It’s not often that you find a Killer in Dead By Daylight that you never want to get paired off against as a Survivor, but the Oni is one of them. Whenever this massive lumbering lad comes shambling out of the Fog at the start of a Trial, you’re guaranteed to always hear a few groans from other players that have experienced his particular flavor of punishment.
Kazan Yamaoka, or The Oni as he’s known in the game, is a giant of a man that was introduced as part of the Cursed Legacy DLC Chapter. Based on the Japanese Oni, a gigantic ogre that wields a Kanabo, which is basically a big spike-covered bat, this Samurai armor-clad creature is an unstoppable juggernaut that uses the blood of his victims to transform into a brutal demon that can decimate Survivors in seconds. He’s a frightening creature to face off against, and if you want to send a shiver down the spine of Survivors you’re paired off against before mercilessly slaying them, then here are some tips for playing the Oni.
10 Bonk Everyone
The Oni's playstyle is perhaps one of the simplest in the game; Pyramid Head in Dead By Daylight is arguably similar but he’s the progenitor of the Big Hit Boys. He has one goal in every round, hitting Survivors, really, really hard.
His melee attack is not only devastating to someone's health bar, but it also feeds into his special ability. Whenever a Survivor gets a cheeky smack they start to drop Blood Orbs, these ethereal red glowing globules appear in a trail behind players, showing where they’ve run to for a while before disappearing, making running away from the Onis grasp that much harder.?????? So hit hard and hit often.
9 Follow Those Blood Trails
The Blood Orbs are incredibly helpful at tracking down Survivors, but they also have their own special reason for collecting them. After enough have been picked up, a power gauge will fill, and when it activates you can shift into Blood Fury mode.
When this ability triggers the Killers model becomes more supernatural looking, and not only does this make him look more frightening, it also gives the Oni a substantial power boost. During Blood Fury, you gain access to the Demon Dash and Demon Strike abilities. The first is a dash that lets you cover large distances instantly whilst the latter is a devastating lunge that on hit puts healthy Survivors into the Dying State, so soak up as much blood as you can.
8 Trigger Blood Fury Often
Now that you’ve learned what Blood Fury does, it’s highly recommended that you try to trigger it as often as you can. This is easy to do as Oni can hunt down Survivors in no time at all thanks to his relatively fast movement speed of 115 percent, so it shouldn’t be too hard to cover the map in Blood Orbs.
Try to avoid hoarding Blood Fury, as it’s much more efficient to pop it when you spot either groups or solo Survivors; deal as much damage as you can before harvesting any Blood Orbs that were left behind. The longer you hold on to this ability, the more Orbs you will waste, since any collected aren’t stored if your Power Gauge is already full. So there’s no real reason to not go into Demon mode as often as you can as every little bit of damage you do is beneficial to this Killer.
7 Get That Demon Mode Melee Combo Down
Now that you know the basics of the Oni, if you want to use him the right way then you need to get to grips with how his Blood Fury combo works. Whilst you can run around and just do damage by triggering one or the other, they’re best used in tandem, and once mastered it’s easy to position yourself in a way that lets you pop them off back to back.
The combo in question is using Demon Dash to either dive straight into the center of a group or to close the gap on lone struggling Survivors. Then once you’re close lift that club and give whoever's close a big meaty smack with the Demon Strike. That dash and slap is the Onis meat and potatoes move that will reliably see you to victory, so get it down as quick as you can.
6 Demon Moves Have Limitations
As overpowered as the Demon Fury moves are, be aware they do come with some limitations that if you don’t know exist can seriously hamper your ability to turn running Survivors into badly beaten sacrifices to the Entity.
For example, Demon Strike and Demon Dash attacks are easy for Survivors to avoid by just running 90 degrees to the Oni and since his turn speed is relatively slow, it’s not too hard for players to run rings around you if you’re not careful. Also, the dash doesn’t clip on props or objects, and whilst not coming to a screaming stop because of hitbox collision is beneficial to you as a Killer, it’s quite easy to still overshoot your targets. So try to keep these downsides in mind when you start roaming as this blood-soaked monster.
