Otzdarva's thoughts on recent events

Chorus of Sin / Judgment release patch ✅ August 2026

• The Judgment released with good changes compared to its Early Access & PTB states. They've added several common sense changes such as a basekit Killer Instinct every time you down/near miss a Survivor and improved visuals to better reflect how the power actually works. Really good stuff.
• The Judgment is currently very oppressive and feels like S / A+ tier. This can change very quickly if the new MMR system settles down and Survivors adapt, but in its current form I have been steamrolling through my matches. Many of my games end with 4 or 5 gens remaining and we got +50 wins in a row in our third attempt less than a week after release. This is now the 3rd Killer in a row with a mini-mori and is even better than Jason and Henry at tunneling and ignoring hook-related meta perks.
• Aura-reading is insane on Judgment, so much so that some people are literally running builds with just aura perks and still performing extremely well. Sniping people is so much easier than using your power from up close during a chase that it's genuinely a good strategy to just keep doing it as much as possible. This sometimes results in very uninteractive matches and I think it's gonna be an issue that will need to be addressed.
• Aura-reading is easy to do but hard to outplay (kinda). Despite the initial hype about this Killer's high difficulty, their power is actually really easy to use when your build is constantly highlighting auras for you. This playstyle is very easy to follow and relatively hard to predict and outplay for the average Survivor. I'm really worried that BHVR will make a drastic change in the wrong direction (such as massively nerfing aura-reading in general) when they inevitably try to address this issue.
• Judgment should be better from up-close at the cost of perhaps being a bit less threatening from afar. In my matches, I can't help but feel that my lucky snipes are x10 times more impactful than my careful, deliberate pillars that I use in chase. A small change in this direction would be ideal, in my personal opinion.
• I'm much less concerned about the Judgment's high skill floor after the recent changes (and especially seeing how easy it is to play with aura perks). However, there are still valid concerns about accessibility for deaf/hard of hearing players since this Killer's power is incredibly hard to react to without sound cues. I used to think that this Killer needed some drastic basekit changes to accommodate players with less experience but I think they're currently in a very acceptable spot.
• The devs teased a "Streamer nerf" (so-called by some people in the community) which was basically a visual vignette that allowed Survivors to quickly see the direction where a pillar of light was approaching from. This idea was discarded for release but I unironically think it might make sense to bring it back in some form specifically to address the accessibility issue mentioned above. Yes, deaf/hard of hearing players are a small part of the community but I think it would be really nice to consider their needs here.
• MMR changes are not working well yet. Despite winning dozens and dozens of games in a row, I'm still occasionally paired with Survivors whose experience and in-game hours are far below the usual. Most of my matches are similar to before (even some really tough opponents sometimes) but I've seen more than a few inexperienced Survivors with just 100h or 200h in the game that should normally NEVER be within our MMR range. Some of them were Solo Survivors, meaning that their matchmaking wasn't being boosted by their friends or anything. It's currently unclear to me if this will settle over time or if there's actually something wrong with it that will need a future adjustments. I haven't played enough Survivor in solo queue to know what it's like for the Survivor side yet.
• More opinions soon!

