Deathslinger Nerfed, Plague Buffed in Latest Dead by Daylight PTB Update

The Deathslinger saw massive nerf in Dead by Daylight's PTB on Sept. 28. The notorious duelist has dominated one versus one battles since his inception, and Behaviour Interactive wants to change that. While the killer definitely struggles with map pressure, there may not be a better killer for catching survivors at loops.

That's all going to change.

"Currently, there is almost no delay between aiming down sights and being able to fire your weapon. Likewise, there is almost no delay between canceling your shot and going for a basic attack. This creates lose-lose situations for the Survivor where there is nothing they can realistically do to avoid getting hit. For example, if they vault a window, you can easily aim down sights and fire without giving them a chance to dodge your shot. But if they decide to not vault the window, you can easily cancel your shot and hit them with a basic attack instead. Additionally, since there’s almost no delay, the Survivor must constantly dodge and run erratically just in case the Killer decides to shoot."  

The Deathslinger Will See a Massive Nerf While the Plague is Buffed in DBD PTB

The Deathslinger

• You can no longer shoot until you have fully aimed down sights 
• Increased the delay after canceling your shot before you can start a Basic Attack  
• Decreased movement speed penalty while aiming down sights  
• Increased The Deathslinger’s terror radius to 32m

These are massive changes to The Deathslinger's identity. His ability to quickscope and sneak up on players while using Monitor and Abuse is what makes him such a terror on the field. Even the fake aim down the scope and hit survivors tech is not possible with the delay added into the game. It will be interesting to see if Deathslinger mains will give up entirely or find a new way to play the killer.

The Plague

• If the power button is released early, Vile Purge will continue charging to the minimum threshold instead of canceling and entering cooldown
• Vile Purge cooldown move speed increased from 2.3m/s to 3.6m/s
• Base object infection time increased to 40 seconds (was 35 seconds)
• Interacting with infected objects generates 2x more sickness over time than interacting with non-infected objects
• Time to cleanse at a fountain increased to 8 seconds (was 6 seconds)

The Plague's focus is more quality of life, making her better to use. She's not as slow when using her Vile Purge and survivors cleanse slower and spread the disease faster. All of these features should allow Plague mains to enjoy their time better.