Behaviour Interactive is about to put the biggest perk rework in years on a test server, and almost nobody who wants to play it knows how to get in. The Public Test Build is not a separate download, not a beta key, and not something you sign up for. It is a Steam beta branch hiding inside a dropdown menu most players have never opened.
Quick answer: The 10.2.0 PTB opens on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, in the evening Eastern Time, and closes the following Monday, September 21. It is Steam only. You get in by right-clicking Dead by Daylight in your Steam library, opening Properties, choosing the public-test branch from the Betas dropdown, and letting Steam download the separate build. The PTB runs on its own save file loaded with 12,500 Auric Cells, 1,000,000 Bloodpoints, every Steam-owned character at Prestige 3 and Level 50, and 99 of every item, add-on and offering. Nothing you earn there transfers back. The live build stays on 10.1.2 the whole time.
Everything below is sourced from Behaviour's own Developer Update, its official patch-notes archive and the official wiki's documented PTB rules. Where something is a pattern rather than an announcement, this guide labels it.
When does the DBD 10.2.0 PTB go live?
Behaviour confirmed the date directly. In the 10.2.0 Developer Update posted to the official forums on September 14, community manager Mandy wrote:
"The 10.2.0 PTB goes live tomorrow (Sept. 15), alongside full patch notes detailing every change and addition."
That is the confirmation, and it also tells you something useful: the full patch notes and the build arrive together. The Developer Update published a day early is a summary, not the notes. If you are reading a list of "all 58 perk changes" published before September 15, it is guesswork or translation.
The official wiki documents the schedule as policy rather than coincidence: a PTB is "made available on the Tuesday evening (ET) 3 weeks before the scheduled release" and "stays open for 6 days, closing on Monday evening (ET) the following week." Applied to this cycle:
| Milestone | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Developer Update published | Monday, September 14, 2026 | Confirmed by BHVR |
| 10.2.0 PTB opens | Tuesday evening ET, September 15, 2026 | Confirmed by BHVR |
| 10.2.0 PTB closes | Monday evening ET, September 21, 2026 | Documented 6-day window |
| 10.2.0 live release | Around Tuesday, October 6, 2026 | Pattern-based estimate, not announced |
Both 2026 cycles landed exactly 21 days apart: the 9.6.0 PTB and the 10.1.0 PTB each opened three weeks before their live patch. October 6 is the arithmetic, not a promise. Behaviour has not published a release date for 10.2.0.
As of this morning the newest article in Behaviour's official patch-notes archive is still 10.1.2, the bugfix patch released September 8. The 10.2.0 PTB notes have their own entry in that archive every cycle, and it does not exist yet.
Why is the Dead by Daylight PTB Steam only?
Because it is a Steam feature, not a Behaviour preference. Steam lets developers publish opt-in beta branches that owners can switch to from the client, and no other platform Dead by Daylight ships on offers an equivalent.
The official wiki states it plainly: the Public Test Build "is only available to Players of the Steam version of Dead by Daylight, which excludes any other PC-version and the Console versions."
In practice that means no PTB on:
- PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5
- Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S
- Nintendo Switch
- The Epic Games Store
- The Microsoft Store and Game Pass
- Mobile
If your copy came from anywhere except Steam, you cannot test 10.2.0 early. You can still read the notes when they drop, and the changes reach every platform together on the live patch.
How do you download the DBD PTB on Steam?
There is no installer and no separate store page. You are switching your existing installation to a different branch, which Steam downloads alongside the live build.
- Open the Steam client on desktop, where game properties live.
- Find Dead by Daylight in your Library, right-click it, and choose Properties.
- Open the Betas tab.
- Open the beta-branch dropdown and select the public-test branch. The wiki describes exactly this path: "editing the Game's properties and selecting the BETA-branch from a dropdown."
- Close the properties window. Steam starts downloading the PTB build automatically.
- When it finishes, your library entry shows the game name with a [public-test] suffix. That suffix is your confirmation you are on the right build.
A few things that catch people out every cycle. The branch is only playable while a PTB is actually running, and the official wiki is blunt about the gap: "After the Public Test Build is closed, it is impossible to access it until the next one opens." So checking the dropdown before Tuesday evening ET is not a useful test of whether you did it right. The download is a full build rather than a patch, so budget disk space and time, and because everyone opts in within the same few hours, expect Steam speeds to sag on day one.
