Best Builds For Nurse And Spirit In Dead By Daylight (No Unknown)

Hey guys! So you're looking to dominate the trials with The Nurse and The Kenji Killer, huh? Awesome! These killers are super powerful in the right hands. But with so many perks and add-ons to choose from, figuring out the perfect build can feel a little overwhelming. Don't worry, I've got you covered! We're going to dive deep into some killer builds for these two powerhouses, focusing on maximizing their strengths and covering their weaknesses. We'll consider some strong perk synergies and different playstyles you might want to experiment with. And, since you mentioned you don't have Afton (The Unknown), we'll keep it strictly about Nurse and Kenji. Let's get started!

The Nurse: Blink and You're Dead

The Nurse, also known as Sally Smithson, is arguably one of the most mechanically challenging killers in Dead by Daylight, but also one of the most rewarding. Her ability to blink through walls and obstacles makes her incredibly mobile and allows her to bypass common survivor strategies like looping. However, her blinks require precise timing and positioning, and she suffers from fatigue after each blink, leaving her vulnerable. To truly master The Nurse, you need a build that complements her unique abilities and mitigates her weaknesses. Therefore, our nurse build needs to focus on maneuverability, lethality and information.

Understanding The Nurse's Strengths and Weaknesses

Before we jump into specific builds, let's quickly recap what makes The Nurse tick. Her main strength is, without a doubt, her blink ability. It allows her to ignore map geometry and catch survivors off guard. She excels at short-range engagements and can quickly close the distance on unsuspecting survivors. However, her weaknesses are equally significant. The fatigue she experiences after blinking can leave her vulnerable to attacks, and her slow movement speed when not blinking makes her susceptible to being looped around structures. Moreover, her power requires high precision and is significantly affected by add-ons. Mastering the Nurse means mastering the blink. You need to understand its range, timing, and how to chain blinks effectively. Without practice, you'll likely find yourself bumping into walls and losing track of survivors. This is why add-ons that affect blink distance or recovery time are so crucial to her gameplay. Some players swear by the "Ataxic Respiration" add-on, which reduces fatigue after a blink, allowing you to chain blinks more aggressively. Others prefer add-ons that increase blink range, like the "Kavanagh's Last Breath", to cover more ground quickly. The choice ultimately depends on your playstyle and comfort level. Therefore, we want to create a versatile and powerful build that focuses on her strengths and helps cover her weak spots. We need to choose perks that allow us to capitalize on our blinks, track survivors efficiently, and end chases quickly.

Key Perks for The Nurse

When choosing perks for The Nurse, we want to focus on those that will amplify her strengths and compensate for her weaknesses. Here are some top-tier perk choices and why they work so well:

