The Best Killer Perks In Dead By Daylight

Highlights

• Forced Hesitation: This perk slows down nearby survivors when a survivor is put into the dying state, making it easier for killers to chase and catch them.
• Hex: Face The Darkness: This perk reveals the aura of survivors outside the killer’s terror radius, making it easier for killers to track them down and interrupt their actions.
• Save The Best For Last: This perk reduces the cooldown of killer’s basic attacks, allowing them to deal consecutive blows and punish survivors without delay.

There is a large roster of utterly terrifying Killers in Dead By Daylight. They each have their own strengths and abilities that when combined with powerful perks make them brutal killing machines that can make the round a living nightmare for survivors.

RELATED: Dead By Daylight: Every Killer, Ranked

There are a lot of perks to choose from and some are better than others. Ultimately, which perk players choose should be based on who they like to play as and cater to their strengths, but the best killer perks in Dead By Daylight can make a big difference when it comes to becoming the ultimate big bad.

Updated on October 31, 2023, by Amy Cowley: Dead by Daylight has retained its crown as the king of asymmetrical games, with new games that have ventured into space slowly down or stopped development entirely, such as Evil Dead. Dead by Daylight sets itself apart from the rest of these games with its unique approach to characters as well as having access to popular household horror IPs such as Halloween and Scream. They also provide each killer not only with specific powers but perks that can help them hunt, track, and slay their prey. This article is fairly robust with over 20 excellent perks. This article has been updated to show from which Killer players can gain access to them, and also why they are worth one of the four perk slots available.

24 Forced Hesitation

The Singularity

Whenever a Survivor is put into the Dying State by any means, all other Survivors within 16 meters of them suffer from:

• a -20 % Hindered Status Effect for 10 seconds.
• Forced Hesitation has a cool-down of 40/35/30 seconds depending on perk level.

Chasing down skilled Survivors can be one of the most frustrating experiences in Dead by Daylight, especially if they have a good loop nearby where they can take the Killer on a prolonged chase and buy their teammates essential time to unhook Survivors or complete generators.

RELATED: Dead by Daylight – How to Play The Singularity

But, the Singularity’s perk Forced Hesitation aids Killers in these chases by giving Survivors the Hindrance status effect, as this effect does cause the Survivors’ run speed to be reduced. This helps Killers close gaps quickly, and may also help cancel out some Survivor perks that offer boosts to their speed, such as Lithe.

23 Hex: Face The Darkness

The Knight

Once a Survivor is injured by any means, and there is a dull totem remaining, Hex: Face the Darkness activates and lights it, cursing that Survivor:

• All other Survivors will scream every 35/30/25 seconds (depending on the level of perk) if they are outside of the Killer’s terror radius, revealing their auras for 2 seconds each time.
• Hex: Face the Darkness deactivates when the Cursed Survivor either enters the dying state or is healed, extinguishing the totem.
• Hex: Face the Darkness is disabled for the remainder of the Trial if Survivors manage to cleanse its hex totem.

Tracking down survivors can sometimes be tricky depending on what map the trial takes place on and what playstyle the Survivors are employing. As such, aura-reading perks can be essential picks for the Killer to track down the Survivors. Hex: Face the Darkness is one such perk, a unique teachable perk to the Knight.

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This perk activates once the Killer injures the survivors by any means, a dull totem is chosen at random and becomes lit, and all other survivors that are not within the Killer’s terror radius scream at intervals revealing their aura to the killer. The screaming not only reveals the Survivors to allow the Killer to hunt them more efficiently but also interrupts any actions they are taking, such as repairing generators or healing other Survivors.

22 Save The Best For Last

The Shape

• Each time the Killer hits a Survivor other than the Obsession with a basic attack, Save the Best for Last gains 1 token, up to a maximum of 8 tokens.
• For each token, the Killer gains a stackable 5% cooldown reduction on successful basic attacks.
• Hitting the Obsession with a basic attack causes Save the Best for Last to lose 2 tokens.

A 5% reduction to attack cooldowns may not seem like much, but the 40% reduction provided by max tokens gives Killers extraordinary lethality, allowing them to deal blow after blow to Survivors, resume chase almost instantly, and punish unhooks.

Characters like Trapper and Demogorgon get tremendous value out of Save the Best for Last, but almost every Killer can find a place for this perk in their builds.

21 Thrilling Tremors

The Ghost Face

• After picking up a Survivor, all generators not currently being repaired by Survivors are blocked by The Entity for the next 16 seconds.
• The auras of blocked generators are highlighted to the player through a white color.
• Thrilling Tremors has a cool-down of 100/80/60 seconds.

