Ever since the Dead by Daylight developers nerfed Freddy shortly after his original release, he has never been one of the stronger killers.
In fact, many players would put him dead last on their list but all of that is set to change with his upcoming rework that was live on the PTB.
Freddy received a complete rework on the test build and he will feel like a completely new killer now.
Instead of having the ability to directly pull a survivor into the dream state, they will now do that on their own. He loses the ability to track survivors who are asleep but gains the option to teleport straight to generators.
He also has the option to throw down dream pallets which will create a huge detriment to players who lose track of what pallets have been used and what haven’t.
There really is a lot to unpack with this rework as it’s easily one of the most major ones that the game has ever seen. Freddy is a fan-favorite character so it was never fun seeing him as one of the worst.
The Freddy rework has long been in the works but it’s never been clear what the developers had up their sleeves.
It’s too early to tell where he’ll fall on a tier list now since players haven’t gotten too much of a chance to play as or against him. Killers tend to be overjudged over their first couple of days so we like to wait a while before we make our final judgments.
There’s always balance tweaks in the works and it’s worth waiting to see if Freddy receives any fundamental changes before ranking him.
Let’s dive right in and look at the full list of changes coming to Dead by Daylight’s newly reworked killer.
Full List of Freddy Changes
Gameplay & power changes
Microsleep:
- Awake Survivors will see The Nightmare within 16 meters, The Nightmare will be intermittent from 16 meters to 32 meters, and while awake Survivors will hear The Nightmare emit a Terror Radius of 32 meters.
Falling Asleep:
- Survivors fall asleep passively over 60 seconds. Once asleep survivors see The Nightmare and hear The Nightmare emit a 2D 32 meter Lullaby instead of a Terror Radius. Once asleep Survivors will see the aura of an Alarm Clock on a dresser.
Waking Up:
- An awake Survivor can wake up a sleeping Survivor.
- Survivors can wake up by failing skill checks.
- Survivors can wake up by going to and removing an Alarm Clock off a dresser.
Dream Abilities
Dream Snares:
- Dream Snares slow and reveal a Survivors location.
- Only effective and visible towards Sleeping Survivors.
- Killers start with 8 tokens, each Snare costs 1 token to place. Only 8 traps can be placed at one time.
Dream Projection:
- Channel the ability to create a husk of The Nightmare at the targeted generator, complete the channel to take the position of the husk.
- Can be cancelled.
- For each sleeping Survivor gain a 15% cool down reduction on Dream Projection.
Misc Nightmare changes
- Loading tips for The Nightmare and playing against The Nightmare have been updated.
- Power Description and Power Tooltip updated for The Nightmare.
- All of The Nightmare’s add-ons have been modified to function with his new power set. If you have add-ons for The Nightmare, they will be exchanged for the new ones.
- Failing a hook sabotage skill check will wake up an asleep Survivor.
- Reduced the intensity of the Dream World post-process effect to increase visibility for survivors.
Misc Nightmare changes
- All of The Nightmare’s add-ons have been modified to function with his new power set. If you have add-ons for The Nightmare, they will be exchanged for the new ones.
- Failing a hook sabotage skill check will wake up an asleep Survivor.
- Loading tips for The Nightmare and playing against The Nightmare have been updated.
- Power Description and Power Tooltip updated for The Nightmare.
- Reduced the intensity of the Dream World post-process effect to increase visibility for survivors.