Ranking The 10 Best Dead by Daylight Killers
Dead by Daylight is survival horror. However, it stands out because each match sees one player taking the role of a killer versus four players taking the roles of would-be survivors. Some of these killers are original to Dead by Daylight. In contrast, others come from well-known horror franchises. The most important point is that each killer has their own particular strengths and weaknesses, so it should come as no surprise to learn that some killers are better than others. Here is our opinion on the 10 best killers in Dead by Daylight:
10. Frank, Julie, Susie, Joey – The Legion
Given the four names, one might be tempted to guess that the Legion consists of either conjoined quadruplets or something similar. However, that isn’t the case. Instead, the Legion consists of four friends, which is a very normal thing that is nonetheless very strange in this context. Lore-wise, they were once youth bored with day-to-day life in a small town, with the result that they started seeking an outlet by pushing their boundaries further and further out. Eventually, the four friends were caught by a cleaner while vandalizing a local store. Rather than accept the consequences of their actions, they chose to murder the man, with the result that they have been killing ever since. Mechanics-wise, the Legion is meant for players who want something fast and furious. They are best-known for Feral Frenzy, which makes it much easier for them to reach the opposition before tearing through the latter. If there is an issue, it is that the Legion needs excellent precision. Otherwise, there is a very real chance that the player will put themselves in a bad position with an inopportune miss. Something that can be particularly bad because they can’t actually down anyone with Feral Frenzy.
9. Philip Ojimo – The Wraith
Philip Ojimo was a Nigerian immigrant who found a car-crushing job at a scrapyard that did some dubious business on the side. This didn’t bother him much. However, it was clear that he had his limits, as shown by his horror when he found a bound man in one of the cars that he was supposed to crash. Ojimo freed said individual, who didn’t get very far before being killed by the owner of the scrapyard. As it turned out, Ojimo was a murderer countless times over because pretty much every single of the cars that he crushed had a victim inside. Suffice to say that the owner didn’t outlive the revelation very long. Given the title, it should come as no surprise to learn that the Wraith is most suitable for players with a penchant for stealth. This is because his most iconic power sees him turning invisible with the ringing of a bell. The Wraith can’t attack while he is invisible, meaning that he needs to alert everyone in the area by turning visible with the ringing of another bell. As such, both good timing and good positioning are needed for the best results. Fortunately, the Wraith’s skills are perfect for this by making him better on the hunt.
8. Carmina Mora – The Artist
Carmina Mora had a rather troubled life. Her mother left when she was still a child, with the result that her father blamed her for it. Carmina found some measure of solace in caring for her brother, which was lost when her brother died in an accident. She tried to commit suicide but was saved by a murder of crows. Something that put Carmina on the path to becoming an artist. In time, she became bold enough to criticize political corruption, with the result that she and her friends were kidnapped before being brought out to the desert. Carmina lost her hands and then her tongue before being saved by those same crows. Unfortunately, while the birds made quick work of the would-be murderer, the birds also made quick work of her surviving friends. Unsurprisingly, she has never been the same since. A lot of killers are monsters in close quarters combat. As a result, the Artist stands out because she can use those crows for both attack and reconnaissance at a distance. After all, the lack of target recognition is much less of an issue when everyone else on the map is a hostile. Besides this, the Artist can also make matters more and more difficult for the opposition through her successes, thus enabling her to exert incredible pressure.
7. Kazan Yamaoka – The Oni
Kazan Yamaoka is someone whose musha shugyo went very wrong very fast. This is unsurprising because while other samurai wandered about studying at other schools, seeking out new opponents, and gaining practical work experience. Kazan set out to kill. Eventually, he became so notorious that a local, much-beloved lord started calling him an oni, which infuriated him so much that he set out to kill said individual. The first time, Kazan winded up killing his own father. He was horrified enough to leave, but in the end, he was enraged enough to seek out the lord once more. The second time around, Kazan succeeded in killing the lord before being killed by the lord’s peasants, thus completing his transformation into the oni that he had made of himself. Unsurprisingly, the Oni is very aggressive in nature. Essentially, interested individuals will want to injure their opponents, which will enable them to build up their power gauge. Once they have managed to do so, they can unleash a Demon Strike capable of downing a target in an instant so long as it connects. As such, the Oni is very reliant on the player’s ability to hit what they are aiming at.
