Dead by Daylight: A Guide To Playing Killer

Before we jump into the fog, it is important to know the basic controls of killer. I strongly recommend playing the in-game tutorial for Killer if you haven’t already, otherwise, here is a brief reminder on the controls.

W, A, S, D – These 4 keys are used to move your character around.

R – Pressing this key will drop any survivor you are carrying.

Space – The Space Bar is used to break dropped pallets, damage generators, vault windows, check lockers, pick up survivors, and hook survivors.

Left Mouse Button (LMB) – Press the Left Mouse Button to swing your weapon to injure a survivor. Holding down the Left Mouse Button will make you Lunge, granting you a small boost of speed followed by a swing. More information on this is covered in the “Chasing Survivors” section.

Right Mouse Button (RMB) – Press the Right Mouse Button to use your power, which is unique to that Killer.

Left Control Button – Some but NOT all Killers have an additional ability tied to their power, whether it’d be teleporting to a generator or entering crouch mode.

Now here comes the million dollar question you’re already asking: Which Killer should I try first?
Luckily, I have already answered that for you.

I recommend starting out with The Wraith, an easy to use stealth killer. 

The Wraith’s power is the Wailing Bell.
The Wailing Bell allows The Wraith to activate his cloak, making him barely visible while moving and completely invisible while standing still. While cloaked, The Wraith has no terror radius, which means the survivors have no indication to whether you are approaching them. Since your presence is unknown, you will have an easier time searching for survivors and initiating a surprise attack!

Speaking of searching for survivors, let’s go over how to hunt for survivors efficiently.

The most effective way to find survivors is by patrolling generators. The goal for survivors is to repair 5 generators, which means they will be near generators most of the time. To find generators, look for a red aura of said generators, as the aura can be seen throughout the entire map.

Found a survivor? Good job! Chances are they will start running away though, so you gotta chase them! When engaging in a chase, it is important to predict the survivor’s next move so you can down them as soon as possible.

Survivors have pallets and vaults at their disposal however, which gives them the ability to extend chases, buying their team time to do generators and escape the trial. Learning how to chase effectively is absolutely crucial when playing killer.

Pallets are a finite tool that survivors can use. Dropping the pallet allows the survivor to gain distance from the killer, and survivors can jump over the pallets. As a killer, you can either break the pallet rendering it useless, go another way to catch up to the survivor running away, or trick the survivor to vault in your grasp depending on the safety of the pallet.

Identifying which pallets are safe and not safe can be the difference between letting a survivor escape and sacrificing the survivor. A safe pallet is a pallet that is surrounded by enough walls or debris that the killer cannot bait the survivor into vaulting the pallet by moving to one side then backtracking to the other, an unsafe pallet is a pallet that has little distance between each side of the pallet.

Here are some examples of safe pallets

Here are some examples of unsafe pallets

Survivors may use windows or vault locations to their advantage. Survivors are able to quickly jump through while the Killer goes through at a slower rate, thus buying the survivor time to find another pallet or break line of sight with you. If the killer can bait the survivor into vaulting a window while the killer goes a different route however, it can more often then not lead to a free hit.

If you lose a survivor, check for scratch marks and follow those as survivors who run leave scratch marks behind, lasting about 7 seconds. If the survivor is injured, listen for their groans of pain or follow the blood trails they leave behind.

Upon downing a survivor, you are able to pick them up. When picking up a survivor, they will likely start struggling. When they begin to struggle, you have a short amount of time to throw the survivor onto a hook before they escape your grasp. To find a hook, look for red auras of said hooks while holding a survivor and press space while standing in front of the hook to begin or enter the next phase of the sacrificial progress.

There are 3 different phases a survivor will go through before being sacrificed and removed from the game.

Phase 1: Survivors are hooked for the first time and have 60 seconds before Phase 2 begins. During the first phase, the hooked survivor can attempt to escape themselves with a 4% base chance of succeeding at the cost of accelerating the hook progress by 20 seconds. If the hooked survivor stays on the hook and exceeds past 50% of their hook timer or is hooked again before entering the struggle state, phase 2 begins.

Phase 2: The hooked survivor enters the struggle state, which lasts for 60 seconds. The survivor can no longer attempt to escape by themselves and must instead constantly press the Space Bar (by default) or else they skip phase 2 and enter phase 3 immediately. If the survivor is rescued during the struggle state, they will enter phase 3 the next time they are hooked.

Phase 3: The hooked survivor can no longer be saved but is instead impaled and sacrificed by The Entity, then removed from the match.

I have covered all the basics, so now I will share some tips that can benefit your gameplay.

– Sometimes it is best to injure a survivor then drop the chase as it typically leaves the survivor to heal instead of working on generators, which gives you the chance to protect your generators easily.

– If there are many survivors in one area and you down one, leaving them on the ground would be the best solution as they cannot do generators and require the help of another survivor. If you chased one of the survivors part of the group, then at least 3 survivors aren’t fixing generators!

– Try playing as survivor for a bit, to get a feel of how survivors play and act. This will help you predict the survivors when playing as killer.

– Each killer has a Red Stain which is only visible to survivors. The Red Stain is directly in front of the killer’s view, which can give survivors information to when you are about to turn the corner. Moonwalking when turning corners will hide your Red Stain, tricking the survivor and often leading to a free hit.

– Practice practice practice! Everyone starts off somewhere. Your skill and knowledge of the maps will increase the more you play!

This section will define the most common terms and abbreviations used within the game.

GG – Good game

WP – Well played

Camping – When the killer stays close to a hooked survivor for a long period of time.

Farming – When a survivor unhooks a survivor while the killer is in close proximity.

Face Camping – When the killer is right next to a hooked survivor for a long period of time.

Tunneling – When the killer focuses on downing the survivor who was just rescued from a hook.

Slugging – When the killer keeps survivors in the dying state for a long period of time.

Infinite – A vault on a large structure with no counter play that can be used to extend chase times.

DH – Dead Hard, a survivor perk belonging to David King.

BT – Borrowed Time, a survivor perk belonging to William “Bill” Overbeck.

STBFL – Save The Best For Last, a killer perk belonging to The Shape.

PWYF – Play With Your Food, a killer perk belonging to The Shape.

PGTW – Pop Goes The Weasel, a killer perk belonging to The Clown.

BBQ – Barbecue & Chili, a killer perk belonging to The Cannibal.

MYC – Make Your Choice, a killer perk belonging to The Pig.

TOTH – Thrill Of The Hunt, a killer perk available to all killers.

NOED – Hex: No One Escapes Death, a killer perk available to all killers.

DS – Decisive Strike, a survivor perk belonging to Laurie Strode.

OOO – Object Of Obsession, a survivor perk belonging to Laurie Strode.

M&A – Monitor & Abuse, a killer perk belonging to The Doctor.