buff is being applied so that this perk increases the speed of skill checks by 50% for those Survivors healing in the Killer’s presence.
Dark Devotion
This perk will now activate whenever the obsession Survivor loses a health state.
Jolt
There will be no cooldown on this perk after the mid-Chapter update, so Survivors should watch out.
Lethal Pursuer
A buff is being applied so that this perk extends the effect of all aura readings by 2 seconds.
Scourge Hook: Gift of Pain
The action speed penalty on this perk is being increased to 10/13/16%.
Thanatophobia
This perk’s action speed is increasing to 4/4.5/5.5% per Survivor, making for a maximum of 18/20/22% overall.
Scourge Hook: Monstrous Shrine
This will now convert all basement Hooks into Scourge Hooks, and those Scourge Hooks grant an additional 10/15/20% Entity progression on hooked Survivors while a Killer is within 24 meters.
Why do perks get reworked or rebalanced in the mid-Chapter update?
Perks in Dead by Daylight need to be reworked and rebalanced because it helps keep the game fresh. If players continue using the same perks, the game becomes predictable and boring. These perks make Survivors and Killers as powerful in their roles as they can be, leaving little room for creativity. Changing how these perks work will cause a stir in the community as players search for the new best perks to use, ensuring that the game is fun to play for years to come. You can see everything that Behaviour Interactive is working on by keeping an eye on the official Developer Updates page.
