20 Best Survivor Perks in DBD | High Ground Gaming (2024)

For Survivors, in Dead by Daylight, it may seem like the odds are stacked against you. Survivors aren’t as powerful as Killers, and must win by sneaking around and completing generators in hopes of escaping through the exit gates.This becomes a lot easier to do with Perks, which is why we’ve put together this list of the best Survivor Perks in DBD.

Perks add another level to the game for both Survivors and Killers. There are over 100 Perks that Survivors can choose from. You can equip up to four at a time to strengthen your build and increase your chances of escaping. Here’s our list of the best Survivor perks in Dead by Daylight and the types of builds you can create with them.

Looking for more Dead by Daylight tips and tricks? View all our DBD guides.

20 Best Survivor Perks in DBD, in Alphabetical Order

Let’s get right into our list!

1/20

Adrenaline

This Perk belongs to one of the original Survivor Quartet members, Meg Thomas. Adrenaline doesn’t kick in until the end of the trial, but when it does, it can be a game changer.

Once the Exit Gates are powered, your Survivor instantly heals one health state and can sprint at 150% your normal running movement speed for 5 seconds. This perk ignores an existing Exhaustion timer, but will cause the Exhausted status effect for 60 seconds. If you’re playing against The Nightmare, Adrenaline will also wake you from the Dream World upon activation. If you’re disabled at the moment that Adrenaline triggers, however, the Perk is put on hold until you’re freed.

Adrenaline is an all-around solid perk that can boost up any build, but especially if you have one that’s heavy on generator recovery.

2/20

Any Means Necessary

This perk, which belongs to Yui Kimura, received an update in the latest Dead by Daylight Patch that boosts its effectiveness by taking away the cooldown timer.

When you’re next to a dropped pallet, you can press and hold the Active Ability button for six seconds to reset the pallet to its upright position. This Perk also grants you the ability to see the Auras of all dropped (but not destroyed) pallets on the map.

Any Means Necessary works best as part of a looping, teamwork, or chaos build. If you’re a particularly skilled looper, this perk comes especially in handy. One DBD Twitch Streamer, Jason Sulli, has even used this Perk to stun the Killer three times with the same pallet in one game.

3/20

Borrowed Time

This perk is one of the best Survivor perks in Dead by Daylight hands down. Belonging to Bill Overbeck, Borrowed Time boosts your energy when you’re saving an ally from a hook, which makes it extremely useful if you’re running any hook or teamwork builds.

Borrowed Time externs the duration of a Survivor’s Endurance by six seconds and the duration of their Haste status effect by 10 seconds. This gives you a better chance to complete a successful unhooking and potentially escape from the Killers.

4/20

Botany Knowledge

Another Perk that boosts any healing or teamwork build, Botany Knowledge is a powerful Perk from Claudette Morel.

Botany Knowledge increases a Survivor’s healing speed by 30%, which makes healing yourself and your teammates easier and faster. This can be especially critical if you’re going up against a Killer with Nurse’s Calling, which notifies the Killer whenever Survivors heal. With Botany Knowledge, you have a better chance to complete a heal state before the Killer reaches you.

5/20

Dead Hard

This Perk is also one of the best Survivor Perks in DBD, which is extremely useful for almost all builds but especially looping, chaos and unhooking builds.

Belonging to David King, this Perk activates when pressing the Active Ability Button. If you’re injured and running (which happens often when you’re trying to escape from the Killer’s grasp) Dead Hard triggers the Endurance Status Effect for 0.5 seconds. This gives you an extra boost when running to avoid a Killer’s attack.

This Perk also imparts the Exhausted status effect for 60 seconds, during which you can not use Dead Hard.

6/20

Decisive Strike

This is a popular Survivor Perk that belongs to Laurie Strode. It’s a good Perk to beef up any hooking build, a general, teamwork, or chaos build, but is also useful when you’re playing solo and want more of a survival advantage.

Decisive Strike activates for the next 40 seconds after you’re unhooked. If you succeed in a Skill Check when grabbed/picked up by the Killer, you will automatically be dropped from their grasp, escaping and also stunning the Killer for 3 seconds. This will give you more time to run away from the Killer.

