While Dead by Daylight has recently been killing it with a roster of expanded characters taken from existing properties, like Vecna from Dungeons and Dragons and Dracula and pals from Castlevania, its original creations have always been the game’s highlights. It’s where developer Behaviour Interactive has tended to let its hair down, going wild with creativity such as with the corrupted android The Singularity or twisted proto-eldritch-god The Dredge. Now, a new original survivor and killer are joining the game’s roster after a surprise announcement, and what’s more, there’s a dog.
Killer The Houndmaster and survivor Taurie Cain will be coming to Dead by Daylight soon as part of the Doomed Course chapter. If you couldn’t tell by the name, The Houndmaster (aka Portia Maye) will be hunting down survivors in the horror game accompanied by her dog, Snug. She’ll be able to send Snug out to chase down prey, grabbing and pulling them back towards the Houndmaster. Snug will also be able to run a patrol path similar to The Knight’s guards, hitting detected survivors with a new debuff that’ll make them both more noisy and more prone to leaving pools of blood when wounded.
She also comes with three new perks, as is tradition. All-Shaking Thunder lets The Houndmaster perform longer lunges after dropping from a height, meaning those pesky survivors won’t be able to skip away quite so easily after leaping out a window. Scourge Hook: Jagged Compass highlights the aura of the most-progressed generator when a survivor is hooked on a scourge hook, and No Quarter makes survivors experience continuous skill checks when finishing off their self heals, sort of like Merciless Storm but for Claudette mains.
The new survivor is Taurie Cain whose first new perk expands upon the invocation mechanic introduced with Sable Ward. Treacherous Crows, when successfully cast, makes crows disturbed by killers reveal the killer’s aura to all survivors, when a survivor is near. Clean Break lets you become broken instead of receiving a heal from another player, with you automatically regaining your full health after a period of time.
Shoulder the Burden is the most interesting perk, however, as it’ll let you trade a hook state with another player once per game, with them losing one and you gaining one. It has the potential to completely alter the flow of matches, especially in those clutch last minute endgame collapse escapes.
There’s no release date for the Doomed Course chapter for Dead by Daylight yet, but you can play it on the game’s public test build on Steam right now. To learn more about what’s new, including the hefty changes to other characters and perks in the game, check out the full patch notes here.
Should you be diving into The Fog for a bit of horror action, our guide to all current DBD codes will help you grab a few bits and pieces for free, and our DBD killer tier list will ensure you’re armed with some essential knowledge before your next trial.
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