|
"This place plays tricks on your mind…constantly I question whether I dream or if I am awake. This most recent horrid ghoul seems to bridge that gap – between the states of being awake or asleep. I saw him hunting another poor soul, someone who was not as lucky as me. A man with a hat and a claw clad hand, a scarred man of sorts. He spotted me and what actually happened next is still a mystery to me. Dreams took over, and I was sure to die. But I woke up. Not like in the manner where I awake at the campfire, but instead I just woke up…inside this wretched forest, with memories of nightmares within. I am now afraid to sleep, but also to stay awake." | 
|
| ~ Unknown (Potentially Benedict Baker) |
| The Nightmare | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name | Freddy Krueger |
| Game Alias(es) | "The Sandman" |
| Gender | Man |
| Origin | American |
| Realm | Springwood |
| Power | Dream Demon |
| Power Attack Type | Basic Attack |
| Weapon | Clawed Glove |
Movement Speed   |
115 % | 4.6 m/s |
| Alternate Movement speed | 100 % | 4 m/s ( placing Dream Snares) |
Terror Radius  |
32 metres |
| Lullaby Radius | 32 metres (Dream World) |
Height   |
Average |
| DLC | CHAPTER 6: A Nightmare on Elm Street™ |
| Voice Actor | Filip Ivanovic (BHVR) |
| Cost | 500 Auric Cells  
|
| Breathing | |
| Lullaby | |
| CharID | K10 |
Freddy Krueger or "The Nightmare" is one of 40 Killers
currently featured in Dead by Daylight
.
He was introduced as the Killer of CHAPTER 6: A Nightmare on Elm Street™, a Chapter DLC released on 26 October 2017.
He originates from the 2010 remake of the Horror Movie of the same name, A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Overview
|
|
Over time, The Nightmare forces Survivors into the Dream World. Once inside, Survivors will quickly realize the absence of a Terror Radius. With the ability to slow Survivors with Dream Snares, deceive with fake Dream Pallets, and pressure the map by teleporting directly to generators, The Nightmare lives up to his name. |
|
The Nightmare is a nightmare Killer, passively pulling Survivors into his Dream World where Survivors are vulnerable to his Dream Abilities. His Dream Projection ability allows him to quickly appear across the map and put pressure onto Survivors.
His personal Perks, Fire Up
, Remember Me
, and Blood Warden
, improve his abilities over time and make him stronger as the trial reaches its climax.
His Perks revolve around stopping Survivors from fleeing. They will make surviving a real pain for all, and managing to escape the Hunting Ground won't be easy.
Difficulty Rating: Moderate
(These Killers require the Player to be comfortable with the basics of the role, though they share common mechanics with easier ones)
Lore
Even while he lived, Freddy Krueger was a creature of nightmares for those who truly knew him. Hiding behind a mask of warmth and friendliness, Freddy's actual temperament was known only to his victims. When those victims were finally heard, the parents of Springwood tracked Freddy down and took the law into their own hands. They thought that fire had rid them of a monster that night, that their children were finally safe, but evil as strong as his has a way of surviving.
Years passed, the horror was buried, the victims mercifully forgot. Then, somehow, Freddy returned, and dreams became nightmares once again.
Freddy focused his anger on those he felt had wronged him, building up to his one true obsession, Nancy Holbrook. But he underestimated her strength and resourcefulness. Together with her friend Quentin Smith, she managed to weaken Freddy, mutilating him and leaving him for dead once more.
Death didn't want Freddy the first time he encountered it, why did they think it would take him now? He emerged once more, consumed with vengeance. Then he turned his sights on the boy who had blocked his path to Nancy, his number one.
Freddy invaded Quentin's dreams, terrorising him night after night, until his strength and defences would be at their lowest. When the time was right, he forced the boy to return to the dark reflection of Badham Preschool. Here he would have his final revenge.
Freddy stalked the boy through the school's halls. He took his time, savouring every moment of the hunt. This was what he enjoyed the most, the smell of their sweat in the air, the ragged gasps of their terrified breath. They were his to toy with.