This comes with a downside, though. After you successfully stun the Killer, you won’t be able to use Decisive Strike for the rest of the trial, and you’ll become the Killer’s Obsession. The Perk also deactivates once the Exit Gates are powered, so you won’t be able to use it as an end-game strategy. That said, this Perk is powerful and, when used correctly, can make a huge difference in gameplay later on in the trial or when you’re about to be on death hook.

7/20

Deliverance

If you’re running an unhooking build, this is one of the best Survivor Perks in DBD for you to include. Belonging to Adam Francis, Deliverance activates after you perform a safe hook rescue on another Survivor.

This perk gives your next Self-Unhook attempt a 100% success rate, meaning that you don’t have to worry about your teammates coming to rescue you. This can either ease the strain on your other players, who can focus on other tasks, or help you when you’re playing solo.

Deliverance causes the Broken status effect for 100 seconds after you unhook yourself. It’s also not available during the second hook stage or if you’re hooked as the last living Survivor in the Trial.

8/20

For the People

This Perk is extremely useful when you’re running either a teamwork or healing build. Belonging to Zarina Kassir, For the People trades 1 Health State with another Survivor.

While you’re healthy and healing another Survivor without using a med-kit, pressing the Active Ability button will kickstart the perk.By trading a health state, you can either heal a Survivor from the Dying State to the Injured State, which can be a power move when you’re against a slugging Killer or near the end of the trial, or you can heal a Survivor from the injured state to healthy.

After you activate this perk, you become injured and suffer from the Broken Status Effect for the next 80 seconds and become the Killer’s Obsession.

9/20

Head On

This is a fun and aggressive Perk from Survivor Jane Romero that you can add to your repertoire if you’re looking to enhance a chaos or teamwork build, or if you’re a Survivor that wants to interact more with the Killer.

When you’re standing in a locker for three seconds, you can use Head On to perform a rushed action to leave a locker, which stuns the Killer for 3 seconds if they are within range. This is extremely useful if you’re trying to support your team members, and want to distract a Killer that’s in pursuit of another Survivor.

Head On causes the Exhausted status effect for 60 seconds, and you cannot use it again until the allotted time ends or until you have accrued idle crows.

10/20

Kindred

If you’re new to playing Survivor or are playing with a team build or friends, this Perk — which is available to all Survivors — is a great option.

Kindred unlocks Aura reading ability whenever you or another Survivor is hooked. While you’re hooked, the Auras of all Survivors are revealed to one another and whenever the Killer is within 8 meters of your hook, their Aura is revealed to all Survivors as well.

The benefits of this perk also activates whenever any other Survivor is hooked, revealing the Aura of all Survivors and the Killer if they are within the 8 meter range. This is a helpful way to communicate with other Survivors the direction you’re in for them to come unhook you and give everyone an idea as to where the Killer is lurking.

11/20

No One Left Behind

This is another Perk that is available to all Survivors and is extremely useful when you’re playing a hook or teamwork build. It only activates at the end of the trial, but it can make a huge difference in how many Survivors end up escaping the game.

Once the Exit Gates are powered, the perk activates and increases your unhooking and healing speed by 30% as well as grants the unhooked Survivor a 7% haste status effect for 10 seconds. It also reveals the Auras of all the other Survivors and grants 50% bonus Bloodpoints for actions in the Altruism category.

12/20

Plunderer’s Instinct

This Perk, which is available to all Survivors, can be particularly useful if you’re running a teamwork build or chest searching build.

Plunderer’s Instinct reveals the Auras of closed Chests and Dropped Items in the environment that are within 16 meters from your location. It also grants a “considerably” better chance at finding an item in the chest of a higher rarity.

This is useful if you’re looking for items to help repair generators, stun the Killer, or heal yourself and teammates.

13/20

Quick and Quiet

Another Meg Thomas Perk, Quick and Quiet is best used in conjunction with Head On or for any build where you’re looking to sneak more effectively around the Killer.

