Survivors in Dead By Daylight have a plethora of Perks to choose from, each with its own pros and cons. Since new characters and abilities are often released, the list of best perks can change over time. However, some currently stand out among the rest in the current version of the game.
The meta of Dead By Daylight Perks has changed over the years, particularly with new scenarios, Survivors, and Killers joining the roster. Currently, there are 146 Survivor Perks in Dead By Daylight, a large number to sort through and determine which ones are best. Please note that despite the numbers, these perks are not in any particular order and represent some of the best perks to escape the trials.
15 Dramaturgy
Run Fast, Cause Chaos!
One of the newer Unique Survivor Perks in the game with the addition of the Nicolas Cage DLC in Dead By Daylight, this Perk plays into the meta and adds a hint of unpredictability. This perk causes the Survivor to run for 0.5 seconds before gaining a +25% Haste Status Effect with another effect. You will become Exhausted after using this perk for 60/50/40 seconds.
The last effect is random, which could cause the Survivor to be Exposed, to have a longer Haste Effect, to Scream, or to receive a random rare item. The Perk’s downside is that it requires the Survivor to be healthy, but the Haste effect can be a massive benefit to sprint to an Exit Gate or evade a Killer. The full effects can be seen in the table below:
|
Effect |
Note |
|---|---|
|
Suffer from the Exposed Status Effect for 12 seconds |
Exposed makes Survivors more vulnerable to a Killer’s Basic Attack, where one swing can put them into a dying state. |
|
Extend the duration of Haste for another 2 seconds. |
Haste makes your Speed faster. |
|
Scream without notifying the Killer. |
This makes noise but does not directly signal the Killer. |
|
Receive a random Item or Rare rarity with a random selection of Add-Ons attached to it, automatically dropping any previous item. |
The real potential of this effect is that you can randomly receive a very potent weapon or other rare item, allowing you to use more items more frequently for greater effect. |
While less popular than it used to be, this is still one of the Perks that can help players reach the end of the game.
14 Lithe
Vault & Sprint!
Lithe is a Unique Perk to Feng that gives the Survivor a chance to get away from the Killer. After performing a rushed vault, the Survivor sprints 150% of their normal Running Movement speed for 3 seconds.
Lithe cannot be used while Exhausted.
This will then give the Survivor an Exhausted Status Effect for 60/50/40 seconds, depending on the prestige of the Perk in Dead By Daylight. This can provide the Survivor a needed burst to lose the Killer and find a place to lay low.
13 Bardic Inspiration
Roll a D20
New for Chapter 32, which features Dungeons & Dragon’s Killer Vecna, Bardic Inspiration is the newest Perk for Survivors and is one of Aestri’s unique Perks. This Perk comes with a special animation of the Survivor playing the lute and a rare smile for the Survivors of Dead by Daylight, allowing you to roll a d20. You can see the animation in the YouTube video by DStrike, featured above.
The role will have varying effects, depending on your luck. A 1 will do nothing but make you scream, notably without the Killer knowing, while a 2-20 will give you some bonus percentage boost to your Progression on Skill Checks, shown in the table below.
|
Roll |
Percentage |
|---|---|
|
2-10 |
+1% |
|
10-19 |
+2% |
|
20 |
+3% |
Bardic Inspiration has a cool-down of 90/75/60 seconds after completing or canceling the performance.
12 Finesse
Take Windows Faster
One of the newer Survivors in Dead By Daylight, Lara Croft, brought three new unique perks to the game, and one of them is quite apt for her character and good for the game itself. As part of Chapter 32.5, the Tomb Raider franchise joined the game, and with it came the perk Finesse. This allows Lara, and any Survivor you unlock this for, to push herself a bit more.
Finesse will activate when you are healthy, and it increases your Vaulting speed by +20%. It has a cool-down of 40/35/30 seconds after you perform a Fast Vault with it active. YouTuber Naymeti states this is perfect when combined with the Smash Hit Perk, which triggers after you stun the Killer with a Pallet. This gives you faster movement, allowing you to Vault fast into the Killer and then have a burst of speed to get away. It’s a handy combination, and players are having a good time testing it out.
