There is a lot of detail in the dead by daylight achievements guide. We explained how to get all of these achievements in our guide. I am not a good Dead by Daylight player. I am willing to concede this. I have under 2k hours and usually play a few rounds every other day after work and school. However, I make it a point to get all of the achievements with each new update, and have been consistent in doing so. Why do it? No idea. Some people just have that completionist itch. If you’re here, maybe you do, too.
This guide was primarily made because it seemed another one did not exist. People frequently post on Reddit asking “How the f*** do I get this achievement” (usually referring to Evil Incarnate) and people come up with a slew of good advice, but no guide to refer to. If this guide can be *that* guide, great. If not, maybe it will inspire someone to make a better one.
This guide is being written from the perspective of a mediocre player who only does solo queue. Much of this guide will be easier if you have more experience than me or run a SWF, but I am not writing for those people. These are people who are playing for completion (sweet, worthless completion) rather than mechanical mastery. Look elsewhere to learn how to do Blight’s hug tech.
Dead by Daylight Achievements Steam Guide
A few Notes: This guide will be referring to PC achievements. Console achievements may have different numbers for their achievements, but as far as I can tell those numbers are universally lower: giving advice to someone to snag 100 people out of Trapper’s traps should still apply to people looking to snag 10.
I will try to keep this guide up to date. I have seen three (!) major changes to how killer adepts function during my time playing DBD. If they change again, I will modify it again.
I got all of my survivor adepts in solo queue, and my killer adepts prior to the rank rework were all done at Iridescent 1. Survivor adepts will be written from the perspective of solo queue, while killer adepts will be written in the current iteration of DBD, where you “just” need a 4k while using only three perks.
The characters Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler, and the Demogorgon have been taken off the Steam store and their achievements have been removed. While I did do all of their adepts back in the day, I will not be including them, as they no longer exist.
If it seems like there are far too many sections, I agree, but unfortunately there is an 8000 character limit per section. So here we are.
This guide is being written moreso for my own amusement and edification than actually helping anyone. You have been warned.
The current guide is being written for the mid-chapter patch 6.5.0.
Achievement Difficulty Table
Inevitable: The player will gain this achievement if they just keep playing the game normally. These are generally milestone achievements and are only being included in this guide for the sake of completion. No Adept Achievement will fall under this category.
Easy: Generally achievable within a single match if focused on, or is easy to achieve but lengthy/tedious. If the latter, I will include tips on how to speed up accomplishment.
Normal: Achievable within a few games if focused on, or can be farmed for with survivors.
Hard: Cannot be farmed for with survivors. Has specific fulfillment conditions that make it difficult to achieve, or may require multiple games to achieve. Frequently requires specific loadouts or offerings.
Very Hard: The bastards. Cannot be farmed for with survivors. Has *very* specific fulfillment conditions, or may take multiple games to achieve with no guarantee of progress on any one game, or both. Nearly always requires specific loadouts or offerings. No Adepts will be of this difficulty, and you should be thankful.
General Achievements
Bloody Millionaire
Accumulate 1,000,000 bloodpoints. Note that this is cumulative, so you don’t even need to save BP. You’ll get this pretty quickly.
Getting the Hang of it
Raise your grade for the first time on survivor or killer. Even in the dankest depths of solo queue at low MMR, you should be able to raise your grade from Ash to Bronze just by consistently unhooking and doing gens. Keep at it!
Happy Holidays
Open 100 mystery boxes or winter gifts. Mystery boxes have been removed from the bloodweb for being ♥♥♥♥, so you will need to wait until a holiday event for boxes to fill the bloodweb. Very easy to get once they are available.
I, II, III, III-50
Raise your prestige level to I, II, III, and III-50. Very easy to do nowadays, mercifully. Just pick a killer or survivor you like and dump all your bloodpoints into them until you get their achievement. Should take around 7,000,000 BP or so.
It Wakes –
Raise a character to level 10. By virtue of playing the game, either survivor or killer, you will get this achievement. Just don’t forget to level up between matches! If they are giving out free bloodpoints at the time you start playing, you might even get this achievement without playing a single match of DBD!
Not Half Bad
Raise any character to level 25. You’ll get this pretty quickly, especially since you will want the juicy perk slots you get at 5, 10, and 15. Just push a little further…
Skillful
Purchase a Tier 3 perk from the bloodweb. Just grab a general perk or one of the killer’s specific perks while on that killer/survivor (such as Agitation on Trapper.) You want to level perks to level 3 as fast as possible anyway. I recommend picking a killer or survivor you know you will use other perks on – Meg and Hillbilly are good candidates for early leveling, before you’ve bought any DLC.
Zealous –
Exceed 8000 bloodpoints in any category by the end of a match. The current bloodpoint cap is actually 10,000, which means this achievement is slightly outdated. You might not get this in your first few rounds of DBD, but you really should get this one without trying. If, for whatever reason, you are reading this guide and have *not* gotten this achievement yet, please leave a comment below, you unicorn. As far as getting this one easily, double up on a generator with another survivor while using Dwight Fairfield’s perk, “Prove Thyself,” and you should max your objectives category within about a generator and a half.
Hidden Achievements
These achievements will not show up on the achievement list, but they do exist. Being hidden, you cannot track progress on them, which is slightly irritating, but none of them are very hard.
Agonizing Escape
Leave a match in the Dying state. Hatch or exit gate works. This should happen naturally if a killer spares you, or you can force it by waiting at an exit gate and getting slapped out of the match.
Blood in your Mouth
Kill 25 survivors. Not sacrifice – kill. Bleeding them out doesn’t count, either. Moris are the best go to, but Pyramid Head also offers a decent alternative in the form of his execution. Rancor and Devour Hope are decent secondaries. This one is irritating because you won’t be able to see your progress, but just keep wasting survivors with moris and you’ll get it eventually.
Blood on your Face
Kill all survivors in a single trial. Again, kill, not sacrifice. I recommend Pyramid Head for this one, alongside a suite of Rancor and Devour Hope, just to be sure. Alternatively, you could also just try for Evil Incarnate, which would fulfill this achievement’s requirements as well. Up to you! This one is tricky since moris require every survivor to be hooked twice now, so you need to make sure you get an eight hook game. Yet another achievement ruined by people DCing or suiciding on hook. If you’re concerned about moris taking too long and losing you gens, the Pig has a very quick mori as well as a potential alternative means of killing people through her RBTs. Bring Tampered Timer, but don’t count on it as a guaranteed head pop…
Blood on your Hands
Kill your first survivor. Just bring a mori. Tunnel if you want.
Backdoor Escape
Escape a trial through the hatch. Bring a map or Left Behind if you’re worried about finding it.
The Key to Escape
Escape a trial through a hatch with a key. Slightly trickier, since you need the killer to shut the hatch first. I advise bringing Blood Amber to track the killer, as well as Left Behind to make sure you know where the hatch is. Low Profile might also be a good call.
If the gens are done and people are leaving, hang back but out of the killer’s sight, and then hunt down the hatch that way. Hopefully the killer has not gone AFK in a huff and is instead breaking for points.
Survivor Achievements, Part 1
Apt Survivor
Start a trial with an offering and an item with two addons. Odds are, you have this already.
Bless You
Bless twenty hex totems. Note it says *hex* totems, not dull totems. This means that, not only do you need to bring a Boon Totem perk for every match until you get this achievement, you have to hope that the killer brings hexes, that you find them first, and that you have the time to veeeeeeeery sloooooowly bless them. God help you if they brought Hex: Thrill of the Hunt – if that is the case, blessing a hex totem will take about forty-eight seconds if all totems are intact.
This achievement is a pain because, if you are shooting for it, you *need* to bring a Boon each game, and you have no control over what the killer brings. Blessing hexes is also blatantly suboptimal gameplay due to the sizable time investment, and it gets even worse if the killer is running a Face the Darkness/Thrill of the Hunt build. If you are lucky, you might get a Plaything/Pentimento gamer and get a few points of progress. There is no trick to this achievement; it’s a slog, and you may have to throw games. Sorry. At least it’s not mechanically difficult.
Bodyguard
Take thirty protection hits while a killer is carrying a survivor. This achievement is not necessarily fast to accomplish, but it is fun as hell. You can get this slowly by just running in front of a killer and taking one (or two if you don’t care) hits when they’re carrying someone, but come on. That’s *Yui* on that icon. Take Breakout, Mettle of Man, Dead Hard, and Saboteur. Get in the killer’s face when they pick someone up. Take hits. Break hooks. Become an entertaining liability to your team. If you’re going to get this achievement, do it in style.
Close Shave
Dodge 100 basic attacks or projectiles. This will happen over time. It will happen very quickly against a Trickster.
Cutting Out
Wiggle out of the killer’s grip ten times. This will probably happen very slowly over the course of your DBD career, either due to killers granting you mercy or Midwich not spawning any hooks nearby, AGAIN. Note that you have to wiggle, not pallet save yourself, so Power Struggle does not count. If you want to rack up points for this one deliberately, something like Flip Flop, Tenacity, Unbreakable, and Boil Over is likely your best bet. Bring a branch offering to increase the distance between hooks and try to go down somewhere relatively remote. Try not to look too obvious about what you’re doing (such as deliberately stopping on a second level somewhere – once the killer sees the Boil Over icon you have a problem) because otherwise the killer will slug you. Possibly to death.
Deep Cleansing
Cleanse 100 hex totems. This will take a while. Prioritize cleansing hexes whenever you see them. Don’t worry about Haunted Ground – if it glows it goes. I personally adore Counterforce due to the speed it affords you when cleansing hexes, and it becomes positively beastly against a Plaything/Pentimento killer. Detective’s Hunch is another solid perk for locating totems that does not gimp your build to run. Overall, this is going to be a slow burner that you should not worry too much about. You should be cleansing hex totems anyway. If you want to prioritize it, start bringing Counterforce and/or Detective’s Hunch. You could also run Inner Healing and bring a map instead of a medkit – that way you can justify going out of your way to hunt bones every now and again!
Dismantle
Sabotage fifty hooks. Between survivor daily challenges and the many, MANY archives that require you to break hooks, this one will come without trying if you’re playing normally. If you want to maximize the number of hooks broken in one match, a Commodious Toolbox with maxed charges and Built to Last might let you break as many as 20 hooks – more if you bring Saboteur and use it on every cooldown!
Engineer
Engineer Gaming. Repair fifty generators that have been damaged by the killer. The gen kick meta is in full swing, and even those who do not partake favor perks like Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance or Jolt. You will get this one without trying – don’t try to force it. Killers will be bashing your gens whether you like it or not.
Escape Artist
Successfully unhook yourself and escape through an exit gate. Bring Deliverance, unhook someone else, and hope for the best. This one is going to be a matter of luck. If you are the last survivor in the trial when you are hooked, you will be automatically sacrificed before you can unhook yourself. Escaping through hatch also does not count for this challenge – it must be an exit gate. If you’re unwilling to bring Deliverance to every match and just letting probability run its course, bring Sprint Burst and try getting the killer’s attention after the gens are done and going down deliberately next to an exit gate that is open or 99’d. Hopefully they hook you somewhere relatively close by. Unhook yourself and Sprint Burst to the exit gate, where your teammates hopefully have opened it already. Then prance on through. This is not fool proof, but this is the best I’ve got.
Optional hard mode: accomplish the above, but with Slippery Meat, luck offering(s), and Up the Ante (not recommended.)
Escaping the Nightmare
Open 25 exit gates. Good idea!
Every Last Drop
Deplete thirty items. Toolboxes are probably the most reliably depleted, since great skill checks can sometimes leave medkits with one or two charges. I still wouldn’t worry about this one.
Survivor Achievements, Part 2
Expert Survivor
Reach Survivor Grade: Silver Rank 1. This is not something I can really help you with. While some would say it’s a skill issue, I honestly think it’s just a matter of having enough free time to play Dead by Daylight consistently. I personally have a hard time motivating myself to play more than a few rounds every now and then unless there’s a deadline for a Rift or something. Just keep playing. You’ll win some, you’ll lose some, but so long as you are persistent, Silver 1 isn’t too hard to accomplish.
General rule of thumb: two (long) chases, two unhooks, two generators. Optionally, two full heals, two totems. We’ll Make It is excellent for securing a fast full heal after an unhook, and you should not have any issues getting consistent Iridescent Benevolent with that perk. Kindred will also make you a much better teammate while improving your own odds of being rescued. Start from there.
Master Survivor
Reach Survivor Grade: Gold Rank 1. Again, this is mostly a matter of having free time and playing consistently. I will give a few more tips on the emblem system.
Lightbringer is not hard to get Iridescent on, but it is ranked on your personal contribution to generator progress. Avoid doubling up on generators for this reason – if you complete two generators with another person using Prove Thyself, the game only counts it as one generator completed on your part. If you complete two generators on your own, you are set. You can also get more Lightbringer points by completing totems, which can be helpful if you were light on the gens. You get a handful of points for leading killers on long chases, which is more of a consolation than anything. So, avoid using Prove Thyself, and crack a few bones if in doubt.
Evasive grants points based both on chase and simply being near the killer without being detected. On small maps with two floors (such as Midwich and the Game) it is very common to get Iridescent without trying because the killer was frequently nearby but on another level where they could not reach you. If you’re not the one getting in chases (or you suck at looping) try stealthing near the killer as much as possible (bring Stake Out so you’re not completely wasting everyone’s time) and maximize your time in the trial at the end if possible while in the killer’s presence (so yes, wait at the exit gate. Don’t spam vaults, though.) This will also potentially grant you another chase won if you enter chase and then leave through the exit gate without getting hit.
Legendary Survivor
Reach Survivor Grade: Iridescent 1. This is honestly daunting, and pretty hard to hit within the span of a month if you’re not playing several hours a day and know what you are doing. Maximum survivor grade is harder to hit than killer, simply because in solo queue, you are not fully in control of your own team’s mistakes and triumphs. This rank also means being actively involved in every game – you will not pip if you complete a few generators and then leave through the exit gate, you *need* to either be chased or spend a lot of time crouching near the killer, you *need* to complete 2-3 generators, and you need to be the one unhooking and healing your teammates.
Run meta builds. Windows of Opportunity is tremendous for running killers successfully if you’re still learning, Dead Hard will extend chases massively, and We’ll Make It remains an excellent perk for facilitating altruism.
To get an idea of what it takes mechanically and what it takes to pip on survivor consistently, I would recommend watching Dowsey’s Hardcore Survivor series on Youtube. Any season works. You might pick up on new tricks watching their gameplay, but the main thing to pay attention to is their discussions on who needs to do what in order to pip, such as making sure Otzdarva gets unhooks other players next game in favor of anyone else because he needs to rank up and keeps safety pipping. It’s also a ripping good time.
Expert Generalist
Escape 8 times while having repaired at least one generator, and having equipped only two General Survivor perks. These are the perks unaffiliated with any specific survivor, such as Kindred and We’ll Make It. Speaking of, Kindred is probably the strongest pick here, and I highly recommend it. We’ll Make It is a solid second slot, but Inner Healing is also a personal favorite of mine. This requires a slightly limited loadout, but honestly it’s on par with or easier than quite a few survivor adepts … although you will have to do it quite a few times. A shame all exhaustion perks are survivor specific.
Fleet of Foot
Increase another survivor’s speed 50 times. I am not sure whether this includes unhooking them. If it does, this perk is only one star in difficulty. Assuming it does not, Boon: Dark Theory is a solid pick for this achievement. Others worthy perks include Guardian, Blood Pact, and No One Left Behind (very underrated since its rework.) Dark Theory and Guardian would be the two I recommend, although please do not run Dark Theory without Circle of Healing.
Handyman
Repair 100 generators. Excellent suggestion.
Healthy Obsession
Heal the obsession 10 times. This should happen on its own, but Blood Pact would be the go-to perk if you wanted to do this one specifically.
Humanitarian
Affect other survivors with positive status effects 50 times. Dwight has Leader and Prove Thyself, and people running in and out of boons also count. You’ll get this one without trying.
Survivor Achievements, Part 3
Hiding Seeker
End a chase by getting into a locker 25 times. I’m told this one might be bugged, but I suspect it’s just finicky. Quick and Quiet should be your go to here, with Head On + Deception being optional (but hilarious.) You can honestly get this achievement the most consistently by getting into chase with a killer carrying a survivor and then diving into a locker, ASAP. Consider bringing a flashlight so you can pull off b.s. tactics like blinding a killer in a pallet and then fast entering a locker. Get creative! This one will take a while, but I think you’ll be surprised how often Quick and Quiet and lockers can throw off killers. Try not to throw too hard, and wave off if the killer has Iron Maiden!
Item of Obsession
As the killer’s obsession, escape out the exit gates last without losing a single drop of blood. Okay, so you need to be the obsession, never take a hit, leave out the exit gate, and be the last survivor to do so. Running Mettle of Man is not ideal, Object of Obsession would be suicide, and Decisive Strike also would not activate. For the People makes you the obsession, but also injures you, so that’s out. This leaves Sole Survivor, which also has the side effect of making you harder to detect and potentially letting you clutch an exit gate escape as the last person standing, netting the achievement so long as you never got injured. Note that hatch does not count, and bringing a medkit or any perks that activate on taking a hit or rely on being injured in some way is pointless.
Odds are, you can get this achievement through the occasional stomp that happens against killer in pub matches so long as you remember to leave last. However, if you are aiming for this one specifically, I would recommend Sprint Burst, Sole Survivor, Distortion, Open Handed, and running a Key with Blood Amber. You’re not going to be using it to get out of the hatch, but you can still get that aura reading on the killer to outmaneuver them from a considerable range. This one might take quite a few tries. Good luck!
I’ve Got Your Back
Rescue 50 survivors from the hook. I like how we’re giving achievements for meeting basic expectations! And some people are failing to meet those expectations anyway!
Leapfrog
Vault 200 windows or pallets while chased by the killer. Run, binch, run!
Left For Dead
As the last survivor alive, repair the final generator and escape through the exit gates. This one is *extremely* problematic. Repairing the final generator broadcasts your location to the killer, and it has to happen *after* the last survivor has died (which means their icon has changed to a skull – don’t complete the generator until then!) So, the killer knows where you are, and you cannot escape through hatch. So, what can we do?
I am not ashamed to admit that I got this perk when a random Huntress elected to show me mercy and let me out as the last survivor, and I *still* had to refuse hatch after she downed me and put me on top of it. Some killers are aware of this challenge and may take mercy on you, and it cannot hurt to ask (well, as best you can as a survivor) because I would not count on getting this achievement through any other fashion. For the record, this achievement was put in as a complement to Bill Overbeck’s original iteration of the Left Behind perk, which used to massively increase generator speeds when he was the last one left alive, so it’s something of a leftover from a prior DBD that no longer exists. Interestingly, the current iteration of Sole Survivor now functions similarly to the old version of Left Behind.
As far as building for this specific scenario, Low Profile, Sole Survivor, Wake Up, and Distortion would be my go to recommendations for staying the hell out of the killer’s way and getting an exit gate open OUTRAGEOUSLY FAST. Your build is completely gimped and reliant on your teammates dying with four gens completed, but it will maximize your odds of getting the achievement. For items, a toolbox with BNP might not go amiss to blitz the final generator once your teammate is dead, but a medkit or key would also serve you quite well. Just do your best. This achievement is an absolute to complete for what I think are the wrong reasons, and I wish they would change it.
Lifting the Fog
Reveal the killer’s aura 50 times. This used to be bugged so you would get it almost immediately upon using any reveal perk. Now, it’s still a zero effort achievement. Alert and Kindred will get you there pretty quickly, with Wiretap and Fogwise offering slightly higher effort alternatives.
Looter
Open 100 chests. Look, this isn’t something you should make a habit of. Consider running Pharmacy to build a stockpile of green medkits as well as opening the chests much faster and more quietly (so long as you are injured.) Ace in the Hole might not be the worst idea, either! If you are not familiar with chest locations, Plunderer’s Instinct is also a good call, while Purple Coin offerings will give you more chests to work with.
Made It Out Alive!
Escape 100 trials. This may take a while, but you’ll get there, promise.
Medic
Heal survivors for a total of 100 health states. I recommend We’ll Make It – it’s a great perk, and it’ll rack you up health states with a quickness.
Milk and Cookies
Take 30 items from the chest in the basement. Semi-reliable sources inform me that this perk is currently bugged and will not progress. If that is the case, ignore it for the time being. When this perk is not glitched, just bring Plunderer’s Instinct and look for that strange underground chest. Bring Appraisal so if someone else robs the basement first, you can still rummage through the chest and pull an item.
Survivor Achievements, Part 4
Near-Death Experience
Escape 25 trials after being downed only once. This used to be bugged so it only applied if only one survivor on the whole team had been downed only once, greatly exacerbating the difficulty for no reason. Now, it works as intended. Try to go down only once by escaping the killer as best you can as per usual. If you make it through the match without ever going down, just wait at an exit gate and use the Point Tech to escape after being downed. (Point Tech means pointing as the killer downs you (‘1’ key on PC) which will allow you to start crawling immediately after being downed.)
