Dead by Daylight Devs Discuss the Techy Skull Merchant Killer's Gameplay, Playstyle (Exclusive)

Dead by Daylight creators Behaviour Interactive revealed the game's newest Killer this week: The Skull Merchant. This sophisticated yet deadly Killer releasing as part of the Tools of Torment Chapter puts a sadistic, predatorial twist on the already tense games played out in Dead by Daylight. She keeps Survivors under near constant surveillance through the use of drones that alert her to the presence of Survivors if they're unfortunate enough to get spotted by them.

This techy approach to a Killer is something new for Dead by Daylight, so we spoke to Behaviour to learn more about the work that went into this new Killer. While the technological side of the character and her unique apparel might look like something akin to a Terminator or Predator archetype, Dead by Daylight gameplay director Matthew Spriggens assured us that this wasn't really meant to be a futuristic, high-tech Killer. Instead, The Skull Merchant is meant to be a ruthless corporate leader who uses her vast resources to pursue sadistic hunts fueled by drones crafted from the skulls of her victims.

"I think it's worth mentioning that the killer isn't really futuristic," Spriggens said when asked about the new Killer. "It's more of a modern take, a bit more contemporary. And the tech that she uses isn't really high-tech. It's kind of, it's more, how would I say? Kind of an ad hoc sort of construction that she's made."

Spriggens described her as more of a "tinkerer" character, an archetype defined by her gruesome Eyes in the Sky power that revolves around these drones. The Skull Merchant can put out four of these makeshift recon devices at one time which can be in two states: Active Mode and Scouting Mode. When the former is enabled, the drones remain stationery and scan for Survivors. If it finds one in its radius, The Skull Merchant learns of their location. If The Skull Merchant enters the effect of a drone in Active Mode, her Terror Radius and Res Stain disappear entirely, so ignoring them as a Survivor is unwise.

So, what can Survivors do against this? Drones enter Scouting Mode if they don't spot a Survivor for a while. While they're rotating to find a Survivor, players can approach them to disarm the drones by inputting the correct sequence of commands. Doing so will disarm it entirely, but there's a catch: You get snared with a Claw Trap that reveals your position to The Skull Merchant until the device's battery runs out.

"We always like having this sort of risk reward kind of aspect to the different elements in our design," Spriggens said when asked why the Claw Trap was a necessary part of the Killer's kit. "And by allowing the Survivors to just hack the drone outright, they're effectively shutting down the killer's power without her being able to do much about it. So it really introduces this interesting decision space for Survivor players when they have that option to do it, but they know that they're potentially going to either trigger the active zone or they're going to end up with this trap on them. So it gives it a bit more of an interesting decision for Survivors to make there."

The Skull Merchant comes with three perks: Game Afoot, THWACK!, and Leverage. The first of those is an Obsession perk that speeds up The Skull Merchant when destroying pallets or kicking generators, the second makes nearby Survivors scream out after hooking a Survivor and then breaking something, and the final token-based perk inhibits Survivors' healing speeds for every Survivor that gets hooked. You can see more on those here.

Aside from those perks, Spriggens said the Killer benefits greatly from informational perks that contribute to her recon playstyle. Because she can set up several drones at once, she excels at defending certain areas and can make good use of certain Totem builds.

While the drone playstyle may look intimidating since it puts an emphasis on map knowledge and controlling certain areas, Spriggens said The Skull Merchant should still be familiar to those who play more trap-oriented Killers. He compared her playstyle to that of The Hag or The Trapper and said that beyond the mind games the drones allow for, she's more of a "M1 Killer" which is a term for Killers that rely largely on basic attacks to down Survivors as opposed to ability-based effects.

"So, map knowledge definitely helps when you're playing this killer as I think it does with a lot of trap placement kind of killers," Spriggens said. "Because I see her kind of in that same gameplay type or same gameplay archetype. She puts down her drones in, that's the sort of area that you've trapped or that you are kind of surveilling. So having a good map knowledge really helps with knowing where to place those drones. Having said that, her actual basic functionality is pretty straightforward. She is really like an M1-killer, but there is that sort of added layer of depth if you really want to get more strategic with how she plays. So I think that advanced players that do have that map knowledge are going to find some really interesting ways that they can use her."

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Be on the lookout for our full Q&A interview with Spriggens on the topic of the Tools of Torment Chapter to be published soon.