Sometimes everyone has a dark fantasy of being the killer in a horror movie, right? Tons of players love to be on the prowl hunting down survivors in Dead by Daylight. With killers from famous horror franchises, among original creations, there's a ton of fun to be had in the game.

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Still, not all killers are created equal. They call come with unique abilities that offer major upsides and downsides. When players want to be successful, they need to know the best killers to use to do the job. Favorite movie villains aren't always the best choice for those players who want to be competitive.

22 Jeffrey Hawk - The Clown

The reason that The Clown is so low on the list is because of his special. Slowing down survivors with intoxication bottles may seem strong at first, but the length of time to reload makes things very difficult. Plus, smart players can simply run through the gas as the reduced visibility just isn't strong enough, especially if they have exhaustion perks.

He takes a lot of playing things by ear which makes it especially hard to make him successful in the higher ranks. It does look like he will be receiving a major buff in an upcoming update so keep an eye out to see if The Clown gets any better.

21 Amanda Young - The Pig

Inspired by the famous Saw franchise, The Pig has a lot of artillery at her disposal. She can put reverse bear traps on the player, as a strong stealth state, and a heck of a charged strike. Still, each of these moves has problems. The bear traps take far too long to count down and are almost guaranteed to get taken off by survivors. Plus, they are severely limited, so once they are out that tool for pressure is totally gone.

Not to mention, her stealth strike is also easy to telegraph and dodge because of the loud lion's roar she makes before striking as well. The combination of all these weaknesses makes her have a hard time taking out survivors.

20 Frank Julie, Susie, And Joey - The Legion

The Legion feels like a bit of a glass cannon in the game. On one hand, there's a possibility of dealing massive damage using Feral Frenzy. On the other hand, it's just as easy to miss and end up helpless in a stunned state. Not to mention, this somewhat impressive ability doesn't actually make it possible to down opponents, so it makes it hard to finish the job sometimes.

19 Philip Ojimo - The Wraith

One of the original killers in the game, The Wraith can go invisible at the ring of a bell. Invisibility sounds like it would be entirely broken, but in the end, it's more of a hassle to control. Since players have to ring a bell to become visible once more and attack, it makes it difficult to actually ambush the survivors with the attack. Plus, any survivor with a flashlight can still spot an invisible Wraith.

18 Evan Macmillan - The Trapper

Evan Macmillan was the first killer in the game and is essentially the mascot of the franchise at this point. His name might make his ability obvious since he uses bear traps. The major problem here is that it isn't easy to set up bear traps quickly. They need to be perfectly located so that the player can make sure to down survivors or else all the time will be for nothing.

Since players can also help free survivor allies from the traps, those that travel in groups can negate the ability quite quickly. Oh, and players can set actually off traps safely if they spot them. It makes it far harder to use them effectively and makes it so there are better killers to use.

17 The Demogorgon

Seeing Stranger Things content in Dead by Daylight was beyond exciting for fans of the series. Playing as the Demogorgon can be particularly fun while traveling through portals in the Upside Down. However, it tends to end up being faster to not even use the portals and just move around normally. Combine this with a tricky kit, and the fact that it makes a lot of noise when moving, and it becomes tough to use in higher ranks.

16 Victor And Charolette Deshayes - The Twins

The newest killer added to the game, The Twins have some unique mechanics to work with. Victor can be faster when separated from his sister but can also be crushed by survivors or simply be torn off of them once he pounces. It takes a long while for him to regrow once inside Charolette, which can make it difficult if they didn't damage players enough to take them down.

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The problem is that whenever Victor isn't in play is that Charolette alone is particularly weak. Plus, if the survivors can hit Charolette while Victor is in play, things still jump back to her and leaves her stunned so retaliation isn't really possible. Still, in the right hands, it's possible to find success as The Twins.

15 Caleb Quinn - The Deathslinger

Watch out, it's Harpoon Man! Okay, this isn't Saturday Night Live, it's a horror game, and the Deathslinger having a ranged attack that can be incredibly useful. When they hit survivors, they can also reel them in closer and put them into a deep sleep that makes downing them much easier.

The only problem is that his chain is breakable so survivors with strong enough struggling skills can make it useless quickly, though they will be deeply wounded even if they escape. It's still a little tough to hunt them down as Caleb is one of the slowest killers in the game. He's not the worst killer, he just has a hard time as he can only truly focus on one survivor at a time.

14 Adiris - The Plague

The Plague (no not the current pandemic) vomits on anything in the game, including survivors, as touching the vomit in any way gives them sickness. If the survivors stay sick for too long, they remain permanently injured, which can make them easy targets. This can force players to cleanse in one of the fountains sprinkled throughout the map so that Adiris can easily hunt them down.

The problem comes at higher ranks, where players know to simply ignore using the fountains to recover at all. It's not easy, but the game can still be won even with all of the survivors injured. Still, sometimes players will crack, as it's far easier to be downed when they are severely damaged, and she can gain access to the ranged attack that makes her so strong.

13 Herman Carter - The Doctor

The ultimate provider of medical PTSD, The Doctor has two main abilities. Shock Therapy gives madness to any survivors in range and flashes their location for a short while, which helps The Doctor visit his patients for a special appointment. Static Blast forces any survivor hit by it to gain even more madness. Unlike Shock Therapy, this ability doesn't have a long recharge time.

If players can bring on enough madness to bring a survivor to tier three, they literally can only sit and scream while they wait to snap out of it. Still, most of his abilities are better to locate survivors than deal damage, giving him issues when it comes to sealing the deal for wins.

