Dead by Daylight Patch 10.2.0 Notes: Huge Perk Overhaul, Survivor Quick Chat and a New End Trial Option
Dead by Daylight 10.2.0 is live with a huge perk overhaul, an 8-message Survivor chat wheel, new Abandon and End Trial rules and the Academia Rift.
Behaviour Interactive's mid-chapter update for Dead by Daylight landed on October 6, 2026, and it is a big one. Version 10.2.0 (patch 3.81 on consoles) touches dozens of Killer and Survivor perks, adds a quick-chat wheel for Survivors, rewrites how leaving a match works and opens a new Rift called Academia. The update tested 58 perk changes and spent three weeks on the Public Test Build after going up on September 15, and a few perks changed again before it went live.
Here's what you need to know.
TL;DR
- Massive perk overhaul: dozens of perks were reworked or retuned across both sides, many of them long-forgotten picks.
- Survivor Intent System: an 8-message chat wheel for Survivors, with mute and opt-out options.
- Abandon, Surrender and End Trial: new rules for leaving a match, including a Killer option to end trials against bots.
- Academia Rift: college-themed outfits for six characters, plus Design-a-Cosmetic winners for Kate and The Deathslinger.
- The Mastermind: smoother Virulent Bound movement.
- Borrowed Time was reverted to its old version before launch.
Survivor Intent System
Survivors can finally talk to each other without voice chat. Holding the scroll button on mouse (or right on the d-pad on controller) opens a wheel with eight predefined messages; hover one and release to send it. Messages show up next to the sender's portrait on the left side of the screen, and you can pick which messages appear on the wheel in the new Gameplay section of the settings.
To prevent spam, sending messages quickly adds a 1-second cooldown that grows up to 5 seconds if you keep going, then resets once you wait. You can mute specific players from the Match Details screen without them being told, or switch the whole system off. Players who opt out show a "no" icon so teammates know not to expect replies.
Abandon, Surrender and End Trial
Leaving a match now has three clearly separated options:
| Option | Who | When it's available | MMR result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abandon | Survivor | All other Survivors are bots | Draw |
| Abandon | Killer (new) | All remaining Survivors are bots and at least one isn't Dying | Draw |
| Surrender | Survivors | Every Survivor is Dying at the same time (this used to be called Abandon) | Loss |
| End Trial | Killer (new) | All remaining Survivors are bots and all are Dying | Based on match result; bots are Sacrificed |
Behaviour also removed two older conditions: one that triggered when a Survivor kept recovering from the Dying State, and one that triggered when no Generator had been worked on for a long time.
Biggest Killer Perk Changes
The theme on the Killer side is clear: weak perks got real numbers.
| Perk | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Agitation | 6/12/18% Haste while carrying | 14/16/18% Haste, plus a 12m larger Terror Radius |
| Unrelenting | Missed-attack cooldown 20/25/30% shorter | 30/35/40% shorter, successful hits 10% shorter, obstructed attacks count |
| Help Wanted / Machine Learning | 1 compromised Generator at a time | Up to 3 at once |
| Fire Up | 4/5/6% faster actions per token | 6/7/8% per token, up to 5 tokens |
| Hex: Nothing but Misery | Totem lights after 8 hits | Lights after 4 basic-attack hits; adds a 10% vault slowdown |
| Knock Out | 6m, 5% Hindered | 10m, 20% Hindered for 2/3/4 seconds |
| Distressing | Larger Terror Radius only | 30% larger Terror Radius and 6/7/8% slower repairs inside it |
| Bitter Murmur | 16m aura for 5s on Generator completion | 20m for 10s; all-Generators aura 16/18/20s |
Dead Man's Switch was reshaped too: after a hook, the first Survivor to stop repairing for more than two seconds blocks that Generator for 30/35/40 seconds. Hex: Thrill of the Hunt, Shattered Hope and Undone got full reworks, with Undone now banking a token per hook and spending them on Generator kicks for extra regression and a block. Dark Arrogance speeds up window vaults and missed-attack recovery, though its bonus no longer applies after a successful hit; that was trimmed between the PTB and live.
Biggest Survivor Perk Changes
Survivors got the same treatment, with a big focus on altruism and team play.
| Perk | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Better Than New | 12/14/16% faster actions | 40/45/50% faster healing, blessing, cleansing and chest unlocking |
| No One Left Behind | 50/75/100% faster healing and unhooking | 80/90/100%, plus extra Haste on unhook |
| Friendly Competition | 5% faster repairs for 100–120s | 10% for 80/85/90s |
| Calm Spirit | Slower Totem and Chest actions | 8/9/10% faster |
| Flow State | 8/9/10% per token | 13/14/15% per token |
| Self-Preservation | 20/25/30s of Elusive | 13/14/15s |
Five Moves Ahead now shows only the five closest Pallets rather than windows. Windows of Opportunity was reworked into a 24m window-aura perk with 10% faster vaults and a cooldown. Spine Chill, Premonition, Down to the Last, Road Life, Stake Out, Slippery Meat and Small Game were also reworked, and This Is Not Happening now makes Good skill-check zones 150/175/200% bigger.
Shoulder the Burden traded its Exposed penalty for Injured and Broken. On the PTB it also switched off for the whole team after one use; that clause was removed for the live version, so it's still once per trial for you only.
Changes From the PTB
Behaviour's PTB-to-live developer update on October 5 adjusted five perks: Shoulder the Burden (buffed), This Is Not Happening (lost its Great skill-check boost), Dark Arrogance (no longer helps after hits), Windows of Opportunity (kept as tested) and Borrowed Time, which was rolled back to the current live version instead of the PTB's passive mending rework.
New Content and Killer Tweaks
The Academia Rift brings college-themed outfits for Vee, The Huntress, Claudette, Renato, Thalita and The Clown, along with the 2025 Design-a-Cosmetic winning outfits for Kate and The Deathslinger.
The Mastermind feels better to play: Virulent Bound collides less with ground-level clutter, keeps some momentum off ledges (except when grabbing a Survivor) and allows sidesteps between bounds.
Bug Fixes Worth Knowing
- Thrill of the Hunt can no longer leave Totems blocked for a Survivor for the whole trial.
- Dark Arrogance's longer Blindness duration now actually applies.
- Stake Out no longer loses or spends tokens incorrectly.
- Survivor bots no longer reveal Ghostface across the map (listed as a tentative fix).
- Several stuck-Killer spots were fixed on maps including Midwich Elementary, The Thompson House, Dead Dawg Saloon and Nostromo Wreckage.
- Keyboard input on the Epic Games Store version should no longer stop working until a restart.
What It Means for Players
This patch is about variety. Many of the reworked perks were rarely seen in matches, and the new numbers give both sides real reasons to try something other than the usual meta builds. Expect Agitation, Unrelenting and stacked Help Wanted/Machine Learning to show up a lot on Killers, while Better Than New and No One Left Behind could make healing builds popular again on the Survivor side. The chat wheel is a quieter change, but it could matter most for solo queue players who have never had a way to coordinate.
With this many changes at once, some perks will almost certainly be over- or under-tuned. The official wiki already lists 10.2.1 and 10.2.2 hotfixes as "TBA," so keep an eye out for follow-up adjustments in the coming weeks.
Sources
This article was written by AI (Claude) and checked against the sources above. Games are updated regularly, so details may change.