Jason Voorhees has finally made it into Dead by Daylight, just days after the DBD 10th anniversary stream that showcased the many content drops in the game’s future. As of his debut, some are saying Jason is overpowered, and perhaps Behaviour does plan to nerf him, but in the meantime, he’s giving players a lot of grief–especially given how popular he is, having helped set a new concurrent player record for DBD.
While we wait to see if the DBD team plans to alter Jason’s power level, there’s one simple solution that will help you tremendously when the Camp Crystal Lake slasher is your foe in a DBD trial. Here’s what to know.
How to counter Jason in DBD
While you won’t know whether the killer is using our best Jason build or another build they prefer, you will know one thing is always true: his unique ability, Omnipresent Evil, is in play. Omnipresent Evil lets Jason quickly warp around the map to suddenly appear and jumpscare survivors. It’s a helpful and movie-faithful way to mold Jason into the DBD framework, but it has one major weakness you can take advantage of.
When Jason is warping around the map, he goes invisible, and though he can’t see survivors, he can see their footsteps, or, if they’re staying still, he can see a red cloud, indicating a survivor’s location. This means that trying to repair generators, destroy totems, or even just staying put in the hopes he doesn’t find you only makes it more likely he does spot you. Running or walking both leave hard-to-miss red footprints, too, akin to scratch marks, that disappear after a moment. But they can be enough information to help Jason find you.
The simple solution that will go a long way to helping you counter Jason is to crouch-walk. When crouch-walking, you don’t leave these footprints, and since you’re not staying still, neither will a red cloud give up your whereabouts to the slasher. Crouch-walking essentially keeps you invisible during Jason’s uses of Omnipresent Evil. As a bonus, if you’re crouch-walking and Jason does respawn near you, you won’t suffer the jumpscare effect and activate Jason’s Killer Instinct effect. Still, if you’re staying close to another survivor who is being more reckless, you’ll want to get them to join you, or perhaps get far away from them before Jason reappears.
If you pair this tactic with Urban Evasion, a Nea Karlsson perk that buffs your crouch-walking speed by up to 100%, you’ll reduce the strain put on you by needing to travel via crouch-walking so much. Of course, you won’t know you’re facing Jason until you get into a trial, but since he’s so popular at launch, it’s at least a good bet that you’ll see him soon enough.
For more on the asymmetrical horror titan, don’t miss why there are no plans for a Dead by Daylight sequel and why Behaviour has made DBD more violent than it used to be.