What do you get on a DBD PTB account?
This is the part most players do not realise, and it is the single best reason to bother. The PTB does not use your live save. Behaviour copies your account to a separate test profile roughly a week before the build opens, then loads that copy with everything you need to test freely:
- 12,500 Auric Cells
- 1,000,000 Bloodpoints
- Every Killer and Survivor you own on Steam at Level 50 and Prestige 3, which means all of their perks are already at Tier III
- 99 units of every offering, item and add-on in the game
The Auric Cells matter more than they look. Every character you unlocked through Steam stays unlocked on the PTB, but characters bought through non-Steam stores, including the in-game Store, are locked on the test build. The 12,500 Cells exist so you can simply re-buy anything missing inside the PTB and test with it anyway.
One correction to an assumption a lot of players carry between cycles: the PTB normally unlocks any brand-new Killer and Survivor shipping with the incoming Chapter, but 10.2.0 does not have one. Behaviour's Developer Update is a perks-and-features update with no new Chapter attached. The Judgment and Aurora Stardotter arrived with Chapter 41 Chorus of Sin on the live build back in August, so on this PTB they follow the normal ownership rules like every other character.
Does PTB progress carry over to the live game?
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding about the whole system. The PTB profile is a copy taken before the build opens. Nothing flows back. Bloodpoints you spend, prestiges you earn, Auric Cells you burn, cosmetics you buy with those Cells, challenges you complete, Rift progress you make - none of it exists on live when you switch back.
The reverse is also true. Anything you do on the live game while the PTB is running does not appear on the PTB save either, because the copy was already taken. The two profiles simply stop talking to each other for the week.
That is why the test account is handed a million Bloodpoints and 99 of everything. Behaviour wants you spending the week testing perk interactions, not grinding a Bloodweb that is going to be deleted on September 21.
One consequence worth planning around: your live account keeps running. Rift Pass 6 - Sunflesh ends October 6, and the 2v8 mode running V9 with the Alien Killer closes September 29. Time spent on the PTB is time not spent on either of those, and neither pauses. If you are behind on the Rift, that is a real cost of a test week. Our 2v8 September 2026 guide covers what is still on the table there.
What should you actually test in the 10.2.0 PTB?
Behaviour's Developer Update confirmed the scale before the notes: 58 perks are changing, split into three groups.
- 26 perks affected by the Diminishing Returns system
- 23 General Perks rebuilt primarily with newer players in mind
- 9 perks Behaviour describes as promoting unhealthy playstyles or being oppressive
Diminishing Returns is the framework driving most of it. Introduced in Patch 9.6.0, it reduces the value of each additional stacked effect of the same type on a ladder of 100%, 50%, 25%, 12.5% and 5%, which makes multi-perk stacking far weaker than raw numbers suggest. A lot of the 26 perks in that bucket are being retuned because the system quietly nerfed them.
Two reworks were detailed in advance and are the obvious first stop: Do No Harm, the Survivor healing perk attached to Orela Rose, and Knock Out, The Cannibal's Killer perk. Beyond those, the new Survivor Intent System makes its PTB debut - pre-set in-match callouts that let Survivors communicate intent without voice chat.
The community reaction on the official subreddit was less about individual perks and more about volume. One highly upvoted comment summed up the mood: "we're getting the perk update and the chat wheel in one patch, and we're getting 58 perk changes instead of 45?" That is the useful framing for a test week. With 58 perks moving at once, the interactions between them are where PTB testing actually earns its keep, and a single perk read in isolation will not tell you much.
Our full breakdown of what Behaviour confirmed before the notes is in the DBD 10.2.0 patch notes guide. If you want a baseline to compare against while you test, the current Survivor perk tier list and Killer tier list are both pinned to the live 10.1.x build.
A warning on the perk rumours circulating today. Translated screenshots from a Japanese-language account describing reworks to Shoulder the Burden and Hex: Thrill of the Hunt are being reposted as fact. Behaviour has not published either change in English. Treat them as unconfirmed until the PTB notes land on September 15.
Where do you send DBD PTB feedback and bug reports?
Behaviour opens a dedicated forum category for each PTB cycle, and the one for this patch is already live: the 10.2.0 PTB Feedback category at forums.bhvr.com sits in the category list right now, empty, waiting for the build. That is where balance feedback belongs.
