[Top 11] Dead by Daylight Best Killers And Why They're Great

The entity's chosen hunt on its behalf...

Updated:

05 Apr 2023

Hello all, welcome back – or welcome if this is your first article of the survivor list I’ve written – welcome, welcome! In this article, I’ll be covering those that make this game what it is: The Killers. As you already know, Dead By Daylight has quite a good roster built up over the years. In addition, licensed killers from iconic horror franchises have also entered the real, all sporting their own abilities and perks to appeal to horror fans and gamers alike. Let us have a look at some of best killers in Dead By Daylight, and what makes them great.

11. The Wraith

"Shining in the darkest dark, his eyes pierce the night and sting your soul." — Unknown

Philip Ojomo is a Nigerian immigrant who came to the United States to escape the slaughter of his home country, only to discover he was an unwilling and unknowing executioner to many. Enraged, he took his boss’s life after a brief confrontation that lead to the discovery, grabbing his head and spin after killing him in the Wrecker’s Yard before disappearing into the fog. Carrying his father’s Wailing Bell, and influenced by The Entity at such a young age, Wraith is one of the original trio of killers in the game, and is the first stealth killer of the roster. His perk of Predator, Bloodhound, and Shadowborn make it easier to track and spot survivors – especially wounded ones. His ability is using the Wailing Bell with his scythe made from the head and spine of his boss. Ringing the bell allows him to transfer between sub-realms in the trial. This allows him to become near invisible and avoid detection from certain perks in addition to making him move faster.

What makes The Wraith great is:

Stealth killer, ability to cloak and uncloak, moves faster when cloaked and undetectable. This allows for him to sneak up on players and get the drop on them, as well as close distant.
Wraith features add-ons that can buff his cloaked abilities – including breaking obstructions and generators faster, faster movement speed when cloaked, silent uncloaking, and even inflicting status effects on survivors when hitting them after uncloaking.
A short yet fast and sweet speed boost when just uncloaked. This allowing him to close the distance and attack a survivor, in addition to awarding extra bloodpoints for a “surprise attack” well done.

10. The Huntress

"We're not safe anywhere..." — Unknown

The daughter of a huntress herself, Anna was taught how to survive in the Russian wilderness as a child. Losing her mother soon to an elk during a hunt, she was forced to adapt to the wild and survive using what she was taught. She would hunt more dangerous animals as she grew, and eventually began to hunt people, taking little girls home to foster as her own yet failing to care for them, leading to their death. Saddened and pained by their deaths, she would raid villages and kidnap their children, wearing animal masks her mother made to appear more calming to the kids. Eventually, the First World War happened, with Russian and German soldiers falling prey to her, she would eventually disappear after the war ended, taken by The Entity. The Huntress is my personal favorite of the killers – Ranged and an ability mostly dedicated to skill. Her add-ons affect her hatchets’ speed and add additional effects to survivors should they be hit by them. She even has the potential to become a stealth killer upon reloading her hatchets through the power of her addons. Silent and efficient, her perks are Beast Of Prey, Territorial Imperative, and Hex: Huntress’s Lullaby. These perks emphasize committing to a chase, protecting the basement, and hooking survivors to interrupt their repair and healing progress with delayed skill check noises/notifications and bonus regression should they fail.

What makes The Huntress great is easily:

Her ranged ability, tossing fast-moving projectiles to wound and down survivors. Add-ons increase their speed and throwing time, applying effects and even allowing her to down a health survivor in one hit.
Cosmetic-wise, Huntress boasts several outfits that vary and effectively can communicate her lethal status as a masked hunter. From Russian WW1 outfits to a Bear-pelt-wearing forest dweller, Huntress also has a list of masks to mix and match for her outfits.
Her perks encourage hunting survivors and committing to them, as well as protecting the basement by providing a notification if anyone enters when far away – Allowing for basement hooks to have additional value by alerting her early.

9. The Shape

"Death has come to your little town, Sheriff." — Dr. Sam Loomisi

Michael Myers, simply known as “Myers” is a cult classic slasher killer from the Halloween franchise. One of the earliest licensed killers to be added to Dead By Daylight. As a child, Michael took the life of his elder sister Judith Myers. After escaping the hold of a Sanitarium, he returned to his hometown of Haddonfield and began more murders. Sensing such evil, Michael was brought into the trials by The Entity, along with his latest obsession that had eluded him for so long. Myers is a very fun killer to play, requiring nothing more than knowledge of the core mechanics of the game. Immediately starting as a stealth killer, as his ability, he’s able to stalk survivors to increase his tiers and killing ability at the cost of being more noticeable. His add-ons are focused on this, and most notable are add-ons that straight up make his final state permanent and grant him the ability to instantly kill survivors without hooking or downing them first. His perks are based around The Obsession of the trials, that being a survivor marked by the killer particularly. Said perks are Save the Best for Last, Play with Your Food, and Dying Light. As long as the obsession lives, these perks reduce your cooldown upon hitting a survivor with more cooldown for hitting the other survivors, increase movement speed as long as the obsession escapes by providing tokens – used upon attacking, and finally slow down everyone’s action speed per hook while boosting The Obsession only to remain fair.