Live Balance updates on dev stream ✅ July 2026

• The dev streamed showed us some upcoming stuff, including some new peeks at the Grimoire Killer, including showing new animations and even some specific add-ons (one of them makes the divine light break pallets and walls!). The new animations in the exile realm are very cool.
• Among many other things, the devs annnounced several tweaks to existing perks which I was really, really hoping would happen. My concerns that DBD would exist in a state of "frozen balance" for several months are thankfully put at ease.
• KILLER PERKS BUFFED: Call of Brine (increased max potential duration which is almost never reached anyway, so tiny buff), Nurse's Calling (weird choice but okay?) and Save the Best for Last (I think this perk should be reworked rather than tweaked but I mean okay). Very odd choices considering there's some Killer perks that could really use number tweaks instead.
• KILLER PERKS NERFED: Nowhere to Hide nerfed range (not my favorite way to address it but this perk needed a nerf); Coulrophobia nerfed from 50% to 30% (to address slugging builds mostly); Thrill of the Hunt (nerfed back to one of its previous states of 10% instead of the current 12%). Some of these changes are not ideal but they are overall GOOD and simple number changes so good stuff in my opinion.
• SURVIVOR PERKS BUFFED: Adrenaline (???? seems a bit baffling to buff an already strong perk but they're just adding 1 more second of sprint, not a huge deal I guess). Also other perks that are great candidates for buffs: Clean Break (now heals in 45s instead of 60s), Moment of Glory, Technician and Apocalyptic Ingenuity. However they also "buffed" Repressed Alliance by giving it a longer duration which technically makes the perk WORSE, as the shorter duration would allow you to dodge a pain res/pop proc quickly, but a longer duration keeps the gen unavailable for too long and basically helps the Killer.
• SURVIVOR PERKS NERFED: Sprint Burst nerfed to 2s (instead of 3s), huge change a long time coming in my opinion; Deliverance nerfed (120s broken instead of 60s); Vigil also gets smaller numbers. Same as above, some of these changes do not completely fix these perks but they are overall GOOD and simple number changes so they are very welcome.
• They also teased upcoming changes that will happen later down the line. Apparently about 45 perks (split on both sides) are being adjusted (mostly buffed) to account for the diminishing returns. They were supposed to do this earlier but couldn't do it for scheduling reasons. This is great news!!
• Basekit unhook endurance reverted back to 10s but with added Elusive status (except in endgame). This is a good compromise that eliminates some of the ridiculous endgame situations where a Survivor could be unhooked and reach an exit gate across the map with complete safety no matter what. Good change imo. Elusive is very strong so don't worry about this change too much yet if you're a Survivor.
• MMR change confirmed: it won't be based just on kills. If done correctly, this could be a great change that prevents certain players from ending up in an MMR range that they don't belong to.
• Each Killer gets a visual tutorial with quick videos demonstrating how their power works (similar to tutorial screens in game like Overwatch). This menu can be easily accessed from any lobby, allowing players to learn and prepare while they queue for a lobby. AMAZING CHANGE for new and returning players!!

Quick thoughts on Anniversary, Jason release & future roadmap PART 2/2 ✅ May-July 2026

ROADMAP AHEAD

• There are possibly no big balance changes for months. We haven't had any significant balance changes or perk/add-on adjustments since pretty much last year and the new roadmap doesn't show any PTB until the Judgement Killer midchapter. Do the devs think the game is a great state right now? Or are they so busy with upcoming content that they're delaying adjustments to existing content? We don't know.
• It's possible that the devs are scared to do much balancing because they are trying to avoid a Krasue PTB situation where a bunch of ambitious balance changes actually made it really difficult to balance the new Killer. Even with this in mind, it's still really unreasonable that so many awful perks and add-ons have gone this long without any tweaks at all. The devs could literally trust their experienced to make small but safe changes (like they did many times during 2025) but they've been incredibly reluctant lately.
• As someone that routinely evaluates add-ons for my tierlists and website, I know of SO MANY add-ons that are currently completely bugged or that have been basically useless for months or even years. I'm a bit disappointed that this might continue to be the case for a long time.
• This balance stagnation is even more concerning when you remember that the devs are currently in the process of reworking how the MMR system works and we have very little info about it yet.

OTHER TOPICS:

• The Anniversary in-game event mode is a disaster in terms of balance, with Killers receiving very few boring abilities and Survivors having a wide variety of super impactful and game-changing ones. I'm really not a big fan but I won't be speaking much about it anymore (or about the cake rarity controversy) since so many other people have already covered it.
• Shane Wiigwaas is a great Survivor addition to the cast and his perks strike a good balance of being useful without being game-breaking.
• The only two exceptions are Cross-Examination (which was too strong on release but has already been addressed) and possibly Lend a Hand with Resurgence (but that's 99% the fault of Resurgence being already game-breaking strong in my opinion).

