If you don’t want to be a Blendette your whole life, you’ll eventually have to learn to loop the Killer. I know it’s scary, but the rewards are more than worth it — it’s thrilling, it helps your team, and it means you can potentially get away even when the Killer finds you.
How to use this guide
There’s a lot here. Instead of reading it all at once, try to pick just one or two things to practice — I suggest starting with learning to loop Safe Pallets. . Once you’ve gotten comfortable with whatever you choose to learn first, come back and pick something new to learn!
Basic Principles
Your goal when looping is simple: make the Killer spend as much time as possible chasing you while using as few resources as possible. To do this, simply keep objects in between you and the Killer for as long as possible. The best place to do this is on a Pallet — run in a circle around the object attached to the Pallet (changing directions if the Killer does), and then drop the Pallet if you think the Killer will be able to catch up with you on your next loop around the object.
Pallets can be a great way to keep distance between you and the Killer, but they are a limited resource; some maps may spawn as few as a dozen Pallets, and you could easily use 6 over the course of just one chase. It’s best to only drop Pallets if they’re going to stun the Killer, or if you’re already injured (or if you’ve already been hooked once or twice).
Instead, it’s ideal to use Window vaults whenever possible, as they can be used an infinite number of times over the course of a trial (though don’t forget that fast-vaulting a Window 3 times during a chase will block the Window for you for 30 seconds). Buildings, Double L-Walls, and some Jungle Gyms can all feature Windows that will allow you to extend your chase.
It’s also very important to make use of the speed boost you get when you’re damaged by the Killer. It’s usually pretty obvious when you’re going to take a hit from the Killer, so try to take advantage of it by positioning yourself to create as much distance as possible when you’re hit. Vaulting a window or dropping a pallet will remove your speed boost, so you want to try and run to a new tile (part of the map) that contains a Pallet or a Window the moment you’re injured by the killer. You get a ton of distance if you simply run directly away from the Killer after being hit: ~20 seconds of distance versus a standard movement speed Killer, in fact.
You can never predict what the Killer will do, so the most important principle in looping is to maintain vision of the Killer and/or their potential paths to you. Always try to position yourself and your camera in such a way that you know where the Killer is. If you can’t see the Killer, position yourself to be at the maximum distance away from any path the Killer could take to reach you.
Sticking to corners is generally a good idea — when not actively running away
Vaulting Speeds
There are 3 Survivor vault speeds in DBD. If you run in a straight line towards a Window for at least 2.5 meters and then vault while still holding sprint, you’ll fast-vault the Window. If you are holding sprint, but run at too much of an angle, or don’t get a running start, you’ll instead do a rushed vault, which is twice as slow. Either way, if you vault while holding sprint, the Killer will get a Loud Noise notification, giving away your position. You can also vault a window without holding sprint, which will slow vault the window — this does not give the Killer a Loud Noise notification.
Slow, rushed, and fast vault
It’s important to practice the angle required for fast-vaulting, especially when looping Windows like the Killer shack. A great way to practice is in Survive with Bots, which can be accessed from the Getting Started button on the main menu. It’s easy to tell if you pulled it off — the animation for the fastest vault is quite different from the medium speed vault, as the GIF above demonstrates.
Why Vaulting Windows Is So Great (as a Survivor)
The Killer can vault Windows, but the Killer vaults much, much slower than a Survivor. The 3 vault speeds for Survivor are .5, .9. and 1.5 seconds, while all Killers take 1.7 seconds to vault by default. This is why usually, you won’t see Killers follow a Survivor through a Window. If they do, they’re generally giving the Survivor a chance to get further away.
That being said, sometimes a Killer can surprise a Survivor by vaulting. Additionally, the Perk Bamboozle lets a Killer vault faster and block the Window while doing so. The Fire Up Perk also allows Killer’s to vault faster, and there are add-ons for Legion and Wraith’s powers that allow them to increase their vault speed as well.
How to Loop a Pallet
Basically, you run around the loop until you can’t make another full loop without getting smacked, at which point you drop the Pallet. When there is a long and short side of a loop, always play the long side. What this means is, only run back and forth on the longer edge of the loop. Otherwise, the Killer may be able to double back and hit you as you vault the Pallet.
The left side of this loop is long enough to utilize, but the right side is not
It’s also good to know that there are only two vault speeds for Pallets: slow and fast. You don’t need a running start to fast vault a Pallet; as long as you’re holding the sprint button, you’ll fast vault it. Killers cannot vault Pallets, they must break the Pallet or go around it. If a Killer doesn’t break a Pallet on a safe loop, keep looping it until they break it or give up.
Pallets: Safe and Unsafe
There are two basic types of Pallets (safe and unsafe), and there are two of each of these types of Pallets. Knowing which is which at a glance is an important part of looping successfully.
Safe Pallets
God Pallets
A God Pallet is a Pallet that completely blocks a Killer’s access to a tile from a given direction. A Survivor can loop the Killer on a God Pallet indefinitely, and the Killer must either break the Pallet, or give up on the chase. Every map has at least one God Pallet: the Pallet in the Killer Shack. Some maps also have God Pallets in or near the main building.
If you aren’t on your death hook, and the game isn’t almost over, try not to drop these Pallets. It’s better to have them available at the end of the game, or available for a Survivor that will die if they’re caught.
When this Pallet is dropped, the Killer must vault the window or go all the way to the other door in order to exit the shack
Strong Pallets
A Strong Pallet is a Pallet that, like the God Pallet, the Killer needs to break in order to catch a Survivor looping on it. Unlike God Pallets, these Pallets don’t cut off access to a tile, but dropping these Pallets still creates a safe loop.
