Behaviour Interactive has released a new update forDead by Daylightthat addresses feedback regarding the asymmetric horror game’s newest Killer, the Skull Merchant. Skull Merchant launched less than two weeks ago but has been heavily criticized by theDead by Daylightcommunity as both weak and specialized for a certain playstyle. Behaviour’s turnaround time for a Skull Merchant update is perhaps more surprising than the fix itself, though.Adriana Imai, known as the Skull Merchant, was released inDead by Daylighton March 7 aspart of the Chapter 27: Tools of Torment update. She’s said to have been influenced as a Killer by her father’s dark manga about a woman that hunts the weak. Her in-game abilities revolve around the utilization of four drones that can track Survivors, as well as Claw Traps. As a result, Skull Merchant can cover a relatively small area well, but can be very weak when spread across a whole map.RELATED:Blumhouse Is Prepping Another Horror Video Game AdaptionBehaviour has responded to criticisms by buffing several keyaspects of the Skull Merchant’s kit. The most prominent change is the addition of a flat Haste Status Effect buff for detecting Survivors with the Skull Merchant’s drones. A haste buff of between 3-7% is given for tracking between 1-4 Survivors, which will allow the Skull Merchant to rush around the map and hunt players much more easily.
Several changes were also made to how the Skull Merchant’s Drones, Claw Traps, and the Traps' batteries work and interact with Survivors. These changes weaken the Claw Traps and Skull Merchant overall, allowing players to have a bit more counterplay to her. For example, you may’t hack a Drone with a Claw Trap, while hacked Drones only return after a Claw Trap is returned. Claw Traps also die after a set period of time now, as all battery resets are gone.
The idea is that Skull Merchant could focus her drones in an area and make it difficult for Survivors to enter that area. These changes allow Survivors to counter Drones a little better, but in doing so allow Skull Merchant to cover a larger area of the map through general speed. She’s still probably going to beplayed withDead by Daylight3-generator strategy, but hopefully doesn’t have to be just that.
The 6.6.2Dead by Daylightpatch makes several other changes, too. Survivor bots are more intelligent and can even ask other players to get out of their way. Fixes for Yun-Hin, as well asKillers including The Nurseand The Knight should end some obnoxious visual issues. Various other fixes have been issued for Perks, the user interface, and more. Overall, it’s just a healthy update forDead by Daylightwith a surprisingly quick turnaround time.
Dead by Daylightis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and mobile devices.