WEIRD BUGS AND MORE:

• The Skull Merchant was hit by a "bug fix" that has indirectly multiplied the distance at which you cannot use any drones near hooked Survivors. It's so bad that you can't even place a drone if you're two floors above someone in the basement. It's very upsetting that Killers like Skullie still receive so little love and quality of life changes.
• Dracula's purple Fang add-on has been changed a FOURTH time, this time with an explanation in the patch notes that states: Fixed an issue where the "Warg's Fang" add-on for The Dark Lord only showed the aura of the last Survivor's Scent Orb. - For a bit of context, this add-on originally did NOT reveal everyone's accumulated auras, and then for a while it did (we thought it was a bug because this basically gives insane amounts of information and outshines basically every other add-on). And then one day it stopped doing this for a while and now it does it yet again. Even though they say this is a bugfix, I'm 99% sure that they did not intend this add-on to work this way and that they'll eventually change (for the 5th time) in the future.

Quick thoughts on Anniversary, Jason release & future roadmap PART 1/2 ✅ May-July 2026

ANNIVERSARY REVEALS

• DBD Montreal anniversary was a great experience and I got to meet so many friendly people. If you missed it, I uploaded a short vlog here showing you what it was like.
• The Anniversary Livestream was packed with an insane amount of announcements. Overall, some very good and promising stuff (although some of it is very far down the road). I'm generally very pleased with most things announced (especially the new 1v1 chase mode). Some of the announcements, like the Terrifier Chapter / Art the Clown reveal, I don't have very strong opinions about because I'm not too familiar with them.

  Since most of the stuff announced was great, I'm gonna focus on the very few things that I'm concerned / skeptical of:

• The graphic overhaul looks stunning and could be a huge step forward for DBD's longevity but I'm extremely worried about it bringing persistent performance issues or (even worse) affecting the gameplay in a very intrusive way (the weather system in particular).
• The DBD movie was presented as something that will be made not for the critics, but for "the fans" and knowing how insanely difficult to please DBD fans are, I'm really worried that they will miss the mark. I hope they make a good movie with a good script that doesn't try too hard to jam a million DBD references into it.
• Talking about a million DBD references, The Casting of Frank Stone has been confirmed to be a full chapter in the future. You guys know I'm not the biggest fan of the game but I'm happy for the actual fans of it that were initially disappointed. By the way, I still owe you guys a Frank Stone playthrough which is gonna be one of my first priorities once my voice heals and I feel better (hopefully very soon).

JASON LAUNCH

• Jason is generally a phenomenal Killer that strikes a great balance of being fun to play as and against (which very few Killers since Wesker have achieved this well). He's also very strong in a relatively healthy way (some asterisks for sure). He's probably high A-tier at least right now.
• Despite his overall good design, Jason has undeniable power-creep issues. He has lethality, mobility, info-gathering and built-in haste which can give him a slightly longer lunge compared to other Killers, among many other things like the ability to bypass anti-tunnel by using his mini-mori or hitting multiple Survivors at once. He also possesses some non-beginner friendly aspects to his power that are unintuitive for newer players. This is generally not a huge deal when you compare him to S-tier and A-tier Killers, but if the balance of this game is done with Killers like Jason in mind, older and outdated characters will certainly struggle.
• Jason's ability to defend totems is a problem when paired with the curren state of Thrill of the Hunt. Since totems can take ~30s to cleanse and Jason can detect & easily interrupt you with his ability, this leads to lose-lose situations where cleansing is not even viable for Survivors (especially when you consider that Pentimento can revive totems and keep the effects of Thrill going for ever longer). Feel free to watch this video here if you want to understand what happened to Thrill of the Hunt originally or this explanation here if you want to know why it's still very strong despite the small nerf afterwards.
• Nerfing/reworking Thrill of the Hunt is a good idea and could actually make it possible to buff other hex perks without the concern of them becoming semi-permanent, like for example making several hexes NOT immediately visible from the start of the match. I think this is the easiest way to address the issue mentioned above given the very badly designed nature of the current totem system.

