Dead by Daylight Tunnelling: What It Is, Why You Should/Shouldn't Do It
Tunnelling is a tactic that Killers can employ, but maybe not a great one. Here is everything you need to know about tunnelling in Dead by Daylight.
Dead by Daylight Tunnelling is a controversial tactic employed by some Killers. Dead by Daylight is a surprisingly tactical game, as well as being a horror game it is also a competitive multiplayer game with a meta and many strategies. Tunnelling is a common term to hear when getting into the game, but not one that has a clear meaning. Here is everything you need to know about Dead by Daylight Tunnelling.
- For fans of another big horror gaming franchise, check out the Dead by Daylight Resident Evil crossover.
Dead by Daylight Tunnelling: What Does It Mean
Tunnelling is the term for a tactic that can be employed by Killers in Dead by Daylight. It refers to the act of singling out one Survivor and focusing your attention on them. An example of tunnelling would be chasing down a Survivor, downing them, putting them on a hook, and then waiting until another Survivor unhooks them. When they are getting away, you keep your focus on the Survivor you had hooked, chasing them again, down them, hook them, rinse and repeat until that Survivor is sacrificed.
Essentially, tunnelling is focusing all your attention on one Survivor and ignoring the others. It isn't far removed from camping, and often requires some degree of camping as well. There are reasons to do this, but for the most part, this is considered to be quite poor sportsmanship.
- A better strategy for Killers who are worried about falling behind is to employ perks like Dead by Daylight NOED.
Dead by Daylight Tunnelling: Why You Should Or Shouldn't Do It
In general, tunnelling is a bad thing to do. It is a mean and unfun way to play, and can absolutely ruin the game for the Survivor involved. As a Survivor, if a Killer decides to completely fixate on you, there isn't much you can do about it. You cannot force a Killer to focus on someone else, you can only hope to survive long enough to escape. Some new Killer players come to the conclusion that focusing on one Survivor to try and eliminate them from the game is a smart strategy, and you can see the logic in that.
Tunnelling isn't just a bad time for the Survivor in question, however, it is also a bad idea for the Killer. Playing as the Killer in Dead by Daylight requires you to maintain a level of pressure on the Survivors. They have a job to do, repair the generators to open the doors and escape. Your job as Killer is to make their job difficult. If you are tunnelling one Survivor consistently, that means there are three other Survivors who can work away on generators free of worry. If you spend the whole game chasing just one Survivor, don't be surprised if several generators are completed by the time you take that one Survivor out.
So generally speaking, tunnelling is a bad idea for everyone involved. It ruins the game for one Survivor, and likely loses the game for the Killer. However, with experience comes judgement, and there can be times when an experienced player will employ a degree of tunnelling in their Killer game. Recognising a particular Survivor as a better player than the others is a good reason to single them out, so long as it is not at the detriment of the rest of the game. Also, if things are going poorly for them, it can really swing a match in the Killer's favour to just get rid of one of the Survivors.
There are ways to employ tunnelling as a concept without completely ruining the game. Like all things in life, it is all about moderation.
That is everything to know about Dead by Daylight Tunnelling. For more on the game, check out our Dead by Daylight NOED guide.
About The Author
Dave McAdam
Dave is a Senior Guides Writer at GGRecon, after several years of freelancing across the industry. He covers a wide range of games, with particular focus on shooters like Destiny 2, RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, and fighting games like Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8.