12 Michael Myers - The Shape

Yes, this is the Michael Myers! This horror movie icon is able to stalk survivors and gain more strength for taking them down as he does so. If killers can get to tier three of Evil Within,  Michael becomes beyond devastating. It's just not always easy to make that happen, and it doesn't last forever.

Almost any killer with an instant takedown attack is high tier and strong, but since players need to charge up Michael Myers to have it, this makes him a bit weaker. Still, he's quite powerful in the right hands.

11 Danny Johnson - Ghost Face

From the hit movie franchise Scream, Ghost Face has a unique ability that requires him to stalk survivors individually. If he does so well enough, he can manage to down them instantly for a short period of time. His major strength comes from his stealth, so patient players can make him work nicely.

The only issue is that once his stealth fails, he becomes quite useless. If the survivors spot him or hit him in any way, he loses all those advantages he was building up, and it can be annoying to get them back again, especially as he doesn't have any significant mobility advantages.

10 Kazan Yamaok - The Oni

If players can manage to injure the survivors and get enough leaked blood orbs, The Oni can become quite powerful and scary. His Demon Strike can instantly down survivors, though it can be a bit difficult to charge and land properly.

The only problem is that if players don't manage to get those injuries in and get the blood orbs in general, he's kind of useless in the end. Plus, if players don't manage to land his Demon Strike, they have to try and collect enough to manage a proper ambush all over again.

9 Talbot Grimes - The Blight

It's hard to find a killer that can move as fast as Talbot Grimes, especially with his Rush and Lethal Rush abilities. All it takes is smart placement to be able to run him into objects while running around to bring on the real damage.

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The problem comes in trying to give his serum time to refill. Sure, he can move from place to place extremely quickly, but it does little if he can't actually take down the survivors. If players can manage to actually keep the pressure put on, he does become incredibly frightening to face.

8 Bubba Sawyer - The Cannibal

Straight from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and brought to life in the game, Bubba Sawyer is quite the powerful killer due to his chainsaw. Sure, revving it up takes a bit of time, but he's going to down almost any survivor he comes into contact with. As long as he uses one of his tokens to extend his chainsaw use, it's even possible for him to down two survivors at once.

7 Max Thompson Jr. - The Hillbilly

Max Thompson Jr. is just a bit better than Bubba from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, even if both of them use chainsaws. The main difference is that The Hillbilly dashes forward with his weapon instead of simply swinging it side to side. Sure, he can be stunned for a short time if he hits a random object with the chainsaw, but he's still just as strong as his similar counterpart. Just watch out, as he has a hard time when going around corners.

6 Pyramid Head - The Executioner

When fans saw that Silent Hill was coming to the world of Dead by Daylight, the hype was through the roof. So many players tried out Pyramid Head as soon as he was available and found he was quite the powerful killer. The Rites of Judgement can result in massive combos if the killer can take down a survivor in a Tormented state as it sends them into a cage all the way across the map instead of making them be hooked as normal.

Players can extend this even further if they can properly use The Punishment of the Damned. Sure, it slows down Pyramid Head severely, but as long as the hit is made properly it's absolutely worth the sacrifice. He's phenomenally strong in the higher ranks due to his ability to nullify important survivor perks, making him a unique enemy to face.

5 Freddy Kruger - The Nightmare

Freddy Kruger is just as much of a nightmare on Elm Street as he is in Dead by Daylight. He was once the worst character in the game, but after his rework, he became an absolute monster of a killer. All Freddy has to do is make survivors fall asleep for them to be in the realm of nightmares where he can best use his abilities to take them down.

He has the ability to keep up strong pressure with his teleporting, has decent stealth capabilities while in the dream state, and can make things difficult if he keeps survivors isolated so their allies can't wake them up. He's the perfect killer for newer players as he's easy to learn while still being quite powerful.

4 Anna - The Huntress

Anna is simple and straightforward, which is part of her strength as a killer. Her biggest draw is she can throw hatchets. Anna is one of the slower killers, but once players learn how to aim her hatchet throws, that lack of speed won't really matter. Having such a powerful ranged attack gives her a massive advantage and those with good enough aim to not need to grab more hatchets from lockers often will absolutely decimate survivors.

3 Lisa Sherwood - The Hag

Lisa Sherwood can set down phantasm traps that allow her to directly teleport to the location of survivors if they come into contact with them. As long as she can set these up well, it allows her to keep immense amounts of pressure on the survivors.

She's technically one of the slower killers in the game, but the teleportation makes up for that easily. Her traps are also particularly tough to spot, making it much easier for survivors to fall into them compared to other killers. With ten of them able to be on the map at once, players have to take their time and be cautious.

2 Rin Tamakoa - The Spirit

Being able to phase through the spirit realm makes Rin Tamakoa one of the fastest moving killers in the game. While she can't see survivors in said realm, the survivors are able to hear her wooshing sound as she travels through it. If killers are smart, they can use this to misdirect their victims to fall right into their clutches.

In turn, The Spirit needs to use their own hearing abilities to hunt down grunts of pain from injuries. Yes, it takes a lot of skill to use her powers, but anyone that masters them suddenly becomes absolutely terrifying in every conceivable way. The extreme speed this killer offers is almost too strong all on its own, as it means survivors really have no way to run and hide.

1 Sally Smithson - The Nurse

The Nurse is the slowest moving killer in the entire game. She also has one of the most difficult powers to learn, making it hard to use her by anyone other than seasoned veterans of the game.

However, once players learn how to make her work, she's almost unstoppable. The Nurse can completely teleport through things like walls, pallets, or windows which makes pursuing survivors a breeze as long as players have good muscle memory to use her Blink ability. Being basically unblockable is a massive superpower that should leave any survivor trembling in fear.

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