This guide will teach you everything about the Artist and how to play against her.
Contents
Introduction
All credit goes to Magic Mosquito !
Welcome, if you had to experience a crow flying towards you at super-sonic-speed, (Uh, Summa-lumma, dooma-lumma let me tell you summ a about it…)
…or a crippled woman with ink hands chasing you around a graveyard that had an oversized crows nest in the big building and you’re scared for your life, this guide will definitely be the one for you.
It will teach you everything about Dead by Daylights 26th Killer, Carmina Mora or better known as The Artist.
She was introduced as the Killer of Chapter XXII: Portrait of Murder, a Chapter DLC released on the 30th of November 2021 and has been scaring survivors since then.
The Artist
The Artist, a tall killer that has a lot of map pressure and a strong way to outplay loops and end chases quickly if played well.
Even though she has a ranged ability/special attack she moves at 4,6m/s or 115%. This and her way to trap loops and catch survivors very fast makes her a dangerous opponent.
Her Power “Birds of Torment”, gives her 3 charges of dire crows that can be placed down and hover in the air for 10 seconds (+ a few seconds for every additional dire). Once placed anywhere on the map she has the ability to activate the crows with another use of her ability which will result in them flying in a horizontal, straight line at:
- 20m/s (0-3 seconds)
- ->35m/s (>3 seconds)
- ->35m/s (anything after 3 seconds)
The crows have an unlimited reach but only injure or down survivors as long as they don’t fly through walls or fly further than ~10? meters.
If a survivor comes into contact with a placed down dire crow, or he was hit through walls or over a long distance (>10m) he will be swarmed. The crow swarms aura is visible to the killer and would make him vulnerable to another hit if he doesn’t manage to get rid of the swarm in time.
Additional here are the 2 poses you should look out for when getting chased by the Artist.
The right picture shows the Killer charging up her Power so be prepared to face her dire crows.
Note that coming into contact with a placed down dire crow while you are already swarmed will injure or down you depending on your health state.
You can get rid of the crow swarm with the “repel swarm” action that can be performed while running but blocks other actions such as pulling down pallets, vaulting or using items. If the repel swarm action is canceled the bar drops to zero and you have to restart again.
If the dire crow barely missed the survivor, their position will be notified to the killer through the Killer instinct mechanic.
Note that the Crows can be burned with a flashlight, this action will take 1 second. Items from past and future events like Fire Crackers etc. will most likely also work.
Her three personal perks are:
Grim Embrace
Each time a Survivor is hooked for the first time, Grim Embrace gains a Token.
Upon reaching 4 Tokens Grim Embrace activates:
- The Entity blocks all Generators for 20/25/30 seconds.
- The Aura of the Obsession is revealed to you for 4 seconds.
Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance
At the start of the Trial, 4 random Hooks are changed into Scourge Hooks:
- The Auras of Scourge Hooks are revealed to you in white.
Each time a Survivor is hooked on a Scourge Hook, the following effects apply:
- The Generator with the most Progression explodes, instantly losing 9/12/15 % of its Progression and starting to regress.
- Survivors repairing that Generator will scream, revealing their location.
Hex: Pentimento
You can perform a ritual on a cleansed Totem to resurrect it as a Rekindled Totem.
The more Rekindled Totems you create, the greater their effects:
- 1 Totem: Reduces the Healing speed of all Survivors by 20/25/30 %.
- 2 Totems: Reduces the Repair speed of all Survivors by 20/25/30 %.
- 3 Totems: Reduces the Recovery speed of all Survivors by 20/25/30 %.
- 4 Totems: Reduces the Gate Opening speed of all Survivors by 20/25/30 %.
- 5 Totems: All Totems are blocked by The Entity.
How to Play Against the Artist
Please Note! To predict a killers movement or actions is always hard. I try to give insight in the playstyles that i have seen or experienced myself. In this section i will give some examples of what a killer could be doing and how the survivor is able to play against it.
Basics
Playing and playing against the Artist does take some skill aswell as knowledge about mindgames and the maps you’re playing on in order to get good use from her power or outplay it.
With a movement speed of 4,6m/s she’s as fast as the majority of the killers. She can gain information through her crows in an easy and efficient way and has pretty strong perks. Winning against an experienced Artist is not gonna be an easy task.