5 Oni Is All About Rushdown
The Oni is not subtle; he’s got a wide Terror Radius of 32 meters, so he’s easy to hear coming and his large stature and frankly frightening design are easy to spot coming from a ways off. So since Survivors are going to be pretty much constantly aware of you, use that to your advantage and keep them on the back foot.
The Oni is hard to counter and other players, more often than not, will just scatter when they see him coming like sheep from a wolf. This can be used in your favor as it’s much easier to corner stragglers, plus anyone that tries to interfere runs the risk of becoming the Onis new Obsession thanks to his Perks. Further encouraging Survivors to take on that "everyone for themselves" attitude that always leads to the eventual wipe of the entire team.
4 Don’t Mess With His Original Perks
One of the most interesting, and at times frustrating, things about Killers in Dead By Daylight is that their base builds can be either really good or pathetically underpowered. This is usually countered by swapping in new Teachable Perks and Add-ons to power them up a bit, but the Oni is one of those monsters you can run hard with pretty much right out of the gate.
For example, at level 30 you get access to some seriously strong Perks like Zanshin Tactics which shows the auras of props such as breakable walls, pallets, and windows. There’s also Blood Echo which inflicts Haemorrhage on all injured Survivors on the team for hooking just one of them. Finally, there’s Obsession, one of the strongest abilities in the game which inflicts Oblivious and reveals a Survivors aura for four seconds when they stun or blind you. It’s a great loadout that can carry you quite far, so before you start loading him up with other abilities try those ones first, they’re more useful than you think.
3 Add-Ons For Boosting Blood Fury
Blood Fury is your ace in the hole with the Oni; triggered at the right time it can wipe the floor with Survivors and keep that pressure on the map at a terrifying high. At its base level, it doesn’t last too long, around 45 seconds, but there are some simple ways to boost its effectiveness with add-ons.
To start things off, Lion Fang is one worth bringing along as it considerably increases Blood Fury’s duration; combine it with Scalped Topknot which decreases the cooldown of Demon Dash and you’ve got a large distance clearing monster. Enhance it further with Tear Soaked Tenugui which reduces the penalty for picking up downed Survivors when Blood Fury is activated and you’ve got a demonic energizer bunny that never stops.
2 How To Boost Oni's Map Awareness
On top of enhancing your Blood Fury, another loadout route you could go down is boosting your Killer's map awareness. He has two add-ons that are pretty sneaky and can make staying hidden from him much more difficult for Survivors.
Renjiro’s Bloody Glove is a pretty nasty buff as it allows Survivors to see Blood Orbs; this may seem like a downside but when another player touches these floating balls of red mist their aura is revealed for two seconds. This effect also stacks, so if you smack enough players in one area you can turn it into a minefield that they can’t escape from without instantly tell you where they are. Combine it with Iridescent Family Crest that causes anyone within 12 meters of missed Demon Strike swing to scream and reveal themselves and it quickly becomes impossible to hide from the Onis' dreadful demonic gaze.
1 Don’t Prolong Chases
Whilst the Oni is all about giving chase and keeping Survivors on their toes, there are going to be times when constantly hounding someone like an R-rated Scooby-Doo villain is going to negatively impact your effectiveness in a Trial. What’s meant by that is whilst you can chase around solo Survivors in the game and farm them for their Orbs, it’s more beneficial to go after more than one person as the more Survivors that are injured, the more Blood Orbs will be dropped in one go.
Run after someone for as long as you feel it’s useful, then cut things short and go after someone else, a general rule of thumb is to keep things going until you have a full Demon Fury to use, then decide from there whether it would be more helpful to use it on the person you’re chasing or another victim. Plus hitting a healthy Survivor restores your power gauge by 40 percent, a substantial chunk that’s easier and quicker to harvest than following one person and hoovering up what they drop.