The Best Vecna Builds In Dead by Daylight (Update 8.2.1)

4 September 2024 - We've updated the page to reflect any recent changes to perks and abilities in Patch 8.2.1 that might impact the best Lich builds in Dead By Daylight.

Vecna is one of Dead by Daylight's newest killers, joining the game in the Dungeons & Dragons chapter. Vecna has quite a complicated power and some interesting perks that make him a very unique killer. In this guide, we'll go over The Lich's power and perks, as well as the best builds for DBD's Vecna.

The Lich Power And Perks

Before we delve into the best builds for Vecna, let's look at this killer's power and teachable perks so you know what you're working with.

First, here are The Lich's three teachable perks:

Dark Arrogance

Increases your Vaulting speed in exchange for increased vulnerability to being blinded and stunned:

• Permanently increases the duration of Killer Blinds by any means and the duration of Pallet Stuns by +25 %.
• Permanently increases your Vaulting speed by 16/18/20 %.

Languid Touch

When a Survivor scares off a Crow within 36 metres of your location, Languid Touch activates:

• Causes that Survivor to suffer from the Exhausted Status Effect for 6/8/10 seconds.
• Languid Touch has a cool-down of 20 seconds.

Weave Attunement

You are so attuned to magical energies that you can sense even minor ripples around enchantments.

Whenever an Item is depleted for the first time, it is automatically dropped:

• The Auras of dropped Survivor Items are revealed to you, as well as the Auras of any Survivors within 8 metres of them.
• Causes Survivors picking up a Survivor Item to suffer from the Oblivious Status Effect for 20/25/30 seconds.

The Lich's power is called "Vile Darkness." The in-game description reads as follows:

SPECIAL ABILITY: VILE DARKNESS
Press and hold the Secondary Power button to open the Spell Selection.
Move the cursor towards one of four available Spells in order to select it:

• Fly: Grants the ability to fly across the environment, ignoring dropped Pallets and Windows.
• Flight of the Damned: Grants the ability to conjure 5 Flying Entities that pass through obstacles and injure Survivors.
• Dispelling Sphere: Grants the ability to cast a moving invisible Sphere that reveals Survivors through Killer Instinct and disables their Magic Items for 60 seconds.
• Mage Hand: Grants the ability to create a Magical Hand that lifts dropped Pallets back upright or blocks already upright ones for 4 seconds.

Each Spell is on its own independent cool-down.
SPECIAL TREASURE CHESTS: MAGIC ITEMS
6 Treasure Chests containing special Magic Items for Survivors to equip spawn in the environment.
These include Boots or Gauntlets of:

• The Skyguard: Reveals the Aura of The Lich during Fly.
  • This effect lingers for ?? seconds.
• The Nightwatch: Reveals the Auras of Flying Entities during Flight of the Damned.
• The Archivist: Turns the Dispelling Sphere visible.
• The Interloper: Reveals the Auras of Pallets affected by Mage Hand.
  • Grants a +7 % Haste Status Effect for 3 seconds.

Beware of Mimics though, they may bite.

Survivors can have both a Boot and a Gauntlet equipped at the same time.
Unlucky Survivors may only find a regular depleted or half-depleted Item inside a Treasure Chest.

SPECIAL ITEMS: HAND & EYE OF VECNA
Rarely, Treasure Chests contain either the Hand of Vecna or the Eye of Vecna.

Healthy Survivors can use those Items to gain a special ability at the cost of a Health State and triggering Killer Instinct after use:

• Hand of Vecna: Rushing into a Locker teleports the Survivor to a different Locker that is at least 10 metres away.
  • Triggers a Loud Noise Notification on the target Locker and Killer Instinct on them for 5 seconds.
• Eye of Vecna: Rushing out of a Locker has the following effects for 12 seconds:
  • Suppresses their Aura, Scratch Marks, Blood Pools and Grunts of Pain.
  • Grants them complete invisibility.
  • Grants +25 % Haste.
  • Triggers Killer Instinct for 3 seconds after becoming visible again.

SPECIAL INTERACTION: RECOVER ARTEFACT
Survivors attuned to the Eye of Vecna or the Hand of Vecna with an accumulated 2 Hook Stages are vulnerable to The Lich recovering his Artefact from them.
Press the Attack button while standing over the downed Survivor to execute them on the spot, performing a Mini-Mori.

The Best Vecna Builds In Dead By Daylight

There are many different perks and builds that can work to Vecna's benefit, especially thanks to the depth of this killer's power. To help you out, we've compiled some Lich builds that make the most of his four different powers in chase, and allow you to focus on taking down survivors while your loadout helps you regress generators and avoid survivors' escape.

Beginner Vecna Build

When starting out as Vecna, it can take some time to learn his ability; it has four distinct parts, each providing a different benefit in chase, and requires some effort to learn. Since playing Vecna and using his power properly requires a lot of focus and decision-making, you'll likely want to spend most of your time chasing down survivors with it while your perks do the work in the background.

This build, using only general perks and those belonging to Vecna himself, will help you stay resilient against survivors' attempts to avoid being hooked and find survivors while also preventing generator progress.

• Bitter Murmur
• Iron Grasp
• Hex: No One Escapes Death
• Weave Attunement (The Lich)

Hide & Seek Crows Vecna Build

This Vecna build ensures that even if survivors might try to run, they can't hide. Spies from the Shadows will help you identify survivors' locations when they scare away crows, while Weave Attunement ensures that they're Exhausted after they do. This makes a great combo, since it means that any nearby survivors you locate will be at a disadvantage. BBQ & Chili helps out even further with tracking, while Eruption helps you make sure generators aren't completed.

• Spies from the Shadows
• Weave Attunement (The Lich)
• Barbecue and Chili (The Cannibal)
• Eruption (The Nemesis)

What Are The Best Perks For Vecna?

We've given you some builds to test out on The Lich, but you might be wondering what the best perks are on him.

A few of the best perks on Vecna are:

• Barbecue and Chili (The Cannibal)
• Sloppy Butcher
• Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance (The Artist)
• Whispers
• Monitor & Abuse (The Doctor)

We recommend mixing and matching the perks in the builds we've provided to create your favorite loadout. As you familiarize yourself with this killer, you'll determine which perks are your favorites and be able to mix and match these perks effectively.