Dead by Daylight has 152 unique survivor perks, with each one varying in its overall potential and power. Throughout the years, certain perks have maintained their stance in the meta as top-tier survivor perks, while others have dropped down or risen up.
The best survivor perks in the game should also serve as a good indicator on which survivors to prestige early on. Ultimately, the best survivor perks in Dead by Daylight will often come down to the style of survivor you are.
Sprint Burst
Sprint Burst might be a tough Exhaustion perk to utilize effectively but the effects it provides is an absolute game-changer. Properly managing your Exhaustion can allow you to have Sprint Burst at the start of every chase, which can buy so much extra time to reach a strong loop.
The one downside is that it can make players walk way too much in scenarios where they shouldn’t. Apart from this, Sprint Burst is an incredibly powerful survivor perk.
Alert
Alert is one of the best aura-reading perks for survivors. Revealing the location of a killer when they kick a pallet, wall, or generator is excellent to plan your next move and stay relaxed.
It can let you know whether a teammate is looping the survivor, is in need of assistance, or simply let you carry on working with a generator without worrying too much. Alert is an excellent generalist choice if you are not sure how to round out a perk build.
Off The Record
Off The Record is an incredible anti-tunnelling perk that also serves as a stealth perk. The effects it provides are almost unfair, with each effect having a realistic argument in being a separate perk itself.
Gaining Endurance, making no injured noises, and providing protection against aura-reading killer perks and add-ons can counter many killers that rely on aggressively hunting down hooked survivors. Off The Record can absolutely save your life in the mid-game to ensure you can escape a trial.
Unbreakable
Unbreakable continues to be the best perk to counter killers that slug. This ultimately makes it a situational perk. However, the value it has in that particular situation is only matched by Soul Guard and Boon: Exponential.
Unbreakable is a safety aid that is always worth running. Even if you aren’t being slugged, the extra recovery speed can be really useful in salvaging rough scenarios and turn the tides of a trial.
Bond
Bond is a simple and effective perk that will never have low value in a game. It allows you to see survivors within a certain distance from your radius. While this perk is practically useless in SWF, it is an indispensable tool to have in solo queue lobbies.
Having the ability to keep tabs on where your teammates are can help you decide the next move effectively. Bond has little to no downsides and is always worth running if you are a solo queue player,
Resurgence
Resurgence used to be a pretty terrible perk until its buff in Patch 8.1.0. The increase from 50 to 70% healing progress after being unhooked immensely helped its standing in the meta.
Nowadays, Resurgence is a very powerful perk that allows survivors to be back in full health almost immediately after being unhooked. This puts way more pressure on the killer as they have to hit the unhooked survivor twice, instead of once if they didn’t have Resurgence. This is an aggressive perk that absolutely shines in SWF lobbies to completely disrupt the killer’s momentum.
Duty of Care
Duty of Care is the newest survivor perk, courtesy of Orela Rose. Frankly, this is a ridiculous perk that can be abused to the maximum by SWF lobbies. Being an immobile killer and going against an SWF lobby with this perk, even if Haste stacking has been removed, is a painful experience.
25% Haste for 6 whole seconds to every survivor in a 12 meter radius is absurdly powerful as Protection Hits are fairly easy to achieve. If the SWF lobby is smart, they can cycle multiple activations of Duty of Care to absolutely steamroll a lobby, making it a very toxic but powerful perk.
Plot Twist
Plot Twist is one of the most fun, and strongest, survivor perks to utilize. While getting healed by your teammate while you are mid Plot Twist is always a dreadful feeling, this perk can disrupt the killer’s flow in the game like no other when used properly.
Having the chance to go into the dying state to completely heal is quite risky but can do wonders when pulled off. It is best used in SWF lobbies, but it also works as a solid solo queue perk when you prefer to have a lone wolf playstyle that likes to grab the attention of the killer.
Lithe
Lithe is the easiest Exhaustion perk to utilize, and a much safer option for players that are not comfortable with Sprint Burst. It has a simple activation requirement which is to fast vault a window or pallet.
The speed boost this perk provides upon vaulting can provide enough distance to chain another loop and buy precious time. Lithe is a reliable and fantastic perk that can work in every single trial.
Deliverance
Deliverance is a high-risk high-reward perk that can change the course of a trial. While the curse of being the first one hooked with this perk is a real thing (not really), the value it can provide when activated makes it one of the best survivor perks in the game.
Unhooking yourself and forcing the killer to withdraw their attention from another survivor can make an impossible game feel doable. Therefore, this perk often works better in the hands of experienced players and SWF lobbies. However, it is objectively a very strong perk.