Dead by Daylight 2v8 Killer Guide to Please the Entity

Dead by Daylight‘s 2v8 mode offers a unique challenge to killers and survivors. There are no perks and no hooks, leading to a faster and more streamlined experience. There’s even an extra exit gate to escape from at the end of the Trial, making 7-8ks difficult. Whether you’ve been dying to play with a friend and experience killer Discord comms for the first time or you just want to watch the world burn, killer is the place to be. Behaviour‘s balancing isn’t perfect here, so you’ll have some hills to climb. The reward is a pulse-pounding experience unlike any in the game. Here’s our essential guide to playing 2v8 killer in Dead by Daylight.

Killer Selection

Dead by Daylight‘s normal mode is already oriented toward playful chaos rather than balance, and 2v8 only affirms that expectation. You should play whichever killer you have the most fun with, but if you want to know which killer has the edge going in, we’ve given each killer a simple ranking:

1. Nurse – strong
2. Huntress – strong
3. Wraith – average
4. Billy – weak
5. Trapper – weak

Although Hillbilly is one of the strongest characters in Dead by Daylight‘s standard mode, he received a severe nerf in 2v8. His saw doesn’t insta-down in this mode, instead requiring two hits to put a survivor into the dying state. Nurse, meanwhile, received a series of buffs, including an extra Blink and extended lunge, cementing her status as the mode’s strongest killer. Whether you mind the meta is a different matter.

Generator Management

One of the first things you’ll notice is that while the number of killers and survivors doubled, the number of generators didn’t. Survivors need to complete only 8 generators to escape, not 10. That puts considerable pressure on killers, because patrolling so many gens isn’t easy, even with the elimination of hooks. You won’t be able to hold 3-gens the way you normally would. Patrol the map as necessary, but be ready to become more territorial if the survivors concentrate too much on one side.

Displacing clusters of survivors from generators is one of the most important aspects of 2v8 strategy. For that reason, weaker but more mobile killers like Billy and Wraith can hold their own by zooming around the map and smacking whoever they find. All is not lost just because you load in without a Nurse. Even if you can’t communicate with your partner, watch their movements and keep an eye on where survivors are fleeing, repairing, and healing to anticipate their next move.

Killer, Team, and Innate Skills

Although there are no perks in 2v8, killers have new powers to tilt the Trial to their side despite the lack of custom loadouts. Every killer shares the same two Killer Skills while possessing a unique Innate and Team Skill. Here’s how they work:

• Killer Skill (Generic): Upon entering a chase, the targeted survivors are revealed for 5 seconds, or until the other killer is within 16 meters of the survivor.
• Killer Skill (Generic): After kicking a generator, all survivors within 20 meters are revealed for 5 seconds. Increases the regression speed of generators by 200%.
• Team Skill (Trapper): When a Bear Trap is placed or reset, both killers gain 150% Haste for 3 seconds within 16 meters of the Bear Trap.
• Innate Skill (Trapper): The Trapper cannot be caught in his Bear Traps. Increases Bear Trap setting speed by 50% and increases the time required to escape a Bear Trap by 25%. Start with 4 Traps. Increases the maximum number of carried Traps to 4. 8 Traps spawn in the map.
• Team Skill (Wraith): While cloaked within 16 meters of your teammate, they gain the Undetectable status effect.
• Innate Skill (Wraith): Increases cloaking and uncloaking speed by 22%. Increases movement speed while cloaked by 9%.
• Team Skill (Hillbilly): While in a chainsaw sprint, survivors within 10 meters suffer from the Exposed status effect until the chainsaw sprint ends.
• Innate Skill (Hillbilly): Increases Chainsaw Sprint turn speed by 44%. Decreases cooldown after hitting obstacles by 12%. Chainsaw does not automatically trigger dying state.
• Team Skill (Nurse): Gain an additional Blink while within 16 meters of your teammate. This additional Blink is lost when out of range.
• Innate Skill (Nurse): Increases the length of Blink Attack lunges by 30%. Increases reach by 30% with each consecutive Blink. Decreases the duration of Blink fatigue by 7%. Teleporting within 1 meter of a survivor causes them to scream. Decreases fatigue from Chain Blinks by 65%. Increases movement speed during a chain Blink by 30%. Increases the duration of the chain Blink window by 0.2 seconds. Decreases fatigue from missing Special Attacks by 0.5 seconds.

Three Hatches, No Hooks

Instead of hooking survivors, 2v8 uses a cage mechanic. These function like Pyramid Head’s Cages of Atonement, allowing you to teleport dying survivors to them from the ground. Unless you’re grabbing someone off a generator or vault, flashlight saves are pretty much nonexistent. 2v8 matches in Dead by Daylight feel much quicker than normal as a result of this mechanic, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Eliminate death-hooked survivors when you can, but keep your focus on generator management and area control.

Instead of the Hatch appearing when there’s one survivor left alive, three hatches spawn when the final three survivors remain. Given Hatch spawn RNG, finding or losing the last couple of survivors often feels like a roll of the dice. If you’ve already gotten to that point, you’ve already killed the majority of the survivors (effectively winning), so it’s not worth worrying about. The Entity will be pleased with its blood sacrifices.

Teamwork

Obvious as it is, your biggest advantage in Dead by Daylight‘s 2v8 mode as killer is teamwork. If you have experience playing The Twins, using Victor and Charlotte to corral survivors, you’ll understand how powerful this can be. The easiest way to ensure good teamwork is to use Discord or another third-party chat service for comms. Even without that, however, you can use the survivor health indicators on the HUD (and any auras you spot) to take capitalize on your teammate’s work. Playing with a friend makes the whole experience much less stressful, but there are ways to accomplish your bloody work regardless.