There was the boy, at the end of a long corridor. Too tired and scared to run anymore? Resigned to his fate? Freddy closed in, arms wide, claws raking the wall. Their tips traced along a pipe, the metallic shrieking only adding to the boy’s apprehension.
A shower of sparks rained on the ground, and into the liquid that covered the tiled floor. A blue flame blossomed and quickly engulfed the room.
The boy took flight as Freddy burst from the flames in a fury. Rooms and walls raced past in a blur until they were in Freddy's basement. There would be no escape from here.
Slowly Freddy closed in on the boy. His fear was so strong now that Freddy could almost taste it, but his eyes burned with a defiant hatred that was almost admirable.
Freddy drew back his claws.
Then Freddy felt another presence with him; something old, powerful and dark. A miasma enveloped him and the only sensation was a sound like wooden beams flexing and creaking in the distance. The echoing groan of metal crushed against metal. Something arcane and unknowable, half-way between language and pure terror.
A moment of falling and spinning and then Freddy was back in the school. But not his school. It looked the same, but it felt different. His powers were tempered in some ways and focused in others. The boy had gone for now, but another prey walked the hallways. Some would be inconsequential; others would become his new favourites. All would fall before his claws.
Load-out
Unique Perks
The Nightmare comes with 3 Perks
that are unique to him:
 |
Blood Warden | As soon as one Exit Gate   is opened, Blood Warden activates.
Once per Trial, hooking a Survivor while Blood Warden is active calls upon The Entity |
|---|---|---|
 |
Fire Up | The increased pressure of losing your preys fills you with anger and gives you unsuspected motivation.
Each time a Generator is completed, Fire Up grows in power and gains 1 Token, up to a maximum of 5 Tokens.
"Now why don't you just fucking die?" — Freddy Krueger |
 |
Remember Me | Whenever the Obsession   loses a Health State   by any means, Remember Me gains +1 Token, up to a maximum of 2/3/4 Tokens:
You can only be obsessed with one Survivor at a time. "You don't remember? You must. You're my number one, and you'll never wake up again." — Freddy Krueger |
Prestige
Prestiging The Nightmare will automatically add Tier I of his Unique Perks to the inventories of all other Killers and unlock the ability for their higher-tiered versions to spawn in their Bloodweb
.
Prestige The Nightmare twice more to automatically add Tier II and Tier III respectively into the other Killers' inventories.
Weapon: Clawed Glove
The Clawed Glove is the Primary Weapon of The Nightmare.
A homemade device, crafted to torture and kill.
Power: Dream Demon
"Death won't accept him and thus he remains, a calamity, indisputable master of his victims' nightmares."
SPECIAL ABILITY: DREAM DEMON
The Nightmare is cloaked from awake Survivors.
While they can hear his Terror Radius, he is not always visible to them:
- The Nightmare is invisible to Survivors farther than 32 metres away.
- The Nightmare is intermittently visible to Survivors from 16 to 32 metres away.
- The Nightmare is fully visible to Survivors closer than 16 metres.
SPECIAL STATE: MICROSLEEP
The mere presence of The Nightmare induces Microsleep in awake Survivors, causing them to passively fall asleep over 60 seconds.
Survivors who woke up with an Alarm Clock are protected from Microsleep for 30 seconds.
SPECIAL STATE: ASLEEP
Survivors who fall asleep automatically enter the Dream World and suffer from the following effects while inside it:
- Causes them to be susceptible to Dream Traps.
- Causes them to suffer from the Oblivious
Status Effect.
- Causes them to hear a non-directional Lullaby instead.
Hitting Survivors with a Basic Attack immediately pulls them into the Dream World, unless they are still protected from Microsleep.
SPECIAL INTERACTION: WAKING UP
Survivors have several ways to leave the Dream World and wake up:
- Fail a Skill Check.
- Awake Survivors perform the Wake Up interaction on an asleep Survivor for 3 seconds.
- From the second time onwards, this interaction time is doubled to 6 seconds.
