Hunting down survivors is never an easy task. But, you could always select the perks that can improve your success. Here’s our Dead by Daylight guide to help you with the best killer perks in the game.
Dead by Daylight Guide: The best killer perks (2021)
Dead by Daylight killers have three personal perks available by default. To unlock others, you’ll need to level up the characters that have their own perks until you reach levels 30, 35, and 40. By obtaining these teachable perks, they’ll have a chance to appear in the Bloodwebs of other killers.
Barbecue & Chili
- Character: The Cannibal
- Effects (very rare): After hooking a survivor, all other survivor auras are revealed to you for four seconds when they are 40 meters away from the hook. Each time that a survivor is hooked for the first time, you gain a 25% stackable bonus to Bloodpoint gains up to a maximum of 100%. The bonus Bloodpoints are awarded post-trial.
The aura part of this perk is somewhat negligible since it has a very short duration. By then, survivors would’ve already moved away. Still, this killer perk in Dead by Daylight remains a top choice because of the Bloodpoint bonus. The more of this currency that you earn, the easier it is to purchase stuff on your character’s Bloodweb. Considering how things can get grindy with all the killers in the game, a way to boost your currency gains is always welcome.
Corrupt Intervention
- Character: The Plague
- Effects (very rare): At the start of the trial, three generators located furthest from you are blocked by the Entity for 120 seconds. Survivors cannot repair these generators for the duration. Affected generators have a white aura.
The reason this killer perk in Dead by Daylight is really good is because it forces survivors to head to other generators on the map. Because you already know which ones are blocked, you can head to those that remain available. Chances are, some survivors will attempt to go there (which means they’ll head closer to you). Of course, this can also be used against you, such as when survivors don’t fall for your schemes until the duration elapses. This wastes the perk entirely.
Enduring and/or Tinkerer
- Character: The Hillbilly
- Effects (very rare): Enduring reduces the duration of pallet stuns by 50%. Tinkerer, meanwhile, triggers a loud noise notification when a generator reaches 70% repair progress. It also makes you undetectable for 16 seconds.
These two perks are the reason why the Hillbilly is one of the better killers in Dead by Daylight. Enduring simply lets you recover from pallet stuns a lot more quickly than you normally would, which should help you catch survivors who love to loop and bait you into committing mistakes. As for Tinkerer, it lets you know when survivors have almost repaired a generator. You can move in for the kill without alerting them from the get-go.
Hex: Ruin
- Character: The Hag
- Effects (very rare): Generators that are not being repaired will regress at 200% of the normal rate.
This Dead by Daylight killer perk is one of the best in the game. Period. That’s because it forces survivors to take more time when attempting to repair generators. Remember, time is on the killer’s side.
Hex: No One Escapes Death
- Character: General perk (can appear in the Bloodwebs of any character)
- Effects (very rare): Once an exit gate is powered and if there’s a Dull Totem on the map, this hex is applied to it. Survivors become exposed and the killer’s movement speed is increased by 4%.
This is considered a clutch killer perk in Dead by Daylight. If the survivors are close to escaping, you’ll still have a means of catching up to them. Likewise, the exposed status effect ensures that survivors will be put in a dying state in a single hit regardless of being fully healed or not.
A Nurse’s Call
- Character: The Nurse
- Effects (very rare): The auras of survivors who are healing or being healed will be revealed to you if they’re within a 28-meter range.
This perk makes the Nurse one of the best killers in Dead by Daylight, especially for newcomers who are quick to master her. Regardless of the matchup, survivors tend to heal themselves or their teammates. This act of self-preservation becomes a detriment to the team since it allows you to spot them.
Lethal Pursuer
Character: The Nemesis
Effects (very rare): At the start of the trial, all survivors’ auras are revealed to you for nine seconds.
Let’s be clear here, Lethal Pursuer is next to useless once the duration has elapsed. The reason why you might want this, though, is because you can get straight into the action. Speedy killers can dash straight for survivors, which would probably cause most newbie players to panic and make mistakes. In a few cases, map spawns can also screw over players, ensuring that they’ll be a lot closer to you than usual. Still, because this one loses value abruptly early in a match, you shouldn’t prioritize this over the aforementioned options above.
For more information about Dead by Daylight, you can take a look at our guide on how to use perks and the best survivor perks.