Guard — deadbydaylight

The Guards are a Game Mechanic unique to The Knight, as well as non-player Characters, that were implemented into Dead by Daylight in Patch 6.4.0.

Overview

The Guards, as former members of the "Guardia Compagnia" and loyal friends to The Knight as "The Faithful Three", can be summoned by him at will.

Summoned Guards patrol nearby areas along a set Patrol Path, execute orders, and even hunt nearby Survivors, while providing some intelligence to The Knight, as he can read their Auras at all times.

Patrolling Guards will start a Hunt when a Survivor comes within their Detection radius, which is outlined in white and visible to both The Knight and Survivors.

The Hunt will continue until either the Survivor outlasts the timer, grabs the Guard's Standard, or unhooks another Survivor.
If a Guard manages to close enough distance to the Survivor, they will attack them, which injures or even downs the Survivor, depending on their Health State.

The Carnifex

The Carnifex, formerly known as "Sander Rault", matched Tarhos in size and strength and wields a massive Battle Axe.

He is able to break and damage objects faster than the other Guards.

Numbers

Patrol speed: 3.4 m/s
Break or Damage Action duration: 1.8 seconds
Patrol duration: 12 seconds
Hunt speed: 4.1 m/s
Attacks cause Deep Wound: no
Flag Materialisation time: 5 seconds
Hunt duration: 12 seconds
Spawn Vision range: 2 metres
Patrol Vision range: 10 metres

The Assassin

The Assassin, formerly known as "Durkos Malecek", showed an aptitude for stealth and silent kills.

He moves faster than the other Guards during a Hunt and causes the Deep Wound Status Effect on Survivors he attacks.

Numbers

Patrol speed: 3.4 m/s
Break or Damage Action duration: 5 seconds
Patrol duration: 12 seconds
Hunt speed: 4.4 m/s
Attacks cause Deep Wound: yes
Flag Materialisation time: 5 seconds
Hunt duration: 12 seconds
Spawn Vision range: 2 metres
Patrol Vision range: 10 metres

The Jailer

The Jailer, formerly known as "Alejandro Santiago", apprenticed with the Guardia Compagnia's Armourer.

He moves faster than the other Guards during a Patrol, has a larger Detection radius, and longer Patrol and Hunt phases.

Numbers

Patrol speed: 4.1 m/s
Break or Damage Action duration: 5 seconds
Patrol duration: 24 seconds
Hunt speed: 4.1 m/s
Attacks cause Deep Wound: no
Flag Materialisation time: 5 seconds
Hunt duration: 24 seconds
Spawn Vision range: 2 metres
Patrol Vision range: 16 metres

General Statistics

Guard Order, maximum distance: 6 metres
Spawn time: 1.5 seconds
Vision angle: 180 °
Vision Radius Expansion duration: 1 second
- This refers to how long it takes for a Guard's Vision radius to reach its full range, since it grows from the centre of the Guard's model outwards after they first spawn.
Hunt Start-up duration: 2.5 seconds
- This refers to the time it takes a Guard to travel to the location the Survivor was detected at before the actual Hunt starts.
- This time is progressively reduced if the Patrol Path exceeds a length of 10 metres and ranges from a reduction of -10 % to a maximum of -25 % if the length reaches 32 metres.
Pulling Survivors out of Lockers: 3 seconds
Killer Instinct duration: 3 seconds
Pallet and Vault Slow-down speed: 220 (?)
Pallet and Vault Slow-down duration: 1 second
Minimum Aura visibility distance: 12 metres
- Below this threshold, The Knight is unable to see an Aura of his Guards.
Progression Penalty when Damaging Generators: -5 % of total Progression

General Abilities

Guards, unlike Zombies, are impervious to stuns and cannot be blinded by Flashlights.
Guards also cannot be stunned by dropping a Pallet on them, as they will simply phase through the obstacle.
Guards also phase through Windows and do not need to vault over them.

When a Survivor is detected by a Guard, the Guard is programmed to reach that exact location during the wind-up phase of a Hunt in exactly 2.5 seconds.
To achieve this, a Guard will beeline to that location and phase through any solid object in their path.

