Dead by Daylight prides itself on being an ever-evolving game, making use of the live service model to consistently bring fresh content, including new maps, new Survivors, and new Killers. With these additions come brand-new perks that promise to shake up the state of play by providing Survivors and Killers with a variety of new abilities that can help them achieve victory. With such an evolving game, however, Dead by Daylight is also in need of frequent balance updates to ensure the game remains fair, and it’s looking like the current patch isn’t up to everyone’s standards.
In July 2022, Dead By Daylight received a huge update in the 6.1 patch. This patch significantly shook up the META of the game, buffing and nerfing many Killer and Survivor perks that were commonly in play. On the Survivor side, many second-chance perks like Decisive Strike and Dead Hard saw large reductions in their efficiency, and Killers saw nerfs to passive generator regression perks like Hex: Ruin.
One of the few perks that received a buff in that patch was Eruption, a perk belonging to Resident Evil’s Nemesis, allowing Killers to inflict the Incapacitated status ailment upon Survivors working on kicked generators when another Survivor is downed. Whereas previously Eruption exploded the generator for 6% and Incapacitated Survivors for 16 seconds, buffed Eruption causes generators to lose 10% and Incapacitates Survivors for 30 seconds.
While 30 seconds may not seem like much time, given that generators can be completed at a base 90 seconds in Dead by Daylight, Survivors may be forced to watch nearly half of their generator progress vanish, unable to even heal or cleanse totems, after one Survivor is downed.
In a video by Hens, a professional Dead By Daylight player, they show the power of the new Killer meta, appropriately titled the Genlock meta. As shown by Hens, Eruption combined with other regression perks like The Doctor's "Overcharge" and The Onryo's "Call of Brine" allow the Killer to essentially hold a game hostage by guarding a "three-gen."
Three genning is when the Survivors are forced to complete one of three generators in close proximity to one another. This is an especially deadly situation to get into regardless of the Killer perks, as it gives Killers an easily guarded set of generators, leaving Survivors little to no time to finish them, especially if the Killer does not commit to chasing. This is particularly oppressive on smaller Dead by Daylight maps like Dead Dawg Saloon. As Hens demonstrates, with the new meta, Killers can immediately force Survivors into a three-gen by routinely kicking generators, applying three regression perks in one move, and finding nearby Survivors with The Knight’s new perk “Nowhere to Hide.”
While Eruption is technically avoidable in games where Survivors can tell their teammates when they are about to be downed, for Survivors in solo queue or not communicating via third-party apps, this new meta is a frustrating war of attrition. Instead of focusing the game around running and hiding from the Killer, Dead by Daylight has become a game about guarding and completing generators.
With such an oppressive meta, Survivors are ever encouraged to bring powerful toolboxes and perks that speed generator completion to reduce the likelihood of a three-gen. These Survivor sided abilities make guarding generators without Eruption and Call of Brine almost impossible, however, further encouraging Killers to guard generators before committing to chases. These issues are only accentuated by the rocky release of the Forged in Fog DLC chapter. As Behaviour Interactive has demonstrated its interest in audience feedback these past few months, players can hold out hope that more changes will come to Dead by Daylight to ensure it remains a fun and balanced game.
Dead by Daylight is currently available for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