If you are still uninjured while looping, sometimes it can be better to leave these pallets up and take a hit instead, especially if you haven’t been hooked yet. These Pallets can also be useful in removing Bloodlust (a speed boost Killer get when chases go long) from the Killer — if you’ve been in a long chase, using one of these Pallets and forcing the Killer to break it will both give you a chance to get to a new tile, and also take away their Bloodlust.
A few examples of Strong Pallets. Note that the right-hand Pallet is relatively safe, but the high walls mean you can still get outplayed by the Killer and caught on it.
Unsafe Pallets
While many players don’t bother with a distinction, I’ve found that there seem to be two tiers of Unsafe Pallet:
Psuedo-Safe Pallets
Psuedo-Safe Pallets would be strong Pallets, except that you can’t see the Killer over the Pallet, and the walls aren’t very long. This means the Killer can mind-game you and surprise you on the loop with relative ease.
The height of the haybales make it hard to keep track of the Killer while on this loop
Weak Pallets
Weak (aka Trash) Pallets are only good for stunning the killer, as the loop they form is too short to avoid the Killer on. Once you drop one of these Pallets, immediately run. If the Killer isn’t close enough to stun, it may not even be worth dropping, as in the image below — the Killer can go around, and all you’ve done is lose time dropping the Pallet.
These are also only useful if you can run a straight line through the Pallet. If you have to approach at an angle, the Killer should be able to hit you after you drop the pallet in most instances.
Pallets with little or no objects to form a wall are only good for running through and insta-dropping
Looping Specific Tiles
How to Loop the Shack
The Killer shack spawns on almost every map, and it spawns with the same basic features each time. The shack will always have 1 window and 2 doorways, though the location of the doorways and the window may change Trial to Trial. It may or may not have a Generator or the Basement.
The shack, as seen in-game and from above
The Window is the key to looping the shack. What you want to do is run away from the Killer around the outside of the shack, and ideally enter the doorway that’s further from the Window. If instead you vault after going through the doorway close to the Window, the Killer can potentially catch you after you vault, since they can easily make their way to your exit point.
Wait until you can see that the Killer has committed to the far doorway, then vault through the Window. While you can commit once you see the Killer’s red stain, it’s possible that the Killer is moon-walking, so it’s usually best to make sure before you commit to the vault.
The left doorway is your friend – the far doorway is too close to the window
Wait to take the window until the Killer has committed to entering the shack
If you can’t tell if the Killer is chasing you, wait on the corner of the shack near the door (ideally the doorway furthest from the window), and position your camera so that you can see both of the other corners. Once you see the Killer’s red stain on the ground, you can commit to running the other way.
Here, my camera should be further to the right so I can watch both angles (but note the Killer’s red stain)
The Killer might try to trick you by going through the shack, or by doubling back. Find the holes in the shack wall and try to look through them — if you can see the Killer, you can avoid them.
Obviously, a lot of these tips only apply to Killers that can’t go through walls and don’t have ranged attacks. While the shack can still be strong against these Killers, you’ll have to play it fairly differently depending on the Killer (and their style).
A final reminder: the Pallet in the Killer shack is very strong, and should be saved for emergencies!
Looping Double L and L-T Tiles
For simplicities sake, we’ll just look at an L-T wall here, since most of the principles are the same; the only real difference is that on the L-T tile, the T wall is longer, and therefore is usually the safer wall to loop if you have a choice.
As a Survivor, you want the Killer to follow you clockwise by going around the outside of the tile. If they do this, you can loop the tile until the Entity blocks the Windows (after 3 vaults through each).
If the killer does this, you can loop the tile for quite awhile (Red = Killer, Green = Survivor)
However, If the Killer knows what they’re doing, they’ll cut through the middle of the tile, forcing the Survivor to the outside of the loop:
This creates a 50/50 situation, where the Killer can moon-walk to trick the Survivor into vaulting into them.
By looking one direction but walking another, the Killer can reveal their red stain to the survivor, and then double back and catch them at the Window vault
If the Survivor is careful, however, you can end up with a situation where either player can choose to commit to a direction:
If the Killer takes the inside path, the Survivor can choose to loop the outside of either wall (preferably the T wall). If the Killer takes the outside path, you’ll end up with this:
Going through the Window is very risky here for the Survivor, so the better option is to go around the outside of the wall. This then creates another 50/50 situation, and the cycle repeats!
One option for the Survivor anytime you’re in the 50/50 situation is to leave the tile entirely when the Killer doesn’t have vision of you. Of course, you should only do this if the nearby tile you head towards has a loop of some kind. When done correctly, this can extend your lead on the Killer and therefore the chase.
Practice Makes Perfect
Many players struggle with a fear of the Killer, and that’s the #1 thing you’ll need to work on if you want to get good at running the Killer around. You’re going to need to get comfortable being in the Terror Radius. I encourage you to find the Killer at the start of your next Trial and practice something you’ve learned in this guide.
There he is!
Even if you can’t bring yourself to actively seek out the Killer at the start of the Trial, you should definitely try to get the Killer’s attention if you have fellow Survivors on their last hook and you haven’t been hooked yet. This is a great opportunity to practice looping, and you’ll give your team the opportunity to do Gens and maybe even escape the Trial. Will this sometimes lead to you being left on the hook while everyone else escapes? Of course! But we don’t care about winning one game, we care about getting better at Dead by Daylight… right?
Share this article:
DanielD
Unabashed FromSoftware fanboy still learning to take his time with games (and everything else, really). The time he doesn't spend on games is spent on music, books, or occasionally going outside.
Good essay. What date was this written?
This guide was published July 5th, 2021.
Veyr helpfl thank you
I liked how you finsihed it off.. I wish all survivors thought that way