Quick and Quiet suppresses both the Loud Noise notification and the sound effects that are triggered when you rush to vault windows, drop pallets, or enter and exit lockers. This Perk has a cooldown of 30 seconds.

14/20

Saboteur

When we’re talking about running unhooking builds, this is the unhooking Perk that makes this powerful build possible. Belonging to Jake Park, Saboteur unlocks the ability to sabotage hooks without needing a Toolbox. You can sabotage a hook in 2.5 seconds with a cool-down time of 90 seconds.

Along with sabotaging, whenever a Killer is carrying another Survivor, you can see the Aura of every hook within 56 meters of the pick up location. The Auras are also differentiated from regular (white) hooks and Scourge (yellow) hooks.

15/20

Spine Chill

Available to all Survivors, this Perk is helpful for teamwork builds, playing solo, or if you’re new to the game.

Whenever the Killer is within 36 meters of your location, Spine Chill will light up its icon and inform you that the Killer is in the area. If your Killer has a terror radius present, the Perk will also reveal its intensity through the icon.

Spine Chill has an added benefit when you’re up against specific Killers who gain strength by looking at you with a clear line of sight. If the Killer is in range and looking at you, you benefit from a 2% increase in your action speeds of repairing, healing, sabotaging, unhooking, cleansing, blessing, opening and unlocking. The effect lingers for 0.5 seconds.

This Perk is also a helpful tool if the Killer is running a build that impacts the terror radius or is focused on stalking and hunting, so you have an opportunity to remain unaffected by the Killer’s Perk or have a slight advantage over a sneaky Killer.

16/20

Sprint Burst

This is another Perk that is generally useful to all builds, but especially when you’re running a looping build. It’s an all around useful Perk that you can use in numerous ways to evade Killers.

When you start to run, Spring Burst will activate a speed at 150% of your normal running movement for 3 seconds. This Perk also causes the Exhausted Status Effect for 60 seconds, during which time you won’t be able to use Sprint Burst.

17/20

Unbreakable

This is widely considered to be the one of the best Survivor perks in DBD. Belonging to Bill Overbeck, Unbreakable gives you the ability once per trial to completely recover from the Dying State with a speed increase of 25%.

This Perk can beef up truly any build, and is a life saver if you’re going against a Killer who is running a slugging build, if you need that one extra push when trying to escape the match, or if you just want an opportunity to find the hatch.

18/20

Urban Evasion

Belonging to Nee Karlsson, this Perk is useful for a general or starter build, or if you’re looking to add more of a stealth Perk to amp up any other build you want to run.

Urban Evasion increases your crouching movement speed by 90%, which makes it effective for any type of sneaking you’ll be doing over the course of the trial.

19/20

We’ll Make It

This is a versatile Perk that is helpful for any teamwork, healing, or even unhooking build.It’s available to all Survivors, and increases your altruistic healing speed by 100% for the next 30 seconds whenever you rescue another Survivor from a hook.

This Perk can help you recover your teammates quickly, and also come in handy if a Killer is running a Perk like Nurses’s Calling, which reveals the Auras of healing Survivors.

20/20

Boon: Circle of Healing

Outside of regular Perks, there are also Boon Perks, which are similar to the Hex Totem Perks that Killers use. They rely on Totems to work, and emit a bluish shimmer and audible drone sound whenever someone is within the 24 meter range.

If any Survivor uses a Boon perk, they can walk up to any dull or Hex Totem to bless it, which applies the effects of the equipped Perk. Although Killers can snuff out a Boon Totem, Survivors can re-bless the Totem indefinitely. You can only bless one Totem at a time, and Survivors can only be affected by one instance of the effects at a time.

Circle of Healing belongs to Survivor Mikaela Reid, and Survivors in range of this Perk will receive the benefits of a 40% increased healing speed and unlocking the Self-Care ability, which allows you to self-heal without the use of a medkit at 50% of the normal healing speed.

This perk is a great addition to a healing build.

Join the High Ground!

That’s it for our list of the best survivor perks in Dead by Daylight — thanks for reading! Let us know your favorite perks and builds in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for more guides like this.

Happy gaming!