The Doctor in Dead by Daylight is being reworked. He loses a strong ability but gains new powers in compensation.
In keeping with Christmas, the developers of Dead by Daylight held a small “Q&A” stream to wrap up 2019 and send everyone off for the holidays. They not only answered many questions about the current version of the game but also provided an outlook on the major changes coming soon for a killer. The Doctor is being significantly reworked to be less annoying.
Why is the Doctor being changed? The developers have asked themselves which killer is currently considered the “most annoying” and arrived at the Doctor. This is mainly due to his aura in the treatment mode. While the aura is active, the madness of all survivors within the terror radius increases and eventually leads to a scream. This requires no great skill or timing; it just happens. The Doctor can essentially reveal survivors without effort, regardless of how well they hide.
Recently, the Spirit was nerfed because she was too strong.
What is changing about the Doctor? There are a number of changes planned to improve the overall gameplay experience. Currently planned are:
- The two stances will be abolished; the Doctor will no longer need to switch between “Treatment” and “Punishment.”
- The Doctor will no longer have a passive aura that permanently increases madness when within his terror radius.
- Instead, the Doctor will have a new ability with a long cooldown (approximately 60 seconds). When activated, the madness of all survivors in the terror radius increases to the next level.
- The shock attack will have a slightly larger range.
- Add-ons will receive new effects:
- Skillchecks can appear counterclockwise.
- Players can be charged with electric current. It discharges when the survivor comes into contact with another survivor. This one then screams and gains more madness.
The plan is for the Doctor to still play roughly the same as before, just needing to handle his new “Aura Ability” a bit more consciously to catch players.
Importantly, the developers do not plan to “nerf” the Doctor’s strength. He should remain just as deadly as before.
What does this mean for Doctor fans? Of course, it is difficult to say on paper whether the changes to the Doctor are buffs or nerfs. While he loses some of his tracking abilities, he will be more effective in chases. Since he will no longer need to switch between two stances, he can easily use his shock to block pallets and windows.
When will the adjustments be made? There is currently no exact date for these changes. However, it is likely that these updates will come either with the next “Mid-Chapter Patch” at the beginning of the new year or possibly with the patch thereafter, so in the next chapter with a new killer.
What do you think about the planned changes to the Doctor? Does it sound good and sensible? Or should this killer be left alone because he is already perfect?
