Summary
- Survivors in Dead by Daylight can use anti-tunneling perks to counter killers who focus on one survivor, but these perks are most effective when used as a team.
- Off The Record is a must-have perk for frequently tunneled survivors, as it removes grunts of pain and provides 80 seconds of endurance after being rescued from the hook.
- Decisive Strike is the best anti-tunneling perk due to its simplicity and reliability, allowing survivors to stun the killer for 3 seconds after being unhooked.
Getting tunneled in Dead by Daylight is an unenjoyable experience for survivors, but players in a team have a fighting chance of countering tunneling killers. Being tunneled will happen to survivors randomly, assuming they are not acting toxic towards the killer.
Saving a survivor from an early game end is possible with the help of anti-tunneling perks that will punish the killer for only focusing on one survivor. Survivors in Dead by Daylight can equip a few perks to help against tunneling, but most anti-tunneling perks require a team effort to be effective.
A Bubba with good perks will be hard to counter tunnel, but a collective team effort gives an excellent fighting chance. These perks give survivors a fighting chance against tunneling and punish killers for wasting lots of time focused on one survivor.
6 Off The Record
Frequently tunneled survivors should consider running Off The Record as it is one of the best survivor perks at countering tunneling. The perk activates once a survivor is rescued from the hook and will remove grunts of pain while adding the endurance effect for 80 seconds on Tier 3.
The endurance effect prevents survivors from entering the downed state when receiving a hit and will only cause them to enter the deep wounded state. The 80-second timer will end if survivors perform conspicuous acts such as being healed or working on a generator.
This perk is a must for teams as it provides survivors 80 seconds to break away from the killer's focus.
5 Reassurance
Having a killer camp a survivor on a hook is a tiresome ordeal as few plays are possible to rescue the survivor without trading hooks. Using the unique perk from Rebecca Chambers is a great way to punish killers for wasting their time staring at a hooked survivor.
Reassurance works by temporarily pausing the hook timer for 30 seconds on Tier 3. To activate Reassurance, players need to be within 6 meters of a hooked survivor and then press the ability button.
This perk can be used only once per survivor hook state but will stack when used by other survivors. The additional 30 seconds will benefit generator progress or help players find an opening to unhooking their teammates.
4 Boon: Shadow Step
Scratch marks are the best way killers can track down survivors. Using a boon build with Boon: Shadow Step will eliminate scratch marks within the boon’s radius and will give the killer a harder time tracking down the survivor they are tunneling.
The Boon has a radius of 24 meters and will stay active for 4 seconds after survivors exit the Boon radius. Finding a totem near the hook is essential to boost the chances of having the tunneled survivor escape from the killer's grasp.
Combining this perk with Off The Record will give killers a challenging time as survivors will have their grunts of pain suppressed alongside their scratch marks.
3 For The People
For players who abhor tunneling, no perk will top For The People. Despite being used in fun survivor builds, For The People is the ultimate medic perk to counter hard tunneling, as it allows players to instantly heal injured survivors by transferring their health.
When a healthy survivor heals an injured one, an ability button to activate For The People will appear, this will injure the healthy survivor and instantly heal the one being healed. This perk works for survivors in the dying and injured state.
Having the ability to instantly pick up survivors from the downed state gives the possibility of saving a player from their final hook, but it will require a coordinated team effort.
2 Decisive Strike
Decisive Strike is one of the oldest anti-tunneling perks in Dead by Daylight and is an essential perk for many players. The perk is undisputed as being the best anti-tunnel perk due to how easy and reliable it is to use.
After being unhooked, survivors have a period of 60 seconds that allows them to escape from the killer's grasp if they are picked up and stun the killer for 3 seconds. Killers aware of a survivor with Decisive Strike will start a mental countdown of 60 seconds to avoid getting stunned and letting the survivor get away.
During the 60 seconds, a player with For The People can heal the tunneled survivor instantly from a dying or injured state.
1 Borrowed Time
For the longest time in Dead by Daylight it was one of the unwritten rules to use Borrowed Time when unhooking survivors near the killer. After an update that gave all survivors a mini version of Borrowed Time, the main perk lost lots of popularity, but it provides an excellent way to counter tunneling.
Survivors have a haste and endurance buff after getting unhooked, and Borrowed Time extends this by an additional 10 seconds. The extra time spent with the haste effect is useful in building distance from the killer and reaching a safe area.
If the killer is too focused on the hooked survivor, players may also consider mixing Borrowed Time with a sabotage survivor build to prevent teammates from getting hooked, but it's a gamble on which hook the killer will use.
Dead By Daylight is available now for Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.