I make no secret of the fact that when it comes to Dead by Daylight, I’m a sucker for licenced DLC characters. This game just always does it so much more thematically than the competition. Sure, a Robocop or Thanos skin in Fortnite is cool, but they don’t exactly stick to a consistent licensing theme or make much attempt to integrate the characters into the fictional universe. I’m sure seeing Batman charging around with an AK and gunning down Rick Sanchez is enough to convince you of that. The approach taken by DBD’s dev team is more than a simple skin at which you can point and gawp and say “hey, that’s the thing that I like!”, but rather, the killers are properly tied into the lore and ethos of the game in a way which feels… complete.
That’s why you might find today’s suggestion a little strange. Pirates of the Caribbean? That fun, family adventure movie based off of a theme park ride? Initially, it may be hard to see exactly how these two IPs could fit together. But honestly, give it some thought – these movies are pretty dark. Horror and dark fantasy has been a part of the series from the very beginning, and despite them nominally being ‘kids movies’, everything from the cinematography to overarching worldbuilding elements have always been gritty and dark. At least, if we avoid talking about the fourth movie, or as most of us remember it, ‘the mermaid one’. Shudder.
With the very first movie diving head first into showing a crew full of rotting, spooky skeleton men to our impressionable, six year old eyes, and the sequels having fish mutant body horror flowing by the gallon, it’s obvious that the franchise is no stranger to scary stuff. And, after the inclusion of the Xenomorph, we know the licensing people at DBD have an existing working relationship with Disney, so this isn’t so far outside the realm of possibility. And, as always, Behaviour, please feel free to use these ideas – I want to see it happen.
Pirates of the Caribbean Killer: Davy Jones – “The Captain”
Probably one of the most iconic villain designs in all of cinema history, and standing alongside James Cameron’s Avatar as one of the most impressive uses of CGI over a decade later, Davy Jones is not a character to be trifled with.
While the entity is the most powerful being in the DBD universe that we know of, it’s worth noting that Davy Jones is a big enough player in the supernatural cosmic game to have a ‘realm’ of his own. The proud owner of Davy Jones’ locker, this pocket dimension is featured in the movies as a vast and imposing desert, which shows just how potent of a magical being The Captain is. The entity capturing someone as strong as him would be a landmark achievement in-universe, and change the hierarchy of power within killer lore forever.
Davy Jones’ Main Weapon
The Davy Jones of the movie is more than a sea-bound soul collector – he’s also the poster boy for the fishy corruption that he spreads to his crew. A hybrid through and through, Davy Jones is a mish mash of oceanic life, fused onto the body of a hateful old buccaneer. And, that extends to a rather vicious looking crab claw where his left hand should be – traditionally the hand used as the main weapon by all killers. Convenient! Any Futurama fans can attest to just how deadly a human-sized crab claw can be – the crushing strength of the average crustacean pound for pound is higher than you’d expect from your lobster dinner.
I imagine him stomping around the map on his pegleg and pinching people to death, all while muttering a “one-hundred soullll-sah!” voice line to himself. This weapon would live up to the level of brutal violence this game is known for, while allowing for some of the semi-cartoony fiction of the Pirates franchise to shine through.
Davy Jones’ Killer Power
For Davy Jones, I envision a power that has multiple elements to it. We all know from the movies that he can only step onto dry land once every ten years, and so a killer with some type of restricted movement could be a fun idea. As he is able to move around a ship freely, as that’s in the water, I think any indoor areas such as a building or killer shack should be classified as “boat”, and outdoor areas of a map should be flooded by a shallow layer of water, allowing him to move freely.
Most outdoor maps have small raised island-like areas, often with hooks and chests on them, which would stick out of the water, and be inaccessible to The Captain. Maps without these would have unique raised areas spawn specifically for this killer. This would allow survivors to duck out of The Killer’s way to heal, but be utterly stranded in their safe zone when the Captain comes knocking.
To offset this disadvantage, Davy Jones can summon the kraken, a power similar in some ways to a few killer attacks. Like The Oni, this would be a temporary frenzy of vicious attacks which is charged by damaging survivors, with a sharp cooldown period. Like The Knight, the tentacles would be at least somewhat autonomous, freeing up The Captain to focus on other things. And, like The Nemesis, the attack would consist of big, icky tentacles that give the survivors a thorough whipping.
As a way to counter survivors never leaving the safety of dry land, I would love to see something similar to Pinhead’s passive ability with the puzzle box. Even without the killer needing to actively do anything, a clock is always ticking down, and will give the killer a distinct advantage if the survivors don’t keep a lid on things. In this case, causing minion members of his crew that can go on land to spawn, causing the survivors to flee their place of safety, and slowing their movement speed as they wade through the rising water.
