Dead by Daylight – What to do as a new survivor and not be useless/dead weight

At the start of the match.

 
As soon as you start the match, you’ll spawn in a random place in the current map. 
 
Here’s what you should do. 
 
FIND A GENERATOR: Look around to see big flashing/sparking lamps, they tell you where a generator is located. You should ALWAYS get on a generator within your first 30 seconds of the match, this is your OBJECTIVE. 
 
Do NOT stand around in a corner of the map sneaking doing nothing, this gives the killer time to find someone and since they’re likely also at lower ranks, they can go down very quickly giving the killer quite a sizable amount of pressure at the very start of the match. 
 
While you’re in a generator, Do NOT run away at the first sound of the killer’s terror radius or if you fail a skill check, unless the killer has not found anyone else, most of the time they ignore the explosion and keep chasing or doing whatever they were doing. 
 
On indoor maps or maps with indoor areas, you won’t see the lamps like on other maps, you’ll need to find the generators by searching, usually in corners or in loops, they have a distinct yellow color to them. 
 
As you play, you’ll become familiarized as to where these generators spawn and you’ll find them faster, this will also help you if you play killer as you’ll have an idea of what you would do in that situation . 
 
If you have a secondary objective like looting chests or finding totems, do it after you or your team have completed at least 1 generator, remember you need to pressure generators to win else the killer WILL get you all since they have all the time in the world to do so. 
 
 

During the match.

 
As the match progresses, events will begin to unfold. 
 
People will get in chases, you will get chased, they will get downed and hooked, the generators should start to follow a timely trend (ideally). 
 
It is during this time that what you and your team do will decide whether you’ll escape or die. Observe what is happening around and see if you’re needed, if you see or know the killer is chasing someone else, do your secondary objective or if you have nothing else, DO GENERATORS. 
 
The game goes on, at this point let’s a*sume someone got downed and the killer has hooked them and by a miracle they were using kindred (if you’re playing solo you should use this perk) 
 
Here’s what you should do. 
 
Do NOT crouch around the hooked person’s area or crouch in the distance doing NOTHING waiting for the killer to miraculously teleport out to save your teammate, most of the time a killer will hook a survivor and go to patrol other gens or chase someone else, grow a pair and go for the save if no one else is doing it, remember your teammates have 2 hook states and limited time, saving is your priority if no one else is doing it, once a survivor dies and if you’ve done no generators, consider yourself already dead if you’re at more than 2 generators. 
 
Do Not be afraid of the killer to the point you become unable to move, if the killer downs you, that should give time to your team to save while the killer hooks you, unless you went down near the hook because you were crouching there doing NOTHING. 
 
Do NOT WALK, RUN! Don’t worry, scratch marks go away after a short amount of time, sometimes they’re quite unreliable, don’t just walk slowly if you hear no terror radius or if it’s a stealth killer, know he’s not around, the killer is not nearby, you CAN move quickly. 
 
But what if the killer is camping you say? At low ranks many killers camps cause they still are not experienced enough to keep map pressure and such they think this is the best way the game can be won. 
 
What should you do in that situation? Hear me out, GENERATORS. If you or your team truly have no means to save safely such as borrowed time or you can’t lure the killer away, slam the generators. 
 
Killers suffer for staying near the hook with a point penalty and more importantly, they’re doing nothing, slam the generators as fast as you can and escape. 
 
If you DO have borrowed time or can save safely otherwise, DO IT! Taking a hit for your hooked teammate can almost always lead them to escaping and the killer shifting their focus on you and if you save safely, sweet sweet SAVING AND PROTECTION POINTS. Ideally, whoever has been hooked the least, should go for this save. 
 
SLAM THE GENERATORS. 
 
 

I got downed.

 
This is something that will happen to you often as you climb the ranks, the game is designed in a way that the killer will always have the means to get you eventually, it is up to your team how they use the time you lasted in chase to progress the game, leading to a successful escape. 
 
Once the killer downs you, they will generally just proceed to hook you and move on, or if the killer is low ranked or inexperienced, he may then proceed to camp you. 
 
If the killer leaves you on the ground, here’s what you should do. 
 
ALWAYS RECOVER FIRST! Once you’re downed, you are now into what’s called the Dying State. During the state, you can try to crawl away from the killer or start to recover. 
 
Recovering will allow your teammates to heal you quicker, and if you’re fully recovered, to almost instantly get you back up again. 
 
This is important and often comes into play when the killer is dominating and has most survivors on the floor, you not recovering gives your teammate no chance to heal you if they’re on a chase, allowing the killer to at that point, win the match. 
 
During this time, a teammate could have Unbreakable or Soul Guard, perks that will allow them to get back up, or you may have it too. This is potentially game changing if used properly and can bring the game back from the brink of total defeat since the killer can only chase 1 person at the time but if you’re not recovered, the killer gets more time to chase and undo all that you or your team just did. 
 
So in Summary, RECOVER ALWAYS. 
 
 

At near the end of the match (endgame).

 
First of all, Congratulations! If you reached endgame, it means you or your team actually did the objective, GENERATORS and are very close to winning! 
 
It is at this time that your critical thinking will become essential for surviving. In most situations, when the last generator is completed, the killer has their focus on someone or is then attempting to stop you or your team from opening the exit gates. 
 
There are 2 exit gates in each map, they spawn randomly. If you looked around at the start of the game, you may have an idea of where they are already. The exit gates become highlighted for a short time after completing the last generator so unless you didn’t have time to look, you should know where an exit gate is right away. 
 
If you see no one else going for it, head off to the exit gate and start opening it. Many situations can occur during end game, including one I see often which is the killer downs and hooks someone far from the exit gate and they were on their first or second hook. 
 
In that situation you need to make a decision, either try to save your teammate, which will award you points or just escape and leave them to their fate. 
 
As I mentioned before, if you have no means to save safely or the killer is just camping the hooked person, ideally you should just leave. 
 
What if the killer is in a chase while you opened the gates? If you’re confident your teammate can handle the killer, LEAVE! This will give the survivor being chased the opportunity to take the hatch if all others have also escaped, don’t stay just to prevent this from occurring. 
 
What if you have borrowed time and you want to save? In this situation, you should leave the gates at 99%. What this means is, start opening the gate as normal and then just as it’s about to reach the maximum progress in the bar, leave it just where you can tap it once and open it. 
 
What does this do? This prevents the start of Endgame Collapse, which is the timer bar you see above the screen once you open the gates, it should be obvious as to why you don’t want this ticking down if you intend to stay in the match and save your teammates or whatever. 
 
It also prevents the killer from using Blood Warden, a killer perk that will block the exit gates once they’ve been opened upon hooking someone. 
 
Once you’ve done everyting you can, then is bye bye time and leave, moving on to the next match. 
 
CONGRATULATIONS, YOU WON! 
 
 

Final Thoughts.

 
Long guide, but I felt I pointed out the most egregious mistakes new survivors often do that end up causing all others to lose the game. 
 
We all have to start somewhere, get used to the game and eventually you’ll gain more confidence to do more things, but remember you not doing anything to help progress the game not only is depriving you of points, but also depriving you of experience you will need as you face stronger killers. 
 
The Pickup ranks for stronger or more experienced killers is often around rank 12 and above, the killers here have, most of the time, played enough to know what to do and an inactive survivors doing nothing is like breakfast served on a silver plate for a killer. 
 
If I left something out, feel free to point it out and good luck in your future games. 
 

I hope you enjoy what we shared today about Dead by Daylight – What to do as a new survivor and not be useless/dead weight. If there is anything, you want us to add, please let us know via comment below! See you soon! And thanks!