Being a killer in Dead by Daylight seems pretty straightforward. Attack, hook, attack some more...but with so many complex powers, not every killer is easy to master. This guide will break down the top 10 easiest killers for new players that are ready to tap into their bloodthirsty desires.

10. The Dredge

The Dredge is a manifestation of the dark thoughts of a once-vibrant community. It is able to teleport between lockers and summon an overwhelming darkness that makes survivors vulnerable.

Upon filling his power meter, Nightfall will begin and all survivors will be enveloped in darkness and unable to hear The Dredge as it approaches. During this time, The Dredge can also travel between lockers at a quick pace, popping out at the right time to ambush survivors nearby.

With excellent mobility across maps, The Dredge is a good choice for beginners to Dead by Daylight. Its abilities become stronger during Nightfall and while survivors are overwhelmed in the darkness, new players have the advantage of being able to sneak up and attack them. It has other mechanics that have a learning curve, but new players can still get good knowledge without mastering every aspect of The Dredge.

What makes The Dredge great:

• Allows for newer players to learn map layouts as they teleport through lockers.
• Teleporting during chases can allow you to cut off a survivor’s route and catch them off guard.
• Utilizing its stealth during Nightfall allows for ambushing survivors that are working on generators near lockers.

The Dredge Beginner Guide:

9. The Huntress

With the ability to throw hatchets at survivors, The Huntress is a killer that excels in chasing survivors. She begins each game with 5 hatchets in her possession, allowing her to use them as a long range attack on survivors. When her hatchets run out, she can restock them at any locker on the map.

The Huntress has a very simple power that is easy for new players to learn. She does best in chase when she has a clear line of sight to hit survivors that vault windows or throw down pallets due to the fact that they are in a narrow space and can’t avoid being hit. While mastering her skill takes practice, she is a very beginner friendly killer.

What makes The Huntress great:

• She has powerful add-ons that make her hatchets even more deadly, this can benefit players that struggle with landing hits.
• She can throw hatchets across the map, ambushing survivors that are opening exit gates or unhooking teammates.
• She is a free killer and is available to play upon purchasing Dead by Daylight.

The Huntress Beginner Guide:

8. The Trickster

The Trickster is a bloodthirsty popstar that has the power to quickly unleash dozens of blades at survivors. Upon hitting a survivor with 6 blades, they lose a health state and become injured. He has the fastest time to down survivors than any other killer due to the fact that he suffers no cool down when injuring survivors with blades. Upon running out of blades, he can restock them at a locker or continue injuring survivors with his spiked baseball bat.

The Trickster’s power is deceptively strong when survivors are caught in the open and have nowhere to take cover. He has a reputation for being able to leave survivors in the dying state and continue his reign of terror on other survivors without hooking anyone, which can be effective on teams that are altruistic and like to stick together. The Trickster’s power has a small learning curve but can be mastered by players that have a little experience with other killers.

What makes The Trickster great:

• With a few dozen blades in his arsenal, he doesn’t have to restock as much as other ranged killers.
• When attacking in an open area, survivors are extremely vulnerable and cannot avoid being hit by his blades.
• Upon throwing 30 blades, The Trickster has a special ability called Main Event that allows him to throw an unlimited amount of blades for a few seconds, causing devastation for anyone nearby.  

The Trickster’s Beginner Guide:

7. The Trapper

Dead by Daylight’s first killer is able to apply pressure across the map by placing deadly bear traps for survivors to step in. The Trapper can shut down any window or pallet in the game and completely lock down areas like the killer shack or exit gates. Survivors are able to disarm traps, but doing so will notify you and with different add-ons, the survivors can be punished for it by becoming injured or increasing the time they spend disarming traps.

The Trapper is a fan favorite killer and as the face of Dead by Daylight, he is often the one picked when playing killer for the first time. However, he is slightly weaker than other killers due to his slow game beginning when you’re spending time setting up traps.

Placing down traps also requires strategy and putting yourself into a survivor’s shoes and predicting where they step. So, while he is a very easy killer to learn, choosing him to play as first may not yield any kills…but one wrong step is all it takes for the game to turn around entirely.

What makes The Trapper great:

• With so many different playstyles to choose from, The Trapper is one of the only killers that can utilize strategies from endgame builds to basement plays.
• The Trapper has good snowball potential and can be a deadly threat against teams that don’t look where they are going.
• He is a free killer and is available to play upon purchasing Dead by Daylight.

The Trapper’s Beginner Guide:

6. The Cannibal

Originating from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Cannibal is just as lethal as his chainsaw-wielding movie counterpart. With the ability to instantly down survivors in his path, the Cannibal can create a deadly domino effect that puts pressure on survivors.

What the Cannibal lacks in mobility, he makes up for in lethality. Survivors that are caught in the open have no way to counter his chainsaw and will go down fast, allowing you to hook them and continue hunting for your next victim. There is a small learning curve to his power but new players can quickly master how to play as Bubba and bring their Texas Chainsaw Massacre dreams to reality.