• A Nurse's Calling: This perk is practically made for The Nurse! It reveals the auras of survivors who are healing within a certain range. Since the Nurse excels at short-range engagements, knowing exactly where injured survivors are is a massive advantage. It allows you to plan your blinks strategically and intercept survivors trying to heal behind cover. This perk drastically increases your map control and chase potential, turning healing survivors into easy targets. The information provided by A Nurse's Calling is invaluable for planning your next move. You can anticipate survivor rotations, prevent healing attempts, and even bait survivors into ambushes. The aura reading is constant and reliable, making it a cornerstone of any Nurse build focused on aggression and map control. Furthermore, experienced Nurse players can use A Nurse's Calling to predict survivor movements even before they start healing. By recognizing patterns in their behavior and positioning, you can anticipate their next move and be ready to strike, giving you a significant edge in the trial.
• Thanatophobia: This perk slows down survivor repair speeds for each injured, dying, or hooked survivor. This pairs perfectly with The Nurse's ability to quickly injure and down survivors. It puts immense pressure on survivors to heal, but A Nurse's Calling makes healing a dangerous prospect. This perk is a powerful tool for applying consistent pressure across the map. By slowing down generator progress, you force survivors to make difficult choices between healing and working on generators. This creates opportunities for you to capitalize on their mistakes and further extend your lead in the match. The stacking slowdown effect of Thanatophobia becomes increasingly potent as the game progresses. The more survivors who are injured or otherwise incapacitated, the more significant the slowdown becomes. This can create a snowball effect, making it increasingly difficult for survivors to complete generators and escape.
• Monitor & Abuse: This perk reduces your terror radius outside of a chase and increases it during a chase. This is fantastic for stealth approaches and surprising survivors with blinks. This perk gives The Nurse an edge in both stealth and chase scenarios. The reduced terror radius outside of chase allows you to approach generators and survivors undetected, setting up surprise attacks with your blink. The increased terror radius during chase, on the other hand, can disorient survivors and make it more difficult for them to predict your movements. This perk is particularly effective in combination with other stealth-oriented perks or add-ons. By further minimizing your terror radius, you can become a truly terrifying presence, appearing seemingly out of nowhere to strike unsuspecting survivors. The suddenness of your attacks can catch survivors off guard and make it more difficult for them to react effectively.
• Hex: Ruin: This hex perk automatically regresses generators when they are not being worked on. It forces survivors to constantly tap generators, slowing down their progress considerably. This is a classic gen-regression perk that can buy you valuable time to find and chase survivors. However, keep in mind that hex perks can be cleansed, so it's a risk-reward choice. Hex: Ruin is a powerful tool for controlling the pace of the game and preventing survivors from rushing generators. By forcing survivors to constantly repair generators, you can slow down their progress and create opportunities to interrupt them. This perk is particularly effective in combination with other slowdown perks or strategies. By further hindering survivor progress, you can make it incredibly difficult for them to complete generators and escape. However, the vulnerability of Hex: Ruin to cleansing means that it's essential to protect your totems. Positioning your totems in strategic locations and patrolling them regularly can help ensure that Hex: Ruin remains active for as long as possible.
• Pop Goes the Weasel: After hooking a survivor, kicking a generator will regress it by a significant chunk. This is a great perk for quickly undoing survivor progress and applying pressure on generators. This perk provides a burst of generator regression after a hook, allowing you to quickly undo survivor progress and apply pressure across the map. This is particularly effective on The Nurse, who can quickly travel between generators thanks to her blink. Pop Goes the Weasel allows you to punish survivors for making mistakes and forces them to spread out to protect generators. The threat of generator regression can also force survivors to abandon generators, giving you the opportunity to intercept them and start a new chase. This perk is best used strategically, prioritizing generators that are close to completion or that are being actively worked on. By focusing your efforts on these key generators, you can maximize the impact of Pop Goes the Weasel and prevent survivors from gaining momentum.

A Sample Nurse Build

Okay, so let's put it all together! Based on the above, here's a strong and versatile Nurse build you can try:

• A Nurse's Calling (for tracking injured survivors)
• Thanatophobia (for slowing down repairs)
• Monitor & Abuse (for stealth and chase)
• Pop Goes the Weasel (for gen regression)

This build gives you great information, slowdown, and chase potential. You can swap out perks based on your playstyle and the specific challenges you face in each trial. Remember, the best build is the one that you feel most comfortable and confident using.

The Kenji Killer: Swift Strikes and Tactical Advantage

The Kenji Killer, also known as Rin Yamaoka, is a fast-paced killer who relies on her ability to phase walk and quickly close the distance on survivors. Her power, Yamaoka's Haunting, allows her to become invisible and move at a greatly increased speed, making her a formidable hunter. However, the phase walk is time-limited, and she is vulnerable while phasing in and out. Let's talk about some builds that will have our opponents shaking in their boots! We want to capitalize on the Kenji killer's speed, stealth, and mind game potential.

Understanding The Kenji Killer's Strengths and Weaknesses

The Spirit's strength lies in her ability to traverse the map quickly and unpredictably with her phase walk. She excels at surprise attacks and mind games, keeping survivors on edge. However, her weaknesses include her limited visibility during phase walk and her vulnerability when phasing in and out. A successful Spirit player needs to master the art of mind games, predicting survivor movements and using her phase walk strategically. She also needs to be aware of her surroundings and avoid phasing into obstacles or dead ends. Add-ons that affect phase walk duration, speed, or recharge time can significantly impact her gameplay. The "Mother's Glasses" add-on, for example, provides increased visibility during phase walk, making it easier to track survivors. The "Dried Cherry Blossom" add-on, on the other hand, reduces the phase walk duration but also decreases the time it takes to recharge, allowing for more frequent use of the power. The key is to find the right balance between stealth, speed, and mind games. We want to choose perks that complement her unique playstyle and compensate for her weaknesses.

