To survive safely in Dead by Daylight, we present to you the best perks for survivors. With these, you are equipped against any killer!
Those new to Dead by Daylight may be overwhelmed by the sheer variety of possible perks. To give you a good overview of which perks are particularly rewarding and helpful in many situations, we present our list of the top 10 perks in Dead by Daylight for survivors.
Update: This article was updated on February 17, 2025, and reflects the changes in Dead by Daylight 8.5.2.
How to unlock perks: To unlock perks, you need to invest blood points into the blood web of a character and thereby unlock new levels in the web and consequently new perks. Keep in mind that every survivor has three “unique” perks. For these perks to appear for other survivors, you must first unlock them on the original owner. This is done through the prestige system.
At prestige levels 1, 2, and 3, you unlock all of the character’s perks for everyone else at levels 1, 2, and 3, respectively. You reach a prestige level once you have fully developed a character’s blood web up to level 50.
Check the Shrine of Secrets: Alternatively, it’s also worth regularly looking into the “Shrine of Secrets.” There, you can buy four randomly selected perks for blood shards each week. This skips the unlocking of the teachable perk (for instance, if you don’t own a survivor).
The Top 10 Perks for Survivors in Dead by Daylight
We evaluate the following perks at their highest level (3). At lower levels, many perks significantly lose their value and should only be used out of lack of alternatives. The list is current as of Patch 7.6.2.
Are you more of a killer player? Here are the 10 best perks for killers!
1. Windows of Opportunity
Learnable by: Kate Denson
Windows of Opportunity
is sometimes dismissed by certain players as a noob perk
, but its usefulness is unquestionable. The effect is simple yet extremely valuable:
Within 32 meters, the player sees all breakable walls, pallets, windows, and other climbing opportunities displayed as an aura.
This gives you a perfect overview of where the next opportunity is to escape the killer for a little longer. A small but fine side effect is that the position of the killer can occasionally be determined. For instance, if a pallet disappears from the aura view, you can be sure that the killer just destroyed it.
However, keep in mind that the perk has a certain dark side
. If you become too accustomed to using this perk, you will become blind to the normal positions of pallets that most players simply remember over time.
2. Kindred
Learnable by: Standard
Kindred
was massively overhauled some time ago and now demonstrates its usefulness in more situations. Therefore, it is one of the top perks for information gathering for survivors.
Kindred
ensures that all other survivors can see the aura of all survivors when your character is on the hook. Additionally, the killer’s aura is shown to all survivors when he is within 16 meters of the hook.
Since the overhaul, Kindred
also functions for the user when another survivor has been hooked. In that case, only you see the aura of all other survivors and the killer (within 16 meters). This allows you to make smart decisions and quickly determine whether you should rescue the other survivors or whether someone else is already on their way.
3. Déjà Vu
Learnable by: Standard
The auras of the 3 generators that are closest to each other are permanently displayed to you. You repair 6% faster as long as you are working on one of the three revealed generators.
This perk is simple yet highly effective. Survivors frequently find themselves in a 3-gen situation
where the killer finds it particularly easy to protect generators that are close to each other. With this perk, you can prevent that and always know which generators are particularly close together.
Especially cool: You always repair the last generator with the 6% bonus.
4. Lithe
Learnable by: Feng Min
Lithe ensures that after a hasty jump through a window or over a pallet, you enter a sprint for 3 seconds that increases your movement speed to 150%. After that, exhaustion is triggered for 40 seconds. As long as exhaustion is active, you cannot benefit from Lithe.
Windows and pallets are already a promising way to gain some distance from the killer. Together with Lithe
, however, the distance gained is often so great that you can frequently escape completely from the killer’s line of sight before he is even capable of climbing through the window.
Note that Lithe causes exhaustion and can therefore conflict with other perks of this kind.
5. Resilience
Learnable by: Standard
Resilience increases your action speeds for various actions as long as you are injured. In that case, your speed for repairing, healing, sabotaging, unhooking, vaulting, blessing, and opening is increased by 9%.
The effect ends once you are fully healed and begins again when you suffer another injury.
Experienced players who don’t mind being injured can make perfect use of this perk to significantly repair faster and finish the match quickly.
6. Iron Will
Learnable by: Jake Park
Iron Will is simple and clear: When you are injured, you do not groan in pain and therefore do not draw attention to yourself.
