The Skull Merchant Comes to Dead by Daylight: A Beginner’s Guide
Her reign is built on a mountain of bone. Dead by Daylight’s latest Killer is The Skull Merchant, a ruthless apex hunter driven to pursue prey worthy of her talents.
After years of experimentation, she has finally perfected her deadliest tool: Drones, designed to observe and track any Survivor in its vicinity. Meticulously handcrafted using the skulls of her many victims, these grotesque combinations of bone and metal cast an oppressive shadow.
To effectively master this Killer, you must be prepared to set traps, analyze key points of interest, and capitalize on emboldened Survivors. While The Skull Merchant comes with three Character Perks – Game Afoot, Thwack!,and Leverage – this guide is focused on her Power and how to use it.
The Drone Zone
The Skull Merchant’s Power, Eyes to the Sky, allows her to position multiple Drones in places of her choosing. Some potential places could be around Generators, Hex Totems, or areas that may see heavy travel. You will also have a Radar device, which will allow you to track the location of Survivors under certain circumstances.
Once a Drone has been placed, it enters Active Mode and detects Survivors within its surrounding radius. Note that will you be Undetectable while in this radius, and any Survivor that enters it will be revealed on your Radar. While inside the Active Zone, the Drone will gradually Lock-On to that Survivor, revealing their exact location through Killer Instinct. They will also become Exposed.
If several seconds pass and no Survivor enters the radius while the Drone is in Active Mode, the Drone will switch to Scouting Mode. While in Scouting Mode, the Drone will slowly rotate to catch Survivors in its line of sight. It’s far safer for a Survivor to approach during this time, provided they can avoid the Drone’s rotating sightlines. Should the Drone detect them however, it will immediately enter Active Mode.
Once you place your Drones, you’ll have the ability to recall them or manually set them to Active Mode, though you cannot force a Drone to return to Scouting Mode. Consider using this if you predict that a Survivor is attempting to approach and disable a Drone, though you’ll have to primarily trust your instinct on this one. Remember, the more Survivors actively stressing about Drones, the better.
Key Placements
One of The Skull Merchant’s biggest strengths is her ability to keep tabs of Survivor locations. When you first spawn into a Trial, remember that Survivors will generally spawn at a considerable distance. As the Skull Merchant does not have cross-Map mobility to effectively disrupt their early game plans, you should try to get into a mindset of predicting their future actions.
While you make your approach, you’ll notice several Generators that have yet to be touched – the closer together they are, the better. These are ideal areas to station a Drone, as Survivors will eventually make their way toward those Generators. From there, they will have to choose whether to ignore the Drone and commit to the Generator, build progress to become Exposed and revealed through Killer Instinct, or attempt to disable the Drone and receive a Claw Trap.
Claw Trap: Whenever a Survivor successfully hacks and disables one of your Drones, they will receive a Claw Trap. When a Survivor receives a Claw Trap, their location will be trackable on your Radar until the Trap’s battery dies.
Because Drones create such a perilous zone for Survivors, it’s effective to widen the scope of your web by placing multiple. That way, you maximize the possibility of a favourable outcome. You’ll either end up targeting an Exposed Survivor or gain the ability to track a Claw Trapped Survivor on your radar. It may happen that a Claw Trapped Survivor attempts to draw you away to an inconvenient location – in that case, it’s up to you to decide whether taking that chase is worth it.
At the end of the day, The Skull Merchant is a Killer who specializes in trap placement, so don’t be discouraged if you lose a few Generators in the early game.
Drones and Radar
Dealing with all these Drones can feel overwhelming – especially when your initial placements prove ineffective, and you’re left improvising on the fly. Drones can have significant value in a chase, especially when you’re pursuing a Survivor around a complex loop with limited line-of-sight.
Not only will their exact location eventually be revealed by Killer Instinct if they remain in the Drone’s Active Zone, but you’ll also get the immediate benefit of becoming Undetectable. That means you won’t have to worry about hiding your Red Stain, and Survivors will have a harder time gauging your location.
As for your Radar – remember, you have it for a reason, so use it to obtain crucial information on Survivor whereabouts. The leftmost light informs you where you can place a Drone, while the rightmost one informs you when a Survivor is inside a Drone’s Active Zone. The Radar will remain unlit when your Power is on Cooldown. Keep an eye on those visual signals!
The Skull Merchant is all about control, and you’ll soon find that an effective setup can lead to some truly merciless results. The Skull Merchant is now available in Dead by Daylight’s Tools of Torment Chapter on Xbox.
Dead by Daylight
Behaviour Interactive Inc.