Key Perks for The Kenji Killer

For The Kenji Killer, we want perks that enhance her mobility, stealth, and ability to catch survivors off guard. Here are some standout choices:

• Spirit Fury: This perk automatically breaks a pallet after being stunned by it a certain number of times. This is a great counter to pallet looping and allows you to quickly end chases. This perk is a fantastic counter to pallet looping, one of the most common survivor strategies. By automatically breaking pallets after being stunned a certain number of times, Spirit Fury eliminates this safe zone and forces survivors to find alternative escape routes. This can be particularly effective against skilled loopers who rely on pallets to extend chases. The automatic pallet break also creates a sense of urgency and fear among survivors, making them less likely to risk dropping pallets in your path. This can disrupt their strategies and make them more susceptible to your attacks. In addition to its anti-looping capabilities, Spirit Fury also synergizes well with other perks that reward aggression and quick chases. By quickly ending chases at pallets, you can maintain momentum and apply pressure across the map.
• Enduring: Reduces the stun duration from pallets. This pairs well with Spirit Fury, allowing you to quickly recover from pallet stuns and continue the chase. This perk reduces the stun duration from pallets, allowing you to recover quickly and continue the chase. This is particularly effective in combination with Spirit Fury, as it allows you to break pallets automatically and then quickly resume the chase without being significantly slowed down. Enduring not only reduces the time you spend stunned but also increases your overall aggression and momentum. By minimizing the impact of pallet stuns, you can maintain pressure on survivors and prevent them from gaining too much distance. This perk is especially valuable against coordinated survivor teams who rely on pallet saves and other forms of stun-based disruption.
• Haunted Ground: This hex perk creates two hex totems. If one is cleansed, all survivors suffer the Exposed status effect for a short duration. This is a high-risk, high-reward perk that can quickly turn the tide of a match. This hex perk is a high-risk, high-reward option that can quickly turn the tide of a match. By creating two hex totems, Haunted Ground forces survivors to choose between leaving them untouched and risking a surprise Exposed status effect or cleansing them and potentially triggering the effect. This perk creates a sense of tension and fear among survivors, making them more cautious and less predictable in their actions. The Exposed status effect, which makes survivors vulnerable to one-hit downs, can be devastating if triggered at the right time. This allows you to quickly down multiple survivors and put significant pressure on the team. However, the downside of Haunted Ground is that its effects are temporary and can be easily countered by survivors who are aware of the perk's presence. Positioning your totems strategically and patrolling them regularly can help increase their lifespan and effectiveness.
• Discordance: This perk alerts you when two or more survivors are working on the same generator. This is fantastic for finding groups of survivors and disrupting their progress. This perk provides valuable information about survivor activity, alerting you when two or more survivors are working on the same generator. This allows you to quickly locate groups of survivors and disrupt their progress, creating chaos and forcing them to spread out. Discordance is particularly effective on killers with strong map mobility, as it allows them to quickly respond to survivor activity and capitalize on opportunities. The alert provided by Discordance can also help you to predict survivor movements and rotations, giving you a strategic advantage in the trial. By knowing where survivors are likely to be, you can plan your chases and ambushes more effectively. In addition to its information-gathering capabilities, Discordance also has a psychological impact on survivors. The knowledge that their actions are being monitored can make them more hesitant and less coordinated in their efforts.
• Make Your Choice: When you hook a survivor, any survivor who unhooks them while you are a certain distance away will suffer from the Exposed status effect for a short duration. This perk discourages altruistic unhooks and can lead to easy downs. This perk punishes altruistic unhooks, creating opportunities for you to quickly down multiple survivors. When you hook a survivor, any survivor who unhooks them while you are a certain distance away will suffer from the Exposed status effect for a short duration. This forces survivors to think twice before unhooking each other and encourages them to prioritize their own safety. Make Your Choice is particularly effective on killers who can quickly return to the hook after chasing away the rescuer. By downing the rescuer, you can put significant pressure on the team and prevent them from making progress on generators. This perk also has a psychological impact on survivors, making them more hesitant to engage in risky unhooks. The fear of being exposed can disrupt their strategies and make them more susceptible to your attacks. However, the effectiveness of Make Your Choice depends on your ability to capitalize on the Exposed status effect quickly. You need to be able to locate and down the exposed survivor before the effect wears off.

