Killer Perks and Gimmicks

Yes, I know this isn't exactly a new idea, but I thought I'd offer a few perk builds that can be useful for new players, or especially fun for killers to run as gimmick builds. These opinions are based off entirely too much game play, but I make no claim to be the authority on what's what in DBD. Also, it's based on my play style, which may be vastly different from yours.

Generally Powerful Perk List:

These perks are what I consider generally the most powerful to run as most any killer. Obviously, their utility for any 1 specific killer to the next will vary depending on the killer's innate abilities, but you generally can't go wrong with them. The name and level after the perk indicate which killer has the perk to begin with, and at which level that killer can make it teachable to all other killers.

1) Hex: Ruin (Hag, lvl 35) - I know, I know! We've all had those matches where the survivor spawns with our totem up their bum and it's gone almost instantly. That said, the most powerful perks that a killer can have are those which slow down the pace of the match. More time means getting in more hits, more hooks and more kills. Time is always against you and Ruin is simply your best bet to fight back. What's more, there are a lot of maps with surprisingly good totem locations: Swamp, The Game, and Lery's Memorial being at the top of that list. Your totem will last longer there, and survivors will have to spend a fair amount of time hunting for it instead of working on generators, or they'll have to try to get great skill checks over and over while you're punishing them.

2) BBQ and Chili (Cannibal, lvl 35)- A no-brainer. While I wouldn't call this a "required" perk by any stretch, it does compliment every perk build imaginable. Between the cross-map auras to the double BP's, there is nothing to complain about with this perk. It can't be taken away by cleansing a totem, and even in games were you get your butt kicked, it will give you extra BP's. This is especially effective with killers who can move across the map quickly. Namely, Nurse and Hillbilly, who can capitalize on knowing survivor locations before they can get much distance running away.

3) A Nurse's Calling (Nurse, lvl 40) - While this perk can be countered when you're running several killers, or without coupling it to Monitor and Abuse, it is extremely handy for any killer with a less than standard terror radius. Those killers are: crouching Pig, Hag, Myers, Freddy, Spirit, and cloaked Wraith. While Huntress also has a decreased terror radius, her lullaby negates that. Nearly every time you've hit / downed / hooked a survivor, at some point they need to heal, and if you can pinpoint their location and get the drop on them before they can finish, you've doubled your effectiveness in that chase. Coupled with Monitor and Abuse, it's simply devastating for many, if not most, killers.

4) Sloppy Butcher (All) - It may seem like very little, but increasing the time it takes to heal every hit adds up fast. Just as with Ruin, it slows down the pace of the game in your favor, and that's the killer's best friend. It can also be coupled with A Nurse's Calling to the increased effectiveness of each perk.

5) Brutal Strength (Trapper, lvl 35) and Bamboozle (Clown, lvl 30) - Neither of these can be said to be more or less effective than the other as how effective they are depends largely on the map you're sent to, and the survivor's looping paths. Neither is particularly effective with Nurse, and you'll generally get more benefit from Bamboozle if you're running Hillbilly or Leatherface as they can quickly break pallets with their chainsaws already. That said, both are designed to end the dreaded chase faster and limit the survivor's options when fleeing, and no one can complain about that. They can also be less effective on both Trapper and Hag, as both have traps which, if placed well (and with a little luck and herding), can stop chases very quickly.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): Monitor and Abuse, Whispers, Thanatophobia, and Enduring.

Gimmick Builds:

These are builds you can't run all the time because they require specific add-on's or offerings that you simply won't always have. When you do, though, they're super fun for the killer, and usually incredibly frustrating for the survivors (ready the salt shakers and expect DC's). These aren't builds meant to kill everyone super fast, or even to get a ton of bloodpoints, just to torment survivors and have some fun.