If you’re unable to hide and you end up in a chase one too many times here are some tips that could help you in some situations.
Crow Swarm
If you got hit by a crow and got swarmed you should try to get rid of them as continuing with them would be a fatal, dangerous decision. This way the killer could injure you through walls and longer distances which makes her abilities just a bit more frightening.
My advice would be to leave the loop once you get a chance and gain some distance to the killer while breaking line of sight. The crows will still give the killer an indication of where you are because of their aura but that way you can make it just a bit harder to get tracked.
Obviously you should make the most out of your loop before you go on. Here’s a short video on how you could loop her in an efficient way.
This also gives you a better chance of dodging incoming crows by having more time to react aswell as a bigger field of view to notice possible lines of fire.
Do the “repel swarm” action as soon as its possibly safe.
Note that you’re not able to pull down pallets or vault windows while you’re repeling the swarm, if you stop and perfom a different action the bar will drop to zero and you’ll have to start over again.
Note that entering a locker will also have the same effect as the repel swarm action with the difference that the aura is not visible.
If the crow barely missed you there’s a chance that she still was close enough to expose your position with the killer instinct. So be careful as your position could have been compromised and run, or if the killer is already in close proximity, try to hide.
You can outplay the killer instinct the same way you can outplay BBQ, walk in a random direction horizontal to the killer for a few seconds and then turn 180° and go the other way after the Killer instinct has worn off.
Killer Instinct
Overview
Killer Instinct is a mechanic that for its entire duration will reveal the location of Survivors via a pulsating orange spiderweb overlay, that will follow the Survivor if they are moving.
Additionally, the Survivor’s outline is highlighted in orange.
Unlike Aura-reading, this effect is not blocked by Lockers or any Perks that hide one’s Aura.
Loops
If you have a loop and you’re scared of getting owned af, here are some tips and tricks that could make looping for you just a bit easier.
Note that The Artist has 3 crows without- and up to 4 with the “Ink Egg Add-On” that she can summon.
There’s a lot of different ways an Artist could try to make use of her power but you should always be prepared to get zoned. She will try to get easy hits by doubling the pressure on you with both her basic attacks and crows. The safe way to play this is usually to just take the crow (-as long as you’re not swarmed already) and leave the loop if you get the chance to.
If you’re swarmed and you keep your distance by mindgaming around a loop with a pulled down pallet you should mostly be fine as the time you need to repel is faster than her recharging and placing down the crows in order to get a second hit.
You can also use a flashlight to clear the loop of traps if you have the time, which i don’t really recommend as it takes a whole second per crow, time you don’t really have, and there’s other ways to play around this situation. It’s still an option though, just saying!
Only leave the loop if you have the chance to reach the next pallet or vaults in time. Some examples for moments like these would be if:
- …the killer is destroying a pallet
- …the Artist spends time placing crows behind a high wall and/or without direct vision on you
- …she is stunned or blinded
- …she makes a mistake and creates distance because of survivors mindgames and looping
Another important thing, that i see a lot of players even on high ranks doing, is wasting pallets. If you get injured, by any means, you should NOT pull down any pallets. It reduces the distance and time you gain with the speed boost and wastes a pallet for nothing.
If the Artist has a good setup you might even go down from full health to down in only a few seconds.
Imagine this:
- You’re not injured and looping the Artist around a pallet.
- Because of her catching up to you she gets a basic attack on you after you took a crow straight in the face, you now pull down the pallet, out of panic and give her time to shoot the placed down crow directly in front of you that you haven’t noticed.
- You get hit with another dire crow and go down in a matter of seconds.
This is very specific and i highly doubt you’ll get into situation like this very soon but it’s an example why you should not pull down pallets after getting hit.
I just beg you, please stop wasting pallets.
Perks
If you’re having a lot of trouble against the Artist in particular you can try to run 1 or 2 Perks that work very well against her kit.
Some Perks that i can recommend are for example:
Quick and Quiet
Can be used to fast enter a locker (without a noise notification) in order to repel the crow swarm and lose the killer, aswell as break line of sight and win the chase.
Remember that your Blood pools and injured groaning don’t disappear and can still be tracked.
Iron Will
On level 3 this perk will silence any groaning when injured. This can help lose the killer in a chase and potentially get away without dying.
