Dead by Daylight – Beginner Guide: Buff Guide

A simple and straightforward guide explaining Survivor / Killer buffs.

Intro

All credit goes to Valentine!

This guide seeks to explain Buff statuses in the game for beginner or casual players, as well as a bit of information to help anyone trying to become better at the game.

Endurance

One of, if not the strongest buffs that Survivors can encounter. Endurance is relatively common and extremely important to your game plan.

Survivors that have the Endurance buff cannot be put into the Dying State while they have it. If a Survivor is full health and attacked while Exposed, they are put into Deep Wound. If they are Injured, attacks will put them into Deep Wound.

While this comes with the drawback of having to Mend, the alternative of going down makes it well worth while. At worst, Endurance can extend the length of a chase considerably by giving the Survivor the movement bonus from being hit.

Notably, being unhooked always gives the Survivor Endurance for a short period of time.

Sources of Endurance and Notes:

1. Dead Hard (David King), Buckle Up (Ash Williams), Soul Guard (Heather Mason), and We’re Gonna Live Forever (David King) all grant Endurance as brand new sources.
2. Borrowed Time (Bill Overbeck) will extend the Haste and Endurance granted from being unhooked by +10 seconds.
3. Off the Record (Zarina Kassir) will extend the Endurance effect to 80 seconds as long as you do not perform a Conspicuous Action.
4. The Med-Kit add-on Styptic Agent will grant Endurance for 5 seconds.

Killer Endurance

During the Twisted Masquerade Anniversary events, Killers can acquire their own Endurance. This Endurance allows them to be reduce Stuns significantly.

Extra Note: Conspicuous Action (Endurance/DS)

The term Conspicuous Action refers to a handful of actions that Survivors can perform. This is only relevant while you have the Endurance positive bonus.

Performing a Conspicuous Action will disable Endurance.

This includes Endurance from being Unhooked, or the comically long 80 seconds of Endurance from Off the Record. Conspicuous Actions will ALSO disable the perk Decisive Strike (Laurie Strode).

Below is a list of actions that are Conspicuous Actions:

• Destroying (Cleansing) or Blessing a Totem
• Healing yourself or others (You may be healed by others)
• Repairing
• Sabotaging
• Unhooking other Survivors
• Opening the Exit Gates

If you think there is a genuine chance that you will be attacked by the Killer during your Endurance period, such as being Unhooked, then do not attempt to quickly start healing yourself, or touch a generator to undo its regression.

The game considers these to be things you wouldn’t do if you were being chased by the Killer, and I do too!

Please note that on our site you can always find new and working promo codes for DbD to get free Blood points and Charms. Also check out the event schedule so you don’t miss the giveaways.

Haste (Survivors)

Haste is a buff that increases the speed that Survivors or Killers move. While that is simple and easy to understand, there are so many different ways to get Haste, and so many different levels of Haste, that I will split this section into Haste (Survivors) and Haste (Killers).

Important Notes:

To get a frame of reference, Survivors move at 4.0m/s. Killers move at 4.6m/s. These speeds are considered 100% and 115% respectively. Basic intuition tells us the Killer will eventually overtake the Survivor, but it’s obviously not cut and dry. Lunge speed, Bloodlust, etc. also factor into these equations.

For today, we will not focus on those. Just keep those numbers (100% for Survivors/110-115% for Killers) in mind as you go over the facts.

Note: The game states that perks like Sprint Burst make you move at 150% movement speed, while perks like Plot Twist state that you get +50% movement speed. These are the same thing.

Note: Not all perks are created equal. Something important to consider is how long the perk lasts. For instance, Sprint Burst lasts for 3 seconds, meaning you can get ~18m of movement. Smash Hit lasts 4 seconds, meaning you can get ~24m of movement. In theory.

Perks with (E) next to them cause Exhaustion debuff.

200%

• Background Player, 5s (E)

150%

• Sprint Burst, 3s (E)
• Lithe, 3s (E)
• Balanced Landing, 3s (E)
• Smash Hit, 4s (E)
• Adrenaline, 5s (E)
• Plot Twist, 4s

25% and Below

• Dramaturgy, 0.5-2s (E) | Dramaturgy always gives .5s of boost. It may randomly give 2 more.
• Babysitter/No One Left Behind, 17% for 10s (+7% to default unhook bonus)
• Being Unhooked, 10% for 10s

7% and below

• Blood Pact, 7%
• Hope, 7%
• Breakout, 7%
• Teamwork: Power of Two, 5%
• Made For This, 3%
• Boon: Dark Theory, 2%

Haste / Bloodlust (Killers)

This section of Haste is dedicated both to Killers, and the unique buff Bloodlust. Bloodlust itself gives Haste, but has a specific buff icon for clarity reasons. I will explain about both the mechanic and a few other things.

Note: Killers can gain Haste in a variety of ways, like their powers, add-ons, or perks. However, compared to Survivors, they receive far smaller movement speed bonuses. This is because they already move faster than Survivors, or have mobility (Hillbilly, Mastermind, etc.), move faster with Lunge, and do not stagger when falling.

Note: Most killers move at 4.6m/s. Some move at 4.4m/s, and The Nurse uniquely moves at 3.85m/s when not blinking. However, all Killers move at approximately the same speed when Lunging. The game attempts to set a Killer’s speed to 4.6m/s, and then accelerate it to 6.9m/s under 1 second.

