From the outside looking in Dead by Daylight might seem like a fun game to play with friends and relax in but you’d be pretty mistaken if you think that’s all it is.
There is an ever-shifting meta complete with buffs and nerfs coming in every patch in an effort to make the game feel fresh.
With numerous killers now in the game, there’s a lot of variety for players to choose from and it can be quite hard to choose for beginners. Unfortunately not all the killers are as strong as the others so we’re taking the time to compile the tiers for all of the killers.
Author’s Note: Plague will show up on this list once the community has a chance to play against and as her for a while.
Tier 1
These are popular killers you’ll see at high ranks but are also ones that require some skill to use. These killers require some practice but will certainly pay off for you if you put the time in.
Nurse
The Nurse is often called a “broken killer” and that’s due to her ability to be downright unstoppable in the right hands. The Nurse has insane map control and her ability to catch survivors is unmatched. Her blinks allow her to cover a ton of ground and also shift through objects such as pallets.
For beginners though she will be a tough killer to use. Her blinks aren’t really the easiest thing to control and survivors can dodge a beginner pretty easily. If you miss your blinks you’ll just be left there limp for a couple of seconds, giving the survivor ample time to escape. However, once you get some practice under your belt and learn your blinks you’ll become a top tier Nurse in no time.
Hillbilly
The Hillbilly is oftentimes the first killer a player tries out but it seems like they don’t realize he is also one of the best. The Hillbilly has both excellent map control and a constant threat with his chainsaw.
The Hillbilly is able to zip across the map with his chainsaw and also 1-shot survivors if he makes contact with them making him an effective killer all across the board. His chainsaw can be hard to maneuver but with add-ons, he becomes a threat in anyone’s hands.
Huntress
It was hard to choose between Tier 1 and Tier 2 for Huntress but we decided to put her in the first tier just because of her ranged attack. The Huntress is able to hit long-range hatchets and when paired with the perk BBQ & Chili she has potential to really pull off some sick throws.
While she doesn’t have a whole lot of speed she makes up for it with range. She is able to effectively counter pallets by tossing a hatchet over them once they are dropped so the survivors never truly feel safe. She has a high skill ceiling with her hatchets but practice makes perfect.
Spirit
This was a hard killer to place since she came into the game a little weak but then received buffs to help make her more viable.
The Spirit has excellent map control and an insane ability to mind game which makes her among the stronger killers in the game. She’s not quite Hillbilly or Nurse level but she’s not far behind.
Her lack of a one-shot hurts her here but she is able to sneak up on unsuspecting survivors with ease. She is weak in chases as she has slow movement speed and her phasewalk has a lengthy cooldown.
Tier 2
These killers will still see play at higher ranks but will run into some issues if you go against strong survivors.
Michael Myers
Myers is a killer many fans were excited to see enter the game and he comes in first on our list of Tier 2 killers. His playstyle revolves around Evil Within and his stalking. Myers has a tiny terror radius when he first starts that will grow as he stalks but he will also gain power.
There’s a lot of variety with the builds you run as Myers as you can choose to be stealthy to go full homicidal. Evil Within 3 downs survivors in 1-hit so he has strong potential.
Doctor
The Doctor chooses to give survivors Shock Therapy or to Punish them, even though neither of them are really good for their overall health.
The Shock Therapy stuns survivors so they won’t be able to drop pallets or vault through windows for a short period of time. It’s also very hard to stealth against him so he causes many players to play out of their comfort zones. Players will scream out and alert the Doctor to their position if they’re afraid.
Clown
The Clown is a pretty solid killer and is also a lot of fun to play with. He makes our top 5 based on his strong control abilities. His potion can be thrown to slow survivors down, making for easier chases and it can also end a chase pretty quick.
His Bamboozle perk also makes for some good fun while also ended chases quicker. The Clown features some powerful add-ons, including the ability to 1-shot a survivor if you hit them directly with the bottle. Also, his Mori is arguably the best looking in the game.
Legion
This was a hard killer to place because it can be argued the Legion is more annoying than good.
His power really shines when he is able to slash a group of survivors, forcing them to all run away from doing objectives in order to mend themselves before they bleed out.
Legion is also able to vault pallets but it’s pretty easy to counter a Legion player if you’re a good survivor by just never healing to full health. The Legion is a slow killer so he’s easily looped, forcing him to run after you to put the stab down, meaning it didn’t matter if you were hurt or not.
He’s going into Tier 2 because he does seem to upset a lot of survivor players meaning he isn’t at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to killers.
Tier 3
These killers, while fun to play, don’t see much use in the higher ranks due to skilled survivors and limitations by these killers.
Leatherface
Leatherface is a very fun character to play with and even has some trolly builds (Insidious Basement build anyone) but ultimately he finds himself in the third tier.
Leatherface is easily looped and really only finds his max potential with add-ons. His chainsaw does have multi-down potential but those situations are so few and far between that it’s hard to recommend playing him just for that. His chainsaw is also countered by hopping through windows and dropping pallets, effectively turning him into an M1 killer when dealing with talented survivors.
Leatherface features some of the best perks in the game with BBQ & Chili and Franklin’s Demise so he’s worth leveling just for that reason.
Trapper
The Trapper was buffed recently but it didn’t really help him improve that much. He puts traps down quicker now but that doesn’t really help still. He takes a while to set up which is why he finds himself so low on our tier list.
These traps can be avoided by stealth and can even be disabled which puts him in a bad spot since the traps are what he relies on. To make matters worse the Trapper has to collect these traps so he is at a disadvantage to start. He can still be good in the right hands but doesn’t really see much play the further up in rank you go.
Wraith
The Wraith is a popular killer for beginners because of how cool he seems with his ability to stealth and all. The reality is though is that even with his windstorm buff, he’s still not among the best killers. He’s fun to play as but still suffers from his need to uncloak.
The Wraith moves faster while cloaked but can only slug the survivors while uncloaked. The Wraith has to ring a bell to come out of his stealth which alerts survivors to his presence and gives them a head start on the chase. When you couple this with survivors running Lithe, Balanced Landing and Sprint Burst then you’re in for one hell of a chase.
Pig
The Pig still sees a lot of play across all of the ranks due to her ability to slow the game down and her just being fun to play. By placing traps on the heads of survivors it slows the game down and forces them to do an extra objective before escaping. Her lunge attack is also pretty scary and unsuspecting.
Ultimately the Pig boils down to a cool killer but is still susceptible to pallet looping and long chases which is why she’s on our Tier 3 list. The traps do represent a nice counter to perks like Borrowed Time which is why it’s a nice little perk to have.
Hag
The Hag feels similar to the Trapper where she has to place traps in certain spots to truly be effective. When a survivor springs a trap, she is alerted and has the option to teleport to that spot to begin a chase.
Since she solely relies on the traps she doesn’t do well in chases and doesn’t have 1-shot potential making her a Tier 3 killer. She can still be fun to play and she’ll certainly be good for some jump scares on the newer players.
Freddy Tier (Not Good)
Freddy Krueger
Freddy Krueger is slow, requires survivors to be in dream mode for them to be hit and is somehow weak against perks like Self Care.
Freddy is in serious need of a rework and needs some help if he’s going to ever become a real viable killer. Right now he has to focus on tunneling characters for the most part if he wants to secure kills. Of course, he can still be strong in the right hands but you see more bad Freddy players than good ones.
Freddy can’t pull survivors off generators, stop an unhooking or prevent survivors from escaping without putting them to sleep first which is why we find him as easily the worst killer in the game. Make Freddy Great Again.