A Sample Kenji Killer Build

Ready to try it out? Here's a solid build for The Kenji Killer that focuses on aggression and map control:

• Spirit Fury (for pallet breaking)
• Enduring (for reduced stun duration)
• Discordance (for finding groups of survivors)
• Make Your Choice (for punishing altruistic unhooks)

This build is designed to keep the pressure on survivors, disrupt their strategies, and capitalize on mistakes. Feel free to tweak it based on your playstyle and the add-ons you prefer.

Onryo: Haunting Presence and Teleportation

The Onryo, also known as Sadako Yamamura, is a unique killer who relies on her teleportation ability and stealth to terrorize survivors. Her power, Deluge of Fear, allows her to teleport to any active television set on the map, granting her incredible map control and the ability to appear suddenly and unexpectedly. Additionally, she can condemn survivors by manifesting near them and through her attacks, which can lead to instant death when the Condemned meter is full. She's a great choice for those who like mind games and strategic play. Let’s get into the core of making our Onryo build scary, strategic, and effective.

Understanding Onryo's Strengths and Weaknesses

Onryo's strengths lie in her unparalleled map mobility and stealth. Her ability to teleport allows her to traverse the map quickly and surprise survivors, while her passive invisibility and phasing in and out of manifestation make her a difficult target to spot. She excels at applying pressure across the map and disrupting survivor strategies. However, her weaknesses include her reliance on television placement and her vulnerability during demanifestation and manifestation. A successful Onryo player needs to be strategic about television usage, maximizing her teleportation potential and minimizing her vulnerability. She also needs to be skilled at mind games, using her stealth to create uncertainty and fear among survivors. Add-ons that affect teleportation cooldown, Condemned application, or stealth can significantly impact her gameplay. The "Well Stone" add-on, for example, reduces the teleportation cooldown, allowing for more frequent use of her power. The "Tape Editing Deck" add-on increases the Condemned applied by attacks, accelerating the progress towards instant death. The key is to find the right balance between mobility, stealth, and Condemned application. Therefore, a great build focuses on amplifying these strengths while mitigating her weaknesses.

Key Perks for Onryo

When selecting perks for Onryo, we want to enhance her mobility, stealth, and ability to apply Condemned. Here are some top-tier perk choices and why they work so well:

