The Doctor Receives Gameplay Update In Dead By Daylight

The Doctor Gameplay Update 

Dead by Daylight's next mid-chapter update brings big changes to core elements of The Doctor's gameplay, as well as a visual and gameplay update of the Treatment Theatre map. With The Doctor being one of the focus characters of the Archives Tome II: Reckoning, it seemed like the perfect time to introduce these changes. 

The new ability replacing Static Field is called Static Blast. After charging the ability for a short duration, The Doctor releases a blast of static electricity throughout his entire Terror Radius. Any Survivors caught in the Area of Effect are shocked, causing them to scream and acquire a full tier of Madness. If their Madness levels increase, they also reveal their location to The Doctor. 

Static Blast grants the Doctor a more active gameplay style and provides a him with a powerful tool for locating Survivors. While Static Blast can be difficult to use in a chase, this change to The Doctor’s abilities provides new and exciting strategies for players to discover. 

In addition to the changes?to The Doctor’s core gameplay, we’ve also made some updates to his add-ons. Some of the more significant changes include:  

• "Obedience"?-?Skill checks have a considerable chance to turn counter-clockwise for Survivors with Madness Level 2/3.  
• “Iridescent Queen”?(formerly known as Scrapped Tape) -?Survivors hit with Shock Therapy or Static Blast acquire a lingering Static Charge. If a Survivor with Static Charge is within 4 meters of another Survivor, the Survivor receives a shock with identical effects as the Shock Therapy and Static Blast.  

One last thing we've addressed when it comes to facing The Doctor is Snap Out?Of?It. Instead of dropping from Madness Level III to Madness Level II, Survivors will now be able to use Snap Out of It to reduce their Madness to back to Level I. This will help counter-act the effect of Static Blast immediately putting?Survivors into the next tier of Madness. 

In addition to his new gameplay updates, The Doctor will now have his own unique chase music. We hope this terrifying new soundtrack will enhance the experience of facing The Doctor, and make Survivors fleeing for their lives feel more tense than ever before.  

Treatment Theater Update

Alongside The Doctor Update are general updates and improvements to the Treatment Theater map.  

We’ve updated a variety of elements within the Hospital map. The original version of the map was much brighter and didn’t afford many hiding opportunities. By reducing contrast and brightness, we've made hiding more viable for Survivors. This should also make it easier to lose the Killer in a chase because blood trails are harder to see. As a side-effect, Killers who use stealth and traps will now be more effective in the map. 

To improve the players’ ability to situate themselves in the map, we updated the layout, and split the map into two visually distinct sections.

For Survivors, indoor maps add an extra challenge when it comes to finding generators. To mitigate this effect, we have added flickering signs in the hallways adjacent to rooms that have spawned a generator. 

In addition to these changes, the map update also addresses:

• Totem Hiding Spots - We’ve updated the locations in which some totems will spawn in the map, making it more challenging for Survivors to track them down in the environment.  
• Pallet Loops - We tweaked the safety of existing pallets and created new pallet loops that should improve the overall balance of the map. 
• Hook Distance - We slightly increased the baseline distance between hooks on the map to increase the challenge for Killers.  
• Updated Vault Spots - We reduced the number of vaults on the top floor of the Treatment Room and limited them to vaults that have a viable detour. The Doctor’s Office now has 2 different vault setups that can spawn.

The team worked hard to deliver these changes to both The Doctor and The Treatment Center map, and we’re thrilled to share these updates with the Dead by Daylight community. We hope you enjoy these changes, and that the updates to the Treatment Center map provide a new and exciting experience for both veteran players and newcomers alike.  

See you in The Fog. 

The Dead by Daylight team