With Dead by Daylight’s 29th Chapter comes the long-awaited ALIEN license. Along with a brand-new map and Survivor, The Xenomorph joins The Entity’s realm as a fierce Killer, able to quickly traverse the map out of sight and strike at Survivors from a distance.
This guide will show how players can best make use of The Xenomorph’s power in Dead by Daylight to make them a force to be reckoned with.
The Xenomorph: Power Explained
The Xenomorph has a rather simple power that has many mechanical complexities, like all the best Killers in Dead by Daylight. Its Hidden Pursuit abilities give the Killer an advantage of map pressure and looping around pallets and windows.
One of the ways The Xenomorph can move through the map is with the use of Control Stations. Seven of these stations dot the map, one for each generator, and Survivors can interact with these to retrieve Remote Flame Turrets. Meanwhile, The Xenomorph can enter and exit these tunnels at will to become Undetectable, move faster through the map, and drastically reduce the cooldown on their Crawler Mode power. While inside these tunnels, The Xenomorph can tag other Stations to draw a path to them, see the footsteps of nearby Survivors above them and, when exiting, gain Killer Instinct notifications of their presence.
The Xenomorph’s Crawler Mode is its primary mode of attack. In this mode, the creature walks quadrupedally, shrinking in size and reducing its Terror Radius; The Xenomorph can also unleash a deadly Tail Attack that can strike Survivors from a short distance, making them vulnerable during pallet and window vaults.
To counter this power, Survivors can take time to set up Remote Flame Turrets. These turrets will shoot at The Xenomorph when it enters their radius and line of sight. This fire can stagger the Killer and knock them out of Crawler Mode if they aren’t dealt with fast enough. If the turret fires for too long or successfully knocks the Killer out of Crawler Mode, it will overheat and must be repaired by a Survivor. Alternatively, The Xenomorph can attack these turrets with their Tail or Basic Attack to destroy them before their Crawler Mode ends.
The Xenomorph: How to Play
A Xenomorph’s first action in a Dead by Daylight trial should be to enter one of their nearby Control Station tunnels and make their way to a far side of the map where Survivors are likely to spawn and work on generators. This will allow them to almost instantly enter Crawler Mode and find Survivors quickly.
Once in chase, establish dominance by injuring multiple Survivors working on generators and then commit to an early chase. In Crawler Mode, The Xenomorph can attack from a distance, so without nearby turrets, Survivors are particularly susceptible to taking damage around pallets and windows. The Xenomorph can also hit Survivors with his Tail Attack over low-level map clutter, such as the table in the Nostromo Wreckage’s main lounge, by slightly aiming their camera up before attacking.
As with all Killers, mindgame Survivors by hiding the Killer’s red stain around corners to catch them off-guard and go in for Tail Attacks by predicting when and where a Survivor will try to move and vault. Against ranged Killers like The Xenomorph, Survivors will often pre-drop pallets or greed them for a stun to avoid being caught by a Tail Attack while they’re locked in an animation. As such, proficient Xenomorphs shouldn’t worry about breaking lots of pallets, particularly unsafe ones, as they can attacked over in Crawler Mode. On pallet-heavy maps, breaking lots of pallets will drain resources for Survivors but waste a lot of time for Killers so try to play around them when possible.
With The Xenomorph, more skilled Survivors will attempt to dodge his tail attack by faking vaulting, crouching, and performing “FOV techs,” whereby the Survivor will attempt to dodge a Killer’s attacks by getting close to their camera and spinning around them. In this instance, patience is key; be sure that a Survivor is committing to an action before attempting to hit them.
Survivors with good map sense will attempt to lead The Xenomorph away from progressed generators and towards strong loops with a nearby Flame Turret, with the aim of knocking the Killer out of their power. If this happens, it’s worth weighing up the many options at play. If the Survivor is in an unsafe area and injured, it may be best to tank the damage and commit to downing the Survivor with a Basic Attack, recovering The Xenomorph’s power in their tunnels after hooking them.
Alternatively, if the Survivor is in a safer area, destroying the turret may be a better option; this will give the Survivor some distance, but Crawler Mode may help to get a faster down. If the Survivor is in a safe spot, not dead upon their next hook, and the Turret knocks The Xenomorph out of Crawler Mode, it’s probably best to find a nearby Control Station to regain their power and begin pressuring any generators that are being worked on, rather than commit to a much slower chase.
Skilled Xenomorphs will be able to predict Survivor movements more efficiently, making use of both Tail and Basic attacks when the need arises. Solely using one attack or the other will often result in missed attacks or prolonged chases. As time goes on, players can make use of mindgames unique to Dead by Daylight’s suite of ranged Killers, striking Survivors from surprising angles. With enough practice, The Xenomorph can live up to its title of the perfect organism, and no Survivor will be able to stand in its way.
Dead by Daylight is currently available for Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
