Dead by Daylight Killer Tier List (The Best Killers in Dead by Daylight)

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Updated:

18 Aug 2022

I always get asked what the best killers are, and what gives the best results. This is an updated killer tier list that includes the latest killers. Please keep in mind that even at the lowest tier, these are still amazing killers. So I am not telling you to NOT play as them. I would like you to try all of them, as the game adds updates and nerfs, this list is subject to change, and this is also just my humble opinion. ENJOY!

This list will range from BEST KILLERS to WORST KILLERS in overall stats, addons, and playstyle within the Dead by Daylight universe. (S-Tier - D-Tier)

S-TIER

The Nurse (S-Tier)

Ever since Dead by Daylight was released way back in 2016, this killer has always been the number one pick. I am horrible with her, but she is the best killer in the entire game by far. She came out with the chapter known as “The Last Breath” She is the type of killer where if you are bad with her, then it is the worst experience. HOWEVER, If you get good with her, she is a force to be reckoned with, and you will hardly ever lose unless you make some horrible mistakes like misjudging positionings with your teleports and such.

Weapon and Power

She is armed with a bone saw -- quite fitting for a nurse of her caliber I'd say.

She can teleport using what is known as “Blinks”. The longer you hold your power button down, the further you can teleport. If you have addons, you can extend your teleports even further. The Nurse can even teleport through objects. So if done correctly, you will NOT be able to loop a good nurse. She can hit directly right out of her blink which makes her extremely strong as most killers have a cooldown period to hit a survivor. After you hit a survivor or miss a blink, however, prepare for one LONG cooldown where the nurse puts her head down, it quite frankly makes me dizzy playing as her.

Skill Ceiling - High
Addons - Very Strong
Map Traversal - High

Many viable perks and addons make her extremely unpredictable.
*Not as reliable on a console as she is on PC due to how quick your reactions have to be as well as your accuracy with your teleport.

The Blight (S-Tier)

The Blight was released with the chapter titled “Descend Beyond”

Weapon and Power

He is armed with a sharpened cane. He is a pinball essentially. What I mean by that is he can bounce off of walls to catch a survivor off guard and he is very FAST whenever he does so. Every one of these killers within the S-Tier takes some skill and training to get good with them. The Blight is no exception, this hunched-over beast is so fast that before you truly notice him, it’s too late. He does make a loud grunt however when he uses his power. So if he sees you, RUN! There is also a decently long cooldown when you are done using his power.

Skill Ceiling - High
Addons - Very Strong
Map Traversal - High

Survivors that like to effectively “hold W” without looping around the map, will be outmatched by The Blight.

The Spirit (S-Tier)

The Spirit was released with the chapter “Shattered Bloodline”

Weapon and Power

The Spirit is armed with a knife that comes out of her hands as she hits a survivor. The Spirit can turn invisible while she is using her power, but the way to balance this is she can not see blood left by injured survivors and scratch marks left by running survivors. When she is using her power she relies heavily on grass moving sounds of foot movement as well as injured grunts.

Skill Ceiling - High
Addons - Strong
Map Traversal - High

A-Tier

The Hag (A-Tier)

The Hag was released with the chapter “Of Flesh and Mud”

Weapon and Power

The Hag is armed with just her hands! She can place traps down that survivors can trigger that give them a little jump scare, she can then teleport to wherever the trap got triggered around the map. Flashlights can destroy her traps. The best way to counter her traps besides flashlights is crouching, if you crouch the trap will not trigger.

Skill Ceiling - Average
Addons - Strong
Map Traversal - High

The Artist (A-Tier)

The Artist was released with the chapter “Portrait of a Murder”

Weapon and Power

The artist is armed with a sword/claw combo that forms out of ink. Her powers are birds that you can summon and throw out towards survivors to alert you of their presence. Kind of similar to the perk “Spies from the Shadows” but base kit, and not reliant on a perk. If she hits a survivor using her birds it also counts as a hit. The way to counter her is just to run straight. Don’t try to loop or hide if you are seen. Her birds will find you. Survivors can hop into lockers to get rid of the birds that are lingering on them, as well as use flashlights to move her static birds from their original position.

Skill Ceiling - High
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - Average

The Oni (A-Tier)

The Oni was released with the chapter “Cursed Legacy”

Weapon and Power

The Oni is personally one of my favorites, I love everything about him. He is a BEAST that utilizes strength to destroy his foes. He is armed with two weapons, a katana, and a club. In his normal mode, he uses his katana as his basic attack. Whenever he hits a survivor, the survivor leaves blood orbs that the oni absorbs. This also acts as an easy way to find injured or newly healed survivors, whenever survivors vault, or stays still for a while the blood orbs stack up underneath them. When he collects enough blood orbs, he then can trigger his power called "Yamaoka's Wrath". When this happens, the Oni will roar across the map, and be able to dash across the map swiftly with his club. Any survivors he catches while in this dash will be downed instantly. If you hear this beast coming towards you, RUN! Use windows and pallets to get away from him until his form resets and he is back to the basic form. My god is it terrifying though.