Lucky Break
If you get hit for the first time in a match you won’t leave any Blood Pools and Scratch Marks for a maximum of 60 seconds on level 3. This can also help you end a chase and get a free pass if you manage to break line of sight. Very useful for new players who are not very good at looping or running a killer over a longer period of time.
Windows of Opportunity
Highlights the Auras of vaultable objects such as windows, breakable objects and pulled down pallets in a 32 meter radius. This can help you change loops once it gets too dangerous. Can also be useful in general, especially for new players who don’t have the maps aswell as pallet and window locations memorized.
Small Game
… will be very useful against the Artists strong perk HEX: Pentimento. You’re gonna be forced to do Totems in order to avoid the very strong debuffs.
The Perk small game will give you a sound notification when you’re lookig at a totem in a cone in front of you, with every totem destroyed the cone gets smaller and finding totems will get easier. I highly recommend this perk to everybody who doesn’t know the totem spawns and where to check when looking for them.
Additional
Here are some interesting facts that could be of use for some people.
Killer Instinct:
- Linger duration: 3 seconds
- Delay buffer: 0.26 seconds
- Grace period: 4 seconds
- If a Survivor was hit within this period, it will cancel Killer Instinct
Repel Action:
- Interaction duration: 8 seconds
- Aura Linger duration: 2.5 seconds
- This refers to how long The Artist will continue to see the Dire Crows after the Survivor starts to repel them.
Summoning:
- Charge time: 1 second
- Spawn distance from The Artist: 2.5 metres
- Cool-down between summons: 0.5 seconds
- Cool-down after firing: 1.5 seconds
Ammunition:
- Default capacity: 3 Dire Crows
- Full Recharge times:
- After disintegrating from idling: 2 seconds
- After firing 1 Dire Crow: 5 seconds
- After firing 2 Dire Crows: 9 seconds
- After firing 3 Dire Crows: 12 seconds
- After firing 4 Dire Crows: 14 seconds
- After firing 5 Dire Crows: 15 seconds
Lore
Carmina Mora was a gifted artist who carried the guilt of her young brother’s death. Growing up a rugged coastal village in southern Chile, she sketched the sublime landscapes of Patagonia. Sitting outside, she painted dramatic fjords while feeding the crows nested in the tree next to the house.
She grew up carrying the guilt of her mother’s sudden departure. Her father blamed Carmina for her mother’s abandonment, which added to her grief. She became the caretaker of Matias, her little brother, despite still being a child herself.
A year later, Carmina was painting with Matias outside when the telephone rang. Her father remained in the yard, drinking his beer. Carmina rushed to the house to answer the phone and hung up a few seconds later. When she returned outside, Matias was nowhere to be seen. She asked her father, but he had paid no attention to Matias. She called her brother’s name, looking for him everywhere. While searching, she saw a bright red coat floating on the narrow creek by the house — Matias’ jacket. She jumped into the creek and found him floating on the surface with vacant eyes, unblinking. He had fallen and drowned.
Her scream tore the sky. Her father found Carmina sobbing on the creek’s shore, clutching her brother’s body in her arms, surrounded by a murder of crows. Her father snatched Matias’s body away from her, and she cried until her voice broke.
The following morning, the world was cloaked in darkness. Her father did not say a word, because he did not have to. Carmina knew it was all her fault. Months passed, yet her loss was as fresh as morning dew. Crippled with self-loathing, she could no longer paint. Without Matias, life had no meaning.
On the bleak morning of Matias’ birthday, Carmina walked to a narrow bridge several blocks away from home. She was convinced that nothing could bring her relief. Her mother was gone, her brother was dead, and her father blamed her for it all. She was convinced that she had nothing left to live for.
Carmina walked to the railing of the bridge that stood over the turbulent river. Locals had nicknamed the spot DeathLeap. Several cars drove by Carmina, but none stopped. No one seemed to care. She climbed over the railing and her legs wobbled as she stood on the lip of the bridge. She looked down, watching the fierce river smash into a giant boulder. She closed her eyes.
“See you soon, Matias.”
Suddenly, a cacophony of caws filled the sky. Carmina opened her eyes and saw a black cloud of feathers flying towards her. The cloud split open and glossy black crows dove from the sky. One landed on her shoulder and stared intently into Carmina’s eyes, as if peering into her soul. Her grip on the railing loosened and the crow cawed raucously. Carmina stared at the crow, confused.