Generators being the main objective for Survivors in order to escape means that killers must do their utmost to protect the generators and prevent the Survivors from working on them, which is where Thrilling Tremors comes into play.

Though the cooldown can be quite substantial, with the highest level perk reducing it down to a minute, the 16 seconds that all other generators are blocked could help the Killer stall the Survivors escape, particularly if not all Survivors were repairing generators. For Killers looking to counteract gen-jockeys, Thrilling Tremors is certainly worth consideration.

20 Leverage

The Skull Merchant

• Each time a Survivor is hooked, leverage activates and gains 1 token, up to a maximum of 10 tokens.
• For each token, the altruistic and personal healing speeds of Survivors are reduced by a stackable 3/4/5 % for the next 30 seconds, up to a maximum of 30/40/50 %.

Healing is one of the tools Survivors have in their kit to even the playing field against Killers, ensuring they can take another hit before they are put in the dying state. So, if a Killer can do anything to lessen the healing potential of Survivors, it is definitely worth considering.

This is where the perk Leverage comes into play, as it can slow the healing progression of Survivors up to 50% depending on the rarity, and how many tokens the Killer manages to rake up. The tokens are gained by hooking a survivor. While this does mean the perk can take a while to really take off, it can be the difference between winning and losing the end game.

19 Jolt

All Killers

• Whenever a Survivor is put into the dying state with a basic attack, all generators within 32 meters of your location instantly explode and start regressing.
• Affected generators regress by 6/7/8 %.

Jolt was long dismissed as one of the weaker regression perks, but with massive nerfs to Hex: Ruin and other favorites of the former meta, many have begun to reconsider Jolt’s usefulness, and now it is considered an asset among Killers.

Jolt gives Killers the ability to regress generators without having to travel between them or gamble their regression on Ruin, giving Killers a reliable means of slowing Survivors without needing to frequently break chase and lose pressure. To make the most of the perk, the Killer must have good situational awareness and be able to corral Survivors in desirable areas, however. Mastering such techniques is part of what gives the game such good replay value.

18 Hex: No One Escapes Death

All Killers

Once the exit gates are powered, if there is still a dull totem remaining on the Map, Hex: No One Escapes Death activates and lights it:

1. Increases Killer Movement speed by 2/3/4 %.
2. Survivors suffer from a permanent Exposed Status Effect.

• Hex: No One Escapes Death
  remains inactive if no Dull Totems are available.

• Once the Status Effect is revealed to Survivors, Hex: No One Escapes Death reveals the Aura of its hex totem to all Survivors within 4 meters and gradually expands that range to 24 meters over the course of 30 seconds.

Hex: No One Escapes Death (NOED) is one of the most notorious perks in the game and for good reason. Survivors who don’t do bones early in the game may find themselves getting snowballed by the Killer thanks to the extreme lethality of this perk.

Despite the nerf that has made it easier for Survivors to track down and cleanse, good Killers can still make use of this perk to change a 0 kill match into a 4k, though this also depends on the altruism of the other Survivors.

17 Hex: Devour Hope

The Hag

Each time a Survivor is rescued from a hook while the Killer is at least 24 meters away, Hex: Devour Hope receives 1 token, up to a maximum of 5 tokens:

1. 2 Tokens: 10 seconds after hooking a Survivor, gain a 3/4/5 % Haste Status Effect for the next 10 seconds.
2. 3 Tokens: All survivors suffer from a permanent exposed status effect.
3. 5 Tokens: grants the ability to Mori Survivors

For those that don’t want to gamble on the risk of end-game kills with NOED, there is Devour Hope, another Hex perk that relies on Killers hooking and then leaving the area to gain the tokens necessary to access its effects.

Few perks are more terrifying than Hex: Devour Hope. As soon as Survivors realize they are Exposed, all work on generators is likely to stop, and the game becomes a mad scramble to find and cleanse Devour. There will be many games in which Devour is cleansed before it can do anything, but if Devour remains standing it can single-handled win the game for the Killer.

16 Hex: Undying

The Blight

• The auras of Survivors within 2/3/4 meters of any dull totem are revealed to the killer. When another perk’s hex totem is cleansed or blessed, Hex: Undying activates, and the Survivor will disable Undying instead of the other Hex perk.

The cornerstone of any Hex build, Undying gives fragile Hexes a chance to do their work. When paired with perks like Retribution, Thrill of the Hunt, Haunted Ground, or another Hex, Undying can create lose-lose scenarios for Survivors in which cleansing totems is almost as dangerous as leaving them alone.

In addition, the aura-reading aspect of the perk can allow Killers to begin a chase if they are struggling to find Survivors on the map. The versatility of Hex: Undying makes it a no-brainer for Killers when they are crafting a Hex build.