The item used to prevent these from spawning (which will always be somewhere in low ground) would be a jar of dirt… and guess what’s inside it! Finding the heart of Davy Jones and plunging a knife into it would cause any roaming fish men to collapse into a pile of barnacles and crab legs… for now…
Davy Jones’ Perks
A good perk deck is the maker or breaker of a main-worthy killer. The Captain’s loadout include useful negation perks, and ideas which thematically relate to plot beats right out of the films.
Liar’s Dice
Liar’s Dice is a popular pastime onboard Davy Jones’ cursed vessel, with his crusty crew members gambling away years of undead slavery over a push-your-luck dice game. This high-stakes casino staple revolves around calling out your opponent, and staying truthful about your luck, or paying the price.
This perk would instantly negate any offering or perk on the survivor’s behalf that increases luck, much like how Lightborn renders torch users’ tactics completely useless. Davy Jones wants to keep you honest when gambling with him, and he’s had centuries to learn how to spot someone bluffing their way to success.
On Board
As a killer, have you ever yearned to drop a pallet yourself? Seen a survivor teasing a drop point, daring you to move forward and just accept the stun? Well no more! As a man who is no stranger to wooden boards, ship’s decks, and making people walk the plank, Davy Jones is ready to get stuck into the carpentry action alongside the best of them.
Once per hooked survivor (or perhaps once per sacrifice, if we want this to be a slightly less powerful perk), gain a token. A token can be spent for the killer to drop one pallet themselves. This could either be used to stun the survivor in a crazy switcheroo setup, or simply be a free opportunity for the killer to subsequently break the pallet themselves, and therefore destroy a powerful loop area before it’s used against them.
This would make survivors more hesitant to rely on a single looping strategy, spend their time defending pallets instead of gens, and waste valuable stun opportunities, making survivors less bold in saving them up for the perfect drop.
Music Box
Davy Jones isn’t all bad deep down. While us movie fans admittedly know him best as a vicious, soul-stealing murderer… he’s also eepy. Give the man his little music box, and he’ll be drifting off to dreamland quicker than you can say ‘yo-ho-ho’. It’s when it comes time to turn this trait on the survivors that things become more serious for them.
To capture the utter paralysis that tiredness can cause, this perk would cause any survivors within the terror radius to lose any haste bonus gained from perks or items – or at least receive a negative multiplier to it. This could help shatter the perk builds of dedicated loopers, and people who constantly dodge the killer in order to lead them around the map for long periods of time while everyone else does gens. As long as the survivor is being chased (which is pretty much the only time haste is significantly useful), this vital stat boost would simply not activate.
Maybe I’m getting a little carried away with my negation perks, but I think this could work really well as part of a larger chase-winning build. I can see it working well with other killers too, like the Clown, who could use it to throw a haste bottle to boost his own speed, without the survivor benefitting from the same cloud.
Davy Jones’ Mori
A good, gory mori is the cherry on the top of a delicious killer sundae. Luckily, Davy Jones’ strong character design gives us plenty to work with. I envision him pinning a survivor to the ground, and pushing his many tentacles into their mouth. We hear a muffled scream as the tips start to snake out of their nose… and ears… and eyes. Every orifice is a mass of bloodsoaked tentacles, until his octo-beard rips their head apart. Brutal.
Davy Jones’ Realm
While one may be tempted to suggest the desert area from his very own locker as the location for a Pirates of the Caribbean map, it’s impossible to deny that his true home is on the high seas. The deck of the Flying Dutchman would be a perfect place for a DbD match to take place, with the roaring ocean around the edges, a large, spacious, multi-levelled deck to explore, and plenty of excuses for wooden pallets to be dotted around. I can even see Davy Jones’ captain’s cabin serving as an excelling stand-in for the killer shack, with his imposing organ giving out a groaning funeral march when that room’s generator is complete.
Davy Jones at a Glance
Whilst The Captain may find himself held back by his lack of access to dry land in certain areas of the map, both his passive and active power ensures that survivors can’t hold the game hostage for more than a minute or two at a time. His perks allow him to chip away at any advantages the survivors may bring, meaning that while he won’t be actively undoing the work of survivors with his perk deck, he will ensure that whoever he is facing have as few tricks up their sleeves as possible.
Dead by Daylight Survivor: Jack Sparrow
While some franchises have two, or perhaps even more great picks to be the survivor, I don’t think there is any question when it comes to Pirates of the Caribbean. While we can discuss a Will or Elizabeth skin for some of the existing survivors, there is simply no other choice than the king of charisma, Captain Jack. We’ve seen him escape the clutches of death (literally in some cases) countless times, and the physical dexterity, durability, and skill he displays throughout every movie makes him a survivor not to be messed with.
Jack Sparrow’s Survivor Perks
Given the true grit and resilience it took to be a seafaring outlaw in the 1700s, you’d expect anyone who could survive and thrive from that lifestyle to be a bit of a Jack of all trades in terms of skills. Spanning rescue, navigation, and punishing trade-offs, Jack’s loadout has amazing meta-perk potential, reflecting the highly skilled (if not a little crazy) person that he is.
