Meet the best and worse Dead by Daylight killers
Dead By Daylight has an ever expanding list of Killers, and with each new addition it seems that the list gets shuffled and rearranged with every new patch. As of patch 2.5.0, this is the Ranking list that I feel best portrays and exemplifies the current state of the DBD Killers in descending order from highest rank to lowest rank.
This list is divided into 4 Tiers:
A-Tier: Killers that can help you land easy 4ks at any rank- but with a high skill cap.
- The Nurse (98/100)
- The Hillbilly (93/100)
- The Spirit (90/100)
- The Doctor (85/100)
B Tier: Your “average” Killers- good and decent all the way around, but often fall a bit flat at higher ranks.
- The Huntress (82/100)
- The Clown (78/100)
- The Legion (74/100)
- The Wraith (70/100)
- The Shape (65/100)
C Tier: Killers that can’t really compete at high ranks, or struggle a lot.
- The Trapper (60/100)
- The Cannibal (58/100)
- The Pig (51/100)
- The Hag (50/100)
D Tier: The “DON’T” Tier, aka the Tier reserved for Freddy
- The Nightmare (20/100)
The A Tier:
The Nurse (98/100)
See the Nurse in action!
A teleporting Killer, able to Blink around the map with ease, almost certainly places her at the top of the tier list. Since the Nurse has been out for a long time, there are a lot of people who have had time to become God-like at her.
- Being able to Blink across the map is the strongest ability in the game for the Killers, thus it would be foolhardy of me to place her anywhere else other than at the top where she deserves.
- It takes a very, very long time to learn the Nurses’ playstyle and to rein in the accuracy of her blinks, but if you can get them down to a science with loads of practice, you can become a dreaded Nurse main.
- The two big reason why she’s not at a full hundred is that sometimes, even the best Nurses cannot simply wipe through every SWF team they come across, and oftentimes her Blinks don’t take her where she wants them to go.
The Hillbilly (93/100)
See the Hillbilly in action!
Even with a basic ability, consisting of a chainsaw, gives the Hillbilly a deadly tool at his disposal. Downing people in one hit, the only reason why he’s not above the Nurse is that, sadly, he cannot go through walls.
- Being able to zoom around the map at a high rate is speed is always a good thing.
- The chainsaw doesn’t always obey your commands, sometimes whipping a certain at takeoff and disrupting your entire attack.
- A good Hillbilly is nearly impossible to avoid once he gets too close. Those who have a good handle on him know that if you can get behind a Survivor, you can simply rev up your chainsaw and take them down.
The Spirit (90/100)
See the Spirit in action!
The Spirit is a phase-walking Killer, able to catch Survivors off-guard with her traversal Power, Yamaoka's Haunting. Her Power allows her to teleport from one place to another without being seen.
- The Spirit is another speedy Killer, able to phase-walk (not through walls) around the map with only a rattling glass noise to give away her presence.
- While she doesn’t have an instant down, she can grab Survivors off of interactions with ease, pretty much counting as an instadown.
- The reason why she’s at third place is because if you want to be a great Spirit, you have to be able to mind game even the highest skilled Survivors, which will not always be easy.
The Doctor (85/100)
See the Doctor in action!
The Doctor is a madness-inducing Killer, able to use his Power to create a Static Field, incapacitating Survivors and eventually causing them to hallucinate and scream in terror, revealing their position.
- Once you get his secondary power down pat, you should be rolling in kills and bloodpoints.
- As stated before, Survivors will DC against you once you start getting good, so it would be wise to kill them before their salt meters rise too high.
- His secondary is best used to bring Survivors into Madness 3. You shock them, them immediately switch back to your weapon mode, and then hit them so they cannot vault over anything to escape.
The B-Tier:
The Huntress (82/100)
See the Huntress in action!
The Huntress is a ranged Killer, able to throw Hunting Hatchets at Survivor to injure them from a distance. She carries a standard of 5 hatchets, but addons can adjust this number.
- I highly debated whether or not on which Tier to place her at, but I ultimately decided to put her at the high end of the “B” because she does have some drawbacks.
- Hatchets are great when they work, but like the chainsaw, they often don’t always go the way you want. Hitboxes also are not your friends more often than not.
- A Huntress main can easily take down Survivors, but you have to be on point with your hatchets and know how to corral Survivors away from objects that can protect them.
The Clown (78/100)
See the Clown in action!
The Clown is a strategic Killer, able to control and corral Survivors by throwing bottles of The Afterpiece Tonic to create clouds of noxious gas that cover large areas for a short amount of time. Survivors intoxicated by the gas are inflicted with impaired vision and movement speed, and give away their location by coughing loudly.
- He’s a lot like the Huntress, but he can not throw as far and his bottles do not injure Survivors.
- Throwing bottle at Survivors who look like they are going to window or pallet loop you is a great idea, because the gas slows them down and cuts the loop short.
- But, be careful of trees and walls- the Clown performs poorly in enclosed maps such as The Game and Lery’s
The Legion (74/100)
See the Legion in action!
A band of merciless Killers, able to rush down helpless Survivors with their power, Feral Frenzy. Attacks made during their frenzy inflict lingering internal damage, downing any Survivors that are not quick enough to react.