April PTB Changes revealed during Dev Stream ✅ April 2026

• Modifiers now have diminishing returns. Instead of stacking or no stacking, perks that modify all action speeds will now get progressively weaker, with each stacked perk being less and less useful (starting with the strongest ones obviously). I personally thought that a full no-stacking approach might be healthier for the long-term health of the game but this is a very good compromise. I'm very happy about this because it means that perks can start becoming really decent by themselves without worrying about crazy stacking builds. This will certainly boost the utlity of perks that increase certain actions without modifying the speed with a percentage (ex: Reactive Healing).
• Devs explained that the above change is meant to address and discourage the most meta-defining playstyles as reported by community feedback and their own internal statistics. This part is quite confusing to me, to be honest. Yes, we've all seen the very outrageous "400% healing speed strats" and the "1000% haste builds" but in my opinion the absolute strongest builds on both sides actually mix up different things that work together but DO NOT actually stack together (ie: Pain Res + DMS, Resurgence + Medkits, Stakeout + Hyperfocus, Sprint Burst + Vigil, etc...).
• Blight nerfed to be 110%, losing tokens after any pallet break similar to Ghoul. Good change and long overdue. He will still be really strong even after this, I'm sure, although less forgiving.
• Ability to see team mate's loadouts coming to DBD which is also EXTREMELY welcome and long overdue as well. For some reason this also seemed to include the Killer being played against which is immediately detrimental for stealth/setup Killers. This last bit should be changed to keep the Killer hidden but either way, but the devs have already clarified in a follow-up statement that they have the ability to make it so that this could appear after the match is already well-progressed (like after first hook for example). Fingers crossed but it's looking really good!!
• Spectating Survivors will also be able to interact with their screen a bit more and highligh perks to see what they do, for example. Another great change.
• General buffs for several of the weaker Killers including Unknown, Cannibal, Doctor, Demo, Dredge, GF, Wesker and also Animatronic, who will receive changes that will apparently encourage Survivors to use the cameras more (great stuff!). This list of buffs doesn't cover every character in need but all of these Killers could certainly use small QOL/add-on adjustments at the very least, so these seem like a welcome change.

(More info on these changes to be relased along the next PTB next week!)

Quick Thoughts on Stranger Things Chapter 2 ✅ February 2026

• Overall the chapter is remarkably polished, no extreme game breaking bugs or major issues compared to other releases of a similar size. Some issues (like Nurse feeling awful and some Killer specific bugs) but no major exploits or things breaking like we've seen so many times before)
• As for Vecna, I only started playing recently as I was away but I agree with the consensus that he is quite powerful. I am still learning him but not sure whether the zoning playstyle he thrives with is something that I enjoy a ton. I am slightly concerned that this killer may push a meta of survivors just holding distance as his main counterplay seems to be exhaustion perks which does not make for a fun playstyle.
• Overall, the new perks are all fine and it’s surprising to see a killer launch with 3 decent perks. However, we are starting to see issues where new perks are just a better version of another previous perk which adds to the issue of ‘perk bloating’ in DBD.
• I may make another follow up post with more detail once I have more experience with this patch.

9.3.0 PTB is mostly reverted ✅ November 2025

• Good things stay; seeing a hooked person's resolve bar, nerf to medkit add-ons and a few other positive things remain untouched.
• Many questionable things gone; Pinhead endurance nerf, anti-tunnel and anti-slug mechanics are all being reverted (for the most part). Many of the perks that were going to chance a lot now will stay closer to their original version.
• This is probably for the best, however... I can't help but think that this whole two PTBs have been a huge waste of time, a failed experiment that could've been avoided by listening to their consultants more instead of coming up with such artificial "bandaid" style fixes .

Questionable changes in 9.3.0 PTB ✅ November 2025

• Everything in this video: https://youtu.be/21_0ICuZLM I

Positive changes in 9.3.0 PTB ✅ November 2025

• Hawkins gets a minor rework that makes some areas easier to navigate and some pallets less awkward here and there. Awesome changes and I hope we get more like this in the future.
• Autohaven gets a visual rework that looks too much like Fallen Refuge but I'm sure it will be improved. It's far less dark which is great.
• New scratchmarks are a big W in terms of accessibility.
• Myers camera being fully unlocked during slaughtering strike is nice .