15 Hex: Pentimento

The Artist

Killers see the auras of cleansed totems and can perform a ritual on a cleansed totem to resurrect it as a Rekindled Totem.

For each Rekindled Totem active at once, Hex: Pentimento gains an additional effect:

• 1 Totem: reduces all Survivors’ Repair speed by 20/25/30 %.
• 2 Totems: reduces all Survivors’ Healing speed by 20/25/30 %.
• 3 Totems: reduces all Survivors’ Recovery speed from being downed by 20/25/30 %.
• 4 Totems: reduces all Survivors’ Exit Gate Opening speed by 20/25/30 %.
• 5 Totems: all Totems are permanently blocked by The Entity.

Unique among the Hex perks, Hex: Pentimento allows the Killer to rekindle a cleansed totem, stacking additional detrimental effects for every rekindled totem. The first four rekindled totems impose a 30% speed penalty for repairs, healing, recovery from the Dying State, and Exit Gate opening, respectively. If the fifth and final totem is rekindled, these effects become permanent.

RELATED: Dead By Daylight: How To Play The Spirit

With some of the most popular regression perks falling out of favor, slowdown perks like Pentimento and Thanatophobia have received new attention. All of Pentimento’s effects are useful, but the 30% repair speed penalty imposed by a single rekindled totem is the most devastating. Pentimento has tremendous synergy with Hex builds, letting the Killer rekindle a totem whenever a Hex falls.

14 Dead Man’s Switch

The Deathslinger

After hooking a Survivor, Dead Man’s Switch activates for the next 20/25/30 seconds:

• While activated, any Survivor that stops repairing a generator before it is fully repaired causes The Entity to block the Generator until
  Dead Man’s Switch’
  s effect ends.
• Affected Generators are highlighted by a white aura.

This unique Deathslinger perk is another slowdown perk that will aid Killers in applying pressure, meaning that they can devote more time to chasing and hooking survivors. Of course, it’s worth noting that Killers will have to actually hook a Survivor first in order to activate this perk.

After hooking a Survivor, players must commit to repairing the generator, if they stop, the generator will become locked by the entity for up to 30 seconds, and the aura changes to white. This perk is unique in the way that the Killer can force it to activate by chasing Survivors from the generator or interrupting particularly tenacious Survivors by grabbing them.

13 Dragon’s Grip

The Blight

• After damaging a generator, that generator activates Dragon’s Grip for the next 30 seconds.
• The first Survivor interacting with the damaged Generator will scream, revealing their location for 4 seconds, and gain the exposed status effect for 60 seconds.
• Dragon’s Grip has a cool-down of 120/100/80 seconds.

Despite this perk not seeing much play, Dragon’s Grip is not without its merits and may be the most underestimated perk in the entire game. After performing the kick action, that affected generator is marked by Dragon’s Grip. Any Survivor who interacts with the generator next reveals their location and becomes vulnerable to the mercy of the killer.

With the current meta of Dead By Daylight focusing on generator regression and “three-genning,” Dragon’s Grip would give killers an edge as they gain knowledge as to what generator is being worked on, and even have the chance to down and hook the Survivor to further slow down repairs, as remaining Survivors would then have to organize a rescue for their teammate.

12 Merciless Storm

The Onyro

• Whenever a generator is repaired to 90 %, Survivors repairing it are faced with a string of continuous and quick skill checks.
• If they miss one or stop repairing, the generator becomes blocked for 16/18/20 seconds.

One of the unique teachable perks specific to the Onyro, Merciless Storm is another generator perk designed to catch Survivors off guard and slow down generator repair. Even one single missed skill check will leave it locked for a maximum of 20 seconds, which could give the Killer a huge advantage.

This perk helps to slow down generator repairs, and players will be forced to find another generator and risk running into the Killer. Either that or wait and chance the Killer approaching as the failed skill check would give them a loud noise notification.

11 Machine Learning

The Singularity

Kicking a generator activates Machine Learning:

• The next generator damaged becomes compromised, highlighting its aura in yellow, until it is completed.
• When its completed, the following effects are granted for 20/25/30 seconds, after which Machine Learning deactivates:
  • Undetectable Status Effect.
  • +10 % Haste Status Effect.

Damaging another Generator while one is already compromised transfers the state to the most recently damaged Generator.

With generators always remaining a constant focus for both Killers and Survivors, any perk that affects the completion of generators is always considered by both sides, with survivors having toolkits and perks to aid with this objective. The machine lifeform Singularity has the unique teachable perk Machine Learning that grants them some status buffs when they interact with a generator.

