The Best Beginner Builds For Dead by Daylight Survivors (2024)

Page Updated February 6, 2024, 16:40 |First Published December 14, 2023, 11:55

As a beginner to Dead by Daylight, there's a lot to take in when playing as a Survivor; you've got over 80 Survivor perks to choose from, seemingly a million different playstyles - including stealth builds to looping builds - to try out, and almost 40 survivors to pick from. So, where do you begin?

Well, to get you more acclimatised to the fog, we've put together some beginner builds to help bring you up to speed. So here it is, our detailed guide to the best Dead by Daylight builds for survivors who are new to the game.

Dead By Daylight's Best Beginner Survivor Builds

These builds for beginners will help you find your way around the map more efficiently, make use of the game's strongest perks, complete objectives, and evade the killer in a variety of ways. It'll give you a good grounding in Dead by Daylight before you want to start mixing things up with more complicated survivor perks and unique combinations that suit your preferred playstyle.

Base Perks Only Build

This build is the best for absolute beginners who only have access to the characters and perks that come with the game. You won't need to purchase any additional characters or perks from the Shrine of Secrets to create this loadout; you'll only need to level up your existing characters.

• Adrenaline
• Prove Thyself
• Iron Will
• Kindred

Prove Thyself gives your team a boost when working on generators, which can be game-changing if you manage to find teammates and stick with them. Kindred can help you find said teammates, and make hook saves when necessary.

Iron Will nearly silences your grunts of pain when you're not Exhausted (which is why we've not included an Exhaustion perk in this build), which can help you utilize some stealth when necessary.

Adrenaline is a strong perk in general, not only granting you some Haste in the end game but also healing you up.

With this build, we suggest bringing a Toolbox to help you complete generators even more quickly; with the added Prove Thyself boost, you can easily fly through them.

Beginner Map Knowledge Build

As a beginner, lacking map knowledge can really set you back. Killers can approach you from angles you didn't even know were possible, and you may struggle to find loop locations or objectives like generators. This build is designed to help with just that, giving you a veteran's map knowledge with no effort on your part aside from putting together this loadout.

• Detective's Hunch
• Kindred
• Windows of Opportunity
• Dead Hard

Windows of Opportunity will help you know where you can loop the killer based on pallets and windows, while Detective's Hunch will tip you off to the locations of objects like generators, totems, and chests. Combining these two perks can allow you to essentially know where everything is on the map, but you will need to keep in mind that Detective's Hunch only activates after each generator is completed, so you'll have to find the first generator on your own.

Kindred, on the other hand, doesn't highlight objectives but lets you know the location of all your teammates and the killer if they're lurking near the hook. While less useful in SWFs, it's an excellent perk for solo queue players to give you a sense of what your teammates are doing at critical times.

Dead Hard is the only non-map-knowledge-related perk in this build, giving you the edge in chase so you won't immediately go down.

Our suggested item for this build is, fittingly, a Map. After you view the auras of objectives using Detective's Hunch, they'll be saved on your Map, too, allowing you to access that information freely for as long as you still have juice left in your map.

Basic Beginner Exhaustion Build

This basic Exhaustion build makes the most of the game's Exhaustion perks, giving you boosts throughout the match and a final major boost to your Haste at end-game. This is a great build for carrying beginners through every step of a trial and getting a sense of chase. Exhaustion perks like Sprint Burst should make you a little more confident when interacting with the killer, which can improve your gameplay over time.

• Sprint Burst
• Windows of Opportunity
• Adrenaline
• Vigil

Sprint Burst and Windows set the stage for great chases, even for beginners. Sprint Burst allows you to dart away from the killer when they spot you, giving you ample time to get away. Windows of Opportunity illuminates vault opportunities, including windows and pallets, allowing you to know where to go at any given time. Windows is a must for almost every beginner build, as it's a great tool to help you get a better sense of the game.

Vigil recharges your Exhaustion more quickly, allowing you to get more use out of Sprint Burst. Adrenaline gives you a boost at the end of the game and heals you up, giving you a final chance to escape. It works well with Sprint Burst, since Adrenaline causes Exhaustion, but isn't affected by it.

Our suggested item for this build is either a Flashlight or Med-kit. If you feel comfortable using a Flashlight, you can practice blinding killers at windows or pallets using Windows of Opportunity to help you. Or, you can simply use the Med-kit to heal up after escaping a chase with Sprint Burst.

Those are a few of our favorite builds for beginner survivors in Dead by Daylight. We hope that these builds help you find your footing as you start out!

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