Hi everyone, my name is Float and this is my advanced survivors guide for Dead By Daylight,
thankyou for checking it out! I currently have 750hrs+ in game and I wanted to share my experiences & knowledge. This guide is to help players understand tactics and game-play mechanics to improve their overall ability as a survivor.

I would just like to say a huge thankyou to Santa52, for his input and assistance throughout the creation of this guide, he wrote extensive parts and helped to produce it too.

Furthermore I would like to add that this guide was made over an extended period of time. Due to this, poor motivation, laziness and a general lack of interest has drawn input away from the guide and towards other things. If you would like to add something to any of the sections or even a new section, please leave the information in the comments section (including where in the guide it should go) and I may implement it into the guide alongside a thanks! Hopefully overtime this guide can become fully completed and up-to-date with community input and assistance!

Anywho, with that being said and introductions over and done with... Let's jump into the rest of the guide!

The perks vary wildly in their usefulness, ranging from the amazing to very situational. There are many videos and guides on these which I suggest you have a gander at, as this guide will not cover it. We will, however, cover what makes a perk 'good'. I put good in quotations as a perk is only as good as how it fits with the play style of the individual. A perk is good when it manages to create more time for generators to be done, the main purpose of the survivors. This can be done in many ways, maybe it increases your survivability in a chase, helps you find generators faster or even complete them faster. It usually comes down to multiple reasons compounded together and always depends on the individual using them.

Here are two quick examples.

• The first is the perk This is Not Happening. This Is Not Happening increases the size of most skill checks while injured. This perk may not be very useful to someone with many hours in Dead By Daylight; although to someone who has just started, this perk can give more time before being found by the killer by negating potential generator explosions.
  
  
• The second example is Self Care. Self Care is a commonly used perk that allows one to heal from the injured state to healthy with no assistance at a slower pace. Although Self Care will increase your survivability, it comes at the sacrifice of not utilising the time someone else may be creating while they are being chased.

Now that we just covered how perks can be highly relevant to nearly every-match however also extremely situational. Let's cover "combinations" of perks and how the use of these (once mastered) can change the overall outcome off the match.

Combinations
Perk combinations can be very useful during a game as they can work together to provide further usefulness to the survivors. Now these combinations can be tricky to put together as they come with trial and error however, these combinations aren't exactly a set of perks that must be used together, rather work well together and should be considered. Simple combinations such as two perks can work together to provide the user with further knowledge, or a slight edge over the killer in specific situations.

Two examples of simple combinations:

• A basic combination that is mostly seen with those new to the game, is with the perks Empathy and Botany Knowledge. These two work in-tango with one-another as Empathy allows you to see your injured team mates auras within 128 metres (tier III) and Botany Knowledge increases your healing speed and healing Item efficiency by 11/22/33 %, per tier. These two allow you to save time up to 33% healing and even more from locating, giving you and your team more time to complete generators.
  
  
• A more advanced combination of perks can be the use of Dance With Me and Lithe. This combination work together to provide a sly escape if pulled of correctly after a vault. Lithe works that after performing a rushed vault, you sprint at 150 % of your normal running speed for 3 seconds across all tiers (each tier changes the exhausted affect timer), whilst Dance With Me works as that once you have performed a fast vault or left a Locker in a sprint, you will leave no Scratch Marks for 3 seconds (each tier changes the cool down for use rather the exhausted affect). These two perks put together can give the chance to escape alive rather than being hooked higher as they no longer present a trail for the killer to follow. Thus giving them the opportunity to use more (once healed if needed) of the killers time so their team mates can complete generators.

Now not all combinations do work to provide more time for generators or another chance at life in a chase, however they do present the usefulness of a well-oiled engine to those that put the together, albeit at the expense of two perk slots, which may or may not be more useful to use on other perks. It just depends on the user.

Decks
A deck off perks is when you put 4 perks together with a goal in mind for what you objectively want to achieve, however is a side mission that benefits the completion off the completion of generators. An example of the goal behind these decks could be healing people up faster, or saving people from hooks, or even specifically designing a deck for completing generators.

My personal favourite perk deck revolves around any exhaustion perk (mainly Dead Hard) and then is followed behind with a goal (normally for myself) delaying the killer as much as possible. This means that I normally would take perks along the lines of Iron Will, Urban Evasion and Decisive Strike. This deck works for me as I can usually lose the killer around T-intersections with Dead Hard and as such, they cannot hear me or follow my scratch marks as I use Iron Will and Urban Evasion to escape, get healed and repeat. If this does not work however, I go down and get on an off the hook and make sure I hit my Decisive Strike to get away and keep repeating this until we escape or likewise I've on the hooks twice.