Nerves of Steel
Succeed at 500 skill checks. I’ve got nerves of steel. Nerves of steel. Nerves nerves nerves nerves-
No One Left Behind
Unhook a survivor after the exit gates have been powered. This just means that all five generators have been completed – you don’t need an exit gate open. No One Left Behind is perfect for this challenge (fittingly), since it will give you perfect information on the other survivors and greatly increase the speed of the unhook, reducing the chance you are grabbed.
Not Today
Unhook yourself 50 times. You can only do that once per match! I don’t recommend going the Slippery Meat route since it is too random and you are unlikely to get three other PC randos willing to bring Up the Ante and luck offerings. This leaves Deliverance, which requires you to unhook someone else safely first. Unfortunately, Deliverance is cursed, and you will often be the first person hooked. If that happens, don’t take the 4% and intentionally second stage yourself – we have enough Quentins doing that already. Just accept that the opportunity was missed this time.
You’re going to be running Deliverance for a while. I recommend pairing it with Kindred to maximize the odds of you getting a safe unhook, along with maybe Borrowed Time in case the killer elects to tunnel. You don’t need that teammate alive, per se, but you do need that Safe Rescue scoring event to turn on Deliverance!
Outrun Evil
Escape a trial by crawling through the hatch. I find the name of this one ironic, since most of the time you crawl through a hatch it’s because a merciful killer dumped you there. This will happen eventually, which is honestly a heartwarming thing to think about.
Insult and Injury
Escape chase 50 times after stunning a killer with a pallet. Just make some distance after the stun and you’ll get progress easily. There are some killers who are hard to stun with pallets due to ranged attacks or teleportation, but in standard gameplay, this one will not be hard to progress.
Perfect Escape
Escape with at least 5000 points in each scoring category. Amusingly, 5000 is currently *half* the scoring cap, so apparently it is possible to make a perfect escape with the equivalent of an “F” grade. Objective can easily be accomplished by doubling up on gens, and you also get a +2500 scoring event for escaping through hatch. Survival automatically gets 5000 for escaping. Altruism is easy if you go for unhooks and heal afterward. Boldness is the only potential hiccup, since you generally only get points if chased. If you’re a bit light in this category, try breaking a few totems. You get +1000 for each broken. Booning is even better (you bastard!) since it grants +1500. Overall, I wouldn’t worry about this one.
Power Moves
Escape eight times after having completed at least one generator’s worth of progress and with no perks equipped. So, basically don’t play like an with no perks equipped. Despite the difficulty rating, I don’t have much to say on this one since most of the strategy here comes down to player-specific skill. Obviously bring a strong item (medkit recommended) and consider bringing a map offering, and prioritize stealthy cosmetics and a quiet survivor. And then … play the game as you normally would? Note that you don’t need to escape through an exit gate, so a killer DCing or getting hatch counts so long as you completed the equivalent of one gen. While this perk has a bit of a reputation for being a pain in the ass, I think it’s overblown, and I found it a rewarding experience – playing without an exhaustion perk forced me to get better at looping.
Rescue Mission
Save five survivors from the killer’s grasp with a pallet stun. Sounds hard and random, right? Well, guess what, it counts if you save yourself with Power Struggle (which this achievement originally released with.) So you know what means! It might take a while, but Flip Flop + Power Struggle will eventually get you the saves you need to get this achievement. Don’t count on getting it more than once a match, however, since killers will prioritize picking you up immediately after the first pallet bonks them on the noggin. Unbreakable is an optional inclusion to speed up recovery progress, while Smash Hit adds insult to injury by letting you zoom away at high speeds while the killer laughs their ass off at your audacity.
Resurgence
Heal a total of ten health states when all survivors are injured, dying, or hooked. Trust me, this is not as rare as it sounds – one Legion match can potentially net you a lot of progress here. Due to the nature of the achievement, I recommend Desperate Measures, which is already a very strong perk, which will speed up the heal by 56%. Resilience is also a solid option, giving you another 9%. You should get this one without trying if you play long enough – it only becomes irritating if you want to gun for it specifically, since this is not really a situation you can outright force.
Survivor Achievements, Part 5
Risk It All
Survive a trial after bringing an iridescent item or addon, without protecting it with a White Ward. Odds are, you’ll get this while doing some of the Adepts, or simply while trying out a key or map. Point being, completion will likely be incidental, and you shouldn’t be bringing White Wards very often anyway.
Selfless Survival
Heal 30 survivors from the dying state to the injured state. Slugs are usually just picked up instantly in your average game, but sometimes you get lucky. Bring We’re Gonna Live Forever to pick that slug up in moments, as well as potentially protect your slug from predators!
Sorted
Escape a match after spending at least 50% of it injured. You’ll get this automatically when you do David King’s Adept Challenge, so don’t worry about it. Refer to his section for more advice.
Survival Treasures
Escape a match with a new item. This can either be from a chest or pillaged from the corpse of a teammate. Frankly I recommend the latter, since teammates tend to bring better.
Skilled Generalist
Escape a trial after bringing only three General Survivor perks. What is this, a Walmart brand adept? Kindred and We’ll Make It remain probably the best options, with the third coming down to personal choice. Personally I love No One Left Behind, but you do you.
Taking One for the Team
Take 250 protection hits while within ten meters of a hook. Ugh, this is going to be a pain in the ass. Hopefully you can rack up progression by just running interference normally when trying to help a teammate, but if you are gunning for this achievement specifically, you want to run Saboteur/Mettle of Man/Breakout to maximize the value of your stupid-ass playstyle. Don’t get me wrong, the Mettle of Man/Breakout wiggle build is fun as hell, but it will get you killed. Often. Run Dead Hard or Circle of Healing as a fourth perk, and if you bring a toolbox, bring Alex’s. If you bring a medkit, pack as many charges as you can … you’re going to get hurt a *lot* on purpose.
You will also get progress on this one a lot from doing unhooks with the killer nearby, so at least there will be some incidental gains.
Triage
Heal survivors that come to you 30 times. Coming to you is helpfully explained in the perk description now (it didn’t used to be) but basically means that, when a survivor gets injured initially, they were at least 16 meters from you, and you didn’t budge 16 meters from the spot you were in since they were initially injured. Since this relies on you being away from your teammate, not moving for a decent period of time, and your teammate not going down in chase, this can take a while.
Empathy actually isn’t that helpful here, since you cannot go to your teammate. No, this perk was designed with Empathetic Connection in mind, which shows your aura to your wounded teammates and speeds up your healing of them. Since you want to complete your heal, I recommend also bringing Botany Knowledge and possibly also Desperate Measures to reduce the odds of you being interrupted by the killer while healing. Bite the Bullet may also be a good idea, to cancel any noise either of you may be making. This one is slow going, and you need to keep it in mind at all times when you are going for it, since its progress requirements are so specific you are unlikely to make much incidental progress while playing normally. Just keep bringing Empathetic Connection, and don’t budge from the generator you’re on until a wounded Jane rolls up on you with a hatchet lodged in her back.
Vulture
Survive a match with another survivor’s item equipped. Teammates bring good. Steal Meg’s flashlight. DO IT.
Whiffing to Success
Cause the killer to miss fifty attacks before vaulting an obstacle. This will happen eventually on its own. Killers are so silly.
With Scars to Show
Get injured during a chase and then escape 50 times. I suggest Overcome and Lucky Break – the killers will give up pretty fast after that first hit.
Wounded Healer
Heal 50 health states while you are also injured. This should happen on its own, but Resilience and Desperate Measures are helpful here. Seriously, Desperate Measures is a bomb perk.
Killer Achievements, Part 1
A Bite for the Entity
Sacrifice 100 survivors. They deserve it.
A Fast Death
Damage 8 survivors under the effect of haste. This will happen on its own, since it includes survivors using their exhaustion perk, as well as survivors who just got off hook. Point being, haste effects are more present than you think. I was all set to bust out Clown’s yellow bottles for this before being spontaneously rewarded it.
A Feast for the Entity
Sacrifice 1000 survivors. Don’t watch the progress bar on this one, you’ll go mad. Just kill them, and keep killing them.
Apt Killer
Start a trial with two add-ons and an offering. We in the biz call this “playing normally.”
Bloodbath
Down 75 survivors with Oni while he’s enraged. The lunge and charge attacks will be your go to here, since it downs healthy survivors, but remember you do have a basic M1 as well if you’re up against an injured survivor. Oni is a mite tricky to play, but he’s lethal enough that you should have very little trouble.
Bound and Downed
With the Deathslinger, down 30 speared survivors. Brush up on your aim and get shooting! Expose perks can be helpful here (NOED and Devour Hope are solid) but my go to would be Save the Best for Last (STBFL) which can allow you to basic M1 a survivor and then shoot them before they make any distance, once you have a few stacks built up.
Broken Bodies
Hook 10 survivors while all others are injured. If you want to get this done even faster, Plague and Legion are probably the best calls, but you should get this one without trying … so long as you love stabbing. And we all love stabbing, don’t we?
Butcherin’
Chainsaw 100 survivors with the Cannibal. Much easier to pull off than Hillbilly, trust me. Chili addons are probably the strongest to run with, here.
Biological Weaponry
Down 65 infected survivors with your tentacle as Nemesis. I adore Nemesis, so I don’t view this challenge as terribly difficult. It does mean you will be committing to a lot of 3 hit chases, so still try to take M1s if they are free. I recommend Marvin’s Blood to level up faster and Broken Recovery Coin so that survivors have fewer vaccines to work with, increasing the likelihood you only run into infected survivors as the match progresses. Try to whip when they’re stuck in vaulting animations. Watch for last second jukes and especially Dead Hard! You do *not* want to get stuck in a 4 hit chase.
Bump in the Night
Down 50 survivors during Nightfall as Dredge. Use your increased map traversal to locate survivors quickly during Nightfall. Run the Broken Doll addon to increase the duration of Nightfall so you have more time to secure downs. So long as you locate someone fast once Nightfall starts, the combination of decreased visibility on their part and your ability to cut off their escape with lockers should allow you to eventually secure one or two hits.
Caws of Death
Down 50 survivors with the Artist’s power. This is a little harder since you need to down survivors, not just hit or injure them, and Artist’s power is frequently a three hit down by necessity. Prioritize locking off loops with your birds and forcing survivors into them to deal damage. Only “bird” them to death at long range or as a last resort if they are making a getaway. “Shotgunning” your birds by placing all three of them facing at slightly different angles to hit a target a medium range is effective at securing a hit, but has a godawful cooldown. In general, try to summon and use one bird at a time so your cooldowns remain short. If you can secure successive hits this way, you should be able to injure survivors before they shake the birds off.
Cleansed in Agony
As the Executioner, put 30 survivors in Cages of Atonement. Survivors are justifiably scared of being tormented, but will still take the status in favor of taking an M1 most of the time. Just loop with a survivor for a bit while using your power and cage everyone you can, and you should get this achievement fairly fast. This achievement will likely involve playing suboptimally while you get it, but don’t worry, this too shall pass.
Collision Course
Damage 10 survivors by hitting them with another survivor as The Mastermind. This was originally glitched so that it counted both the thrown and the hit survivor as part of the challenge, but now it seems to be fixed. This one is fairly irritating, but can be farmed for – once survivors realize they have a friendly Wesker, they will be happy to line up to slap your ass and nod at you. Just slam them into each other a few times, and pay them back by letting them heal and pallet stun you.
If you want to get this challenge legitimately, then the easiest way to do so is targeting survivors who are unhooking other survivors. Line yourself up behind the rescuer with your power charged, and once the other survivor has been unhooked, launch yourself into them. This will deep wound the unhooked survivor and injure/down the rescuer. The timing is tricky, but you can do this fairly consistently with practice. If you do it too early or hit the unhooked survivor instead of the rescuer, Wesker will just slap them on the ass, infecting them and taking a health state, but not contributing to the challenge.
Killer Achievements, Part 2
Conniption
Write a Steam Community Achievement guide for Dead by Daylight. Alternatively, down 30 survivors after using the Spirit’s power. Put on a headset and maybe Stridor if you struggle with Spirit, and equip some speed or haunting duration addons. She’s a little more difficult to use than some people give her credit for, but the Spirit has a legitimately strong power. You shouldn’t struggle much.
Cripple Them All
Grab 100 survivors from a bear trap with the Trapper. Note that this is not what the achievement description says on Steam, but this is what you need to do. Do *not* hit them out of the trap, you need to walk up to them while they are struggling with the bear trap and press space bar. You will have to do this a comical amount of times.
So long as you remember to grab them instead of hit them, this challenge is not too bad. It is lengthy, however, and you may have to stick to suboptimal gameplay for a bit. Skilled survivors are also very good at avoiding traps, which can complicate things. Try to trap loops or hide them in bushes. The easiest way to grab survivors is to force them into a trap during chase and then snatching them. Just don’t hit them, or you’ll be forfeiting progress!
Cruelty Loves Company
With the Knight, damage 50 survivors while they are being chased by a guard. This comes pretty naturally, since it’s usually pretty easy to herd survivors in certain directions or cut them off once a guard is on their ass. I suggest bringing Dried Horse Meat to extend chase duration, and potentially also the Axe addon that lets you bring the Carnifex twice, since his chase lasts 24 seconds at base. This should greatly increase the chance you can get a hit off before chase ends.
Death of Ignorance
Down 15 survivors suffering from the Oblivious status effect. Best way to inflict this is probably Hex: Plaything, but there are quite a few killer addons that can do this as well. Freddy also inflicts Oblivious automatically over time or after hitting a survivor, so playing 2-3 rounds of him will guarantee this achievement (as well as a loss of sanity.)
Denied
Close the hatch 30 times. This will happen more often than you think! Just remember to start scouring the map as the last survivor goes through the death animation so you can close the hatch before the map ends, and check the match offerings to see if anyone brought a guaranteed spawn for hatch!
Deranged Pursuit
As Legion, down 25 people suffering from the Deep Wounds status effect. Just use your power and stab as many people as possible, then chase and down the last person you stabbed. You can also optionally get this by tunneling people off hook, either hitting them with Frenzy or a M1 and then hunting them down afterwards. This one should come pretty easily. Optionally bring the Filthy Blade and Glasses addons to increase the mending time and see their aura, letting you run into them while they are mending.
Devoted Gatekeeping
Sacrifice all survivors 25 times before generators are repaired. Trust me, given how often survivors DC or suicide on hook, you’ll get this faster than you think. Just start working on remembering hatch spawn locations, and consider running No Way Out to make sure the last survivor does not get a cheeky exit gate escape!
Dream Master
Pull 200 survivors into the Dream World as the Nightmare. You could literally AFK all game as Freddy and get this achievement, since survivors will be pulled into the Dream World automatically over time. If you actually do play, hitting them will also achieve this effect. But the fact you literally have a no effort option means that the only difficulty this challenge presents is enduring repeated Freddy matches. I will concede that is slightly terrifying.
End of Days
Hook 15 survivors during the Endgame Collapse. This triggers when either an exit gate has opened or the Hatch has been shut. These are fairly common occurrences, and you will frequently get hooks during them. Consider running Blood Warden for style points.
Evil Incarnate
Evil Incarnate
Kill all survivors with your own hand with Evil Within III. Odds are some people will come here specifically for this section. This achievement has rightfully gained a reputation for being nightmarish to complete, since it is reliant on not only bringing multiple iridescent addons, sacrificing the early game, and playing Myers relatively decently, it is also reliant on the survivor’s cooperation. If a survivor DCs? Achievement invalid, unless they were in the middle of the animation when they DCed (baby.) Survivors dive into lockers when everyone else is dead to deny you the final kill? Achievement invalid. The latter occurrence is very common, and there is nothing you can do beyond try and wait it out and hope they assume you are AFK and eventually go for hatch. That’s when you grab ’em!
So, first off, we need a loadout. Our addons have to be Fragrant Tuft of Hair for infinite Tier 3, and Judith’s Tombstone so that we can insta-gib survivors. For a map offering, bring Lery’s. Midwich might be a little stronger, but it also has long sight lines that will allow survivors to spot and evade you at a considerable distance – holding W is very strong against this build. Lery’s has a lot of blind corners and sight lines are frequently obstructed.
As for perks, I consider two to be mandatory:
Play With Your Food. This will counteract the movement speed penalty from Tombstone, and also confusingly does not lose stacks if you insta-kill someone. Once you are Tier 3, you should prioritize getting 3 stacks off the obsession if you have not already and then killing someone.
Hex: No One Escapes Death. The expose is useless for our purposes, but the bonus 4% speed can come in handy. There are basically no other speed perks available, so we have to use what we have.
The rest are discretionary, however I recommend stealth perks, since survivors are going to be very skittish once they realize you are going for this achievement. Tinkerer would be my first pick, but Insidious could also work if you find a good spot to hide in. Trail of Torment is solid, but survivors will be clued in to its existence once they see the generator light up. Nemesis is an interesting pick, since it allows you to get more stacks of Play With Your Food if the obsession dies, but also leaves a survivor oblivious for a while, which could let you get the drop on them.
Deadlock and Corrupt Intervention are solid picks for slow down if you find generators flying before you can reach Tier 3. Corrupt Intervention is unlikely to fall off due to a survivor going down early, since you will be busy building to Tier 3, and Deadlock requires no effort on your part to do anything. Between the two, I would recommend Corrupt Intervention, since it can also help clue you in on where the survivors are at the start.
If you are worried about the last survivor escaping through the exit gate once you have closed hatch, bring No Way Out. Even if you have no hooks, the notification you get might allow you to close in on the survivor before they can hide or get the gate open.
Note that moris, Devour Hope, and Rancor kills do not count. You need to see the “Kill” prompt appear on the screen and initiate a QUICK attack, not a lunge. Note that if the survivor is performing any kind of action, be it vaulting, repairing a generator, or opening a chest, you cannot use the kill prompt, and this will instead initiate a grab or a stab. Hopefully, your Play With Your Food stacks will help you outrun them in the open, before they can make it to a loop. If a survivor insists on doing a gen and not letting go, they are a knower. Either wait until the gen is finished, try to catch them when they fake out by letting go quickly at random (bastards), or just slug ’em and come back later.
You’re at the survivors’ mercy for this one, which really sucks. If they deny you the achievement by DCing or running into lockers and then hang around end chat to BM you, remind them that by denying you the achievement, they have inflicted an Evil Incarnate game on someone else, since now you have to play this loadout again. I doubt this will convince them to not be, but hopefully it will make some of them … yeah, probably not.
If Myers is ever updated to allow him to “Kill” people inside lockers, this achievement would be made a lot more tolerable. Good luck with this one – be prepared to potentially burn a lot of Iridescent Addons.
Killer Achievements, Part 3
Even Punishment
Hit all four survivors at least once after emerging from a trap as Hag. If you play Hag, this should happen eventually, so long as you are setting a lot of traps. Hint: if you are Hag, set lots of traps.
Expert Killer, Master Killer, Legendary Killer
Reach Silver, Gold, and Iridescent Grade 1 as Killer. As with survivor, I consider this more a matter of personal time investment than I do skill. This is at least easier than survivor since if a killer gets a 4k (which they should be aiming for) it is now an instant double pip. So long as you are consistently killing the majority of survivors, you will pip. In contrast, survivors have to focus on evading the killer, repairing gens, and healing/rescuing teammates in order to pip. You just have to play the game.
Since each killer is unique, I cannot offer a lot of assistance here. Pick one that you enjoy playing, equip strong perks, bring decent addons, and get familiar with their mechanics. The scoring system has been greatly simplified from the past, and so long as you give each game an honest attempt, the balance of power should gradually swing your way. It is just a matter of persistence.
Rank reset is on the 13th of each month. Good luck!
First to the Punch
Down 30 survivors within 8 meters of an upright pallet. This is where most of your downs will be, actually.
From the Deep
Grab 25 survivors hiding inside lockers. This one is annoying, since good survivors won’t be around with lockers. Iron Maiden doesn’t help here, since it actively encourages survivors to avoid lockers. You will get this one eventually, but there is very little you can do to encourage it, so to speak. One way you can “force” this achievement is to play instant-kill Myers (either with Tombstone or Tombstone Piece) which will force survivors into lockers fairly often, at the cost of becoming justifiably hated.
I would just farm this one. Make it clear that you are friendly and start hitting lockers until they go inside them and then grab them. Optionally bring Iron Maiden to speed up the grab and save some time, as well as to orchestrate a symphony of screaming survivors once they realize you have the perk. Trust me, they love to spam lockers with Iron Maiden.
From the Void She Kills
Grab a survivor off of a gen after three blinks as Nurse. Yeah, just farm this one. Survivors will be relieved that they are not playing against an actual Nurse player and will quickly realize you want the achievement once you hit a generator a few times with your M1 and then start blinking next to them repeatedly. Don’t forget to bring Torn Bookmark addon!
Game Over
Kill 30 survivors after the last generator has been powered. If you want to facilitate this happening more often, an endgame build of No Way Out, Hex: No One Escapes Death, Blood Warden, Terminus/Remember Me will make this a lot more likely.
Ghost in the Machine
Damage 50 generators while undetectable. The easiest way to do this is obviously with stealth killers. Cloaked Wraith is a good choice, since he has a lot of kick speed addons, but a Demanifested Onryo also works. Myers only works in Tier 1, so consider playing a Tier 1 Only Myers. Ghostface works while he is stealthed, but odds are good a survivor will break you out of it while you kick the generator.
