With the latest DLC in Dead by Daylight, it is time for a new killer tier list. This DBD tier list will go over the strongest killers ranked from the best (S Tier) to the worst (F Tier). I will be ranking these killers based on my experience as a red rank player and based on opinions from the community. I’ve also kept this updated for the latest updates and major changes. Even ones that rework killers like the Leatherface change.
Please remember that all tier lists are subjective in nature. Not everyone is good at every killer and could easily be better on an F-tier killer than they are an S-tier killer. Personal preference reigns supreme.
Table of Contents
Other Posts:
- Dead by Daylight Black Locks
- Deathslinger Build
- Pyramid Head Build
- Nemesis Build
- Cenobite (Pinhead) Build
Best Killer for Beginners
Right off the bat, the easiest killer for new players in Dead by Daylight is The Cannibal, aka Bubba. Because Bubba has such an easy kit that can insta-down survivors AND the best blood point farming perk in the game, this is by far the best killer for beginners in DBD.
Best Killer in Dead by Daylight
Most of you probably don’t want to wait to see who the best killer is, so we’ll show you right upfront. Who is the best killer in DBD?
The best killer in Dead by Daylight is The Spirit. Although the Spirit has one of the highest skill gaps in the game, those who take the time to master her kit can become unstoppable in DBD.
A lot of times players will leave the game if they see a Spirit player, without even waiting to see how the game goes. That is how good this killer is.
S Tier DBD Killers List
This tier of killers are absolute monsters in DBD, aka, the strongest killers. When playing as these killers you feel unstoppable and when playing against these killers you feel like you simply can’t win.
Hag
Why is the Hag, the least popular killer in the game, an S-tier killer? Well, it is pretty simple, the Hag has one of the strongest powers in the game to get instant hits, and the only real way to counter it relies on flashlights (a resource that depletes) and insane teamwork. If your team makes any mistakes at all, a Hag can almost instantly 4k off of it.
The only weakness Hag has is her early game is incredibly weak (like all killers), but once she is finally set up with all of her traps, she almost can’t be beat (almost).
Spirit
The Spirit is regarded as one of the strongest killers in the game and for good reason. Her power allows her to Phase Walk, which gives the survivors zero information on where she is going, so they have to rely entirely on game sense, and she can still hear survivors and see blood pools while in this power. This means that while the Spirit still has lots of info available, the survivor has almost none.
As you go further up in the ranks you will see an insane amount of Spirit players because of how easy it is to 4k with her. She does still require skill, but once you understand the basics and learn to use your ears, the Spirit is incredibly oppressive to play against.
Hillbilly
The Hillbilly is a true force to be reckoned with in Dead by Daylight. When I hear that chainsaw revving at the beginning of the game, I find myself screaming internally (and externally), although, I can’t seem to think he is cute every time I see him hobbling around.
His strength comes from the map pressure he can put on survivors and because his chainsaw can snipe players across the map. Although he normally takes a skilled player to really make him strong, the Hillbilly can be a dangerous killer to play against regardless of skill level.
Billy is also one of the “addon” killers. These kinds of killers, as the name suggests, are strongest with the use of addons. For example, the Hillbilly can put Thompson’s Moonshine and Begrimed Chains on his chainsaw and it makes it extremely easy to steer your chainsaw, which is the hardest part of playing Hillbilly.
So with some practice and the proper add-ons, anyone can win on the Hillbilly.
Nurse
In Dead by Daylight few Killers are so hit or miss as the Nurse. By hit or miss, I mean that they will either make the game impossible, or you will be running circles around her while teabagging. This is due to newer players not having enough practice with her killer power and struggle with blinking/blink chaining.
That’s a good lead-up to her killer power. The Nurse’s power allows her to blink up to a certain range depending on how long she holds down the power button, once she blinks she can chain it if she is quick but will get stunned a few seconds after her latest blink. You can blink through walls and swing immediately after blinking, albeit at a short range.
As you can probably tell, this power makes her a super-strong killer, one of the best in fact. However, not many players can utilize the power to its full potential. But for those who do, they are truly dangerous killers.
Pyramid Head
Pyramid Head is a licensed killer from the Silent Hill DLC. Most people are putting him quite high on Dead by Daylight tier lists now that the DLC has finally come out, seeing as how he is one of the stronger killers to be released recently.
With a long-range killer ability that can go through pallets and the fact he has excellent tracking ability, Pyramid Head ranks in the S Tier of this DBD tier list.
Make sure to check out our Dead by Daylight Pyramid Head guide!
Tier 2 Killers
Tier 2 killers are still strong in their own rights but aren’t always going to guarantee a 4K. Good survivors can outplay these killers and end up escaping a fair amount of the time.
The Artist
The Artist is an original Dead by Daylight killer that has followed the recent trend of being very anti-looping. Because players have in general gotten better at looping and prioritizing gens, anti-loop killers have become the strongest killers in DBD.
