Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical horror game where a team of four survivors plays against a sole killer and vice versa. As a survivor, you aim to escape death by powering generators and fleeing the killer's grasp. As the killer, you must try to sacrifice all survivors before they can escape. These are the fundamental pillars for both sides of the coin and the only thing you need to know before jumping into your first match.
But, as any long-time player knows, there's much you can alter to your liking, and as is the case for other multiplayer games, there are a few fine places to start. To improve your chances of winning, you will want to equip perks. Namely, at least one Hex or Boon perk for your load out.
17 Boon: Dark Theory - Survivor
- Yoichi Asakawa Perk
Dark Theory is easily the worst Boon in the game. The temporary haste buff is useless compared to other perks, many of which provide a quicker movement speed with fewer drawbacks. You'll scarcely see another player equipped with this perk, due to its limited range and the fact that you need to bless a Totem for its effect to work. Survivors are better off using a personal exhaustion perk for increased speed.
16 Hex: Thrill Of The Hunt - Killer
- General Perk
Thrill of the Hunt is, at most, an annoyance for survivors, as blessing and cleansing totems take much longer while the Hex is active. Trying to cleanse the hexed Totem to remove this decrease can be tough if the killer is close to your location, but, if you refuse to cleanse or bless totems with a killer who has this perk, then the match won't be any more challenging than usual.
15 Hex: Huntress Lullaby - Killer
- The Huntress Perk
Huntress Lullaby is a perk you'll only find use in against new players, as it relies on survivors' reaction times and your opponents not knowing how to adjust to these trickier skill checks. For each survivor hooked, the perk becomes more powerful, and once survivors have been hooked five times, they will no longer receive skill check warnings.
14 Hex: The Third Seal - Killer
- The Hag Perk
All the Hag's perks are hexes. Unfortunately, The Third Seal is her worst one. With this Hex active, the last four survivors you've hit will suffer from the blindness effect. Blindness will make the player unable to see the auras of other survivors or killers regardless of other perks. This means, if you have the blindness status but are using the perk Kindred, you won't be able to see the killer's aura while they're near the hooked survivor.
13 Hex: No One Escapes Death - Killer
- General Perk
No One Escapes Death is notorious for being a popular endgame killer perk that can almost instantly hand the killer the win. Survivors will suffer from the exposed status, meaning they can be downed in one hit rather than two, and the killer will also have an increased movement speed of an additional four percent. Cleansing Totems in the endgame can be difficult, but survivors can combat this by cleansing all five Totems before repairing four generators.
12 Hex: Retribution - Killer
- The Deathslinger Perk
The oblivious status effect is one of the best for killers, since survivors won't hear the killer's terror radius while it's applied. With Hex Retribution, any survivor interacting with a Totem will gain the oblivious effect for up to 45 seconds.
If survivors cleanse any Hex Totem (including Retribution), all survivor auras will be revealed to the killer. Having this additional buff can be incredibly useful as you can figure out where survivors will go next from the position of their auras.
11 Boon: Circle Of Healing - Survivor
- Mikaela Reid Perk
Upon the launch of Mikaela Reid, many players were annoyed with just how powerful Circle of Healing was. Since then, the perk has gone through a rework where it's more balanced for both sides.
In its rarest state, any injured survivors within a 24-meter range can heal themselves without a med-kit. While no longer as practical as it once was, it can still be beneficial for a complete team heal if you can find a decent Totem placement.
10 Boon: Shadow Step - Survivor
- Mikaela Reid Perk
Shadow Step is an unbelievably underrated Boon perk that very few survivors ever run. With Shadow Step active on a Totem, any survivor within the Boon's range will have their scratch marks and auras hidden from the killer, with this effect lingering for four seconds after leaving the range of the totem.
Since hiding is a must and scratch marks are the easiest way to be tracked, having Shadow Step can quite literally save your life.