Dev stream & news about 9.3.0 PTB (Part 2) ✅ October 2025

• Skull Merchant is getting a buff. Drones will rotate faster, stronger hinder, shorter drone deployment time (and shorter stealth to adjust to it). They've also made it so that Survivors can once again be scanned during vault animations which was a significant nerf that is now reverted, as well as a few other small changes. The rework is still being considered but it's taking a LOT of resources so if these small changes are good enough there's a chance they'll keep her that way. The changes themselves seem appropriate but I still she's not close to being in a great spot.
• Trickster rework is confirmed to still be in development. Devs said he'll be "visually very cool" and teased the word "STYLE" in their presentation. Fingers crossed.
• Autohaven realm maps are getting brighter which is a massively welcome change. This realm of maps was unnaturally darker than almost everything else. I'm not sure about the new skybox and fog but I'm 100% in favor of making these maps brighter.
• Settings screen is getting an overhaul that will make it a bit more modern. They're also testing the feature that would allow us to customize the colors of scratch marks which I imagine will be extremely appreciated by colorblind folks. You'll be able to even switch them mid-game which means there might be a whole new strategy of adjusting the scratch mark color based on what map you get. The intro video will also not play after you've watched it once so that launching the game is faster, which is another welcome change.
• Frank Stone skin for Trapper is cancelled. Will still come to DBD in some way but they didn't clarify. Very baffling and I have no idea if they're just dropping it quietly and will only be some charm / player icon or if they'll turn him into an actual fully fledged Killer (but I sincerely doubt that).
• Player Survey about maps reveals top 5 maps most enjoyed by the community. Most enjoyed are #5 RPD West, #4 FNAF Map, #3 RPD East, #2 Ormond and #1 Saloon. I'm absolutely shocked that RPDs are this popular (cool license & ambience aside). They've said they'll boost the presence of these maps which is a little bit insane considering some of the AWFUL design issues that both RPDs have.

Video breaking down the issues of RPD's map design: https://youtu.be/5xxcloeBjGE

Dev stream & news about 9.3.0 PTB (Part 1) ✅ October 2025

• Devs have explained that facecamping, slugging and tunneling have been listed as top reasons why players are uninstalling the game. I know that obviously Survivors are the majority of players in this 1v4 game, but it was a little strange to see them not mention a single pain point or reason why Killers might be quitting.
• They brought up data showing that facecamping (staying within <2m) hasn't changed much, that hook patrolling is up slightly, and that Survivors now take +7s more on average before rescuing (average of 35s vs 28s before). Data shows low MMR players seem to camp more.
• Resolve bar will now be visible to all players. This is a great change which I wish they had introduced even earlier. They've also adjusted the facecamp meter to be slower but at a greater range. It will build up faster if the Killer stays within range for long.
• Devs showed that tunneling is down from 44% to 40% of matches according to their data. Data shows that high MMR Killers tunnel more (to absolutely no one's surprise). They explained that their goal is to ensure that all players retain agency and that their time is respected.
• Devs: The previous PTB's anti-tunnel experiment felt too intrusive according to player feedback. The new plan is to keep Survivor protections, keep Killer hook benefits but remove the harsh Killer penalties that applied when tunneling. Additionally, unhooked Survivors are now completely quiet (no coughing, puking, etc.) and have collision again.
• New Killer bonuses upon each unique hook; you gain Bloodlust haste for 15 seconds, which obviously goes away upon using most powers and also when entering chase. This seems like a slightly better solution that doesn't buff strong Killers and that perhaps will help the weaker ones the most. You also get a stackable BP bonus similar to old BBQ. Killers no longer have the enhanced gen damage or aura read from hooks which they had in the anti-tunnel 9.2.0 PTB.
• Syringes & styptics are most likely getting nerfed (seemingly to compensate for the other help that Survivors are already getting). Killer add-ons that induce Deep Wound are also getting reworked so they can't outplay anti-tunnel Endurance (Soma Family Photo & Original Pain). Some perks affected as well, but not too many details mentioned yet.
• Devs want to reduce the amount of excessive slugging (multiple Survivors downed for lengthy periods of time) but are okay with occasional or strategic slugging being part of the game. They've concluded that crawling + recovering at the same time was too strong in the previous experimental PTB, so this feature won't be coming back. They've increased the Resolve Bar to 120s, meaning that you'd need to be slugged for half your bleedout timer before being able to self-recover. However, the rate at which it fills is 33% faster for each additional Survivor downed. This is meant to help groups of Survivors get back on their feet more consistently if many of them are downed at once. My quick thoughts; this is better than in the PTB but they're somehow STILL not addressing a lot of the issues that cause & perpetuate slugging. Zero changes to the Blindness status effect or the terrible way in which skill checks work when healing someone on the ground. I strongly feel that there could have been simpler and more elegant ways to address this issue.