Generator damaging perks also count, but being undetected while pulling of a Pain Resonance or Jolt strikes me as rather unlikely, and would probably require another perk to function. Don’t do anything fancy, just remember to Demanifest as Onryo and kick some gens. Call of Brine and Eruption are natural inclusions, but let’s be honest, you were running those already.
Heavy Burden
Hit 25 survivors while carrying another survivor. Survivors love to take hits while you’re carrying someone, so this is not as hard as it sounds. Consider bringing Agitation if you want to facilitate this, so you can chase people down if they have distance on you. Mad Grit is solid but survivors will stop taking hits if they realize you have it (and they will, if they have comms) so I recommend STBFL instead. There has been many a time where I secured 2-3 hits under a hook as survivors took turns crouching under it, only to get smacked faster and faster.
Starstruck is not a good idea, they will run like hell.
High Speed Pursuit
Vault 50 times while chasing a survivor. Look, we all have to do this eventually. Legion and Wesker would get this fastest, since their power lets them vault pallets as well as windows, but you’re going to get this without trying if you’re playing normally. You could even enter chase and just vault the same window repeatedly, if you want! Hell, in shack, that could even be considered a valid play, on occasion.
Killer Achievements, Part 4
Holiday Get Together
Have at least three survivors hooked in a basement in a single trial. Hard to get since survivors enjoy suiciding on hook, especially if there is more than one of them in the basement already. The best way to get this is to bring Agitation, bring someone to the basement, and then try and set up a cascading disaster of a basement save. The Trapper is obviously best at this, but Huntress is no slouch either. Bubba is probably *too* dangerous for this, since most survivors will not voluntarily go into a basement with a camping Bubba inside, or even a proxy-camping Bubba.
Consider bringing an offering that brings the basement to the main building, so if you get a map with a main building, the basement will both be easily accessible for you (so you can drop off your first survivor) and the survivors (so they can easily attempt the save that will DOOM THEM ALL.)
Insidious may be a good call here, if a bit stereotypical. Comms will defeat it, so try not to go dark where they can see you. Kindred is also a problem, but there’s nothing you can do about that.
Despite the name, this achievement is not in any way restricted by season, so you can try for it whenever you choose.
I See You
Down 30 survivors suffering from the Exposed status effect. Ghostface and Myers will get this pretty easily, but running NOED and Haunted Ground should make this even easier. Some killers have Exposed addons – Nemesis and Deathslinger stick out as having good ones – so you have options even outside the above listed horror icons. So long as you remember to bring the right killers or perks, this one should be pretty easy.
In the Void She Walks
Hit 500 Blink attacks as Nurse. Okay, this is the one of several older killer achievements that have ridiculous numbers attached to them. The Trapper was already pushing it with his grab achievement. There is nothing I can do to help you here aside from tell you to play the killer, a lot. Farm if you want, but it will be boring as hell and you won’t get what you need from a single match. Just play normally. Have fun. Just bear in mind that you will need to play Nurse (as well as a few other killers) a little more than usual. Expect to attract a lot of hate doing this one.
I Want to Play a Game
Place 125 Reverse Bear Traps on the heads of survivors as Pig. Same as above, this is another lengthy and tedious achievement, made worse because you can only bring a maximum of 5 RBTs per match. Bring the addon which gives you an extra, and prioritizing putting on hats at every opportunity, even if it would make more sense to save one at the time. This achievement will take, at minimum, 25 matches of Pig, which is just absurd to me. Pig is at least a fun killer, but there is no reason for the number to be that high. You can’t even farm this much, since you are capped at 5 RBTs! Stupid, stupid achievement.
Jump Scares
As Wraith, land 100 attacks on survivors after uncloaking. You’ll know progress has been made if you see the Surprise Attack! scoring event. Calling this Jump Scares seems a bit rich since Wraith has to bang a bell any time he wants to smack someone, but I suppose you could always bring the Iridescent addon that silences his bell if you want to do this achievement lore accurately. Yeah, this one is easy. And look, the number isn’t even that high!
Mad House
As Doctor, bring all four survivors to Madness Tier 3 at least once during a match. If you bring both Iridescent addons and send yourself to a small map, this is practically guaranteed. Optionally bring Terror Radius perks that extends its reach so that almost the entire map is covered by your Static Blast. You should get this one unintentionally while playing Doctor, but if not, just do the above.
Multi-tasker
Down 30 survivors while carrying another survivor. Why the hell is this number higher than the achievement that requires you to just hit survivors?! I recommend STBFL + Agitation as the most consistent means of getting this achievement. Starstruck + Agitation + Awakened Awareness would also work, but survivors will begin giving you a very wide berth pretty quickly when you pick someone up, which could complicate things. STBFL is more subtle. If you want to farm for this achievement, I advise picking a killer that is hilarious with Mad Grit (Demogorgon, Pyramid Head, Knight, Plague, or Nemesis), establish yourself as friendly, then down a survivor and pick them up. Begin spamming the attack animation, then down a survivor or two with your backpack. They might get a bit skittish as you do this, so make sure to never slug all of them, and let the dude wiggle out once he/she indicates they want to get off.
Outrage
Down 100 survivors who dropped a pallet during a chase. I would advise running killers who chew through pallets like Nemesis or Bubba to get this one faster. A Spirit Fury/Enduring build would also work. This one should come over time.
One Thousand Cuts
Deal maximum laceration on survivors 50 times as Trickster. This just means securing a health state 50 times, so you’re not even required to get downs, just hit people 6 times with your knives. Easy! Bring extra knife capacity addons if your aim is.
Party Crasher
Damage 100 gens while a survivor is hooked. Given the current meta, this one should come quite quickly. Just bring Call of Brine/Eruption and get kicking. I am not sure whether Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance counts towards this achievement – can anyone confirm?
Killer Achievements, Part 5
Perfect Killer
Complete a match with at least 5000 points in each category. I would not be surprised if you got this on your very first match, considering playing killer is a lot more straightforward than survivor, and people at bottom MMR have no idea what they are doing.
Pre-emptive Strike
Hook a survivor before the first generator is completed. Lethal Pursuer and/or Corrupt Intervention will make this easier, but are by no means necessary. Just try to have a quick first chase.
Prowler
Detect 100 survivors with Killer Instinct. Quite a few killers have this built into their kit, but Legion is the one with most consistent access, and will rack up progress very quickly. Nemesis and Wesker are not terrible choices either, but will still not get nearly as many detections per match as Legion would.
Punch Drunk
Afflict thirty survivors with the Oblivious status effect. AKA play Freddy for one game. Alternatively, you can scour certain killer addons and perks for this effect, but come on, Freddy is right there!
Quick Draw
Interrupt ten survivors cleansing a totem. This happens incredibly rarely, so I recommend just farming. Establish yourself as friendly, find a totem, start slapping it, then get grabs. Do this as many times as you want.
If you want this achievement legitimately, Hex: Retribution afflicts survivors with Oblivious while they are cleansing and Hex: Thrill of the Hunt will slow them down massively. Snag ’em while they’re unawares! Alternatively, Ghostface can sneak up and grab people off totems pretty consistently. Hex: Undying will also let you see survivors who are cleansing or blessing dull totems, which can be very helpful. I don’t think this achievement counts for interrupting blessing, but there’s nothing you can do about that. If you find them on the bones, grab ’em by the stones.
Serial Killer
Sacrifice the Obsession 30 times. This comes naturally.
“I’m not a … serial killer.” -Dr. Kriegler
Shocking Treatment
Hit 500 survivors with your Shock Therapy as Doctor. This is another of those “Early Killer Achievement We Had No Idea What We Were Doing” cases, so just commit yourself to playing a lot of Doctor. If you are epileptic, I would suggest getting someone else to do this one for you (not sarcasm, meant sincerely.)
Silent Approach
Grab 25 survivors off generators. Tinkerer is a good bet here, and Ghostface/T1 Myers are excellent for snagging people off of generators. Again, however, you can farm for this one, so if you want it soonish, that is what you should do. Establish friendliness by hitting a generator a lot, then make some grabs.
Skilled Huntress
Down 20 survivors with Huntress’s hatchets at a distance of 24 meters or more. Yeah, it has to be a down, not an injure, so that crazy great shot you just made doesn’t count because it only winged Felix instead of decapitating him.
Farming for this is hard, and many maps do not even have the sightlines necessary to pull this achievement off (you, Lery’s!) I recommend Midwich (big hallways), Ormond, Father Campell’s Chapel/Disturbed Ward, any Macmillan, Autohaven, or Thompson farm maps, or Borgo. I had the most consistent luck on Midwich and Ormond.
A good way to farm progress on this achievement is to down survivors who are waiting for you at the exit gate. Survivors typically enjoy being little at the exit gate and showing off their pro dodging skills, so they should hang around as you hurl hatchets at them from long range. Score a few downs this way when you get a chance!
Fun fact: while doing this achievement, I went against a Fog Whisperer. They were angry because I had camped a 3 gen with a survivor hooked inside it, and spent their stream ranting at me and accusing me of “cowardice” because I was maintaining distance from the exit gate and didn’t want to see them leave (actually I was trying for this achievement and chucking hatchets at long range while they teabagged.) This was my first encounter with a Fog Whisperer, and to say it was disappointing would be an understatement. No, I don’t remember who it was, and I wouldn’t tell you even if I did.
Smoked
Down 100 survivors afflicted by the Afterpiece Tonic as Clown. This one really isn’t difficult. Just bring extra bottle addons so you can make sure you have enough that you can insure intoxication on the survivor before the final hit.
Speed Kills
Hit 30 survivors with Lethal Rush as Blight. I suck as Blight, but I would still say this is easy. There are plenty of tutorials on flicks and techs if you want to get fancy or better at hitting consistently with his power. Lilith Omen I believe is considered the go-to Blight guru.
Swirling Death
Throw 1000 hatchets as Huntress. Yet another old and tedious Huntress achievement. Hope you like listening to her song!
Killer Achievements, Part 6
Tag Team
As the Twins, down 10 survivors while Victor is latched on to them. Fairly simple, although this is not typically considered optimal play – usually you want to secure the first hit with Charlotte and then down them with Victor. Here, I would recommend unleashing Victor from a medium distance (so, not during chase) and then latching on to a survivor. They are Oblivious while Victor is on them, and will not know where you are. Cut them off as they break away to either take Victor hostage or frantically figure out where you are so they can make distance.
Tear Their Soul Apart
As the Cenobite, hit survivors with your Possessed Chain 50 times. His power can take some getting used to, and can be quite difficult to aim, but I assure you this is not difficult. Note that Chain Hunt chains do not count – you need to administer this chain personally, with your power.
Terminal Illness
As the Plague, down 50 survivors who are affected by maximum sickness. This will come pretty naturally – just puke on them until they are broken, then whack ’em. Rinse and repeat. Wait – actually, don’t rinse.
Texas BBQ
Hook 25 survivors in the basement. Way to lean into the stereotype, BHVR. Bring Agitation if you want to get progress on this one more consistently.
The Grand Sacrifice
Sacrifice all four survivors during a trial. You’ll get this one if you play. Eventually. Just don’t mori anyone!
The Grind
Hit 100 survivors with Hillbilly’s chainsaw. Hillbilly is hard to play, so this can actually seem daunting. I recommend bringing Lo-Pro chains so you can hit people through dropped pallets and make this easier. I also recommend bringing the green chains addon that reduces the stun penalty on colliding with something, because if you are not used to Hillbilly, you will be doing that a lot.
Backrevving (getting directly behind someone and charging your chainsaw) is the most consistent way for beginners to land chainsaw hits. Don’t worry about snipes and curves.
The Man Behind the Bush
Stalk survivors for a total of 300 Evil Within tier ups as the Shape. Possibly the worst and most tedious of BHVR’s “We Have No Idea What We Are Doing” era. You can only get 5-6 tier ups per round, so you’re going to be playing dozens of rounds as the Shape, which can get tiresome. You also do not want to bring addons that offer increased time in Tier 3 in return for requiring more stalk – this will actually reduce the number of tier ups you can get per round as you are forced to squeeze more juice from survivors. I recommend bringing addons that increase the speed at which you stalk, and nothing else. That way you can get your tier ups faster, and hopefully maximize the number of tier ups you can get per game.
Totally Vulnerable
Down 50 marked survivors as Ghostface. This is going to take you a few games, but trust me, survivors will not see you coming for that first down.
Tools of the Trade
Achieve a Merciless Victory as killer 5 times with only 3 General Killer perks equipped. This is actually pretty annoying, since it is forcing you to 4k repeatedly with only a handful of mediocre perks. NOED is one of your only solid options here, along with Fearmonger and Jolt. Monstrous Shrine is still a joke. Bitter Murmur is okay. Just pick a strong killer and do your best. Remember: three perks only! And no survivors…
Triggered
Have survivors trigger 300 traps as Hag. Ending us on a sour note, we have another “BIG NUMBER GO BRR” achievement. At least you don’t have to hit the survivors – they just need to trigger the trap. This means that you should get a few dozen points of progress per game, which is far better than most of the other “Wait, How Many 0’s?” achievements.
Map-Specific Achievements, Part 1
All Aboard
Complete the Generator on the boat in the Pale Rose. This one is fairly simple. The boat generator is a pain in the ass for the killer to chase on and will usually be ceded to pursue survivors on easier ground. Prioritize it first thing when you load in and make distance if the killer shows up. This should not take many attempts. Pay attention to where the vaults off the boat’s second floor are, and consider bringing Balanced Landing to make an easy escape.
Ancestor’s Rite
Repair the generator inside the Yamaoka Family Residence and then escape. This can actually be difficult, since it is a common killer strategy to use the residence side of the map to establish a 3/4 gen and win off of that, and the residence generator sits smack in the middle. I would recommend bringing a strong toolbox with BNP to try and blitz the middle generator as soon as possible. Expect company – when the killer shows up, leave out the *front* of the residence and try to throw them off by going to the other side of the map before returning to the generator as soon as possible. Odds are they will not pursue and instead check the other two/three generators on that side and get into a chase there.
As far as escaping, Yamaoka Estate is fairly survivor sided so long as you do not get three genned. A hatch escape is possible to get this achievement. Once you complete the residence generator, your odds of survival should go up sharply. The middle of the map has the weakest loops, so try to stick close to either shack or either side of the residence if you get into chase, only leaving when the pallets are gone/windows are blocked.
Campbell’s Chapel’s Legacy
Complete the generator inside Campbell’s Chapel and escape. Fairly simple. Bring Balanced Landing so you can abuse the main building properly and make sure you know where the vaults are on the first floor. This is a very survivor-sided map thanks to the strength of its main building, and running Balanced Landing means even the upper floor windows that do not have a vault become a means of escape. Make sure you keep on eye on both sides of the main generator – the killer usually comes in through the window rather than the stairs.
Cherish Your Life
Complete the bathroom generator on the Game and escape. I still believe the Game is survivor-sided, but this is a risky generator to complete. The killer can either drop in through the hole or come in through the door, and if they come in through the door you will most likely take a hit. If you go down, the generator is also right next to the basement, which is absolutely *lethal* on this map. This generator is very well-known since it is a guaranteed spawn and frequently comes with a totem, so survivors are drawn to it. Expect traffic if the killer cannot find anybody.
If you’re worried about getting cornered, consider running Quick and Quiet + Head On to make use of the bathroom’s lockers. That way you can dive into a locker when you hear the terror radius, stun the killer, and then round the corner into the basement hallway which has two very strong pallets. Once you get out of the bathroom, you’re golden, since there are so many pallets nearby.
Once the generator is complete, the sliding door to the right will open, making the room much easier to enter and leave, but also weakening the pallets. Use that part of the map to loop the killer safely if you get into a chase. If you get into a hatch situation, remember the hatch only spawns on the lower floor.
Classy Act
Repair the generator in either the Music room or Chemistry Lab on Midwich Elementary and then escape. Since you have two generators to pick from, odds are you will get this achievement just by playing on Midwich enough times. Simply do your best to survive and don’t worry about prioritizing this achievement – you’re most likely going to get it without trying. General Midwich survival tips include not running Lithe (very few vaults) and using Windows of Opportunity to avoid ending up in a classroom without a pallet. Shadowstep and Circle of Healing are very strong picks here since they cover two floors at once. Avoid the courtyard in the center of the map if at all possible, since there is rarely much to work with beyond using the hedges to obstruct killer visibility. Remember that the hatch only spawns on the bottom floor *or* the landings of the staircases.
Cottage Owner
Repair the generator on top of the main building in Mother’s Dwelling and escape. Mother’s Dwelling is a ludicrously massive map and the main generator is very difficult to access for the killer, meaning they will usually give up unless they are the Nurse or have a ranged attack that can harass survivors on the gen. Bring Balanced Landing to swing things even further in your favor. This is a very easy challenge, and you will probably get it without trying – the middle generator on this map is already a beacon to survivors, and killers do not want to deal with the absurdly strong windows in main building.
Flight to Freedom
Complete the middle generator on Eyrie of Crows and escape. Eyrie of Crows is already degenerate, and the middle generator is surrounded by strong windows and an upstairs with strong pallets. Bring Balanced Landing (seeing a pattern?) and Circle of Healing/Shadowstep and turn the main building into your own personal clubhouse. If the killer DCs after you complete the main generator, you still get the achievement. This one really isn’t difficult.
Map-Specific Achievements, Part 2
Grim Pilgrimage
Complete the generator in the middle of the Sanctum of Wrath and then escape. Every Sanctum of Wrath game is defined by the struggle for the middle generator, which is critical for the killer maintaining most 3 gens and also offers an excellent view of survivor’s movements throughout the map. There are strong drop offs again, so bring Balanced Landing. Also bring a strong toolbox because you are going to be fighting nonstop over that middle generator. I do *not* recommend using the toolbox right away, because the killer is inevitably going to force you off the gen. Instead, use it as a mains to brute force the remainder of the progress if you know the killer is involved in another chase. Prove Thyself and Potential Energy (build up stacks on another generator) are also good ways to blitz progress on this tightly contested generator.
As far as escaping goes, completing the generator is half the battle. Continue using Balanced Landing on the main structure and at hills to deter chases, and if you see a small squeeze between an object and some bamboo, play it safe and go around – the fat shaming is infamous on this map.
Haeomophobia
Escape from Disturbed Ward without losing a single drop of blood – this means you cannot get injured even once. Medkits and second chance perks are pointless – you need a setup that discourages contact with the killer altogether. For that reason, bring a Skeleton Key with Blood Amber and Prayer Beads so you can track the killer and keep your distance. My recommended perk setup would be: Sprint Burst, Open Handed, Windows of Opportunity, Kindred/Fogwise/Alert. You can also run Built to Last and keep reusing your key instead of any of those last three perks. This way you can vacate quickly, know where the pallets are (predrop EVERYTHING), have massive aura reading range on your key, and have consistent tracking on the killer.
The main building of Disturbed Ward is brutal and you should use it as much as possible. Windows of Opportunity should show you where the critical vaults are, and you have 4-5 strong pallets to predrop if chased. Try not to exhaust the buildings’ resources too quickly or too early in the match, and try to let others complete the central generator, because the killer will be frequenting it.
Once you make it to an exit gate, open it and leave. Do not risk this achievement, because it is a righteous pain in the ass in solo queue. Let your teammates do the bleeding!
House of Pain
Complete the generator in the main building in Haddonfield and escape. Confusingly, the House of Pain we usually refer to is actually the building with the generator in the lower level with accompanying pallet on one side – but this achievement wants you to complete the generator inside the big building. Fortunately, the building is very strong. Unfortunately, there is a very popular and highly visible generator outside the front entrance that the killer will be checking often.
Unlike most other examples of strong mains, the reworked Haddonfield arguably rewards Lithe more than Balanced Landing, but Balanced Landing is still very strong on any of the buildings on the map. Try to avoid the streets as much as possible, and get into a favorable position as soon as you hear a terror radius. Finding survivors at the beginning of a match on this map is a pain as killer, so I also recommend Distortion in case they have Lethal Pursuer. Trust me, failing a massive mess up on your part, they won’t find you first if you bring Distortion. Hatch on this map is unpredictable but usually seems to spawn on or close to the street.
Old West Oasis
Complete the generator atop the Dead Dawg Saloon and escape. Look, even though the map is small and generally popular with killers, no one likes dealing with Dead Dawg’s main building. It has about eight different breakable walls and several strong vaults. Survivors can see you coming from any direction. This generator usually gets completed early and with minimal contest from most killers. Focus on this generator early so you can complete it before someone else does, and then focus on just surviving. Try to pick a survivor with cosmetics that blend into dark backgrounds and use Bite the Bullet and medkits to hide in bushes. Use Windows of Opportunity to bamboozle killers in the looping maze next to the water tower. It’s not hard. Balanced Landing optional.