9 Hex: Ruin - Killer
- The Hag Perk
As of the 2022 mid-chapter update, Hex Ruin regresses generator progress up to 100 percent rather than the previous 200 percent, and will automatically deactivate once a survivor is killed. Because of this, its effect no longer applies as much pressure on survivors, but it can still greatly assist early in the match.
8 Hex: Undying - Killer
- The Blight Perk
Without knowledge of Totem placements or a perk that aids you in finding Totems, Hex Undying can be tricky to play against, as the killer may spot you without you even realizing. Undying is solely used for tracking survivors and getting an idea of where they might be heading.
It can also be a nice fallback if you have other Hexes equipped. If someone cleanses a different Hex, that Hex will then transfer to the Totem with Undying, allowing the other Hex to reactivate.
7 Boon: Exponential - Survivor
- Jonah Vasquez Perk
Exponential is a Boon alternative to the perk Unbreakable. With Exponential, you can fully recover from the dying state with a 100 percent bonus to healing speed, so long as you're within the Boon's range. Granted, this relies on the killer leaving you to chase another survivor, but since this happens surprisingly often, there's a chance equipping it will be worthwhile.
6 Hex: Blood Favor - Killer
- The Blight Perk
As a survivor, there's nothing worse than reaching a pallet to discover you can't drop it as the killer has Blood Favor. It's almost as infuriating as when Freddy and Herman create fake pallets to trick you.
However annoying it may be for survivors, it's undoubtedly one of the best Hexes when playing as killer. It's especially beneficial for pallet-heavy maps like Haddonfield.
5 Hex: Haunted Ground - Killer
- The Spirit Perk
Hex Haunted Ground is a perk with precise requirements. It only proves useful when one of the two hexed Totems is cleansed. If a survivor cleanses one of these Totems, all survivors will suffer from the exposed status effect for the next 60 seconds.
So, theoretically, if everyone is together, you can one-hit every survivor in these 60 seconds and hook them.
4 Hex: Devour Hope - Killer
- The Hag Perk
Devour Hope relies on your ability to hook survivors. Doing so will allow you to gain a token that provides status effects as long as the Hex Totem persists. If a survivor is unhooked from at least 24 meters away from you, you'll gain a token up to a maximum of five tokens.
At two tokens, you'll temporarily gain a five percent haste increase. At three tokens, survivors will suffer from the exposed status effect. At five tokens, you can Mori kill (kill without hooking) survivors.
3 Hex: Crowd Control - Killer
- The Trickster Perk
Looping the killer is all in the survivor process. Using perks to restrict the usefulness of survivors looping is a part of playing as the killer. An ideal choice for this is the Crowd Control perk. This blocks the window a survivor has performed a rushed vault through for 20 seconds.
Outdoor maps with many buildings are where you will significantly benefit from having Crowd Control equipped, as it'll make it challenging for a survivor to stay in one area, allowing you to use the open space and close in on them faster.
2 Hex: Plaything - Killer
- The Cenobite Perk
Plaything will activate on a dull Totem once a survivor has been hooked. This survivor will then gain the cursed and oblivious status effect. The recently unhooked survivor will also be the only one able to cleanse this Totem for the first 90 seconds, and if you're not playing with friends, it can be challenging to communicate with others by telling them where this Totem is.
It's one of the perks best utilized for applying pressure to survivors and stalling them from doing generators, giving killers the advantage and time needed to track their prey.
1 Hex: Pentimento - Killer
- The Artist Perk
Hex Pentimento was released alongside the Artist in the final months of 2021, where the perk quickly became a fan favorite. Pentimento introduced the ability to reinstate Totems that had been cleansed by survivors but also to rekindle them into something useful. It's a perk that gets increasingly better the more hexed Totems you have in the trial.
From one to four Totems, survivors will have a 30 percent decrease in generator repair speed and healing speed, along with decreased exit gate opening speed and recovery speed while downed. At five Totems, all are blocked by the entity, meaning no survivor can cleanse them, making these effects permanent for the remainder of the trial.