Should a Survivor have been detected on a different floor to the Guard himself, he will float through the air or even floors/ceilings to reach the location in the given time frame.
During the wind-up phase of a Hunt, Guards do not follow their regular pathing using during the Hunt itself.

Hunt Phase

When a Guard spots a Survivor anywhere within their Detection radius, they will roar and immediately beeline towards the Survivor's exact location to place a Standard.

Once the Standard is placed and starts to materialise, the actual Hunt starts and the Guard starts chasing the Hunted Survivor.
The Guard will chase the Hunted Survivor for the duration of the Hunt until he manages to injure or down them.
If the Survivor outlasts the Hunt or manages to fulfil one of the ending conditions, the Guard will stop the chase and dissolve.

The Hunted Survivor has three options to prevent taking damage from the Guard during a Hunt:

Unhooking another Survivor
Outrunning the Guard until the Hunt ends automatically
Grabbing the Standard by walking into it.

If The Knight manages to hit the Hunted Survivor first, the Guard will immediately stop the Hunt and dissolve as well.

If the Survivor enters a Locker, the Guard will open the Locker, pull the Survivor out and damage them.

Standards

Each Guard places a Standard into the ground at the location they first detected the Survivor at.

The Standard takes some time to materialise first, during which the Survivor cannot grab it.
Once the Standard has fully materialised, a signal horn sounds.

From that point onwards, the Survivor can grab the Standard simply by walking into it, which immediately ends the Hunt and grants that Survivor a 50 % Haste Status Effect and the Endurance Status Effect, both for 3 seconds (the effect is equivalent to using the Perk Sprint Burst).

The Hunted Survivor can see the Aura of the Standard in white as soon as the signal horn has sounded.

Change Log

Patch 7.7.0

QoL: Guards no longer get stuck on stairs.

Patch 8.1.0

Rework: Reworked Guardia Compagnia to give more versatility between The Knight and his Guards.
- Buff: reduced the Breaking time of all Guards:
  - Reduced it for The Carnifex from 2 seconds to 1.8 seconds.
  - Reduced it for The Jailer/Assassin from 6 seconds to 5 seconds.
- Buff: increased the Detection radius of all Guards:
  - Increased it for The Jailer from 14 metres to 16 metres.
  - Increased it for The Carnifex/Assassin from 8 metres to 10 metres.
- Buff: granted the ability to manually swap between Guards rather than summoning them in their standard rotation.
- Buff: added a positive multiplier to the Hunt duration based on Path length, increasing the Hunt time by a factor of up to x1.5.
- QoL: reduced the camera push distance from 160 cm to 80 cm.
  - This allows The Knight to place Guards in tighter spaces.
- Nerf: Patrol Paths now have a minimum length of 10 metres.
  - This change prevents The Knight from placing Guards in a single location without the Guard moving.
- Nerf: added a negative multiplier to the Hunt duration based on proximity to The Knight, reducing the Hunt time by a factor of x3 if The Knight is within 8 metres of his Guard.
- Nerf: adjusted the ability of Guards to detect Survivors, reducing the possibility of them being detected through solid walls.
- Change: swapped the Hunt durations and Standard spawn times between The Carnifex and The Jailer to make the latter a more valid choice:
  - Reduced the base Hunt duration of The Carnifex from 24 seconds to 12 seconds.
  - Increased the base Hunt duration of The Jailer from 12 seconds to 24 seconds.
  - Reduced the Standard spawn time of The Carnifex from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.
  - Increased the Standard spawn time of The Jailer from 5 seconds to 10 seconds.

Trivia

The free-floating camera while drawing the Patrol Path will emit the stinger sound effect Killers have when starting to move after having stood still for a while.
Guards react to Loud Noise Notifications created by Survivors, akin to The Nemesis' Zombies.
While Guards do not apply any effects from Generator-related Perks when ordered to damage Generators, the action does count towards Tome Challenges that require the Killer to damage a certain number of Generators.
Guards also trigger the relevant Score Events.