When Dead by Daylight announced Nicolas Cage, it was honestly hard to tell if they were joking. Now that his perks have been revealed, well, we’re still not sure if it’s a joke or not. Behaviour Interactive has been spicing things up with their new survivors, introducing different themes to the game like Teamwork, and Boons, and now Nicolas Cage arrives with a sort of roulette-style perk granting players random effects. If you’d like to know how Nicolas Cage handles himself in The Fog, keep reading to check out all of his perks.
Nicolas Cage Perks in Dead by Daylight
It’s safe to say that Nicolas Cage in DBD is essentially a meme character, and his outlandish perks prove it. He’s a survivor I’d only recommend for experienced players since his perks come with quite a few downsides. Here are his three unique abilities as shared by Behaviour Interactive:
- Dramaturgy: Activates while you are healthy. While running, press the Active Ability Button 2 to run with knees high for 0.5 seconds and then gain 25% Haste for 2 seconds, followed by an unknown effect (one of the following): Exposed for 12 seconds; Gain 25% Haste for 2 seconds; Scream, but nothing happens; Gain a random rare item in hand with random add-ons and drop any held item. The same effect cannot happen twice in a row. Causes exhaustion for 60/50/40 seconds. Can’t be used while exhausted.
- Scene Partner: Activates when you are in the Killer’s Terror Radius. Whenever you look at the Killer, scream, then see the Killer’s aura for 3/4/5 seconds. There is a chance you will scream again, if you do, you will see the Killer’s aura for an additional 2 seconds. Scene Partner then goes on cool-down for 60 seconds.
- Plot Twist: Activates when you are injured. Press the Active Ability Button 2 while crouched and motionless to silently enter the dying state. When using Plot Twist to enter the dying state, you leave no blood pools, make no noise, and you can fully recover from the dying state. When you recover by yourself using Plot Twist, you are fully healed instantly and you gain 50% Haste for 2/3/4 seconds. This perk deactivates if you recover by yourself by any means. The perk re-activates when the exit gates are powered.
Best Perks with ‘Dramaturgy’ in Dead by Daylight
Even though this one sounds like a complete joke, it could actually be an interesting replacement for Dead Hard since it got nerfed. Many players used Dead Hard to gain a speed boost while being chased, and if used correctly, Dramaturgy can pull off the same effect. Choose three to go with it from the list below for the best build:
- Windows of Opportunity
- Quick & Quiet
- Off the Record
- Low Profile
- Vigil
Windows of Opportunity is recommended for those new to running the Killer, and it’s a great way to learn the maps – even for those who have played the game for years, like me, it could be hard to remember the location of every pallet and window, so it’s still worth using. I’d typically suggest using Quick & Quiet with Windows for stealth, but it could also be skipped here. Low Profile is a good choice for solo players, while Vigil is useful to recover from exhaustion quickly and get more use out of Dramaturgy.
Best Perks with ‘Scene Partner’ in Dead by Daylight
Scene Partner is quite an interesting perk since it’ll allow you to see the aura of the killer, at the cost of potentially revealing your own location. If going up against the Doctor, you’d probably get a headache from all the screaming. Unfortunately, Calm Spirit won’t help out either, since preventing Scene Partner’s scream would also disable its aura reading ability – but here are other skills that could work:
- Alert
- Dark Sense
- Object of Obsession
- Stake Out
- Prove Thyself
- Wiretap
- Blast Mine
For this one, you can go full-on with always knowing the killer’s location by using Alert, Dark Sense, and Object of Obsession if you’re really brave. There’s also the option to use this as part of a gen-build, as Stake Out also activates while in the killer’s radius. Wiretap or Blast Mine could be beneficial to either help out fellow survivors or give you extra time to run by trapping the generator. And of course, Prove Thyself will always work in any generator build and is still one of the best in the game.
Best Perks with ‘Plot Twist’ in Dead by Daylight
Plot Twist is the most confusing perk of them all since to get the speed boost out of it you’ll literally need to down yourself – which might make you incredibly vulnerable if the killer has Deerstalker or any other aura reading perks. There are a few ways you might be able to make this work though, so here are a few perks to go with it:
- Power Struggle
- Buckle Up
- Tenacity
- Distortion
- Boil Over
In order to not completely get yourself killed off while trying to use this perk, I’d recommend pairing it up with either Distortion or Tenacity, which will enable you to either avoid being seen by the killer’s aura reading perks or be able to crawl away slightly faster. Power Struggle and Boil Over are good to have in case you do get picked up, and they work well together as they’ll both hinder the opponents’ ability to get you on a hook.
For the jokesters out there willing to make use of Nicolas Cage’s wild perks in Dead by Daylight, I wish you the best of luck and hope this guide helped. If you decide to save your Auric Cells for another survivor, Gabriel Soma has useful abilities that are less likely to get you killed while using them.
