Dead by Daylight – Which Killer to Buy / Choose

This guide will help you decide which killer to play and give brief tips on how to play them.

What Killer Suits Your Style?

All credit goes to Amis!

Intro

This guide is designed to help newer and older players of the game, I have been high ranks on both side of the game and like to think i understand most of the games mechanic. This guide will help you to decide which killer suits your style without the need to buy them all! Hopefully you enjoy!

Trapper

The Trapper is in an okay state currently, he’s not amazing. He’s not bad when done right however. Trapper relies on setup, you need to be gathering and placing bear traps at the start of the game. This gives survivors a generous amount of time to finish the first one or even two gens. Not too great but if you’ve rigged an area that they will be forced into eventually you can cancel loops and apply immense amounts of pressure.

Who should play The Trapper

• You like keeping survivors in one place and forcing them to huddle.
• You don’t mind suffering early game in order for a stronger mid to late game.
• You like being logical, placing traps in unpredictable places to catch people off guard.

Small tips for The Trapper

• Basement is your best friend! If you can get a survivor into basement you can make a hellish nightmare for people to try escape.
• Perks such as corrupt and ruin are great for dealing with some of the early game pressure, forcing survivors to come to you or risk losing progress going for saves.
• Don’t be afraid to use some common spots, such as killer shack window. You’d be suprised how many times they can work.

Wraith

Wraith is a killer that can do well when it comes to first hits and the element of suprise due to his cloaking mechanic, survivors can see the shimmer of a cloaked Wraith however and observant survivors will tend to use this to begin running for a loop. The best Wraith is one unseen until it is too late.

Who should play Wraith?

• You like suprising survivors and catching them off guard.
• You don’t mind the occasional loop.
• You know when to apply pressure and when to commit to a chase.

Small tips for Wraith

• Sloppy Butcher can allow you to apply heavy pressure and cause survivors to waste time healing.
• Though hated, NOED can allow a wraith to become significantly scarier, alternatively use Devour hope to ramp up throughout the game.
• The best addons for Wraith are ones that confuse, such as having a silent bell or no terror radius when leaving stealth. Bone clapper can be funny as it causes confusion within lower ranked survivors.

Billy

Billy is one of the strongest killers in the game currently, his map pressure is immense and his chainsaw allows you to down survivors instantly. This allows you to end chases quick and allows for an aggressive playstyle that is sure to threaten survivors. You can miss however and a good survivor will make you spin round and round.

Who should play Billy

• You like flying across the map and causing fear.
• You like high speed chases.
• You don’t mind hearing vrrrrrrrmmm most of the time.

Small tips for The Billy

• Infectious fright is a killer, using this on billy allows you to chainsaw multiple survivors.
• Use addons based on charging speed to make sure you can saw the quickest.
• Exposed perks are not really needed on Billy, just make sure to try and spin with a survivor in order to chainsaw well.

Nurse

Nurse was and could potentially still be the strongest killer in the game, her power allows you to void looping entirely and ignore windows and pallets to become truly terrifying. She requires a high skill floor however and failure to read survivors can spell easy losses.

Who should play Nurse

• You hate being looped round and round.
• You like reading survivors and predicting where they will go.
• You are willing to take the time to learn.

Small tips for Nurse

• Infectious fright is a killer, using this on Nurse can allow you to chain multiple survivors.
• Use addons to reduce fatigue in order to maximise distance potential.
• Exposed perks such as Haunted grounds work wonders on Nurse, allowing quick easy downs.

Huntress

Huntress is a killer that can throw hatchets large distances to take out survivors, she is slower than most killers meaning your aim should be on point. Taking the time to learn when you can gurantee a hatchet hit is crucial.

Currently Huntress with even like 50 ping is extremely unfun to play against, hatchet hitboxes are abysmal and half of the shots never should hit and this is coming from a killer main, please fix this BHVR it’s actual ♥ for both sides.

Who should play Huntress

• You like killing survivors with long ranged shots.
• You don’t like focusing on the chase too much.
• You can deal with the constant humming.

Small tips for Huntress

• Use windows and pallets to your advantage, they can gurantee hits with a hatchet.
• Iron Maiden can allow you to reload quickly and add a bonus to scared survivors.
• Huntress has a smaller terror radius than most killers, use this to your advantage.

Micheal

Micheal is a killer that is varied depending on tier, Tier 1 gives you the stealth needed to suprise survivors whilst tier 3 makes you a killing machine providing survivors stay in line of sight.

Who should play Micheal

• You love scaring survivors.
• You like causing early game fear and panic.
• You love late game power and being a menace when powered up.

Small tips for Micheal

• Use your tier 1 to attempt to grab survivors off generators for easy hooks, or sneakily stalk.
• Monitor and abuse can make Micheals already small terror radius even smaller at tier 2, allowing for some good surprises.
• Stalk speed addons are your best friend for powering up.