DS Yourself:

Perks: Hex: The Third Seal, Sloppy Butcher, Deerstalker, A Nurse's Calling
Killer: Nurse or Spirit
Map: The Game
Addons: Spirit with Father's Glasses (Ultra Rare)

Obviously, this build is intended to smack down survivors and keep them on the floor, where they bleed out or have to crawl around until all 4 are down and you're ready to start the hooks. While this can be attempted with any killer, on any map, it's most useful in The Game, utilizing either Nurse or Spirit. The Nurse, for the obvious reason that she can double her movement speed around the map by blinking through the floors. The Spirit is a little trickier, and I would recommend Father's Glasses as an addon to use here. Father's Glasses allows Spirit to see blood marks while phasing, greatly increasing her phasing potential on a map like The Game. Some call this the Slug Build, I call it DS Yourself only because it never gives anyone the chance to use Decisive Strike. If you happen to have a survivor running No Mither, they are someone you'll have to hook because they'll just keep getting back up off the ground.

F'ing Skill Checks:

Perks: Distressing, Unnerving Presence, Huntress Lullaby, Overcharged
Killer: The Doctor
Map: The Game
Addons: "Calm" - Carter's Notes (Very Rare), "Order" - Carter's Notes (Very Rare)

The only weakness to this build is if the survivors are able to locate your hex totem early in the match and take it out, otherwise, spend as much time as possible in treatment mode while building up your stacks on Lullaby. The idea here is that between the "Calm" addon and Distressing, the entire Game map is inside your terror radius most of the time, which means they're building madness and getting more difficult skill checks all the time. When you hook a survivor, you get a stack to Lullaby, which reduces the time of the audible skill check warning until there is no warning sound, each failed skill check does an additional 6% regression on the generators. If you can protect your totem, and get to 5 stacks on Lullaby, they usually won't be able to make any real progress on generators the rest of the match. Throw in Overcharged for funsies.

Ninja Myers:

Perks: Monitor and Abuse, Ruin, No One Escapes Death, BBQ and Chili
Killer: The Shape (Myers)
Map: Lery's Memorial
Addons: Scratched Mirror (Very Rare), Boyfriend's Memo (Common)

Of all the gimmick builds, I find survivors appreciate this one the most. The Scratched Mirror does not allow Myers to leave Tier 1 Evil Within, which makes him slow with a short lunge range. To offset this, he can see all survivors, through walls, within 32 meters. Add to that, T1 Myers has no red stain, and utilizing M&A, no terror radius outside of a chase. With this build, you can literally be standing on a survivor's head, and they get no heartbeat. Lery's gives you the advantage of having many walls / doors / corners where you can see the survivors, but they can't see you. The downside to this build is that T1 Myers is SLOW, and there are lots of windows for survivors to jump through. Winning a chase with this build is a long and rough challenge, so don't bother chasing. Get your hit in while you can, get rid of your terror radius, and catch them around the next corner. You'll also grab a lot of people directly off the generators if they don't happen to be looking your way when you come through the door. NOED is there if they manage to finish all 5 gens, but a lot of the time, they won't.

Instant Down:

Perks: Hex: Devour Hope, No One Escapes Death, Make Your Choice, Hex: Haunted Ground
Killer: The Hag (Recommended, not required)
Map: NOT the farm
Addons: Mint Rag (Ultra Rare)

Every single one of these perks allows the killer to make an instant down. With Devour Hope you need survivors to rescue 3 players from the hook more than 24 meters from you, at which point every survivor hit is an instant down. At 5 stacks of Devour Hope, you can mori any survivor you down. NOED only comes into play if there is a dull totem still up after all 5 gens have been completed, at which point you can 1-hit down any survivor. Make Your Choice gives you 60 seconds to hit anyone who saves someone else from the hook and 1-hit down them. Haunted Ground is a double hex totem, if either is cleansed, all survivors can be 1-hit downed for 60 seconds. Again, this is a build which can be attempted on any map, with any killer. That said, I find it works best in the Swamp to better hide totems, and recommend the Hag for your killer because she can be 24+ meters away from the hook for Devour Hope stacks, and port back after the hook save to 1-hit down the rescuer. This is best done utilizing the ultra rare Mint Rag addon. With this addon, even if the rescuer crouches past your traps, you can port back to the hook to get the down.