He’s a Pirate
It wouldn’t be a true Pirates movie without Jack escaping the deathly tug of the gallows at the very last minute. Whether it’s cutting the rope at the last second, or a series of somersaults and acrobatics to avoid his neck being snapped, a true pirate won’t let something as simple as the hangman keep him from his goals.
When you break it down, the rough, hempen noose of an old-timey executioner isn’t too dissimilar to the hooks on which DBD survivors are hung. This perk would cause the hook to become sabotaged automatically whenever Jack is unhooked, either by himself, or another.
This could be a fantastic meta perk for groups of rescue sweats, and would help avoid “trading” survivors when a fully healed person gets hit going in for the rescue, and again while unhooking a teammate. The killer would then have to schlep all the way to another hook with their fresh down, taking pressure off the survivors, and allowing the heroic rescuer a better chance of wiggling out.
Compass
Potentially a very powerful meta-perk, and something which I, to some degree, think should be a default feature of all survivors. A compass. I know confusion is, to some degree, a part of this game. But many games, from Battle Royales to single player epics have a built-in compass on the HUD to help orient yourself.
I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I’ve been in a voice call, desperately trying to communicate where I am on the map, and my teammates simply have no idea which direction I had arbitrarily decided was ‘north’. The answer to the ‘where are you?’ question is always a tricky one to answer, and usually, an almost purposefully obtuse ‘over here’, a random compass direction, or phrasing like ‘the top/bottom of the map’ is about as good as I can manage.
A perk that adds a compass to the HUD would be useful in executing so many rescue missions, especially if multiple survivors used it. And I know what you’re thinking. “Jack’s compass doesn’t point North!” Well, you’d be right. But come on! Let me take some liberties here. If it really pointed to what you most desire, i.e., the nearest gen or exit gate, that might be just a little bit too powerful without a really aggressive cooldown. Plus, I saw an opportunity to get on my soapbox about survivors needing a regular-ass compass, and I’m not going to let it pass me by.
Why is the Rum Gone?
The core of this suggestion is somewhat similar to No Mither, the perk which, brutally, leaves you irreparably injured the entire match in exchange for a huge boost to stealth and dying state recovery. In the same manner, this Perk would grant a huge bonus in exchange for a punishing debuff. In pirate times, pretty much everyone had to be an alcoholic. Long voyages at sea meant any non-fermented liquid would soon go stale, and the closest you’d get to a modern 0% lager was just watered down swill. Needless to say, alcohol withdrawal would be a serious issue for any buccaneer trapped in The Entity’s realm.
To simulate the overwhelmingly distracting negative effect this would have on someone’s focus and attention span, a survivor would permanently and irreversibly gain the deafened status effect (an obnoxious tinnitus sound effect) for the entire trial, but would grant the survivor a huge positive in return.
Since pirates love to hunt for treasure, I think a perk affecting the chests dotted around the map could be the perfect solution. Survivors with this perk can hide in a locker for 16/12/8 seconds within 16/24/36 metres of a looted chest to cause it to close and spawn a new item of common/uncommon/rare rarity or better. This can then be looted and the process repeated.
This can allow survivors to create a veritable production line of high value items. One Jack player could spend the match hopping from locker to locker, while the survivors enjoy a constant stream of purple toolboxes and medkits, using them up then spawning new ones as and when necessary. While a normal perk may lock off a chest to only allow this once per match per chest, I feel the huge deafened penalty makes up for this, and should allow for the same chest to be targeted.
This would be a great perk to use in combination with Plunderer’s Instinct, which already raises the odds of getting a good item, as well as allowing survivors to easily locate potential chests. Running those two together along with a Shiny Coin offering could potentially allow for the survivors to choose their dream item loadout mid-match, and mix and match for any situation or strategy. I can see the perk also being used during an end-game collapse, when escape seems certain, to quickly spawn in and escape with a high-value item to add to your survivor’s loadout for future trials.
Jack Sparrow At a Glance
A survivor armed with what could promise to become three vital meta-perks. Jack is an ideal survivor for rescue sweat teams, reflecting the noble heroism that lurks beneath his veneer of a selfish rogue. His third perk allows him to help contribute to the strategy of the rest of the team, allowing someone to switch between rescue sweat, heal sweat, and flashlight sweat on the fly, always with a purple item. Captain Jack could prove to be a popular survivor, an amazing skin, a thematic addition to the roster, and an all-round fan favourite.
Conclusion
While the franchise of Pirates of the Caribbean may not be pure-bred horror on the face of it, it embodies the same high-risk adventure vibe that helped Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft fit so effortlessly to the survivor roster. With many spooky supernatural elements scattered throughout the various films, I think the brutal, piratical grim reaper Davy Jones would make an excellent and gory killer, with Jack Sparrow as the infinitely able and confident survivor.
