Dead by Daylight Just Nerfed One of the Game’s Most Frustrating Killers

A new patch has been revealed for Dead by Daylight, and this one seems to be pretty significant. Version 8.6.2 has made several big changes to one particular character, and this should come as a relief to players. The Ghoul was recently added to Dead by Daylight, and Survivor mains have been consistently airing their frustrations about the Killer. The fact is, many feel that The Ghoul is overpowered, and it appears Behaviour Interactive agreed with that sentiment. The Killer has been significantly nerfed, with changes to his tentacle range, time in Enraged mode, and more. Changes to The Ghoul from the game’s official website can be found below:

• Reduced Tentacle range from 16 meters to 14 meters.
• Reduced Enraged mode time from 45 seconds to 40 seconds.
• Reduced Enraged bonus time when performing a perfectly timed grab-attack from 15 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Reduced Reticle Stickiness Time effect on targeted Survivor from 0.3 seconds to 0.18 seconds.
• Reduced Reticle aiming on Survivor detection for grab-attack by 94%.
• Reduced Grab-attacks Damage minimum distance requirement to activate over obstacles by -30%.
• After breaking a pallet, if the Killer Power is not in cooldown, Power goes into a forced cooldown equal to a single Leap usage.
• Add-on Fresh Coffee: Changed rarity from Common to Very Rare.
• Add-on Hinami’s Umbrella: Reworked Effect – Performing a perfectly timed grab-attack award an extra +10.0 seconds of Enraged bonus time and changed rarity from Very Rare to Uncommon.
• Add-on Blood stained Handkerchief: Reduced Kagune’s reach from 2 meters to 1 meter.
• Add-on Taiyaki: Reduced the Enraged Mode countdown from 15 seconds to 5 seconds and changed rarity from Uncommon to Common.
• Add-on Yamori’s Mask: Added the activation requirement of “all Survivors further than 40m”.

So far, reception to these changes has been overwhelmingly positive across Reddit and social media. It’s clear the developers really listened to the Dead by Daylight community, and there’s a big sense of relief from players. Obviously, some Killer mains that have embraced The Ghoul and his skillset might disagree, but there’s a general sense that this needed to happen. Hopefully these changes will go far enough for players, while still keeping the character fun to play as, and worth the price attached. Balancing the needs of both Killer and Survivor mains can be difficult, but on the surface, this looks like a good change that makes The Ghoul tough, but more fair.

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Like so many other popular Killers from Dead by Daylight, The Ghoul is a licensed character. For this particular collaboration, Behaviour Interactive pulled from the Tokyo Ghoul anime and manga. Ken Kaneki made for an interesting new addition to the game, but players quickly found that he was tough to compete against. Following The Ghoul’s arrival, Dead by Daylight will be bringing in a new Survivor in a few short weeks. Orela Rose is an original character that is now available in the PTB, but she won’t be available in the main game until May 6th.

Are you happy about these changes to The Ghoul? Do you think this will make the character more fair to play against? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!