Introduced just a few months ago in 2023, The Skull Merchant has instantly become an enigma in the Dead By Daylight community due to Her ability that revolves around shutting down loops and provide intel regarding the survivors’ current locations.
The Skull Merchant, or Adriana Imai, is one of the 33 Killers at your disposal in Dead By Daylight’s roster of Murderers and Savages. She was recently introduced in the DLC Chapter 27: Tools of Torment. She got drones that patrol the area and hunt down the survivors trying to escape.
Here is a detailed guide that covers everything there is to know about The Skull Merchant in Dead by Daylight to make it easier for you to decide whether to pick him or not.
Is The Skull Merchant (Adriana Imai) good for beginners?
“The self-made millionaire Adriana Imai came from a humble home in Fortaleza, Brazil. Her father, Seita, moved to Brazil as a young man, hoping to see a side of the world completely different than his hometown in Hokkaido.”
The Skull Merchant is particularly unique in Dead By Daylight when it comes to her ideal play style. She has a unique roster of Powers and Perks at her disposal.
She has Perks that are supposed to chase down and trap her Survivors no matter where they try to run or hide. Her powers enable her to strategize her approach to hunting down Survivors anywhere on the map.
For these reasons, you might want to spend time to learn her in-depth before making her your Main Killer preference. The Skull Merchant certainly has some gameplay mechanics that you must master to win matches regularly with her.
Difficulty: Hard.
Are The Skull Merchant Perks worth upgrading?
The Skull Merchant’s Perks are pretty much made for chase downs and hunting Survivors tactically. THWACK!, Leverage, and Game Afoot are all ideal for chasing and targeting The Skull Merchant’s Obsessions throughout the Trial.
Since Adriana isn’t exactly an easy Killer to grasp, her Perks have to be utilized effectively to have control of the match. Therefore, we suggest that you definitely upgrade her Perks.
What Perks Does The Skull Merchant Have?
The Skull Merchant has 3 unique Perks in Dead by Daylight:
THWACK!
You relentlessly pursue your bewildered prey to the ends of the world.THWACK! Activates every time you successfully Hook a Survivor.
Once active, it forces all Survivors within a radius of 28/30/32 meters of your position to expose their whereabouts by Screaming and showing their Aura for 4 seconds.
Leverage
You get the most out of everyone’s suffering.
Every instance that you get to successfully Hook any Survivor in the Trial, Leverage will activate and obtain 1 Token. The maximum possible number of Tokens possible to gain with Leverage is 10 Tokens.
For every Token obtained, the Altruistic and Personal Healing Speed of any Survivor is lowered by a Stackable percentage of 3/4/5 percent for a duration of 30 seconds. Maximum Stacks can lead up to 30/40/50 percent reductions.
Game Afoot
Every time you strike a Basic Attack onto a Survivor with the highest cumulative Chase time, they become your new Obsession. Once they are your new Obsession, Game Afoot automatically triggers its secondary effect every time you chase them:
You will obtain a 5% Haste Status Effect Boost for 8/9/10 seconds after damaging any Generator or crushing down a Breakable Wall/Pallet.
Keep in mind: You can only have one Obsession at a given instance.
What Weapon does The Skull Merchant have?
Weapon: Razor-Sharp Dual Blades
This serves as The Skull Merchant’s Primary Weapon in all Trials. It is an ominous technologically advanced prosthetic composed of a vicious pair of blades.
What Power does The Skull Merchant have?
Power: Eyes in the Sky
“Inspired by the dark manga created by her father, The Skull Merchant relentlessly hunts her prey using the latest in surveillance technology.”
You will begin the Trial with 4 Drones as The Skull Merchant. For every Survival that becomes trackable by The Skull Merchant’s Radar, she will obtain a growing Haste Status Effect:
1. Trackable Survivor = +3%
2. Trackable Survivors = +5%
3. Trackable Survivor = +6%
4. Trackable Survivor = +7%
The increase in Haste Status Effect is completely Passive and therefore does not really require you to keep inspecting The Skull Merchant’s Radar.
Special Ability: DEPLOY DRONE
You must press the Power button down in order to activate this ability.
Active Mode:
Once deployed, the Drone will enter its Active Mode by itself after a small boot-up sequence. Once Active, this Drone will then form a circular Detection Zone around itself and all players within its immediate surroundings. Every player within this Zone will experience the following:
1. Survivors: Automatically obtain Lock On progress.
2. The Skull Merchant: obtains the Undetectable Status Effect after a duration of 2 seconds. Once The Skull Merchant exits this Detection Zone. The Status Effect will linger for about another 2 seconds.
In case no one is detected within the Detection Zone for a while, the Drone will then switch to its Scouting Mode.
Scouting Mode
In this mode, the Drone will carry out a sweep scan of the entire surrounding area via two laser beams.
Any Survivor that cuts the beams or even just briefly enters its AoE while having a Claw Trap attacked to themselves will instantly trigger the Drone into its Active Mode again.
Note: It is possible for a Survivor to evade all the Laser beams and come close to the Drone in order to Hack it without getting detected.
Is The Skull Merchant fun to play?
The Skull Merchant can be an exciting experience for players as long as you try to learn this Killer properly. Adriana Imai is a difficult Killer to master, and that cannot be stressed enough when starting off with her. You have to adopt a tactician’s style of play when you choose her as your Killer.
If you just recently began playing Dead By Daylight, you can expect some struggle to get her playstyle. But with the right exposure and some time, you will love choosing The Skull Merchant as your Killer.
What are some tips and tricks to get better with The Skull Merchant?
- The Skull Merchant is considered to be the ultimate tracker so make the most use of her four Drones that you get at your disposal.
- The Skull Merchant has a number of useful add-ons that can help in hindering Survivors within the Drone’s Radius even further, such as the “Adi Valente Issue 1”, and the “Loose Screw” add-on.
- Keep in mind that deactivating your Drones will make tracking down Survivors easier for you as it makes the Drones enter Scout Mode. An effect Skull Merchant player knows when to use which mode of the Drones.
Skull Merchant requires a good amount of practice but once you complete the learning curve her no survivor can escape her recon abilities. We have covered each everything that you need to know before getting started with this killer, and we hope you will find this guide beneficial.