Mikaela Reid is the newest Survivor arriving to Dead by Daylight. This witch-themed Survivor brings with her the first Boon Totem perks into the game. These Boon Totems can change the flow of a game, and give Killers something to watch out for. Let’s take a look at Mikaela Reid’s three unique perks and how she can create Boon Totems in Dead by Daylight.
Clairvoyance
Clairvoyance is Mikaela’s first perk, and the teachable version appears on her Bloodweb at level 30. 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, and chests within a 64-meter range.”
Clairvoyance works exactly how Maps do, so you can get a lot of use out of those 10 seconds. Clairvoyance is not hindered by items much either, since holding an item, or picking one up does not deactivate Clairvoyance. You just have to make sure to drop your item when you want to use Clairvoyance.
Clairvoyance is a good alternative if you do not have access to better aura-reading perks or Maps. It can be a backup perk for loot builds, sabotaging builds, or for finding generators. If you ever get lost when the gates have been powered, Clairvoyance can show you where the exit gate switches are. It is definitely a weaker perk though, as the Map can do everything Clairvoyance does without taking up a perk slot.
Boon: Circle of Healing
Boon: Circle of Healing is Mikaela’s second perk, and the teachable version appears on her Bloodweb at level 35. Here is how it works:
“Press and hold the ability button near a Dull or Hex Totem to bless it and create a Boon Totem. Soft chimes ring out in a 28-meter range. Any Survivors within the Boon Totem’s range gain a 90/95/100% healing speed bonus and can heal without a Med-Kit. You can only bless one Totem at a time. All equipped boon perks are active on your Boon Totem.”
While the strength of Boon Totems remains to be seen, Boon: Circle of Healing is looking to be a popular perk right away, especially since so many Killers use the Mangled status effect to slow down healing. Circle of Healing makes healing other Survivors in a group incredibly fast, and currently stacks with other healing speed boosts. It will be in the best interest of the Killer to snuff out the Boon Totem before chasing Survivors within its field of effect.
I could see Survivors evolving the strategy of healing at the edge of the Boon Totem’s area of effect. This will make it harder for the Killer to take out the totem since they will have to ignore the healing Survivors to go snuff it out. This would effectively buy time for the Survivors to finish their heal, and escape.
Hitting the healing Survivors is not always an option for the Killer. We saw on the PTB that with the right perk combination, Survivors could heal each other to healthy during the Killer’s blood wipe animation. This makes the Killer’s attempts at attack useless.
This situation could change when the perk goes live, though it is unlikely since Boon Totems are quite easy for Killers to find.
Boon: Shadow Step
Boon: Shadow Step is Mikaela’s third perk, and the teachable version appears on her Bloodweb at level 40. Here is how it works:
“Press and hold the ability button near a Dull or Hex Totem to bless it and create a Boon Totem. Soft chimes ring out in a 28-meter range. Any Survivors within the Boon Totem’s range will have their scratch marks and auras hidden to the Killer. This effect lingers for 2/3/4 seconds after leaving the Boon Totem’s range. You can only bless one Totem at a time. All equipped boon perks are active on your Boon Totem.”
Boon: Shadow Step looks to be an amazing stealth perk. If the Killer is not paying attention they can easily lose the Survivor they are chasing. That said, Boon: Shadow Step will be less effective on experienced Killers, who pay more attention to sound when losing sight of Survivors.
The real value of Boon: Shadow Step is the ability to prevent the Killer from seeing Survivor auras. A Killer with an aura-reading perk or add-on can be the difference between life and death for Survivors.
Currently, Distortion is the only Survivor perk that can hide auras, but it can only trigger three times in one game. So having a way for Survivors to hide auras for an unlimited amount of times – at least until the Boon Totem is snuffed out – is a welcome addition.
Those are Mikaela Reid’s three unique perks in Dead by Daylight. To see these perks in action check out my video below.
The effectiveness of her Boon Perks remains to be seen as players adjust to the new mechanic, but they have the potential to have a big impact during a game.
To learn about how Boon Totems work, check out our guide on the subject. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more Dead by Daylight guides.
