What would happen if you combined Dead by Daylight and Valorant? You will get The Skull Merchant, Dead by Daylight’s latest killer that can deploy drones and track survivors. As if that doesn’t sound nightmarish enough, this killer also has some of the most terrifying perks and utility that require knowledge and good decision-making skills to use. If you want to main her, ensure you know all of Skull Merchant’s abilities, perks, and how to use her to win games easily in Dead by Daylight.
The Skull Merchant’s Abilities in Dead by Daylight
The Skull Merchant is a tech-savvy killer. Forget about the old-school stalking and backstabbing playstyle. Thanks to her abilities, this ruthless killer doesn’t need to tail you around to know where you are.
Deploy Drone
At the start of the trial, the Skull Merchant can deploy four drones anywhere on the map. After booting it up, the drone will enter an Active Mode, creating a Detection Zone around itself. The killer is undetectable within the zone, but survivors who linger too long in it will be exposed and can instantly be put in a dying state when injured.
Meanwhile, if the drone doesn’t detect anyone, it will switch to Scouting Mode. Instead of creating a Detection Zone or area, it will start scanning its surroundings with two laser beams. During this time, survivors can attempt to hack the drone to disable it. However, if they fail to do so, the drone will become active again, alerting the killer.
Lock on
Lock On is a debuff that will trigger to survivors after 10 seconds of being in the active drone area, revealing their position to the killer.
Claw Trap
If a survivor manages to hack a drone, a Claw Trap will attach to them. The Claw Trap has a 45-second battery that allows the killer to keep tabs on the survivors from the Radar. The battery will recharge if they fail to hack it or are inside an active drone area.
Inspect Radar
The Skull Merchant can use a Radar when pressing the Active Ability button. The Radar works like a GPS tracker, showing all the survivors within the drone area and those stuck with an active Claw Trap.
The Skull Merchant’s Perks in Dead by Daylight
- THWACK!: the next time you break a wall or a pallet after hooking a survivor, all survivors within 28/30/32 meters will scream, and you will see their auras for 4 seconds.
- Leverage: for each hooked survivor, earn a token up to 10. Each token decreases the survivors’ healing speed by 3/4/5% and can stack up to 30/40/50% for the next 30 seconds.
- Game Afoot: every time you hit the survivor who has been chased the longest, you will gain 5% haste for 8/9/10 seconds after breaking a wall, pallet, or damaging a generator. They will also become the Obsession.
How to Play The Skull Merchant in Dead by Daylight
As you can see from the The Skull Merchant’s abilities and perks above, this killer is designed to switch targets throughout the game instead of tunneling one survivor. By changing targets, you’ll be able to run and break pallets faster and slug the survivor’s progress from healing each other.
Next, you’ll want to place your drones in places where survivors will most likely be around, such as generators, pallets, buildings, and even the killer shack. This will help you detect them easier throughout the match since you can see their heartbeat from afar when they get exposed.
The Skull Merchant’s lack of mobility is compensated for by her utility. Remember that you have a Radar that can track exposed and Claw Trapped survivors, so make sure to use it as often as possible while roaming the map. Other than Radar, you can listen to audio cues, like breathing, panting, vaulting, and repairing generators to help you find survivors quickly.
Related: All Kill Rates for Every Killer in Dead by Daylight
Finally, focus on hooking as many survivors as possible instead of dropping one to chase another. Doing this will allow you to earn tokens to decrease the survivor’s healing speed. In addition, you can cause all the survivors within your range to scream when you break a pallet or wall after hooking someone.
