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The Entity’s thirst for blood and misery is about to be slaked. 2v8 mode can be a big adjustment if you’re used to the normal Dead by Daylight experience. With twice as many killers and survivors on the map, it’s easy for things to spiral out of control for either side. Behaviour leaned into the chaos by doing away with hooks and perk loadouts, instead using classes and new killer powers to deliver an exciting game. Communication is more important than ever, but even without it, survival is possible. Here’s our essential guide to playing a survivor in Dead by Daylight 2v8.
Survivor Selection and Killer Counters
While survivors have their free choice of characters, only five killers are playable in 2v8: Trapper, Wraith, Hillbilly, Nurse, and Huntress. It doesn’t matter which survivor you select, since all your advantages will come from your choice of class (discussed below). As soon as the Trial begins, take note of which killers are present. 2v8 grants them new abilities that can create some deadly synergies, such as Wraith’s ability to grant his killer partner the Undetectable status when nearby.
Although Nurse remains the strongest opponent you’ll face, high-mobility killers such as Wraith and Hillbilly pose a unique threat. Their ability to quickly patrol and disrupt survivors makes pressuring multiple gens more important than ever. Before jumping into a match, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the new killer powers. Knowing what threats to expect will give you a significant edge when the Trial starts.
Innate, Aura, and Team Skills
There are no perks to choose as a survivor in Dead by Daylight 2v8, so you won’t have to worry about creating a build. Instead, survivors can choose from four classes: Escapist, Guide, Medic, and Scout. Each brings three unique abilities, as well as a generic fourth skill that only unlocks on your second cage stage. Here’s how these skills work:
- Unlockable Skill (Generic): After reaching the second cage state, survivors gain the ability to self-heal and fully recover. Once a survivor has fully recovered themselves, having completed at least 25% of their own recovery progression, they gain the Endurance status effect for 20 seconds and a 10% Haste status effect for 10 seconds.
- Team Skill (Escapist): While sprinting, all survivors within 12 meters gain 150% Haste for 3 seconds. This team skill has a cooldown of 20 seconds.
- Aura Skill (Escapist): Reveals the auras of pallets, windows, and breakable walls within 32 meters.
- Innate Skill (Escapist): Gain 3% Haste while injured.
- Team Skill (Guide): When repairing a generator, this skill reveals your aura and your generator’s aura to your team.
- Aura Skill (Guide): Reveals the auras of any generators within 16 meters.
- Innate Skill (Guide): Survivors within 8 meters gain an additional 3% bonus progress for great Skill Checks while repairing generators, and the noises caused by your repairs are reduced by 50%. This does not apply when the survivor is hiding in a locker.
- Team Skill (Medic): While healing another survivor, their aura is revealed to the team. Survivors within 3 meters gain a 25% bonus when healing others. This does not apply while in a chase.
- Aura Skill (Medic): Reveals the aura of injured survivors within 128 meters.
- Innate Skill (Medic): Increases healing speed by 35%.
- Team Skill (Scout): While a killer is within line of sight within 64 meters, their aura is revealed to the team.
- Aura Skill (Scout): Reveals the auras of both killers when they perform the break action on pallets, generators, or breakable walls.
- Innate Skill (Scout): Grunts of pain caused by injuries are reduced while crouching. Increases movement speed while crouching.
Comms and Cages
Survive With Friends (SWF) has been a thing in Dead by Daylight from the beginning, so many players have a lot of practice with third-party comms. Whether or not you’re using Discord to chat with your team, however, communication gets messy as a survivor in Dead by Daylight 2v8. With so many voices, it doesn’t take much to get confused or overwhelmed. Pay attention to the HUD so you have at least a general idea of how your team is doing in terms of cage stages and generator completion.
Instead of hooking survivors, killers must cage them three times. This works much like Pyramid Head’s Cages of Atonement, allowing the killer to teleport downed survivors to cages instead of carrying them. The result? A much faster game than 1v4 mode. Prepare for the gens (and cage stages) to fly. The ability to get rapid downs and cages makes Nurse and Huntress deadly, especially when paired with a stealthy Wraith. Beware Undetectable killers to avoid eating a hatchet while healing.
Generator Management
If you want to survive long enough to earn a bucket of Blood Points for that P100 grind, generator management is key. Just like in 1v4, playing a survivor in 2v8 often comes down to splitting up and pressuring multiple generators simultaneously. Although the number of survivors and killers doubled for this mode, you only need to complete eight generators to escape. Expect mobility killers like Wraith and Hillbilly to attempt to corral you, minimizing the amount of map their teammate needs to cover. Although Nurse remains the mode’s most lethal killer, she’s also the slowest. Pressure distant gens to make her slow speed hurt.
Hatch, Exit Gates, and Escape
When there are only three survivors left, three Hatches will appear instead of one. Only one survivor can escape this way, but it’s still a good emergency plan if things go sideways. There are three exit gates as well, so the two killers won’t just be able to camp them. That said, Trapper can still trap multiple exit gates, so keep an eye on the ground if he’s in the Trial. On the plus side, you won’t have to worry about NOED or No Way Out in this 2v8.
Body-blocking to help an injured survivor escape carries higher risks in this mode, too, as coordinated killers can two-tap you. There’s nothing quite like getting smacked by a Huntress hatchet only to see the Nurse teleport on top of you for a bone-saw finisher, so keep an eye on your surroundings if you’re on escort duty. Take advantage of aura abilities such as the Scout’s Team Skill to track the killers and wait for the optimal moment before attempting escape. The Entity is only too happy to feed upon the unsuccessful.