Myers rework gets a buff ✅ October 2025

• Myers gets a significant buff which makes his rework feel a lot stronger and less of a sidegrade. Lots of adjustments made; his Evil Within begins without an initial transition slowdown and the slaughtering strike moves faster and with a much shorter cooldown of 4s, which makes it a lot better at dealing with pallets. Evil Within also lasts longer (+20s) and gains a few passive buffs (break & stun speed) on top of its natural faster vault. His Terror Radius is lowered by 8m in both non-stealth modes. All of these will likely bring him up an entire tier at least and already has some really tricky implications with current perks and add-ons. I expect further adjustments but it was overall a good set of changes .

Hotfix 1 & 2 for Krasue update ✅ October 2025

• Hotfix 1 gave Krasue a small amount of nerfs (0.1s slower window vault, 0.3s slower pallet vault, less forgiving collision...) which were a step in the right direction but did not address her biggest issues and strengths.
• Hotfix 2 is more meaningful; it removes Leeched (infected status) after being hooked which discourages tunneling significantly and further nerfs some of her numbers (0.1s slower head form attack, 0.2s slower head form transition, bigger cooldowns on regurgitate spit attack & cancel, etc). She also has lost the ability to hit Survivors over certain low obstacles and the ability to completely ignore flashlight blinds in head form by looking up. These changes are another step in the right direction but still not enough to leave her in a relatively balanced way. Her biggest issue left unadressed right now is add-ons and the length of her head form flight in my opinion. After possibly one more balance patch, I imagine she'll be more balanced but still quite strong.
• Off the Record returns to being an actual anti-tunnel perk (but with a much more reasonable 40s duration). This is a decent fix for now and relieves some pressure away from Decisive Strike as the only real anti-tunnel perk in the game (which made it a pay-to-win issue in my opinion).

9.2.0 Release & Krasue ✅ September 2025

• Krasue is crazy strong after receiving several adjustments and mostly getting buffed from PTB. I really appreciate the tweaks that made her transition smoother and that allow her not to easily get stuck around corners during the intestinal whip attack. However, the overall buffs she got together with the removal of anti-tunnel features from the PTB have made her extraordinarily oppressive. Unlike in the PTB, she barely has any loops where her head form cannot be used to get quick hits. The fact that being hooked doesn't remove the Leech status is also a questionable design choice that encourages tunneling. This should absolutely be changed. People calling her S-tier are not exaggerating and we'll likely see her nerfed in a few ways soon.
• Anti-tunnel changes are postponed as announced and now Killers see Survivor hook stages instead (?). Also, somehow Off the Record still got nerfed. Devs have apparently confirmed they're looking at this. I have been against the idea of anti-tunneling being so reliant on one licensed perk (Decisive Strike) so I'm quite disappointed about this change which is basically a regression in time. Welp. Whatever.
• Myers update polishes some of the rougher edges that he had but it does leave a sour taste. It's not very thematic and I personally really dislike the way the UI works. But hey, probably a better state than before and no more tombstone/Evil Incarnate issues so that's nice at least.
• A bunch of Killers like Nurse and Artist become incredibly bugged and are unplayable. I don't even know what to say at this point, this happens every update. One of the new perks is also bugged and doesn't work. Sigh.
• Map changes are massive and way more encompassing than the patch notes suggest. I'd say they are decent overall (Disturbed Ward is now smaller for example!) but also brought some weird things that will hopefully be polished over time.