- Interact with their personal Alarm Clock for 3 seconds.
SPECIAL TRAP: DREAM SNARES
The Nightmare starts the Trial with 5 Dream Snares in his inventory.
Placing additional Dream Snares will recycle the oldest one.
Press and hold the Power button to see the outline of a Dream Snare in front of The Nightmare, which also slows his Movement speed to 4.0 m/s.
Release the Power button to place the trap:
- Causes Survivors who enter its Area of Effect to suffer from a -15 % Hindered Status Effect for as long as they remain inside it.
- This effect lingers for 3 seconds.
- Notifies The Nightmare when tripped.
SPECIAL TRAP: DREAM PALLETS
The Nightmare starts the Trial with 7 Dream Pallets in his inventory, if using one of three specific Add-ons
.
Placing additional Dream Pallets will recycle the oldest one.
Press the Power button when near a valid Spawn point for Pallets
to place a Dream Pallet there:
- Dream Pallets are unable to stun The Nightmare and break immediately when dropped.
- Notify The Nightmare when dropped.
SPECIAL LOCOMOTION: DREAM PROJECTION
Press and hold the Secondary Power button, once the Power Gauge is full, to perform a Dream Projection.
Release the Secondary Power button prematurely to cancel the interaction:
- Grants the ability to teleport to any incomplete Generator.
- Causes blood to spew from the selected Generator during the interaction.
- Reduces the Cool-down duration of Dream Projection by a stack-able -15 % for each asleep Survivor, up to a maximum of -60 %.
Dream Projection has a cool-down of 45 seconds.
"You have nothing to worry about. This won't hurt one... little... bit." — Freddy Krueger
Power Trivia
Movement Speeds:
- Charging Dream Projection: 3.86 m/s
Waking Skill Checks:
- It should be noted that it is the act of failing a Skill Check that wakes a Survivor from the Dream World and not the accompanying explosion and Loud Noise notification that does so.
Failing Skill Checks while using Perks such as Technician or Bite the Bullet, which suppress the explosion and Loud Noise notification, will therefore still wake Survivors up. - Failing a Skill Check while repairing a Generator will also wake up any other asleep Survivors that were repairing it at that moment.
The same is true for asleep Survivors that are being healed by someone who fails a Healing Skill Check.
Glimpses:
Awake Survivors only see glimpses of The Nightmare within a certain range:
- Glimpse duration: 2 seconds
- Glimpse cool-down: 2 seconds
- Glimpse Minimum distance: 16 metres
- Glimpse Maximum distance: 32 metres
Dream Projection:
- Charge duration: 3 seconds
- Cool-down duration: 30 seconds
- Cancelling Cool-down duration: 30 seconds
- Cool-down Reduction per asleep Survivor: -15 %
Dream Pallets:
- Placement range: 24 metres
- Placement angle: 40 °
- Indicator range: 16 metres
- Rupture range: 24 metres
- Rupture cool-down duration: 1.5 seconds
- Aura range: 24 metres
- This refers to the maximum range within which The Nightmare will see the Auras of placed Dream Pallets.
- Windows of Opportunity shows Dream Pallets the same way as it would regular Pallets.
Dream Snares:
- Minimum Charge time: 0.35 seconds
- This refers to how long a Dream Snare must be charged for, before it can be launched.
- Cool down duration: 7 seconds
- Hindered Linger duration: 4.5 seconds
- Hindered strength: -12 %
Micro-Sleep:
Survivors passively fall asleep when playing against The Nightmare:
- Micro-Sleep duration: 60 seconds
- Micro-Sleep protection: 30 seconds
- This refers to how long a Survivor is protecting from falling asleep by any means after waking themselves with an Alarm Clock
- This refers to how long a Survivor is protecting from falling asleep by any means after waking themselves with an Alarm Clock
- Wake-up Alarm Clock duration: 3 seconds
- This refers to how long it takes to interact with an Alarm Clock
- This refers to how long it takes to interact with an Alarm Clock
- Wake-up action duration: 5 seconds
- This refers to how long it takes to wake up another sleeping Survivor.
