The reasoning
Best area control and best chase in the game. Alone at the top.
- Why
- Once there's a gen or hook to protect and survivors can't use the whole map, it's more or less over. Aura perks turn into chase enders because she blinks through walls onto people, she gets full value from the regression perks locked behind downs and hooks, and her add-ons push her to a level nobody else can reach.
- But
- Her only real weakness is map traversal: at 4.2 m/s, any basic-speed killer would beat her in a race.
Nurse builds →One of the strongest killers in the game, and in some situations the strongest.
- Why
- Exiling survivors and stopping hook perks from activating lets them ignore all the meta survivor perks.
- But
- Without Zealous buffing their power they can be juked, which causes some consistency issues. That's why Nurse is still a bit ahead on average.
Judgment builds →Not quite S anymore, still more consistent than anyone in A.
- Why
- Even after the slower rush speed, a good Blight secures hits around a lot of loops, and his mobility is the most unconditional in the game. That makes him excellent with aura perks and slowdown alike, especially gen kicks he can do while recovering from rushes before getting straight back into chase.
- But
- The 110% rush and pallet-breaking changes made him less consistent on loops that don't favour his power and on indoor maps that block his traversal.
Blight builds →Arguably the greatest snowballer in the game.
- Why
- Great mobility plus one-shot lethality. Overdrive lets him outplay most loops, he reaches any generator in seconds, and working a gen in a deadzone against him is a death sentence. Even a bad start can be turned around with a few well-placed chainsaws.
- But
- Consistency. Good survivors sidestep or crouch-tech chainsaws, his anti-loop isn't fully reliable, and indoor maps choke the straight-line mobility his snowball depends on.
Hillbilly builds →A jack of all trades, and good at every one of them.
- Why
- Bat form gives excellent mobility (switching floors in seconds, cutting off loops; Lapis Lazuli makes window loops very consistent). Wolf form hits 120% after a haste orb with a double dash and third-person camera, so high-wall tiles barely exist. On everything else, Vampire's Hellfire shuts down most filler pallets and makes unhooking near him deadly for both survivors.
- But
- Chases can still run long: pre-dropped pallets are awkward and a missed Hellfire hands out distance. He isn't the best at any single thing.
Dark Lord builds →Simple on paper, the fifth strongest killer in practice.
- Why
- He injures with very little effort and has arguably the best map mobility in the game, which makes hit-and-run brutal, while Deep Wound passively clears pallets and drains the survivor team. Even after the power-vault nerfs, the cut-off playstyle still outplays big loops, and techs like the slingshot and velocity slide keep raising his ceiling.
- But
- No real anti-loop, and certain tiles he simply can't play. Getting the most out of him takes a lot of skill.
Ghoul builds →Fits the current meta scarily well.
- Why
- Victor gives near-guaranteed damage on a cooldown, which overwhelms most solo teams, and with totem builds the pressure stacks to a level almost no team can handle. Because so few people play them, even veteran survivors are rusty at countering them.
- But
- Anti-slug and healing perks are the hard counter: survivors who stay healthy grind them down. And the softlock risk is real.
Twins builds →Probably the biggest two-tap potential of any killer.
- Why
- A well-aimed vine attack is almost impossible to dodge, aura perks leave nowhere to hide, and once Worldbreaker kicks in he hands out injuries every few seconds. Survivors having to spend time on clocks gives him built-in slowdown, which makes Hex: Ruin absurd if it stays up. Pizza Goggles made his mobility even more consistent.
- But
- Outside Worldbreaker he's close to a powerless 110% killer who has to earn his strength back, and his limited mobility struggles against exhaustion-perk distance and good line-of-sight setups.
First builds →One of the biggest comebacks in DBD history.
- Why
- He went from a slow, outdated killer who lacked an identity to one of the deadliest sniping machines in the game. The increased range and travel speed make his chase power far stronger than before.
- But
- He still lacks mobility, and the cages are very lackluster.
Executioner builds →Kept down by power creep and bad sound, still kills fast.
- Why
- Phasing shuts chases down quickly, and any injured survivor without Iron Will is an easy kill. In the end the killer's job is killing survivors, and she does that fast.
- But
- She relies on sound cues and the game's sound is inaccurate, which makes her much harder to pilot than she should be. Using the power to travel leaves her without it in chase, and Shoulder the Burden or Decisive Strike hold her back.