Operation: Survival
Complete the generator in the main operating room in Lery’s and escape. This one is tricky just because this is the only generator where everyone knows where it is, and it is also quite central. If someone else gets an early extended chase, get this one done fast. Otherwise, clear off, because this is the first place the killer will check. This is another case where I recommend bringing BNP and a strong toolbox because you are going to be on a timer whenever you are on this generator for the killer showing up. This is another map where Windows of Opportunity comes in clutch because, while the map is claustrophobic and confusing, it also chains together windows like no other map does, and Windows will let you exploit that to its fullest. Finally, note wherever basement is and do *not* get downed near it. Basement in the main room is easily patrolled and frequently camped, while the office basement is very difficult to get in and out of unscathed due to its limited exits.
Outbreak Breakout, Part 1
“Open the exit gate and escape from either of the 2 Raccoon City Maps 20 times.”
Yes, this bastard gets its own section. This was the achievement that made me finally break down and ask the Reddit mods on the DBD subreddit for the Platinum flair, because me if BHVR ever releases an achievement like this again. It also inspired the creation of this guide, so that I can spare others some of the suffering I inflicted upon myself.
On the face of the description, it does not look that bad. Survivors escape maps all the time, and RPD has a reputation for being infuriating for killers to play in, right? Well, there’s two wrinkles. The first is that, you don’t need to escape the RPD, you need to *open an exit gate and escape.* There’s a massive difference there in terms of both player input and the likelihood of this happening. Hatch does not count. We cannot rat our way through this by laying low and escaping with a key. We need to get those gates open and escape, which means keeping other survivors alive … although this also means running the risk of letting *those* rat get the achievement progress instead if they open the gate first! Infuriating! And we can’t bully the killer into disconnecting, either (pretty easy with Boon: Shadowstep.) Although, shame on you for even considering that!
The second wrinkle is that both RPDs are actually pretty killer-favored. The East Wing frequently ends with a disgusting three gen, while the West Wing offers a bit more leeway for hiding and looping. It’s still pretty easy to get lost on the map if you are unfamiliar with it, but if the killer *is* familiar with it, expect to be cut off unexpectedly as the killer anticipates your escape routes and takes a shortcut down a staircase or around another hallway.
How can we win, when fools can be kings?
Before we discuss strategy, let’s look at the outcome we want. Open exit gate and escape. There are actually three ways for the game to count this, although we should only strive for one.
1. You open the exit gate and then escape. Self-explanatory. I do not recommend 99ing the gates in this instance. Open that sucker immediately and then either leave or save teammates. If you 99, odds are someone else will open it. I have had this happen.
2. You open the exit gate and escape through hatch. Excessive, but amusing. Yes, the game counts this since the wording is “open an exit gate” (which you did) and then “escape” (you did that as well!) I cannot plausibly see a tactical reason for doing this, however it could potentially give you an out if you open the gate, double back to save someone, and then everyone else leaves while the killer is on your ass. If that happens, take the hatch with no remorse!
3. You opened the exit gate and then the killer disconnected. Yes, this really counts – it happened to me. This is another reason should open the gate ASAP instead of 99ing. If the killer disconnects before you open that door, you get no progress!
Badges. Lots of badges.
First, we’re gonna need a lot of these. Every time you are in a survivor bloodweb, look for these. Then buy them. Buy every single one. We’re going to need them. If you’re playing solo queue normally, feel free to ask others to burn this map offering if they have them. I’ve had others ask me after I was done with the challenge (another reason I’m writing this) and I was happy to oblige. Can’t hurt to ask!
If you have a main already, just buy the offerings on them. If not, consider picking a smaller, quieter survivor so that you can hide in dark patches and avoid the killer. A P3 Claudette would be the go to for this. I did the challenge on a wide range of survivors, but I bought most of my offerings (and subsequently got most of my progress) on shirtless David, so don’t take cosmetic optimization too seriously.
Perks, or “thank God this is not an Adept as well”
I highly recommend these three:
Distortion will not only enable you to stay the hell out of the killer’s way, it will also give you invaluable information on their build. The most critical reason to include it is to counter Lethal Pursuer – avoiding an early game chase and potential tunnel/camp is critical. If you see the perk trigger at the game’s start, stay away from your teammates! Also remember that while the perk is active, you leave no scratch marks, so RUN LIKE HELL!
Wake Up does two very important things. The first is that it opens the exit gate faster, which is our primary objective. The second is that it will permanently highlight the two exit gate locations, which is very useful if you are unfamiliar with the map or were in chase when the gate icons were highlighted. Ordinarily I would not recommend this perk over say, something like Dead Hard, but since our objective is rather specific, it helps to A. do it faster and B. beat both the killer and/our teammates to the alternative gate if the main gate is unavailable due to either being already open or a murderous psychopath forbidding its use.
This is already a meta perk, so it does not need much of an explanation. The heal is very helpful if you are injured and especially if you are in chase, but the speed boost is where it is at. Five seconds of sprint burst greatly increases your chances of making it to an exit gate first before another survivor does, in addition to outrunning the killer. I generally did not run an exhaustion perk while I did this challenge, so the 40 seconds of exhaustion did not hamper me in any way.
Your fourth slot is free, although I generally went with Botany Knowledge to complement my extremely strong medkit. Sole Survivor is an interesting choice, since it can assist with stealth and speed up opening exit gates if you are the last person standing, however waiting for a killer to close hatch while you stand next to an exit gate is awkward. I never successfully escaped while using this perk, and I think it hedges too hard on an unfavorable scenario. I think Wake Up does its job better.
The obvious pick would be an exhaustion perk. If you know how to use Dead Hard, cool, use it. I think Sprint Burst would be better for the average solo queuer since it allows you to make massive distance before the killer arrives and discourages chase. There aren’t many great places to Lithe in RPD, so I do not recommend it. RPD is very multi level, so Balanced Landing is a good choice, but it is not going to do much in the main hallway, which is where most of the struggle will take place.
Prove Thyself is risky but useful for finishing one of the central gens. Kindred will provide both you and your teammates very valuable information. I would go for a “comfort” perk for the fourth slot. Whatever lets you feel better about this awful challenge.
Outbreak Breakout, Part 2
Okay, but what do I do with my hands
Item selection is simple. Since we have to escape through an exit gate, and we are using Wake Up to see their location at all times, keys and maps are out. Flashlights are for Youtubes and wannabes. That just leaves medkits and toolboxes.
While you *can* go the Brand New Part/Hyperfocus/Stake Out combo and bust out one of the middle gens very quickly, I found it much more valuable to have reliable healing on hand. For this reason, I would recommend bringing the Purple Medkit with as many charges as possible. If you bring Gel Dressings + Bandages and use Botany Knowledge as your fourth perk, you will have three heals at +50% speed, which is tremendous. You also heal teammates at +50% speed which, you know, bonus.
Actual gameplay
Killers usually make a beeline for the main hallway when they first spawn, so try not to jump on a generator right away. Wait for the killer to make an appearance and scope out the area, then get on a gen when they leave.
The Upstairs West Hallway (outside the S.T.A.R.S. office) gen is a very common spawning point for survivors and is usually completed early. It is also very commonly the first area swept by killers after they check the main hallway. If you spawn here, I advise leaving immediately.
The West Wing bathroom generator is high traffic. It is easily accessed from the main hallway and will be checked frequently. It may also be part of a three gen. It is very easy to take hits here since you have to leave the room through either the floor (which means a stagger) or out through the hallway (running without pallets or windows for several seconds.) Leave as soon as you hear a terror radius.
A generator often spawns in the safety deposit room of the West Wing. This is usually pretty out of the way and safely completed. Try to save it until later, since I usually only saw it get patrolled either in the early game if the killer can’t find anyone, or the late game when it is one of the very last generators remaining.
The West Upstairs Office generator is nice and secluded, and comes with a strong loop built in. There is also a totem under the desk that makes for a great boon. It can be safely completed later because it is both out of the way and a pain in the ass for the killer to chase in.
The West Hallway gen may be easily accessed from the main hallway, but it is not readily visible. It can be safely completed later and makes for a very weak three gen.
The main hurdle you need to overcome is the three gen. If the killer is both knowledgeable of the map and pissed, it is possible they will stake out the two main hallway gens and one other close by generator and refuse to move. If they also have Eruption, you’re probably screwed. Fortunately, only one in maybe thirty killers will do this. You need to somehow coordinate with your teammates to split focus on one-three of these gens until one of them is eventually finished. Again, against Eruption and in solo queue, this may be impossible.
Once one of the main hallway generators is complete, your job gets a lot easier. Keep a low profile and try to pick generators that are isolated. If a generator spawned on the library ledge (only possible on RPD East Wing) this is a good pick, although you have very few options if the killer does come calling.
The East Office has two generator spawn locations, but I didn’t see them that often. They are very easily accessed from the main hallway, however killers typically have an aversion to chasing survivors in that area due to the strength of the loops. These can be safely done later.
Killers usually head to the Helicopter Rooftop after the main hallway, since survivors usually spawn there, and in great numbers. If you spawn there, I highly suggest leaving immediately, because you’re going to have company.
A generator usually spawns in the forward courtyard which comes with two reasonable loops close by, so it’s a good early pick since you should have a lot of warning if the killer is coming.
The Interrogation Room generator is an ABSOLUTE pain in the ass, and I very rarely saw it get done. Despite it being equipped with a very strong vault, it is highly visible and has multiple avenues of entry and basically nowhere to hide. I would advise trying to get it done early, because if it is one of the last generators standing and you’re down one or more teammates, you are going to have a bad time.
After repeated abuse by survivors, the Library second floor has been sealed off. Good riddance. The Library is available on both versions of the RPD. but features only a single moderately strong loop. Survivors usually only run here when they have nowhere else to go, and generally the library becomes a place where survivors die, more than anything else. Try to avoid being here, unless you have Balanced Landing.
Map-Specific Achievements, Part 3
Outrun the Overlap
Complete the generator in the main building of the Garden of Joy and escape. Garden of Joy is notoriously awful for killer. The generator is right next to a window drop, so bring Balanced Landing. Killers hate fighting for this generator, so you’re unlikely to have company past the early game. Frankly, consider bringing a strong toolbox so you can get this generator done before anyone else does or the killer disconnects – the map (and main building) really are that oppressive.
Raccoon City Recruit
Refer to Outbreak Breakout section. If you are on the RPD, whether on purpose or by chance, you should focus on Outbreak Breakout instead of this. Trust me, you will spend more than enough time on the RPD to get this achievement.
Rebuilding the Borgo
Repair the generator in the main building in Shattered Borgo and escape. I still have not had much of an opportunity to play on this map, but I can confirm it is large and scratch marks are hard to see. This generator comes next to a strong window drop, so bring Balanced Landing. It is also pretty central and serves as a major landmark on an otherwise dull map, so the killer will be dropping by often. I recommend bringing a strong toolbox and Prove Thyself, because your teammates will be gravitating to this generator as well. Consider bringing Lightweight to further bamboozle the killer if they are pursuing you, especially if they are colorblind – seriously, this maps’ color palette is awful.
Shock Therapy
Complete the generator on the top floor of Disturbed Ward’s main building and escape. Refer to the section on Haemophobia for some tips on abusing the main building. The killer will be checking this generator fairly regularly, so bring a toolbox. I actually would recommend Lithe or Sprint Burst over Balanced Landing here, because you can lead killers on a merry chase inside the main building pretty easily, while dropping out of it will encourage the killer to follow because, hey, you might be zooming away, but at least you’re not in main anymore. This one should come pretty easily – Disturbed Ward’s main building is among the most degenerate in the game. Just don’t go down next to basement if it spawns in main…
Shrine Apparatus
Complete the generator on the bottom floor of Temple of Purgation and escape. Unlike many other examples, this one actually takes place on a lower floor rather than an upper, and the killer has more entrances than you do exits. Killers can also hear generator progress through the floor upstairs, so you really will not have much privacy. Balanced Landing is still useful for dropping off the main building, but you are probably better off using Sprint Burst and getting off the generator and up the stairs.
If you do complete the gen, it actually opens a gate and makes a very strong pallet available. Very useful for leading the killer on an extended chase after the generator is done. There’s also a chest in there, if you’re desperate. Aside from the main building, the Temple spawns a lot of strong loops. So long as you’re not up against a killer that can hit you over low walls (Nemesis, Trickster, Huntress) this is a fairly simple map to escape from … but you’re going to be very exposed while working on main.
Unforgettable Getaway
Complete the generator in the main building on Ormond and escape. I actually really like this map as both killer and survivor, but I will acknowledge that the main building can be tough to deal with, and this generator will be a fight for both sides. The killer is going to be checking this generator *constantly,* but usually will not pay it much mind at the very beginning of the match, since survivors do not spawn in middle and this generator is easy to check. For that reason, I recommend going Toolbox Gremlin mode, bringing Distortion, and getting to this generator as fast as possible. Prove Thyself may be a good idea as well, since this generator frequently gets double teamed.
Surviving on Ormond after that isn’t hard, since there are a lot of strong pallets. If you’re not familiar with main building, bring Windows of Opportunity, since there are a lot of plays you can make there. Balanced Landing will let you abuse both main building and the ski shack, but you will probably get by just as fine with Dead Hard or Sprint Burst.
Survivor Adept Guidelines and General Tips, Part 1
The good news is that the survivors adepts are much, much easier than the killer adepts. If you load into a match with your adept loadout and the killer immediately disconnects, congratulations, instant achievement. The requirement is only that you escape, and between DCs, hatch, and the exit gates, you have several avenues to do so.
The bad news, of course, is that you cannot choose your perks, a handful of which can be actively detrimental. Compared to your average match of solo queue, you are going to have an even smaller amount information and fewer second chances, and honestly that prospect alone can be pretty terrifying. But don’t worry, I’m higher to administer that hopium. That sweet, sweet hopium. Hold the still.
Dress for Success
Select darker clothing cosmetics where possible. Prestige outfits generally darken default outfits thanks to all the blood, so equip them if they are available and nothing better presents itself. Some Legendary Cosmetics actually quieten the survivor (!) but outside of Sheva Alomar I’m not sure there are any other candidates. Overall, you want to keep as low a profile as possible. If a killer is looking across Autohaven Wreckers and sees a shirtless man with blue paint splashed across his torso, that killer will feel something. Fear at your audacity. Possibly arousal. And then they will try to kill you, while Claudette will hide in a bush. Please review this guide and act accordingly.
I believe in fair play. I do not bring map offerings unless there is an achievement involved. I Task Manager as killer if someone tries to send me to Garden of Joy. However, there is an achievement involved. The stakes are low, but measurable. We have to resort to scummy tactics.
If the killer quits while the map is loading, you are refunded your offering, so just try again. If you load in and they immediately DC, congratulations, you just traded a map offering for an achievement. Now *never* bring that map again!
If the game does play out normally, then you are at a sizable advantage because, fortunately for us, the DBD map team is awful at their jobs. Here are the offerings to bring:
If you *maybe* want a fair game with also decent odds of getting a strong map, pick Azarov’s Key. Blood Lodge and especially Gas Heaven are very survivor sided, while the rest are pretty balanced. Picking this offering is highly unlikely to offend the killer, and probably good for your karma. Let’s be honest, if you play DBD, your karma could probably use all the help it could get.
Only Torment Creek is remotely balanced. There is corn everywhere, making it incredibly easy to hide. Fractured Cowshed is one of the most busted maps in the game, and only standard solo queue (such as idiot Quentins suiciding on first hook) will give the killer an easy win. This is a dirty map offering to select, and you should feel bad. But it is reliable, especially if the killer has trouble seeing in corn (R.I.P. Onryo.)
The best odds of giving the killer a balanced game, and the offering you should feel least guilty about. However, it does carry the chance of giving you Sheltered Woods, which sometimes only spawns with about half a dozen pallets, and whose main building is literally just a tree. If you feel bad for something you did, feel free to bring this offering, but I’m only including it because it is fair. I would not recommend it if you are truly concerned with getting an achievement.
A classic! Any killer who sees this will instantly develop a grudge. Haddonfield still has a handful of infinites and it is very difficult for most killers to find survivors in the early game. The streets are pretty dangerous, but all the houses can be looped very easily, and you still have the house of pain. This is a strong choice, and some killers will seriously struggle here. Instant pick for the Nea Adept, for obvious reasons.
I would look askance at anyone who picked this. This is the sleeper option for those who are truly evil. Badham is a bad time. If you are truly committed to your adept and you don’t care about the killer having anything close to a good time, pick this. Hatch can be hard to find on Badham, but that is about the only downside. Pallets regularly spawn around shack, and you have the house of pain. I will think less of you if you pick this. Badham is not the last resort of the desperate, it is the first resort of the sadistic.
Otzdarva rated this map as killer favored, but I am still going to politely disagree. It is just too easy to chain pallets, even without Windows of Opportunity. Some killers will really struggle here, while others will do fine – Artist and Nurse come to mind. Of course, when doesn’t the Nurse do fine? This is always a solid pick. Remember that hatch always spawns on the bottom floor!
A monument to the map design team’s sins, this map is massive, has an extremely exploitable main building, and tiles are easy to chain. It got nerfed recently and I *still* recommend it. Eyrie has been the go-to “have a bad time” map offering for survivors since its release and that is unlikely to change. If you are unsure of what map to pick for your adept, Eyrie is always a safe bet. It has everything.
One of the most recent pieces of evidence that map design remains BHVR’s biggest weakness, Garden of Joy is disgusting. The main building has multiple exploitable windows, the streets are littered with pallets (which shack easily chains into), and the bushes have wonky hitboxes that can throw off certain killers. Also, the upstairs of the main building is extremely dark and can be hidden inside. Garden of Joy is complete, and thus a solid pick for any adept, provided you can withstand the cost to your soul.
Survivor Adept Guidelines and General Tips, Part 2
Bring the right tools
Obviously item selection is important, since unlike your perks, you actually have a choice on what to bring. Each Survivor Adept has a recommended item, however I will give a brief overview of what to bring (along with addons) here.
Medkits are the most obvious pick. Solo queue healing is sometimes a dubious prospect, so it makes sense to look out for number one. Brown and yellow medkits are the cheap options, but this is not the time to cheap out. Let’s look at our two better options.
The Emergency (green) Medkit offers one very fast self heal, which is invaluable when a killer may be barreling down on you after an unhook. On its own, it is useful, but not invaluable. It is only when we add Gel Dressings (+16 charges) that it becomes exceptional, since that permits a second very fast self heal. On average, I recommend bringing this medkit with Gel Dressings and either one of the instant heal addons (Anti-Hemorrhagic Syringe or Styptic Agent) or a 15% healing speed increase addon.
The Ranger (purple) Medkit is far less common but arguably more useful. It does not increase the speed of your self heal, but it does come equipped with two full heals. I personally think speed is the more valuable asset to have for an adept challenge, but there are a handful of adepts where increasing the number of heals can be valuable, due to either the perks involved or the survivor being insufferably loud when injured. Gel Dressings is probably overkill, and an instant heal addon means burning rare resources if you use it … it’s your call.
I don’t recommend toolboxes very often in this guide, since they do not ultimately contribute much to your survival, even if they can be invaluable to your team’s overall victory. Nevertheless, if you bring one, I recommend bringing a Commodious with either a Wire Spool + Brand New Part combo, or a Wire Spool + Springs combination. The former will give you a burst of progress followed by speedy repairs, while the latter will increase your repair speed for a loooong time. Use for sabotage optional and not recommended. Overall this is a weak pick for most adepts. The other toolboxes are inferior to Commodious, and do not bear worth a mention beyond DON’T.
Not often recommended, but an interesting choice nonetheless. While it can be used for locating hexes and generators, its primary function in an adept challenge is find hatch quickly and bail. For this reason, I would recommend running a range addon and a charge addon to insure its use throughout a match and then quickly locating the egress if things go badly. The map is usually a weaker pick than a medkit, but it is far from useless.
The real dark horse, the key is underrated. On its own, it gives you a hedge against the hatch being shut, provided you can get through the opening animation unmolested. With addons, specifically these:
the key becomes an incredible aura reading tool that can detect the killer from a decent distance and either let you avoid them entirely or cancel out any mind game they might attempt. Bear in mind that you *cannot* open hatch if all charges are depleted, so try not to use this item for too long at a time! The other key addons are not really worth mentioning, but these two addons turn the key from an interesting historical factoid into the second strongest item one can bring on their adept behind a medkit. I recommend the key several times during this guide, and you should strongly consider bringing one if you are having consistent trouble with an adept.
I do not recommend the flashlight for a single survivor adept over any other item. I will not go so far as to say they are worse than bringing nothing at all, but adepts do not usually give you the tools to capitalize on flashlight blinds. If you have the experience necessary to make flashlights worthwhile, you do not need this guide, and you’re probably making videos on Youtube or Twitch. Good on you! But you don’t need me.
…no one needs me.
Don’t be a Hero
Your priority is your own survival. If it comes down between saving someone from a facecamping Bubba or opening the exit gate, OPEN THE EXIT GATE AND BAIL. Let idiots complain, you are here for those sweet achievements. There will be time for thrilling heroics once you are not stuck to three perks only that you did not choose. Don’t go for sabo plays or flashlight saves. Do gens, escape chases, heal your wounds.
