The Best Dredge 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 Dredge builds in Dead By Daylight.

The Dredge Power and Perks

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

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

Perk: Dissolution

• Everything turns to dust. It is as inescapable as the coming of the night.
• 3 seconds after injuring a Survivor by any means, Dissolution activates for 12/16/20 seconds:
• While Dissolution is active, if a Survivor fast vaults over a Pallet while they are inside your Terror Radius, The Entity will break the Pallet at the end of the vault, deactivating Dissolution.

Perk: Darkness Revealed

• When you search a Locker, the Auras of all Survivors within 8 metres of any Locker are revealed to you for 3/4/5 seconds.
• Darkness Revealed has a cool-down of 30 seconds.

Perk: Septic Touch

• Whenever a Survivor performs a Healing action while they are inside your Terror Radius, that Survivor suffers from the Blindness and the Exhausted Status Effects.
• These effects linger for 6/8/10 seconds after the Healing action is interrupted by any means.

Power: Reign of Darkness

The Nightmare's power is called "Reign of Darkness." The in-game description reads as follows:

• Start the Trial with 3 Tokens.
• Press and hold the Power button to activate The Gloaming.

Special Ability: The Gloaming

• Once activated, The Dredge leaves a Remnant behind.
• In this state, The Dredge is free to roam the Trial Grounds, albeit at a slower pace.
• Aim at a Locker and press the Ability button to teleport into it or press the Attack button to return to the Remnant.
• The Remnant is disabled when teleporting to a Locker or when a Survivor touches it.
• While in a Locker, aim at any other Locker and press the Ability button to teleport again.
• Each teleportation consumes 1 Token.
• Exiting the Locker or returning to the Remnant will activate The Gloaming's cool-down of 12 seconds, after which all Tokens are replenished.

Special Interaction: Grabbing Survivors

• If The Dredge teleports into a Locker that happens to have a Survivor hiding inside it or is in the process of entering it, The Dredge will automatically grab them and leave the Locker with the Survivor on its shoulder.

Special Interaction: Locking Lockers

• At the start of the Trial, every Locker spawns with an open latch on its doors.
• Survivors can walk up to any Locker and close that latch, locking it for The Dredge, but also for other Survivors.
• This can be done once per Trial for every Locker.
• The latch cannot be closed when another Survivor is hiding inside the Locker.
• When The Dredge teleports into a locked Locker, it will slow it down while exiting it.
• After breaking free, the lock breaks.
• The Dredge can break the latch of locked Lockers from the outside by walking up to it and performing a Basic Attack.
• Attempting to lock the Locker The Dredge is currently inside of will cause The Dredge to immediately grab the Survivor.
• The same applies when attempting to enter that Locker or generally interacting with it in any way.

Special Ability: Nightfall

• Whenever a healthy Survivor is injured, a Survivor is hooked, or The Dredge uses its teleportation power, the Nightfall Meter builds.
• The Nightfall Meter fills faster for each Survivor in the Injured State.
• Once the Nightfall Meter is full, Nightfall begins automatically, forcing Survivors to navigate in near-total darkness.
• Nightfall ends after 60 seconds.
• Survivors destroying the Remnant will reduce that time.
• During Nightfall, The Dredge benefits from the following effects:
  • Teleportation to and between Lockers is faster and with a shorter cool-down of 4 seconds.
  • Survivors within 16 metres of the Locker The Dredge teleports to trigger Killer Instinct.
  • Grants the Undetectable Status Effect.

Best Dredge Builds In Dead By Daylight

The Dredge's power allows him to teleport around the map through lockers, stealthily sneaking up on survivors before landing a quick hit.

After gaining his greater power, Nightfall, which can occur multiple times within a match, he forces survivors to navigate through darkness and can teleport even more quickly.

The best builds for The Dredge take advantage of his ability to teleport around the map quickly and efficiently. 

Down in the Dark Dredge Build

The Dredge's Nightfall can be incredibly powerful if he triggers it at useful times. This build makes it nearly impossible to find other downed survivors in Nightfall. With the combination of the darkness in Nightfall and the fact that other survivors can't see downed survivors' auras with Knock Out, even experienced survivors will struggle to counter this build. 

• Knock Out (The Cannibal)
• Dragon's Grip (The Blight) 
• Scourge Hook: Floods of Rage (The Onryo)
• Darkness Revealed (The Dredge)

Scourge Hook: Floods of Rage and Darkness Revealed will ensure that even though the survivors don't know where you are, you'll be able to pinpoint their exact locations at convenient times. Knock Out prevents survivors from finding one another, as we mentioned, while Dragon's Grip provides extra generator slowdown and even more tracking.

Can't Stop The Pressure Dredge Build

The Dredge is able to pressure the survivors using his power, as he can teleport across the map and seemingly be in multiple places at once. This mobility can come to his advantage, especially when combined with the help of strong perks.

• Spirit Fury (The Spirit)
• Enduring (The Hillbilly) 
• Save The Best For Last (The Shape)
• Tinkerer (The Hillbilly) 

Spirit Fury, Enduring, and Save The Best For Last all allow you to have an incredibly powerful chase as the match goes on. If you're efficient with The Dredge's Remnant, which can add mind games to any loop, this build will be sure to grant you downs with your increased chase power. Tinkerer ensures that the generators don't fly immediately, and that you're able to pressure survivors off of generators. 

What Are The Best Perks For The Dredge?

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

A few of the best perks on The Dredge are:

• Jolt
• Whispers
• Scourge Hook: Floods of Rage (The Onryo)
• Darkness Revealed (The Dredge)
• BBQ & Chili (The Cannibal)
• Dragon's Grip (The Blight)
• Deadlock (The Cenobite)

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.