Spirit builds →Map control that asks more coordination than most teams have.
- Why
- Biopods give information and hold areas down while he's elsewhere, and range or cooldown add-ons make that even stronger. In chase he closes gaps fast with Slipstream and breaks pallets in record time while Overclocked, carving out deadzones. Even EMPs work as passive slowdown, since survivors have to spend time getting them.
- But
- Indoor maps shrink what biopods can cover, and higher pallet density made the pallet-breaking playstyle a bit worse.
Singularity builds →Good chase plus high map pressure: a top-tier killer overall.
- Why
- That combination scales really well with a lot of perks and gives him plenty of chances to snowball. Played well, Jason handles any map in the game with ease.
- But
- He can get stuck in longer chases.
Slasher builds →One of the best chase powers in the game, behind a time gate.
- Why
- Blood Fury's dash is fast and very hard to dodge. Once he gets going he can deal with most tools survivors have.
- But
- He starts every match as a normal 115% killer who has to injure people and collect blood first, which takes real skill on tiles and pallets. Survivors gatekeeping his blood, medkits, or a map like RPD can swing the match fast.
Oni builds →A chase demon with a dash you can steer.
- Why
- Slice & Dice is very controllable on a moderate 12-second cooldown, and with his third-person camera a lot of tiles become easy to outplay. Undetectable can buy free first hits.
- But
- Waste the dash and you're a slow, powerless 110% killer for a while, the giggling ruins a lot of sneak-ups, and anti-tunnel perks or Shoulder the Burden can keep him from an early kill until the gens are done.
Good Guy builds →Sometimes feels top tier, sometimes useless.
- Why
- Snares are a real threat and dream pallets are deadly since the visual fix, zoning survivors off whole paths. The Dream World adds passive slowdown through clocks, and teleporting gives him strong, consistent mobility on nearly every map.
- But
- Vigil hard-counters snares, even on a single survivor, and the alarm clocks hand out an immunity window that can make survivors unchaseable and kill his momentum.
Nightmare builds →Many people still rate her higher. Survivors got smarter.
- Why
- She shuts down a lot of good perks by denying normal healing, her add-ons cover a big range of playstyles, and Corrupt Purge punishes mistakes hard.
- But
- Survivors never have to cleanse, the infection phase always costs her early time, and without much mobility she can't properly outplay god pallets.
Plague builds →Hens' reasoning for this spot is coming soon.
Terrifier builds →Never fully recovered from the infection nerf, but he's trending up.
- Why
- He can outplay a lot of loops, his add-on variety is good (especially with the Egg add-on partly made basekit), and the lower post-power cooldown adds up over a match. Played near perfectly on a good map, he still looks like his old self.
- But
- The cooldown is long, so misses are very punishing, and some maps make getting value from both dashes hard. He's also still buggy since his refactor.
Mastermind builds →Once top five, now held back by modern Dead by Daylight.
- Why
- A great Artist shuts down loops in seconds with smart crow placement and lands free hits with the slingshot, which can be oppressive on maps that suit her.
- But
- Survivors learned to counter her and the game added basekit protection that hurt her best playstyle. No mobility plus multi-floor maps can turn a match into a race against the clock.
Artist builds →Not a low tier anymore. A speed demon.
- Why
- Yellow bottles give an absurd amount of haste, which makes catching up easy and loops lethal. Stack haste add-ons and his chase becomes hilariously strong.
- But
- He still has to reload, and god pallets still eat his momentum.
Clown builds →Jack of all trades, master of none.
- Why
- When hallucinations survive, the teleport is excellent mobility and one of the best area-control tools in the game. UVX has great chase potential, and he can make almost any perk work, especially undetectable builds survivors never see coming.
- But
- Dispel the right hallucinations and the teleport is useless. UVX is one of the most punishing abilities to mismanage, good survivors have plenty of agency over it, and some maps make the bounce unpredictable.
Unknown builds →Often called low tier, mostly because misuse is so punishing.
- Why
- Compared to Huntress he moves much faster while holding the axe, so in chase he's flat out better. Doors give him similar mobility on every map.
- But
- Doors and axe are both harder to use well than they look. After a throw, hit or miss, he can't threaten a follow-up, so survivors always get a few seconds to reset, and doors sometimes spawn far from the generator they belong to.