Skill Ceiling - High
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - High (when in the wrath form)

The Executioner (A-Tier)

Who doesn’t love classic video game monsters or killers that get put into this game! He was released with the Silent Hill chapter.

Weapons and Power

He is armed with essentially a big buster blade and has a couple of different powers.

1. "Rites of Judgement" (Hold the Power button to activate, then move forwards in any direction to carve a Torment Trail into the ground.)
2. "Punishment of the Damned" ( Press the Attack button while Rites of Judgement is active to perform Punishment of the Damned.) This unleashes a wave of force in the form of an Attack Trail, damaging any Survivors in its path.
3. "Cage of Atonement" (Press the Active Ability button while standing over a dying Survivor afflicted with Torment to send them to a Cage of Atonement.)
Survivors in a Cage of Atonement undergo the regular Sacrifice process as if they were on a hook.

Skills Ceiling - High
Addons - Bad
Map Traversal - Low

The Plague (A-Tier)

The Plague was released with the chapter “Demise of the Faithful”

Weapons and Power

The plague is armed with "The Profane Censer" (It exudes the sweet fragrances of the gardens the priestess used to tend to. Upon hitting a Survivor, The Plague will re-centre herself as she recovers from the hit.

The plagues power is called "Vile Purge", she vomits all over objects around the world as well as survivors. Survivors get sick and cannot be healed while sick and in the broken state. Around the map will have cleansing fountains, if a survivor uses one, the plague is notified and can use the same fountain to get "Corruption Purge" which makes her vomit very deadly, it acts as a ranged attack. The best way to counter her is to rush out gens and not to cleanse unless deemed necessary.

Skill Ceiling - High
Addons - Strong
Map Traversal - Average

The Huntress (A-Tier)

The Huntress was released with the chapter “A Lullaby for the Dark”

Weapons and Power

Huntress is armed with an axe that she uses as her basic attack, and hatchets to throw at survivors. The longer you hold down the button the faster and further she will lob the hatchets. She only has 5 to start with though so if you miss then you have to reload them by opening up lockers around the map. The best way to counter her is to make her miss by looping around objects, because she has a lengthy animation to take her hatchets out.

Skill Ceiling - High
Addons - Strong
Map Traversal - Low

The Twins (A-Tier)

The Twins was released with the chapter “A Binding of Kin”

Weapon and Power

This killer is kind of interesting. You play as Charlotte who can attack the survivors to down them and hook them, but you can also play as Victor, her conjoined twin brother to hunt down the survivors. Victor is FAST and nimble. He can pounce on survivors and show Charlotte where they are, and he doesn’t have a terror radius, so listen to the grunts. Victor also can’t hook a downed survivor. So when you down a survivor as Victor, switch back to Charlotte and go hook them.

Skill Ceiling - Average
Addons - Strong
Map Traversal - High (While using Victor)

B-Tier

The Cannibal (B-Tier)

The Cannibal was released with the Leatherface Chapter.

Fans of the film franchise “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” rejoice. Leatherface came into the game as menacing as ever.

Weapon and Power

He is armed with a hammer that he uses as his basic attack, and his special attack is a chainsaw he can rev up. He swings wildly and can hit multiple survivors all at once. His chainsaw is also a one-hit down, so try not to get hit. The best way to counter him is to loop around tight objects, if you are lucky he might hit a wall which will trigger a long cooldown period called the tantrum. His strengths are DO NOT BUNCH UP WITH OTHER SURVIVORS, YOU WILL DIE. He is the killer that introduced a term known as face camping. Most new players will choose him to get easy wins, because most survivors still don’t know how to counter him. He is quite a force to be reckoned with versus newer to average level survivors. An experienced survivor however will give him quite literally a run for his money.

Skill Ceiling - Low
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - Low

The Nemesis (B-Tier)

Resident Evil Fans rejoice! Nemesis is here to play with his zombies.

Weapon and Power

He is armed with a PUNCH. His power is his tentacles.Press and hold the Power button to charge an attack.
Once charged, tap the Attack button to unleash a "Tentacle Strike".

