Dead by Daylight Best Strategy as a Killer Guide in DBD

Finding The Killer That Best Suits Your Style Of Strategy

By now, there’s a massive surplus of killers, some of which clearly outpace the others, the key to succeeding in the game ultimately is to learn which killer best suits your style of play and strategy. I personally divide all of the killers into the following three sub-categories:

Macro Strategy: The Killers in this category have incredibly good movement speed, or the ability to easily enforce a map control based play style.

Micro Strategy: These killers are better off used as chasers, with the ability to quickly start and end chases and capitalize on fast pressure to snowball and take control of the map.

Blended Strategy: These are killers that don’t really excel at either, but can be utilized to decent effect for very versatile kits. For example: Pyramid head.

Macro Strategy And The Killers That Excel At It

So before we delve into the killers in this list that can do this well, let’s first look at what Macro Strategy is and how to utilize it on any killer to a varying effect.

Macro Strategy refers to Map Control and visualizing the map as an overall part of your strategy. The most simple form of this is commonly called a 3 Gen, which is created by pushing survivors off of 3 generators, usually generators that are closer together, but more on that later.

Let’s start with the absolute most basic aspect of this strategy, keeping track of pallets. As your match goes on, you should be keeping track of what pallets get used and where they’re used at. The reason this is important, is that you can herd a survivor towards your three gen and start burning pallets around the area. While the chase should only last at most around 40-50 seconds, in that time, you should be pressuring the survivor enough for them to drop pallets. So what this looks like in my matches, is at the start of the match, I pick out 3 gens that are usually close together, then herd survivors towards them to burn pallets before getting a down. When getting a down, make sure that there aren’t any pesky flashlights or flashbangs nearby, (this can be done with the perk Infectious Fright which causes any survivors within 32 meters of a survivor that just got downed to scream), then slap that nice hunk of beef on a hook right in between all 3 gens, now go break all the pallets that they’ve burned if you haven’t done so already. From there, keep chasing survivors and herding them towards the three gen setup while being careful to pressure them off those gens, and your chase times will start shortening as long as you run your tiles right (That will be another guide). The main goal from this point on is to kill a survivor as quickly as possible by any means necessary. Once you do that, it’s just a matter of keeping them off gens until they go down or give up since the entire area you’re in is one giant dead zone for pallets. Something important to note here, DO NOT LET YOURSELF GET BAITED INTO LEAVING THE DEADZONE.

A good survivor should immediately recognize this strategy and will attempt to bait you into leaving the deadzone and will kite you across the map so that their teammates can smash out gens.

The Killers I’ve found that do particularly well and why in this area go as follows:
-The Trapper: (If you’re an obnoxious enough trapper, at least one survivor will always be off a gen trying to follow you to disarm your traps which is an easy starting point for pressure)

-The Hag: (A good hag is nasty, with 10 traps at her disposal instantly in her kit, she can block off generators, problematic tiles, and obvious hook rescue routes, forcing survivors to rescue a bit slower, giving you some more precious time to patrol and fortify your deadzone)

-Hillbilly (Hillbilly is one of those that fits both micro and macro strategies quite well, largely due to his high mobility and being able to instantly down someone, but since Leatherface exists, you can count on a good Hillbilly to have 3 gens ANYWHERE on the map, and be able to patrol them efficiently due to his high mobility kit

-Blight (Not dissimilar to Hillbilly, Blight’s kit is incredibly powerful for somebody who knows the map well enough to chain his bounces for easy patrols on gens and incredibly lethal plays around problematic tiles that don’t have pallets.)

-Doctor (Extremely useful as a 3 gen killer because his AOE shock will reveal anybody who’s in stealth as you patrol your gennies, making it difficult for survivors to play the long stealth game)

Micro Strategy And The Killers That Excel At It

Much like the last section, let’s start with Micro Strategy. Micro Strategy is the little moves you do during chases that win you the chase, this is everything from moonwalking to doing upward flicks to bait out Dead Hard users. I’m not the best at Micro Strategy, but here are the most consistent things that have won me chases.

Instead of just blindly chasing the survivor around in circles, if you’re at a wall big enough to hide your physical body, then you can do a mind game called moonwalking. Moonwalking is when you flick your camera in the complete opposite direction while advancing on a corner so the survivor can’t see your red stain. Successful moonwalk hits will drastically shorten a chase, and lead nicely into the next tip.

When chasing injured survivors, they will often aim to go for distance to waste more of your time, using perks like Dead Hard or Sprint Burst to make it to the next loop, but more on distance after this next bit. At any point when chasing an injured survivor you can do what’s called a Dead Hard check. What this means is in the middle of the chase, you quickly flick your mouse up, then rapidly flick it back to it’s normal position, creating the illusion that you’re about to swing, which makes most Dead Hard users waste their Dead Hard, resulting in an easy smack for you before they can use it where they’ll need it most.

Now for the most important part of Micro Strategy, mitigating Distance, which is the most powerful survivor tool in a chase. The best way to mitigate this advantage, is by either a mobility power or a power that lets you hit at range to deny them the ability to get too far ahead.