11 Deja Vu
Repairing Generators
While some may be surprised, this Perk has made its way into the top thresholds of Survivor Builds in Dead By Daylight by giving players a buff for completing the main objective, i.e., repairing the Generators. This is a General Perk available to any Survivor from the beginning, making it less challenging to acquire and more accessible to Prestige. It also changes what Auras Survivors can see.
This Perk was buffed as part of the 7.0.0 Patch, boosting its Percentages and making it active indefinitely.
For instance, it allows Survivors to see the Auras of 3 Generators closest to each other by proximity at all times, meaning you will always know where over half your objective can be found.
It also increases the speed at which you can repair those Generators by 4/5/6%, giving you quite a boost to do so. And, if you happen to have or find a Map, the three Generators revealed to you will automatically show up on the Map, giving you better knowledge about maneuvering around the Killer and completing the objective.
10 Wake Up!
Escape Faster
While Wake Up! is what seems to be a multiplayer Perk, given that it also helps other Survivors, it also is a Perk chosen for Solo builds quite often, as shown in YouTuber DeadByPixie’s video. When you choose this Perk, you prioritize your escape at the end of the match rather than what you did earlier. This means your other Perks must be chosen carefully, but as long as you survive, you will be better off. This is because of the Wake Up! Perk is activated upon the last Generator getting completed.
You will be able to see the Auras of all Exit Gate Switches, which can save your life if you do not know the map well enough to know where they are. Other Survivors can also see your Aura if they are within 128 meters of you, so they can follow you out. But the real benefit of this Perk is that your Gate Opening speed is increased by 15/20/25%, which can massively reduce the time you are vulnerable to the Killer and let you escape before they even make it to the Gate.
Ranges of percentages or duration of effects are based on the level of the Perk. Perks range from levels 1 to 3, which usually increases the effect of the perk in question and can be done by ”
Prestiging
” the perk. A Perk cannot be assigned to another Survivor until it has been Prestiged on that Tier on the Survivor it came with. The cost to unlock a Perk at a certain Tier for other characters is shown in the table below.
How much it costs to use your Perks on other characters:
|
Perk Tier |
Cost |
|---|---|
|
I |
2500 |
|
II |
3250 |
|
III |
4000 |
Once you have paid the cost, that tier Perk can be used on any Survivor.
9 Deadline
Desperation Turned To Adrenaline
Deadline is one of the Unique Perks of Alan Wake. He was introduced as part of Chapter 30.5 and given his own small DLC. He was brought in around the same time as his appearance in Alan Wake II, representing that character rather than his appearance in the first game. This Perk mirrors his own desperation to end the nightmare and find the light. You can see how his character operates in Straz‘s video.
Whenever you are Injured, this Perk will automatically activate, and while it increases the odds of performing skill checks by 6/8/10%, it also reduces the penalty for missing them by more than 50%. It means that you may miss one while healing yourself or someone else, but the consequences for doing so are much lower. Additionally, it may cause Skill Checks to appear in random places, but keeping an eye out for unusual things is nothing strange in this game.
8 Specialist
Broken Generator Repair
Another new Perk from Lara Croft, the Specialist Perk, is considered a bit OP by the community, which you can see in YouTuber Tatariu’s video. This Perk is centered around Generator repair, one of the most important goals for Survivors to accomplish, and it can make the actual Generators go a lot faster. While you will spend more time rummaging through Chests, the trade-off is that the Killer will often look for Survivors around Generators, so if you spend less time around them, you can avoid the Killer.
When you are rummaging through Chests, you will gain a Token and can gain up to 6. Then, when you complete a Great Repair Skill Chest, it will consume those Tokens. This permanently reduces the Repair Charges of that Generator by 2/3/4 Charges per Token. This reduces the time you will spend on the generator, but if you have to flee, the reduction will stay, and anyone returning to that generator can complete it much faster.
7 Sprint Burst
Get A Boost of Speed.
Sprint Burst is another Unique Perk for Meg, which activates when a Survivor starts to run. As they do, they will sprint at 150% of their average Running Movement speed for 3 seconds. Afterward, the Survivor will be Exhausted for 60/50/40 seconds, but the burst of speed can give Survivors in Dead By Daylight enough time to reach an Exit Gate or evade a Killer.
Sprint Burst cannot be used while exhausted.