Hag

Hag is a killer that requires set up of multiple traps but placement can be heavily rewarded and make hag have insane map pressure whilst downing survivors before they have the chance to loop you. There is almost nothing you can do against a good hag.

Who should play Hag

• You love scaring survivors.
• You like making the map yours and always being in the chase.
• You love being logical and predicting how survivors will react to traps.

Small tips for Hag

• Hag is extremely strong but suffers a little early game, use corrupt intervention to prevent the early game rush.
• Hag is tiny, monitor and abuse can allow you to sneak up on survivors.
• Aura reading addons can decimate survivors, use these when possible to ensure quick victorys.

Doctor

Doctor is a killer that skips the stealth stage of the game. You know where survivors are and with correct timing can cancel certain loops out, doctor is a formiddable force but failure to learn the shock timings means you are just an m1 killer with a head start on locations.

Who should play Doctor

• You hate looking for survivors.
• You like the tactical approach to loops and stopping them.
• You like a killer that can cause map pressure passively.

Small tips for Doctor

• Corrupt intervention is not always needed as you can scare the survivors early, instead try ruin so that shocked survivors flee from gens causing regression.
• Doctor benefits from perks that can down survivors quickly, devour hope can be a pain to get rid of against a doctor.
• Addons with Doctor are mostly playstyle dependant, aura revealing addons are a great choice personally.

Bubba (Cannibal)

Bubba is a joke of a killer within the community, he isn’t the worst killer in the game however and can actually be quite strong against survivors that try to mindgame. Playing Bubba can be quite enjoyable for both sides, providing you don’t just defend basement chest…

Who should play Bubba

• You hate mind games
• You like insta downs and dealing with cocky survivors.
• You adore basement and want to keep people there forever.

Small tips for Bubba

• Bubba loves basement, he has one of the strongest basement defence. Perks such as territorial can prevent people ever leaving basement.
• Survivors will try to fake throwing down pallets, try not to be fooled by this and don’t be afraid to be stunned, spirit fury and enduring can throw the chase in your favour.
• Charge speed addons are your best friend.

Freddy

Freddy is a strong killer, he counters many crutch survivor perks such as borrowed time just by existing and with certain addons slows down the game heavily. This can however be a drag to play with and certain survivors will milk the gametime for playing this way.

Who should play Freddy

• You love games going on for too long.
• You like map pressure and constantly bullying survivors off generators.
• You love crushing hopes and dreams of ever looping with your hidden lunge.

Small tips for Freddy

• You can fake your teleport to trick survivors off generators or even use it to trick in the chase, be aware of the cooldown however.
• Snares are better than fake pallets, they allow you to end chases much quicker.
• Devour hope can be quite mean on Freddy as you can teleport away before they can unhook.

Pig

Pig is not a killer I would reccomend in the slightest, her power is nearly all luck based and the possibility of getting loads done with it is minimal, if you do get lucky however she can put an immense amount of pressure on even the best of teams and force them to make sporadic decisions.

Who should play Pig

• You like having an almost passive pressure with your traps.
• You like ambushing and playing logically.
• You love having your snoot booped.

Small tips for Pig

• Traps activate when a generator is complete, saving a trap for the near end game can gurantee an easy target should you be unlucky.
• exposed perks help you down survivors quickly and apply your traps efficiently.
• Believe it or not the pigs yellow addons are some of her best, having an extra bear trap can be very helpful.

Clown

Clown was the worst killer in the game, he was slowed massively when using his power and good survivors can read you through the smoke anyway, the recent buff removing the slow has elevated him above the pig. He excels in cancelling certain loops but still relies on a simple lunge to down.

Who should play Clown

• You like a challenge.
• You hate killer shack.
• You like confusing survivors and forcing them into certain directions.

Small tips for Clown

• Throwing a bottle at killer shack roof coats the entire building in gas, making it very difficult to efficiently loop.
• Gas forces survivors to sprint vault not fast vault, this can allow for hits you might not usually get away with.
• Information perks such as bbq and thrilling tremors are great at keeping clown up to speed with survivors.

Spirit

Spirit is the strongest killer in the game, for all the wrong reasons. Unlike Nurse she requires next to no skill other than the ability to hear. The reward for this however is far greater than a nurse can ever achieve, loops can be ended near instantly and it is purely a guessing game for the survivor if they get hit or not.

Who should play Spirit

• You hate people.
• You hate everything.
• You were really hurt as a child.

Small tips for Spirit

• Spirit benefits from something most players don’t know about, right click on dead by daylight in your library and you will see it.
• Click the uninstall button.
• Reinstall the game when you feel less hurt and play any other killer, please. BHVR fix this ♥♥ too.

Legion

Legion is a killer that can rush down survivors and injure them quickly, this power has more use than first seen as the speed can be used to bodyblock pallets and prevent the survivors running away for you to get the final normal hit.

Who should play Legion

• You like fast chases and getting quick first hits.
• You don’t mind being a normal m1 killer at times.
• You like to collect cosmetics, Legion has too god damn many.