With her killer power, the Artist can zone survivors off entire areas. A somewhat Freddy mechanic, her dire crows can reveal survivors or even down them in an extremely quick chase. If the survivors choose to not loop around your crows (wise), they are still forced off the loop entirely, something very few killers can do.
For that reason, I feel it is appropriate to put the Artist towards the top of tier 2 killers in DBD.
Cenobite (Pinhead)
The Cenobite, otherwise known as Pinhead, is an incredibly strong killer and one of the newer ones in the game. Pinhead comes with a great chase power and also a good slowdown power that allows him to perform incredibly well even at high red ranks.
With the Cenobites chain hunts, he can prevent survivors from getting on gens (as hooks will spawn randomly and stop survivors in their tracks) and also quickly end chases because they can’t move. Also, his power, which functions similar to Nurse, allows him to chain a survivor whenever he wants and allows Pinhead to almost completely ignore loops.
For these reasons, I put the Cenobite as a mid-Tier killer, but one of the strongest mid-tier killers in Dead by Daylight right now. You can also check out our guide on Pinhead builds in DBD.
The Nemesis
The Nemesis is from the Resident Evil DLC pack and a semi-powerful killer. With a killer power that mixes Plague and Michael (although less powerful than either in their respective aspects), the Nemesis can harass survivors and force them into terrible situations.
One of the most interesting things about the Nemesis is that he can spawn AI zombies passively, which is the first case of such a thing in Dead by Daylight history. Interestingly, this means that tweaks to the AI or even minor buffs to them could make the Nemesis strong without the need to change the character at all. This isn’t the case currently, as the AI is almost negligible at best, but it could change in the future.
The main problem that the Nemesis faces is the same of many killers, that is, large maps. Both his killer power and the zombies suffer when they have to be used at a long-range, and survivors that just run away to spare time for their teammates will be rewarded against Nemesis, who really has no way of counteracting this.
Maybe in the future, the Nemesis will be as scary as he is in the real Resident Evil, but for now, he is a tier two killer in dead by daylight.
If you want to check out our build/addon guide for the Nemesis click the link!
The Oni
The Oni has been out for a little bit and can be considered a lower-tier killer.
When the Oni first came out he was far better. Since release, he has only received nerfs and has become less and less relevant. His 360 potential has been neutered and he requires way too much time to get his power, whereas a billy could immediately start with it.
There have been some good builds but so far nothing crazy.
The Cannibal (Leatherface/Bubba)
One of the most feared killers in the game. Not because he is a strong killer or anything (definitely not) rather, the fear stems from “basement time with bubba” an annoying build that relies on camping in the cramped bowels of the basement with Bubba’s one-hit chainsaw.
The Cannibal, much like the Hillbilly, has a chainsaw that can down survivors with one hit, however, unlike the Hillbilly, Bubba’s is meant for close-range encounters. Also, his chainsaw can hit multiple survivors, making hook camping easy.
Because of the recent update that reworked Leatherface and his add-ons, Bubba is considered a tier 2 killer. Although he still lacks map pressure, his power has gotten much stronger for chases and makes up for it slightly.
Demogorgon
The Demogorgon has received some nice buffs to his powers recently. I would consider the Demogorgon to be a stealth/slug killer hybrid because of his power.
Much like Legion, Ghostface, and a few others, the Demogorgon’s power has several mechanics attached to it. For one, he can hold down the power button and lunge forward a great distance, which allows him to get a hit on survivors outside his regular lunge range. Secondly, he can place portals that he can teleport to and upon exiting a portal, the Demogorgon has no terror radius for a limited time. Hence why I say he is a hybrid.
Previously, his lunge attack would require an addon to break pallets, but with the recent buffs, he can now do that without an addon. This decreases the amount of time the Demogorgon will have to chase survivors and in my honest opinion, puts him at least at tier 2.
The Nightmare (Freddy)
Freddy is one of the more interesting killers to play as he has several abilities attached to him. For one, Freddy is invisible to survivors at ~30 meters and once your survivor has fallen asleep, you can no longer hear his terror radius.
Besides his stealth, he also has a teleport ability that allows him to teleport to generators. Both of these abilities make Freddy hell to deal with if you aren’t experienced or on alert at all times. Check out our Freddy guide, if you want to learn how to make survivors rage at you in post-game ;).
The Doctor
The Doctor is a rare sight in any Dead by Daylight match, but definitely deserves a tier two spot on this DBD tier list because of his ability to cause havoc in a match.
With his shock ability, the doctor can turn survivors insane, causing them to see illusions of The Doctor randomly and making them shout which alerts him to their location. If a survivor gets shocked enough, they can’t vault for a small period of time allowing The Doctor to get a good slug in.
Altogether, The Doctor isn’t really that strong but at least deserves a spot here.
The Twins
Victor & Charlotte Deshayes, aka, “The Twins”. While initially thought of as weak, The Twins have quickly been shown to be pretty powerful.
Victor is the Twins killer power which allows Charlotte (the person you are normally controlling) to unleash Victor. Once Victor is on the ground you can control him and lunge at other survivors. Alternatively, you can let him idle and he will scream when survivors are nearby, effectively functioning as a radar.
