Eric Dunn is the civilian nobody drafts in Halloween: The Game, and the reason is a single number on his character sheet. His Athleticism sits at 3, the lowest on the roster, which means he runs slower and burns stamina faster than almost anyone else in Haddonfield. Everything else about him is genuinely useful. The problem is that Michael Myers does not care how good your reload speed is once he is three steps behind you.
Quick answer: Eric Dunn runs 6 Capability, 3 Athleticism, 6 Personality, 8 Resourcefulness. Play him as an equipment civilian — blind Michael with firecrackers, break line of sight immediately, and never try to win a straight chase.
Eric Dunn stats and what each one controls
Every civilian is scored from 1 to 10 across four stats, and none of them can be raised with levels, perks, or cosmetics. Your loadout only lets you pick a perk deck and a starting item, so the stat sheet is the permanent half of the character.
| Stat | Eric | Governs |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 6 | Vigor, melee and thrown items |
| Athleticism | 3 | Movement on foot and by bike |
| Personality | 6 | Residents, dispatch calls, Fear and Stalk resistance |
| Resourcefulness | 8 | Repairs, awareness, vehicles, firearms |
That 8 Resourcefulness is the reason Eric is not a lost cause. He is comfortable with guns, repair work, and reading the map. A .357 Magnum pulled out of a trash bin, a 12-Gauge Shotgun sitting in a cabinet, a Sedan Key on a nightstand — he makes better use of all of it than most of the roster.
Eric Dunn traits: Hunter’s Sense, Fast Fingers, and Brimstone Fuse
All three of Eric’s traits are locked and active from the moment you spawn. None of them require you to be drunk, high, or the last civilian alive, which is more than several higher-ranked characters can say.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Hunter’s Sense | When not terrified, see faint noise pings and highlight escapes within 25m |
| Fast Fingers | Ranged weapon and flashlight reload speed is increased by 10% |
| Brimstone Fuse | Firecrackers you light disorientate Michael 15% longer |
Brimstone Fuse is the trait that decides how you play him. Firecrackers are already one of the cleanest ways to break a chase, and Eric gets a longer blind window than anyone else who lights them. Hunter’s Sense is quietly strong too, since it flags escape routes before you have physically walked into them — but it switches off the moment you are terrified, which is exactly when you most want the information.
What 3 Athleticism means after Update 1.0.1
The day-one patch narrowed the gap between the slowest and fastest civilians, and Eric was one of the main beneficiaries. Low Athleticism no longer means a permanently empty stamina bar.
- Athleticism 1 to 4 now gets a shorter Exhausted duration, a shorter stamina regen delay, and a faster regen rate.
- Athleticism 6 to 10 lost max stamina and regen rate, pulling the top of the range down.
- Being Stalked reduces stamina regen rate and increases regen delay, scaled to your current Stalk level.
- Evil Presence increases stamina drain on anyone caught inside it.
- Civilians now discover Escapes from farther away, which softens the edge escape-finding traits used to have.
The practical result is that Eric recovers from a sprint faster than a 9 Athleticism civilian does, even though his top speed is still the worst available. Chase survival now leans on cover, hiding spots, and Stalk management rather than raw movement speed — and that is a meta Eric can actually operate in.
Where Eric Dunn lands on the civilian tier list
Eric consistently sits in the bottom third of the 12 Heroes of Haddonfield. He usually lands in B tier, and some rankings push him lower still. Placements shuffle a little depending on how much weight you give team support versus solo survival, but nobody puts him near the top.
| Tier | Civilians |
|---|---|
| S | Laurie Strode, Marcus Navarro, Alexis Purcell |
| A | Tanya Harrison, Rachel Calahan, Bob Simms, Thomas Armitage |
| B | Eric Dunn, Jennifer Aarons, Richard Hawthorne |
| C | Annie Brackett, Lynda van der Klok |
Laurie Strode takes the top slot because she has no weak stat and her Knockout trait extends the window where Michael is down. Marcus Navarro brings 10 Resourcefulness plus Trespasser, which picks locked doors nobody else can open. Eric’s kit is comparable in usefulness, but it is all information and equipment — none of it helps when Michael closes the distance and you cannot outrun him.
How to play Eric Dunn in a match
Ammunition runs out fast. Emptying a Magnum into Michael to save one resident leaves you with nothing when he turns on you, and at 3 Athleticism you will not simply jog away from that mistake.
The storm cellar escape route
The storm cellar is Eric’s most reliable way out, largely because Hunter’s Sense highlights escapes within 25m and flags whether the route is still open. Once discovered, the objective updates to Use the Storm Cellar to Escape and the cellar is marked on your route.
Opening it takes three separate interactions. You clear the overgrowth with a skill check, deal with the padlock using a key or Bolt Cutters, then open the cellar doors themselves. Prep all of that before you bring a resident over, because doing it with Michael on top of you is not realistic at Eric’s speed.
Once the cellar is prepped, go back for a special target and command them to follow you. Escorting someone out counts toward the objective, and a firecracker thrown at the doors covers both of you while the animation plays.
How to confirm the escape worked
A successful exit is unambiguous. The screen prints YOU ESCAPED, and the match feed logs every other survivor who makes it out by name. Saving someone from a grab produces a Savior notification, and blinding the killer with firecrackers registers as Blind Michael.
Escaping or surviving long enough does not end your match, though. Police pressure builds through the round with prompts like A COP HAS ARRIVED TO INVESTIGATE and MORE COPS HAVE ARRIVED, and eventually Reinforcements Available appears. Take it and you respawn as an armed police officer — in Eric’s case, an older, bald version in a beige trench coat, backed up by other officers and carrying a handgun that can down Michael outright.
Downed civilians can also feed you a GIFT FROM THE DEAD, handing over a perk card such as Aura of Awareness IV or Liquid Courage II mid-match. It is a small bonus, but for a character who wins by having the right tool at the right second, an extra perk slot is worth more than it looks.
None of this makes Eric Dunn a good pick over Laurie or Marcus. It does make him a workable one. Play him as a prep-and-escape civilian who never gets caught in the open, and the 3 Athleticism stops being a death sentence and starts being a planning constraint.