What makes The Shape great would be:

His start as a stealth killer and evolution through the match into a normal killer and proceeding to be an instant-downing machine makes him flexible on how to play him.
His ability to stalk and reach his max tier allows him to instantly down people and can be quite powerful, pressuring survivors greatly to finish objectives and avoid as much as possible.
His obsession-based perks work extremely well and are good complimentary perks to use in your build as they provide speed to movement and attack recovery speed when used well.

8. The Nurse

"If you do not stop and catch your breath... she will." — Unknown

Sally Smithson, known mostly as “The Nurse” is Dead By Daylight’s most feared killer – a true test of skill with the unique ability to blink through walls and teleport ahead where she looks. Once a nurse at Crotus Prenn Asylum, the madness, and horror that Sally saw took the toll on her over the years of working there, slowly guiding her to the incident where over a couple of dozen patients and staff were left dead. She now lingers in The Entity’s realm, stealing the breath of those she kills, cleansing the trials as she did the asylum. The Nurse as stated before is one hell of a test of skill. Requiring timing and positioning, lots of predictions and reflexes to boot with her ability, Nurse possesses the power to blink multiple times, allowing her to teleport with precision and even adding additional blinks and effects using add-ons to her power, like moving at a normal killer’s pace - opposed to her slower speed than all other killers - upon a successful blink hit or even a figurative set of training wheels to help newer Nurse players to learn her well. Her perks are fitting of her occupation, both in her work before and after the incident that left many dead in her wake. Perks of Stridor, Thanatophobia, and Nurse’s Calling encourage her to keep survivors wounded, making them louder with their breathing, slowing generator progress per wounded or dead survivors – and ending with the ability to see those who are healing and being healed within a good distance.

What makes The Nurse great would be:

Her ability to blink is unmatched; allows her to bypass walls with her teleporting, making it a difficult counter. This ability easily has led to countless full wipes in trials, requiring good skill and practice to use effectively.
Her add-ons can allow her playstyle to be varied, allowing her to focus on teleportation with short quick blinks or long-ranged charged blinks, and the previous mention walking build makes her viable and more akin to a normal killer.
Perks that encourage wounding survivors to easily find them, especially with her Nurse’s Calling can ensure survivors go down quickly and bring the match to a close.

7. The Ghostface

"There is no need to worry. I've been preparing my whole life for this." — The Ghost Face

The Ghost Face, real name Danny Johnson, is another cult classic slasher, this time from the Scream franchise, The Ghost Face is an elusive stalker who studies his victims and murders them in due time. He assumed the role of unsuspecting people in public to cover his tracks with a false identity, his latest before being taken by The Entity being that of Jed Olsen. He wrote about his murders, keeping them in the papers for weeks on end and being taken by The Entity when he presumed his work in Roseville, Florida. Smiling the whole way as he knew what was to come... The Ghost Face is a tricky one to play, needing to stay out of sight yet close by to make the most of his ability. Although his ability to stalk survivors loses no efficiency from distance, survivors who are marked are promptly notified of the fact they’ve been exposed by him, making them an easy target for a one-hit down to the dying state. His stalking is even more powerful from walls, able to completely mark a survivor in 2.5 seconds. His add-ons only bolster these effects, speeding him up and allowing his marked targets to remain marked for much longer, with some applying buffs or debuffs to himself or survivors respectively. His perks are a mixed bag, but that doesn’t mean they’re good. With perks of I’m All Ears, Thrilling Tremors, and Furtive Chase, Ghost Face can be quite unpredictable as this allows him to track those who rush their actions nearby through their aura, stop generators with no survivors on them from being repaired temporarily map-wide, and lessen his terror radius by targeting his obsession which will pass onto those who rescue them for the cycle to repeat and the perk to growing strong if it is allowed to continue.

What easily makes The Ghostface great would be:

His ability to stalk survivors allows him to expose them, allowing them to be downed with just one hit. The stalk is fast, even faster when leaning from a wall, and lasts quite a long time.
A stealth killer, able to make his terror radius and red stain to approach the survivors without their notice other than the slight sounds of his shroud in the wind. Anyone who reveals him is shown to him through killer instinct, and suffers even debuffs based on his add-ons.
The ability to crouch, as dumb as it sounds, make a difference with making himself lower and able to hide behind objects or around bushes. Effective when coupled with his ability to hide.