This can be especially useful when paired with other Perks, such as Window of Opportunity, which was mentioned later. It can give you useful information about how to maneuver around the Killer or how to escape. You will have to be strategic about when to use it, but players should not have too much trouble finding a place to hide with a careful selection of Perks.
6 Kindred
Show Your Teammates The Way.
Kindred is a general Perk that boosts Survivors Aura-spotting abilities depending on whether they or another Survivor is hooked. If they are hooked, the Auras of all Survivors are revealed to each other, and if a Killer is lingering within 8-16 meters of their hook, their Aura can be seen by all Survivors.
If another Survivor is hooked, a Survivor with Kindred can see the Aura of all other Survivors and the Killers as well if they are within 8-16 meters of the hooked Survivor. Knowing where other Survivors are is invaluable, and the additional Perk of seeing a lurking Killer is a great benefit.
5 Reactive Healing
Passive Healing
This Perk came with Ada Wong in Chapter 25: Resident Evil: Project W in August 2022. While it is a little older, it is also one of the Perks that increases survivability by quite a lot, particularly where it concerns the stats compiled by NightLight here. As the biggest goal of the Survivors is to reach the end of the match, having a Perk that allows you to heal is quite a big deal, and this one is mostly passive.
Reactive Healing triggers when another Survivor close to you, within 32 meters, loses a Health State and you are Injured. If both of those things are true, you will gain a benefit that allows you to gain a massive boost toward your Health Bar. The perk immediately grants 40/45/50% of your remaining Healing Progression to your Health Bar, allowing you to heal fast and potentially mount a daring rescue. Either way, this kind of immediate passive healing is a big incentive to take this Perk, and by the stats, it is working.
4 Adrenaline
End-Game Energy Boost.
The Adrenaline Perk is another Unique Perk for Meg, which triggers in the endgame when the Exit Gates are powered on. It instantly heals the Survivor by one health State and grants a sprint bonus of 150% of the Survivor’s normal Running Movement speed for 5 seconds.
If disabled, Adrenaline will activate if the Survivor is freed and wake players from the Dream World if they are playing against the Nightmare. It will give the player an Exhausted Status Effect for 60/50/40 seconds afterward. You can see some examples in Naymeti’s YouTube Video.
3 Made for This
Injuries Create Haste.
One of Gabriel’s Unique Perks, Made for This, will activate whenever the Survivor is in the Injured State. It will grant the Survivor a 1-3% Haste Status Effect while running and the Endurance Status Effect for 6-10 seconds after completing a Healing action on another Survivor.
It cannot be used while Exhausted, but unlike other similar Perks, it does not cause Exhaustion. This can allow Injured Survivors to outrun the Killer and give them a boost for helping someone else instead of themselves, adding to the teamwork aspect of Dead By Daylight.
2 Windows Of Opportunity
More Information For You
A unique Perk for Kate Denson, part of Chapter 8: Curtain Call, is another informational boost that gives you more potential to see auras around you. This one, however, shows you all Breakable Walls, Pallets, and Windows near you within 24/28/32 meters, which alone can be useful information when the Killer is trying to chase you down and you need an escape plan. It does not do anything else on its own, but that’s nothing bad.
While Kate Denson retired in January 2024, she is still available for purchase in the game’s store, meaning players can still obtain her Perks.
As seen in WhosGonnaStopMe‘s video, this Perk has risen to the top of the meta and is currently one of the most popular Perks. It can be especially useful when paired with Perks, which help players run away or escape the Killer. You do not have to squint while panicking if you can automatically see viable escape routes; anything that makes you faster will only improve it.
1 Off the Record
Stay Quiet After Being Saved.
This is a Unique Perk for Zarina, which favors a stealthy Survivor build in Dead By Daylight. After being unhooked by another Survivor or yourself, this Perk activates for the next 60-80 seconds. It prevents the Killer from revealing the Survivor’s Aura, suppresses Grunts of Pain, and gives the Survivor the Endurance effect.
This gives players time to creep away from the Killer and reset. It will deactivate if the Exit Gates are powered, at which point it will pay to be faster instead of sneaky. This lets you run as fast as you can to escape from the arena and make the Killer disappointed in Dead By Daylight.
Source: Otz Clips/YouTube, Naymeti/YouTube, DStrike/YouTube, Straz/YouTube, DeadByPixie/YouTube, NightLight Database
