A big DBD update from developer Behaviour Interactive gives us all the details on what 2023 looks like for Dead by Daylight patch 6.5.0. The multiplayer survival horror game has a ton of big updates coming and the January developer update digs deep into many of them. Along with the further development of beta features such as updated wiggle tech, there are adjustments to the Nurse and Knight killers, an overhaul to the Eyrie of Crows map, and some lovely quality of life features including survivor activity icons and an in-game challenge tracker.
The new wiggle system has been in beta since last year, but with 83% of players currently opted-in the mechanical change is now making its way into the full game as part of the DBD 6.5.0 update. There are a few tweaks coming, however, which will make it harder to slip out of your captor’s grasp than before. Great skill checks will no longer increase wiggle speed, instead increasing the killer’s sway by 20%. They’ll also be delayed slightly after the Decisive Strike skill check, to make them a little less sudden.
In better news for survivors, a new ‘survivor activity HUD’ is being implemented as part of the 6.5.0 update. This will show you what all the survivors are doing currently as an icon next to their portrait, making it much easier for players who aren’t talking over voice chat to know exactly what their teammates are up to. These actions include repairing generators, opening an exit gate, healing, mending, recovering, cleansing and blessing totems, searching chests, and activities related to specific killers such as waking up fellow survivors.
The updated display will also include an icon around the survivor portraits if they are being currently chased. This will also be shown to the killer, making it easier for them to track who they are chasing if multiple survivors are similarly dressed. There’s also now a distinct health state for survivors currently being carried by the killer, to avoid confusion from the previous system which showed them as being in the dying state.
Challenges are getting some welcome quality of life updates in 6.5.0 as well. You’ll now be able to browse the archives and store while searching for a match, as well as spend Bloodpoints in the Bloodweb. Once you’re in-game, a challenge tracker will appear whenever you make progress on an active challenge. This should make it a lot easier to keep an eye on your current goals, but you can disable the feature if you find it getting in your way.
The Eyrie of Crows map has been frequently considered a little too survivor-favoured by the community throughout 2022, and moving into this year Behaviour Interactive says its own data backs this statistic up. As a result, the map will become more square than its current, more rectangular, shape in patch 6.5.0, which should allow killers a slightly easier time patrolling. The tall ‘maze tiles’ have also been moved away from the main building and shack, which should make it harder to run rings around the killer. It’s not all bad news for the baddies, however; new foliage on the map should make hiding traps a little easier.
The Nurse is having some slight add-on reworks, with all instances of add-ons extending her maximum blink range being changed to make her a little less capable of traversing long distances. ‘Bad Man’s’ Last Breath will cause the Nurse to become undetectable for 25 seconds after hitting a survivor with a blink attack, while Jenner’s Last Breath will now let the Nurse teleport back to her original position and restore her blink charges once she has exhausted them all. More changes are coming, though you’ll have to wait for the full patch notes for those.
Newcomer the Knight is also seeing some changes, with the team aiming to make longer distance play more powerful. Creating paths greater than ten metres in length for your guards will now grant several benefits: survivors will no longer see an orb when the path is created, guards will begin chasing faster on long paths, and the Knight will gain the Haste effect for a few seconds, with more duration for longer paths. In addition to this, a ten-second limit has been added to patrol path creation to limit how long the Knight can hide his terror radius while creating a new path.
Finally, there are a few minor additional updates. The Merciless Killer rating is now tied directly to kills, requiring four for the top tier. Existing non-licensed outfits will continue to get the option to purchase them with Iridescent Shards, with the Clown, the Spirit, Ace Visconti, and Feng Min next in line, Behaviour Interactive also reveals that they banned 64,601 DBD cheaters in 2022 – their highest in a single year to date.
DBD update 6.5.0 lands on the public test build on January 4, with plans for the patch to arrive on the live servers for all platforms later in January. We’ll be sure to keep you up to date on all the details as they arrive.
Our DBD killer tier list will keep you up to date on who the strongest Dead By Daylight characters are following these latest changes. We’ve also got more of the best co-op games on PC for 2023 if you’re looking to team up with others, along with a look at the delightfully dangerous DBD dating sim Hooked on You.