How to quickly find the Hatch in Dead by Daylight

The Hatch is a Survivor’s last hope of escape in Dead by Daylight – if they can find it before the Killer, that is! The Killer can close the Hatch if they find it first. So knowing how to find the Hatch is important for both sides.

Know when the Hatch spawns

It is important for players to know when the hatch will spawn during a game. Thankfully the rules are simple: the hatch will only spawn with one Survivor left alive. This creates a game of luck, as whoever can find the hatch on the map first wins.

So, how do you know when you are the last Survivor left? Well, a Survivor is considered sacrificed or killed when their profile picture turns into a skull. If their icon is still a hook, or in the dying state, they are not dead yet. If the Survivor disconnects from the match, they are considered killed when their icon turns into the disconnect icon. When a Survivor is sacrificed on a hook it takes a while for them to be considered sacrificed, since the Entity needs to take them off the hook and pull them into the sky.

You must make sure to play it safe until you finally see the last player’s icon turn into a skull. The second that happens, the hatch will spawn with its door open. While the hatch is open it creates a loud wind tunnel sound, and I’ll go over this more later.

There is one more Hatch-spawning rule that you need to know about. The Hatch will never spawn on the upper floors of any map or building. It will only spawn on the ground floor. If you happen to get an indoor map like Gideon’s Meat Plant, you only need to check the basement floor for Hatch. The only exception is the Racoon City Police Station, where the hatch can spawn on the second floor.

I will give you examples of buildings on maps as well. If you get Badham Preschool, you want to check the basement of the preschool because the Hatch can spawn there, although it will not spawn on the first floor. On the Ironworks of Misery map the Hatch can spawn on the first floor of the building, but not upstairs. The same goes for the Blood Lodge building and Thompson House.

These are just a few examples, and there are many more buildings in the various maps of Dead by Daylight. Just remember to not waste your time checking the upper floors of buildings to find the Hatch.

Know where to look for Hatch

While the Hatch can spawn anywhere, there are some set spawn locations you can check first. These locations are always in the same place, which is why you should check these first when the spawn conditions are met.

First, the Killer Shack has two Hatch spawns to look for. The Hatch can spawn inside the Killer Shack next to the pallet, or outside the Killer Shack along the windowless wall. It is possible you can get a map without a Killer Shack, but if there is one you should always check it.

The next area to check will be the main building of the map. Every map has a featured building in it that the entire map is based around. These buildings are a hotspot for Hatch spawns, and the Hatch has a set location in each building.

I will give you a few examples of where you can find the Hatch in certain buildings. On the Gas Heaven map the Hatch can spawn inside the garage in front of the parked truck. In the Blood Lodge map the Hatch spawns in front of the window on Blood Lodge. Then in the Badham Preschool map the Hatch spawns in next to a mattress in a dead end in front of a staircase.

The Grim Pantry is a unique map since it has two buildings. The main building has a Hatch spawn right next to the stairs the lead to the lower level. Then in the smaller two storey building there is a Hatch spawn in the lower level next to the pallet loop. In your own games, try to pay attention to where the Hatch spawns in each building, because it will help you in the future.

When I am looking for the Hatch, I check the main building and Killer Shack first. Next I go through jungle gyms, and look on top of any hills, as there is a Hatch spawn that is directly on top of the hill, and always spawns at the same spot on the hill.

If the Hatch is not in any of these areas, then it is time to look around the edges of the map, or the middle, since the Hatch can spawn in between trees or other props in the game. This is the hardest kind of Hatch to find, as it is the most random type of Hatch spawn.

Listen for the wind

When the Hatch is open it makes a loud wind tunnel sound. This sound effect can be heard quite far distance. This is where using headphones gives you a clear advantage, since the directional sound of the Hatch is much easier to pinpoint with headphones. By keeping an ear out for this sound, you can guide yourself to the Hatch without needing to see it.

You can also use the fact that you do not hear any wind tunnel sound to eliminate areas where the Hatch isn’t. What I do is always keep an ear out for the sound while running around. This makes searching the map much quicker, as you do not have to visually check every spot. Doing this takes practice, because you need to know how big the area of effect of the wind tunnel sound is. Still, once you master it finding the Hatch  gets much quicker and easier, since you can eliminate large portions of the map just by sound.

Play Killer to learn Hatch spawns

As Survivor there is a lot of pressure to, well, survive. But if you play Killer you have complete control over the game. Killers have a more relaxed time finding the Hatch because they are not in danger. Killers also move much faster than Survivors, allowing them to search the map quickly.

I suggest that whenever the Hatch spawning conditions are met in one of your Killer games, you start looking for it even if it is closed. Doing this will help you get an idea on where the Hatch can spawn, plus you can work on your Hatch finding skills.

Also, do not feel too discouraged if the Survivor escapes through the Hatch immediately. Finding the Hatch is a lot about luck, and sometimes the Hatch can spawn right next to the last Survivor.

Useful Perks and Items

There are many perks and items Survivors can use to make finding the hatch easier. First would beBill’s unique perk Left Behind. Here is how it works: “If you are the last Survivor remaining in the trial, you can see the aura of the Hatch within a 24/28/32 meter range.” With Left Behind you need to cover as much of the map, as fast as possible, so you can find the hatch before the Killer.

The second perk you can use is Mikaela Reid’s unique perk Clairvoyance. Here is how it works: “Clairvoyance activates whenever you cleanse a Totem. When empty-handed, hold the Ability button to unlock your full aura-reading potential. For up to 8/9/10 seconds, you see the auras of exit gate switches, generators, hooks, chest and the hatch within a 64 meter range.”

With Clairvoyance you just need to make sure it is activated just before the other Survivor dies. That way you can immediately start your search for hatch.

For the Items. the most helpful are the ultra-rare Skeleton Key and very rare Dull Key. Both of these items can open the Hatch if the Killer has closed it. It takes 2.5 seconds to open the hatch with any key. Just make sure the Killer is not nearby, because they can grab you while opening the hatch. Progress you make opening the hatch does not reset if you cancel the interaction.

The next couple of items you can use are the ultra-rare Rainbow Map, or the rare Map with the rare Black Silk Cord add-on. This add-on is needed because the Map does not have hatch-tracking built-in like the Rainbow Map.

Using a map to find the hatch is not as simple as it sounds. Both the Rainbow Map and the Map will not automatically show you the hatch’s aura when it spawns. You still must run around the map, and if you walk within 8 meters of the hatch, then the Map items will be able to show you its aura. It is definitely not very helpful, but it is an option if you have nothing better to help you out.

Use Offerings (if you dare)

There are two common offerings that can influence where the Hatch spawns. The offerings are the Annotated Blueprint and Vigo’s Blueprint. The Annotated Blueprint makes the Hatch more likely to spawn at the Killer Shack, while Vigo’s Blueprint makes the Hatch more likely to spawn at the main building.

Using an offerings can be risky, since not every map has a Killer Shack or main building, so there is a chance the offering will be completely useless. At the same time they greatly increase your chances of knowing where the Hatch will spawn. The obvious downside is that everyone else also knows this, so it will be a race to see who reaches the Hatch first.

That’s everything you need to know about finding the Hatch in Dead by Daylight. Using this information you can escape with your life, or get that final kill. If you want to see how the Hatch works in game, check out my video above, describing everything in detail.

I hope this guide has helped you out, and stay tuned for more Dead by Daylight guides. Comment below if you have any questions, and good luck out there in the fog!