Now onto the list of killers that excel in Micro Strategy and why:

Wraith: (A very situational killer, he excels at chases especially by using line of sight to circle around and cut off the survivor with the right add-ons, allowing you to appear out of nowhere and ambush survivors)

Nurse: (Often referred to as the killer with the highest skill ceiling in the game. The Nurse specializes in blitz plays by “blinking” towards survivors, allowing her to ignore objects and buildings, which ironically makes distance her only counter, but one she also mitigates by catching up with proper blink spacing)

Myers: (Depending on the addons you use, Myers can be quite versatile, ranging from being able to just see auras within 32m or for just short amounts of time, to even having a built in Mori. The main takeaway from his kit, is that while he does have a reduced TR, once he stalks up to tier 2, he can 99 the stalk bar to then just get 60 seconds of having a one shot left click. He’s best utilized with chase perks like Spirit Fury/Enduring and MnA)

Huntress: (While she is slow, she has some pretty amazing potential to hit people across long distances with some people landing hatchet hits across the map. The main appeal here is that if you can M1 somebody off of a loop then you can snipe them with the hatchet within seconds instead of having to spend at least 5-10 seconds to catch up with the survivor before they get to the next loop)

Leatherface: (While he also has a one shot in his chainsaw similar to Billy, he lacks the map travel potential, but instead makes up for in a chase, as he swings his chainsaw multiple times in short bursts allowing you to get a larger more forgiving window for your oneshot, or being able to down multiple survivors who try to unhook in your face)

Pig: (She doesn’t have a whole lot going for her, but if you can get good enough to land her ambush dash, you’ll be able to immediately apply ambush pressure on a survivor, and if you down them, you can apply some overall match pressure with her reverse bear traps. While one would think she falls into the mixed category, her power is overly reliant on RNG meaning that at best, she should be considered an M1 micro strategy killer)

Clown: (Clown excels at chases at loops and window loops because while his power doesn’t give you a one shot without addons, it DOES provide a slowdown to survivors who get caught in the gas, allowing you to zone people away from pallets and windows unless they want to feed you a free hit. Sometimes his power does bug and not apply the slow until the gas cloud is fully formed, so be aware of that)

Legion: (Ironically enough, Legion used to be an amazing macro strategy killer, but got relegated to micro strategy after several nerfs. Basically your power is to zoom around fast as ♥♥♥♥ and get m1 hits that apply the deep wounds status effect, nothing really noteworthy overall)

Plague: (Not much can be said here, she’s an M1 killer who can infect survivors with her power, which puts them into an injured state until they cleanse. You can argue she’s good, but she requires much more effort than some of the other killers in this list with less overall reward due to the time loss. If a survivor does cleanse, you can activate her fountain to get a ranged damage attack)

Deathslinger: (So, what’s unique about DS is that his ranged attack spears a survivor, and lets you reel them in. Think of him as a more novelty Huntress that doesn’t have to reload at lockers. You can freely zone a survivor away or into a window for an easy spear just by quickly aiming down your sights. Beyond that, he’s just a weaker Huntress that should be played for flavor)

Blendy Bois And Why You Should Ultimately End Up Blending The Two Strategies To Be More Consistent

So to start with, after a while of playing killer, you should start blending elements of the two strategies to guarantee that you minimize the time spent chasing a single survivor. The key points to focus on are preventing long distance gains, and downing people in your 3 gen. Beyond that, I can’t really explain to you how to get better at this other than to keep at it and learn your tile rotations, which will differ from killer to killer as some can outright ignore tiles due to ranged hits (Nurse, Pyramid Head).

Blendy boi killers and why they’re generally some of the best in the game:

Freddy: (So Freddy has a lot in his kit since his now ancient rework. He can teleport to a gen, allowing for high mobility around the map to check three gens, can place fake pallets or puddles to slow someone down in a chase or outright prevent them from buying more time via pallet, allowing for some of the most filthy downs depending on pallet/puddle placements)

Spirit: (Currently the only killer in the game with no counter. 100% serious there, at competitive levels of play, your only counter is if they drop pallets and guess right on a 50/50 chance. Otherwise if you use short bursts of your phase, you’ll be more than set to down survivors at tilesets and pallets with ease. Do note that if you play her, you will need to learn how to read by sound, as it’s the only way to track survivors in her default kit accurately, as scratchmarks can be faked out for easy jukes)

Demogorgon: (Demodoggo has a fantastic kit, to start with he can open up to 6 portals around the map, allowing him to travel across the map at high speeds while also having a charged long lunge on his M2 that can break pallets and inflict a single damage state. Once you get good with him, you can down somebody on one end of the map and portal over to another to instantly start another chase. Seriously, you should always be in a chase if you pick this killer.)

Oni: (He’s a more bursty Hillbilly, his power relies on you injuring survivors at the start of the match, then using the blood orbs they drop to become a more maneuverable hillbilly, able to flick around on loops that Hillbilly cannot after his nerf. Run him with infectious to get some really good snowball potential, especially if you set up a 3 gen)

Pyramid Head: (Personally my favorite killer, there’s three major aspects to his power, you can leave a trail behind you by moving while holding M2, and if a survivor steps on it, they become “tormented”. What this means is that if you down a tormented survivor, you can hit cntrl to send them to a Cage of Torment, which can function as a counter to Decisive Strike and other hook based perks, or if they’re on death hook, grants you the ability to instantly “bonk” (mori) a survivor. The third and final aspect of his power is that if you hit M1 while holding M2, you’ll send out a ranged attack that can go through walls, run this with I’m All Ears to really shut down some tilesets. The trail can be used to cut off gens or hooks on hills to force tormented status, which is only countered by crouch walking through the trail, meaning that they waste even more time unhooking, allowing you to pressure your 3 gen or other gens on the map)

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