Summary
Dead by Daylightis making some sweeping changes to The Skull Merchant in the hopes of raising her popularity among Killer players. These alterations toDead by Daylightgive The Skull Merchant many more active abilities rather than having her rely so heavily on passives, with the changes mainly affecting her drones.
Originally released in March 2023 as the featured Killer of Chapter 27,Dead by Daylight’s The Skull Merchantis listed as one of the more difficult Killers to control, relying more on broad strategy and precise tactical strikes than in-your-face physical prowess. Her drones provide both reconnaissance and long-range attack capabilities, and she has historically thrived most when keeping as many players injured and hooked as possible.
However, despite multiple rounds ofchanges to Skull Merchant in her first year inDead by Daylight, she has failed to catch on in popularity compared to several other Killers on the roster, largely due to the complexity of managing her skills. Now, a newdesign previewfrom Behaviour Interactive shows that she is being reworked again to make her more fun for both the players controlling her and those struggling to survive against her. There’s no indication of when these changes will be implemented, but they are designed to make her skills easier to understand for all players and to shift her play style away from passive abilities and into an active hunt for Survivors.
The big changes inDead by DaylightKiller powersmostly center around The Skull Merchant’s drones. Drones will still be used for gathering intel, but while Survivors will be able to tell the directions in which they’re scanning the field, they will no longer be able to see the full range of the scan motion, making it more difficult to keep out of sight and avoid detection. Additionally, The Skull Merchant will be able to take control of drones to directly attack players, sacrificing one upon collision with a Survivor in exchange for the loss of one health state. When drones are actively controlled in this manner, The Skull Merchant becomes undetectable, and Survivors should shift their focus to the attacking drone, as each runs on a limited supply of power. She will also receive a yet-to-be-named detection power that, when active, will reveal the location of any Survivor who is caught running, though Survivor players will be informed when this power is active.
As a defensive measure,Dead by Daylight’s Survivorswill still be able to hack drones to disable them, but doing so will be riskier than in the past. Succeeding at a hack will allow the hacking Survivor to detect the Skull Merchant’s aura, providing vital information on the Killer’s movements, but failure will both lock that player out of another hack attempt for a short time and will give away the Survivor’s position to The Skull Merchant through the Killer Instinct mechanic.