Animatronic builds →Went from S-tier contender on release to quite mid.
- Why
- Her chase on infected survivors is still really good, and the endgame build is hilariously strong against uncoordinated teams.
- But
- Survivors bodyblocking for each other force her back into body form, which makes her very weak to altruistic teams and wastes a lot of time. Her vault is also much worse now.
Krasue builds →Highest kill rate in the game. Not the strongest.
- Why
- The flight buffs (lower cooldowns, bodyblocking) made him much better, and with spell cancelling a master Lich is hard to read and can down strong survivors quickly.
- But
- Only Mage Hand and Flight of the Damned reliably land hits, the cooldowns are punishing when they miss, and his add-on pool is one of the worst in the game. Over a match it's hard to avoid at least one long chase.
Lich builds →Incredible highs, the lowest of lows.
- Why
- One of the best chasers once he's close, and with Bayshore's Cigar or Iridescent Coin he downs very fast. Protecting a hook or gens is where he shines.
- But
- Getting close enough is the problem. Without line of sight he's barely a threat, and some maps and loops make securing the down tricky.
Deathslinger builds →Stronger than he used to be, and very hard to rate.
- Why
- His new power forces survivors to burn pallets left and right, and he does really well against uncoordinated teams. Mori-ing survivors and beating perks like Decisive Strike are a nice bonus.
- But
- The 105% stalking start leaves him easy to loop early, and every match turns into a race between generators and pallets, which pallet density makes harder to win.
Shape builds →The rework didn't make him better.
- Why
- He punishes mistakes extremely hard, non-decaying Laceration at S rank helps split pressure, and some strong add-ons keep him alive (especially Iridescent Photocard with Secret Project).
- But
- A 110% Trickster struggles with distance, especially from exhaustion perks, and not being able to start Main Event next to a hook cost him a lot of snowball.
Trickster builds →Has everything on paper; lacks consistency everywhere.
- Why
- Tracking, mobility and a strong chase power on a low cooldown, and almost every perk you can think of works well on her.
- But
- Snug is unreliable: sometimes the dog doesn't follow properly, sometimes it takes a different path than shown, and survivors caught by Snug can now choose which side to drop the pallet.
Houndmaster builds →Big consistency problems.
- Why
- The tentacle is a reliable source of damage, Licker Tongue raises his power level a lot, zombie-speed add-ons help, and he's excellent at tunneling, which many Nemesis players happily take advantage of.
- But
- Zombies win you games one match and stand around doing nothing the next. He still needs three hits, some loops are awkward for the tentacle, and the attack delay without input queueing makes it feel clunky.
Nemesis builds →A strong kit with its own counter built in.
- Why
- The tail attack is versatile, tunnels give good map coverage, and Harpoon Gun with a hex build can be hilariously overpowered. Most players just haven't caught on.
- But
- Flame turrets force them to break chase, and doubled up they can burn Xeno out of the power entirely, which wastes huge amounts of time around strong main buildings. The add-ons also aren't very versatile.
Xenomorph builds →Not the strongest, but consistent.
- Why
- With the right build he switches between hit-and-run and chase depending on the map, which makes him one of the most adaptable killers in the game. Mastered, he dominates most matches.
- But
- Meta survivor perks give him trouble, and getting stuck in long chases is easy.
Wraith builds →Getting dated, with little hope of updates.
- Why
- Chain Hunt still puts pressure on survivors, and played really well his anti-loop gets fast downs.
- But
- The Pain Res rework took one of his best add-ons, he breaks his own chains, some maps don't favour him at all, and survivors got smarter about Chain Hunt. With the license gone, updates look unlikely.
Cenobite builds →The most played killer, fallen off over the years.
- Why
- Her area denial is almost unrivalled, the short hit cooldown sets up fast two-taps and snowballs, and she has plenty of viable add-ons.
- But
- Cluttered maps, worse pallets and better survivors hurt her. She lacks synergy with a lot of meta perks and struggles to close chases and outplay pallet loops.
Huntress builds →Lots of pressure on paper, inconsistent in practice.
- Why
- Totem builds overwhelm a lot of teams, and the Carnifex breaks pallets incredibly fast, which gives him surprising lethality.
- But
- Getting hunts on unfavourable maps is rough, smart survivors stop getting hit by guards, and chasing two survivors doesn't help if you don't land either hit. Each down takes time he often doesn't have.
