Dead by Daylight is making some big changes to one of the game’s killers. In a new blog post, developer Behaviour Interactive revealed that The Skull Merchant will be getting a rework that “is quite different from her previous iterations.” The developers offered a lot of insight into changes that are being made, and exactly why these are happening. Simply put, the developers understand that Skull Merchant is “divisive,” and are looking to “strike a balance between being fun to play as and against” the killer. For players that already like to use The Skull Merchant, this could prove controversial.
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Basically, the biggest changes being made to The Skull Merchant are intended to give the character “a more active playstyle.” The developers are greatly changing up the Drones the character uses, both in terms of how they actually work, and the visuals associated with them. Skull Merchant’s Stealth Drones are still used to spot Survivors, but their full detection zones are now invisible to those players. Survivors can still see the direction of the detection zone, however. The developers say this change is being made because “the original scan lines were visually loud and often clashed with the rest of the game’s look and feel.”
Additionally, Skull Merchant players will be able to take remote control of Stealth Drones, once the Drone has been active for a certain amount of time. All Drones will have a Power resource now, which is consumed when taken over. Basically, Skull Merchant can use these Drones to collide with Survivors, resulting in a lost health state. When this is happening, colliding with Survivors or objects will result in the Drone being destroyed, and the player’s control will revert back to the Skull Merchant herself. The goal is to emphasize the concept of using Drones to hunt enemies, while making the overall concept less complicated. Behaviour says that Drone background effects are going away in favor of this new method. This will also make it clear to Survivors that if a Drone is stationary, that means it’s scanning, but if it’s moving, there’s a danger of a collision.
Survivors will still have the ability to hack into the Skull Merchant’s Drones, but some changes are being made to this aspect. If the player successfully pulls off the hack, her aura will be revealed. However, if the player fails, not only will they not be able to attempt another hack for a set amount of time, they will also be revealed by Killer Instinct, as well. That’s a pretty big risk! Last but not least, Skull Merchant is getting a new power that does not have a name just yet. However, it’s based on the game “red light, green light.” When the power is charged, a warning will play, and any Survivor that sprints will appear on the Killer’s radar; those who stay still will remain undetected.
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At this time, Behaviour Interactive has not revealed when these changes will take place in Dead by Daylight. Unfortunately, the studio says that this is still likely “quite far out.” Still, these changes do sound pretty ambitious, and it will be interesting to see how players feel once they finally go live!
Are you a Skull Merchant main? How do you feel about all these changes? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