Add-ons for Dream Demon
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Garden Rake | A small claw rake, a must have tool for any accomplished gardener.
Switches the type of Dream Traps used in the Trial:
|
 |
Kid's Drawing | An unattributed drawing clearly crafted by a young child.
|
 |
Sheep Block | A white and blue wooden block depicting two woolly Lambs grazing and the letter "S".
|
 |
Wool Shirt | A small boy's orange and yellow striped shirt. Identified with a sewn name tag to "Jesse".
|
 |
Cat Block | A white and purple wooden block depicting a sleeping Cat and the letter "C".
|
 |
Green Dress | A little girl's green dress with a silky white ribbon.
Survivors inside the Dream World suffer from the following effects:
|
 |
Nancy's Sketch | A crude and bold sketch made with Fusain, signed by Nancy H.
|
 |
Outdoor Rope | Sturdy outdoor rope, handy to tie up anything.
Survivors inside the Dream World suffer from the following effect:
|
 |
Prototype Claws | A home-made tool to facilitate bush trimming.
Switches the type of Dream Traps used in the Trial:
|
 |
Blue Dress | A little girl's pale blue dress with white lace which's front is ruined by large cuts.
Survivors inside the Dream World suffer from the following effects:
|
 |
Jump Rope | A long Double-Dutch jump rope, stained with many years of use.
Survivors inside the Dream World suffer from the following effect:
|
 |
Nancy's Masterpiece | A painting of a Character, made by Nancy Holbrook at Badham and kept as a treasure memory.
|
 |
Paint Thinner | A tin of a highly volatile and inflammable material.
Switches the type of Dream Traps used in the Trial:
|
 |
Unicorn Block | A white and red wooden block depicting a prancing Unicorn and the letter "U".
|
 |
"Z" Block | A deeply scratched and burnt wooden block which's only recognisable feature is the letter "Z".
|
 |
Class Photo | A large photograph taken at Badham Preschool showing the cheerful class of '94-95.
When channelling Dream Projection, the following effects apply:
|
 |
Pill Bottle | An empty pill bottle which once contained a medicine called Zoneral.
|
 |
Swing Chains | Rusty, but sturdy chains used to securely attach a swing seat.
Survivors inside the Dream World suffer from the following effect:
|
 |
Black Box | A black cardboard box filled with photographs.
Survivors inside the Dream World suffer from the following effect:
|
 |
Red Paint Brush | A large paint brush, wet with crimson paint.
|
Achievements
There are 2 Achievements related to The Nightmare:
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Adept Nightmare | Playing as The Nightmare, achieve a Merciless Victory using only his 3 Unique Perks: Fire Up, Remember Me, and Blood Warden |
|
Dream Demon | Playing as The Nightmare   , pull Survivors into the Dream World a total of 200 times.
|
Cosmetic Options
Players can choose from a variety of Cosmetic options to customise The Nightmare:
Base Cosmetics
Default
| Icon | Name | Body | Rarity | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Freddy Krueger | 
|
Common | The mottled and charred face of an odious man, topped with a fedora. |
|
Preschool Gardener | 
|
Common | A striped woolen shirt and sturdy gardener trousers, punctured with burn holes. |
|
|
Clawed Glove | 
|
Common | A homemade device, crafted to torture and kill. |
Prestige
| Icon | Name | Body | Rarity | Description | Additional Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Bloody Freddy |
|
Rare | The burnt and blood splattered face of an odious man, topped with a fedora. | Prestige Level 6 Reward |
|
Bloody Gardener |
|
Rare | A striped woollen shirt and sturdy gardner trousers, dripping with his prey's blood. | Prestige Level 5 Reward |
|
Bloody Clawed Glove |
|
Rare | A bloody device of nightmares, crafted to torture and kill. | Prestige Level 4 Reward |
Perk Charms
| Prestige Level 7 Reward | Prestige Level 8 Reward | Prestige Level 9 Reward |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
| A keepsake gained upon mastery of a particular skill. | ||
DLC
The Nightmare is part of 1 DLC:
Change Log
Patch 1.8.1
- Nerf: increased the time Survivors must have left the Terror Radius for to have their Auras revealed from 1 second to 10 seconds.
