Dead by Daylight Killer Tier List (Update 8.0.0): Best Killers, Ranked

With 35 unique killers to choose from, it can be hard to choose a killer to main in the horror game Dead by Daylight. Checking out a tier list can help you decide which killers are best for your playstyle, and which are overall strongest against experienced survivors. 

This tier list will rank killers in from S to D, with S rank being the best and D being the worst. We'll go over the killers in each tier in detail so you can get a feel for how they play. 

The best killers in Dead by Daylight do well in diverse scenarios and have kept up with the meta despite changes over the years.

1 July 2024 - We've updated this article to reflect the newest DBD killers!

Dead By Daylight Killer Tier List Ranked From Best To Worst

Keep reading for our ranking of every single killer in Dead by Daylight, as well as why they've earned their specific place on the list. For now though, here's a quick list of our Dead By Daylight Killers Tier List:

It's worth noting that our favorite killers might be a little different from the "deadliest" killlers in the game. According to stats from January 2024 provided by Behaviour Interactive, here are the game's deadliest killers, along with their kill rates: 

• Skull Merchant (70%)
• The Onryo (67%)
• The Cenobite (63%)
• The Nightmare (63%)
• The Plague (62%)
• The Pig (61%)
• The Dredge (61%)
• The Spirit (61%)
• The Shape (61%)
• The Mastermind (60%)
• Executioner: 60%
• Hag: 60%
• Artist: 60%
• Xenomorph: 59%
• Blight: 59%
• Wraith: 59%
• Nemesis: 59%
• Legion: 58%
• Good Guy: 58%
• Twins: 58%
• Oni: 58%
• Cannibal: 58%
• Clown: 58%
• Deathslinger: 57%
• Trapper: 57%
• Trickster: 57%
• Demogorgon: 57%
• Singularity: 56%
• Huntress: 56%
• Ghost Face: 56%
• Nurse: 55%
• Hillbilly: 54%
• Doctor: 51%

• Overall Average: 58.50%

Dead By Daylight S Tier Killers

S Tier killers are the best of the best in Dead by Daylight. These killers may take practice to learn, but when played well, they can absolutely decimate even the best competitive survivor teams. 

• The Nurse
• The Blight
• The Executioner/Pyramid Head

The Nurse circumvents most of the game's base game mechanics, making her a true killer in the hands of a skilled Nurse player. The Nurse's teleport ignores vaults and pallets - survivors' only chances at gaining distance and escaping a chase - so a Nurse player's only limit is her own skill level. She has kept her place at the top of players' killer tier lists since she was added to the game, and, unless her power is overhauled, it's unlikely she will lose it any time soon.

The Blight is so quick that it's hard for any survivor to outrun him; at the same time, he plays completely differently than any other killer, so he takes some skill to get used to. When a player learns him, though, they quickly realize that he can get hits around corners and tight loops where many other killers can't. Like The Blight, the fundamental ways in which The Blight plays put him above all other killers, earning him a long-lasting spot in the top tier.

The Executioner can hit through walls with his ranged attack and send survivors to the Cage of Atonement, a special type of hook that ignores hook perks and survivors' built-in immunity after being unhooked, making him a stronger tunneler than any other killer in the game.

Dead By Daylight A Tier Killers

Tier killers have powers that can help them win the match in some integral way. Each one of these killers holds a unique strength, but all of them are also quite strong across the board, holding map pressure while achieving relatively quick downs. 

• The Artist
• The Hag
• The Spirit
• The Plague
• The Oni
• The Mastermind
• The Good Guy
• The Singularity
• The Xenomorph

The Artist can use her Crows of Torment to hit survivors at nearly any loop, leaving them nowhere to go. On top of this great anti-loop potential, she's also able to track survivors across the map with her Crows. 

Like The Blight, The Spirit is extremely fast when phasing. She also can't be seen when phasing. The combination of her incredibly quick speed and invisibility makes her extremely hard to counter. Relatively recent nerfs to how her power works with Stridor, though, have moved her down to the A tier from the S tier.

The Oni and The Plague both benefit from survivors' injuries, giving them powers that can instantly down survivors, apply pressure, and easily win matches. 

The Mastermind's large Terror Radius works well with a wide variety of perks, like Starstruck and Coulrophobia. He can not only cover distance quickly and efficiently, but he can also attack survivors using his power.

The Singularity can use its Biopods to track down survivors and down them, giving him enough map pressure and chase ability to make his way up into the A tier.

The Xenomorph can travel around the map rapidly using its tunnels and can identify survivors in the path of those tunnels.  Its Tail Attack also allows it to attack over pallets, much like Nemesis. Because of its great mobility and varied attacks, the Alien chapter's killer makes it to the A tier.

The Good Guy attacks survivors using his dash attack and is even more formidable thanks to his tiny size, making him hard to see when he's approaching.  His Footfalls confuse survivors even further, making him one of the best stealth killers against even experienced survivors.