Perk decks don't have to revolve around a singular perk and idea though. They can also be an extension of a perk combination or just a general "set" of perks you enjoy using. They don't always have to assist in another objective, however it is usually best to keep this in mind when putting your four perks together for the next match.

Every game has a play style. Whether it be a casual stroll in the park like Flower or a run and gunner such as Doom Eternal. However, no matter the way you play it's a style, same goes for Dead by Daylight. The rule does not except.

All of the following identified play styles have one purpose, to relieve the pressure on the survivors that are completing generators. Please note that although you may align with one style over another, that these vary widely and are not exclusive, this means that even though you may not like completing gens or looping the killer that this is a team game and sometimes you will have to do things you may not be the best at, either enjoy.

The Sly
Someones style that can be defined as playing like a sly, looks like one of the more altruistic players. This is boils down to how they normally avoid being chased by the killer and sometimes due generators, however they mainly focus on helping their team-mates out.

• This stems from actions they complete like unhooking and healing team mates. To resetting pallets for a rerun of the same loop. Players like these are essential to escaping the killer; as they provide the basic needs and equipment for the team to run. If I flesh this idea out more, we can see that if there where no players that played in a mixture of the Sly that there would simply be no other play styles as they. Simple put. Would be dead.
  
  
• For the Sly play style I would recommend perks surrounding helping others, these can be included as; Empathy, Botany Knowledge (especially if you plan to use items), Solidarity, We're Gonna Live Forever, Borrowed Time, etc...
  
  
• The Sly players help the team function like cogs and cranks in a well oiled machine. They do the dirty work that styles such as The Delayer avoid and in the process make sure the team can continue to fix the generators and ultimately escape.

The Delayer
This style is the complete opposite of the Sly. Albeit they are still somewhat needed for the team to run. You could probably get away with just throwing multiple Dwight Mains on the hook and still win with one or two of your team mates escaping.

• The Delayers job description is in the title. They delay the killer through 360's, loops, pallets and whatever else they can use to avoid being hit by the killer. The entire point of this play style is to just give the Dwight Mains and The Sly Players extra time to complete the generators and altruistic actions; in turn helps the team escape faster.
  
  
• Perks that I usually run in tandem or as a deck for Delayer usually revolve around giving me a second chance to get away or gain distance between myself and the Killer, these usually are; Balanced Landing, Dead Hard, Iron Will (is more useful surrounding losing the killer in a loop), Windows of Opportunity, etc...
  
  
• Even though the Delayer isn't entirely needed for a team composition they can still be the difference between destroying a Killer or only escaping with one or two survivors at most. That said a tight game is always more thrilling and exciting than that of a push over, where you stopped the killer into uninstalling.

The Dwight Mains
I just want you to know that when I call you a “Dwight Main” i don’t want you to be insulted but more a valued member off the team who is willing to do the gens and focus on them in exchange for someone else to deal with the killer (The Delayer) and waste their time. The Dwight Main is a huge part of any 4-man as it can be the difference between a 5 minute lap to the exit gate for the Delayer or a 20 minute hell hole on and off hook for everyone involved.

• This play style would normally consist off one putting together a combination or a deck of perks to suit this style and help complete generators. Useful perks to consider on this style are; Better Together, Prove Thyself, Poised, etc... (More listed here[deadbydaylight.gamepedia.com]).
  
  
• Not only are the perks revolving around the style, yet the style revolves around the perks as the Dwight Mains will portray a sense of ambition to complete generators and avoid the killer at all costs. If you have a ballsy Dwight Main, he might even take the killer for a run, that is if he is the last resort.
  
  
• Personally when I play as a Dwight Main, I tend to stick to a solid plan that works to my advantage. Go clockwise around the map and skip every second generator. Once I have done this I move to the middle Generator and complete that too. This will leave you with 1-2 generators left which; if your team mates haven't screwed you over leads to an easy escape.

Before we start here, I would just like to acknowledge that this section won't be very helpful for most solo player's as we are covering this for the 3-4 man stacks looking to improve. Following this, the team composition of play styles and abilities in Dead by Daylight can help create; a faster, slower or an even more enjoyable game for your group.

