Which killer is good in Dead by Daylight and which one should be avoided? Our tier list of all 38 killers reveals it.
Dead by Daylight has changed dramatically in recent years. Where there were only a few maps, killers, and perks at the beginning, a lot of content has accumulated over the years. Numerous game mechanics have been revised or expanded, and compared to the release in June 2016, hardly anything is like it used to be.
The trailer for the latest killer, the Houndmaster:
Especially the number of killers has drastically increased – there are now 38 of them.
But which killer is objectively good at their job and which one is currently below average or even bad? To provide an overview, we have created a tier list in this article that ranks all the killers with justifications.
Important: This tier list is based on the basic strength of a killer and their potential when the correct and suitable perks are used. The list is current as of Patch 9.0.2 of Dead by Daylight and was updated on 09.01.2025.
And generally speaking: Don’t be discouraged just because your favorite killer is not ranked here as you would like. With the right perks, addons, and experienced hands, any killer can ruin the day for survivors.
This hasn’t gone without consequences, as Euro pallets in the real world now trigger a shock paralysis.
Tier S: The Overpowered Killers
Nurse: The times of the unstoppable Nurse are over. In Patch 6.5.0, she was revised. Since then, every attack after a teleport is considered a “special attack,” meaning many perks no longer work with this type of attack. This has slightly reduced the strength of the Nurse – but she cannot be pushed off the throne.
She is by far the hardest killer to learn but has some of the greatest potential – however, she is not suitable for beginners. The Nurse is now only a bit more difficult to learn, yet still hard to beat in skilled hands.
Spirit: The Spirit has sneaked back into S-rank with the latest perks and small improvements. She remains a more than solid killer and the terror of many players at higher ranks. With Yamaoka’s Haunting, she can approach survivors invisibly, but they can now gauge her direction.
Those who enjoy exciting mind games and like to give survivors shock moments will have fun and succeed with the Spirit – much to the survivors’ dismay.
Blight: The Blight is a rather unusual killer. While he has a charge attack, he must first run against objects or walls to then start a second attack that can deal damage. This makes him difficult to predict, but also challenging to control.
Skilled survivors can dodge him quite easily, yet the Blight can quickly traverse the entire map and thus apply constant pressure. He is currently one of the deadliest and most successful killers. In skilled hands, he is the biggest threat out there.
Tier A: The Strong Killers
Huntress: The Huntress is slower than many other killers, but can deal damage over distance. Skilled players can throw her hatchets accurately over barriers, making her difficult to loop. However, the Huntress can be heard from a great distance, so a keen eye (or suitable perks) is necessary to locate survivors. Her high precision and range make her a unique threat.
Artist: The Artist entered high and was near the top of the list at launch. This is because she has an extremely versatile toolkit that allows her to deal damage at long range, but also disrupt survivors from a distance.
In addition, the Artist, although skilled in ranged attacks, possesses the maximum movement speed of other killers. All this leads to the Artist being quite a strong killer even without addons, who can keep survivors on their toes. She has greatly benefited from new perks.
Executioner: The Executioner had a strong entry. He can enclose areas and impose a special debuff on careless survivors, which allows him special actions. He does not need to hook survivors but can instead teleport them directly to torture cages or even kill them instantly – making rescue impossible. However, this debuff can be avoided relatively easily. Since the Executioner can also deal damage at medium range, he remains more than solid. Since some buffs, he has become significantly stronger.
Dark Lord: Dracula from the Castlevania universe made a strong entrance and is a killer who can handle every situation thanks to his diverse abilities. Even though many play him in wolf form almost permanently, he is equally skilled with his spells. Those who invest enough time in practice can play an interesting killer with various methods to ruin the survivor’s day.
Mastermind: The Mastermind is the second “Resident Evil” killer and makes a pretty solid start. With his ability, he can injure multiple survivors at once and even avoid being blinded by flashlights.
He also comes with an extremely high movement speed during chases, allowing him to catch up quickly. However, a top spot eludes the Mastermind, as his ability has become somewhat less accurate since release, occasionally missing survivors even if they are right in front of him.
Lich: The Lich Vecna had a great entry and started right at the top of A-tier. With his numerous spells and extremely powerful addons, he has many different playstyles and demands a lot from survivors. Whether it’s about movement, investigation, or elimination – the Lich has the right tool for every situation and is therefore a really strong enemy that you should approach with caution.
Oni: The Oni is the first “samurai” in Dead by Daylight and is considered to be quite balanced. He has a strong “one-hit” mechanic with a charge that is as powerful as the Hillbilly’s (in some aspects even better), but he cannot use his ability permanently.
However, those who invest time in the Oni will become a real killing machine. Hardly any killer punishes mistakes as severely as the Oni, and few can establish such a threatening presence. With the right perks and in skilled hands, he is extremely deadly.
Knight: The Knight caused quite a stir and balance concerns, but after a few weeks, he has established himself as a solid killer in the lower midfield. Correctly deploying his power can be quite difficult and often represents too great a time loss to actually make a significant impact. In skilled hands, the Knight can be devastating, but requires a lot of practice.
