Michael Myers, notorious for terrorizing the teenagers of Haddonfield inHalloween,brings his signature brand of horror toDead by Daylight.As a stealth killer, the Shape can creep up on survivors without them seeing him, landing an early hit or even snatching survivors off generators.
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The Shape grows in power as he stalks survivors, transforming from killer who is stealthy but slow and weak to one who trades his stealth for an insta-downing stab and faster vault speed. Though many players consider Myers one of the weaker killers, experienced players know how to maximize the Shape’s unique strengths, making him a killer who is both fun and, in his own way, powerful.
Evil Within
The Shape feeds his power, Evil Within, by stalking survivors. The Shape can stalk multiple survivors at once. When the Shape is stalking, survivors are highlighted, and his Evil builds. There are three tiers of Evil Within, and understanding their strengths and weaknesses is critical to using the Shape well.
InEvil Within I, the Shape has reduced speed (4.2 m/s), a shorter lunge, and is Undetectable. InEvil Within II,the Shape has normal movement speed(4.6 m/s), a slightly above average lunge, a 16-meter terror radius, and slightly quicker vaulting speed. DuringEvil Within III,the Shape has a long lunge, the ability to insta-down, a normal 32-meter terror radius, and fast vaulting speed. By default, the Shape will revert toEvil Within II60 seconds after enteringEvil Within III.
The Shape’s Teachable Perks
The Shape’s teachable perks are more situational than those of many other killers:
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Save the Best for Lastcan be extremely powerful on “M1” basic attack killers, as reducing attack cool-downs can allow the killer to reenter chase, deny unhooks, and punish body blockers easily.Play with Your Foodcan be tremendously strong but relies upon the killer’s ability to find the Obsession consistently and at opportune times.Dying Lightis, unfortunately, not worth the perk slot most of the time, as the stackable penalty it grants it severely countered by the bonus it grants the Obsession.
General Strategy
Due to the Shape’s reduced speed and lunge range while inEvil Within I,the killer’s top priority is to enterEvil Within IIas quickly as possible. Although it’s tempting to go for an early hit or gen grab inEvil Within I,it’s almost always better to stalk survivors instead. Approaching from unexpected angles or stalking from afar (from second-floor windows for example) is a reliable way to build stalk early on. There is a hard cap to the amount of Evil that the Shape can gain from stalking a given survivor, so it’s advantageous to attempt to kill survivors who have been fully depleted rather than those that have plenty of Evil left to give.
The Shape has enormous “snowball” potential, able to turn the game around in an instant by downing multiple survivors duringEvil Within III,so catching multiple survivors together is always helpful. Rather than triggerEvil Within IIIat a distance and waste part of the power trying to catch up with the survivor, a better strategy is to “99” the killer’s evil by stopping just shy of triggeringEvil Within III.Only when the Shape is close and all but guaranteed a hit shouldEvil Within IIIbe triggered. It is also important to understand that the Shape loses his collision when stalking, allowing him to slip past survivors who are attempting to body block.
Recommended Build
The following build gives the Shape the time he needs to stalk his victims and prepare for their demise:
As for add-ons, these are two of the Shape’s best:
Corrupt Interventionserves two purposes. The first is to prevent survivors from popping the far generators before the slowEvil Within IMyers can stop them. The second is to push survivors towards the Shape in the early game, getting him out of Tier I as fast as possible.
Hex: Ruinprovides general slowdown throughout the trial.Hex: Devour Hopeincreases the Shape’s lethality while inEvil Within II,andDeadlockslows the game enough for that lethality to do its work. Killing a survivor withTombstone Piecedrains the Shape’s Evil, returning him toEvil Within II,but allows the Shape to eliminate survivors as quickly as possible by ignoring hook states.J. Meyers Memorialcompensates for the huge increase in stalking time caused by the previous add-on.
Dead By Daylightis available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, and Stadia.