Bloodlust Mechanic

Sometimes during chase, despite being naturally faster, Killers can struggle to hit Survivors. This can be for any number of reasons; the Survivor can have a big head start, the geometry/curves of a Loop can be hard to curve around, the players are mind-gaming, the Loop is simply too strong.

To compensate, after 15 seconds, a Killer gains 1 stack of Bloodlust. After 10 seconds, they gain another stack, capping off with 3 stacks at 35 seconds. Each stack of Bloodlust is +5% movement speed.

A stack is gained by blurring the edges of the screen and making a whooshing sound.

Bloodlust will decay quickly if the chase ends, like the Survivor being out of sight, or too far away from the Killer. All stacks of Bloodlust are immediately lost upon hitting the Survivor or breaking a pallet.

Undetectable

Undetectable is a Killer-only buff that can either be applied through a power, add-on, or perk. While Undetectable is fairly common, it typically comes with strings attached, like limited time use or needing to interact with the Survivors.

It is comparable to the Oblivious debuff.

Refresher: Oblivious

The Oblivious debuff targets Survivors, instead of being a buff that targets Killers. Survivors that are Oblivious cannot hear the Terror Radius, though this also means that they are immune to effects like Unnerving Presence that activate inside the Terror Radius.

What does Undetectable do?

Undetectable, again, targets the Killer.

• The Killer has no Terror Radius for any Survivor (disables “inside terror radius” effects)
• The Killer has no Red Stain
• The Killer’s aura cannot be read (like Alert)
• If the Killer stands still, they won’t make a jumpscare noise when moving
• Does NOT silence the Huntress or Nightmare lullabies.
• The sides of the screen are semi-obscured by black fog.

Undetectable is more favorable than Oblivious in many situations, thanks in part to the fact that it blocks Aura reading. However, for this reason, there is usually a caveat. Many sources of Undetectable are very short-term, and examples that come from a Power like The Pig often have a downside.

Blessed / Perk Icons

Blessed is one of many ways for Survivors to tell they are in the radius of a Boon perk. This status effect on its own doesn’t really mean anything—it’s up to the Boon that you are next to.

For this section, I will explain the Boons currently in the game, but also the Perk icon buff.

What is a Boon?

There are currently 5 perks called “Boons” in the game. They are like a Killer’s Hex perks, as they must be applied to Totems. If a Survivor finds a Dull or Hexed totem, they can Bless it.

This creates a sound of rumbling thunder as opposed to lightning striking (when a Hex is broken).

It also:

• Reveals the Aura of the blessed totem to all Survivors
• Creates a 24m radius (that goes through floors) of blue lights hanging in the air
• Makes a soft ringing sound
• Turns the screen edges Blue when you are in the 24m range
• Shows the Blessed buff
• Shows the icons of the perks on the Boon

A Boon can have multiple perks attached to it. It will have all of the perks of the Survivor using it, but only the person who Blessed it. Other Survivors will have to wait for it to be Snuffed by the Killer or find a different Boon to apply their own perks.

Perk Icon Buffs (and Boons):

If you see an icon like this next to your own Perks, then it means a Perk is buffing you. While it is possible for a Killer to give this ability to you, it usually means another Survivor is helping you.

Not all buffs occur near a Survivor either, perks like Empathic Projection or Aftercare have extremely long range. Very importantly, an icon like this is always shown when you are in a Boon’s range, to show you what benefits you receive.

As there is only 5 Boons in the game as of writing, we will go over them all.

Circle of Healing: Any Injured Survivor inside the radius has their Aura revealed to other Survivors. Healing another Survivor without a medkit is 100% faster.

Shadow Step: Survivors inside the Boon’s radius do not leave Scratch Marks. They also cannot have their Aura revealed to the Killer. This bonus lingers for 4 seconds after you leave the radius.

Dark Theory: Survivors inside the Boon’s radius move 2% faster. This effect lingers for 4 seconds outside of the Radius.

Exponential: Survivors inside the Boon’s radius recover from the Dying state 100% faster. They can also revive themselves to the Injured state without any other perks.

Illumination: All Survivors inside the radius see all Generators and Chests on the map with Blue Auras. The Survivor using the Boon can also cleanse or bless other totems 10% faster if they have Illumination placed on a totem.

Extra Note: Progress Bars

Whenever you are performing an action faster than usual, you will see the bar turn orange. This is always alongside a “fast-forward” icon with two triangles, with an orange background.

Note: Because of the game’s mechanics, working with 2+ Survivors on a Generator shows that repair speed is slower. This is technically true.

A Survivor repairs “1 Charge” per second, and it takes 90 Charges to repair a Generator. If 2 Survivors work on a Generator, each Survivor will repair less than 1 charge. However, they will still both add charges and complete the Generator faster than 90 seconds.

Note: If two Survivors heal or mend another Survivor, the speed of healing is not slower or faster. Of course, the healing speed is still enhanced, as both Survivors are adding charges to the heal. It will still show as Slowed if the Survivor is Mangled.

Final Note: The color of a progress bar is unique to Survivors. If you are healing someone with a med-kit, you will see an Orange bar because your healing speed is faster. Other Survivors will still have a blue bar, or a red bar if the victim is Mangled.

You will only see progress bar colors depending on your own action speed.