Dead by Daylight is getting a controversial new killer. The Skull Merchant uses modern technology – and is anything but gentle.
With Chapter 27, Dead by Daylight brings a little “more” again. Instead of just bringing one killer and one survivor, this time there are two survivors.
Alongside the rather atypical appearance of the “Skull Merchant”, siblings Thalita and Renato Lyra enter the fog. They are actually unplanned witnesses who are now forever trapped in the cycle of the Entity.
Who is the killer? The young woman Adriana Imai is originally from Brazil. As a highly gifted daughter, she showed her genius at an early age, but also her overt competitive drive, which often led to teacher conferences. When her father lost his job, she had to drop out of an elite school in her last year and was forced to earn money for the family herself.
She started with a website where she allowed other users to publish stories, which she then monetized.
The website was sold for a lot of money during the first offer. With this capital, Adriana began to buy smaller companies, reduce their costs, and then sell the company for profit again – without regard for losses.
As the first chairwoman of companies against the sale to her, she stalked these individuals on holiday trips and began to kill them undetected with security drones, so that no one lived who stood in the way of selling the companies.
However, during one of these hunts, she was seen by two witnesses who fled in panic at the sight into the woods. Fueled by bloodlust, Adriana followed them – and is now known as the “Skull Merchant” in the world of the Entity.
The Abilities of the Skull Merchant
As the first killer in Dead by Daylight, the Skull Merchant relies on technological advancements to locate and eliminate survivors.
She is able to place up to 4 drones on the map, which can do and achieve relatively much. The list of abilities and events sounds long and complex at first glance, but once seen in the game, they are quite logical and understandable.
The twist is that survivors can hack the drones as long as they are in scouting mode. They must approach unnoticed and interact with the drone. They must complete a small mini-game and press the displayed buttons correctly. If the survivor fails, the drone immediately switches back to active mode.
If the hack is successful, the drone returns to the killer and must be repositioned. However, the survivor then receives a claw trap that is attached to them.
The claw trap transmits the survivor’s location to the killer until the batteries are exhausted. If the survivor gets too close to a drone during this time, the drone immediately switches back to active mode and the batteries of the claw trap are replenished.
When the batteries are exhausted, the survivor can also remove the claw trap with a small mini-game.
The Skull Merchant has the ability to open a radar at any time that shows both survivors in the range of an active drone and all survivors with an active claw trap.
Several YouTubers and streamers have already taken this up. Here, you get an initial insight into the powers and general gameplay of Otzdarva:
The New Killer Perks
Like all killers, the Skull Merchant comes with three standalone perks that can be unlocked for other killers through the prestige system.
- Game Afoot: When the killer chases the obsession, this perk activates. Damaging generators, destroying walls and pallets grants a 5% speed boost for 8 / 9 / 10 seconds. Whenever the killer hits the survivor with the most time in pursuit with a normal attack, that survivor becomes the obsession.
- THWACK!: After a survivor has been hooked, the next destruction of a wall or pallet causes all survivors within a 32-meter radius to scream and their aura is revealed for 4 seconds. The perk remains active for 45 / 60 / 75 seconds after a survivor has been hooked.
- Leverage: Each time the killer hooks a survivor, they receive a token up to a maximum of 10. When a survivor is hooked, this perk activates. For each token, the healing speed of all survivors is reduced by 3% / 4% / 5% for 30 seconds.
The New Survivor Perks
As usual, the survivors also come with three standalone perks. Since there are 2 survivors this time, the number of available perks increases by six. These abilities are brought into the fog by Thalita and Renato:
These are Thalita Lyra’s perks:
- Cut Loose: After the survivor hastily climbs over a window or a pallet, this perk activates. While the perk is active, quickly climbing over pallets and windows is silent for 4 / 5 / 6 seconds. A successful hasty action resets the duration to maximum. After the effect ends, the perk has a cooldown of 45 seconds.
- Friendly Competition: When the survivor fully repairs a generator with at least one other survivor, this perk activates. The perk owner and all other survivors who worked on completing the generator receive a 5% additional repair speed for 45 / 60 / 75 seconds. Survivors can only be affected by one “Friendly Competition” at a time.
- Teamwork: Power of Two: When the survivor successfully heals another survivor, both survivors move 5% faster as long as they stay within 12 meters of each other or until one of them loses a health state. The perk can only be triggered once every 180 / 160 / 140 seconds. Survivors can only benefit from this perk once at a time.
These are Renato Lyra’s perks:
- Background Player: After the survivor has rescued another from the hook, they themselves enter a sprint and move 150% faster for 6 seconds. Activation causes exhaustion for 60 / 50 / 40 seconds. The perk cannot be used if they are already affected by exhaustion.
- Blood Rush: This perk activates when the survivor is still one hook away from immediate death. While the survivor is healthy, running, and affected by exhaustion, the “Active Ability” button can be used to lose a health state and immediately remove exhaustion. The survivor suffers from the “Broken” status for 28 / 24 / 20 seconds. The survivor is automatically healed at the end of the 28 / 24 / 20 seconds. If they are hit in the meantime, this interrupts healing. The perk can only be used once per match.
