I'm new to this game I just got it on the Switch. What do I need to know before I start to play it?
Hi, here's some general tips I can try to think of for brand new players. I'll try to keep this post Survivor focused so I don't ramble for too long.
Your goal as survivor is to escape. You are apart of a team of 4, you all need to work together to get out. There are 2 ways to escape and "win".
1. Exit Gates: These things power after 5 generators have been completed. Each map spawns with 7 generators with 5 of them needing to be completed in order to power up the exit gates. There is no specific order the gens need to be completed, just 5 of any of them. Once 5 gens are completed the location of the 2 exit gates will flash an aura to you for about 5 seconds. You then need to open the exit gate by walking up to the panel and holding whatever the action key is. It takes 16 seconds at base speed to open the exit gate. After the gate is opened you can walk through and leave.
2. The Escape Hatch: the escape hatch is a way to leave without powering the gate. There are specific rules for how the hatch spawns but the most important and most often you'll encounter it is when you are the last survivor. When you're the last survivor the hatch will then spawn and open allowing you to escape. The killer can close the hatch will then trigger Endgame (more on that soon) and power the exit gates (not open them).
The hatch can spawn prior to being the last person alive, the rules for the hatch spawning are as follows: Gens completed is equal to amount of surivors alive + 1. This means 2 survivors alive needs 3 gens done, 3 survivors needs 4 gens done and 4 survivors needs all gens done. The hatch spawns by default closed, and will only open once there is only 1 survivor left in the match (whether the other ones died or escaped). You can open any closed hatch (whether it's closed because more than 1 survivor is in the match or the killer closed it) by using a key (item you can find in match or bring later, more on this later).
Endgame Collapse: Once the hatch has been closed or the exit gates are opened (not powered) the endgame collapse starts. The collapse brings up a bar on the top of the screen that is effectively an hourglass. The timer for endgame is 2 minutes long. The time slows when a survivor is on the ground or on the hook (but not dead). Once the timer ends all survivors in the match will instantly be sacrificed. Best to get out before the timer runs out.
Early game: As soon as the game starts you got 1 thing you need to do. Hop on a generator. The entire point of survivors is to work on gens. The goal of killers is to slow the game down and prevent survivors from doing gens long enough for you to kill them. Easiest way to find a gen is to look up, they have long big ol poles on them with lights that tell you if they're done. If the lights are flickering the gen isn't done.
Pro tip time, this also affects internal maps. If the lights in a room or house are flickering, it means there's a gen that's not completed in there.
Try to work on a gen by yourself, it may seem so nice to work on a gen with a teammate but this is actually not often a smart move. There's 2 reasons for this, first being that if you work on a gen with another person you actually only work at 180% efficiency, vs 2 people working at 100% efficiency. This goes down for each survivors as well, 3 survivors is 270% and 4 survivors is 360%. The second and biggest reason for the early game, if the killer goes to a gen and 1 person is on it then now 1 person is not working on gens. If a killer goes to a gen and 2 people are working on it then you now have 2 people not working on gens. Your main goal should be getting gens done as fast as possible to relieve pressure from the killer. The killer is easily able to snowball any match so maintaining progress is the key to getting the fuck out.
Chases: 99% of games you're eventually going to get chased by the killer. The killer is faster than you, but not by a humongous amount. There is kind of an art to mindgames, maintaining a distance around pallets and windows, pathing and jukes. I don't have the energy to even try to write all that out. The important things you need to know are how to try and escape.
1. Pallets: These can be your best friend, also your worst depending on the pallet. Use the action key to drop that pallet and if you hit the killer with it they get stunned for about 3 seconds. You can slide over the pallet (you always fast vault if holding down run) but the killer cannot. The killer has to break a pallet to get through it. There are limited pallets, so running around pallet to pallet and dropping them will deplete them pretty quick. This will fuck over not just you but your entire team. Try to get value out of pallets by running around them and baiting the killer into chasing you for a long while. Keep tucked into the walls when running around and try to position your camera so you can see where the killer is running.
2. Windows: Windows are an infinite resource in DBD. You can vault through a window (do it while running and running at the window and not from an angle to get a fast vault!) much quicker than a killer. These can give you the space to get to another pallet or loop through a structure to get through to different windows. While windows don't break like pallets, you can only fast vault a pallet 3 times during a chase. After you do this the entity will use it' magic deus ex machina fingers to block the window for 15 or so seconds. So you can vault them for a bit, the game won't let you do it forever. You'd have to come back later.
3. Lockers: These are noob traps. They make a lot of noise when you open, even with a slow entrance. If you fast vault into a locker the killer will get a notification telling them. If they catch you in one then you go from needing to get hit twice (mostly) to going down in one hit. Use these sparingly, and adjust if the killer is seen catching other peeps out of lockers.
Hooks: More times than not you're gonna get caught by the killer. Don't expect to get out every game, don't expect to escape most chases. Being hooked isn't the end of the world, it's actually mostly just fine most of the time. These are the important notes on hooks.
1. Hook states: Each survivor has 3 hook states. The first is when you're allowed to pull yourself off and lasts for 60 seconds.
DO NOT DO THIS. This is a trap for new players. The actual chance of escaping is 4% at base. Each time you fail an escape it takes 20 seconds off of your hook state. The only time you should do this is if everybody is already on the hook and the game is looking pretty over.
Your second state is struggle state. This one is annoying, but it also lasts for 60 seconds. You gotta spam a button or you die. You can give up if you want to, which is nice, but holding onto it is a benefit to your teammates so try not to be sour and hold on as long as possible to give your teammates a chance to try and save or to get some generators done. Even if the killer is camping you, best to hold on for the benefit of your team. The third and final state is sacrifice, you don't get to struggle or do anything, you just die. GG game over.
2. Saving: You should always try to save your friends, but doing so safe is preferred. Important to remember that they have 60 seconds. Sometimes the killer will be patroling or camping nearby and in those times it's probably preferably to work on a gen. Rushing to a hook will usually end up with you or the person being saved going down immediately. This increases the killers pressure and can get some salty DC's / early kills which gives the killer immense power. Try to time your saves to when it's most safe, and if you can't get one then try to focus on a nearby gen or get the killers attention so somebody else can grab the save!
There's a whole lot more but this post is too long for anybody to reasonably read already. Don't be afraid to ask for tips and we'll be here to answer any questions. Also the dead by daylight wiki is a super awesome resource that you should use for anything you wanna know.
I'll end on some quick and easy tips that I forgot before:
1. When you run you leave scratch marks. These last for about 10 seconds and lead to where you are. If you don't want the killer to be able to track you then use this to your advantage.
2. Killer is in first person vs 3rd person, this gives you a huge advantage in terms of hiding and visibilty. Keep this in mind as both surv and killer!
3. If you are working on a gen and the skill check is red this means the killer has hex ruin. There should be a lit totem hidden somewhere on the map that if you walk up to and hold the action button on it will destroy the totem and remove this perk.
4. When you are injured you're loud af. Sometimes the killer could have no idea where you are but they can listen and follow you to exactly where you are. Blood trails are easily seen as well.
5. Please don't t-bag (crouch spam) the killer unless you want them to tunnel the fuck out of you.