• Surveillance: This perk highlights generators that are regressing, giving you valuable information about survivor activity. This synergizes well with Onryo's ability to teleport and disrupt generators. This perk provides valuable information about survivor activity by highlighting generators that are regressing. This allows you to quickly identify generators that are being worked on and teleport to them to disrupt survivor progress. Surveillance synergizes well with Onryo's teleportation ability, allowing her to respond quickly to generator activity and maintain pressure across the map. The information provided by Surveillance can also help you to predict survivor movements and rotations, giving you a strategic advantage in the trial. By knowing which generators are being worked on, you can plan your chases and ambushes more effectively. In addition to its information-gathering capabilities, Surveillance also has a psychological impact on survivors. The knowledge that their actions are being monitored can make them more hesitant and less coordinated in their efforts.
• Call of Brine: After damaging a generator, it will regress at an increased rate, and you will receive a notification when a survivor touches it. This perk provides both slowdown and information. This perk provides both slowdown and information, making it a valuable asset for Onryo. After damaging a generator, it will regress at an increased rate, slowing down survivor progress. Additionally, you will receive a notification when a survivor touches the generator, allowing you to quickly teleport to it and disrupt their repairs. Call of Brine is particularly effective in combination with Onryo's teleportation ability, as it allows her to respond quickly to generator activity and maintain pressure across the map. The increased regression rate can also force survivors to abandon generators, giving you the opportunity to intercept them and start a new chase. The notification provided by Call of Brine can also help you to predict survivor movements and rotations, giving you a strategic advantage in the trial. By knowing when a generator is being worked on, you can plan your chases and ambushes more effectively.
• Dying Light: This perk makes it harder for survivors to complete generators after you've hooked someone, but it gives a bonus to the obsession. It's a risk-reward perk that can be powerful in the right hands. This perk makes it harder for survivors to complete generators after you've hooked someone, slowing down their progress and increasing the pressure on them. However, it also gives a bonus to the obsession, making them more productive and potentially more dangerous. Dying Light is a risk-reward perk that can be powerful in the right hands. The slowdown effect can be significant, making it difficult for survivors to complete generators and escape. However, the bonus given to the obsession can be problematic, as it makes them a more difficult target to down and potentially allows them to carry their team. The effectiveness of Dying Light depends on your ability to manage the obsession and prevent them from becoming a liability. If you can successfully down and eliminate the obsession, the slowdown effect of Dying Light can be devastating for the remaining survivors.
• Hex: Plaything: This hex makes it so that when you hook a survivor for the first time, they become Oblivious and a hex totem spawns. This can give you some early-game stealth and pressure. This hex perk creates early-game stealth and pressure by making hooked survivors Oblivious and spawning a hex totem. When you hook a survivor for the first time, they will suffer from the Oblivious status effect, making it more difficult for them to locate you and escape. Additionally, a hex totem will spawn, potentially creating a dangerous area for survivors to traverse. Hex: Plaything can be particularly effective in the early game, as it allows you to apply pressure to survivors before they have a chance to organize and coordinate. The Oblivious status effect can make survivors more vulnerable to surprise attacks, while the hex totem can create a bottleneck or obstacle that survivors must overcome. However, the vulnerability of Hex: Plaything to cleansing means that it's essential to protect your totems. Positioning your totems in strategic locations and patrolling them regularly can help ensure that Hex: Plaything remains active for as long as possible.
• Deadlock: Whenever a generator is completed, the generator with the most progress is blocked for a short time, forcing survivors to shift their focus. This perk helps control the flow of the game. This perk helps control the flow of the game by blocking the generator with the most progress whenever a generator is completed. This forces survivors to shift their focus and prevents them from rushing generators. Deadlock is particularly effective against coordinated survivor teams who try to divide and conquer the generators. By blocking the generator with the most progress, you can disrupt their plans and force them to spread out to different areas of the map. The disruption caused by Deadlock can also create opportunities for you to intercept survivors and start new chases. This perk is best used in combination with other slowdown perks or strategies. By further hindering survivor progress, you can make it incredibly difficult for them to complete generators and escape.

A Sample Onryo Build

Time to put it all together! Here's a sample Onryo build that maximizes her map presence and Condemned potential:

• Surveillance (for information on generators)
• Call of Brine (for slowdown and notifications)
• Dying Light (for late-game pressure)
• Deadlock (for generator control)

This build allows you to control the flow of the game, disrupt survivor progress, and apply Condemned effectively. As always, experiment with different perks and find what suits your playstyle best.

Knight: Area Denial and Minions

The Knight, also known as Vittorio Toscano, is a tactical killer who uses his power to summon guards that patrol areas and chase survivors. His power, Guardia Compagnia, allows him to draw a patrol path, and guards will patrol this path, damaging generators, breaking pallets, and chasing survivors. The key to playing the Knight is strategic patrol path placement and timing. This makes him a strategic powerhouse! Therefore, a well-thought-out Knight build is key to mastering his strategic area control and pressure.

Understanding The Knight's Strengths and Weaknesses

The Knight's strengths lie in his ability to control areas of the map and apply pressure to survivors from a distance. His guards can patrol areas, damage generators, break pallets, and chase survivors, forcing them to make difficult choices. He excels at disrupting survivor strategies and creating opportunities for ambushes. However, his weaknesses include his reliance on patrol path placement and timing, as well as his vulnerability when his guards are on cooldown. A successful Knight player needs to be strategic about patrol path placement, maximizing the guards' effectiveness and minimizing their downtime. He also needs to be skilled at predicting survivor movements and using his guards to cut off their escape routes. Add-ons that affect patrol path duration, guard speed, or cooldown time can significantly impact his gameplay. The "Call to Arms" add-on, for example, increases the patrol path duration, allowing the guards to cover more ground. The "Chainmail Gauntlets" add-on increases the guard speed, making them more effective at chasing survivors. The key is to find the right balance between area control, pressure, and guard uptime.

