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There’s a lot of randomness when you’re playing Survivor inDead By Daylight. You can get a range of maps and Killers, and you have to change your play style accordingly if you want to escape. Each Killer in the game has a unique power, and you have to use different things to counter them.
RELATED:Dead By Daylight: Skull Merchant Complete Guide
The Skull Merchant was the 31st Killer released to the game, and she’s an apex predator who uses her drones to track and Expose Survivors. There’s a lot to her kit, and she can easily create pressure if the Survivors don’t know how to play against her.
Connect Different Loops
Two seconds after the Skull Merchant places a Drone in an area, it will get activated in a certain radius.If you stay in the radius for a few seconds, you’ll gain the Exposed status effect. This will allow the Killer to down you instantly, even if you’re fully healed. It’s important to stay out of this radius.
This can be done by connecting multiple loops.Most maps will have a strong loop like a shack or a jungle gym beside another semi-safe pallet or window. A good Killer will most likely place the Drone on every strong loop, so you’ll be forced to loop a weaker area.
Thankfully,Adriana doesn’t have any ranged attack, so she has to get quite close to hit you. Pay attention to the Killer’s hand since you’ll see a distinct animation whenever she places a Drone. This will give you enough time to leave the loop.
It’s also important to remember that she can’t place two Drones close to each other.If you have two loops close together, attempt to force her to place the Drone on the weaker loopso that you can freely loop the stronger one.
There are many tiles at the corner of a map, but these can be deadly against the Skull Merchant. If she corners you and places a Drone nearby,you’ll either have to get Exposed or take a hit while trying to leave the area. If you want to get chased for a long time by this killer, you have to stay calm.
If you’re on a strong loop and she places a Drone, you don’t have to leave instantly. It takes over ten seconds for a Survivor to get Exposed,so you may loop the area for a little more and wait for the correct opportunity to leave. The Killer also gets the Undetectable status effect if she stays inside the radius for over two seconds.
This effect removes her terror radius and the red stain.The absence of terror radius might not be a big deal, but it’s much easier for her to mind game without a red stain.
Separate The Generators You Repair
One of the strongest strategies used by the people playing this Killer is the three-gen strategy. Each map has two generators more than the amount you have to repair.The killer who’s using this strategy will try to control three generators that are close together. She can place a Drone on each of these generators.
She’ll get a notification when a Survivor enters these areas or if the Drones are deactivated.When this happens, the Killer will likely come back and place another Drone, making it hard to finish the last generator.
It’s important to stay vigilant from the start of the game if you want to prevent this from happening. Keep an eye on the generators finished by your teammates, andif they’re near the same area, you need to head in the opposite direction to repair the next generator. It’s also necessary to pay attention to Drones.
Some Adriana players will place three Drones on their desired three-gen at the very start. If you see Drones around at least two generators near each other, it’s recommended to deactivate one of them and repair the machine near it. The game can last over 30 minutes if you don’t prevent this strategy.
Some perks like Deja Vu can also help with this. The perkreveals the auras of three generators that are close together at the start of the game and every time a generator is finished. You will also get a five percent repair speed bonus on the highlighted generators.
Her Power Is Useless When You’re Injured
The main thing that makes Skull Merchant’s Drones deadly is the Exposed status effect.When you’re in the Injured state, this effect doesn’t matter since you’re one hit away from going down anyway. Adriana is essentially a basic attack Killer who can lose her terror radius when she’s chasing an Injured Survivor.
You don’t have to leave loops if she places a Drone in this state,which allows you to use the strong loops without any problem. you’re able to also stay Injured during the entire game if you’re good in chases, and you can use certain perks to help you with that:
Dead Hard
This perk gives you a free health state if you trigger it at the right time.It can only be used when you’re Injured, and the perk is activated for 0.5 seconds when you press the button. If the Killer hits you during this time, you won’t go down.
Resilience
When you’re Injured, this perkincreases your healing, repairing, and vaulting speed by nine percent. This will help you both in and out of chases.
Iron Will
This perk reduces the grunts of pain made by your character by 75 percent. This will make it much harder for the Killer to track your movement, and you can leave loops at the right time to gain distance in the chase.
This can also be used against the three-gen strategy mentioned above.If you have the required perks allowing you to stay injured, you won’t have to remove her Drone before repairing the generator.
Pay Attention To Your Surroundings
Ever since the improvements to Survivor HUD,you can see some tentacles beside Survivors who are getting chased. You need to be careful if you’re up against a Skull Merchant and you don’t see the tentacles on any Survivor.The Killer can use the Undetectable status effect provided by the Drone to surprise you.
If she gets close to you while you’re performing an action, she can instantly grab you and take you to a hook. With certain add-ons,the lingering Undetectable effect lasts for a long time after she exits the Drone radius.
Play The Killer To Learn Her Abilities
The best way to learn counters to a Killer is by playing them yourself. The game describes Adriana’s power in the game,but there are a lot of things that you can only learn when you play her. For example, you can learn the tactics used by the Survivors against you in the chase.
Moreover,you’ll get used to her add-ons and the general time it takes to get the Undetectable effect. You can also learn how her Radar works and how the Killer can use it against you. This will help you put up a fight against the Skull Merchant as Survivor.
Confidence Goes A Long Way
The Skull Merchant is much harder to win againstif you’re playing solo since you need to cooperate with three other teammates. Whenever this happens, you need to be confident if you’re good at chases. There are many ways you’re able to turn the odds in your favor with this:
This methodrequires a lot of experience in chases since it’ll end up working against you if you go down quickly. Confidence is great in solo queues because you might get teammates who are afraid of getting chased.