Bugs go somewhere else. Each cycle gets its own bug-reporting section - the 8.3.0 and 9.2.0 PTB bug-reporting categories are still archived on the forum - and Behaviour points players there specifically so PTB bugs do not get mixed into live-game reports. Check the category list once the build is up.
Two habits make a PTB report actually useful: say which build you are on (PTB, not live), and describe what you expected versus what happened. Vague balance complaints get lost. A reproducible interaction between two of the 58 changed perks does not.
How do you leave the PTB and go back to the live game?
The same dropdown, in reverse. Right-click Dead by Daylight in your Steam Library, open Properties, open the Betas tab, and select None from the branch dropdown. Steam re-downloads the live build and your normal save comes back untouched, exactly as you left it.
You do not need to do this manually when the PTB ends, but doing it is cleaner than waiting. When the test period closes on September 21 the branch stops being playable, and staying opted in just means a redundant build sitting on your drive.
What happens after the 10.2.0 PTB closes?
Behaviour collects feedback, changes things, and ships the live patch roughly two weeks later. This is not a formality - perk numbers regularly move between the PTB and the live release, and occasionally an entire change gets pulled. The version of a perk you test in the PTB is a draft.
For scale on how many people that draft reaches: Dead by Daylight had 32,647 concurrent players on Steam at the time of writing, off-peak on a Monday night. Steam is the smaller half of the player base, and only Steam gets the PTB, so the test build is being stress-tested by a fraction of a fraction. That is exactly why individual reports carry weight during a PTB week.
If the pattern holds, 10.2.0 reaches live servers around October 6 on every platform at once. Until then the live game stays on 10.1.2, and nothing in the Developer Update applies to your matches. If you want something to do on live in the meantime, our Dead by Daylight codes page is refreshed as codes are verified and expire.
More Dead by Daylight guides
- DBD 10.2.0 patch notes: what BHVR confirmed
- Dead by Daylight codes, verified and dated
- Best Survivor perks tier list
- Killer tier list, September 2026
FAQ
When does the DBD 10.2.0 PTB go live? Tuesday, September 15, 2026, in the evening Eastern Time. Behaviour confirmed the date in the 10.2.0 Developer Update published September 14 and said the full patch notes go out the same day. The official wiki documents PTBs as opening Tuesday evening ET and staying open six days, which puts the close on Monday, September 21.
How do I get the Dead by Daylight PTB on Steam? Right-click Dead by Daylight in your Steam Library, open Properties, go to the Betas tab, and pick the public-test branch from the dropdown. Steam downloads the build automatically, and your library entry gains a [public-test] suffix when it is ready. Selecting None in the same dropdown puts you back on the live game.
Can I play the DBD PTB on console, Epic or Game Pass? No. The Public Test Build is exclusive to the Steam version. There is no PTB on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, the Epic Games Store, the Microsoft Store, Game Pass or mobile, because it relies on Steam's beta-branch system.
Do I keep the Bloodpoints and Auric Cells from the PTB? No. The PTB runs on a separate save copied from your live account about a week before it opens, and nothing transfers back. The 12,500 Auric Cells, 1,000,000 Bloodpoints, Prestige 3 characters and 99 of every item exist purely so you can test freely for the week.
Does the PTB have its own patch notes? Yes. Behaviour publishes a dedicated PTB patch-notes article in its official knowledge base for every cycle, separate from the live patch notes that follow. For 10.2.0 those notes are scheduled for September 15, the same day the build opens.
Are the Shoulder the Burden and Thrill of the Hunt reworks in the PTB? Unconfirmed. Both changes come from translated screenshots attributed to a Japanese-language account, and Behaviour has not published either in English. The September 15 PTB notes are the first official source that will settle it.
When does 10.2.0 actually release on live servers? Behaviour has not announced a date. The official wiki documents the PTB as opening three weeks before the scheduled release, and both 2026 cycles matched that exactly, which points to around Tuesday, October 6, 2026. That is a pattern-based estimate, not a confirmation.
Is the live version of Dead by Daylight still 10.1.2? Yes. Patch 10.1.2 released on September 8, 2026 and remains the live build on every platform. Nothing in the 10.2.0 Developer Update or the PTB is live yet.