Basement Party:

Perks: Iron Grasp, Agitation, Insidious, Hex: Ruin.
Killer: Cannibal (Leatherface)
Map: Various
Addons: Corroborator Tuning Guide

Okay, I know, I know: this is probably the worst build to run as far as playing nice with others, but that isn't exactly what gimmick builds are about. The idea of this build is to down the first survivor you find quickly with the chainsaw, and then utilizing Iron Grasp and Agitation, have enough time to carry them into your basement. After hooking them, you find a place in sight of the basement entrance, but generally out-of-view of passing survivors, then stand still and wait. Insidious eliminates your terror radius and red stain, and as soon as they go for the hook save, you charge in with your chainsaw. Even with borrowed time, if you hit both the saved and the saver on the initial attack, then smash yourself into the hook to cause a tantrum, you should double-hit the person saved to put them back on the floor. A smart group of survivors will leave those two in the basement to die and work on the gens, but often as not, you can catch a third survivor running down to save their teammates before it's painfully obvious, no one is leaving that basement in one piece. It can create some truly funny plays, but you should immediately go to the shower to wash your shame off after running this build.

No, Really, No One Escapes Death:

Perks: No One Escapes Death, Fire Up, Blood Warden, Remember Me.
Killer: Various, but The Nightmare (Freddy) is not recommended.
Map: Any

This build is designed around one thing: stopping anyone from walking out the exit doors. As the game progresses, your priority is finding and hitting your obsession as many times as you can to build stacks on Remember Me, which will add up to 30 seconds on the time it takes to open the exit gates. NOED allows you to one-hit down any survivor once all the generators are complete, while your action speed is increased by 14% thanks to Fire Up. Lastly, once the gates are open, if you hook a survivor and activate Blood Warden, no other survivors can exit through the gates for up to a minute, and their auras are revealed to you when they're in the gate area.

This is a highly risky build to run. In the first place, there's no promise the survivors haven't cleansed all the dull totems before NOED can activate. Second of all, finding the obsession to stack Remember Me can be very difficult in some games. Third, Blood Warden will NOT activate if the exit doors have not yet been opened, so hooking a survivor after they've been opened but before the other survivors run out is a maybe / maybe not proposition. All of that said, if you do have NOED, and you got some stacks on Remember Me, and you time the hook right, you can turn a 0k game into a 4k game so quickly the survivors will likely swear they'll never play the game again (even though they all pip'ed and got great bloodpoints).

Totem Torment:

Perks: Thrill of the Hunt, Hex: Ruin, Hex: Devour Hope or Monitor and Abuse, BBQ and Chili.
Killer: The Spirit
Map: Any small to medium sized
Addons: Mother-Daughter Ring (Ultra Rare), Prayer Bead Bracelet (Very Rare)

The idea is not to hit survivors, but to pull them off of totems. In most matches, it doesn't take long before the survivors are scrambling to find the Ruin, and Thrill of the Hunt will tell you which totem is being touched and give you the time to phase to it. The Mother-Daughter Ring is used to cover as much ground as possible, as quickly as possible to make the grab, while the Prayer Beads Bracelet is utilized to eliminate the sound of your phasing so the survivors don't run away when they hear you coming. You aren't there one second, you are the next, and they're on your shoulder. There are different variations on this build, and M&A can be utilized to reduce your terror radius while also reducing the number of totems you're defending from 3 to 2. As a note, when utilizing this build, it's very helpful to attempt to run through where the survivor should be while still in phase. If they are there, you won't be able to pass through and can un-phase for the grab. If they do manage to destroy one or both of your totems, continue the same strategy while focusing on the generators you think they're working on and make the grabs. Again, it's important to know which side of the generator they're on in order to make the grab, so attempt collision before coming out of phase.

Edit: Changed formatting to make it more reader-friendly.