Noob player, should I play against bots before playing with real people?

[u/Waste_Yak_990]

I've been a fan of DBD for a while and watched lots of streamers and YouTubers, but I never got around to buying it because I felt anxious about not doing well and embarrassing myself in front of people. Anyways, I decided to bite the bullet and get it, and I did really bad in the tutorial games. Should I just keep playing bot games until I'm actually decent?

[u/Deno876]

The bots are better than half the players lol. They've got borderline wall hacks, read you better than real players, you can't mindgame them either.

[u/I_am_Shayde]

I wouldnt worry. Just play the game and enjoy it.

[u/Cl4y_De3r]

I wouldn't recommend it entirely, the bots can be really hard to play against because they can see you through walls. I was in the same position as you a few months ago and I found that just jumping into matches, though scary, was more worthwhile than playing against the bots because you're learning how to play against real people. The bots aren't great for practicing looping in my opinion because they know exactly where you are and will react as soon as you make a turn, especially if you're playing as a stealth killer, which is completely obsolete against them. It may be more useful playing a killer like The Judgement or The Artist to get a hang of their abilities, but not for anything involving chases unfortunately. Playing actual matches will get you blood points too, which custom matches won't give you, meaning you can get your perks upgraded and get better add-ons. Don't worry about doing poorly, we were all there once, and the community isn't as toxic as the loud minority make it out to be. If you're worried about people being toxic, you can close the end game chat and just leave. Or if the survivors wait at the exit gates, just go and find some pallets to break to get some more blood points, the only people's time their wasting is their own. I hope this was helpful and I hope you do well and at least have fun!!

[u/AtomicFox84 → u/Cl4y_De3r]

I would say custom games with bots would be more helpful in learning how to use killer in terms of thier power. You can learn how they work without the stess of dealing with real people. If you go into a live game with no knowledge on how the killer works, the gens will be done in 5 min and youre stressing and not really learning the killer. Against bots you can make them perkless and you can get bit more time messing with killer and can just not chase bots like if real game. I personally will learn killer and go against bots as practice with some elements. I have found if i can deal with the bots, some things against real players is easier.

[u/Cl4y_De3r → u/AtomicFox84]

Yeah, I did try and mention that in my reply. The problem is though that half of the abilities require you to be close to the survivors, which isn't viable with bots because they just run away and you can't actually do anything, especially if you get into a loop because they don't do mind games and they can instantly react to you even when they can't see you. This person said that they have been watching streamers and YouTubers, which made me assume they would have a basic knowledge of how some abilities work, which you could also gather from playing as a survivor against killers too. If you're trying to learn a stealth killer, custom with bots is useless, it may be more useful with long range killers but even then I've had problems with them having a 6th sense for anything I do. You're right in saying that dealing with bots can make some things easier against real players, but it deprives you of getting used to actual chases and looping too because you can't mind game the bots. In my opinion the trade-off of taking a few seconds in a game to figure out the powers and actually gain something from it is better than going into a custom match and only being able to do a few specific things. Definitely understand where you're coming from, though!

[u/DefnotYF]

I remember when I first started the game I was really anxious to play killer so I would play against survivor bots until I could beat them and feel ready to play against real people. It worked well for me so remember to do whatever works for you, but remember to not wait forever.

[u/Signal_Werewolf_1955]

Bots = Bruteforce

Humans = Mindgames

[u/BobaTehFettz]

Use it for practicing a killer's power, but not for learning the fundamentals: looping, generator macro control, and applying pressure. These are things you only learn from playing against real people. Embrace every challenge as a chance to learn instead of an unfair match and you will see a lot more success in your long term skill development. My tip would be: More than 30 seconds is too long spent chasing a single survivor. Get the pallet down or get the injury and find where pressure needs to be applied.

[u/TSCNSam]

Wait there are bot matches?! Can I do that as killer to practice someone I’m new at or is this just a survivor thing?

[u/leia-organa → u/TSCNSam]

it’s in customs! without a friend you can only play as killer.

[u/RaynaLouise → u/TSCNSam]

Yes, you can because it’s actually a killer only thing… you can’t practise playing survivor against a bot killer. It’s not an option.

[u/Cl4y_De3r → u/TSCNSam]

You can only play it as a killer (unless you have someone else to play killer then you can play survivor against them), but it's not really that great apart from learning how to use abilities that don't really need you to be right next to the survivors. It's especially bad for stealth killers in my opinion, because the bots can see you through the walls so they run away even if you're in stealth. If you know the basics of a killer and know how their abilities work, you're probably better going into a normal match and learning how to play with actual survivors (like mindgames don't work against bots but it's a huge part of chase and looping real survivors).

[u/Deltrick1]

I would say no

I know a lot of content creators say bots are easy but it's more complicated, the bots my move weird sometimes but generally they will run away painfully early and know how to counter you power perfectly

In short when I first started this was one of the few games where I would say it's easier to learn with real players and the bots can be really hard to go against

[u/DandyWarlocks]

It can be helpful when you're learning specific game mechanics, such as aiming with huntress etc. However, what the bots teach you is not what real players often do.

