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Survivor Perk Tierlist (as of Zarina Kassir)

Previously made one on killer perks, so here is the survivor perk installment. Again, best to worst is in order from left to right within tiers. Here are how the tiers can be seen in my perspective:

S - The "meta" perks, best of the best

A - Great perks, helpful in most cases or have potential to shake up the momentum in the match

B - Good perks, serve their purpose but are often overlooked for better perks

C - Mediocre perks, have a purpose but aren't preferred or are too situational

D - Bad perks, very minimal potential, in need of some QoL changes

F - Perks that need a rework/overhaul

New Player Perks - not being ranked as I feel these are perks are essential in acquainting new players with DBD. (Should not be teachables in my opinion)

Leave your thoughts below. Keep it peaceful & constructive. If you want to make your own, the link to my tierlist is:

https://tiermaker.com/create/dead-by-daylight-survivor-perks-patch-360-312922

Comments

  • BloodMoneyMerc
    BloodMoneyMerc Member Posts: 477

    @Chmurkaz Breakout is only so high because of the potential it has with a coordinated SWF. The lowest I could see it is B tier. And Small Game is debateably better than Detective's Hunch. You don't have to complete a gen to use it. Also, it has good value if you go up against a Trapper, Freddy, or Hag (which is common, though not guarenteed). At a point though, it's more of personal preference between those 2 perks & mine would be for Small Game. Only way I would run Detective's personally is if I was taking in a map as well.

  • Exerlin
    Exerlin Member Posts: 1,352

    Unbreakable is much, much better than Spine Chill, and it should be in the S teir. It can single-handedly turn a game over into a salvageable game for the survivor team, and it removes much of the killer's map pressure when used.


    Your list is pretty good though. I'd knock small game down to C with Detective's Hunch though since both perks are really just ways to find totems. Also, as a frequent Autodidact and Any Means Necessary user, I think they should be only one teir apart. I get as much value out of AMN as I do Autodidact. The main difference is that sometimes I only get to heal one guy, and Autodidact just makes it take longer.

  • Dwight_Fairfield
    Dwight_Fairfield Member Posts: 6,878

    Good list overall. Personally I consider Bond A-tier. The information it gives you can save lives including your own.

  • xEa
    xEa Member Posts: 4,105

    That is a really cool list, i especially like that you have an extra tier for new players.

    Yet, some placements are a bit odd, i give you my opinion:

    • Breakout A Tier? Is it that good? I had only mixed games with it.
    • Empaphy A Tier but Bond B Tier. That cant be right.
    • Head On is overrated i think. It is a fun perk, but not that great. I would place it in B or C
    • Selfcare. I mean it is not complete F Tier trash like many say, but A tier? Rather B or C Tier in my opinion
    • Object of Obsession only C Tier? Hm, i get that there is some downside to that perk, especially when versing a stealthy, but still it should be at least B Tier, if not even A Tier.
    • Breaktdown B Tier? What makes you think this perk has that much value?
    • Mettle of Man F Tier is a bit hard on it. I think it is a D Perk after the reworked protection hit changes.
    • Distortion D Tier, i would put it in C.
    • Red Herring sounds so good on paper, but it is actually not that useful. Probably only D Tier, but i have to play it more often.
    • Last but not least: Small Game A Tier? This is your only really big booboo. It only helps you finding totems (and versus the trapper a bit, but acutally not really tho) which should be no problem even without a perk PLUS there are even better alternatives. Look at Detectives Hunch, you placed it only in C Tier - a way better perk for finding totem (on top of that you get other benefits aswell which you wont get with Small game.

    Other then that, good job.

    Kind regards

  • Cheers
    Cheers Member Posts: 3,426

    Why does no one like Autodidact or Aftercare?

  • BloodMoneyMerc
    BloodMoneyMerc Member Posts: 477

    @Exerlin Unbreakable has no effect if the killer doesn't slug you, so I can't give it S.