Knight builds →A lot of tools; survivors can get around every one of them.
- Why
- Global mobility, zoning, anti-loop, and Nightfall for information and lethality. On some maps (Midwich, for example) he feels like one of the strongest killers in the game.
- But
- The anti-loop only works if the survivor is stuck at the loop, and locker RNG ruins his mobility; some maps have total locker deadzones. Too inconsistent to rank higher.
Dredge builds →Almost extinct, and the chainsaw buff won't change that.
- Why
- Strong mains can still make his power work, and the faster basekit chainsaw helps.
- But
- Pallet density means his deadzones come too slow, so gens finish before the pallets are gone. He's easy to loop, has very little map pressure, and avoiding bumps while managing tokens is a lot of complexity for little reward.
Cannibal builds →Some real strengths; a power survivors outplay easily.
- Why
- Feral Frenzy gives decent mobility and is great at punishing bodyblocks.
- But
- Spreading out or tanking hits into mending denies chain hits, the second hit comes down to basic attacks and Bloodlust, and even Iridescent Button can be countered by spam-vaulting or picking up the pallet. Against good survivors, expect to get bullied.
Legion builds →Fun to play, and better than she looks only because people don't know the counters.
- Why
- Condemn can snowball if survivors get careless, since tapes only come from active TVs and she can switch those off by teleporting. Passive phasing is decent anti-loop against survivors who don't drop pallets.
- But
- Against survivors who know how to counter her, condemn isn't a realistic way to kill on most maps and pre-dropping kills her anti-loop. Good teams force you to be a master just to stand a chance.
Onryō builds →Tracking, passive slowdown and anti-loop, none of them strong.
- Why
- Haste perks make his shock a much better anti-loop tool, and skill-check perks work surprisingly well on him, even at a high level.
- But
- His chase is one of the most interactive in the game, which mostly means survivors who path smartly and avoid getting zoned can outplay and loop him.
Doctor builds →Recent buffs, still stuck in low-tier hell.
- Why
- More undetectable out of portals and faster shredding help, and a few well-placed shreds can end a chase thanks to the low recovery.
- But
- Shred is outdated and can't keep up with pallet density, his undetectable is undercut by how loud he is, and crouch tech punishes him hard. You need to be an expert at loops just to stay even.
Demogorgon builds →Against capable opponents, the weakest killer in the game. Sorry, Pixel.
- Why
- Faster setup and very long undetectable can buy free hits, and her mains pull off impressive finesse.
- But
- No stealth mode, no strong add-ons, weak perk synergy, lacklustre radar tracking, and haste/hinder that resilience-style perks make meaningless. Survivors who crouch the last tag and force a basic attack neutralise her; often you're better off playing into Bloodlust.
Skull Merchant builds →Buffed a million times, still clunky.
- Why
- The ambush has come a long way and can outplay a lot of tiles, especially with add-ons, and Reverse Bear Traps add slowdown.
- But
- Pre-dropped pallets make the ambush pointless, pallet density hurt her options, and an M1 killer with passive slowdown just doesn't work out at a high level.
Pig builds →Probably the most bullyable killer without an Iridescent add-on.
- Why
- She punishes mistakes much harder than the killers below her and has real snowball potential.
- But
- Survivors can trigger traps and run, look back to stay out of lunge range, or just bait teleports instead of wiping. At 110% normal chasing isn't viable either. Contesting the power is a losing battle.
Hag builds →The only real threat is the basement.
- Why
- Strong add-ons like Bloody Coil and Honing Stone raise his power level, and a basement hook in shack is a genuine power play.
- But
- With tall grass gone (outside swamp), survivors avoid traps by looking at the ground, and a trapped survivor can escape in seconds with a little luck. Setting traps costs more time than it saves, so good teams reduce him to a basic-attack killer.
Trapper builds →The ultimate stealth killer. Still one of my favourites, and a gimmick at best.
- Why
- Sneak up, expose, down. Drop-Leg Knife Sheath makes the post-expose phase more threatening.
- But
- Once survivors know who you are, they play safe, and without anti-loop the downing part is extremely hard. Pallet density and open maps (Gas Heaven, Blood Lodge) make him miserable. Efficient play beats him any day of the week.
Ghost Face builds →