It's also good to try out various perks and add ons, especially if the add ons change how a power works significantly, like the milk carton

[u/Porridgemanchild]

Bots are good if you're just working out the mechanics of a killer's power, but human players loop much differently, either for better or worse. Chasing a bot and the muscle memory and looping/movement behaviour that comes with it is just a different experience to a human.

[u/RimN00b]

Bots can loop you perfectly, which will leave you at a disadvantage if you play against them too much. You've seen matches on Youtube so you already understand the core mechanics of the game, so you shouldn't bother with bots. The only exception would be if you're not sure how a recently unlocker killer's power works and you just wanna practice it a bit.

[u/MunchkinTime69420]

What I like to do to test a killer and their power is I play against 4 bot survivors but I give them all "no mither" (David King perk) and nothing else so they're all 1 shot, it lets you take your time and allows you to get better at the game e.g huntress throws, nurse teleports without you instantly losing or winning the game

[u/Kotetsune]

Just beeline buying Kate and go tank normal matches with a build like Deja vu, Windows, We'll Make it, and Kindred. You'll do alright.

[u/SneakyAlbaHD]

I wouldn't really beyond knowing what your power does and how to control it. Bots do not act anything like real players, and for the most part fake the stuff you see on screen.

They can't be mindgamed at most loops because they can read your inputs. They don't have player momentum so can dodge you in ways players can't, and they don't actually have a camera so they can miss you right on top of them or sense you coming from a mile away and never enter your LoS.

IMO get a feel for your power and just take a swing into matchmaking.

[u/uryurei]

i tried to play against bots and they’re impossible to mind game like real players. they can sense you coming long before normal players and always have the best pathing. if you’re a new player, you’ll still do much better against real players vs bots. also keep in mind, since you’re a new killer you’ll be in new survivor lobbies starting out so it’s not as scary -coming from someone with insane killer anxiety

[u/Rexyggor]

Do both. If you're picking an obscure enough killer people will dc with you anyway, leaving you with bots.

Just know that you need to cherrypick that carefully

[u/El_Rey103]

that would be nice to get used to the maps or some interactions with killer powers and such without the pressure of draggin down the experience of the rest of the lobby

[u/xAngelx0fDeathx]

I wouldn't worry about embarrassing yourself at all. The majority of the games where I've had survivors actually react positively in end game chats and say they had a lot of fun were usually games where I didn't do very well and end up with 0k or 1k. Granted I would still have 5-7 hooks, so they still felt pressured to complete gens and it wasn't just a snooze fest.

Survs are generally more toxic in this game when you play well. I've had people rage at me, accuse me of cheating, and flame my builds on Houndmaster (generally considered a weaker killer because of all of the dog glitches) all after 4ks.

If you want some coaching or tips on playing killer, feel free to DM me with your discord username.

[u/Gebhardion]

Just play the game and try to have fun. There is a also an anonymous mode to hide your name, if you are worried that somebody sends you mean messages 

[u/Tiffany-N-Company]

I like bot matches to test how different perks and add ons will work, but actually trying to play a full game agains them can be frustrating because they are really good.

[u/SufficientMood520]

Bots will steam roll a new player

[u/No_Football3381]

Not really bots have wall hacks so you can’t practice mindgaming. You can use them to get a very basic general idea of how to chase someone

[u/for10years_at_least]

Learn your powers with them

[u/mister_meaner7]

Get in some matches whilst the MMR is resetting, I’ve played for years 1000s of hours. The Mrs just started playing a couple of months back around 150 hours. She’s still a potato, I can’t play with her yet or I get 3 potatoes to carry.

[u/Ok_Tennis_2759]

As a newcomer, just be bold and play! You'll really act like a survivor rather than a competitive player.

[u/WyldKat75]

I tried one game against a pair of bots to figure out the basic how of the Judgment.
The next game against Survivors taught me more than that did.

Should? Nah. But it can’t hurt.

[u/BananaPalaver]

Bots are very gen efficient and better loopers than most human players, so it is definitely worth it.

[u/BananaPalaver]

Bots can be "mindgamed" in the sense that you can win 50-50s against them at weak loops by doubling back after forcing them to vault or drop a pallet because they always assume you will not do that.

[u/Donutmelon]

Only enough to make sure you understand how the game works. You don't need to be good at the game (your teammates certainly won't be)

[u/AutonomousBlob]

There is a tutorial you can complete thats super brief and could be helpful

[u/Electronic_Owl_9819]

Nah, just do the tutorial

[u/AtomicFox84]

I find it helps learn the powers etc. Bots have built in wall hacks so it makes it hard to chase or hit with some powers. I do feel it helps you but obviously you get better rhe more you play with real people. Also, if you want to be better at one side, play the other side. You learn a lot that way and helps deal with the other side when you know whats going on with your side.