Personally I find playing Solo can be quite frustrating and exhausting as you find yourself having to limp out of the exit gates with 2-3 other survivors on your back. Furthermore though there isn't much off a difference with that and your proper team mates that you can communicate too.

Moving forward however, having a good duo or trio is very helpful for information, coordination and general tactics as you can determine new strategies with your team.

If you can manage a 4-person stack, you can win most matches against most killers as being able to call-out where the killer is and who they are chasing can help with staying alive and most off all finishing generators in quietness.

Perfect Quadro
In reference back to the previous section on play styles; I have found that usually have 1 Dwight Main, 1 Sly and 2 Delayers is the perfect 4-man combination for people to wipe the floor consistently. The reason being for this, is the 2 Delayers. Why? As if they have similar skill-sets, they become interchangeable. This gives the Dwight Main all the time in the world to complete the Generators and all the Sly needs to do is assist in the generators and focus on healing the injured Delayers as they can quickly rotate with good communication.

The Perfect moment for a rotation (Switch) between these two Delayers is after the first Delayer is hit and somehow loses the attention off the Killer. This can be done multiple ways either through; (my preferred) using Iron Will and hiding in a T-loop, or via loosing them to a generator notification/interruption or one of the millions of other possible ways, you just have to pick your own and learn how to use it correctly.

Using a switch correctly can save you a hook phase and provide plenty off extra time for the Sly to assist you after the switch and allowing the Dwight Mains to complete more generators uninterupted

Alongside running a good Four-Stack is the information gained, your team mates should be calling out who the Killer is, where they are, how close their gens are and any other information they can provide, whether its the location of unarmed traps or used pallets. This is the difference between being frustrated and hooked from God Pallet (The pallet in Killer-Shack) being used on no callout or a trap under pig-tree.

Simple Trio

Trios are a bit easier to run, however you have the downside of not being able to communicate with the fourth person. The reason why I say they're easier to run is simply that you rely on that fourth man wasting the killers time. No switch, no help, just rush those generators.

Usually, with a trio I would recommend at least 1 of each; a Sly, a Dwight Main and a Delayer as you can still somewhat run the Perfect Quadro just with the random "acting" as the second Delayer.

Use the time that the random gives you wisely - all time in Dead By Daylight should be used wisely, so don't go sitting in a locker waiting out that Barbecue and Chilli. Use it to your advantage by either doing a generator, healing a team mate (I wouldn't recommend this though if you are up against a BBQ & Chilli) or gaining the Killers attention to waste their time.

Albeit you are throwing the other random in the deep end, they're relying on you to complete those generators when their getting chased, and vise versa. So when it does come end game and your trio has to make a decision about whether or not to go back for the random. Do it. They saved your but a few times in there, regardless of how many generators they did.

It Takes Two To Tango

If you're playing in a duo, I would recommend just playing the game for what it is. No hard tactics or mind games, loop the Killer where possible and complete generators. As you won't be able to communicate with your other two team mates, its extremely important that you and your buddy make sure to provide information to one another as having two sets of eyes is still better than one.

On top of this make sure to heal one another and meet up! Heal the other survivors and unhook them where possible too, but finding them can be difficult without perks like Bond or Empathy to heal them or be healed, so linking up upon losing the killer or being unhooked improves your chances off opening and running out those exit gates.

Another reminder though is to ensure that you two communicate to not 3-gen yourselves (stacking the last 3 generators on the map next to each other - when you only have one last generator to complete). This is important for duos as it can break it or make it for them, Trios and Squads usually can distract and communicate their way out of situations like this - if they let themselves 3-gen themselves. Duos on the other hand need to ensure they don't do this otherwise they're screwed majority of the time, due to a lack of information from the lack of ability to communicate with the other two random survivors.

The Survivor
The survivors gain multiple advantages over the killer such as being 4 against 1 however their 3rd person perspective gives them a giant advantage that should be taken seriously. Its life or death, or should I say life or hook? Either way, the survivors can use this p.o.v. to conduct surveillance and gain information of the killers location without revealing themselves in the process. This can be done from behind a tree or even under a window as you watch them destroy your generator progression with Pop Goes the Weasel.

This extra information however is given with no risk, the Killer cannot see you if you use your 3rd person perspective correctly. unlike information normally provided from team mates on chases or hook, this information is open for your taking - its just a matter of you turning around the corner slightly to open up an entire other world of potential.