Another crow landed on the railing, then another. Soon, a flock of crows were covering the railing of the bridge, staying close to her. She felt their heavy stare on her, calculative and enigmatic, as if they were assessing her. She looked down for a second and a thunder of caws interrupted her dark impulse. The crows seemed to care about her wellbeing. As she dangled over the edge with the wind blowing through her raven hair, Carmina felt akin to them. For the first time since Matias had died, Carmina did not feel alone.
She returned home, giving life another chance. The crows left, but Carmina suspected that if anything happened to her, they would return.
Inspired by her ordeal, Carmina picked up a brush. In the weeks that followed, she painted her experience, using black ink to depict the DeathLeap with a black cloud of feathers, the murder of crows that saved her life. The experience was transformative and launched her signature, black-ink surrealist art.
After several years, some colour pierced the darkness, and this shift of medium expanded her art form. She painted large-scale murals on busy street corners, designed grandiose costumes, and recited militant poetry. Carmina’s art displayed local, intimate tragedies on a large scale, making them impossible to ignore. And everywhere she performed, crows followed.
Her performances grew bold and drew the attention of artists who found her style invigorating. She grew close to a group of painters who understood her iconoclastic vision. Her performances launched the Large-Scale Surrealist movement, which became a phenomenon.
Her renown grew enough to attract the commission of a multinational enterprise, The Vack Label. Carmina investigated the group, discovering that they gifted art pieces to select disreputable congressmen. Vack’s commissioned artists seemed to disappear afterward.
Determined to expose the group’s link to corrupt politics, Carmina accepted Vack’s commission. The following week, Carmina painted a giant mural on a cemetery’s columbarium, displaying the Vack Label logo as a surrealist grim reaper harvesting the fields of Chilean families. She wore a theatrical dress as she painted, on which she had stitched a poem about political revolution.
The piece sparked a radical debate about corruption. The controversy painted a target on Carmina’s back. After receiving anonymous death threats, she took refuge in her father’s house, bringing along her closest friends for safety.
That night, a gang of masked gunmen broke into the house. They swiftly subdued Carmina and her friends, threw them in a van, and drove off.
The following morning, a dry breeze blew sand on Carmina’s face, awakening her. She was seated in a chair in the middle of the desert, with her legs tied and her hands handcuffed. Her friends were lying on the ground, tied up. A shadow fell over her face. Carmina looked up.
A man dressed in a long robe with his face hidden in a dark hood approached her. He pulled a silvery knife from his robe.
He grabbed her hands and recited a hymn in an unfamiliar language. Carmina held his gaze. He paused and brought down his blade with a sudden blow.
She cried in agony as her friends woke to a terrible sight; Carmina’s severed hands falling in the sand.
The hooded man smiled in satisfaction. “How are you going to paint now?” Carmina cursed and screamed at him, wriggling against her bonds.
The man grabbed Carmina’s chin. She spit in his face.
He grunted and pried her mouth open, pulling out her tongue. Carmina struggled against her handcuffs. In a violent blow, he chopped off Carmina’s tongue.
She howled in anguish. The man wiped his blade on his robe, leaving a trail of blood. “How are you going to recite poems now?”
Sorrow swelled in Carmina’s chest, sharper than pain. Overwhelmed by uncontrollable rage, grief and loss overcame her senses. She had lost her little brother. And she had lost the only way to cope with such pain. Carmina screamed like on the day her brother died.
Raucous caws echoed through the wasteland. The sky was obscured by a cyclone of dark clouds. Black feathers fell on Carmina’s bleeding arms. She looked up and saw a torrent of crows erupting from the clouds, diving on the hooded man.
As the ravenous crows pecked at his flesh mercilessly, Carmina smiled, watching her Surrealist art coming to life.
But her heart lurched with rage when she saw the crows move on to their next target, her friends on the ground. She screamed as waves of pain, guilt, and fright overwhelmed her. But it was in vain, the ravenous crows were uncontrollable.
Darkness fell over her eyes as her friends’ agonising screams grew more acute. Death was coming and again, it was her fault.
A deep, Black Fog engulfed her.
That’s one great, long and detailed guide. Nice!