Dread in DOORS

The best defense is to keep moving. Opening any door resets the clock to 11:00. Dread only appears if you stay in one room until midnight on the in-game clock.

If he has already appeared, you can still end the chase. Open a numbered door, and Dread will disappear. He starts at 9 studs per second, then gets 2 studs per second faster every 10 seconds, reaching 13 after 20 seconds. Don't wait around: every extra second makes him faster.

What I do when I see fog: 1. Drop what I was looking for, unless it's a Key for the door. 2. Head to the next numbered door and open it. 3. If I don't make it and he's nearby, have the Crucifix ready in my hand. 4. After the attack, leave the room right away. He won't follow me into the next one.

If he catches you, he'll immobilize you and kill you a few seconds later. A Star Shield won't help, no matter how much you have: the attack is instant. You can only survive if Dread disappears right before the kill.

Dread only appears on the main floors—The Hotel and The Mines. He doesn't appear on sub-floors. He can show up in any room where you stay too long.

He appears behind you, along the line between you and the next unopened numbered door, facing the same direction. More precisely, he's exactly 64 studs from the player, at the same height.

How long you have to wait depends on the room. In a regular room, it's 300 seconds at the start of a floor and 50 near the end. In special rooms—like The Library (50), The Courtyard (89), The Electrical Room (100), and The Dam (200)—the limit is 3600 seconds, or one real hour.

The Crucifix banishes Dread. Hold it in your hands when he tries to hit you. Get it ready ahead of time: once you're immobilized, you can't equip or unequip items. If the Crucifix is on the floor, you can still pick it up while immobilized.

After he's banished, the clock stops at 11:00 and moves much more slowly. The next Dread will come in one real hour. If just one player banishes him, the chase ends for everyone.

One catch: you can still hear Screech during the chase, so look around while holding the Crucifix. When Dread is banished, he loses most of his tentacles and blurs away.

Modifiers make the clock run faster. Run From It speeds up time, and Destiny Still Arrives speeds it up even more. With Run From It, a regular room gives you 105 seconds at the start of a floor and 17.5 near the end. With Destiny Still Arrives, you get 65 and 11 seconds. At Door 99 in The Hotel and Door 199 in The Mines, Destiny Still Arrives leaves you just twelve seconds before Dread appears.

Electrical Work disables the flickering at 11:45, but after a while the screen gets a little blurry—watch for that.

In BATTLE MODE, a regular room gives you 30 seconds, losing 0.3 per door, down to a minimum of 10. In TRICK OR TREAT, you start with 300 seconds and lose 2.5 per room, down to a minimum of 20—at Door 112.

• Searching your inventory for a Crucifix when Dread is already nearby. You can't grab an item while immobilized.
• Counting on a Star Shield. It doesn't protect you from an instant kill.
• Staying until 11:59. From then on, he can be forced to appear without waiting for 12:00.
• Listening for other entities during the chase. Dread muffles almost every sound, so it's harder to hear the others.
• Trusting the wall clock after a pause. An Alarm Clock is the most reliable way to check the time.

Dread was first shown in a teaser for The Hotel+ Update and was originally planned for that update, but was delayed in older versions. He returned as a secret in The Hunt Update and became a full-fledged entity in The Mines Update. He's one of the first cut entities to return to the game.

In the earlier secret version, he only appeared at Door 13, exactly one real hour later in older versions. Glitch says Dread waits until midnight before attacking—but that's just what Glitch says, not a confirmed fact unconfirmed. I don't think he needs to explain it anyway: the clock speaks for itself.