Is the power strong? Not really, but it does provide some utility.
Plague
The Plague is a truly devastating Dead by Daylight killer that turns survivors into their own worst enemies.
Her ability, Vile Purge, allows her to infect survivors with a plague that causes them to cough and vomit uncontrollably which inevitably spreads to the environment around them, including other survivors. This plague stays on all survivors unless they cleanse themselves at a pool of devotion. Upon all survivors cleansing themselves or the Plague eating the corruption from a pool of devotion, the Plague gains Corrupt Purge which can damage survivors.
Corrupt Purge lasts for a limited time but is incredibly strong. It is one of the few ranged abilities that killers have and is way more accurate than the Huntress’s hatchets.
Honestly, the Plague would be tier-one if she had better chase capabilities. As it stands, she can’t really pressure survivors much.
Huntress
Huntress is a killer with a ranged damaging ability that allows her to end chases quickly and efficiently.
There is little to know or learn about Huntress as she is a really straightforward killer, only being able to damage survivors and not debilitate them in some way. Land hatchet throws for easy kills or simply slug survivors down.
While she is a simple killer, she still deserves a tier two spot because of her ability to punish bad loopers or those who run in a straight line.
Blight
Blight was one of the weakest killers on launch and was hilariously bad. The main reason being is that his killer power, which forces him to bounce off of the map, also had terrible collisions and caused players to get stuck and miss pounces. So, basically, the only thing that made him unique as a killer was terrible.
The sentiment now is he isn’t as bad as he used to be. But still, Blight is incredibly hard to play without the reward that usually follows. I mean, just look at Nurse, hard skill cap but high reward. With Blight, hard skill cap, no reward.
The Deathslinger
You can think of the Deathslinger as a crappier version of the Huntress. He really doesn’t have anything that makes him better than her but they function precisely the same. The one key difference is, the Huntress can do damage from a range, while the Deathslinger can only pull survivors toward him.
Basically, if you have good aim on the Huntress, you injure a survivor + you get to attack quicker (because the animation is faster when throwing than when using your basic attack). But, if you are good at aiming with the Deathslinger, you still have to reel them in, and can only do so at a certain range.
Cross map hatchets > medium-range hook.
To top it all off, they both have the same move speed (115) which is pretty slow. That all makes the Deathslinger far lower on this tier list.
But, of course, if you know how to play Deathslinger he is incredibly strong, which is why you should take a look at our Deathslinger guide for DBD.
The Trickster
The Trickster is a ranged killer much like Deathslinger and Huntress, but he has the weakest kit out of all three. Trickster relies heavily on hitting most of his blades (seven to even injure a survivor) and has to do it within a short amount of time or it will take even more blades. This means that the Trickster suffers from the same issues that all ranged killers struggle with (high obstacles around loops and line of sight), but requires many more hits than the other two.
His killer power helps you throw a ton of blades quickly and hopefully get a down on a survivor, but it also slows you. So you better hope you aren’t on a bad map with a lot of line of sight-breaking potential.
Not a fan personally, and I think it is easily the worst of the ranged killers.
Tier 3 Killers
Tier three dead by daylight killers either have too high of a skill cap to be relevant or just simply suck unless you are experienced. If you want to rank up as a killer avoid them.
The Shape (Michael Myers)
Michael Myers was the first DLC character to be released (I think?) and has a semi-decent kit.
First off, MM has the ability to one-shot survivors if he makes it to the third tier of his Evil Within. Although it only has a short period before it wears off, it is usually enough to down annoying survivors if used correctly.
Legion
The Legion hasn’t always been the butt of every DBD joke. In a time way before now, the Legion was a nightmare to play against and an almost guaranteed DC when someone saw you playing them. That is sadly, in the past.
As of now, the Legion is one of the weakest killers in the game and applies very little map pressure. Even worse is the fact the devs seem to enjoy nerfing any part of the Legion that becomes even slightly strong (Nemesis nerf anyone?).
Clown
The Clown is notorious for being one of the worst killers in the game due to his slow a** not being able to apply pressure and his killer power being incredibly weak. Anything you can do with Clown, you can do on a better killer without wanting to self-harm.
Ghostface
Ghostface is bad for all the reasons most stealth killers are, but he isn’t completely terrible. You can freak survivors out with his zero terror radius and can even put on some sick plays with his crouch.
Sadly, this is a skill-based killer that requires you to just be better than the people you are playing against to win (aka 2 kills).
Trapper
I feel bad for putting the Trapper so far down the list but seriously, this guy can’t really do much until he has several traps put down, and even then cheeky survivors can just sabo them while the other three do generators. It really isn’t fun being a Trapper main in today’s society.
That being said, I still think he can be somewhat competitive if you use the right build. Check out my Trapper guide to see what I’m talking about.
Wraith
The Wraith is what I like to call a zoomer.
Pig (Saw)
End
And that’s it for the Dead by Daylight killer tier list. Do you agree? Let us know in the comments.
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