Hitting a Survivor with a Tentacle Strike afflicts them with Contamination and increases your Mutation Rate.
If a Survivor is already Contaminated, a Tentacle Strike will damage them. It also will increase your Mutation Rate by the same amount as hitting a zombie.

Skill Ceiling - High
Addons - Bad
Map Traversal - Average

The Cenobite (B-Tier)

Hellraiser fans rejoice.

Weapon and Power

His weapon and power has everything to do with chains. He can slow your movement down with chains, and if the box is found in the trial by him, it starts a chain event. Which slows and stops survivors throughout the entire map for a limited time. Survivors can also find the box and solve the box to stop the chain event. Pinhead can see their location as they solve the box and can teleport right to it.

Skill Ceiling - High
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - High (while using his chains)

The Demogorgon (B-Tier)

Stranger Things fans rejoice!! Kinda???

Unfortunately this DLC is no longer available for sale on the in-game store due to Netflix withdrawing from their deal with Behavior Interactive. So this entry will be for people that already own the DLC.

Weapon and Power

His weapon is his claws, he can hit a survivor with his basic attack, and he lunges as his special attack. The lunge is not that far though, so don’t try to do some cool trick shots with it like the Huntress. He can also place portals down and teleport to them at will as long as they are placed. Much like The Hag. Survivors can destroy his portals though so be on the lookout for that as well.

Skill Ceiling - Average
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - High (If you place your portals properly)

The Deathslinger (B-Tier)

Deathslinger was released with the chapter “Chains of Hate”

Weapons and Power

He is armed with a harpoon gun, he can shoot survivors and reel them in which is very similar to how fishing is. His gun has one shot before he has to reload. If he shoots a survivor they go into the deep wound status and has to mend or they will be incapacitated.

Skills Ceiling - High
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - Low

The Hillbilly (B-Tier)

This is one of the three original killers released for Dead by Daylight.

Weapon and Power

Much like Leatherface, Billy wields a hammer and a chainsaw. He can rev his chainsaw to zip around the map very swiftly, any survivors he catches with the chainsaw will be instantly downed.

Skill Ceiling - High
Addons - Bad
Map Traversal - High (When he is using the chainsaw he can get around the map very quickly)

The Trickster (B-Tier)

K-POP FANS REJOICE. The trickster was released with the All-Kill Chapter.

Weapon and Power

He wields a bat as his basic attack, and he throws knives as his special attack. Just like Huntress,once he is out of knives he has to reload using the various lockers around the map. Over time as he uses his power, he is able to trigger a final event which gives him unlimited knives and speed.

Skill Ceiling - High
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - Low

C-Tier

This tier still has quite the amazing cast of characters. These killers should still be tried no matter what I, or anyone else says. They just aren’t as good as far as win rate goes.

The Doctor (C-Tier)

Skill Ceiling - High
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - Low

The Legion (C-Tier)

Skill Ceiling - Low
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - High (when in frenzy)

The Wraith (C-Tier)

The Wraith is one of the 3 original killers to ever be released in Dead by Daylight.

Skill Ceiling - Low
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - High (While cloaked)

The Onryo (C-Tier)

Skill Ceiling - Average
Addons - Bad
Map Traversal - Low

The Clown (C-Tier)

Skill Ceiling - Average/High
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - Average (Higher when you use your speed bottles)

The Ghostface (C-Tier)

Ghostface was released with the Scream Chapter!

Skill Ceiling - Average
Addons - Bad
Map Traversal - Low

The Nightmare (C-Tier)

The Nightmare was released with the Nightmare on Elm St Chapter! Freddy Krueger!

Skill Ceiling - Low
Addons - Bad
Map Traversal - High (As long as generators aren’t completed.)

D-Tier

This tier still has quite the amazing cast of characters. These killers should still be tried no matter what I, or anyone else says. They just aren’t as good as the top tiers far as win rate goes.

The Pig (D-Tier)

The Pig was released with the SAW Chapter!

Skill Ceiling - Average
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - Low

The Trapper (D-Tier)

The Trapper is one of the 3 original killers to ever be released in Dead by Daylight.

Skill Ceiling - Average
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - Low

The Shape (D-Tier)

The Shape was released with the Halloween Chapter! Michael Myers!

Skill Ceiling - Low
Addons - Average
Map Traversal - Low (Unless you reach tier 3 evil within, then it’s high.)

Thank You For Reading

That concludes my Dead by Daylight Killer Tier List for 2022! Thank you very much for taking the time to see which killer is right for you! No matter what tier a killer is in, they are all very fun and worth trying. Also, keep in mind this list is completely based on my individual opinion. If you want to know more about all things Dead by Daylight, click down below!
Until next time, I’ll see you all in the fog!