9.2.0 PTB: Other tweaks & balance (non-new content) ✅ September 2025

• Myers seems quite adequate in terms of strength; easy-to-use stealth, easy to activate T3 and instadown, etc... It's definitely kinda weird seeing him dash around but mechanically it seems to work okay. With Bubba's perks being basically nerfed across the board, I genuinely don't know why anyone would play Bubba over Myers now. Other than multiple instadowns, Myers seems just much much better for newer players.
• The changes to existing perks are pretty lame. Babysitter goes back to being useless, BBQ loses all identity and now becomes boring, OTR ends its run as being one of the top anti-tunnel perks, etc... Notably, most slowdown perks get nerfed which could lead to a more diverse landscape of builds for Killer but I somehow doubt this will happen.
• Oni changes are very minor, Clown's seems appropriate, Unknown's buffs are marginal (BUT he does gain the very interesting ability of doing vertical orbitals). Dracula's changes feel like a small nerf overall, and the way some of his add-ons got changed feels extremely arbitrary and "stat-driven".
• Twins are currently completely unable to hit "off-hook" Survivors in the PTB with Victor. He literally goes through them. Definitely a bug, but kinda funny that Twins really does get a new bug every update. Sad.
• Krasue's add-ons are oddly designed (with some of them having inexplicable downsides despite being mediocre) but there's definitely a few that stand out. Will probably make a tierlist when the Killer drops.

9.2.0 PTB: Anti-tunnel & Anti-slugging changes ✅ September 2025

• Anti tunnel changes are split into two different mechanics.
• A permanent 25% gen repair boost that happens if someone is killed while the Killer has achieved a total of less than 6 hook stages. This idea is salvageable, but the current repair boost is very high considering that 6 stages are pretty hard to secure before a kill sometimes. I seriously think they should move this number down and make it somewhere between 3-5 instead of 6.
• A permanent gen immunity effect that prevents all damage/blockage if a Survivor dies after being the most recent unhooked person. This is by far the worst of the two effects, since it can trigger even in the endgame and in situations where you genuinely have no logical option but to "tunnel" a certain person. This system genuinely needs a full reconsideration.
• Survivors also get a basekit 30s Endurance and other advantages (like their HUD icon being obscured) on top of the above, mostly disabled in the endgame. Some of these changes are fine and even welcome, but they also indirectly nerf a lot of Killers in unexpected ways. An unhooked Survivor can now safely solve Pinhead's box without triggering Killer Instinct, for example, which was never possible before.
• Other strategies are also less viable. Normally, tunneling being nerfed would encourage Killers to seek other strategies but it's really not that simple. Gen slowdown has been mostly nerfed across the board, slugging is much weaker and endgame builds also indirectly become weaker with the slugging changes.
• Killer hook rewards are lackluster, at least on the new Killer because she has the weaker version of them (the one that Blight/Nurse/etc also have). The built-in BBQ & Chili is particularly deceiving as it fails to show you Survivors with more hook stages than the one you're hooking. The game basically encourages you to always go for fresher, lesser hooked Survivors (similar to the existing 2v8 aura mechanics) which is a really quick way to lose the game immediately.
• Overall, I'd say these changes are far too extreme and will not sit well with the existing DBD balance. I wish a simpler system was considered instead that did not add such a thick layer of complexity on an already complex game.