That being said, most of the time your own survival is going to hinge on your teammates. Don’t be a sandbagging coward either! If you know you are clear for a save and no one else is likely to, go for it! The more survivors alive, the more gens get done, the more likely you don’t have to scrounge for hatch while the Huntress’s humming gets louder and louder. This also does not mean forgoing healing your teammates in favor of gens – it just means prioritizing the objectives and your own survival over what might usually be considered good etiquette, such as attempting endgame saves.
Ultimately, it is up to you what your limits are, but after enduring a few hours of solo queue, I assure you that the human impulse of altruism will begin to subside.
Survivor Adepts – Dwight, Meg, Claudette, Jake, Nea, Laurie
Pros: Strong info perk, Leader is a general workhorse, can fly through gens
Cons: No exhaustion perk
Recommended item: Medkit
Fittingly for *the* starting character, Dwight has it pretty easy. Bond will give you an excellent idea of where your teammates are at all times, which is very handy for both avoiding the killer and seeking healing. Speaking of which, Leader means they will also heal you faster than usual at 12 seconds rather than 16! Double up on gens wherever possible to exploit Prove Thyself, one of the must busted survivor perks in the game, and make sure to let someone else do the exit gate while you stand next to them; Leader boosts the exit gate opening speed by 25%! If you are enjoying a standard sweat-free match of DBD, this one should come pretty easily – Leader is the only perk Dwight has that is not meta, and even then I think you will find it surprisingly helpful. Just try to avoid getting in chases if you can – your build is most useful when paired with other survivors well out of the action.
Pros: Two meta perks, one of which is arguably the best exhaustion perk in the game
Cons: Meg
Recommended item: Medkit
Probably the easiest adept overall. Sprint Burst will allow you create sizable distance from a killer, even in a dead zone, while Adrenaline can come in clutch if in chase as the last generator is finished, or if you are unhooked after the last generator is finished. The only dud is Quick and Quiet, which ordinarily would be paired with Head On, and even then it can be used for a silent locker entry to bamboozle a killer. Since your primary goal is survival, try to use your Sprint Burst lead to take the killer to difficult structures such as main or shack. They will either have to endure a difficult chase or, more ideally, leave you for a target that is easier to catch. Try to discourage chases, but feel free to get braver once you are down to the final generator.
Pros: Good information, infinite self healing, fast healing
Cons: No chase perks, Self Care can be a trap
Recommended item: Medkit
Another easy one. Healing in solo queue can be a bit precarious, but Claudette will never lack for wound treatment! Botany Knowledge does not speed up Self Care as much as you might think (it’s not a flat +50% speed bonus unfortunately) so you should still bring a medkit with as many charges as possible to counteract Botany Knowledge’s downside. Prioritize healing others when you can, since your heals will be very quick, but don’t go out of your way to be a hero and hook trade. And it goes without saying, wear the darkest colors in your Claudette’s wardrobe!
Pros: Iron Will is better than you think, Calm Spirit will reduce overall map profile
Cons: Not remotely stealthy, no chase perks, Saboteur will get you killed, Calm Spirit is awful
Recommended Item: Medkit, Alex’s Toolbox if you’re really committed to Saboteur
Time was, packs of Jakes roamed the Realm saboing every hook they saw, but no longer! Jake’s perks have some incidental bonuses that you probably will not intentionally capitalize on (most survivors do not worry about setting off crows) but at least you cannot accidentally turn off Iron Will by getting exhausted. If you get into chase and get wounded, try to break line of sight as much as possible since the killer will have trouble hearing you. Capitalize on the effect by wearing dark clothes and hiding in dark corners (upstairs main of the Garden of Joy is perfect!) Calm Spirit will slow down totem cleansing and box opening, but you shouldn’t be doing that anyway. Jake does not have a lot going for him, but his perks are not actively detrimental to his survival. Avoid the killer as much as possible and for the love of God, don’t go for Saboteur plays unless it is a matter of life and death.
Pros: Built-in exhaustion perk, stealthy
Cons: Killers hate Neas! Some maps render Balanced Landing unusable
Recommended Item: Medkit, Toolbox if confident
This is another easy one. Balanced Landing is an excellent chase extender and a good way to lose a killer entirely if you start the chase with it. Try to bring a map offering with a lot of drop offs (Haddonfield is a classic, but the Game is also very good – avoid MacMillan and Autohaven). Urban Evasion is mostly a gimmick perk but it can be used in chase to avoid certain killers’ projectile attacks (Plague, Huntress, Nemesis) around loops. Using it to stealth around is valid, although it may attract mockery. Streetwise will greatly extend the shelf life of a toolbox, so if you are feeling confident in your chase skills, bring a Commodius with a Wire Spool and Springs and go to town on the gens. Overall, so long as you bring a map with a bit of elevation to it, Nea should be untouchable compared to the majority of survivors doing their adepts.
Pros: Somewhat resistant to tunneling
Cons: You are constantly broadcasting your location to the killer
Recommended Item: Key, Medkit
Decisive Strike and Object of Obsession are shadows of what they once were, and the latter is going to be an active liability as it reveals your location every thirty seconds. The aura may eventually be blocked by Sole Survivor if teammates start dying, but that’s not going to be much of a comfort. I do not recommend doing Laurie Strode early in your DBD career – you are going to get into chases and you will be unable to shake the killer forever. Do not be afraid to use Decisive Strike as soon as you get the opportunity – it will deactivate in the endgame. Try to use it near a pallet or window as well, since it now only stuns for three seconds. If you’re lucky, the killer will recognize you are doing an Adept and take it easy on you, but I would not count on it. You may not get an opportunity to use a medkit, so consider bringing a key with Blood Amber to assist in chase as well as provide a possible out if you are somehow the Final Girl. Try not to do generators with other survivors, since you are going to be an absolute magnet throughout the entire game.
Survivor Adepts: Ace, Bill, Feng, David, Quentin
Pros: Chests have better goodies (usually), massively extended aura reading
Cons: Your perks are mostly irrelevant
Recommended Item: Key, Map
Ace’s Adept is a fun time if you don’t take it too seriously. Dig through chests and see what you can find! Convince the other survivors to bring Salty Lips and start kobeing in the killer’s face! Use Open Handed and a Rainbow Map to find and destroy every totem before any gens are done! Roll the dice, baby! In all seriousness however, you should bring a Map or a Blood Amber Key to exploit the massive aura reading offered by Open Handed. A key would probably be superior since knowing the killer’s location or opening hatch is more important than finding generators or chests, but if you want to do some dumpster diving, feel free to bring a map. You get to keep your addons if you escape the trial, so feel free to bring the flashiest you’ve got – only to gamble it all away as you get another Nurse match.
Pros: Can see hatch’s aura, can break out of one slug, has a hell of an endgame save perk
Cons: Loud as
Recommended Item: Medkit, Key, cough syrup
Bill’s Adept is easy simply because he can see the aura of the hatch in the endgame. If your solo queue experience goes predictably wrong and you are the last loser standing, you have a massive edge over the killer when it comes to finding hatch, so long as it does not spawn directly under them. Consider bringing a key so that, if they do find it, you can still pop it open – you can still see the hatch even if it is shut. Aside from that, Bill’s perks are only good in situations you will not or should not be putting yourself into. Borrowed Time can come in clutch since it still works in the end game, but your priority should be the achievement, not pissing off the killer when they have nothing else to do but kill the person who tried to unhook in their face. Unbreakable is strong, but slugging is rare in solo queue. If you get injured, try to heal *fast* because Bill coughs constantly when injured and is among one of the easier survivors to find.
Pros: Excellent exhaustion perk, excellent info perk, Technician is embarrassingly useful, stop lying
Cons: Distinctive injured sounds
Recommended Item: Medkit
This Adept is the Adept that will make you realize how useful Alert is. You’ll be able to keep constant track of the killer as they smash walls, pallets, and generators (unless of course it is a Nurse) and Lithe is very easy to use to affect an escape. Technician will make failed skill checks hurt more, but also prevent a loud noise notification which can be very useful in the early game. Honestly, Adept Min plays itself. Just watch the funny pink aura through the walls until you hear the loud music, then vault away from the scary man/woman/doggo. My only recommendation would be to avoid maps with relatively few window vaults (The Game is the only one that comes to mind) and avoid vaulting out of high windows, since you will lose about half your speed boost on the fall and subsequent stagger.
Pros: Dead Hard
Cons: No Mither
Recommended Item: Key
Probably the most infamous adept, and with good reason. You will spend the entire match injured, and the killer will be aware of this. If they’re a bastard, expect an early tunnel that you will most likely not survive. Dead Hard can buy you some time, but the fact of the matter is your chase is going to take half as long as usual on average. Use your Blood Amber key and reduced noise to maneuver in high wall loops around the killer as much as possible, and make distance whenever you can. Some killers will suspect a No Mither David is doing their adept and spare them accordingly, but it would be foolish to count on this. There is not an awful lot I can say about this challenge – time your Dead Hard at pallets or windows when you can, stay away from the killer as much as possible, and don’t be a hero. Maybe warn your teammates (if they can read your chat) that you are doing your David Adept, just so they are aware.
Pros: Guaranteed green medkits, fast exit gate open
Cons: One of your perks only really helps your teammates
Recommended Item: Medkit, Map
Pharmacy means you don’t have to bring a medkit if you don’t want to – you’ll always be able to scrounge a green one out of a chest if you’re injured (but ONLY if you are injured! This also applies to the chest opening speed.) Vigil is only going to be relevant to you if killers bring expose perks, but it is nice to have. Wake Up will let you know where the exit gates are at all times and will tell the other players that you are on a gate, which is honestly underrated. Quentin has a fairly bog standard adept, with only Pharmacy opening up any potential gameplay changes – feel free to bring a map to find chests and use the perk in lieu of bringing your own medkit. Try to stay close to the exit gate once you hit the last gen, so you can get it open as fast as possible.
Survivor Adepts: Tapp, Kate, Adam, Jeff, Jane
Pros: Excellent info perk, gens will go a little faster
Cons: No exhaustion perk
Recommended Item: Medkit
Technically you can bring a Map and it will record everything you see through Detective’s Hunch, but I think that would be overkill. Just bring a medkit. If you get slugged, remember that Tenacity lets you recover while moving in addition to moving a lot faster while downed, so make as much distance as you can so the killer cannot find you. You will be surprised how often this works. Stake Out will exist in the background and will likely shave off a few seconds of generator time, but it’s nothing outstanding. Tapp will only truly shine if the killer brings hex perks, in which case Detective’s Hunch will let you hunt them down. Pretty average survivor adept.
Pros: Can become unhookable in certain scenarios, has one of the best looping perks
Cons: No exhaustion perk, killers really hate Boil Over
Recommended Item: Medkit
Kate’s Adept is pretty simple thanks to Windows of Opportunity. Seriously, that perk is so good. No more guessing which side of the loop the pallet is on, or where the next tile is! Windows will tell you all of this at a glance. Even if you’ve got a Nemesis on your ass from the very beginning of the game, you should be able to run him for two or three gens if you start off in a favorable location. Dance With Me compounds the issue for the killer since it may throw them off for a precious few seconds when you lose your scratch marks after a fast vault. Despite the lack of an exhaustion perk, Kate’s Adept enables some truly degenerate looping courtesy of all the information she brings, which will only be compounded if you bring a strong map offering (which you should.) If you go down, try to do so in an elevated location far from the nearest hook to increase your chances of wiggling. Boil Over may outright force the killer to slug. Just bear in mind this also greatly increases the chance the killer decides to spend the rest of the match making sure *you* die in favor of any other survivor, and I cannot really blame them. Try not to be too much of a degenerate!
Pros: All his perks are a Fun/10
Cons: His perks will get you killed
Recommended Item: Medkit
Deliverance is a strong perk, but it forces you into a situation you should be ideally avoiding (unhooking another survivor) to activate, and then is only relevant in *another* situation you should be avoiding (getting hooked.) While it can definitely come in clutch, especially in end game, do not go out of your way to run across the map solely to activate the perk. Also bear in mind that Deliverance is regarded poorly by many killers, especially if the game has been going poorly for them, and unhooking in their face is suicide, guaranteeing a tunnel to second hook. Diversion is hilarious but will do nothing unless the killer feels like playing fetch, and Autodidact is addictive but TERRIBLE. Try to get stacks of it in situations where you know the killer is nowhere nearby, because regressing heals at the eleventh hour is a surefire way to kill your teammates. I should know, I have been that teammate several times! If it weren’t for Autodidact being an active hindrance, this would be a 3/5 difficulty, but since that perk seems to delight in going out of its way to outright ♥♥♥♥ you, this Adept can be a bit of a challenge. If you absolutely need someone healed fast, use your medkit instead.
Pros: Surprisingly stealthy, good information perks
Cons: Loud as, incredibly large
Recommended Item: Medkit
Distortion is underrated and counters two very common killer perks: Nowhere to Hide and Lethal Pursuer. If you start the match and hear a funny noise with Distortion lit up, keep away from your other teammates – the killer can see them, but not you, and you want to keep it that way. Countering Nowhere to Hide means you can keep close to gens and get back on them when the killer sees the “coast is clear” (snicker.) So long as you aren’t wounded, you can keep a surprisingly low profile. If you are wounded, heal ASAP because Jeff does not moan in pain, he bellows. Aftercare is also surprisingly useful since it can give you perfect info on your teammates if you heal or unhook them, and even more uniquely will give them information back! Feel free to be a bit more altruistic to exploit this. Finally, Breakdown’s primary mechanic of breaking the hook is mostly useless unless you get dumped on a Scourge Hook, but it also gives you aura reading on the killer for six seconds, which can give you the info you need to plan accordingly. Honestly, so long as he isn’t injured, Jeff’s Adept is smooth sailing, giving you a lot of map and perk knowledge all the way through.
Pros: Gorgeous
Cons: Loud, highly visible, perks are useless unless you want to piss off the killer
Recommended Item: Medkit
Head On needs Quick and Quiet to be effective, and it is a declaration of war on the killer even if you do pull it off. The only situation I can see it being effective in is if you are being pursued by a revved up Billy or Bubba. Every other situation is going to be interpreted as BM and will probably get you grabbed or at least injured. Solidarity might speed up a heal for yourself in desperate situations, but you should prioritize getting yourself healed (ideally with a medkit) since Jane is so loud. Poised is the only perk that puts in any work by hiding you from the killer for a bit after a generator is complete, but this is still so utterly marginal that I cannot give it too much praise. You can safely ignore her perks and play normally while getting slight value, which is what I would recommend doing; at least none of her perks are actively hampering your chance at survival.
Survivor Adepts: Ash, Yui, Zarina, Cheryl, Felix
Pros: Groovy.
Cons: Large, loud, useless perks
Recommended Item: Medkit
If you manage to get legitimate Mettle of Man value out of this Adept, you have my sincere congratulations. Do bear in mind that the killer has continuous aura reading on you once you’ve activated the perk and you are healthy, so don’t go out of your way to eat protection hits (you shouldn’t be doing this anyway.) Buckle Up is worthless, while Flip Flop only provides value in the rather rare situation where you are slugged and subsequently picked up rather far from the nearest hook. Try to reposition yourself accordingly to facilitate this. This is a case where I would recommend bring a purple medkit just to make sure you can heal yourself as much as possible – Ash is RIDICULOUSLY loud when injured, and he’s already highly visible thanks to his large size and propensity for brightly-colored outfits. I honestly think this Adept is harder than David’s – at least WGLF and Dead Hard are excellent perks, and No Mither at least solves the issue of David being loud! Consider asking your teammates to bring Circle of Healing and/or Exponential to increase your own odds of survival.
Pros: Perks provide solid info and make it hard for the killer to track you
Cons: Perks lack support, no exhaustion perks
Recommended Item: Medkit
None of Yui’s perks are useless, but Breakout is risky even with a full perk loadout, which we lack. Lucky Break is an absolute nightmare to deal with as killer, but the lack of Overcome or Iron Will to make additional distance or mask Yui’s profile means it may not be as effective as usual – make as much distance as you can with your speed boost, try to break line of sight, and ideally try to get hit while vaulting over a strong window or pallet so the killer takes a while to catch up; a lack of scratch marks means they will usually give up. Any Means Necessary will provide a surprising amount of information on both where people are being chased as well as where the dropped pallets are, as well as enabling the potential re-use of tiles. While ordinarily I would scold anyone planning on using Breakout for their Adept, I recall doing just as much during my own and sparing an Ash from being deposited in the basement by a Trapper, so just be careful.
Pros: Off the Record is very strong
Cons: It also turns off in the end game, Red Herring is ass, For the People will get you killed
Recommended Item: Medkit
Off the Record recently got a new lease on life which has made it one of the best survivor perks, fortunately for us. Red Herring is convoluted and low impact, don’t bother even thinking about it. For the People leaves you broken, turns you into the obsession, and is most effective when picking up a slug when the killer is nearby. In other words, exactly the kind of situation we should be avoiding. That does not mean do not use the perk, only that its use is limited to non-ideal situations. Using it when you do not have to is an active hindrance, so in all likelihood you should ignore that perk as well. Off the Record will make you resistant to tunneling but that does not mean you should get healed and then shove yourself in the killer’s face to engage in a three hit chase. Use it to dissuade the killer or extend chase, then move on. And remember: it turns off in the end game, or when you engage in a conspicuous action, which includes healing yourself! Let others heal you if you can so you can keep the endurance effect for as long as possible.
Pros: While situational, her perks are very strong in those situations
Cons: No stealthy outfits, basically no chase perks
Recommended Item: Medkit
Cheryl’s perks are *weird*. Repressed Alliance may come in clutch if you’re up against a killer with a gen kicking build, but you still need to be careful not to screw over your teammates by preventing them from finishing a critical generator. Blood Pact means you will not be the obsession, which means nothing, but it will give you and another teammate perfect information on each other, which can be useful. Don’t bother looping together to keep the 7% speed boost, it really is not that noticeable or useful unless you are trying to make a Youtube video. Soul Guard is unlikely to come into play, but is nice to have. If a hex is in play and you are slugged, consider whether you can recover fully before the killer gets back or not. If yes, remain in place, pick yourself up in front of him/her, and then zoom off after they smack you. If not, reposition so they cannot find you and try to recover somewhere else. Hexes are not as common as they used to be, but this could still come in handy.
Pros: Fast heals and unhooks, stupid number of item uses, excellent gen information
Cons: No exhaustion perk
Recommended Item: Toolbox
Yes, Built to Last is strong enough with a Toolbox that I would recommend it over a Medkit in this case. Adept Felix is still a merciless gen jockey, and Desperate Measures also means he will heal teammates pretty quickly when they come to him. You are not remotely built for chase, but you are an excellent support teammate, able to heal and unhook fast while also finishing generators in about a minute. Bring a Commodious with maxed charges and refill it as many times as you can while breaking any possible three gen by using Visionary to determine the optimal generators to complete. Fittingly for an architect, if you plan properly with this adept using the tools on hand, you should have an easy time.
Survivor Adepts: Elodie, Yun Jin, Jill, Leon, Mikaela
Pros: Perks are fun
Cons: They’re also mostly useless, Elodie makes distinctive noises, very noticeable default outfit
Recommended Item: Medkit
All three of Elodie’s perks are combo perks (Deception works best with Head On/Quick and Quiet, Appraisal works better with Plunderer’s Instinct or Pharmacy, Power Struggle needs Flip Flop) which means they are unlikely to do much during your Adept, although Deception can be fun. Appraisal should only be used if your current medkit is out of charges or your item gets hit by Franklin’s Demise. This is a case where the difference between the Adept and bringing no perks at all is fairly marginal; at least none of Elodie’s perks are outright harming you. If you get slugged, try to position yourself outside a jungle gym or somewhere where you know a pallet is a short distance away in order to free yourself. Remember: without Flip Flop, none of your recovery progress will transfer to struggle, so don’t place yourself directly under a pallet.
Pros: Has an exhaustion perk, Self Preservation is actually perfect for Adept, is bae
Cons: Worst exhaustion perk in the game, other perks are low impact, highly visible fashion victim
Recommended Item: Medkit
Yun Jin is unique in that her exhaustion perk likely will not help her very much since it is hard to activate, and almost impossible against some killers; trying to Smash Hit a Huntress or Nemesis is a recipe for disaster. Fortunately her other two perks facilitate a “gen rat” playstyle where you let other players take the hits while you slink away and power gens. Fast Track will shave off a few seconds from gens, which is more than most Adept perks can claim, and Self Preservation makes it far less likely that a killer will find you so long as other people are in chase. So long as you keep a low profile (difficult in some of her outfits) you should be able to either power the generators in peace or make a hatch play when everyone else is dead, girlboss style.
Pros: Blast Mine is hilarious and meta relevant, Resurgence has decent value, Counterforce beats Pentimento
Cons: No chase perks, distinctive outfits
Recommended Item: Medkit
Jill is a certified badass and it is an honor to have such a legendary character to play as! That being said, her perks do not do a lot to make your adept easier, unfortunately. Blast Mine is solid in this gen kick meta, but ultimately only slows the killer down while they make a mental note to kill you first. Try not to make it clear you mined the gen before it blows in their face. Resurgence means you can potentially get away with fewer charges, but I generally prefer to use medkits to heal after making distance rather than after being unhooked, so I’d still recommend the standard Green Medkit + Gel Dressings combo. Counterforce is unlikely to be relevant, but God help the killer if they brought Pentimento or a hex-based build. Note that the speed bonus increases for every totem broken, even if Pentimento puts you over the usual limit of five speed boosts. Finally, if you have the Sheva Alomar legendary skin, run that instead of the base or Claire Redfield – her injured sounds are practically nonexistent. Claire Redfield should be avoided, as she is infamously loud, in addition to wearing a bright red jacket.
