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Some of Dead by Daylight‘s terrifying killers are more difficult to learn than others. Whether they require quick reflexes, quick thinking, or deep knowledge of Behaviour‘s maps, they present a steep learning curve. Picking up a simple M1 killer like Legion or Wraith takes little work, whereas you might spend your next 1,000 hours trying to master Huntress orbitals and still have room for improvement. For those with the patience to pull it off, the reward is being able to play some of the strongest and most fun characters in the game. Here are the hardest killers to learn in Dead by Daylight.
10. The Houndmaster
(Updated on November 15, 2024 – updated links and entries)
Snug might be The Entity’s goodest boy, but neither he nor his mistress are easy to use. Like Nemesis and Knight, Houndmaster can be a pain to learn because of her companion’s quirky AI. The hound can be lethal in corridors, but his pathfinding (and general doggo logic) are questionable. When Snug is performing as expected, The Houndmaster feels great to play. When our precious pooch is defying orders, getting a 4k can feel impossible.
9. The Hag
The Hag’s sluggish movement forces her to rely on a web of traps to catch survivors instead of chasing them directly. Placing those traps correctly requires planning and patience. It also requires a thorough understanding of every map in DbD so that the killer can predict and cut off survivor movements to gain the upper hand. Even with the buffs her traps have received, Hag remains a challenge.
8. The Spirit
The same phasing power that grants the Spirit incredible speed also blinds her to survivors. Having to rely on sound, scratch marks, and environmental signs to track other players is tricky. Players with difficulty hearing are at a particular disadvantage, and even those with keen ears can easily miss their targets without practice. Even romancing the Spirit in Hooked on Your is easier.
7. The Twins
The Twins’ unique ability to split up, sending Victor to chase survivors while Charlotte lingers elsewhere, is tough to get used to. However, the biggest problems with mastering the Twins are their notorious bugs and painful cooldown. Using their power often feels like a waiting simulator, making the Twins one of Behavior Interactive’s most frustrating and hardest killers to learn.
6. The Artist
The ability to use crows to shut down loops and harass distant gens gives The Artist top-tier macro potential. That comes at a cost. It’s easy to mismanage crow cooldowns, swarming survivors but failing to damage them.
Choosing optimal crow placements while tracking survivors takes considerable practice, but if you pull it off you’ll have a ranged killer that can rival Huntress in many ways. Bunny Mummy wishes she could shoot through walls.
5. The Lich
Before entering The Entity’s Realm, Vecna was one of Dungeons and Dragons‘s mightiest spellcasters. Mastering the timings and use cases for multiple spells is far from easy, however. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, forget a cooldown, or just whiff with Vecna. Watching a survivor casually crouch under Flight of the Damned feels awful, and no amount of magic can fix that.
4. The Singularity
Tracking survivors and teleporting to them using alien biopods is cool, but it’s also difficult to coordinate. If the player isn’t careful, they’ll find themselves jumping from camera to camera, trying to get an eye on survivors but not doing anything. Singularity excels in macro gameplay, bouncing from one end of The Entity’s realm to the other as it hunts its prey. If only that hunt left a little more margin for error.
3. The Nurse
The strongest killer in Dead by Daylight, the Nurse, is also one of the hardest killers in the game. The Nurse has the slowest basic movement speed of any killer, forcing her to anticipate survivor movements and land precise teleports to catch up.
The difficulty of learning the Nurse is the only thing keeping her kill rates in check. Unfortunately, that is probably preventing a much-needed nerfing as well. For now, Sally Smithson remains (more or less) unstoppable in the hands of a pro.
2. The Blight
The second most potent killer in the game, the Blight, is also one of the most difficult killers to learn. His ability to rush across the map and bounce off objects like a deranged pinball requires quick reflexes and deep map knowledge. Without those, the Blight will find himself sliding off surfaces instead of bouncing toward his prey, even with his best builds. Nothing is quite as frustrating as being fast and still failing to catch up.
1. The Cenobite
Learning to play Pinhead well is as brutal as the Hellraiser films. The possessed chains he summons are difficult to steer. Strange spawn logic makes finding and activating his infamous box challenging, even for knowledgeable players. Controlling the match with his power requires precise macro and micro gameplay. After all that, Cenobite players must still be able to understand and execute the basic strategies and tricks of other M1 killers.