• Once hit by one Regurgitate (or three Head-form hits), Survivors enter Leeched (I) and slowly infect themselves passively into Leeched (II) which will make them broken. There's seemingly no way to actively speed up this process from the Killer side, so reaching Leeched (II) is something that will happen rarely under normal circumstances.
• Survivors can use mushrooms that spawn around the map. When consumed after a short interaction, they slowly start removing all leech progress until fully cleansed. Reapplying Leech can interrupt it, but this can otherwise be done extremely efficiently by Survivors. In other words, infecting them with leech does not really waste much of their time if you only do it occasionally. You'll notice that a Survivor is currently being cleansed passively when their HUD infection appears green. You can also see the exact infection status by looking at the leeches in their model.
• Mushroom manipulation might be an important factor of playing this Killer successfully; there are roughly ~6 mushrooms around the map at the start and at least one of them spawns on a timer + also when you switch forms. Leeching Survivors aggressively can result in them eventually struggling to find enough cleansing mushrooms. According to feedback from the Survivors I played against, this made the match quite difficult as the only spawning mushrooms were right by the Killer and made it very difficult to cleanse safely. Being able to accurately leech people from a distance or learn "bounce spots" will be quite important.

9.2.0 PTB: First impressions of The Krasue ✅ September 2025

Switching to Head form and flying around for mobility and information gathering is a natural idea that can be done at the start of the game and between chases, but keep in mind that switching forms does spawn one mushroom (more info on this below).

• Head form should generally not be used as a way to start chase, as it cannot damage unleeched Survivors. Head form needs 3 successful hits before applying "Leech" and one more before damaging, making it very inefficient on its own.
• Instead, you must use the Regurgitate projectile in human form to immediately apply Leech (I) status effect. Regurgitate shoots a very small and fast moving projectile that travels on an arc. Shooting this projectile doesn't seem to slow you down very much at all so it's something that should be done as often as possible against unleeched Survivors. The projectile's size is quite small but making it bounce against walls makes it bounce and splincter into several parts, making it possible to even hit multiple Survivors (keep in mind that this bounce does NOT happen when hitting the floor or ceilings). After successfully leeching a Survivor, you should go for a basic attack if possible and switch to Head form when you're ready to chase the leeched Survivors.
• When using Head form in chase, it's very important to use the fly mode to catch up frequently. You can fly through Survivors (no collision) and then immediately stop ahead of them to bodyblock them before they reach a critical pallet/window.
• Head form has a charge "tentacle whip" attack with decent range but limited ability to hit around corners. Similar to a Demo shred, it's useful in the open or tiles with straight walls but quite tricky to use in round loops like rocks around certain filler pallets. Assuming that the Survivor is already leeched, this ability is generally quite strong.
• Head form is played in 3rd person view, allowing you to pull off many "Chucky-style" mindgames that'd be impossible for regular Killers in certain loops. Using the fly mode briefly to lower your height might also an interesting strategy to explore in some loops.
• Head form is unable to gain bloodlust or break pallets, but it can vault over them. Unlike some other vaulting Killers, Survivors cannot really phase through you and vault back without getting hit (even with Finesse!). For extremely safe pallets, this will often lead to a guaranteed hit after the Krasue catches up for a bit and the Survivor fails to do a full run around the loop. For less safe pallets with round loops, Survivors are typically able to run around the loop and vault again, forcing you to switch back to human form. This is one of the Krasue's biggest weakness as far as I can tell.
• Switching back to human form is VERY slow and hindering, giving Survivors a lot of distance. You reaally want to minimize the amount of times you do this unnecessarily and ideally do it when a Survivor is zoned and unable to just keep running.
• Switching into head form is quite fast and seamless, and you can begin to do things like vaulting much sooner than you'd think.
• Switching forms while getting pallet stunned doesn't interrupt the process, making it kinda possible to shrug off the effect of the stun.

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9.2.0 Dev Notes: Discussion video ✅ August 2025

• I've made a video discussing all of the major 9.2.0 changes since the post above simply does not have enough space to go into detail. It also speculates on what the future meta for both sides will evolve into.

https://youtu.be/uW-6b85rsy4