New Dead By Daylight update ruins perk with terrible nerf

BeHaviour is releasing update 8.5.0 for Dead By Daylight. This is accompanied by Tome 22 and a fresh batch of Lunar New Year skins, and it is the last update for DBD as we head into February. While the changes to Freddy as a killer are appreciated, the unfortunate news is that the Dead By Daylight update makes a bad perk even worse with a terrible nerf.

Dead By Daylight update delivers terrible nerf for Wake Up perk

BeHaviour Interactive has shared the final changes for Dead By Daylight update 8.5.0. These changes include the following for the DBD Wake Up perk:

• [OLD] Once all Generators are powered, Exit Gates are revealed to you. While opening the Exit Gates, reveal your Aura to all other Survivors. While Wake Up! is active, you open the Exit Gates 40/45/50% faster.
• [NEW] Once all Generators are powered, Exit Gates are revealed to you. While opening the Exit Gates, reveal your Aura to all other Survivors. For each Survivor still alive, you open the Exit Gates 8/10/12.5% faster.

In the patch notes, BeHaviour claims they “wanted to make sure that the Perk had a clearer identity [because] in its previous state it rode the line between self-centered and altruistic”. BeHaviour’s intent with the change is to “enhance your role as a beacon of endgame hope, ensuring your teammates remain alive to reap the Perk benefits”.

Unfortunately, the change hasn’t been received favorably. Reacting to the 8.5.0 developer update on Reddit, there is a lot of criticism towards the Wake Up nerf. One of many negative comments asks, “Did Wake Up really need to be nerfed that bad?,” while another comment says, “Bro, that’s not a Wake Up nerf, they basically just removed the perk entirely”.

Another comment exclaims “there’s no reason whatsoever to use Wake Up now,” to which another user responded, “They [BeHaviour] can’t go without gutting anything remotely interesting”.

One of many comments echoes the frustration that it “Makes no sense for Wake Up to be changed for” the reasons specified by BeHaviour, while another user bemoans, “Expectations were low but holy f**k. BHVR is clueless”.

DBD update 8.5.0 changes

Below are all of the changes highlighted in the Dead By Daylight update 8.5.0 dev note:

The Nightmare:

Dream Snares

• Increased Hindered duration to 4.5 sec (was 4 sec)
• Increased cooldown to 7 sec (was 5 sec)
• Improved the Sound Cue when charging Dream Snares

Dev Note: Nothing drastic here. Mainly a few tweaks to improve quality of life and reduce the spam potential, particularly at high level play. This subtle tweak to the cooldown should prevent those instances, without sacrificing playability. To compensate, we’ve increased the Hindered status slightly.

Dream Pallets

• Increase Rupture range to 3.5 meters (was 3 meters)
• Rupturing Pallets cannot be dropped

Dev Note: One of the recurring points of feedback centered around the usefulness of Dream Pallets, and their ability to make an immediate impact in a Trial. We’ve increased the Rupture range and made it so a dropped Dream Pallet will not cancel your Rupture charge.

Dream Projection

• Releasing a Dream Projection now cancels a teleport
• Cancelling a Dream Projection incurs the full cooldown
• While charging Dream Projection, movement speed is reduced to 3.86 m/s
• Reveal the Aura of The Nightmare emerging near a teleport location to help with orientation (visible to Killer only)
• Added an SFX/VFX when The Nightmare triggers a Dream Projection on Survivors healing in the Dream World

Dev Note: We heard you loud and clear – the fake-out is back, with a small caveat. You’ll have to use it wisely, as cancelling your teleport will still cause the ability to enter cooldown. We’ve also added an Aura that should help orient players after a teleport, as well as additional effects to clear things up when The Nightmare uses a Dream Projection on healing Survivors.

Wake Up Interaction

• The Wake Up interaction takes priority over Healing. If an injured Survivor is Asleep, an Awake Survivor will be able to Wake Them Up without healing them.

Dev Note: Not much to see here, but this should help alleviate some of the frustration that arose when trying to Wake Up an injured Survivor.

Add-On Changes

We’ve made a few minor tweaks to some of The Nightmare’s Add-Ons, as a few were noted to be slightly overtuned.

• Jump Rope:
  • Decrease to 0.5 sec (was 1 sec)
• Unicorn Block:
  • Decrease to 0.5 meters (was 1 meter)

Wake Up perk:

• [OLD] Once all Generators are powered, Exit Gates are revealed to you. While opening the Exit Gates, reveal your Aura to all other Survivors. While Wake Up! is active, you open the Exit Gates 40/45/50% faster.
• [NEW] Once all Generators are powered, Exit Gates are revealed to you. While opening the Exit Gates, reveal your Aura to all other Survivors. For each Survivor still alive, you open the Exit Gates 8/10/12.5% faster.

Dev Note: We wanted to make sure that the Perk had a clearer identity, and in its previous state it rode the line between self-centered and altruistic. The basic idea behind its design is to enhance your role as a beacon of endgame hope, ensuring your teammates remain alive to reap the Perk benefits.

Beast of Prey perk:

• [OLD] Upon gaining the Bloodlust Status Effect, Beast of Prey activates: Gain Undetectable for 15/20/25 seconds.
• [NEW] Upon gaining the Bloodlust Status Effect, Beast of Prey activates: Gain Undetectable for 30/35/40 seconds.

For more Dead By Daylight content, check out our ranking of the top 10 DLC expansions to buy along with a ranking of the best killer perks and best survivor perks.