Pros: Simp bait, cool brown jacket
Cons: No useful perks, highly visible, inexplicably reduces player’s IQ when played
Recommended Item: Medkit, a copy of How to Loop For Dummies
Leons have a reputation of being highly altruistic doofuses who kill their entire team on accident. Try not to perpetuate that stereotype. That being said, your perks are unlikely to make you much of an asset to the team unless you are one of those dreaded ‘bang players who can rescue teammates consistently with Flashbang. If you are, you don’t need this guide, and I probably owe you my life. Your medkit will let you get value out of Bite the Bullet (underrated perk) and you should bring as many charges as possible for that reason as well. Remember that Bite the Bullet applies to both yourself and the target you are healing if both of you are injured! Take advantage of this in desperate situations. Finally, Rookie Spirit exists. You should activate it without difficulty. If you get value out of it, congratulations, but it is a perk whose existence is forgotten about consistently for a reason. Try not to get suckered in by the allure of Flashbang unless you are super experienced.
Pros: Strong perks, built-in hatch aura read, becomes even stronger on small multi-level maps
Cons: Killers will try to kill you once they realize you brought Shadowstep
Recommended Item: Key
It’s a toss-up between Meg and Mikaela on who has the easiest Adept. Mikaela brings extremely efficient healing, a chase perk that becomes outright abusive on maps like RPD or the Game, and a third perk that is ordinarily useless, but here can be used to find hatch. For this reason, Mikaela does not even need to bring a medkit. Bring a key to reopen hatch if it gets shut, and use Clairvoyance to hunt it down. Note that you do need to be empty-handed to use Clairvoyance, so some shuttling back and forth may be necessary. Until the endgame, just use the key to track the killer and cancel out their mindgames, while simultaneously abusing Shadowstep to make it very difficult to actually be found. If you bring a map offering for a strong Shadowstep map, it is not impossible the killer will DC. Ordinarily I would discourage playing this way, but for the purposes of our Adept, this is sadly perfect. I would not anticipate much difficulty with this Adept if you play it even slightly sweaty.
Survivor Adepts: Jonah, Yoichi, Haddie, Rebecca, Ada
Pros: Good exhaustion perk
Cons: War criminal
Recommended Item: Medkit
My least favorite survivor, but at least he comes somewhat prepared with Overcome, which is honestly perfect for an adept. Just make distance and heal! Feel free to boon in a high traffic area, but don’t expect to get much mileage out of it. Corrective Action is unlikely to do much, but it can smooth out some of the usual solo queue irritation if you opt to double team a gen. Jonah makes it into the easy tier simply on the strength of the W key. So long as you don’t up and spend the speed boost careening into a log, you should have an easier time with this one than most.
Pros: Yellow Jacket Men reign supreme, heals others faster
Cons: The perks, they do nothing!
Recommended Item: Medkit
Pretty average adept. I have gotten value out of Dark Theory exactly once, and this was still on a Quad Boon; I have yet to get value out of it when it was the only boon on a totem. Boon if you like, but expecting anything to come of it is optimistic in the extreme. Just do gens instead. Parental Guidance is best used with Decisive Strike or Head On, which we obviously do not have, but it will make your pallet stuns more effective. So that’s nice. Empathetic Connection is a perk I genuinely like, an will both provide your team with solid information and (slightly) increase your healing speed on your teammates. Ten percent isn’t much, but yellow bar still goes brr. Swapping out your yellow jacket for a less visible cosmetic is blasphemy.
Pros: Decent information perk, can speed up gens slightly
Cons: No chase perks
Recommended Item: Medkit
Even with Residual Manifest, you should still bring a medkit. Your guaranteed flashlight is also always a basic one, so nothing to be excited there; the perk is sadly a trap. Overzealous justifies breaking a totem if one is in reach and actually gets good if the killer brought a hex, but I would not count on it. Don’t go out of your way to hunt down a dull just to get the speed boost. Inner Focus is genuinely excellent for our purposes, acting as a combination of Bond and Alert that nevertheless provides a lot of information. Use it to seek out heals from survivors or stay the hell out of their way as they are chased. Haddie’s perks are ultimately low impact and two of them generally require more effort than they are worth to activate, but there’s nothing here to impede your adept so long as you do not get distracted by anything shiny.
Pros: Can counter camping killers, can do generators OUTRAGEOUSLY FAST
Cons: No chase perks, her stronger perks need to be used carefully
Recommended Item: Medkit unless you are very good at skillchecks, in which case Toolbox
Better Than New provides a completely negligible bonus in value, but it does not get in our way. Hyperfocus is absolutely *bonkers* if you are left unattended for a while, but it is genuinely difficult to hit repeated great skill checks. If you are up to the challenge, bring a Commodius with maxed charges and test your skill. It’s hard to build up a chain without Stake Out, but people manage. Reassurance can potentially save the game (and your Adept) if the killer opts to camp early, but it is very high risk. Do not go out of your way to use it just because you can. Note that it can be used from directly above or below a hook, so it may be a good idea to bring The Game so you can abuse it more easily. Midwich would technically work as well, with the minor downside of likely getting both you and your entire team killed.
Pros: Solid info perk, strong hatch game, makes very little noise
Cons: No chase perks, Low Profile does not even last indefinitely
Recommended Item: Medkit or Key
Low Profile provides yet another example of a perk that is ordinarily useless but has utility during an Adept – my own Adept was actually saved through the noise and scratch mark muffling effect! Consider bringing a key to both outmaneuver the killer during an endgame scenario as well as popping the hatch back open afterwards. However, this is likely an unnecessary hedge; a medkit will serve better on average. Reactive Healing is also not something to be relied on, but it can occasionally provide a nice burst of healing. Wiretap is genuinely excellent and surprisingly quick to activate. In most situations, I would recommend planting a tap on a gen as soon as it is available, since it gives the information to your entire team and is easily replaced. If you are injured, take heart that Ada is one of, if not the, quietest survivors when injured, and it should be easier than usual to hide from the killer. Finally, bear in mind that Low Profile can trigger multiple times, but it only lasts for 90 seconds each time. Don’t go sprinting around the map if Low Profile’s icon is no longer lit up during endgame!
Survivor Adept: Daddy Vittorio gets a section to himself (for now)
Pros: Can break three gens, excellent information
Cons: Two of his perks are traps, no chase perks
Recommended Item: Medkit
Similar to Haddie, two of Vittorio’s perks will hamper your Adept if used incorrectly while the third sits in the back and provides valuable information. Quick Gambit should be ignored – if you are in chase (already not ideal) bringing the killer to gens being worked on is a bad idea. Potential Energy can break a 3 gen *if* used correctly, and that is a massive and rare if. Do not use it just to see the cool animation. (And it is very cool.) Fogwise, however, is excellent assuming you can hit the occasional great skill check. Similar to Alert, it should provide an excellent overview of what the killer is up to from the very beginning of the game, and let you plan accordingly. Run from the killer early, and try not to use Potential Energy unless you are absolutely positive it will get you value. Also, putting your shirt back on is sacrilege.
Killer Adept Guidelines and General Tips
Introduction
Killer Adepts have been greatly simplified but are still harder than survivor adepts by a considerable degree. To achieve a killer adept, you need to run only that killer’s three associated perks (they can be any rank) and kill all four survivors, achieving a “Merciless Killer” status at the end of the match.
Any offerings are okay, any addons are okay. All that matters is that you bring only those three perks and kill all four survivors. Obviously there is going to be a wide gamut of viability as each killer has both a varying degree of strength to their power, as well as perks of varying usefulness. Sometimes you get a weak killer with strong perks, or a strong killer with weak perks. On a few unfortunate occasions, you will be forced to run a weak killer with weak perks.
Addons and map offerings can make up some of the difference, but the fact of the matter is, these adepts are going to take time. Most of them will take multiple attempts. I strongly recommend playing a few regular games with any killer you want to attempt an adept with before committing to an actual adept. Some killers are relatively simple and you might be able to jump into an adept right away (Clown, Legion) but there are others who require at least some degree of mastery to counteract the handicap of running only three specific perks (Artist, Nemesis.)
Oh, and it goes without saying – camping, tunneling, and slugging are fair game here. Whatever it takes to win.
Maps
This section will be briefer than the survivor version for the simple reason that most of the maps are horrifically survivor-sided. You absolutely want to bring a map offering for every adept attempt to maximize your odds of 4king. You are already working with only 3/4 perk slots, and you didn’t get to pick your build. Survivors already have enough of an advantage through that. Send them somewhere nice.
The nicest of the options I am suggesting, as far as playing fairly with the survivors goes. They get to get a shot at Outbreak Breakout, and you get a map with an unchanging set up that is favorable to a wide variety of killers. Ranged killers will have an easier time in the main hallway while stealth killers have a variety of avenues with which to approach generators. A 3 gen is harder to establish without access to slowdown perks, but you can still slow the game down quite a bit if your killer has a bit of mobility. Not recommended for killers who struggle with collision, such as Hillbilly, Blight, or Wesker.
Lery’s has a *lot* of vaults but it is also claustrophobic and easy to get lost in. This would be my go to recommendation for stealth killers, because it is very easy to sneak up on survivors. I would not recommend it for collision killers (see above) and it is also rubbish for nurse.
I personally struggle with Dead Dawg, and both its main building and its “maze” of windows and pallets next to the water tower afford survivors a lot of protection. However, it is a very small map that guarantees a nasty three gen off of the scaffold. If you opt to protect that early, you can make things a living nightmare for the survivors, especially if you have a slowdown perk or they’re already down a person. Dead Dawg is always a solid choice, and should be considered for every adept. However…
Midwich remains the uncontested king of killer-favored maps. It is effective for stealth killers, mobility killers, or your average Joe killer who showed up drunk with a knife. Survivors are spotted easily in the long hallways and the loops range from good to barely okay. Classrooms remain the only recourse for survivors, and some of them have no pallets or windows. Windows in general are in short supply in this map, and some of them can be weakened by getting rid of breakable walls.
The central garden is a death trap with barely anything for survivors to work with, and the exit gates have a guaranteed spawn location that is extremely easy to patrol. Hatch only ever spawns on the bottom floor or on a stair landing, making it fairly easy to find. If there is a drawback to Midwich, it is that boons are extremely effective due to its two floor nature, and reaching the second floor when you hear a generator being worked directly above you can be rather difficult (remember – there is a staircase of some kind in each corner of the school!) Hook spawns are also notoriously wonky, so be careful where you hook survivors on their first hook, since you may be creating a dead zone in the future. However, it has the highest kill rate for a reason, and it would be my go to pick for any killer adept over any other map.
Trapper Adept
Recommended addons:
Pros: Perks save some time, can shut down strong loops, can lock down basement
Cons: Takes time to set up, no slow down, no chase power, Unnerving Presence can help survivors
The nice thing about Trapper’s perks is that they require no effort on your part; Brutal Strength and Agitation are used to save time doing things you were already planning on doing, so that is nice. Unnerving Presence unfortunately makes it easy for survivors to hit great skill checks, but you never know – maybe someone will mess up.
The two addons eliminate two of Trapper’s major weaknesses – having to pick up his traps across the map, and survivors being able to free themselves from traps before you get there. An argument could be made for other addons, but due to your very limited resources, these would be my recommended picks.
As a Trapper running Agitation, you should check every time you pick up a survivor where the basement is. If you pass the basement, make a mental note of it. Don’t start dropping traps there until you’ve got a survivor marinating on a hook, since you cannot reposition traps once they are set.
Dead Dawg saloon is probably a better call than Midwich here, since you can hide traps in bushes and the grass. The smaller size also makes it easy to find survivors and drag them to basement, and you can shut down the worst of the main building’s loops with your traps. Setting up an early three gen is also likely in your best interest – defend the gallows and two gens around them, and make use of the scrub. Basement is also easily accessed from here regardless of where it spawns, making it an optimal area to make your stand.
Be prepared for a long game if survivors recognize you are attempting a three gen. The ideal scenario is hooking a survivor in basement and snowballing from there. Do not spend too much time on any one chase, and try to push survivors towards your web of traps.
Even with all of this preparation, this is still one of the harder adepts. Good luck!
Hillbilly Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Instant down, high mobility, strong perks, fun as hell
Cons: Highest skill ceiling on any killer, no slowdown perks, collision on a lot of maps is wonky
Hillbilly’s perks are excellent – Tinkerer can let you make grabs on generators that have no business getting usually, while Enduring and LoPro Chains means you have very little to fear around pallets. Lightborn is a neat bonus as well, letting you go about your business without fear of flashlights or ‘bangs. The instant down his chainsaw offers makes Hillbilly highly lethal when survivors are caught out of position, or when he is guarding hooks. The mobility Hillbilly has is just the cherry on top.
However, his power is incredibly difficult to control and takes a lot of practice. I *strongly* suggest looking at Otzdarva’s guide (included below) and modify the game settings to his instructions (set Q and E to turn, up controller sensitivity to 100%.) Then spend some time getting used to the chainsaw. You don’t need to hit curves or snipes to get this adept, but you should be comfortable backrevving. Low Kickback chains is recommended on the basis that you are still hitting the odd wall, and it will make these mistakes far less punishing. If you are more confident, you could try a Doom Engravings or one of the steering addons.
For your map, Midwich is surprisingly the best. The long straight hallways are perfect for Billy, and the loops are also curvable (if that is your thing.) If you play it correctly, you should be able to secure a M1 or a LoPro hit through a pallet at any of these loops. Billy is also very weak to windows, which this map lacks in abundance. It’s perfect!
If you catch a survivor in the open and they are uninjured, always go for the chainsaw. If they are injured, M1 – there is no shame in doing so, and you are far less likely to eat a devastating Dead Hard. Always play aggressively against pallets – you have Enduring. If they notice your aggression and start predropping, bulldoze through them with LoPro.
Tinkerer only procs once off of each generator now, but should greatly reduce your profile and give you a lot of valuable information. Try to use that stealth to get up close to the generator for a grab, or chainsaw someone’s buttocks off.
This is a tough one. Billy is difficult to play with a full loadout, and you definitely don’t have that. Learning him is intensively gratifying, though, and so long as you don’t end up on an awful map like the Eyrie, you should have fun with this adept.
Wraith Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Strong and varied addons, straightforward gameplay, good mobility
Cons: Useless useless useless perks, weakness to flashlights
If you have issues following scratch marks and blood, at least you’ve got Bloodhound and Predator today. However, seeing as we’re bringing All-Seeing Blood, it’s not like tracking is going to be terribly difficult regardless. Shadowborn exists to get you addicted to Shadowborn.
While I recommended the above two addons in order to facilitate the best ambushes the Wraith is capable of, you definitely have other options. His pallet breaking addons are very useful, as are any addons that increase the speed of his decloaking. One addon essentially gives him Sloppy Butcher after ambush hits – very useful, given you lack perks that otherwise do anything.
Survivors will still be able to hear your growling even with the Clapper, so try to stay out of sight and at a slight distance from survivors as you uncloak, and then catch them at the tip of your lunge. Your lunge can also be used around loops to catch survivors, but this can take some practice.
Stick to smaller maps for Wraith. While he has great mobility, time is not on his side as far as gens go, and you want to find and down people quickly. His speed when cloaked is considerable, letting him make the rounds on generators with ease. The less space between them the better. As a stealth killer, he does well on Lery’s, but Midwich is also prime hunting ground (again.)
If a survivor tries to lightburn you out of cloak, try to run around them a bit and then decloak. Do not decloak with the beam shining on you, you will get burnt! Also keep an eye out for flashbangs and firecrackers, as they are absolutely lethal against you if you are caught unprepared.
Wraith is extremely straightforward and a victory here is going to depend more on getting a team that does not slam gens as opposed to mechanical mastery. Your perks will be of absolutely no help and the hit and run playstyle died with Circle of Healing, so try and focus one survivor unless they take a lot of your time.
Nurse Adept
Recommended Addons: (To be finished upon 6.5.0 release)
Pros: Strongest killer in the game, lower skill floor than you think, strong perks, power invalidates survivor gameplay
Cons: Takes some getting used to, frustrating when initially played
Take a few games to get used to the Nurse’s power, and then 4k. What, you want more advice? The Nurse is absolutely busted, able to ignore pallets, windows, and even walls with her power. To add insult to injury, her perks are also actually useful – Nurse’s Calling will let you teleport directly to wounded survivors through walls, while Thanatophobia can offer stiff slowdown if you wound everybody. Stridor is unlikely to do much, but I guess it will make Claudette stand out more when she hides in a bush, or help you find slugs.
Her Flannel addon will show her blink location when it is equipped, so start there. Once you get a better idea of her Blink distance, you can swap it out for another addon. It basically exists as training wheels.
Survivors will occasionally DC as soon as they hear your first blink. So that should make things easier.
Your first few games of Nurse will have survivors run rings around you. Then, once you get the blink distance figured out, you will start killing the out of everything. Nurse is an excellent slugger, so feel free to leave people bleeding on the floor if you spot another survivor close by. You can technically be lightburned, but this is hard to pull off and incredibly rare; you should still fear medkits more than flashlights.
Midwich is small and multileveled, letting you abuse your power to go up and down floors when you catch survivors healing. The only drawback is that the slightest mess up in aiming your power will have you end up on a different floor, possibly the basement if you are extremely unlucky. Nevertheless, Midwich once again gets the nod from me.
You have the slowest movement speed of any killer, so use your first blink to cover distance. Your second blink should only ever be used to secure a hit, since it has a shorter range and gives you a longer cooldown. Remember – first blink to cover distance, then stop if no target is in range. You can still cross the map surprisingly quickly this way. Remember to look up while charging your blink to increase the distance of your teleport.
Shape Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Instant down, increased vault speed, stealthy start
Cons: No chase power, slow start, one of your perks can help survivors
If you want to go insta-gib Meyers or perma T1/T2 Meyers, both are valid options. I think perma T2 Meyers is probably better, since you will be able to get more hits with STBFL and speed yourself up further with PWYF than usual.
The above addons were selected to get Meyers out of his early start faster as well as increase his lethality for a longer period of time. He only takes longer to reach T3 the first time, so once you’ve finished your stalk and entered T3 once, the next ones should come faster.
All of your perks incentivize you to kill the Obsession last, which is unfortunate, because the Obsession gets a healing and unhooking speed boost. Nevertheless, you will need stacks of STBFL, PWYF, and Dying Light to outmaneuver and grind out the survivors, so just get into chase and leave the Obsession whenever possible.
Your vault speed is massively increased in T3. Coupled with a stack or two of PWYF, and you will be able to outrun survivors before they can reach safety, and windows will not offer nearly as much distance as they would otherwise.
Lery’s is a solid pick here, since you will be able to get close to survivors initially without them noticing before reaching T2. The numerous windows are also less effective here, since Meyers vaults so fast.
Late game, do not be afraid to kick gens. Dying Light will have stacked up by this point, and your regression will actually take a while to undo.
Try to 99% your stalk and then up it to T3 when you’re within striking distance of a survivor. Remember that you have an increased lunge in T3, so you can hit survivors at tiles from a decent distance.
Your biggest enemy is pallets and time, so do not waste too much time running people around loops. You are best off finding the Obsession and building stacks and stalk, and then instantly stabbing someone to death and building from there. PWYF is your key to victory here, so exploit to its fullest. All your perks shut off if the Obsession dies, so … save the best for last.
Hag Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Strong perks, strong addons, unparalleled camper, people are unfamiliar with counterplay
Cons: Weak to flashlights, all perks can be shut off, can be bullied badly if survivors know what they are doing, lengthy setup
The Hag is another killer that is very unconventional and will require a few games to get the hang of. Fortunately, she remains one of the strongest killers in the roster, and even with Ruin’s horrendous nerf, having any slowdown is very welcome. She can defend her hexes very effectively, and with the above addons, survivors will have no notion of the they just stepped in, which you should be able to teleport to from a considerable distance.
As the Hag, pick an area you want to defend early in the game and start dropping traps. Do not search for survivors until you have a web, and even then, do not stray too far from it. If you have generators inside your traps, trust me, the survivors will come. Your small terror radius and frame means it may take a while for survivors to realize they are up against a Hag – many a Hag game for me has been spent doing two generators wondering what the hell is going on and then spending the remaining gens fighting for my life against a Hag with an impenetrable wall of traps.
Devour Hope and Ruin are worth defending, and Third Seal shuts off Windows of Opportunity, so try and keep one or two of your hexes within your web. You don’t have Undying to defend them, after all. If you can get a survivor in the basement, do so. They’re not getting out.
Replace traps as they get popped – a Hag with 8-10 traps available is a Hag that is losing. Survivors who know what they are doing will deliberately harass you and pop traps while you are carrying another survivor. Replace those traps ASAP!
