The Shape — or as he’s more commonly known, Michael Myers — is a playable character in Dead by Daylight that can be extremely strong in the right hands.
The Halloween series antagonist’s gameplay revolves around the “stalk” mechanic in which you observe players to grow more powerful. The Shape plays differently from most DBD killers, so it can be difficult playing him for the first time, but this list will help you become a merciless killer.
10 Familiarize Yourself With The Evil Within Tiers
As The Shape stalks survivors, he gains tiers in Evil Within. Each tier has different characteristics, which you need to be aware of.
Knowing what each tier means for you is crucial if you want to be effective playing The Shape, as each one is suited to different play styles. It'll pay to be prepared for how you might need to play at any given moment.
9 Choose Who To Sacrifice Carefully
The Shape’s stalk ability allows you to level up Michael by staring at survivors as you use it, but each survivor can only be stalked for a finite amount of time.
Once a survivor has been stalked for the maximum amount of time, their outline will become red instead of white, and stalking them will no longer progress The Shape’s Evil Within. Prioritize sacrificing only those that have already been stalked to maximum, as leaving those that can still be stalked alive will allow you to continue progressing Evil Within.
8 Activate Evil Within III At The Right Time
Evil Within III is the highest tier you can achieve with The Shape and it makes survivors suffer from the exposed status, making them vulnerable to one-hit downs or even death, depending on the add-ons used.
Evil Within III is when The Shape is at his strongest, and the time it lasts depends on what add-ons you use. Evil Within III will eventually run out (unless using Fragrant Tuft of Hair) and you will go back to Evil Within II. To get the most out of Evil Within III, you should progress Evil WIthin II until it is nearly maxed out but then stop stalking and only stalk again to activate Evil Within III when you are near survivors, to avoid wasting the tier during a chase.
7 Don't Be Afraid To Slug
One of the greatest fears of survivor mains is a perfectly legitimate strategy, actually. This is slugging, which is a term used for when killers leave a survivor in the dying state instead of hooking them.
This one will upset survivor players — but listen: slugging is actually fine. The way DBD is designed means that killers will probably have to slug at some point, as much as everyone hates it. With The Shape, slugging is especially important. You do not want to waste the duration of Evil Within III by carrying bodies to hooks when you could instead be downing more survivors. Slugging just makes sense.
6 Choose Your Perks Wisely
Advice that is useful for any killer: choose your perks wisely. Think carefully before taking a perk into a game and swap out perks that don’t complement the add-ons you are using.
For example, if you are using Fragrant Tuft of Hair, which grants infinite Evil Within III, then don’t use No One Escapes Death. NOED, as it’s commonly referred to, makes survivors suffer from the exposed status when exit gates are powered and the totem is active, but if you’re in infinite Evil Within III, it doesn’t give you any type of advantage and is taking up a perk slot.
5 Prioritize Healthy Survivors
Evil Within III makes survivors exposed, and a good The Shape player will take full advantage of that.
When survivors are exposed, they can be hit once and they will go into the dying state immediately. It makes sense to go after survivors that aren’t injured in Evil Within III so you can get them on the ground, as injured survivors only require one hit before they can be hooked anyway, so it’s not worth wasting time on them that could be used on healthy survivors.
4 Get Rid Of Pallets Early
Pallets are a nuisance for any killer, and getting them out of the game early can make things easier toward the endgame.
Chasing survivors and forcing them to throw down pallets early is a good idea for most killers, but it is critical to do so for The Shape. The Shape grows stronger as the game progresses and as he stalks more survivors, so you want there to be no pallets near the end of a game. At the end part of a game you will often be at your most powerful, and pallets will be more detrimental to you than they would be at the start of a trial. You do not want to be stunned and waste time recovering when you are in Evil Within III.
3 Stalk Effectively
Stalking is the most important aspect of playing The Shape and without understanding it, your chances of success are slim.
Stalking makes The Shape more powerful and makes him progress his Evil Within. To stalk effectively, try to avoid standing in the open or where the survivors have good visibility. Use trees and other obstacles to hide as you stalk survivors. If a survivor spots you and is running from you, stalk them to build up your Evil Within while you have a good line of sight on them.
2 Learn The Perks
The Shape has three unique perks with each revolving around an obsession. Learning what the perks do will give you a great advantage.
The Shape’s perks are:
- Save the Best for Last - Each time you hit a Survivor other than your Obsession with a Basic Attack, you gain a cooldown reduction on successful attacks.
- Play with Your Food - Each time you chase your Obsession and let them escape, Play with Your Food grants you the Haste status.
- Dying Light - Each time you hook a Survivor other than your Obsession, other survivors receive a healing, repairing, and sabotaging speed penalty. The Obsession is instead granted a 33% speed bonus.
Each perk dramatically changes how you should play, so it’s important to learn each one before using them in a game.
1 Surprise Survivors
The Shape can be used to catch survivors off-guard and give them a good fright.
At Evil Within I, The Shape is undetectable, meaning he has no heartbeat, which would otherwise alert survivors to his presence. This allows The Shape to sneak up on survivors and get a free hit on them, putting them in the injured state and giving you the upper hand quickly. If a survivor is particularly unaware, you can potentially grab them off of a generator, meaning you can hook them without having to attack them at all.