6. The Legion

"Smartasses get killed. We always see to that." — The Legion

A gang of misfits turned after a break-in gone wrong, the Legion is made up of troubled teenagers stirring up the remote town of Ormond. When an evening of vandalizing the store that fired one of the members turned into a murder, the group buried the body and entered the woods following the leader, Frank, into the fog that enveloped them all. Now they roam the trials, each hunting survivors for The Entity to continue a newly founded bloodlust. The Legion is composed of four killers with a cool concept that fits their name, and ability coupled with unique perks that defeat groups attempting to rush generators. Feral Frenzy allows the legion to move faster and attack with a wounding attack on a timer, each successful attack on a fresh target resetting the timer and revealing nearby targets to continue the chain – with a successful fifth attack being a lethal hit. The perks of The Legion are Discordance, Mad Grit, and Iron Maiden which reveals generators with multiple survivors working together, better abilities to stop body blocking while carrying a survivor, and a faster locker checking perk that also reveals and exposes survivor for a short amount of time should be foolish enough to hide in one and then exit.

What easily makes The Legion great would be:

The ability to Feral Frenzy can rapidly wound survivors and award a lot of points for good use of their abilities, making Legion one of the best killers to farm bloodpoints with while playing the game seriously.
Starter perks accompany the legion’s ability well to stop survivors from entering lockers to avoid their ability by making them easy grabs both in and out of the locker after. In addition, it points out generators being repaired by multiple survivors, hence marking good spots for their ability to be utilized.
Multiple characters with a lot of cosmetics as The Legion is one of the most played of the killers with a multitude of cosmetics to decorate their look – including stylish jackets and unorthodox stabbing tools.

5. The Oni

"Only a fool would spit in a demon's face and declare victory." — Renjiro's Doctrine 4:9

Kazan Yamaoka was the son of a samurai, going against his father’s wishes to rid of the land of false samurai – he gained the name “Oni-Yamaoka” from a noble lord. Through his bloodshed, he killed his father without knowing, becoming disillusioned and enraged leading him to a slaughter of samurai guarding the town of the noble lord before entering the Lord’s village and killing him for disgracing his name. He was then captured by a mob of farmers, who tortured him and left him to die in a Mill, where a black fog crept, forcing him to live through its trials as the demon he became.

The Oni is a bit of a difficult killer with his ability, acquiring it easily by wounding survivors to activate Blood Fury, which can instantly down survivors from a healthy state, using his kanabo (two-handed mace) while running at fast speeds. His add-ons cover the variety of abilities through Yamaoka’s Wrath – bolstering his Blood Fury’s timer, Demon Dash’s speed, and affecting blood orbs.

Oni’s abilities as a former son of a samurai and a determined yet enraged warrior are Zanshin Tactics, Blood Echo, and Nemesis. Balanced around many areas, they allow him to see the auras of mainly pallets and vaults to plan, debuff all injured survivors when hooking one, and transfer the status of The Obsession to another upon a stun.

What makes The Oni great is easy:

Of his abilities, Blood Fury can down healthy survivors with a lunge of his kanabo, even able to down multiple survivors if they are clustered together.
His Demon Dash ability allows him to quickly rush to other parts of the map, making him able to intercept survivors and objectives much quicker.
The blood orbs left by injured survivors can be used to aid in tracking those who have eluded The Oni, with add-ons to increase the number of orbs spawned, make them visible and reveal survivors who touch them.

4. The Nemesis

"...it knows what it wants and won't stop till it gets it." — Carlos Oliveira

The Nemesis T-Type, coming from the franchise of Resident Evil, specifically Resident Evil 3, is a bioweapon and a super soldier created to hunt down the S.T.A.R.S members under the orders of the company Umbrella. He hunted Jill Valentine and anyone who got in his way in Raccoon City, wounding her before she escaped, cornered in freezing storage. The fog descended upon both of them, taking them to continue their battle in The Entity’s trials.

The Nemesis is an unstoppable entity himself, using the NE-A Parasite (no relation to Nea Karlsson, hopefully) as a special whip, it mutates to stronger tiers by hitting survivors with it, and by killing zombies which spawn and respawn in the trial to hunt survivors. Nemesis is break pallets and doors using his whip after tiering up once, receiving extended range on his final tier of three. His add-ons focus on faster tier-up speed, zombie movement speed, and a few vaccines affecting survivors.