- Dubbed the most annoying Killer in the game (aside of the Doctor), the Legion can be a very effective Killer- if played rather scummy.
- The “scummy” way of playing the Legion is tunnel the person you smack in Feral Frenzy mode and keep attacking them, and blocking their paths with your high speed- although this can guarantee you a relatively easy and quick kill- plus Frank's Mixtape for maximum damage.
- If you don’t play this way, though, you’ll be doing a lot of running around and smacking people over and over again. It would be imperative to find a balance between hitting Survivors in Feral Frenzy mode and in normal mode to get a few kills.
The Wraith (70/100)
See the Wraith in action!
The Wraith is a stealth Killer, able to cloak and uncloak at the ringing of his Wailing Bell. He is all about tracking and hunting Survivors, making it easier to catch and kill them.
- Post-buff Wraith certainly deserves a high place on the “B” Tier- if played right.
- The Wraith’s power doesn’t help to slow the game down, but the element of surprise puts him at an advantage when sneaking up on Survivors.
- Lacking map pressure puts him below Killers like the Legion, and it makes him hard to get any kills before all the gens are completed unless you have Ruin
The Shape (65/100)
See the Shape in action!
The Shape is a haunting Killer, intent on monitoring Survivors from a distance to feed his Power. The more he stalks, the stronger and faster he becomes.
- I place him one step lower than the Wraith on the account that Myers cannot go invisible.
- But I kept him in the B Tier because he does have an insta-down that can come in clutch when you have a group of Survivors.
- Myers slaps at lower and even mid-tier ranks, but without good addons he gets relatively stomped on at higher ranks.
C-Tier:
The Trapper- (60/100)
See the Trapper in action!
The Trapper is an area-control Killer, able to apply pressure across the Map by placing deadly Bear Traps for Survivors to step into. He is focused on physical attributes and making use of his strength and the Survivors' fear.
- The Trapper is at the very top of the C list for a good reason: he has some map pressure with traps, and they hurt when stepped into.
- Even though he can help block off long loops, that only works until the trap is disarmed. High ranks will keep popping your traps unless you have that one addon that injures them if you do- but that won’t stop all of them.
- If you can corral Survivors into traps before they can disarm them, though, the game can go very quickly.
The Cannibal (58/100)
See the Cannibal in action!
The Cannibal is a chainsaw-wielding Killer, able to trigger a deadly frenzy using his Power, immediately downing anyone in its path. His Perks revolve around the unknown. Nobody knows where anyone is, especially The Cannibal himself. You are not aware of his presence until his Chainsaw bursts through your spinal cord.
- Leatherface is a bit iffy with me. On one hand, his AOE chainsaw can be great for Survivors that hang around too close or for basement plays, but he can’t zoom around the map like the Hillbilly.
- A Leatherface main is more prone to camping a hook and is all about basement plays, because that’s how you get chain-hits. He is also anti-SWF in the sense that the SWF teams that like to all run in a group will find it much more dangerous to do so.
- But other than that, Leatherface is just a basic Killer, and thus is at C Tier
The Pig (51/100)
See the Pig in action!
The Pig is a tormenting Killer, able to crouch into stealth mode, then ambush Survivors from a short distance. She can also apply Reverse Bear Traps to downed Survivors, forcing them to remove it before the timer runs out, triggering an instant death.
- Recently receiving a buff in 2.5.0, I would place the Pig higher on this list, but she does have some drawbacks.
- Her RBT are somewhat easy to remove- unless your on large or walled maps, which very much turns the game in your favor.
- A smart Pig knows how to strategically place her traps, but overall she just lacks map pressure, but she does make up for it in prolonging the game.
The Hag (50/100)
See the Hag in action!
The Hag is a cursed Killer, able to place Phantasm Traps and then teleport to them upon activation, using her Power. Her Perks revolve around the game mechanic: the Hex Totems. They are focused on cursing the Survivors and sapping their abilities. The curse lasts until the Survivors manage to track the Hex Totem down and cleanse it.
- Most Hags forget to use all of their traps- which is a rookie mistake.
- A Hag with 4 Hex Perks is a great strategy if you can get to them fast enough before they are cleansed in the beginning of the match. The Hag is a huge protecting Killer- her only counter is Urban Evasion.
- But if you get Survivors with this perk, her Phantasm Trap potential goes way down and makes her pretty avoidable.
D-Tier:
The Nightmare (20/100)
See the Nightmare in action!
The Nightmare is a nightmare-inducing Killer, driven to pull Survivors into his Dream World using his Power, in order to be able to maul them and hinder their abilities. His Perks revolve around stopping Survivors from fleeing. They will make surviving a real pain for all, and managing to escape the Hunting Ground won't be easy.
- Why? Why would you play him seriously? It’s beyond me, and I’m still waiting for the long-awaited and promised Freddy buff.
- But, oddly enough, Freddy destroys low ranks (I’m talking about rank 20’s), and not-too-smart Survivors. That’s the only real reason to play him unless you have a daily or are an achievement hunter.
- If you get a 4k at a high rank as Freddy please @ me that’s the stuff I like to see.
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