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In Dead by Daylight, the killer's objective is to kill all four survivors before they're able to complete five generators, open the exit gates, and escape. Chasing and downing survivors are crucial pieces of the puzzle, but for killers who are set on winning, they'll need to ensure they keep survivors off of generators and stop them from completing their objectives in the meantime. Success as the killer in Dead by Daylight requires both winning chases and a smart overall strategy.
Some killers have powers that help them prolong the game and keep survivors off of generators - for example, The Onryo and The Nurse both have intense map pressure, allowing them to navigate the map quickly and pressure multiple generators. On the other hand, the Pig and The Cenobite have passive slowdown abilities. For most killers, though, using their power alone is not enough to win when all four survivors are set on completing generators; players will need to equip perks that help them regress generators.
4 Headstrong Hexes
- Corrupt Intervention (The Plague)
- Hex: Ruin (The Hag)
- Hex: Undying (The Blight)
- Tinkerer (The Hillbilly)
A combination of strong hexes and other generator regression perks is a great choice for killers who have a moderate amount of map mobility. Corrupt Intervention, while not a hex, sets the foundation for this build. This perk blocks three generators at the beginning of the match. This prevents survivors from gaining an early-game advantage; survivors are at their strongest in the first few moments of the match, since they usually spawn in front of generators and are able to land fast progress before the killer sniffs them out.
Strong hexes are what make this build so powerful. Hex: Ruin, one of The Hag's perks, is one of the best hexes in Dead by Daylight. It causes generators to automatically rapidly regress when survivors step off of them. That said, hexes are easily countered by a survivor booning or cleansing them, completely negating their effect for the rest of the trial. That's where Hex: Undying comes into play; when survivors cleanse or place a boon on Hex: Ruin, its powers will move to the Hex: Undying, forcing them to cleanse or boon the totem again.
This not only keeps Ruin in play for longer but makes survivors spend valuable time on totems. Finally, Tinkerer allows the killer to know when generators are nearly done, which is particularly helpful if Ruin is cleansed.
3 Kick Those Gens
- Pop Goes The Weasel (The Clown)
- Call Of Brine (The Onryo)
- Oppression (The Twins)
- Jolt
Some killers can navigate almost any map easily; for killers with strong map pressure, it may be wise to kick generators rather than apply more passive pressure with hexes. With Pop Goes The Weasel and Call of Brine, kicking a generator after earning a hook will not only deplete the generator's progress by 25% but also cause it to continue regressing by 200% thanks to Call of Brine. Oppression spreads out the killer's pressure; when one generator is kicked, Oppression causes 3 others to start regressing, too.
While most of the perks in this build revolve around kicking generators, Jolt has a different trigger: putting a survivor into the dying state with a basic attack will cause all nearby generators to regress. It also applies a flat 8% regression to those generators. Frequently kicking generators will allow the killer to apply steady, strong pressure throughout the match; Jolt applies extra pressure when the killer is doing something they should do anyway (downing survivors).
2 Impossible Skill Checks
- Unnerving Presence (The Trapper)
- Overcharge (The Doctor)
- Merciless Storm (The Onryo)
- Hex: Huntress Lullaby (The Huntress)
Most experienced survivors find it easy to land good skill checks, and therefore don't even think about them before hopping on a generator. This build makes hitting skill checks extremely challenging for even the best of survivors, and applies passive generator regression when survivors are not on generators. This creates a catch-22 situation where it's risky to miss a skill check but equally punishing to step off of a generator since it will instantly start regressing.
Hex: Ruin makes passive regression a real threat when survivors aren't on generators. Merciless Storm activates when a generator reaches 90%, forcing survivors to hit highly challenging skill checks or risk their generator being blocked by The Entity for 16 seconds.
Huntress Lullaby makes it harder to hit skill checks, changing the time between the sound cue and the actual skill check. Finally, Overcharge forces survivors to face one of the hardest skill checks in the game after the killer kicks a generator; if the survivor fails it, the generator will explode and regress by an additional 5%. What's more, successfully hitting the Overcharge skill check does not provide any generator progress.
1 Eye See You
- Surveillance (The Pig)
- Pop Goes The Weasel (The Clown)
- Tinkerer (The Hillbilly)
- Gearhead (The Deathslinger)
This build focuses on keeping track of survivors' locations to know when they are on a generator and which generators they are on. Surveillance shows which generators are being worked on after the killer kicks them, providing steady information throughout the match.
Tinkerer gives further information, letting the killer know when a generator is at 75%, so they can interrupt before it's completed. Lastly, Gearhead lets the killer see survivors' aura when they hit a great skill check after losing a health state. Seeing auras is powerful, and using these three perks combined ensures the killer will always have an idea of where survivors are.
Pop Goes The Weasel, which applies a flat 25% regression to one kicked generator after a survivor is hooked, helps the killer get good value out of the information they learn from Surveillance, Tinkerer and Gearhead.
Dead by Daylight is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Android, and iOS.