Perkwise, Nemesis brings the unique perks of Lethal Pursuer, Hysteria, and Eruption. Respectively these perks reveal survivors' aura at the start of the trial for a few seconds to know where to start going, afflict all survivors with oblivious when injuring one with a short cooldown and quite a long effect timer, and exploding generators that have been damaged by him when downing a survivor, regressing them and afflicting those working on it with a scream and incapacitation to prevent immediate repairs to continue.

What makes The Nemesis great is:

His ability allows him to hit over pallets and through vaults with quite good range, rewarding him with upgrade progress for his attack to mutate and become stronger. It also allows him to break pallets and doors much quicker than smashing them normally, allowing him to keep up a chase with little downtime.
Zombie aid that’ll respond to noise and nearby survivors, pushing them off of generators and attacking them from corners if chased into a zombie. These zombies can be the bane of a lot of survivors, as those who don’t pay attention can easily be downed without escape.

3. The Dredge

"Stay in the light, my children. In the darkness, your fear will expose you." — Otto Stamper

Born from years of depressed dark thoughts and feelings, The Dredge was created as a result of a cult going insane and massacring each other: Led by Otto Stamper - who later mentored The Doctor – The Fold however was sought with malcontent as Otto culled his followers and sacrificed them to a dark god. Slitting the throat of a journalist who attempted to expose him, keeping his followers without sleep and blaming them for the disappearance of members, and accusing them of bad thoughts, they turned on each other and tore each other apart, limb from limb. From this all, The Dredge was made a reality by for the black shadows and fog...

The Dredge is the newest addition to the roster of killers at the time of writing, featuring the ability to teleport to lockers across the map and the ability of Nightfall, it can cut off survivors and attack with surprise, even more, effective when it shrouds the map in the darkness that limit their view of the surroundings. Its add-ons strengthen and fasten both the teleportation and Nightfall, making them more of a threat to survivors.

With the perks of Dissolution, Darkness Revealed, and Septic Touch, it is a balanced list of breaking pallets automatically after wounding a survivor should anyone vault them soon after, showing the aura of survivors near lockers, and debuffing anyone who heals without its terror radius.

What makes The Dredge great is:

Its ability to teleport to lockers means it can easily get around the map while remaining undetected, enabling it to stop survivors from repairing generators next to lockers.
Nightfall can make it harder for survivors to navigate, especially in a chase that benefits The Dredge, as survivors sometimes easily run into a dead end or miss valuable loops with pallets, and lack information on where to go next in the heat of the moment.
A nightmarish appearance, comprising of the torn body parts and limbs of the former cult members, it is a refreshing take on creatures serving The Entity.

1. The Cannibal

"There are moments when we cannot believe that what is happening is true. Pinch yourself and you may find out that it is." — Pam Jones

Bubba Sawyer, known to the entity as “The Cannibal” is one of the most feared killers in Dead By Daylight thanks to this signature chainsaw. Hailing from the famous Texan Chainsaw Massacre, Bubba with the simple mind and a strong body to wield his weapon found his way into The Trial, continuing to massacre all those he comes across, sawing through them one by one with his sledgehammer to back him up. Playing Bubba is a bit of a learning curve, but after you learn to use his chainsaw, it’s over for the survivors. Able to sweep and push himself forward with it, Bubba can spend a ‘charge’ to extend his chainsaw’s timer and extend his sweep, outpacing a survivor and downing them in one hit. His add-ons serve to buff his chainsaw charges and its maximum time. The Cannibal possesses the perks of Knock Out, Barbeque & Chill (Not as appealing as one would think), and Franklin’s Demise. Some of the best perks in the killer meta, respectively they cause his basic attacks to slow a dying survivor’s crawl speed while hiding their aura for a while, revealing survivors aura who are at least a distance away when you hook a survivor (while giving you those beautiful extra bloodpoints) and knocking a survivor’s item on the ground when you wack em’ with a basic attack, depleting its charge until nothing is left overtime.

What makes The Cannibal great would be:

His Chainsaw obviously, can sweep and down multiple survivors in one go, not stopping even when hitting one and destroying their health states as it is an instant downing ability.
His perks allow him to confuse and disorientate survivors while locating them, causing chaos and defeating their items with his perks.
Great for bloodpoint farming as at the time of writing, Barbeque and Chili provides additional bloodpoints. Even without the perk, Bubba’s easy downing chainsaw can turn the trial in his favor, netting him a lot of points awarded in the trials.
A master at camping, with his ability to multi-down survivors regardless of health state, Bubba can show no mercy as he easily can down both the unhooked survivor and their rescuer in one swing.