- Teamwork: Collective Stealth: If another survivor heals the owner of this perk, both leave no scratch marks as long as they are within a radius of 12 meters of each other or one of them loses a health state. The perk can only be triggered once every 180 / 160 / 140 seconds and survivors can only be affected by this perk once at a time.
When will all this be released? The “Tools of Torment” chapter is currently on the test server. Typically, it takes 2-3 weeks before the patch is released to the player base, provided there are no major bugs that need to be fixed.
What do you think of the “Skull Merchant” and the new perks? Meaningful and cool expansions? Or not your cup of tea at all?
- Placed drones become active after a few seconds and create an “Active Zone”.
- Within an Active Zone, the killer is “Undetectable” – they have no terror radius and no red glow.
- Survivors in the active zone of a drone are continuously scanned – a display fills up.
- If the display fills completely, the survivor is marked by a killer instinct effect and is “exposed” for a few seconds – they go down with one hit.
- If an active drone does not find a survivor for a while, it switches to scouting mode. Here it slowly scans the surroundings for survivors with its sensors. If the scan finds a survivor, the drone switches back to active mode.
The twist is that survivors can hack the drones as long as they are in scouting mode. They must approach unnoticed and interact with the drone. They must complete a small mini-game and press the displayed buttons correctly. If the survivor fails, the drone immediately switches back to active mode.
If the hack is successful, the drone returns to the killer and must be repositioned. However, the survivor then receives a claw trap that is attached to them.
The claw trap transmits the survivor’s location to the killer until the batteries are exhausted. If the survivor gets too close to a drone during this time, the drone immediately switches back to active mode and the batteries of the claw trap are replenished.
When the batteries are exhausted, the survivor can also remove the claw trap with a small mini-game.
The Skull Merchant has the ability to open a radar at any time that shows both survivors in the range of an active drone and all survivors with an active claw trap.
Several YouTubers and streamers have already taken this up. Here, you get an initial insight into the powers and general gameplay of Otzdarva:
The New Killer Perks
Like all killers, the Skull Merchant comes with three standalone perks that can be unlocked for other killers through the prestige system.
- Game Afoot: When the killer chases the obsession, this perk activates. Damaging generators, destroying walls and pallets grants a 5% speed boost for 8 / 9 / 10 seconds. Whenever the killer hits the survivor with the most time in pursuit with a normal attack, that survivor becomes the obsession.
- THWACK!: After a survivor has been hooked, the next destruction of a wall or pallet causes all survivors within a 32-meter radius to scream and their aura is revealed for 4 seconds. The perk remains active for 45 / 60 / 75 seconds after a survivor has been hooked.
- Leverage: Each time the killer hooks a survivor, they receive a token up to a maximum of 10. When a survivor is hooked, this perk activates. For each token, the healing speed of all survivors is reduced by 3% / 4% / 5% for 30 seconds.
The New Survivor Perks
As usual, the survivors also come with three standalone perks. Since there are 2 survivors this time, the number of available perks increases by six. These abilities are brought into the fog by Thalita and Renato:
These are Thalita Lyra’s perks:
- Cut Loose: After the survivor hastily climbs over a window or a pallet, this perk activates. While the perk is active, quickly climbing over pallets and windows is silent for 4 / 5 / 6 seconds. A successful hasty action resets the duration to maximum. After the effect ends, the perk has a cooldown of 45 seconds.
- Friendly Competition: When the survivor fully repairs a generator with at least one other survivor, this perk activates. The perk owner and all other survivors who worked on completing the generator receive a 5% additional repair speed for 45 / 60 / 75 seconds. Survivors can only be affected by one “Friendly Competition” at a time.
- Teamwork: Power of Two: When the survivor successfully heals another survivor, both survivors move 5% faster as long as they stay within 12 meters of each other or until one of them loses a health state. The perk can only be triggered once every 180 / 160 / 140 seconds. Survivors can only benefit from this perk once at a time.
These are Renato Lyra’s perks:
- Background Player: After the survivor has rescued another from the hook, they themselves enter a sprint and move 150% faster for 6 seconds. Activation causes exhaustion for 60 / 50 / 40 seconds. The perk cannot be used if they are already affected by exhaustion.
- Blood Rush: This perk activates when the survivor is still one hook away from immediate death. While the survivor is healthy, running, and affected by exhaustion, the “Active Ability” button can be used to lose a health state and immediately remove exhaustion. The survivor suffers from the “Broken” status for 28 / 24 / 20 seconds. The survivor is automatically healed at the end of the 28 / 24 / 20 seconds. If they are hit in the meantime, this interrupts healing. The perk can only be used once per match.
- Teamwork: Collective Stealth: If another survivor heals the owner of this perk, both leave no scratch marks as long as they are within a radius of 12 meters of each other or one of them loses a health state. The perk can only be triggered once every 180 / 160 / 140 seconds and survivors can only be affected by this perk once at a time.
When will all this be released? The “Tools of Torment” chapter is currently on the test server. Typically, it takes 2-3 weeks before the patch is released to the player base, provided there are no major bugs that need to be fixed.
What do you think of the “Skull Merchant” and the new perks? Meaningful and cool expansions? Or not your cup of tea at all?