    @xEa I find empathy gives more info than bond. (Who killer is chasing, who needs a heal, who can heal you thats also injured) Head On & Breakout can be deadly on organizaed SWF. Self-care provides an ability to heal without a medkit that only one other perk can do (being Inner Strength). I find OoO to be a gamble (with who killer is & their skill level). Breakdown in better with the new sabo meta, plus seeing the killer's aura is always a plus. MoM requires too much for so little a reward. Why use Distortion when you can just hop in a locker. Red Herring is meh, too early to fully decide. And Small Game is a bias of mine. It's what I use to Hex hunt. Just my explanations for why I placed these perks you mentioned where I did.

    @CheersTC Autodidact is only good in medic builds (if skill checks work in your favor). Aftercare is good, but Empathy & Bond are far superior.

    @Jameson Sprint Burst can always be used, while Lithe requires that something to vault. Sprint Burst also can be saved until the middle of a chase (usually pulled off by more experienced survivors). For Fixated/Better Together, they provide an ability that can benefit new players the most (I also said they shouldn't have to be paid for). Spine Chill is still useful even for experienced players, hence why it's not a new player perk. And BL, Botany, & Resilience all provide something really useful to the survivor which why they are A. BL is the only one I could possibly see being lower since it is map dependent.

  • xEa
    xEa Member Posts: 4,105

    @BloodMoneyMerc Thank you for the response!

    Bond gives you the info you need around you. It is not neccessary interesting if the killer is chasing someone on the other side of the map. Actually, bond even gives you that info since you can simply make conclusions off the info you have. Bond is definitly the better perk imho, the radius is just really big.

    The ability to heal yourself is only in rare situations neccessary. Not worth a perkslot, but also not terrible if you use it because it makes you feel more confortable.

    OoO is indeed a gamble, but the odds are definitly in your favour when you use it. It is also the ultimate god tier perk vs Freddy.

    Breakdown.. well i dont see a sabo meta right now tbh. It got buffed, but hardly any is using it, neither do it. The effect you get from breakdown is indeed not bad, but i dont see this perk as good as you, opinions i guess ;)

    MoM really requires more then it should, but on the other side, with the protection hit changes, you can at least get it from time to time. It is not a A Tier perk, but also not F Tier.

    Distortions cruicial effect are the scratchmarks, not the aura reading, thats why i think it is not as bad as many thing. No great, but also not bad.

  • xEa
    xEa Member Posts: 4,105

    Aftercare is okay, but it takes time to get the effect, and you might loose it rather quickly

    Autodidact... oh man i want to love this perk, but it is currently just not that good. The time it takes for you to get those 5 stacks... if you even succeed might take until endgame and then there is a very good chance you dont need it anymore (or even worse, you need it but you dont get skillchecks, which happens to me so often)

  • PapiQuentin_
    PapiQuentin_ Member Posts: 889

    Dead hard is in S solely due to the fact of using it for distance to get to a pallet or window

  • Marcus
    Marcus Member Posts: 2,047

    A pretty good list, tho I would change some places :

    Spine Chill and Unbreakable should swap places, as slugging is a pretty popular tactic for killer right now, as it helps build up pressure which is much needed in a game that can end in 4 minutes and also counters DS. I literally saw games that went from a 4k to a 0-1k because of Unbreakable.

    Self Care and Object of Obsession should also swap places in my opinion. Object is still a very powerful perk for SWF and good survivors, while Self Care is a waste of time for the most part.

    Detective's Hunch and Small Game should also swap.

    Urban Evasion and Any Means Necessary should be a tier lower.

    And all Steve's perks should be F tier.

  • dumb_juice
    dumb_juice Member Posts: 1

    kinda trash tier list bro...spine chill S tier above unbreakable???prove thyself,sc and small game are not A tier;empathy above bond?? no way.Urban evasion B?more like F..no mither should also be F.WGLF should be B or maybe even A as it can double ur points almost every match;this game is very grindy so 2x points is extremely nice

  • BigTimeGamer
    BigTimeGamer Member Posts: 1,752

    Alert is not stronger than Object #########

  • Salty_Pearl
    Salty_Pearl Member Posts: 1,367

    Am I the only one that thinks Off the Record is a really good perk?

  • brady_lowkey
    brady_lowkey Member Posts: 7

    No Mither when coupled with other perks could be low A/high B, but pretty good nonetheless

  • Strome21
    Strome21 Member Posts: 16

    People loved aftercare when it came out but when they buffed other aura Perks it became useless.


