All Dead by Daylight Status Effects & What They Do

Here's every status effect in DBD for both killers and survivors.

First Published September 15, 2023, 06:22

Dead By Daylight has a huge array of perks, and all of them affect killers and survivors in one way or another. Understanding these status effects is important to success in DBD, no matter what build you're using or what your matchmaking rank is.

Let's take a look at all of the status effects in DBD for both killers and survivors, including what they do and what triggers them.

All Dead by Daylight Status Effects

There are both survivor buffs and debuffs, as well as killer buffs and debuffs, in DBD. We've listed all of them below, sorted into categories of survivor and killer, as well as buffs and debuffs.

DBD Survivor Buffs

• Haste

• Endurance

  • The Endurance status effect, which triggers with the help of numerous survivor perks, allows the survivor to take one hit from the killer without going down.

• Blessed

  • When a survivor places a Boon Totem, all survivors who remain in its range are Blessed, meaning that they'll be able to reap its benefits.

DBD Survivor Debuffs

• Hemorrhage

• Hindered

• Broken

  • Broken survivors cannot be healed for as long as they are Broken. Some survivor perks, like David King's No Mither, induce this effect in return for some benefits, but killer perks and add-ons can also inflict it upon enemies.

• Madness

  • The Doctor can inflict Madness upon survivors; there are three tiers of Madness, with each one having different effects. The Doctor's add-ons may affect what types of effects survivors will experience at each level of Madness.

• Mangled

• Oblivious

• Torment

  • Pyramid Head, also known as The Executioner, can bring on the Torment status effect by forcing survivors to step into his Trails of Torment. Tormented survivors leave trails behind them, and can be sent to a Cage of Atonement. Pyramid Head won't even need to pick the survivor up to send them to a cage, and no hook perks affect cages.

• Blindness

  • When survivors are affected by Blindness, they won't be able to see killer auras, survivor auras, generators, hooks, and more.

• Exhausted

  • The Exhausted status effect disallows you from using certain perks that make you Exhausted, preventing abuse of strong perks. You'll see this status effect after using Lithe, Sprint Burst, and more. Killers may also be able to make you Exhausted using their perks or add-ons.

• Exposed

• Cursed

  • Killers can put up Hex Totems around the map, causing a series of debuffs for survivors; when one of these totems is lit, survivors are Cursed. Survivors can get rid of this debuff by cleansing or blessing a Hex Totem.

• Deep Wound

  • The Deep Wound status effect forces survivors to mend; if they don't mend before the timer runs out, they'll immediately go down. Running pauses the timer, allowing survivors to continue in chases without their meter dropping down.

DBD Killer Buffs

• Bloodlust

  • Bloodlust triggers after killers have been chasing survivors for about 15 seconds, giving you some extra speed. There are three tiers of Bloodlust, with the killer becoming faster every few seconds until the third tier is reached.

  • Bloodlust is broken upon ending a chase, breaking a pallet, or breaking a wall.

  • The Bloodlust mechanic ensures that killers can usually down survivors even during the most challenging chases, provided enough time passes.

• Undetectable

  • The Undetectable status effect comes built-in with some killers (such as The Wraith, who takes it on when he is Cloaked), while others can induce it with the use of perks. When killers are Undetectable, they lose their Red Stain and Terror Radius, making it much harder for survivors to see them approaching.

• Haste

DBD Killer Debuffs

• Blindness

  • Just as survivors can experience Blindness, survivors can inflict it on killers, too, using Residual Manifest from Haddie Kaur. When killers are blinded, they can't see survivors' auras, nor can they see the auras of generators, hooks, or other objects.

That's every status effect in Dead by Daylight for both killers and survivors, as well as what they do. Knowing all of the different status effects can help improve your gameplay and prepare you for a wide variety of situations in the game, both as a killer and survivor.

For more Dead by Daylight news be sure to check out our dedicated section, or some of our Guides & Tutorials, just below:

DBD Seasons, Updates, Patch Notes and Roadmap Updates

DBD Tier Lists & Best Perks

DBD Killer Builds

DBD Survivor Builds

DBD Game Guides

All Seasonal DBD Events

Written by Cole Podany

Cole is a Staff Writer at GINX Esports TV based in the United States. He's a lover of all things horror and particularly loves old horror games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil. You can also find him writing about Dead by Daylight and a slew of other games. Outside of writing for GINX, Cole loves cooking and his two cats. You can contact Cole for pitches at [email protected].

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