- Nerf: increased the Terror Radius from 16 metres to 24 metres.
- This change was motivated by a desire to allow Survivors more room to manoeuvre around The Nightmare without having their Auras revealed for being outside his Terror Radius.
- This change brought the Terror Radius to the same range as his Lullaby.
- Nerf: increased the duration of the Movement Speed penalty after tagging a Survivor with Dream Demon from 1 second to 3 seconds.
- This change was motivated by a desire to allow Survivors to put more distance between themselves and The Nightmare before they fall asleep and become vulnerable to his attacks.
- Nerf: dying Survivors who are healed to the Injured State are automatically woken up.
Patch 1.8.2
- Quality of Life: increased the Movement Speed while casting Dream Demon from an unknown value to 95 %.
- This change was motivated by the Developers deeming the old penalty as too intense.
- Quality of Life: reduced the Interaction and Attack cool-down when successfully putting a Survivor into the Dream Transition from an unknown value to 0.5 seconds.
Patch 1.9.2
- Change: removed the unintentional ability to tag Survivors hiding inside Lockers with Dream Demon.
Patch 2.0.0
- Quality of Life: reduced the Vaulting time to match that of other Killers, as it was unintentionally higher.
Patch 2.3.0
- Quality of Life: reduced the volume levels of his footsteps, making him stealthier.
Patch 3.1.0
- Rework:
- Awake Survivors see The Nightmare always within 16 metres, intermittently within 32 metres, and not at all beyond that.
- Survivors experience Micro-Sleep, passively falling asleep within 60 seconds.
- Asleep Survivors now have another way of waking up by interacting with the newly introduced Alarm Clock.
- Switched when the Terror Radius or the Lullaby is heard.
- The Wake Up action now takes longer if it is performed more than once on the same Survivor.
- The Nightmare now places Dream Traps as his main power.
- The Nightmare can now teleport to unrepaired Generators using Dream Projection.
Patch 3.2.0
- Buff: Asleep Survivors now suffer from the Oblivious Status Effects.
Patch 4.7.0
- Quality of Life: increased the brightness of the Dream World indicator on the HUD.
- Nerf: added a Movement Speed penalty while placing Dream Snares, reducing his Movement speed to 4.0 m/s.
- Nerf: reduced the maximum number of Dream Snares from 8 to 5.
- Nerf: reduced the maximum number of Dream Pallets from 10 to 7.
- Nerf: Survivors using Alarm Clocks are granted full immunity from falling asleep for 30 seconds, including when The Nightmare attacks them.
- This is indicated on the HUD by a yellow Sleep timer ticking down.
- Change: revisited some Add-ons.
Unknown Patch
- Change: reassessed the difficulty rating from Hard to Moderate.
- Change: removed the unintentional ability for dream pallets to stun the killer.
Patch 8.5.0
- Rework: Reworked Dream Demon to make The Nightmare a stronger threat.
- Change: Both Dream Snares and Dream Pallets are now part of The Nightmare basekit.
- Change: Dream Snares are now a projectile that can move at 12 m/s, can go through walls and follow slopes/stairs but not off of ledges. They have a maximum range of 18 meters and a 7 second cooldown.
- Change: Dream Pallets can be triggered to explode in a geyser of blood. The explosion occurs 1.5 seconds after activation with a 3.5 meter radius. When a sleeping Survivor is hit, they become injured. When an Awake Survivor is hit, they gain 60 seconds on their Sleep Timer.
- Change: Survivors can now use any Alarm Clock to Wake Up — an Alarm Clock will go on cooldown for 45 seconds after being used and can't be used by any Survivors during this time.
- Change: All of The Nightmares Add-On's have been reworked to accommodate changes to Dream Demon
- Buff: Awake Survivors hit by Dream Snares will have 30 seconds added to their Sleep Meter.