6. Talbot Grimes – The Blight
Talbot Grimes was once a Scottish boy who became fascinated with chemicals because of a bad experience with a patch of poisonous foxglove. Unfortunately for everyone else, he went on to become a skilled chemist in service to the British Empire, who managed to find plenty of test subjects in the latter’s victims. In time, Grimes’s sins caught up to him, with the result that he descended into a madness that made him more dangerous than ever before. Regardless, the Blight can rush about with remarkable speed. However, there are a couple of potential issues that interested individuals should keep in mind. One, his speed comes in bursts rather than in a sustained manner, meaning that timing is extremely important. Two, his speed means little unless the player can convert the resulting opportunities into meaningful damage. Still, when played right, the Blight can exert huge pressure on opponents who might be used to slower killers.
5. Nemesis T-Type – The Nemesis
The Nemesis T-Type is one of the killers that came from a well-known horror franchise rather than Dead by Daylight itself. To be exact, it is a bio-organic weapon from the recent remake of Resident Evil 3. The Nemesis T-Type is a superhuman monster because of the transformative effects of the T-Virus. Said process destroyed its intelligence. Unfortunately for its targets, it operates at near-human levels anyways because it is controlled by a special parasite rather than the remnants of its own central nervous system. That parasite would be the tentacle that serves as one of this killer’s most iconic weapons. Chances are good that interested individuals can guess that the Nemesis is a formidable opponent in close quarters combat. In fact, the use of its tentacle will enable it to strike faster and reach further while impairing its victims at the same time. However, it should be mentioned that the Nemesis can be a serious threat even when it is nowhere near its opponents, not least because it comes with an entire army of zombified assistants.
4. Lisa Sherwood – The Hag
Lisa Sherwood was once the resident of a small, tight-knit village. One day, she was knocked unconscious while she was out in a storm, with the result that she was captured by a group of cannibals. Lisa underwent torture, starvation, and mutilation, so much so that she was eventually able to break out of her bonds because she had become so gaunt. She chose vengeance when she drew upon the magical charms taught to her by her village elders, thus resulting in her transformation into a cannibalistic monster in her own right. The Hag is one of the slower killers in Dead by Daylight. However, interested individuals won’t notice much because she can teleport to her traps whenever a survivor stumbles into them. This means that survivors are forced to play slower-than-normal because the Hag can put down a total of ten traps that can be quite difficult to spot when put in the right positions.
3. Freddy Kruger – The Nightmare
Freddy Kruger would be another killer from a well-known horror franchise, which in his case, would be A Nightmare on Elm Street plus its follow-ups. In short, Kruger is a serial killer who targeted children but managed to avoid going to prison for it. As a result, the parents of his victims took justice into their own hands by burning him alive. Unfortunately, Kruger’s spirit remained active, being the strongest when he attacked his would-be victims through their dreams. Here, Kruger is a solid choice for beginners because he is powerful while being very easy to learn. Interested individuals can expect the best results when they manage to isolate their opponents from one another. This is because survivors working together can wake each other up. In contrast, survivors on their own have no such luck, thus making them extremely vulnerable to Kruger’s special abilities.
2. Sally Smithson – The Nurse
Once upon a time, Sally Smithson was married to a lumberjack. One day, she was informed of her husband’s untimely passing, thus destroying her hopes and dreams for the future. Still, Smithson had to live, with the result that she took a position as a nurse at the local asylum. There, her sanity wore down bit by bit as she was continuously exposed to a wide range of horrors, with the result that she eventually snapped. None of the people in the asylum survived that day. For that matter, none of the people in the ambulance sent to fetch her for treatment managed to survive that day either. Interested individuals should know that the Nurse has a reputation for being one of the most difficult-to-master killers in the entire game. However, doing so is more than worthwhile because she has the ability to teleport up to 20 meters. As such, even though the Nurse is slow, clever play means that she will be more than capable of keeping up because she can’t be blocked.
1. Rin Yamaoka – The Spirit
Rin Yamaoka was the sole daughter of a family going through financial hardship. She started working a part-time job for the purpose of picking up some of the burden, but in the end, that wasn’t enough. Her father worked so hard that he started losing touch with reality because of his exhaustion. As a result, he made a desperate plea for either a bonus, an advance, or even some time off from his superiors, who didn’t just reject him but also fired him because he made a convenient scapegoat for a defective product line. Rin returned home to find her father in the middle of killing her mother. She fought for her life, but in the end, she succumbed to her injuries, though not before swearing to get revenge in either this life or the next. The Spirit is also considered to be very high on the tier lists. This is because she can slip into the Ethereal Plane, which provides her with incredible speed at the cost of making her unable to see her opponents. She remains capable of seeing scratch marks and hearing grunts of pain, so she isn’t 100 percent without clues while hunting in this mode. Simultaneously, the survivors can hear the sound of her rushing about. A skillful player can exploit that weakness to herd their opponents in certain directions, thus enabling them to set up easy victories.