    And Autodidact rarely gets any use because it probably lowers chance of skill checks when using it.

  • Liruliniel
    Liruliniel Member Posts: 3,047

    Technician is actually pretty good. It hides the sound of you working on a gen by 8 meters. So it's good against high level killers who pay attention to the sound of gens and people working on it.

    Fixated is a weird perk in that it lets you learn to manipulate your scratch Mark's. Once you learn that you can do some serious damage with chases.

    Better Together is actually incredibly strong let's people know your location/which gen your on/info on plays when someone goes down

    Also Alert is probably low S tier high A tier. The information from that alone is incredibly useful early game and throughout the trial.

    I could go over more, but most of the others I didnt care about.

  • Star99er
    Star99er Member Posts: 1,442
    edited April 2020

    Seems Pretty accurate. I’d put lucky break in B tier and Lightweight at the bottom of D tier though. Lucky Break is a very underrated imo. I run it on my blendette and lose killers a lot more often when I run it. Solidarity is also pretty bad tbh.

  • notyarbllewe
    notyarbllewe Member Posts: 213

    I am not sure what to say other than I disagree with a lot of these. When you find the best perk combos, the usefulness of them launches upwards. For example, Iron Will and Lucky Break have saved my life multiple times. Tons of perks alone are pretty good. Stake Out, Better Together, Fixated, second wind, and multiple other should pop up a bit in my opinion. With Second Wind, it lengthened my life facing a tunneler. It instantly healed me a fraction of a second before I was hit to the dying state, so it looked like I was still alive after being hit WHILE hurt. So off of all of that, almost every perk can launch upwards in the tier list when used correctly.

  • Schmierbach
    Schmierbach Member Posts: 468

    S tier looks like every survivors loadout at Rank 1 so I guess I agree.

  • NovaliumTS
    NovaliumTS Member Posts: 162

    I definitely have to disagree for fixated as i use it alot and gives you an advantage to mind game the killer alot especially spirit plus pair it with sprint burst and it becomes really good pairing

  • des7in
    des7in Member Posts: 47

    I'm not going to post my own purely because I don't feel like spending an hour or so doing it properly, but I will say there are some unexpected but interesting placements on the OP’s list. (We'll Make It, Any Means Necessary etc. but several more)

  • BadMrFrosty
    BadMrFrosty Member Posts: 1,100

    Killers that don't slug aren't the ones you're worried about. You'll likely be out the door within 5 - 6 minutes in those matches. Unbreakable is S tier.

  • Pizza_Dweet
    Pizza_Dweet Member Posts: 68

    It's too situational and dead hard is amazing if used properly even with dedicated servers.

  • keonxxmanners
    keonxxmanners Member Posts: 3

    You are not a good dbd player if you think dead hard is bad.

  • keonxxmanners
    keonxxmanners Member Posts: 3

    Spine chill is infinitely better than unbreakable. Killers usually don't slug unless they are running a slugging build. And even if they are running a slugging build then they will most likely have all survivors down in a short period of time. And unbreakable would only help by not letting the game finish too early. And since you can only use it once the killer would easily find you and get you downed before you can do anything useful. This meaning that unbreakable is only good for prolonging games. Spine chill on the other hand lets you know when the killer is possibly coming towards you so you can have a headstart and maybe make it to a loop. It also helps if you are healing a teammate because if he starts coming for you you'll be able to heal another survivor and be able to get to a loop. Say if you didn't have spine chill in a situation like that, you would then not be able to heal that survivor and the killer would easily be able to just down them. This means that spine chill greatly increases your chance of survival in a high or low tier game. Therefore, spinechill is much better than unbreakable.

  • hex_genrush
    hex_genrush Member Posts: 736

    Bold of you to assume my skill level because of one comment.

  • Volfawott
    Volfawott Member Posts: 3,893

    Object of obsession shines when you're in a group in that situation it's the best aura reading perk survivors have when you're by yourself it doesn't really have that much use will either just get you tunneled or for the most part the kilowatt largely ignore you. Also against any killer who can activate undetectable consistently in their kit (Pig, GF,Wraith) you're basically feeding them constant information and you gain no benefit.


    Alert on the other hand can be useful when you're in a group or by yourself. It's condition of a braking action provides very frequent information to you. It can also help you plan around and located generators. Also unlike object of obsession if you're up against someone who has undetectable you put yourself and no risk.


