Best builds for The Dark Lord in Dead by Daylight

The Dark Lord Killer is none other than Dracula himself. This Killer was added to Dead by Daylight with the Castlevania Chapter and is hungry for the blood of innocent Survivors trying to repair generators and escape from the Trials they’re trapped in with him.

As Dead by Daylight‘s first shapeshifting Killer, The Dark Lord has the power to move between three Forms, making him one of the deadliest Killers I’ve got my hands on yet. Each form has its strengths that gel together well, especially with the rarest Add-Ons and Perks to make for a formidable foe you definitely don’t want to face as a Survivor. However, some builds are better than others and take advantage of his natural abilities.

Best builds for The Dark Lord in Dead by Daylight

Below, I’ve listed the best builds I felt worked well for The Dark Lord Killer in Dead by Daylight. I’ve outlined the Perks for each one and explained why I think they work so well. Note that for Add-Ons, it’s simply best to go with the rarest ones you can get from the Bloodweb. Alucard’s Shield spawns Hellfire at the exit gates once they’re opened, and the Ring of Vlad makes Hellfire home in on nearby Survivors. Both of these are perfect for this Killer and will make you way more efficient, but go with what works for you in these slots.

While playing with these builds, it’s important to use all of The Dark Lord’s Forms. His Vampire Form is the basic one used to attack Survivors and summon Hellfire in a line in front of him. That ranged attack is very powerful, so don’t neglect to use it. Wolf Form is fast and gets faster when chasing running Survivors and pick up up the orbs they generate to repeatedly boost your speed. It has a pounce attack that’s great if you can land it, but it’s safer to build up speed and use basic attacks.

Bat Form is silent, generating no Terror Radius. However, you can’t see Survivors while you’re using this Form. It’s a great one to use to move around and listen for pained grunts or generator repairs before hitting another form and attacking.

The Dark Lord build

• Dominance: The first time each totem and each chest is interacted with by a Survivor, that totem or chest is blocked by The Entity for a short period of time. The auras of blocked totems and chests are revealed to you in white.
• Hex: Wretched Fate: After one generator has been repaired, a random Dull Totem becomes a Hex totem and curses the Obsession. The Obsession suffers from a repair speed penalty. The also see this Hex totem’s aura when within a short distance of it.
• Human Greed: You see the auras of unopened chests and Survivors’ auras are revealed for a short time when they enter a close range. You also gain the ability to kick chests to close them. This ability has a 30-second cooldown. Survivors unlock the closed chests at an increased speed after this.
• Overwhelming Presence: Just knowing you are near is enough to disturb your victims. Survivors within your Terror Radius suffer from inefficiency. Affected Survivors’ item consumption rates are increased.

The Dark Lord’s Perks are incredibly powerful and well worth using for a fantastic Killer build. Dominance gives you more information as Survivors try to pick up additional items or clear the map of totems. Hex: Wretched Totem basically forces the Survivors to nerf the Obsession, meaning you’ve already cut their repair speed and have more time to hunt them down. Just keep an eye on that Hex totem and ensure it doesn’t turn white. If it does, you need to get to it quickly in Wolf Form and cut the Survivor there down.

Human Greed is the final Dark Lord Perk, and it gives you the power to slam any chests you catch being opened shut. This is pretty big because it lays another trap for Survivors, but it also means they’ll probably grab the item the next time they come to it. Wolf Form is good for getting around, but even that might not be enough.

The last Perk in this build, Overwhelming Presence, is just there to help nerf Survivors even more. You can flap around in Bat Form until you find a generator you think is being repaired, transform into Vampire Form, and then automatically slow the Survivors, if they’re using an item, as you slice them down.

Counter Belmont build

• Sloppy Butcher: Wounds inflicted by basic attacks cause Survivors to suffer from the Hemorrhage and Mangled status effects for 90 seconds. This increases the rate at which healing progression is lost from Hemorrhage.
• Dissolution: This Perk activates a few seconds after injuring a Survivor by any means and deactivates after around 20 seconds. While Dissolution is active, if a Survivor fast vaults over a pallet inside of your Terror Radius, The Entity will break the pallet at the end of the vault. The Perk deactivates after the pallet break.
• Dominance: The first time each totem and each chest is interacted with by a Survivor, that totem or chest is blocked by The Entity for a short period of time. The auras of blocked totems and chests are revealed to you in white.
• Hex: Wretched Fate: After one generator has been repaired, a random Dull Totem becomes a Hex totem and curses the Obsession. The Obsession suffers from a repair speed penalty. The also see this Hex totem’s aura when within a short distance of it.

Trevor Belmont is the Survivor added alongside The Dark Lord. He has a Perk that boosts the rarity of a held item when stunning the Killer with a pallet, so this build counters that. I kept Dominance and Hex: Wretched Fate in here because they work well together and provide essential information on where Survivors are on the map while simultaneously hitting their repair efficiency as a team.

Naturally, this will make Belmont’s Perk even more useful. That is until Dissolution comes into play. This Killer Perk will aid you by destroying the pallets Survivors loop around after stunning you, making for a surprise when they think they’ve caught you out.

Finally, Sloppy Butcher is just a perfect Perk for The Dark Lord. It puts more stress on Survivors to heal quickly, pausing in their sprint and making more time for you to catch them in. If you’re in Wolf Form, this Perk spells game over for any Survivor.

All Seeing, All Knowing Build

• I’m All Ears: Unlocks potential in one’s aura reading ability. Any Survivor performing a rushed action within 48 meters of your location will have their aura revealed for a few seconds. This can be triggered once every 30 seconds.
• Hex: No One Escapes Death: Once the exit gates are powered, if there is a Dull totem remaining on the map, this Hex is applied to it. While this Hex is active, Survivors Suffer from the Exposed status effect and your movement speed is increased. Once the Hex’s effect is revealed to the Survivors, its Hex totem aura is shown to them in a short range. This range will steadily increase over time to 24 meters.
• Thrilling Tremors: After picking up a Survivor, all generators not being repaired by a Survivor are blocked by The entity and cannot be repaired for the next few seconds. Affected generators are highlighted by a white aura. This Perk can be activated once every 60 seconds.
• Undone: When a Survivor misses a healing or repair skill check, gain 3 tokens up to 30. When you perform the break action on a generator, if you have any tokens, consume all of them. For each token consumed, the generator loses 1% total progress and then becomes blocked for 1 second. Then, once the generator is unblocked, it starts regressing. This perk goes on cooldown for 60 seconds.

This last build fits the feel of Dracula, the ultimate horror movie monster, down to the ground. I’m All Ears gives you information and lets you know where any Survivor is on the map, provided you keep moving. The key here is to avoid Bat Form while exploring and hunting for Survivors because you can’t see them in that form. Wolf or Vampire Forms are better.

Hex: No One Escapes Death keeps the all-seeing theme going with new information at the point when Survivors are usually pretty confident. It gives you the power to hit Bat Form, fly to the exit gates, and then transform again before scaring the life and then draining it out of whoever is nearby.

Thrilling Tremors is a fun Perk that buys you a bit more time when you pick up a Survivor. It’s always good to have this on hand, but I feel like it adds to the unknowable power of The Dark Lord. Last but not least, we have Undone. This Perk is another good one to showcase that amazing movie monster power to be everywhere and know everything. It pulls back generator progress in a meaningful way and prolongs the dread your prey faces.