With this perk, whenever the Killer kicks a generator, that generator then becomes compromised, and they then gain Undetectable and Haste for 20/25/30 seconds depending on the rarity of the perk, or until that generator is completed. However, with no cooldown to worry about, Killers can immediately kick another to gain these status effects back.

10 Tinkerer

The Hillbilly

Whenever a generator is repaired to 70 %, Killers gain the following benefits:

• The generator location is revealed via a loud noise notification
• Grants the undetectable status effect for the next 12/14/16 seconds.

Whenever a generator is repaired to 70% the Killer gets a loud noise notification and gains the Undetectable status effect for 16 seconds, removing their Red Stain and Terror Radius. Tinkerer is one of the best information perks in the game, ensuring that the Killer always knows where to focus their efforts.

Though Tinkerer now only activates once per generator per Trial, it remains powerful, especially in the hands of a high-mobility Killer such as Nurse or Blight.Anyone who has ever seen the Blight streaking across the map in pursuit of a Tinkerer notification, descending upon Survivors without warning, understands exactly how deadly this perk is in the right hands.

9 Lethal Pursuer

The Nemesis

• At the start of the trial, the auras of all Survivors are revealed to you for 7/8/9 seconds.

Lethal Pursuer removes any guesswork: the Killer knows immediately which generators are being worked on, which Survivors are working together, and which Survivor to target first, as they can see all of their auras right off the bat.

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Once a niche perk due to its power ending within the first minute of the game, it now causes Lethal Pursuer to extend the duration of Survivor aura reveals by +2 seconds, giving it added information utility throughout the Trial. Lethal Pursuer helps everyone from the deadliest Nurse to the slowest stealth Killer.

8 Discordance

The Legion

• Any generator within a range of 64/96/128 meters that is being repaired by 2 or more Survivors is marked by a yellow aura.
• When the generator is first highlighted, Discordance triggers a loud noise notification on that generator.
• After the Generator is no longer within range or is being repaired by just 1 Survivor, the highlighted Aura will linger for another 4 seconds.

It’s common practice for Killers to roam between dormant Generators waiting for survivors to come along and fix them. Survivors will often group up on a single Generator to avoid getting seen and repair it before the Killer makes their rounds.

Discordance gives the Killer the ability to see any Generators that are being repaired by two or more survivorsup to 128 meters away. Discordance allows the Killer to punish Survivors for grouping up and force misplays as multiple Survivors scramble to escape the same tile. Killers such as the Legion and Cannibal, who benefit from the presence of multiple Survivors, can make Discordance shine.

7 Pop Goes The Weasel

The Clown

After hooking a Survivor, Pop Goes the Weasel activates for the next 35/40/45 seconds:

• Damaging a generator instantly regresses it by -30 % of its current progression
• Normal generator regression applies afterward.

A tricky tactic for Killers is to whittle down Survivors over time and drag out how long the match takes. When the Survivors are in a weakened and vulnerable state, the Killer will go on a killing spree before the exit is unlocked.

RELATED: Dead By Daylight: Tips For Using Hellraiser’s Pinhead

Pop Goes The Weasel is a Killer perk that makes this process much easier. Once the Killer hooks someone they gain the ability to knock back a generator’s repair progress by quite a large margin. Though it has received a nerf from its original state, Pop is still a viable choice for Killers looking to focus on preventing Survivors from completing objectives.

6 A Nurse’s Calling

The Nurse

• The
  Auras
  of Survivors, who are healing or being healed, are revealed to you when they are within a range of 20/24/28 meters

Aura-reading is just one of the advantages Killers have over Survivors, allowing them to see their outline through walls, buildings, and floors when certain conditions are met. One of these perks is the Nurse’s teachable perk, A Nurse’s Calling.

RELATED: The Scariest Nurses In Gaming

This perk allows Killers to see the auras of healing Survivors, whether they are healing themselves or another survivor for up to 32 meters away if the perk is leveled up to maximum. With the changes to healing in play, this perk became an essential pick to give Survivors even more nightmares.

5 Overcharge

The Doctor

Damaging a generator activates Overcharge:

• The next Survivor interacting with that generator must succeed a difficult skill check.
  • Failing that skill check instantly regresses the generator by 2/3/4
    %
    of its maximum possible progression in addition to the default regression.
• Increases speed of regression from 85 % to 130 % over the next 30 seconds.

Damaging a generator causes the next Survivor who interacts with it to face a difficult Skill Check, and if Survivors are unsuspecting of it is likely they might be taken by surprise and fail, to devastating consequences.

Thanks to its buff coupled with the buff to the speed at which Killers damage generators, Overcharge is now one of the strongest and most reliable regression perks in the game. Once a staple of Impossible Skill Check Doctor builds and not much else, Overcharge has finally found its place in the meta without needing the best add-ons to make it work.