    I personally consider alert to be more useful than object of obsession. Object of obsession has the potential of being incredibly powerful but only the potential however Alert is far more reliable and safer with the trade-off of being slightly weaker in terms of potential

  • DetailedDetriment
    DetailedDetriment Member Posts: 2,632

    How is Prove Thyself higher than Bond? They're both good perks, but Bond is so essential in solo queue that it can honestly be considered S-tier.

  • Melted_
    Melted_ Member Posts: 7

    In my opinion, Spine Chill and Unbreakable should be swapped and Self Care, Breakout, Empathy, Small Game, Kindred, Inner Strength, and Q&Q should be moved downed.

    Urban, Breakdown, Any Means Necessary, and Dance With Me should be moved down.

    Off The Record needs moved down (it sucks ass, literally just use Iron Will).

    Windows needs moved up (I still use it now w 6k plus hours, it's decent)

    WGLF needs moved up (it doesn't need a rework, it just doesn't do anything to help you in-game besides help you get extra points. It's a great perk in itself).

    A lot to change, but just my opinion.

  • xOMNISCIENTx
    xOMNISCIENTx Member Posts: 64

    Bond is A tier imo. It should rank same as empathy. Plunder maybe a B-Tier. Good work on the list!

  • mhobbie
    mhobbie Member Posts: 8

    I used to run iron will, sprint burst, self care, and urban evasion. In the end I just felt like I relied too much on urban evasion and sprint burst. When I changed my loadout I ended up keeping iron will and self care. I ended up trading sprint burst with kindred because I realized how much time it was saving me. Then breakdown finally came out from the shrine of secrets to buy, which would help me at the hook. There are times I wish I had decisive strike but I'm pretty happy with my loadout. All in all according to you're list, I have 1 S tier, 2 A tier, and 1 B tier. So in my opinion not too bad xD.

  • toxicmegg
    toxicmegg Member Posts: 662

    this is my version.

  • BigTimeGamer
    BigTimeGamer Member Posts: 1,752

    I run object most of the time, even solo

    always knowing where the killer is other than stealth killers at ALL times is more useful. If they are kicking a gen or a pallet and are in a position where knowing that matters, you probably can hear or see them doing it anyway

  • Uistreel
    Uistreel Member Posts: 634

    Ah yes, small game, the universally mocked perk for being garbage on par with unbreakable, we'll make it and inner strength

  • PerskuleBenener
    PerskuleBenener Member Posts: 43

    Self care is more harmful for the game than useful in my opinion, I rarely play survivor so when I do im quite low level, and it pains me when we are against a legion and everytime my teammates gets injured they run into the the corner of the map to heal with it. It takes ages to heal with self care and only a moment to injure a survivor especially with legion. As a killer main who plays ghost face this perk is my only true love

  • Witherrr
    Witherrr Member Posts: 85

    Spine chill is very good because of stealth killers being pretty meta atm, but not S-tier good, unbreakable is much better, it can turn around an entire game in the survivor's favor and makes ds even more unfair than it already was. Spine chill and unbreakable should be swapped, putting unbreakable in mid-S and spine chill in high A

    Breakout isn't good, you usually need to go out of your way to use it and you probably would habe to make a build around it too, and even if you do get it to work you probably needed a second person to help take hits, which means there's only one person doing a gen.

    Dead hard should be high A. Though it's a great exhaustion perk when used for distance it's too situational when it comes down to dead hard for distance

    Deliverance is too situational. There's a million other perks I'd recommend over this perk. I've had so many times where altruistic survivors or just getting found first made me never able to use this perk, don't use a perk you may not even have a chance of activating.

    Self-care is crap. Sloppy butcher and nurse's calling being quite meta atm makes it even worse, running this perk is literally just sandbagging your team. The time it takes to self-care with sloppy you could've done half a gen, and you'll probably get injured shortly after anyway. Don't use self-care, just bring a med-kit

    Small game isn't A-tier, it does its job but it isn't a perk that's going to turn the game around, it could be good against trapper or hag but there's way better things that can be used against them, and hunch does a better job at finding totems. Totems aren't all that hard to find anyway, you don't really need a perk to tell you where it is, thing about hunch is it tells you how many are left on the map, which small game doesn't do

    Any means necessary is horrible, even the devs said that it's probably their next perk on the rework list because of how situational it is, a killer isn't going to leave up a good pallet for you to reset

    Breakdown and distortion should be swapped, I can go on about why distortion is underrated and why I think it's B-tier at least but I can't be bothered

    No mither is the worst perk in the game, period.