If you manage to get 3 stacks on Devour Hope, odds are you have already won. If you get a single hit on a healthy survivor with it active, that alone is massive value. Don’t worry about pushing for 5 stacks, just worry about killing everyone by any means necessary. Your Cicada addon should allow you to move away from the survivor and then teleport back after the unhook, so take advantage of this to secure free hits after you get a Devour stack.
Midwich is again the go to, since its small size and narrow hallways make it very hard for survivors to avoid traps, while also leaving the Hag almost permanently in teleport range.
Doctor Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Excellent information, okay chase power, decent slowdown perk
Cons: Can struggle in chase, weak perks overall
The listed addons are Iridescent King and “Discipline” – Carter’s Notes, by the way. What do they do? Ugh, I’m not writing out several paragraphs. King will make survivors hallucinate like crazy, while Hallucinate will make your Shock Therapy blasts land faster – very useful. Other addons are also useful, but these should cause maximum chaos.
Use Static Blast early to find survivors and try to let them off consistently after hooking or if you have not seen anyone for a while. You can force people off unhooks with your Shock Therapy, should you feel the need to camp someone to death. Making people hit Tier 3 madness is not something to strive for, but it will buy you time, so try and catch as many people as possible in each Static Blast.
Monitor and Abuse is unfortunately going to reduce the range of your Static Blast if you are out of chase, but it will make you much stealthier. Between the constant hallucinations and your small terror radius, survivors will have a hard time sussing out your location. Bring yourself to Lery’s to take advantage of this and try to come at survivors from unexpected angles.
Shock Therapy will prevent vaults if the survivor is not already locked into an animation. Animation locks can be detected by the survivor’s item disappearing from their hands. Try to time your Shock Therapy to land before that happens.
Weak teams will fold to Doctor pretty easily, since he invalidates hiding and thrashes weak loopers. If you go up against a survivor putting up stiff resistance, try finding someone else. Weak links are easy to pick up as Doctor, and once you’ve found and hooked them the first time, the hallucinatory doctors and constant screaming should let you find them again.
If you can Static Blast during chase without throwing, do so. It will reach 40 meters and greatly increase the likelihood of hitting multiple people – without it, thanks to Monitor and Abuse, you are stuck at a piddly 24 meters.
Overcharge is much better since its buff, so feel free to kick gens at will. Skill checks in Madness can be very difficult to hit, so you might get a surprising number of explosions on your screen if you keep kicking generators. Overcharge also absolutely shreds progress if left untouched, leaving survivors in a right Catch 22. Provided you don’t go up against hardened veterans, the Doctor Adept should be fairly simple. Keep the map small and the chases short.
Huntress Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Very strong power and solid addons
Cons: Very slow, very noisy, survivors are very experienced against Huntress, useless perks
Well, at least this adept is fun. The above listed addons will let you secure downs even during extended chases against decent survivors – the Haft in particular is excellent for getting a cheeky M1 after missing a hatchet. Try to hit survivors with your hatchets in favor of your M1 whenever possible – despite the loss of ammunition, you move much faster after a hatchet toss than during a wipe animation.
If a survivor is sticking to a strong high wall loop and you can’t catch them, either leave it or force the pallet. You are a 110 killer that has to periodically reload and has no slowdown perks – you do not have time to spare.
Keep an eye on Territorial Imperative. If it lights up, someone is in the basement and is thus very vulnerable. Huntress defends the basement extremely well, so getting someone hooked down there is tremendously beneficial.
Huntress does very well on Midwich, since she can take advantage of its open sightlines and many of its loops are low. Lockers are also plentiful and easy to find, and Huntress Lullaby even stands a chance of not being immediately cleansed!
If you can secure three hooks with Lullaby intact, less experienced survivors will be in trouble. Every skill check they miss will drastically worsen their position and let you snowball. Once any team becomes aware of the Hex’s existence, they will make a point to search for it, just because it is annoying. Usually, however, it gets cleansed in 5 seconds. Lery’s and Midwich at least offer hidden totem locations.
Survivors are going to hear you coming from a long way off and will keep their distance. Try to approach generators from unexpected positions.
If you are proxying a hook, aim carefully to hit the rescuer, not the person who is hooked. This wastes the hatchet. Survivors will frequently shield themselves with their hooked teammate; if they do this, close the distance. If the hooked survivor insists on taking a protection hit here, reward their bravery with an immediate tunnel – they won’t get far against Oak Haft.
Cannibal Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Instant down, chews through pallets, good info perk, denies item use, LOL BASEMENT
Cons: Weak at windows, no slowdown
I was wondering whether I would have to write this section, but I am happy it is the case! There is an argument to use Engravings instead of the Yellow Chili, but I think the Chili combo offers the easiest addons for beginners. You can cover an astonishing amount of distance with the chainsaw if you time your charges correctly, so use this to catch up to survivors in the open.
Time your revs at pallets to force survivors to decide to either drop the pallet (PALLET GONE) or try and loop your steadily accelerating chainsaw. Weak survivors will generally fold to the chainsaw. Decent survivors will predrop. Good survivors will run your chainsaw and then stun you with the pallet on the second pass. Try to avoid chasing good survivors.
The lack of Bamboozle really hurts Bubba here, so try to avoid survivors who beeline for strong windows. Shack becomes a pain in the ass, but if it has basement … oh boy!
If you see a survivor with a medkit or toolbox, consider smacking them with a M1 when possible. Survivors, even good ones, get weirdly stupid when it comes to Franklin’s Demise, and you can use their greed and stubborness against them by protecting their dropped item.
BBQ and Chili is still good, people. People rarely go into lockers to avoid it anymore, as well. Use that info to find more chases quickly after a hook – camping should only result if you know one or more other survivors are in the area. Occupying their time by keeping them off gens is extremely beneficial. If they go for the unhook while you are close, chainsaw them. Chainsaw them all.
Midwich has few vaults and pallets that will not offer much distance once Bubba has sawed them in half. Just take care to not chainsaw anyone near a breakable wall – due to standard BHVR coding, the chainsaw will prioritize the wall instead of the survivor.
Nightmare Adept
Recommended Items:
Pros: Can be sneaky, good map mobility, can set up devastating end game scenarios
Cons: Weak power, weak addons, weak perks
Freddy holds the unfortunate distinction of being terrible in practically every imaginable dimension for his adept. The rework to Merciless Killer makes him slightly better, since in the past you would lose your adept if they opened the exit gate – now you can actually use all your perks. I recommended the above addons to further complicate survivor escape plans, make it harder to wake up in the Dream World, as well as get an early start on a teleportation cooldown and get the drop on survivors.
Midwich is the best call here, since Freddy can actually traverse floors pretty easily due to his teleport. The exit gates are also both very easy to guard, meaning you might be able to secure the 4k even if you make it to the end game with more than one survivor alive.
Killing the Obsession should be your priority. The Obsession alone can get the exit gates open fast – without the Obsession, the endgame becomes much more painful for survivors, especially on Midwich. There is a valid argument for tunneling the Obsession out of the game before doing anything else, since Freddy will be at his strongest at the later stages of the game.
Remember that your Snares only work on asleep targets, and that you can place them through windows.
Don’t force the Blood Warden by opening your own exit gate – Remember Me and your Box should buy you more than enough time to find a survivor to down and trap the others with.
Fire Up is the only perk that speeds up pick up speeds, which can potentially throw off survivor flashlights. I wouldn’t count on it, though. If the game is late, consider getting more aggressive by vaulting windows more often – a 16% or 20% increase in vault speed is quite notable.
No, Pallet Freddy is not a good idea, but it is hilarious. I salute you if you go that route.
Pig Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Built in slowdown, good info perk, good instant down perk
Cons: Weak chase, RNG reliant, needs to down people to use slowdown abilities
The recommended addons are very straightforward – save time attaching RBTs, and maximize the time the survivors need to spend getting them off. Trying to force head pops is a tad ambitious given the circumstances, although you should certainly still try to harass people off of Jigsaw Boxes if you see them. You should also consider smacking people off of hook immediately if they have an active RBT on – they cannot get it off without mending first, potentially wasting some of their precious time to live.
Amanda’s perks are all over the place but that does not mean they are bad. Hangman’s Trick actually extends up and down levels, meaning you can actually get information on survivor locations while carrying another survivor (another reason to bring Midwich.) Make Your Choice is an excellent way to secure downs, if a little tricky to activate on small maps, but you bet your bottom the person who unhooked will make it difficult on you. Still, couldn’t hurt to try.
Surveillance isn’t terrific, but it provides a lot of info if you keep bashing gens. So bash gens whenever you can. Your stealth is most effective at the beginning of the map, but can also be used very effectively in Midwich and Lery’s, where the tight quarters can keep you out of sight until it is too late.
Your Ambush isn’t great, but it can be used as an antiloop at weaker pallets. Charge it up, fake going one direction, and then slide the other way to hopefully catch them as they vault the pallet.
You sadly do not have time to accept boops.
Clown Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Strong chase, strong perks, straightforward playstyle
Cons: No map presence, yellow bottles are hard to utilize correctly, weak to predrop
The above items will give you more bottles (critical) and slow survivors down more at loops (also excellent.) A stinky alternative is to go the Redhead’s Pinkie Finger route, but I do not endorse that cheese. I think the above addons will lead to stronger overall chase potential, anyway. No fuss about making direct bottle hits, just gas, gas, gas.
Clown’s perk suite puts most of the other killers to shame. Pop Goes the Weasel may not be as good as it used to be, but it can still seriously hurt a generator. Coulrophobia can seriously mess with a survivor’s ability to heal, especially on small maps where the Clown’s terror radius may be difficult to escape, even if he is on another floor. Bamboozle is, of course, excellent, letting the Clown pursue survivors through strong vaults while also shutting them down. Given that the survivor likely had to medium vault due to clown gas, they probably will not make much distance.
Try to save your Pop Goes the Weasel for generators with at least two pistons going. Anything less will likely waste the perk. Your yellow bottles are finicky to use and can be safely ignored if you’re unfamiliar with them – the purple bottles will let you make distance on survivors very quickly if your aim is good. Using yellow bottles for mobility out of chase is only worthwhile if you are reloading or picking up a survivor.
Similar to Wraith, there is not a lot to say about Clown. Slow people down and then slice them. He is fortunate that he has solid addons and very solid perks to back his otherwise mediocre playstyle, making this one of the easier adepts, especially on somewhere like Midwich.
Spirit Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Strong power, good mobility, decent perks, RIDICULOUS addons, some instant down potential
Cons: High skill cap, no slowdown, hard for people who are hard of hearing
The above addon combo is widely regarded as being among the most busted in the game. Use it with both shame and joy – you will zoom across the map at incredible speeds. Just make sure to bring headphones so you can hear survivors moving about – they won’t even be leaving scratch marks, anymore.
Haunted Ground can potentially grant you a lot of value, but it is going to be random if or when it triggers. If it is active, try to chase healthy survivors. Rancor will provide a smidgen of info throughout the game, as well as potential for an instant kill at the end, but otherwise will do nothing aside from scare the out of the Obsession. Spirit Fury is less useful without Enduring, but you may still be able to secure a cheeky hit on a survivor who is not expecting it.
Your lunge is greatly extended when coming out of Phase, so by all means, lunge early and often. Listen for footsteps and watch for rustling leaves and grass to detect survivors. Don’t spend too long trying to loop survivors the regular way – while your innate phasing may throw survivors off at a critical moment, your 110 speed is still a massive liability. Use your power to secure hits and downs.
The main difficulty with this adept is that Spirit takes a bit of getting used to, and it takes a little while to learn the tells of survivor locations while phasing. Still, once the initial learning curve is overcome, this adept should not prove too much trouble. Spirit is also not horribly map dependent, but I would still recommend bringing an offering to one of the smaller maps for obvious reasons.
Legion Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Easy to use power, decent info perk, nasty addon combination, survivors tend to give up out of sheer hatred
Cons: Weak in chase, no slowdown
The above addons let you vault pallets to break them as well as instantly recover your Feral Frenzy upon being pallet stunned in Feral Frenzy. You can see where I am going with this. People are going to get stabbed, whether they like it or not. Always force the pallet – it will not save them.
Discordance is the only one of your perks worth a damn, but it is actually pretty solid. It should allow you to find some stabbing targets in both the early game, when survivors frequently team up on a gen, or late game, when they are frantically trying to get the last generator done. Prioritize gens with Discordance on them (obviously.) Your other two perks are not worth mentioning, although get ready to hear a chorus of screams if a survivor gets salty and decides to give up by fast entering/exiting a locker over and over.
If you Feral Frenzy and stab one survivor, and then see no Killer Instinct, try and cut your stab victim off and cancel your power before following up with a M1. There is no shame in securing an easy down if you know you cannot get a chain stab off. There is also no shame in using your power to vault break a pallet and then instantly canceling your power – survivors will make much less distance this way than if you had just kicked the pallet, and you will get your power back instantly.
With this addon combination, there is an argument to send yourself to the Game. The small size and multilevel environment makes your Killer Instinct very effective, while the pallets are obviously useless against your addon combination. You would still likely be better served on Midwich, but still something to consider … that might be the most fun adept of your life!
Plague Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Strong perks, strong addons, strong power, invalidates medkits
Cons: High skill cap, RNG reliant, highly visible
Ah yes, the Vommy Mommy. The above addons will give you a tremendous amount of information while also infecting survivors very quickly in chase. What is especially nasty about Black Incense is that it gives survivors no notification that they are being surveyed, letting you get the drop on them quite easily – especially if, say, you were stealthed due to Dark Devotion.
Corrupt Intervention remains top notch and will likely herd the survivors towards you. If it falls off early, well, quick downs are always good. If not, then you got good value out of it and hopefully infected a lot of survivors. Infectious Fright is great for snowballing, which is likely if survivors start cleansing early.
In the early game, puke on all the gens. In chase, puke on the survivors. The more fully infected people you have, the more the infection will spread if they work together, and the more information you have. Survivors are reluctant to work on diseased generators if they are healthy, which is just more slowdown for you.
If survivors begin cleansing, begin preparing for a Corrupt Purge play. Corrupt Purge is devastating at unhooks and in tight quarters, since it goes through survivors. Use your Black Incense to locate the survivors who have not yet cleansed and take an easy down with your red puke. Slug if Infectious picks up additional targets. Avoid getting pallet stunned at all costs, since you will lose your power. Head On and Decisive Strike will not end your power, however.
If you hit the Obsession, take the time to break off and use your newfound stealth to ambush an unaware target. Bear in mind you are the most visible killer in the game (7 feet tall with a headdress and carrying a censer constantly emitting fumes) so try and approach them from where they cannot see you.
I am tempted to give Dead Dawg the nod over Midwich here, since the fountain spawns might get awkward with two levels to work with. You can easily infect survivors working on the central gen on Dead Dawg, and overall a three gen on that map should be very easy to defend with this killer.
Honestly, this is one of the easier adepts if you are used to playing Vommy Mommy. Her adept build isn’t even that gimped!
Ghostface Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Decent info perks, very strong addons, stealthiest killer, instant downs
Cons: Very weak in chase, survivors easily break him out of his power
Uniquely, Ghostface has access to an addon that lets him blow up gens with his mind. Use that to your advantage, since your perks certainly will not be slowing any gens. “Philly” is just wonderful in general, but you could substitute with another addon that suits your playstyle. Driver’s License is tough to ditch, though, since 20% loss of gen progress during an adept is very strong.
Learn to 99 survivors, but feel free to hit them with a maximum mark if they are on a generator in order to blow it up. Stealthing in chase can be risky, but if the survivor cannot see you when you stealth, it becomes a 50/50 on whether they run into you or not. Two tapping survivors is not ideal, especially if they are close to full stalk, but if they are body blocking or looping you well, sometimes you need to take it.
I ordinarily do not bring up cosmetics, but if you want to maximize your stealth, the red devil mask is much harder to notice than the others. Let’s be honest though, none of us want to take off the WHAZZUP mask.
Thrilling Tremors is an info perk, not a slowdown perk. When you pick up a survivor, note which gens are not blocked and then trot over there after the hook. I’m All Ears has a lengthy cooldown but can seriously help in chase. Try to use that knowledge and your stealth to head off the survivor and stab them.
You are the only stealth killer that gives no indication they are present. Try to take advantage of this; make your presence known by instantly downing someone. Avoid getting spotted and try to blow up a gen before stabbing your victim. It will be much harder to sneak up on survivors once they see the first victim get marked.
Midwich is a terrifying map to face Ghostface on. Send them there.
Oni Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Instant downs, high mobility, can shut off Dead Hard
Cons: High skill cap, weak early game, very weak to predrops, weak perks
The above addons should extend your Blood Fury and hopefully help use it in loops. That being said, the Topknot could easily be substituted with another duration addon.
As Oni, your perks are rubbish and you are highly dependent on survivors messing up early. The sooner you get your first hit on someone, the sooner you can begin snowballing. Wounding as many survivors as possible will not only increase the amount of blood on the map, it will also power up Blood Echo and potentially shut down Dead Hard. Nemesis is useless for our purposes, but Zanshin Tactics can allow you to approach loops optimally and prevent survivors from reaching pallets or windows.
Save your first Blood Fury (which should ideally be after hooking your first survivor) for when you know where one or more survivors are. Wasting it would be a massive loss. Once you Blood Fury for the first time, your goal is to snowball as much as possible. Ideally, this would mean securing two more downs and hooking one of them. The more slugs you leave in your wake as Oni, the harder the survivors will have to try to regain control of the situation. Hooking should be your secondary priority – you don’t want to give survivors any kind of reprieve.
Remember that you have an extended lunge during Blood Fury that can break pallets. You can also flick at corners to hit survivors that try to juke you. Be wary of survivors who try to FOV tech you when you begin your lunge; try not to hold on to your M1 any longer than necessary. If you can secure an early down and begin downing survivors with Blood Fury, odds are you can begin snowballing as survivors bleed continuously all over the map, granting you your power continuously.
Oni has a weak perk set up and a tricky power to use, but I think you’ll find that, when you do earn this adept, it will be because the survivor’s defenses collapsed all at once under your relentless onslaught. And trust me, it will feel *great.*
Deathslinger Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Murderous in chase, decent perks, decent addons, instant down
Cons: High skill ceiling, a lot of downtime, slowdown perk dependent on killer finding survivors
Keys will massively shorten your reload speed while the Coin will enable one hit downs on snipes, which are not as hard to pull off as they sound, especially if survivors are restricted to tight corridors on places like, say, Midwich.
Gearhead will occasionally provide info, which is nice. Hex: Retribution will either do nothing or grant perfect information for 15 seconds, likely at a moment you cannot use it. So it’s most likely not going to do anything. Dead Man’s Switch remains excellent, even when unpaired with Pain Resonance, and should allow you to shove survivors off gens and keep them unmolested for a sizable period of time.
You can hit survivors over windows by shooting them and then reeling them in or pulling yourself up. Pallets are a different story, but you should still break off the chain in them if they’re uninjured … give ’em something to complain about. Whenever possible, you should M1 first and then shoot them. Doing the reverse means you have to reload or catch up to them, which is unlikely on Mr. 110 killer over here.
You have a 32 meter terror radius on a 110 killer. Your terror music is quiet, but people are still going to run early. You’re going to need to learn to aim. Lead your targets based on their distance and you’ll be surprised at how often you hit them. Survivors who are shot while unhooking will have their action canceled and you will start to drag them towards you.
Dead Dawg unsurprisingly gets the nod here, since it has multiple generators in elevated locations that survivors can be yanked off of, and Dead Man’s Switch is strong in 3 gen situations, which Dead Dawg is known for.
If you miss a shot on a survivor and they make a ton of distance, consider reloading and finding someone else. As a 110 killer you are going to take a while to catch up, and you can’t cross map survivors like a Huntress or Artist can. Deathslingers rip weak links to shreds since they bring a gun to a loop fight, so back away from any survivor who is actually looking behind themselves and consistently juking your shots and blocking your path with pallets.
Executioner Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Strong killer power, can tunnel like no one else, can shut down a lot of second chance perks
Cons: Very hard to use, weak addons, even weaker perks
The above two addons are widely considered to be Pyramid Head’s only good addons. Extra range is very useful, but it is a shame we cannot bring something stronger or more interesting.
Pyramid Head’s perks are notoriously useless, although Forced Penance has gained a second lease on life in the boon meta. It is still no one’s first pick. Try to use Trail of Torment when you think you can get the drop on people, but otherwise ignore it. Deathbound might give you info at some point. Might.
Pyramid Head is a tough killer to utilize, but rips survivors to pieces in skilled hands. His M2 blast travels through walls and survivors, greatly complicating loops and rescue efforts, however it is slow and fairly telegraphed. You also don’t have the aura reading perks that would really make his power shine, like Nurse’s Calling, so you’re properly gimped here. Just make your best guesses if you cannot see the survivor, and remember your power can travel down stairs, but not up stairs.
The ideal Pyramid tunnel looks like this: Hook, Cage, Hook. Get them tormented, then hook them. Once they are off the hook, cage them. Then, when you see the loud noise notification from their cage rescue, beeline towards them, down them, and hook them for the final time. Being uncaged does not trigger any kind of second chance perk, meaning you are free to down and kill them immediately. If they get tormented *again*, just end them then and there.