The Lich has a wide array of powers that let him take down survivors, including the power to Fly, attack survivors from a distance, and more. His power is so varied that players have lots of flexibility in what power to use at any given time, and can often outplay survivors with some skill.

Dead By Daylight B Tier Killers

B tier killers often excel in one area but tend to struggle in others. Perhaps they're great at slowing down generators throughout the match, but can't seem to land a down on a survivor. Or perhaps they have an insta-down ability, but their lack of mobility sets them back.

These B tier killers all have notable strengths and weaknesses, earning them their place in the middle of the killer tier list. 

• The Nemesis
• The Dredge
• The Huntress
• The Cenobite
• The Cannibal
• The Demogorgon
• The Hillbilly
• The Unknown
• The Legion
• The Twins
• The Knight
• The Skull Merchant

The Nemesis, The Cenobite, and The Demogorgon all have some sort of ranged attack, making them more viable for landing hits against survivors. The Cenobite and The Nemesis also have passive slowdown through the Lament Configuration and T-Virus respectively. 

For characters like The Hillbilly and The Cannibal, their ability to insta-down also helps them land their spot in the B tier. The Hillbilly is benefitted by his mobility, too, along with The Dredge. 

The Legion is excellent at slowdown throughout the match using Feral Frenzy, but can't easily land downs. Improvements to their kit made them a lot more playable, but they still sit in the B tier.

While The Huntress has a great ranged attack and her hatchets are highly reliable, she doesn't have a lot of map pressure, giving survivors time to complete generators if the killer player doesn't stay on top of the match and use strong perks.

The Twins are useful for pressuring survivors during an unhook scenario, but they have moved down from A tier to B tier now that survivors have built-in immunity for 10 seconds after being unhooked, provided they do not perform a Conspicuous Action. Victor and Charlotte can work together to down survivors and keep others off of generators, taking control over the match. 

The Knight is a unique killer, being able to send out his three Guards one by one to attack survivors. Each Guard has their own ability, making strategically timed plays important. Though The Knight's kit is diverse compared to other killers, he still struggles to pressure survivors in loops, and his ability can take some time to charge between changing Guards.

The Skull Merchant's Drones are helpful in both locating and downing survivors, making her a versatile and relatively powerful killer. Survivors have strong counterplay in the form of disabling her drones or simply avoiding them, making her a B tier killer rather than an A or S tier one.

Dead By Daylight C Tier Killers

C tier killers often require a lot of time to build up their power in any given trial, making it challenging to win matches. 

Other killers end up in this relatively low tier because they lack anti-loop capabilities, causing them to struggle in chase. 

• The Ghost Face
• The Shape
• The Trickster
• The Onryo
• The Deathslinger
• The Nightmare
• The Doctor
• The Clown

The Ghost Face and The Shape can both insta-down survivors under the right circumstances, but the amount of time it takes them to build up their powers makes them relatively poor killers in the long run. Before earning their respective powers, they don't have much in their kit to back them up, causing them to struggle in the early-game.

The Onryo is highly mobile but lacks anti-loop, making it easy for experienced survivors to loop her for longer than she can afford. 

The Nightmare has a relatively weak kit overall, excelling in no particular area despite his various abilities. The Clown also has few abilities to help him in the match, with only a bit of anti-loop with his bottles. 

The Doctor has strong tracking abilities, but his anti-loop is nothing to write home about, making it challenging to win games as The Doctor. As a result, he's in the C tier. 

The Deathslinger's attack can easily be avoided with jukes, and since his nerf, survivors can easily hear him coming and avoid him because of his large terror radius. Overall, The Deathslinger is much weaker than he used to be.

The Trickster's ranged attack is unreliable and can take as few as a few seconds to as much as almost a minute to down a survivor. He doesn't have great map pressure or mobility, either, causing him to struggle against strong survivors. 

Dead By Daylight D Tier Killers

Even D-tier killers can perform well against strong survivors, but these killers often rely on the help of perks, offerings, and add-ons to help them succeed.

D-tier killers' powers don't help them catch survivors around loops, which can extend chases and give other survivors time to complete generators.

• The Trapper
• The Wraith
• The Pig

The Trapper's Bear Traps are easily countered by any survivor who knows what they're doing; they can simply be avoided and reset. Without survivors falling in his traps, The Trapper hardly has any ability at all. Therefore, he isn't the strongest in the bunch, especially when it comes to going against powerful survivors.

While The Wraith benefits from his speed boost upon uncloaking, it's really all he has. Most survivors aren't fooled by his invisibility, since Spine Chill and Premonition are such common perks and you can hear his growling as he approaches.

The Pig's Reverse Bear Traps have the potential for slowdown, but her kit doesn't empower her to do much else. Her Ambush alerts survivors with a loud growl and her Crouch is slow, giving her little potential for a true ambush despite the name of the power. These drawbacks make The Pig a D tier killer.