Typically, it is much easier for a killer to track a survivor who is already injured. The groans of pain give a relatively precise indication of where the survivor is and make it easy to catch them.
Iron Will completely suppresses this. At least as long as you are not using a perk that causes exhaustion. Because as long as exhaustion is active, this perk is suppressed, even though it does not trigger exhaustion itself.
7. Bond
Learnable by: Dwight Fairfield
A simple but strong aura-reading ability. As long as other survivors are within a radius of 36 meters around you, you can see the aura of these survivors.
This is extremely useful, as you can not only see the locations of your allies but often also guess what they are currently doing. If someone is crouching by a generator, you know where that generator is and can help (or search for another generator). However, if someone is running around in a panic, they are probably being chased by the killer and should perhaps be avoided. And if someone is limping, they urgently need healing and you should come closer.
8. Flashbang
Learnable by: Leon S. Kennedy
This perk is especially suitable for experienced players who are also familiar with flashlights. After you have repaired a generator for several seconds, you can climb into a locker and create a flashbang (as long as you don’t have an item in hand). You can then detonate the grenade to throw it to the ground and create a bright flash of light that blinds all players in line of sight. Killers will drop survivors they are carrying, similar to being blinded by a flashlight.
9. Off the Record
Learnable by: Zarina
Whenever you are rescued from the hook (or free yourself), this perk activates for a whopping 80 seconds and causes several effects:
- Your aura is suppressed and not shown to the killer.
- Pain sounds caused by injuries are completely suppressed (they are 100% quieter).
- You gain the “Condition” status and therefore do not go down on the next hit.
The effects of the perk end prematurely if the exit gates have already been powered – in that case, the match is pretty much over anyway, and the escape is as good as secured.
10. We’ll Make It
Learnable by: Standard
Every time you free another survivor from a meat hook, this perk activates for a solid 90 seconds and increases the speed at which you perform altruistic actions by 100%.
This means you can heal other survivors in half the time. This is particularly valuable when multiple allies are injured. That way, you need only a few moments to get the whole team back on their feet. Especially in a team setting, it is worth coordinating a bit about who should rescue others to maximize the benefits of this perk.
Additional Useful Perks for Survivors
Even though the following perks do not belong to the top 10, they are still useful and can help in many situations. If you have not unlocked the previously mentioned perks yet, these can also serve you well:
Balanced Landing
Learnable by: Nea Karlson
When falling from a great height, this is often a moment when the killer catches up and is sure to hit. However, with the perk Balanced Landing, that’s not the case. You recover 75% faster from the landing and even enter a sprint for several seconds afterward. Even better: You do not make any noise while falling.
Note that every landing triggers exhaustion, and the sprint will not activate if you are already affected by exhaustion.
Resurgence
Learnable by: Jill Valentine
This perk is simple but will often save your life. Whenever you are rescued from the hook (or free yourself), you already receive 70% of the necessary healing. This allows your rescuer to complete the final healing within seconds, and you can make your escape before the killer even has the chance to get back near the hook.
This perk is of course useful only if you do get caught – but it serves as a solid life insurance.
Lightweight
Learnable by: Standard
If you’re already good at shaking off the killer, Lightweight makes it even easier. This perk ensures that the scratch marks visible only to the killer appear over a much larger radius. This makes it harder for the killer to accurately determine where you ran off to. As if that weren’t annoying enough, the perk also drastically reduces the duration for which your scratch marks are shown.
Deliverance
Learnable by: Adam Francis
Especially as a solo player, it can sometimes be difficult to rely on team members. It often happens that the potential rescuer is being chased by the killer, leaving you to rot on the hook. With Deliverance, you can avoid this and free yourself from the hook once. You will then suffer for 60 seconds from a condition that makes healing impossible – but that’s a good deal if you would have already reached the next victim phase instead.
Of course, there are many perks outside of those presented that are useful in various situations. There is no “one right” playstyle in Dead by Daylight. But at least with the perks mentioned above, you can hardly go wrong. They form a solid basic selection to evade most killers for at least a while.
Which perks do you always play as a survivor? Are you more of an “action” or “stealth” player? If you need more blood points, it might be worth checking out the codes to redeem in Dead by Daylight.