Learn to time your power to hook rescues. Used early, you will only hit the unhooker. Used on time, you will deep wound the victim and hit the rescuer, which is highly efficient!
Survivors are loath to step on the funny red lines. Use this to your advantage in loops to either force the Torment or get them off the loop. Either is advantageous.
Your M2 has a shorter recovery time than a M1, so if you can guarantee either, go for the M2.
Fittingly, Midwich is a good map for Pyramid Head. His trails will be quite difficult to avoid if you paint the hallways a bit, and there are quite a few generators you can “check” through walls. Trail of Torment may serve to muffle your presence a bit as well, but overall you’re going to be highly noticeable and visible. This will likely be one of the harder adepts, not because Pyramid Head is bad, but because his perks suck and he’s one of the tougher killers to master. Still, you get to play one of the most iconic monsters ever created in videogame history. How cool is that?
Blight Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Second strongest killer, absurd mobility, BUSTED addons, also has strong perks
Cons: High skill cap, survivors are used to playing against Blight
Compound 33 is going to let you shred pallets while also greatly reducing the distance survivors will make off of them. Alchemist’s Ring is possibly the most degenerate addon in the game and will let you chain hits repeatedly if you can catch a survivor in the open.
What is there to say about Blight? His collision can occasionally be wonky and he is a bit susceptible to Dead Hard, but his power is undeniable. Bring him to Midwich to take advantage of the long, straight corridors and secure easy hit after easy hit. Your Iridescent addon also provides a unique scoring event, so look for that; if it pops up when you are not in chase, odds are a survivor is nearby, possibly in a locker. You can also break walls with your first dash, now.
Definitely play a few rounds of this guy first so you can understand how his power works, since unlike Nurse he takes a decent while to get used to. Once you have a basic understanding of how he works, the above addons will rip most survivors to shreds.
To add insult to grievous injury, Blight not only brings a Hex that shuts down pallets, he protects it with Hex: Undying … which also usually gives him solid early game information. I would say “at least he doesn’t have an insta down,” but nope, Dragon’s Grip gives him (very conditional) access to a one hit down as well. Don’t worry about kicking gens and getting value out of it, you’re already inundated with value.
Be aware that survivors have played against Blight many times. They will time Dead Hards against your Lethal Rushes. Use one of your Rushes to run *past* them instead of hitting them, letting them Dead Hard uselessly, then dash back and give ’em a smack. Other survivors will try a last second swerve, so don’t swing until you are right on their back. You can flick about forty-five degrees with Blight using normal mouse DPI, but you’re going to need to be pretty close to hit the survivor as they dodge.
Bring the addons, send yourself to Midwich, and start dashing. Your average solo queuer will not stand a chance, and will be rightfully pissed.
Twins Adept
Recommended Items:
Pros: Strong power, very strong in chase, can be in two places at once, survivors unused to playing against Twins
Cons: Clunky power, useless perks, high skill cap, shut down by some healing perks
Spinning Top will make survivors drop items, but it will not drain their charges. Its main job is to function as information in conjunction with Hoarder. The Silencing Cloth is terrifying to play against, and you will consistently find yourself ambushing unaware survivors with it. Seriously, the duration is surprisingly long, and survivors will not expect a silent Twins.
Unfortunately, the Twins update features the most underwhelming set of perks ever brought to Dead by Daylight, all of which were broken on release. Hoarder will actually help survivors by giving them extra chests, but at least it will give a bit of information if survivors screw with chests or try to pick their items back up if Victor snatches them. Coup de Grace is solid, but miserable to waste stacks with, and perks that get stronger as you lose the game are generally not terrific. Oppression has a ludicrous cooldown, but at least you have some slowdown. Barely.
Mercifully, since your goal is just to kill everyone, you can slug to your heart’s content. Try to secure the first hit with Charlotte before downing your victim with Victor. This way they cannot take Victor hostage and you can potentially attack someone else before returning to Charlotte and hooking the first survivor. If a survivor gets the best of you in a loop or has retreated to a strong area, send out Victor. He moves at 150% movement speed and is one of the hardest things to avoid in the game against a good player. Try to predict their movements and if you miss, back up immediately to try and dodge their kick.
Once all survivors are injured, the game becomes much easier. Send out Victor as much as possible to track their blood and down them back to back. If they have We’re Gonna Live Forever, you’re in trouble, but there is nothing you can do about that. If they set up boons, you need to snuff them ASAP, because Circle of Healing is a hard counter to your power.
You should try to pursue any target that has Victor latched on to them. If they take him hostage, it will take a while to get him back, and having no power is miserable. Still, you will be stealthed when you return to Charlotte, so if you think you can get the drop on another survivor and are reasonably sure the first survivor will dislodge Victor, feel free to split the pressure.
Victor is excellent as a sentry. Due to an oversight, you can park him by a hook and then dump someone on the hook and use him as a radar. You cannot park him next to a hook with a survivor already on it. You can also park him near the basement to make survivors’ lives miserable. You can also park him somewhere you know survivors will run to and then swap to him to cut them off – it feels awesome when this happens, like you’re actually working as a team.
The Twins has a lot of cooldowns built in and your perks are not going to be much help. If it’s any consolation, the survivors are also having a miserable time.
Trickster Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Survivors hate him, can secure free injures and downs pretty easily, strong addons and perks
Cons: Murdered by long wall loops, weak against Endurance effects, slow
The above addons will make Trickster faster while he’s throwing his knives and enable instant downs once you’ve hit a survivor a few times. This is a bit cheesy, but it is consistent to pull off and survivors rarely expect it.
Trickster was hit hard by basekit Borrowed Time and the introduction of Off the Record. He requires six hits to take a health state, and Endurance cancels that out. He’s much weaker punishing unhooks now, but he is still a terror in most unhook scenarios. He is one of the few killers that can effectively engage multiple targets, especially if Main Event is active. Speaking of which, don’t be afraid to let Main Event go without using it if there’s no reason to activate it – sometimes it’s just not your time.
Try to avoid chasing survivors in high wall loops. It is very difficult to get knives on the survivor enough times to inflict an injury. Try to engage targets in the open, who cannot avoid your knives very well, or near low loops where you can hit over them. Midwich and Dead Dawg are again excellent options for this killer.
Your knife throw rate will speed up as you throw, however accuracy will decrease. Your first knife will always have perfect accuracy. If you are trying to hit a juking target that is one or two knives away from a down, pause for half a second and throw your knives more slowly. Despite coming with 44 knives, the Trickster can run out of them pretty fast.
Crowd Control will frequently do nothing and then get destroyed. Such is life. Starstruck is tough to utilize with a 24 meter terror radius, but at least it means you will usually be unmolested while carrying a survivor. No Way Out is an excellent hedge if the match comes down to exit gates and 1-2 survivors, and virtually guarantees a 4k if you close the hatch. Don’t worry about hooking four different survivors to power it up, though.
Watch for Dead Hards if survivors are already injured. Pause before the sixth knife is thrown if you are confident you can hit it, see if they Dead Hard. If they are uninjured, use your Iridescent Addon to take both their health states after a few knives to avoid any Dead Hard shenanigans. If a survivor makes no noise after being unhooked, they have Off the Record and should *not* be a priority target.
If a survivor causes you to dump all your knives without taking a single health state, leave them, reload, and chase someone else. It’s easy to get into a sunk-cost fallacy mindset as Trickster, because you just need *one more knife.* You’re a slow killer with a power that was shagged by the meta change – accept the temporary setback and go somewhere else.
Nemesis Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Good info on zombies, very strong perks, shreds pallets, strong anti-loop
Cons: Zombies are rubbish, three hits to down, incredibly conspicuous, takes time to power up, high skill cap
One of my favorite killers. Nemesis’s addons are pretty disappointing, but the two listed should help. One reduces the number of vaccines available by 25% and the other will speed up your path to Tier 3 considerably.
Your primary goal is to get to Tier 2 ASAP. Once you have Tier 2, you can break pallets and shorten chases considerably. To this end, you need to infect survivors. Lethal Pursuer means you will at least know where the bastards are, so get on them fast and turn them blue. Tier 3 is also incredibly useful for its extra reach but will take much longer to achieve. Infecting two separate survivors with your tentacle will grant Tier 2.
Killing zombies with your tentacle should only be down if it will get you a Tier or they are stuck on geometry. Otherwise, leave the things alone. Check their aura constantly to get an idea of where survivors are – they’re pretty decent radars, and on Midwich they may even secure a hit or two.
Nemesis Adept means Eruption. Hot damn! Kick high priority gens and watch them explode. Nothing else to it. Hysteria is basically useless but may occasionally cause injured survivors to run into you and themselves.
Your tentacle can guarantee hits at pallets and windows, however survivors will frequently Dead Hard or juke at the last second. Wait until they are locked in animation (their item will disappear shortly before they vault or drop the pallet) and then smack them. They get a speed boost after being infected, so be prepared to break off chase and find someone else if it takes too long to catch up. The more survivors infected early the better – they will run out of vaccines pretty quickly thanks to the addon, and the game will likely run long thanks to Eruption.
If you want to break a pallet with your tentacle but do not want to hit the survivor to deny them a speed boost, aim to the side. The pallet will break and the chase can continue.
Midwich is the best map here, because its tight doorways and hallways mean that zombie hits are actually rather frequent, especially if the survivor is in a panic. It can sometimes be difficult to find survivors in the early game on Midwich, which Lethal Pursuer cancels out neatly.
Cenobite Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Strong in chase, strong map pressure, very strong perks, very strong addons, survivors hate him
Cons: Power can be hard to utilize
Original Pain will let you shut down Dead Hard as well as tunnel people off of hook with impunity. The Lament Configuration will make it far more likely that chain hunts will be triggered, granting information and a lot of slowdown. Like you need it…
Gift of Pain is actually pretty strong now, so try to prioritize Scourge Hooks if you can. Deadlock remains one of the strongest slowdowns in the game and you don’t even need to do anything to activate it – between Deadlock and the Chain Hunts, Pinhead’s Adept plays itself! Plaything will give survivors a side objective and also make you quite stealthy.
So let’s see, survivors need to find the Lament Configuration, break Plaything totems, do generators, and avoid Pinhead, who they can’t hear, who is strong in chase, and can shut down both Dead Hard and the Endurance effect off of unhook. There is a reason this killer is hated! Solo queue will struggle massively against this guy, and if you’re even remotely good at hitting your chains, this adept should be a cinch. Speaking of which, make sure to stick injured survivors with your chains first to prevent Dead Hards whenever possible.
Speaking of chains, you do not want to use it at long range. It is a way of slowing people down in loops, not closing distance. Hitting people becomes a lot easier if you summon the chain directly on top of them before they can dodge. Curving chains in midair is possible but very difficult – Pinhead actually has a pretty high skill cap with his power!
If someone begins fixing the box, consider whether you can make it on foot and interrupt them. If yes, do that. Getting the box will make life miserable for the survivors for a little longer. If you cannot make it on foot, consider whether the person solving it is a high priority target. If they are injured, on death hook, or you know they struggle in chase, teleport to them and bring them down. If not, continue what you were doing. If nothing is going on, may as well teleport.
Original Pain means you can cancel Off the Record and the basekit Borrowed Time with impunity. Use this to tunnel people off of death hook.
I would prioritize Dead Dawg over Midwich here, since Pinhead’s power can get a little when multiple floors are involved. You still should not have a terrible time in the saloon.
Artist Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Strong perks, strong power, strong addons, excellent reach, survivors hate her
Cons: Tough to utilize
The above addons will both improve your chase potential and allow you to harass multiple survivors on a generator at once, or hit both targets during an unhook.
Bird Lady is strong. She can cross map like Huntress, although it will take a second hit to secure an injure. Her power grants her both incredible anti-loop potential as well as information that can span the map. Her perks also grant her exceptional slowdown – Grim Embrace can outright shut the match down for 45 seconds if you can trigger it early, and Pain Resonance is meta for a reason. Pentimento is unlikely to come into play, but God help the survivors if it does.
Try to use only one bird at a time when targeting people being attacked by a flock at a loop. Multiple birds greatly extends your cooldown, which you want to avoid. If a survivor has fled to midrange or you are trying to hit multiple targets, then you can try the “shotgun” approach by sticking birds in slightly different directions and launching.
Try to leave birds where the survivor cannot see (for example, behind a shack wall) and then force them in that direction. If a survivor is being particularly cautious, you can start zoning them with your power to force a M1. You are at your strongest at straight loops (think cars or logs with a pallet) since you can cut off directions for the survivor very quickly. Do not be afraid to hit them through a wall to get them bird-infested and then follow up with a quick second hit – they tend to have trouble dodging you while distracted by all the crows.
If you can hook all four different survivors naturally, do it, but otherwise don’t pay attention to Grim Embrace. Pain Resonance is more than strong enough to carry this Adept – just keep dragging people to Scourge Hooks.
Artist actually struggles with multi-level maps, so neither Dead Dawg nor Midwich are terrific here. I would select a nice, flat map of reasonable size. A MacMillan or Azarov’s offering would be my suggestion. Lery’s could also work, but I think you would be hard pressed to secure consistent injures with her power due to the abundance of windows.
Bird up!
Onryo Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Really strong perks, addons almost make her have a power, sometimes sneaky, good mobility, can sometimes give people heart attacks, smol
Cons: Not much of a stealth killer, almost no power in chase, condemned is tough to capitalize on
Her addons will allow her to teleport consistently so long as she can secure M1s, and will turn Condemned into an actual threat if survivors heal each other. Which they will. Its in their nature.
Here we have an adept carried hard by three strong perks. Playing the Sadako adept is not that far off from playing regular Sadako. Call of Brine is an excellent regression perk that you were probably using anyway, Merciless Storm comes in clutch surprisingly often, and Floods of Rage is one of the best information perks in the game. Do try to avoid killing survivors on your Scourge Hooks, though. Floods of Rage only triggers on unhook.
Since Adept now just means killing people, we can lean into Condemned as an additional threat to deal with. Teleport constantly and refresh your TVs by hitting survivors. If a survivor becomes condemned, try to cut them off from any TV you see them heading to, since they are likely carrying a tape. Since you do not have STBFL, they can uncurse themselves in your face, but that is still a free down.
Condemned should be your secondary priority, however. Nice if it happens, but unlikely. Instead, use your mobility to constantly harass survivors across the map and shove them off gens. Then, kick them with Call of Brine. Your Manifest/Demanifest can be used to throw survivors off at short loops, but this is unreliable at best. You’re going to have to eat pallets the old fashioned way, while slowly grinding out the game with Condemned and Call of Brine. Create dead zones in key areas and force survivors into them.
Sadako is smol. Take advantage of this at loops where survivors cannot see you to catch them unawares. Demanifesting can help here. Speaking of, Demanifesting allows you to phase through survivors – very useful if they are trying to body block.
Midwich or Lery’s work very well for Sadako, as you can traverse the map very quickly and secure a lot of Condemned stacks while approaching from unexpected directions. Hiding, ordinarily fairly effective on these maps, will be canceled out by Floods of Rage if you can get a few people on Scourge Hooks.
Dredge Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Strong map mobility and detection, okay perks
Cons: Not very strong in chase, takes a while to build up, no slow down, built in counterplay
The above addons are considered Dredge’s most consistent addons, but there are definitely other options. Malthinker’s Skull guarantees a lot more Nightfalls while Haddie’s Calendar will save you a lot of time jumping out of locked lockers. You will get noticeable amounts of value from both.
Dredge is a lot of fun, even if his perks kind of suck. You will very likely never notice if you get value out of Septic Touch. Dissolution gives survivors a lot of warning and leeway, but will still frequently get you hits if you corner a survivor and force them to vault with it active. Darkness Revealed is excellent, especially on Midwich, and will get you a lot of information and potentially even a free grab.
Nightfall greatly increases Dredge’s mobility and visibility while sharply reducing the survivors’. For that reason, you want to secure hits as soon as possible, since it will build fast over wounded survivors. If Nightfall is close, you can optionally activate your power and begin strolling away from it, or hide in a locker for a bit to force Nightfall. Then you can begin teleporting all over the map and looking for killer instinct. Optionally use Darkness Revealed to determine where to go.
Your power isn’t terrific at loops but it can force lopsided 50/50s. Use it at less strong loops to either teleport back and hit the survivor, or just walk into them and then smack them after canceling your power.
Try to open locked lockers that you see. It doesn’t take long and will likely pay off later.
During Nightfall, you teleport and recover your power outrageously fast. Use it to cut off survivors and scare the out of them. Your power is not much use in chase out of Nightfall, unfortunately, so try to capitalize on the dark when it descends.
It goes without saying that locker-heavy Midwich should be your go to with this guy. He loves it there. And not just because he eats children!
Mastermind Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Built-in slowdown, decent perks, high mobility, strong addons
Cons: Large terror radius, high skill cap
The Iridescent Vial will cause survivors to immediately exhaust a third of their available first aid sprays. They will also reveal themselves while doing so, and may accidentally become exposed if they become fully infected.
Wesker has an easy time of it. Superior Anatomy lets him keep up in chase even without using his power, Awakened Awareness will grant him even more free information, and Terminus complicates the endgame for survivors. His power also denies the power of SHIFT + W, as well as God pallets and windows. Couple that with a power that forces survivors off of generators to cleanse themselves or otherwise suffer terrible consequences, and you get an adept that is easier than most.
Try to secure M2 hits whenever possible. The more infections means the more time spent cleansing infections and slowly draining the map of resources. This gets especially vicious given that you will see them once they spray and can potentially infect them *again.* As the match goes on, the most easily accessible sprays will be further and further from the remaining gens, slowing the game down further.
When a survivor is fully infected, they are exposed for 30 seconds, become instantly downable from a M2 smash, and also lose 8% movement speed. Get on their ass ASAP if they achieve full infection.
Superior Anatomy does not affect the vault speed from your dash. Use it to make up distance when your dash is unlikely to connect but your M1 would.
If you know a survivor is about to drop a God pallet or drop down a strong window, charge up your power and prepare to follow them. Don’t charge until you hear or see them act, however. Many a Wesker has been embarrassed by a survivor faking them out and laughing as they dive out a second story window or directly into a dropped pallet.
Midwich is again our friend. Wesker can make a lot of distance in its hallways, and the sheer size of his terror radius on this small map will make him hard to pinpoint. His power also counters several strong windows and pallets that would otherwise buy survivors a lot of time.
Knight Adept
Recommended Addons:
Pros: Can multitask, built in decent slowdown, can drive survivors off loops, strong perks
Cons: Weak to Shift + W, clunky power, power can sometimes just not work properly
The Knight actually has a lot of usable addons, so feel free to pick something else. These addons will let you set up guards from a lot further away, increasing both your own speed and the speed at which they float at survivors when they spot them, while the other increases their chase duration by a sizable amount.
The Knight gets a lot of hate, but not for his perks. Hubris can easily secure you one or two free downs, while Nowhere to Hide is rapidly becoming meta for good reason; kick gens often and flush those cowards out. Face the Darkness will lurk in the background and provide free information, which is more than many perks can claim.
To succeed as Knight, you need to use your guards correctly. The Carnifex can be used early to break walls, but will also chase survivors for 28 seconds, which is obscene. He might not catch them, but they are sure as hell not doing gens. Don’t be afraid to drop this guy often. He breaks pallets and gens instantly, which can be problematic if you wanted to keep survivors on one side or off of the generator longer. The other two take about 6 seconds to break.
The Assassin chases survivors at 110 speed and inflicts deep wounds. He doesn’t see well and he doesn’t chase long, but he usually gets his man. Drop him off at generators you know are being worked on and watch them scurry. He catches up more often than not.
The Jailer gets a bad rep, but he’s the one who most consistently spots survivors and wastes their time. If you don’t want to use him, send him to break something so you can rotate him. Otherwise, drop him at high traffic spots or where you know survivors are; he consistently flushes them out. He is also the best at guarding hooks, due to his lengthy patrol time.
When you are not in chase, get within moderate distance of where survivors are and then summon a guard on top of them. They’ll get on their ass quick, courtesy of his recent changes, and they will have no warning since the green orb now vanishes as you send it. Then, march in and cut off the person being chased by your guard.
If you are in chase and a survivor has you at a loop, either force the pallet down and break it with the Carnifex, or just spawn a guard in place to force them off the loop. Boring, but it works.
If a gen is about to pop in the distance, send your guard out and break it. If it’s Carnifex, they instantly lose 5% progress, and you should send another ASAP. If it’s the other two, the survivors will be kicked off the gen for 6 seconds … and then lose 5% progress. Use that time to close the gap and get them off that gen.
Make sure to multitask! If you are picking up a survivor, drop a guard to cover you from rescuers, or send him to break that pallet the survivor just dropped while you scoop them off the ground. The ability to do two things at once should not be underestimated; you can save a lot of time on Knight.
Thanks to his Guard’s ability to float up floors to catch survivors, Dead Dawg Saloon is his best map. You can defend Gallows and Main from the bottom floor just by posting a guard from below. Survivors unfamiliar with this tactic will immediately crap themselves as the Assassin floats up to them, Return of the King style, and shanks their ass.
