One of the more difficult aspects of Dead by Daylight is playing solo queue. For experienced players, it’s annoying; for beginners, it’s deadly. This is because new players spend most of their time trying to stay alive. They don’t realize that the game is about teamwork because the tutorials never get into it. And in the end, they annoy the more seasoned survivors, amuse the killer, and sometimes get some rude comments directed at them in the post-trial chat.
If that has happened to you, this post may be helpful. Remember, nobody comes into this game knowing what to do. And seasoned Dead by Daylight gamers often forget what it was like when they started playing.
Get to Know the HUD (Heads Up Display)
For me, this was the most confusing area of the game to get a handle on. There is so much information on the left and right of the screen and none of it is easy to decipher. As a new player, the column on the left, where your teammates are listed, is what you need to pay attention to. While this section has a lot of information, all you need to look at are the character icons. They will tell you if a character is injured and if they’re being chased.
- If someone is injured, scratch marks will appear over their face. That means they need to be healed (more on this below).
- If they’re being chased, spider legs will move on either side of their image. This is a good time to concentrate on generator repair.
As you get familiar with the game, you can get to know the other aspects of the HUD. Below are some posts that break the HUD down into easy to digest parts.
Dead by Daylight: Status Effects for Beginners
Dead by Daylight: Character Icons for Beginners
Dead by Daylight: Activity Icons for Beginners
Repair Generators
If five generators don’t get repaired, nobody gets out. It’s that simple. If you see a generator and someone is being chased by the killer, get to work on it. You’ll know if one of your teammates is being chased if there are moving spider legs on either side of their character icon on the left.
The video clip below shows me working on a generator while the person listed below me (Lara Croft) is being chased by the killer. She has two sets of spider legs wiggling because she is the killer’s obsession. If someone is not the obsession, they will have one set of wiggling spider legs. As mentioned in the previous section, this is a good time to repair generators.
Know Where the Killer Is
When the killer is close, you’ll hear a heartbeat. The sound will get louder and increase in intensity the closer the killer gets. You can also add a heartbeat that shows up when you’re in the killer’s terror radius by going into Settings > ACCESIBILITY and turn on HEARTBEAT VISUAL SUPPORT. With this turned on, a heart will appear when the killer is close. It will become larger the closer the killer gets. I suggest turning it on.
If you’re in the killer’s terror radius, stay alert and have an exit plan. When the music is loud or the heart is large, consider hiding. Keep in mind that stealth killers, such as Michael Myers, may not always have a terror radius.
Heal Yourself and Others
If you see another survivor who is injured, heal them. Also, if you’re in need of healing, walk up to another player and squat a few times. This will let the other player know you want to be healed. If you stay healed, the killer will have to slug you twice to get you down.
Also, when injured, the killer can hear your grunts of pain. This makes you easier to find. Add that to the sound of repairing generators and you’re basically asking to die.
Keep the Killer Occupied
If you’re being chased, try to bring the killer away from generators that are being worked on. Since communicating with your team is limited to visible gestures, it’s often difficult to know where your team is. However, try your best to run away from other teammates.
Just Because You Have a Perk Doesn’t Mean You Have to Use It
Perks are there to help you out, not decide your every move. You have four in your build, but you may only use three in the trial, and that’s okay. Decisions should always be made on strategy and not if you can use a specific perk.
Don’t Waste Time
Don’t run around round aimlessly or hide for no reason. If you’re not doing something to help your team escape, you’re wasting your time. Wasting time can sometimes include cleansing totems. While killers can use totems to get an advantage, survivors with a Boon perk can bless them to help their team. See my post, Dead by Daylight: Boon Totems for Beginners.
If you see a totem glowing blue, it’s a Boon Totem. This also means that the player who blessed it may want to do the same to other dull totems.
There are two reason you should take time cleansing a totem:
- You know that the killer is using a Hex perk or Scourge Hook that uses totems and none of your teammates are using Boon perks
- You see a glowing totem.
Hopefully you found this post helpful. As always, feel free to reach out to me on social media with questions, comments, or just to say hello.