One of the most popular competitive online experiences, Dead by Daylight forces players to learn the basics of surviving from and brutally murdering other players. The game hosts a wide variety of killers including some fan-favorite icons from the horror genre. Each of these playable killers hosts a unique and differing play style. Each with their own variety of strengths and weaknesses. The latest entry to the wide roster of killers is the Oni character, a powerful Japanese demon who excels at aggressive and offensive pressure.
This newly introduced Oni is both a visually interesting and unique character. Its inspiration from traditional depiction of the infamous beings in Japanese mythology, the Oni is by no surprise a fan favorite killer. However, picking up and playing the Oni can be quite a challenge. His skill ceiling is very high and he has a different style than some of the other killers in the game. The following tips an tricks will assist players just picking up the Oni character and will provide some guidance on how to successfully and brutally murder survivors.
The Oni's Abilities in Dead by Daylight
The Oni's tool kit emphasize an aggressive style of play. His abilities bolster his offensive capabilities and allow the demon the potential to be both an intimidating presence in a match.
When playing the Oni, it is imperative that you utilize his blood meter mechanic. The ability known as Yamaoka's Wrath, encourages Oni players to injure as many survivors as possible. For when the Oni strikes a survivor they drop blood droplets that can be used to increase his powerful blood meter. As the Oni hunts down the various survivors in a match he will accumulate more and more blood droplets thus increasing his damage potential.
Once the Oni's blood meter is filled fully he gains access to two new special moves. The first move he gains access to is the powerful Demon Strike attack. The Oni will gain access to powerful club melee weapons which increases his damage potential. If allowed to charge up fully, this attack will knock down a survivor in one hit. Even if not fully charged the club will unleash a massive amount of damage to whatever unsuspecting survivor is nearby. This makes the Oni a truly devastating offensive force and makes his aggressive playstyle one not to be taken lightly.
The second move the Oni is given once he increases his blood meter fully is the rapid Demon Dash. This ability grants the Oni the ability to rapidly sprint and cover long distance. So coupled with the devastating Demon Strike this ability turns an already powerful offensively oriented killer into one which is all but avoidable. This ability allows the Oni to very quickly sprint towards opponents and provides a melee attack at the end of the sprint. This melee strikes can also down a survivor in one hit if it's allowed to connect and is a powerful weapon in the Oni's vast arsenal.
Strengths of The Oni in Dead by Daylight
The Oni is one of the more hyper-aggressive characters within Dead by Daylight. His powerful blood oriented mechanic revolves around an in-your-face style of play. So to truly optimize the potential of the Oni it is important that players get used to this hyper-aggressive playstyle. Otherwise, the Oni is a rather underwhelming character to choose.
Given his offensive playstyle, survivors will most likely be healing quite often when facing a well versed Oni player. This allows Oni to mesh well with the powerful "nurse's calling" perk which can be taught to the Killer. This allows Oni to see when survivors are healing nearby. Given Oni's desire to constantly be doing damage to survivors this will be a common occurrence during the course of matches. Utilizing this perk can truly build on his strengths as a killer.
Alongside his synergy with the "nurse's calling," Oni finds ample success with the "barbeque and chili" perk if available to be taught. This allows the Oni to see survivor's auras after hooking a downed survivor. Provided his desire to be up close and causing havoc, this perk allows Oni players an opportunity to scout out and utilize their killer's wide array of strengths.
Making use of these two perks will allow an Oni player a massive amount of success withing online matches.
The Oni's Weaknesses in Dead by Daylight
Every killer in Dead by Daylight has their unfortunate downsides. Each killer has a very real and difficult to overcome assortment of weaknesses attached to their kit. The Oni is no different, so understanding his weaknesses can allow players to adapt and mitigate the number of mistakes made during the course of a match.
The Oni's design forces the character to have very slow starts to matches. His primary mechanic focusing around dishing out damage to survivors can be problematic when facing a group of skilled and evasive survivors. This can lead to some rather glacial matches for the Oni if he is unable to successfully initiate his offense. So until an Oni player can start his offense it is important that the player should be diligent and patient when hunting down the survivors.
Provided his slow starts to matches, the Oni is rather reliant on the previously mentioned perks to succeed in hunting down survivors. So if a player has no access to the mentioned perks they will notice a difficulty in initiating the oppressive offense of the Oni. It is almost too reliant on these perks to succeed online. However, that is not to say that the Oni cannot be successful without the mentioned perks, but Oni almost certainly is unoptimized without them. So be sure to grind until these perks are at your disposal to truly optimize your Oni play.
Dead by Daylight is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.