Do not however, TRY THIS INJURED OR WHILST YOU LEFT SCRATCH MARKS BEHIND - you are asking to be hooked as you're groaning (unless you have a perk like Iron Will), leaving blood stains (unless you have a perk No Mither) and have a bunch of red glowing lines pointing in your direction. These will draw the killers attention to you, no matter if they cannot directly see you as you're "trying" to hind behind the corner.

On top off this point of view, survivors gain the advantage of the terror radius. This information is extremely useful on its own. It can provide you with who the killer is and a huge warning when they're near by. Usually newer killers have their own defined terror radius which allows you to identify the Killer early without evening having seen them or risked an early hook.

The Terror Radius is also a massive indicator to when the Killer is near. Depending on the Killer, you will get a good early warning to when they are near by - allowing you to hop of that generator and silently sneak outside the window to let them walk right on through to hit the generator and out the other side.

Albeit the Terror Radius (more specific information found here[deadbydaylight.fandom.com]) provides you with excellent information, give this information to your other survivors you're in a group with. If they're near by you, CALL IT OUT! This puts your Dwight Mains at ease and lets your Delayers know where that sneaky Michael Myers snuck off too.

The Killer
Hush hush, I understand that this is “The Ultimate Survivor Guide” however we need to take this into consideration. Every and I mean every good survivor will have at least played enough of a killer to gain a sensible understanding of how they operate, see and pressure.

Killers can manipulate their terror radius so don't be fooled, specifically abilities like Michael Myers or Ghost Face can completely remove their terror radius's making a much scarier atmosphere and deadlier game.

I guess what that's saying there is to not rely on the terror radius, obviously you should have situational awareness - a lot of which comes through experience. Try to understand your surroundings as a Survivor and remember where specific objects are, hooks, hatch (if its placed yet), basement, pallets, vaults, etc... These can give quick escapes if you're caught off-guard by ghost face and need to put distance between yourself and the Killer or even lose them completely.

Perks though for Killers can also manipulate their terror radius and these can also be quite deadly. Actually now that I think about it a lot of what the Killers have to offer is quite deadly. It's almost as if that's what the game is all about. Perks like Monitor and Abuse or Insidious (honestly Bubba's that camp basement with this is an entire different breed of humans...) can change the entire game up, and if left unidentified can ensure the killer gets a 4k. (We will discuss how identifying perks can provide a better match later on in the guide)

The psychology behind dead by daylight is up there. Not only can it save your life, but it can put you on the hook quicker than you can say "it's Bubba". The idea with the mind tricks in this game is a little more than just loosing the killer after a loop, but more that the killer no longer wants to chase you. So you chase them. Honestly there are very few games with the type of psychology I see in Dead By Daylight.

When I talk about the "Psychology" I'm trying to delve into the depths of looping and manipulating the the Killer's perception about where you are.

Many survivor actions cause a visual-audio cue at their location, notify the killer as to the whereabouts of fresh meat. These occur at failed skill checks as well as when a survivor completes an action while sprinting such a fast vault. These convey very useful information to the killer so If you are trying to be stealthy around a killer in close proximity don't fast vault that window, no matter how tempting it may be. It is also worth considering using these notifications to the survivors advantage to manipulate the game-play.

Rapidly fast vaulting a window to divert the killers attention is a common occurrence, however the same can be done with generators. Consider a situation where there is only one generator left to complete and they are all fairly close together, and you are a survivor who has just started working on an incomplete generator. It may be advantageous to purposely fail a skill check to draw the killers attention. Why is this benificial, you may ask? As mentioned in the previous sections the survivors want to create more time for generators to completed without being pressured. If the killer decides to peruse your damaged generator they must spend time walking there, a valuable resource at this time in the game. If they decide to not pay you a visit, you have instead put pressure on them to come back later so they are more likely to leave long lasting chases. Only use this tactic with thorough consideration as you sacrifice that generators progression.

*Section on recognising perks that a killer is using, their totems and *

*Just gonna put this idea in here for now, probably goes in killer psychology. Learn to recognise a killers patterns. If he respects pallets, dont drop them. If he doesnt smack him in the face. Then next time he respects, dont drop it.*

*Maybe a section for items for survivors. Could go in a previous section*
skill checks, opening gates and totems

The Following are sources used to fact check and gather information for the guide above:

• Dead By Daylight Wiki[deadbydaylight.gamepedia.com]