- Buff: Increased Hindered duration for sleeping survivors hit by Dream Snare from 3 seconds to 4.5 seconds.
- Buff: Increased the maximum Dream Pallets that can be placed at once from 7 to 8
- Buff: The Nightmare can now teleport to completed, blocked, and endgame Generators.
- Buff: Survivors healing or being healed in the Dream World will be revealed by Killer Instinct and The Nightmare can teleport to them.
- Buff: Survivors within 8 metres of Dream Projection will be revealed by Killer Instinct and gain 15 seconds to their sleep meter.
- Buff: Dream Projection cooldown has been decreased from 45 seconds to 30 seconds.
- Buff: Dream Projection teleport time has been decreased from 4 seconds to 2.5 seconds.
- Buff: The Wake Up Interaction time has increased from 3 seconds to 5 seconds.
- Nerf: The Wake Up interaction time will no longer increase after each time it's performed.
- Nerf: Cancelling Dream Projection will now activate the full cooldown.
- Nerf: Dream Pallets can now stun The Nightmare when dropped on him by a Survivor, but the pallet will still break after being dropped.
- Nerf: Reduced the Hindered penalty on Asleep Survivors hit by Dream Snares from -15% to -12%.
- Nerf: Survivors will wake up when entering the dying state.
- Quality of Life: Improved clarity when the nearest survivor is asleep.
- Quality of Life: When charging Dream Projection, The Nightmare will see the aura of himself emerging near a teleport location to help with orientation. This is only visible to the killer.
- Quality of Life: The Wake Up interaction now takes priority over the healing interaction.
Trivia
- The full name of Freddy Krueger is "Frederick 'Freddy' Charles Krueger".
- Though the character was popularised by Robert Englund in the original film series, his appearance in Dead by Daylight is based on that of the 2010 film reboot, where he was portrayed by Jackie Earle Haley.
- The Nightmare's corresponding Survivor is Quentin Smith, a Character who was created specifically for the 2010 film.
- The Nightmare's Memento Mori is a reference to the way he killed Jesse in the film.
- The Nightmare's Memento Mori animation is the second one in which the Survivor attempts to get up on their own.
- The Nightmare breathes the quietest out of all the Killers, with his breathing being similar in volume to that of Survivors.
- Unlike other Killers, who simply step over Windows when vaulting, The Nightmare grabs the window ledge with both hands and lifts himself over, this is due to Freddy being much smaller in height than most other Killers in the Game.
- The Pig and The Ghost Face also have this same animation, for the same reason.
- The Pig
- The Nightmare is the Killer with the least amount of cosmetics, with only his three Prestige cosmetics.
- The Nightmare was the fifth licensed Character to be introduced to Dead by Daylight.
- The Nightmare was the first Killer to receive a major rework to his Power.
- The Nightmare was currently the only Killer, who can change one of their abilities completely with the use of an Add-on. This has been changed since his 8.5.0 rework.
- The Nightmare is the 4th killer overall to recieve mini-power icons next to his main Power icon. Added in Patch 8.5.0, alongside his rework.
- The mini-power icons are used to show swapping between Dream Snares and Pallets as well as the cooldown for Dream Projection.
Voice Actor
- The Nightmare is voiced by Filip Ivanovic, who at that time worked as the Art Director on the Game.
- The Nightmare shares his voice-actor with The Trapper, The Wraith, The Hillbilly, The Cannibal, The Ghost Face, and Jeff Johansen.
- The Nightmare shares his voice-actor with The Trapper
Gallery
For more go to the Nightmare's Gallery
In-game assets
-
The Nightmare -
The Nightmare (Portrait render) -
The Nightmare (Background image)
Old assets
-
The Nightmare's previous portrait
Added assets
Official art
-
-
Sketches of The Nightmare and The Cannibal
-
-
Models
-
Freddy's model
-
Freddy's Prestige model
Screenshots
Others
-
The Nightmare placing a Dream Snare
-
Preview for the Add-ons