The Unknown: The Unknown not only looks extremely creepy, but can also instill fear in the survivors. Through the copies it leaves behind, it can quickly cover large distances and always has an idea of where the survivors are. However, many of its mechanics can be countered quite simply if one has more experience in the game. Thus, it barely scrapes by at the edge of C-tier.
Tier B: The Balanced Killers
Singularity: The Singularity lands right in the middle of the killers and has proven to be thoroughly balanced. With her cameras and teleportation abilities, she is a unique killer who has no fear of pallets and does not shy away from direct confrontation. While the playstyle requires a bit of adjustment, the Singularity is somewhat “different” from most other killers.
Plague: The Plague had an extremely strong start and then became progressively weaker. This isn’t due to her but mainly to the survivors. She can infect survivors and thus defeat them with one blow, but survivors can deny her special ability by simply never healing at a fountain.
This leads to the Plague becoming an average “melee killer.” However, she has since been revised, can infect longer and better, and is somewhat faster. A constant threat. She also benefits from the fact that currently many “healing perks” are being used by survivors – a mechanic that she is completely uninterested in.
Xenomorph: The Xenomorph, also known as “Alien,” is also quite strong. Through its medium range, it can hit survivors over cover with tail attacks, and various access points across the map allow for quick movement and covering large distances. The Xenomorph is the born hunter and lives up to its reputation from the movies.
Dredge: The Dredge has slightly fallen but still performs solidly and barely misses A-rank. No wonder, as the Dredge can do a lot. Not only can the being teleport from closet to closet, but it can also shroud the map in deep darkness, drastically reducing the survivors’ orientation. Combined with built-in “killer instinct” and even the ability to teleport to an image, the Dredge slaughters through the survivors.
Ghost Face: Ghost Face has many parallels to the Shape, but can disappear his terror radius at the push of a button and stalk the entire match. At the same time, his ability to inflict the “exposed” status on survivors is somewhat weaker, as it can be canceled by survivors.
However, it is virtually possible to expose survivors an infinite number of times. This makes Ghostface a solid choice; he can easily shock survivors.
Legion: The Legion remains one of the weakest killers in Dead by Daylight. This is primarily because Legion cannot do one thing with its ability: catch and down survivors. Its ability is good for tracking and injuring survivors but it can never get a survivor on the hook. It must rely on normal melee attacks, essentially making it a basic killer.
Hillbilly: No other killer can traverse the various maps as quickly and repeatedly as the Hillbilly. This allows him to exert a lot of pressure, even when the generators are far apart. His chainsaw requires practice but is a reliable tool for knocking survivors down in one hit. The sound of the saw unsettles many newcomers and leads them to make mistakes. Since the overheating mechanic, however, the killer has become a bit weaker.
Cenobite: The Cenobite enters in the lower midfield, and that has several reasons. Its ability requires a lot of practice and can be almost completely outwitted by good survivors. Additionally, it is not only hard to play but also rewards skilled players very little – unlike the Nurse.
Thus, the Cenobite cannot really achieve much more in skilled hands than in those of a beginner. However, it scores with constant pressure as survivors have to keep dealing with the puzzle box.
Onryō: The Onryō lands in the middle of Dead by Daylight after its release, just as expected by the community beforehand. However, she has since lost some popularity and power, as players quickly adapted to the playstyle.
This is also because the Onryō can do a lot – like teleport or curse – but she doesn’t do any of it particularly efficiently. Her curse can also become a downside if it leads to “tunnel vision” behavior, where one desperately wants to catch the cursed player.
Nemesis: The Nemesis enters as a solid killer, but has a few weaknesses. Since survivors do not yet know exactly how to deal with its semi-ranged attack, it achieves relatively good kill rates and is thus positioned in the midfield. A small buff has made it stronger in phase 3 of its tentacle strike, but many players do not reach that phase in a match.
Tier C: The Weak Killers
Deathslinger: The Deathslinger has been around in Dead by Daylight for some time and landed directly in solid midfield. With its ranged ability, it is good at pursuing fleeing survivors and quickly ending chases. Palette must often be used early against the Deathslinger to escape.
However, the Deathslinger has little “map pressure” and a slow movement speed. His latest nerf has dramatically increased the terror radius and ensures that he must completely wait for animations like aiming before he can shoot. Lower midfield, nothing more is currently in store.
Twins: The Twins are pretty much “2 in 1.” You can switch between Victor and Charlotte, who have different abilities. While Charlotte is a basic killer, Victor can be placed to scout survivors or even attack them. However, Victor is susceptible to attacks from survivors, meaning he can be temporarily taken out, leaving Charlotte without additional power.
Demogorgon: The Demogorgon caused a player surge in Dead by Daylight but couldn’t convince particularly well. In the meantime, he has become a real favorite that is good in skilled hands – also due to some small buffs in the past and improvements to his addons.