    Object should be in S-tier, easily one of the most broken perks in the game atm, if a swf has object they basically have constant information to work with while you only have information about one

    I don't think WGLF is F tier, it serves a purpose which is extra bloodpoints which who doesn't like bloodpoints? Though I think you should get a stack for healing someone a health state

    Though stake out was way better during age of ruin, I still don't think it's F-tier, don't underestimate a perk that makes gens go faster.

    Overall I think the tier list is very flawed, I mean it may make more sense if you said it was towards a certain rank but as a red rank survivor and a purple rank killer and a basic understanding of both sides and what they both go through I can see a lot of perks you put way too high and way too low.

  • The_Daydreamer
    The_Daydreamer Member Posts: 735

    It hurts me to see Better Together, Distortion, Aftercare, Bond and Windows Of Opportunity so low rated.

    Better Together is such a useful perk for me, because it tells people in high rank that I am doing this gen. 1. They can come for me for a quick heal. 2. They can do another gen. 3. They know they shouldn't loop around here. 4. They can come to me, so I can tank a hit for them and 5. I know who is doing a gen and who is near for a safe. It is so strong and nice. It is for actually B Tier. Maybe C.

    Distortion is not just a perk that disables aura reading ability. It exactly tells you which perk the killer has. Besides BBQ and Chili - Knowing the killer has Nurses Calling or even Blood Warden is so strong. It is for an B Tier Perk.

    As many people already told you, and I feel the same, Bond is better than Empethy.

    Aftercare has kinda the same use like Better Together. I just love perks that gives me information and I like playing around/with my teammates. Maybe perks like these are useless for SWF Players, but I like to play solo so...

    And Windows of Opportunity: Yes the ability itself is maybe not great, but I personally enjoy it in combination of my build that I like to run on steve. WoO, Alert, Lithe and AMN. It is pretty useful in that build. And it is fun to safe paletts.

    Besides perks that I think were to low, there are still perks that are too high. Like Deliverance. It is good, but situational. I would put it on C. Maybe B.

    And Lightweight.. who uses it? it is so bad. Why is it over distortion? It is a clear F for me.

  • The_Daydreamer
    The_Daydreamer Member Posts: 735

    I don't know on which rank you play, but unbreakle has an game changing effect. Most good killers on high rank like to slug a bit to gain momentum. It is important to apply as much pressure as you can. And this is why unbreabkle is an meta perk and why it should be s. I mean, you explained S rank as meta so go.

  • BloodMoneyMerc
    BloodMoneyMerc Member Posts: 477

    @BigTimeGamer I put Alert over Object because I play solo. Also, Object can be a risk against stealth killers. And if the killer is good at countering looping then is there really a point to having Object?

    @dumb_juice I place WGLF low because yes the points are nice, but thats all the perk provides. I am a firm believer that this perk should actually provide something to the survivor similar to how BBQ has aura reading for killers.

    @notyarbllewe this list slightly takes into account how well the perk can combo, but mostly emphasizes how it functions on its own.

    @DetailedDetriment bond is not essential as a solo player. In my opinion, empathy is much better (because of farther range & provides a bit more info such as who is being chased & who needs a heal). I would consider Kindred more of an essential solo player perk anyways. That & Spine Chill in case the killer is stealthy.

  • DetailedDetriment
    DetailedDetriment Member Posts: 2,632

    Spine Chill is an obvious one. However, even with Kindred, my team still fails to save me 80% of the time.

  • BloodMoneyMerc
    BloodMoneyMerc Member Posts: 477

    Kindred saves me generally. It lets the survivors know if someone needs to unhook me & who is in the best situation to do so. Without the perk, other teammates tend to think someone else is handling the situation which is how I end up going into struggle phase or dying on first hook. Also can tell you where killer is (whether near me or chasing someone else).