Tips for new Dead by Daylight players in 2026

I’ve been playing Dead by Daylight off and on since 2017, about a year after the game’s launch. This was a time when there were only a handful of characters to choose between, and waiting times between matches could get up to 40 minutes. This was also a time when you had to be very patient when a new chapter would release because there would always be game-breaking glitches and issues. 

Jump forward to 2026, and things are very different. Dead by Daylight celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and a lot has changed from when it launched. The game now features more than 80 original and licensed killers and survivors, from Ghost Face and Pyramid Head to – and I wish I was making this up – Nicolas Cage. There are more than 300 unique character perks and abilities and dozens of different items that can be used in the game, and there are a handful of events that take place throughout the year that can change some of the regular mechanics of the game.

Needless to say, it’s a lot harder for beginners to get started in Dead by Daylight compared to how it used to be. Not only because of the sheer amount of content, but also because the community has their own unique language, so to speak, complete with slang, unspoken rules and more. I’ve found over the years that it feels nearly impossible to enter Dead by Daylight as a new player so I’ve tried to come up with some helpful advice to assist new players with tackling the sheer amount of things there are to learn when you load up the game for the first time. 

Play the tutorials

This seems like a pretty self-explanatory piece of advice, and the Dead by Daylight tutorials definitely don’t come close to teaching you everything there is to know about the game. But they do provide a good foundation. They’ll teach you the basic rules for both survivor and killer. Skipping over them and jumping straight into the action might seem like a good idea, but playing the Dead by Daylight tutorials will give you at least some useful information before you start playing for real.

It’s a lot to pick up, and it’s not something you’re going to master right away after just one quick tutorial. There are elements in Dead by Daylight’s tutorial that aren’t exactly helpful, too. For example, you only go against one killer in the tutorial, yet every killer in the game has their own unique perks and abilities. It’s unlikely that the first killer you encounter in the game will be the one that the tutorial taught you about. 

The tutorial also takes place on its own small map. There are over 60 maps in Dead by Daylight, and each one has its own obstacles, generator spawn locations, unique buildings and more. Chances are, you’re going to get a different map every time for your first handful of games. The tutorials aren’t an ideal way to learn, but ultimately, it’s worth it to play through them to learn the basics and go from there.  

Stick with a handful of perks at first

As I mentioned, Dead by Daylight has over 300 unique perks for survivors and killers to choose from. When you’re first starting out, it’s important to not overwhelm yourself. When the game first launched, there were really only a couple of things you had to master:

• Totems: There are five totems placed around the map. Killers may have totem perks equipped and, so long as the totems are active on the map, their abilities are active. Survivors are able to ‘cleanse’ totems, basically destroying them, making it so that a killer’s ability cannot be used for the rest of the match. 
• Generator abilities: Killers also have certain perks that may affect how difficult it is for survivors to fix a generator. Some abilities make it so that skill checks are more difficult. Some will cause generators to become blocked and unable to be worked on due to specific circumstances. 

Over the years, Dead by Daylight has added additional perks that can entirely change how the game is played. Things aren’t so simple anymore with the addition of: 

• Scourge hooks: Random killer hooks around the map are turned into ‘scourge hooks’ when the match starts. If a killer hooks a survivor on one of these hooks, the survivor will suffer adverse effects.
• Boon totems: These are abilities that allow survivors to manipulate totems in a way that is beneficial to the team. Boon perks are only active so long as they stay lit on the map by a survivor and can be snuffed out by killers, thus causing the perk to deactivate.

This is by no means a complete list; these are just some of the most significant changes made to the game that affected the mechanics in certain ways.

So what does all this mean? It means that, no matter what you do, you’re likely going to be overwhelmed at all of the options you have for your characters. My advice would be to start by choosing just a handful of perks first and mastering those before moving on. If you end up really hating a perk, switch them out one at a time. Don’t try changing all four of your perks every game, or you’ll start to get confused about which is which and what they do. 

There’s also no shame in looking up good perk combinations. Thanks to having nearly 10 years worth of players, people online have tried some fantastic perk builds for both survivor and killer. If you’re finding yourself unsure of what to equip, or you feel like your perk combinations simply don’t work, seek out some advice online. Dead by Daylight’s community may come off as intimidating, but there are a lot of good people out there willing to share their knowledge.

Utilise custom matches to practice

A few years ago, Dead by Daylight added the ability for players to create custom matches with friends rather than matchmaking with random players. You can play with as few as two people. I’ve found that this is a great way to get some practice in.

Along with killer perks, each killer has their own special abilities. If you haven’t played as someone before, it can be hard to figure out exactly what their powers do and how they’ll benefit you during a match. And it’s the same for new survivor perks. Jumping into a custom match to try out a new character is great way to learn. If you want to get some practice in, try equipping different perks and see how they work together. You might find a great combination you hadn’t thought of before or a strategy you want to try out in a real match. 

Playing with friends who already know the game inside-out is also one of the best ways to learn everything you need to know. In a custom match, you can have a friend talk you through the basics and show you how things work, in detail far beyond what Dead by Daylight’s built-in tutorial can teach you.

Research events online

This may seem like a silly one, but Dead by Daylight doesn’t do a great job of explaining holiday events and other special limited-time events to players. During the first few matches of an event, you’ll likely find yourself flailing around aimlessly, unsure of what to do with the new event mechanics. If it’s an event that has come around a few times, it can feel very geared towards players who already know what’s going on. That’s why my friends and I always research new events online before loading into the game. 

It may seem counterintuitive, but it will save you from doing a lot of fumbling once you load into a game. Each event is slightly different and there are special tasks you have to complete for each in order to receive the event-specific rewards. There are even some downright bizarre things introduced during these events, like players and killers being able to jump in and out of snowmen during the Christmas event. Knowing exactly what you’re up against before playing can really help you have the edge during a match.

Start as a survivor

Being a killer in Dead by Daylight might be the most appealing way to play, but I’d really recommend starting out as a survivor. Things are slightly easier as a survivor, and it gives you a better way to see how the game works, explore your environment, and observe other survivors and the killer at play. By seeing how other people operate, it’ll give you a better idea of what to do (and maybe what not to do) next time around.

Playing as a survivor, if you take things slow, practice, listen to your friends and persevere, you may just have the killers running away from you the next time you log in to play. And then, once you’ve mastered the art of survival, you can pick up the killer’s axe or chainsaw or whatever strikes your fancy and get your revenge on those pesky survivors.