Dead by Daylight is sinking its fangs into its Castlevania crossover as Dracula enters the Player Test Build. The PTB gives players a first look at the new killer. It also gives the devs a chance to test The Dark Lord’s balance before release. It’s normal for Behaviour to tweak killers after their PTB appearance. The final Dracula may look different than this one. As it stands, however, Dracula is a complex, transformation-based killer. With the ability to summon Hellfire and swap between vampire, wolf, and bat forms, Dracula is shaping up to be a bloody good time in Dead by Daylight. Here’s what you need to know about his power, perks, and our first impressions from the PTB.
Dracula Dead by Daylight PTB Power
Dracula may end up being one of the hardest killers in Dead by Daylight thanks to his complicated ability, Shapeshift. This power grants The Dark Lord access to three forms that he can change between:
- Vampire Form: In his default state, The Dark Lord can use the powerful Hellfire spell, which creates seven pillars of flame that travel 7 meters and can be cast across low obstacles.
- Wolf Form: In Wolf Form, The Dark Lord has access to several abilities that allow for more effective tracking. Movement speed is increased, blood pools and scratch marks are more apparent, and survivors leave a trail of Scent Orbs behind them. The Dark Lord can collect these Scent Orbs to charge a powerful Pounce attack.
- Bat Form: While in Bat Form, The Dark Lord gains the Undetectable status effect. Additionally, he moves faster, ignores vault points, and can Teleport to any vault points within 32 meters. Survivors become invisible, but scratch marks can be seen.
There’s no Wolf Form Mori, but Dracula still gives players a lot to howl about. If left unchanged from the PTB, he’ll likely feel much like Vecna to play: a dynamic killer whose powers you need to use in unison to defeat survivors. If all else fails, his end-game add-ons make for a fiery finale, blasting nearby survivors and those in the exit gates with Hellfire. It may not be balanced, but it’s hilarious. That’s worth something.
The Dark Lord’s Perks
Dracula brings three perks to the Dead by Daylight PTB: Dominance, Hex: Wretched Fate, and Human Greed. Behaviour may adjust or rework them before release, but here’s how they function in their current form:
- Dominance – The first time each totem and each chest is interacted with by a survivor, that totem or chest is blocked by the Entity for 8 seconds. The auras of blocked totems and chests are revealed to you in white.
- Hex: Wretched Fate – After one generator has been repaired, a random Dull Totem becomes a Hex Totem and curses the Obsession. The Obsession suffers a 33% repair speed penalty. They also see this Hex Totem’s aura when within 12 meters. This effect persists until the Hex Totem is cleansed.
- Human Greed – You see the auras of unopened chests and survivor auras are revealed for 3 seconds when they enter an 8-meter range. You gain the ability to kick chests to close them. This ability has a 60-second cooldown. Survivors unlocked these chests 50% faster.
Punishing side objectives such as totems and chests feels bad when they’re already poorly incentivized. That makes Dominance and Human Greed feel like missteps. That said, it’s easy to imagine rough combos such as Dominance, No One Escapes Death, and Undying. We’ll have to wait until Dracula makes his official Dead by Daylight debut to see how much blood The Dark Lord can spill.