What makes The Cannibal great:

• He can down healthy survivors with his chainsaw, eliminating the need to injure them first with an M1 attack.  
• He can down two or more survivors if they are grouped together in one sweep of his chainsaw.  
• He is one of the best killers to utilize a camping strategy on, allowing you to stay close to a hooked survivor and wait for a teammate to come and rescue them to attack.

The Cannibal’s Beginner Guide:

5. The Clown

With the ability to corral survivors by throwing bottles of noxious gas, The Clown is a terrifying killer with a simple power to learn. Yellow bottles create a cloud that boosts your speed for a few seconds and pink bottles create a gas that poisons the survivors by impairing their vision and movement speed. While in chase, he can cut off exits with his pink bottles and force survivors to reroute or run through the gas.

The Clown is an underrated killer that excels in chase. New players that struggle with catching survivors can benefit from learning The Clown, his ability to shut down loops makes him lethal. Even experienced survivors will struggle against him when they're under the effects of his pink gas.  

What makes The Clown great:

• Utilizing his yellow bottles can help you travel faster across the map and find survivors.
• When survivors come into contact with the pink gas, they scream and reveal their locations, giving you valuable information.
• His power helps players that struggle in chase and can give them the upper hand on maps that are survivor sided.  

The Clown’s Beginner Guide:

4. The Nightmare

The horror icon, Freddy Krueger, pulls survivors into his Dream World where he can effectively take advantage of their weaknesses. Upon entering the Dream World, survivors will suffer from the Oblivious status effect and will hear a creepy lullaby instead of a terror radius. The entire map turns dark and gloomy, disorienting survivors and forcing them to seek out alarm clocks to wake up. Along with the Dream World, The Nightmare has the ability to travel through generators across the map.

The Nightmare has a simple power that doesn’t take much skill to learn. Pulling survivors into the Dream World is done with little effort from you, allowing you to focus on chases and traveling through generators.

With different add-ons you can change the environment by placing fake palettes where there aren’t any and snares that hinder survivors who walk through them.

What makes the Nightmare great:

• Being able to travel to different generators will allow you to keep pressure on survivors and interrupt their progress.
• Survivors can become careless in the Dream World and not pay attention to the lullaby that plays when you get close to them.
• Survivors that choose to wake themselves up with alarm clocks will be doing so every 60 seconds, otherwise they will fall back asleep. This will give them another objective on top of generators and passively slow down the game.

The Nightmare Beginner’s Guide:

3. The Pig

With a gruesome severed pig head resting on her shoulders, The Pig is a killer that can ambush survivors from a short distance while crouching. When a survivor enters the dying state, she can place a reverse bear trap onto their head; upon activation of the trap, survivors must search a random number of Jigsaw Boxes to find a key that will unlock their trap before time is up. If the timer expires, they die instantly.

The Pig isn’t as strong as she used to be but her stealth and ambush abilities can be overwhelming for survivors. The reverse bear traps are what make her a good killer because it adds another objective for the survivors to complete. Even if the exit gates are powered, active traps must be removed if survivors want to escape alive.

What makes the Pig great:

• Utilizing her stealth ability allows you to get close to survivors.
• Ambushing survivors from a short distance ensures a hit and takes them by surprise.
• Forcing survivors to stop objectives and solve Jigsaw Boxes slows the game and allows you more time to put pressure on other teammates.

The Pig’s Beginner Guide:

2. The Legion

The Legion are a group of teenage killers that are able to run at survivors with their power, Feral Frenzy. After injuring a survivor in frenzy, all other survivors inside the terror radius will have their location revealed, allowing you to chain attacks. Attacks made during frenzy inflict internal damage that survivors must mend, otherwise they’ll bleed out and enter the dying state.

Feral Frenzy is a powerful tool to track survivors and keep them constantly injured. This forces them to choose between healing only to be quickly injured again or continue their objectives injured and risk going down in one hit. The Legion has great snowball potential and can quickly dismantle a team that is uncoordinated.

What makes The Legion great:

• Survivors are forced to mend their deep wounds which briefly stops them from working on objectives.
• Keeping the survivors in a constant state of injury allows you to easily down them.
• During Feral Frenzy, survivors have nowhere to hide and must try to outrun your power.

The Legion Beginner Guide:

1. The Wraith

A stealthy killer with the ability to cloak and uncloak at the ringing of his Wailing Bell. The Wraith becomes camouflaged and almost entirely silent while cloaked and is able to get close to survivors to ambush them.

With an easy to learn power, new players can learn how to play killer using the Wraith. Uncloaking and inflicting surprise attacks on survivors gives new players the upperhand in chases and helps them quickly get survivors onto hooks. His power is very simple and requires little experience to be deadly.

What makes the Wraith great:

• While cloaked, he moves at a fast pace that allows him to quickly traverse the map and locate survivors.
• Immediately after uncloaking, he gains a small speed boost that lets him lunge toward fleeing survivors.
• He is a free killer and is available to play upon purchasing Dead by Daylight.

The Wraith beginner guide:

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