The Wraith is one of the first killers you’re likely to try in Dead by Daylight. And, though it says Easy on the difficulty label and he’s available almost instantly, he isn’t bad and doesn’t lack complexity. Here are the best Wraith builds in DBD.
Best early game The Wraith build in DBD
All killers in Dead by Daylight start with three unique perks that, through prestige, can be shared with other killers. For the sake of this early-game build, when you’re likely to not have progressed in the Bloodweb as much, we’ll only look at The Wraith’s unique perks and how to best utilize them. Here they are:
| Perk | Description |
| Predator | Survivors leave scratch marks that spawn significantly closer to each other. |
| Bloodhound | The Wraith can discern fresh bloodstains much better and track them for longer. |
| Shadowborn | When blinded, The Wraith gains bonus movement speed. |
The Wraith’s initial perks aren’t so great. In general, you don’t need scratch marks or better blood to figure out where survivors are. Regular sounds and bloodstains do the work just fine, but it’s better than nothing for an early game build. Shadowborn is a particularly useless skill, but if you encounter new players who think flashlights are omnipotent, it might come in handy. All in all, there’s not much to The Wraith’s early options, but once you unlock a few perks, it only gets better.
Best mid-game The Wraith build in DBD
Once you unlock a perk or two, you’ll have the proper tools to build this mid-game build for The Wraith. Since he’s an early killer and one you unlock pretty much within the first hour of playing, we’ve kept prestige-exclusive perks for the late-game build. All the perks here are available in The Wraith’s Bloodweb, and shouldn’t take more than about 10 to 15 levels to unlock. Here are our picks:
| Perk | Description |
| Hex: No One Escapes Death | When all generators are fixed, The Wraith gains bonus movement speed and survivors are inflicted with Exposed. |
| Sloppy Butcher | Hitting survivors inflicts them with Mangled and Hemorrhage, significantly lowering their healing potential. |
| Hex: Thrill of the Hunt | Based on the number of Hex Totems, you gain bonus Bloodpoints and slow down survivors’ totem-cleansing. |
| Bitter Murmur | When a generator is fixed, survivors near it are revealed. When the last generator is completed, all survivors on the map are revealed. |
These general-use perks are fantastic for a first-time player who hasn’t yet unlocked or prestiged many of the killers. Sloppy Butcher significantly improves your basic attacks, the two hexes serve to hinder survivors significantly if they fix generators or seek to cleanse totems, and Bitter Murmur helps out when any gen gets completed. Blink – Mud and Swift Hunt – Mud are great mid-game add-ons that you should try out to help you master the art of cloaking and uncloaking with less punishment if you make mistakes.
Best late game The Wraith build in DBD
Once you’ve played a bit of Dead by Daylight and unlocked everything there is for several killers, you’ll have the right tools for this late game build. You’ll need at least one prestige level on The Plague, The Artist, The Clown, and The Nemesis. These four provide some exceptional perks for The Wraith and help him achieve peak performance. Here they are:
| Perk | Description |
| Corrupt Intervention (The Plague) | At the start of the match, three generators that are the farthest from you are blocked for a significant duration. |
| Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance (The Artist) | You start the game with four tokens and four Scourge Hooks spawned on the map. They appear in white, and each time a survivor is hooked to one, the generator with the most progression explodes, losing a ton of progress and starts regressing instantly at a normal rate. |
| Pop Goes the Weasel (The Clown) | When you hook a survivor, for a set duration your Damage Generator action will be buffed. Performing the buffed action significantly reduces a generator’s progress and it immediately starts regressing at a normal rate. |
| Eruption (The Nemesis) | Damaging generators highlights them in yellow. Every time a survivor is downed, all highlighted generators explode and lose significant progress. Survivors repairing them scream and are revealed. |
As you can see, this build directly targets generator fixing, as The Wraith is primarily a straightforward chase killer with stealth mechanics. He doesn’t have unique or crazy abilities that help him teleport across the map, thus making these generator-specific perks a must-have. If you dislike any of them, you can swap them out for Sloppy Butcher to help with the chase and attacks, but if kept as-is, they work perfectly fine. As for add-ons, either double Windstorm – Blood or a Windstorm – Blood and All Seeing – Spirit combo work the best.
How to play The Wraith effectively in DBD
The Wraith is a straightforward chase killer with the added mechanic of the Wailing Bell, allowing him to cloak and become invisible. Cloaking is slow and you should use it methodically to sneak up on unsuspecting survivors and land a hit or two.
The best way to play The Wraith is to simply chase down enemies, cloak, and uncloak as the opportunity arises. While cloaked, you have significantly better movement speed so closing the gap is much easier, but you should carefully pick the right moment to uncloak and strike, as uncloaking has a small delay. In general, once you get the hang of the ability itself and its timings, you will have zero issues chasing down and picking off any survivor.
He plays similarly to the other initial killers and is a good introduction to the world of DBD killers, as the Wailing Bell is a light mechanical ability that lets you learn more than you would with The Trapper.