Small tips for Legion

• Legion can see people in lockers after getting a frenzy hit, using this knowledge can allow for easy hooks early game.
• Discordance, ideally level 1 is great for Legion as it tells when you can get multiple injuries quickly.
• Legion does not apply sloppy or other on hit perks via frenzy, make sure to keep this in mind when selecting addons.

Plague

Plague is an evil killer, there is very little in the way of counter playing other than standard looping, you are actively punished for negating her power however the punishment is far worse than just remaining infected, without her power you essentially have all survivors injured and with her secondary power you are a killing machine that can spray over walls vaults and all sorts making her one of the most efficient killers.

Who should play Plague

• You hate everything survivors stand for.
• You don’t mind being a normal m1 killer at times.
• You don’t mind being gen rushed as people will never take the time to heal or allow your power.

Small tips for Plague

• You can puke on downed survivors to start their infection ever so slightly, this can be useful if they aren’t infected already.
• Throwing up on generators at the start of the game serves as its own corrupt intervention, survivors will be scared to start doing them.
• Plague benefits from newer players, keep people infected and see how they react to decide who will give you your power the most.

Ghostface

Ghostface is an odd killer, they are extremely addon reliant to make truly good use of their power, the power to hide your terror radius allows you to pull people off generators or get first hits easily, this power can also be used in the chase to mindgame. I would personally not reccomend Ghostface if you aren’t willing to always run addons.

Who should play Ghostface

• You like being a ninja and sneaking around.
• You don’t mind being looped like the basic m1 killer you are with good survivors.
• You love teabagging.

Small tips for Ghostface

• Although it seems rather stupid, Ghostfaces crouch in a chase can prove fatal, being smaller than normal gives less time to react to mindgames round smaller objects.
• Corrupt intervention is helpful but ruin is ideal as you want to be stalking or pulling unsuspecting survivors off generators.
• Ghostface can be drawn out of his power, this can be helpful as it shows you who revealed you, don’t be afraid to use it to track people.

Demogorgon

Demogorgon is an extremely overlooked killer, his looping potential can be great and his portals can provide map control few killers can match, unfortunately he is so loud that survivors can hear you even without a terror radius and your hit screams are global. His shred allows you to mask things such as devour hope.

Who should play Demogorgon

• You like being 1 of a million people who actually play this guy.
• You love confusing survivors in the chase and causing mistakes.
• You like bullying survivors off generators with portals.

Small tips for Demogorgon

• Demogorgon can’t reset portals once they are all placed unless they are broken, put your portals in places that will always be useful.
• Devour hope is a monster on demo, having the power to teleport away and mask the exposed effect with shred means you can mori people before they even have a chance to react.
• Rat liver is a brown addon that is actually the best one he has, combine this with portal travel speed and you can create good pressure in all aspects.

Oni

Oni is a monster, his power allows you to become a better billy and micheal at the same time with devastating effect, a good oni will wipe the floor with little counterplay. Whilst not as strong as Hag or Spirit he still is a viable choice without changing core gameplay too much.

Who should play Oni

• You like fast chases and getting quick downs.
• You love collecting slugs.
• You want a killer that can win the game within a minute done well.

Small tips for Oni

• Oni is very tall, mind games are fairly hard to do so focus on forcing survivors to drop pallets so you don’t need to.
• Your power basic attack does not need to be fully charged, you can charge it a little bit and it is still as powerful.
• Blood drop addons allow your power to be ready all the time meaning the slaughter never stops.

Deathslinger

Deathslinger is a killer that excels in 1 on 1 situations but has next to no map control. Deathslinger is one of the few killers that can end loops before they begin with his grapple, not as strong as spirit by any means but a fun choice if you can trust your aim.

Who should play Deathslinger

• You come from a shooter background and have a sharp aim.
• You don’t mind the struggles of defending generators.
• You hate chases and just want them over with.

Small tips for Deathslinger

• Deathslinger can get window hits with his power, if they vault drag them back for an easy swing.
• reload speed is crucial in terms of addons to maximise your powers efficiency.
• Unlike Legion perks proc on hits from a grapple, this includes noed and sloppy making them both extremely strong.

Pyramid Head

Pyramid Head is a killer that says no to the current survivor meta and plays his own way, he doesn’t have to hook people normally and can cancel loops with the correct timing, this timing is difficult to achieve and heavily telegraphed, you can fake it however.

Who should play Pyramid Head

• You hate the meta of borrowed time, decisive etc.
• You like not wasting time with hooks and going straight to the chase.
• You want to confuse survivors and force them into bad situations.

Small tips for Pyramid Head

• You may move slower in your power but you can pull your knife back out and cause survivors expecting a ranged attack to mess up.
• Devour hope and pop does not work on caging, perks such as this should be avoided.
• PH has no real good addons, they are playstyle dependant so experiment freely.