If a large part of the portals is in an area of the map where no generators are left, it lacks almost half of its abilities. The Demogorgon is no longer available – but those who possess him can continue to use him.
Wraith: The Wraith is masters at sneaking up undetected but suffers from its long activation time to exit stealth. Attentive survivors have already fled by then. Many improvements have led to the Wraith now being a real threat.
Its invisibility is no longer semi-translucent at medium to long range. And its movement speed in stealth has been massively increased. It is now among the fastest killers and can generate and exploit many shock moments. A small nerf weakened it a bit, causing it to drop some places and in many cases be viewed as simply a “worse Onryō.”
Doctor: The Doctor has recently undergone a small rework and no longer has to switch between two stances; however, he has lost his passive madness aura. He can now deliberately spread a shock throughout his entire terror radius, potentially hitting many survivors at once.
He is still quite good at keeping survivors away from small loops. Recently, his addons were revised, now providing only positive effects for the killer. This has made him a solid killer but he loses against many of the current meta perks of survivors.
Clown: The Clown has somewhat declined in player favor in recent months. In general, he is quite solid, but his tonic can no longer compete with many other forms of slowing. In the right loops, it doesn’t help at all, making him in many cases just a “melee attack” killer without any special ability. However, with the right addons, he can be a solid threat.
Pig: The Pig is among the most popular killers in the community and was finally buffed again after numerous nerfs. Her addons have been revised, giving her much more ability to make the game particularly difficult for survivors. The combination of stealth and traps ensures that survivors hardly have a second of peace when she starts using her abilities. Nevertheless, she still trails behind other killers significantly.
Tier D: The Very Weak Killers
The Shape: The Shape, better known as “Michael Myers,” is a solid killer with a rather small terror radius (or even no terror radius at evil I). This allows him to sneak up on survivors.
Thanks to his ability to spontaneously switch to “Evil III” and down survivors in one hit, he is well suited for chain reactions that can dismantle an entire team. However, he must build up this ability by almost motionless observing the survivors, which takes time – time that the killer often does not have because many generators are already completed by then.
Trickster: The Trickster was reworked some time ago and now has to hit with noticeably fewer knives than before. His slow movement speed unfortunately does not make him a serious threat and his ability is only useful in open areas or in long corridors, but it decays too quickly.
He has become a sex symbol in Dead by Daylight – since patch 5.1, he has gained in player popularity. However, his performance has drastically decreased.
Cannibal: The Cannibal has clearly been on a downward slope in recent months. He has become rather unpopular after many new perks for survivors made it easy to evade his chainsaw a few times. He is comparatively easy to loop and thus often becomes a pure melee killer. His widely used “camper playstyle” is also hated by many.
The Good Guy: The Good Guy, whom film fans probably know as “Chucky, the Killer Doll,” particularly stands out due to his extremely small body. This makes it very difficult for survivors to keep an eye on this killer or to guess where he will appear. Combined with his strong confusion abilities, matches against the Good Guy are always a challenge that requires practice. He finds himself thus in the midfield.
Houndmaster: The Houndmaster had a rough entry and lands far down the ranks. This is mainly because the gameplay often still feels buggy and the dog is often more of a hindrance than a help – all too often he gets stuck somewhere and rarely reaches where he is supposed to be: with the survivors.
Hag: The Hag is extremely good at cutting off annoying loops quickly and embellishing important points with her traps. This forces survivors to move slowly or give away their position, which in turn allows the Hag to teleport to a triggered trap. However, she requires a lot of practice, as survivors can also permanently trigger the traps, which can disrupt her map control.
Tier F: The Worst of the Worst
Nightmare: Freddy was too strong for a while and had to undergo several nerfs in recent patches, which is why he has fallen in the ranking. Thanks to his teleportation, he can quickly reach generators and cover large distances.
His dream traps enable him to cut off survivors’ paths and slow them down so that he can quickly catch up. Unfortunately, all this is not enough to let him truly shine. He is unpopular and simply bad – and simply not worthy of such a horror icon. He is a killer from another time who has problems in modern Dead by Daylight and needs reworking.
Trapper: The Trapper was significantly improved some time ago. He is still not an elite killer, but the fact that he starts with 2 traps and is guaranteed to find 6 more on every map is a clear buff. Additionally, the overhaul of his addons has made him more interesting and tactical.
However, nothing changes the fact that he must first prepare the playing field with his traps. Time that is exceedingly precious and only pays off in skilled hands. By the time the Trapper is finally done preparing, half the match is often already over. This makes him the worst of all killers.
Skull Merchant: The Skull Merchant was already unpopular at her introduction, and this has only solidified further. She can place cameras all over the map but requires some time to do so. Not only have survivors quickly adapted to this, but experienced survivors also disable the cameras with little benefit for the killer. What good is a good overview if you can never catch up to the survivors?
Do you agree with this tier list of killers? Or do you have a completely different perception of the strength of the killers? Still undecided on which killer to play? This article will help: All killers from Dead by Daylight and who is the best for you