Key Perks for The Knight

When choosing perks for The Knight, we want to focus on those that will enhance his area control, pressure, and ability to disrupt survivors. Here are some standout choices:

• Nowhere to Hide: After kicking a generator, you see the auras of survivors nearby. This is great for finding survivors to send your guards after. This perk provides valuable information about survivor activity by revealing the auras of survivors near a generator after you kick it. This allows you to quickly locate survivors and send your guards after them, applying pressure and disrupting their progress. Nowhere to Hide synergizes well with the Knight's area control abilities, allowing him to use his guards to cut off survivor escape routes and force them into difficult situations. The information provided by Nowhere to Hide can also help you to predict survivor movements and rotations, giving you a strategic advantage in the trial. By knowing where survivors are likely to be, you can plan your patrol paths and ambushes more effectively. In addition to its information-gathering capabilities, Nowhere to Hide also has a psychological impact on survivors. The knowledge that their actions are being monitored can make them more hesitant and less coordinated in their efforts.
• Eruption: After kicking a generator, if you down a survivor, that generator explodes and regresses, also making survivors working on other generators scream and become incapacitated for a short time. This perk can lead to chain reactions of pressure. This perk creates chain reactions of pressure by causing generators to explode and regress after you kick them and down a survivor. Additionally, survivors working on other generators will scream and become incapacitated for a short time, disrupting their progress and making them vulnerable to attack. Eruption is particularly effective on killers who can quickly down survivors, as it allows them to capitalize on the incapacitation effect and apply pressure across the map. The explosions caused by Eruption can also force survivors to abandon generators, giving you the opportunity to intercept them and start a new chase. The disruption caused by Eruption can also help you to control the flow of the game and prevent survivors from rushing generators.
• Tinkerer: When a generator is close to being finished, you get a notification and become Undetectable for a short time. This allows for surprise attacks and generator grabs. This perk allows for surprise attacks and generator grabs by giving you a notification and making you Undetectable for a short time when a generator is close to being finished. This allows you to sneak up on survivors working on generators and catch them off guard. Tinkerer is particularly effective on killers with strong map mobility, as it allows them to quickly respond to generator activity and capitalize on opportunities. The Undetectable status effect can also help you to initiate chases and ambushes more effectively. The notification provided by Tinkerer can also help you to predict survivor movements and rotations, giving you a strategic advantage in the trial. By knowing when a generator is close to being finished, you can plan your ambushes and patrol paths more effectively.
• Grim Embrace: Each time you hook a new survivor, all generators are blocked for a short time. This perk helps control the map and slow down survivor progress. This perk helps control the map and slow down survivor progress by blocking all generators for a short time each time you hook a new survivor. This forces survivors to spread out and find alternative generators to work on, disrupting their progress and making them more vulnerable to attack. Grim Embrace is particularly effective in the early game, as it allows you to quickly apply pressure across the map and prevent survivors from rushing generators. The blockage effect can also create opportunities for you to intercept survivors and start new chases. The disruption caused by Grim Embrace can also help you to control the flow of the game and prevent survivors from gaining momentum.
• Lethal Pursuer: At the start of the trial, you see the auras of all survivors for a few seconds. This helps you find your first target quickly and get the game rolling. This perk helps you find your first target quickly and get the game rolling by revealing the auras of all survivors for a few seconds at the start of the trial. This allows you to quickly locate survivors and start applying pressure early on in the match. Lethal Pursuer is particularly effective on killers who rely on early-game pressure to gain an advantage, as it allows them to disrupt survivor strategies and prevent them from making progress on generators. The information provided by Lethal Pursuer can also help you to predict survivor movements and rotations, giving you a strategic advantage in the trial. By knowing where survivors are likely to be, you can plan your patrol paths and ambushes more effectively.

A Sample Knight Build

Let's build a Knight! Here's a sample build that emphasizes area control and generator pressure:

• Nowhere to Hide (for finding survivors after kicks)
• Eruption (for generator explosions and incapacitation)
• Tinkerer (for surprise attacks)
• Grim Embrace (for blocking generators)

This build allows you to control the pace of the game, disrupt survivor progress, and apply pressure effectively. Feel free to experiment with different perks to suit your playstyle.

Conclusion

Alright, guys, there you have it! Some solid build ideas for The Nurse, The Kenji Killer, The Onryo and The Knight. Remember, the best build is the one that fits your playstyle and helps you have fun! So, experiment, adapt, and don't be afraid to try new things. And most importantly, keep practicing and honing your skills. The more you play, the better you'll understand the nuances of each killer and the more effective you'll become. Now get out there and dominate those trials! Good luck and have fun! You've got this!