Dead By Daylight Finally Nerfs The Nurse

As of Dead by Daylight's 6.5.0 PTB in January 2023, Behaviour Interactive has finally announced that the game's strongest killer, The Nurse, will see some nerfs to her kit. The nerfs were announced as part of the January Developer Update, Dead by Daylight's first update this year.

Dead by Daylight boasts a pretty impressive killer roster as of January 2023, featuring 30 characters to choose from. While every killer retains a special power that allows them to kill survivors in the fog, none are as strong as The Nurse. From the day she was added to the game, The Nurse quickly gained infamy in the community for her overpowered ability.

17 April 2023 - This article has been updated with all of the latest information about The Nurse following recent updates. 

The Nurse's power is so strong because it circumvents usual gameplay mechanics, giving survivors few opportunities to escape. While survivors can throw pallets or vault windows to gain distance on other killers, The Nurse can use her Blink power to teleport right through them. 

The Nurse doesn't have a particularly high kill rate compared to other killers, as her ability relies on experience and practice to use successfully. As a result, new players tend to struggle with playing her - but veteran killer players who know how to efficiently predict their opponents can take down a team of four survivors effortlessly.

The new nerfs, currently available to test in the 6.5.0 Public Test Build, will introduce new add-ons, change old add-ons, and change The Nurse's Blink from a basic attack to a special attack. This means that her ability will no longer work with powerful perks like Starstruck that impose the Exposed status effect, used in some of the most popular Nurse builds.

Additionally, players will now receive a sound cue whenever The Nurse's Blinks are fully replenished, preventing killer players from needing to keep their eye on the HUD in the bottom right of the screen. This quality-of-life update comes alongside other gameplay touchups by Behaviour, including a new survivor action icon HUD and an in-game challenge tracker.

Nurse Add-On Changes

The Nurse's add-ons will be changed with this update, adding new ones to her roster and making major changes to existing add-ons.

“Bad Man’s” Last Breath

After hitting a Survivor with a blink attack, The Nurse becomes Undetectable for 25 seconds. This effect can only be triggered once every 45 seconds.

Jenner’s Last Breath

Once all blinks have been exhausted, The Nurse may teleport back to her original position. Once she returns to her original position, all blink charges are restored.

The full details for the changed add-ons can be found in the patch notes once the update goes live, but you can also expect changes for the following:

• Catatonic Boy’s Treasure
• Dark Cincture
• Heavy Panting
• Ataxic Respiration
• Fragile Wheeze
• Campbell’s Last Breath
• Kavanaugh’s Last Breath
• Torn Bookmark
• Matchbox

Spasmodic Breath will also receive new audio and visual feedback to make it clearer when its effects are active.

These changes will go live for all users roughly three weeks after the Public Test Build wraps up.