Dead by Daylight Nerfs Divisive Perk “Due to Popular Demand”

One of Dead by Daylight’s more divisive perks has been nerfed once more on the game’s test servers. Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive announced this week that it was moving forward a Boon: Circle of Healing nerf to the 5.7.0 test server update. The developer said the change was being made “due to popular demand” with the nerf targeting the perk’s healing speeds to lower them across all tiers. A release date for when this change will go live has not yet been set, but if it’s heading to the PTB for testing, the release for everyone else shouldn’t be far away now.

The perk in question is one added to the game via the Survivor Mikaela Reid back when the character was released in the Hour of the Witch DLC. Its effects allow users to bless a Dull or Hex Totem with an aura that doesn’t heal Survivors on its own but does increase their healing speeds by as much as 75%. It also grants the ability to heal yourself without needing a Med-Kit with all of those effects making it a staple in many Survivor players’ loadouts.

But if it’s something Survivors are big on, that probably means that Killers don’t like it much. People have taken issue with the perk before which prompted Behaviour to nerf it after release since the original version could increase healing speeds by 100% for those within its range. Even Survivor players aren’t always thrilled with it either as it’s sometimes seen as a mandatory perk that invalidates Self Care due to its healing advantages.

Due to popular demand, we’ve moved a Circle of Healing change forward to the 5.7.0 PTB. pic.twitter.com/AwPnn02ilI

— Dead by Daylight (@DeadbyDaylight) March 31, 2022

While these sorts of changes are usually only included within the patch notes for the test server updates, Behaviour tweeted about this particular nerf given how much it’s been talked about to show what the before and after versions of Circle of Healing would look like. Players suggested alternatives to simply nerfing the healing speed buff such as removing the ability to heal without a Med Kit or more drastic reworks. Those may be tested in the future, but for now, this is the change that’s been proposed and is the one that’ll be tested on the PTB before potentially going live in the future.