The Dead By Daylight DLC, Project W, as the name would imply, is all about Albert Wesker from the Resident Evil series. Sure Ada Wong and Rebecca Chambers are also there, and they do have some interesting and game-changing perks, but Wesker — dubbed The Mastermind — is the star of the show.
With his strong chasing power and a side of slow-down to boot, The Mastermind is set to take the realm of The Entity by storm and we’ve got the tips and tricks to allow you to show those Survivors why Wesker is the pinnacle of evolution in any video game he's in.
9 The Basics
Wesker is a Killer whose power has a dash attack component and a persistent debuff component. He has the normal movement of 4.6 m/s, or 115 percent of most Killers who attack in the same manner, and is of average height for Killer. However, he has a Terror Radius of 40 meters — the highest in the game.
His default perks are Awakened Awareness, Superior Anatomy, and Terminus. Awakened Awareness allows him to see the auras of Survivors nearby when he’s carrying a Survivor; Superior Anatomy allows him to vault quickly when a Survivor fast vaults within eight meters, and Terminus afflicts all injured, dying and hooked Survivors with the Broken status effect until up to 30 seconds after the Exit Gates are opened.
8 Virulent Bound
His power is Virulent Bound, which allows him, after a short charge time, a long dash. Any Survivors hit by it are grabbed and slammed into a wall in the same direction, or if there isn’t a near-enough wall, he flings them. If a Survivor is slammed or flung into an object, they take damage. If they are already damaged when slammed, they get picked up automatically without going into the Dying State.
Virulent Bound has two tokens max and one is spent when Wesker does this move. Tokens recover quickly and, after one dash, he can do another one within a certain period of time, with a slower movement speed until he does, or the power expires and goes into cooldown. The ability also allows Wesker to hop over vaulting spots and down pallets, similar to Survivors.
7 Uroboros Infection
The other part of Wesker’s power is Uroboros Infection, which Survivors are afflicted with when hit with Virulent Bound. This infection grows over time and when Survivors are again hit with Virulent Bound.
At maximum infection, the Survivor portraits get a wriggly red ring around their portrait and are Hindered, which reduces their movement speed by eight percent. Survivors with max infection who are hit with Virulent Bound are picked up automatically, regardless of their health state. Survivors can cure Uroboros Infection with a First Aid Spray, which are stored in chests around the map, similar to Nemesis. Each First Aid Spray has two charges.
6 Terrifying Machinations
The Terror Radius is the area around a Killer where Survivors hear a heartbeat, letting them know that the Killer is near. For most Killers, this is a drawback, since it sends Survivors on the run when they’re near.
You would think that for Wesker, who has the largest Terror Radius in the game — even larger than ranged Killers who have large Terror Radii to balance out their ranged damaged — would have quite the disadvantage.
However, his Terror Radius is actually so large that, instead of an early warning system for Survivors, it becomes a constant source of anxiety for them since it can be on for a long time, even if Wesker isn’t near them. This is especially true on some of the smaller maps. If you want your constant dread to have more tangible uses, you can run perks that affect Survivors in your Terror Radius like Coulrophobia or Unnerving Presence, and then run Distressing to increase the range of your Terror Radius so that no one escapes your machinations.
5 Good Add-Ons Indeed
The Mastermind is one of those Killers who doesn’t really have any add-ons that are on any extreme of the good-bad spectrum. Even his meme add-on, the Jewel Beetle, doesn’t have too bad of a drawback for the Blood Points it awards.
Instead, he has a bunch of subtly useful tools that allow him to tailor his power to your playstyle. Want to focus on the chase and landing hits with your power? Uroboros Tendril, Loose Crank, Egg (Gold) and a few other add-ons allow you to have more mobility while charging or in between Bounds. Want to adjust the behavior of your Bounds? R.P.D. Shoulder Walkie and Unicorn Medallion allow you to fine-tune your first and second dash distances to your liking.
If you’re satisfied with how your Virulent Bound works, you can instead use add-ons that increase the effectiveness of his Uroboros Infection, the delay it provides, or even add devastating new effects to it, like the Herb series of add-ons or the Iridescent Uroboros Vial.
4 Keep Your Feet Planted
We’ve seen it in dozens of pro Survivor montages. Killers being tricked into going down holes in the floor while the Survivor does a clean getaway. As cathartic as it would be to turn the tables on the Survivors and use your power to throw them down a hole, this is a poor use of your power.
In fact, if you’re heading for a hole on the floor, you’ll want to stow your power and just hit them with a regular attack, since hitting them with your Virulent Bound effectively does nothing except send the Survivor down a floor, without flinging your victim. Worse yet, if they have the perk Balanced Landing, they’re not even stunned by the fall, instead getting a speed boost that leaves you in their dust.
3 Not Decisive Enough
Though this might change in the future, Wesker currently counters the popular Survivor perk Decisive Strike, which would normally allow them once per trial a chance to escape from the Killer’s grasp if they’re picked up within a certain time after being unhooked.
Wesker, however, apparently thought ahead because, if you manage a grab with your power, your victim doesn’t get the prompt to trigger Decisive Strike. If you pick them up any other way — from the ground, in the middle of an action, or from a locker — the perk works as normal.
2 Master Of Chasing
Wesker is one of the best chasers in the game, with a power that puts him in the high skill, high reward greats like Blight, Oni, or even Nurse. There are a few perks in the game that boost the chase potential of any Killer that would especially bolster The Mastermind’s catch rate, leaving Survivors feeling like getting caught is an inevitability as you close every exit they have.
For example, his own perk, Superior Anatomy, makes it so that even if they vault to get away from you, they won’t get much distance. If you combine it with The Clown perk Bamboozle, you vault even faster with the benefit of blocking off that vault spot. On top of all that, all that vault speed gain applies to the already fast vault that Virulent Bound gives you.
1 The Long Game
Of course, if you feel like you’ve mastered Virulent Bound, then you don’t really need to alter it in any way since it’s already a strong chasing power. With that in mind, you can shift your resources into delaying Survivors while you use your skills to catch and hook them.
There are some fantastic perks for Killers to delay the game and, combined with Wesker’s strong chase potential, they leave Survivors in an oppressive atmosphere where there is no escape. Perk combinations like the Dead Man’s Switch and Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance, Jolt and Thrilling Tremors, or Call of Brine and Overcharge will help guarantee that you have more than seven minutes to put those weakling Survivors in their place.