Best The Lich Builds in Dead by Daylight

Dead by Daylight’s next chapter introduces Vecna, one of the most iconic villains in Dungeons and Dragons, to the world of Dead by Daylight. Here’s everything you need to know about The Lich in Dead by Daylight, so you’re ready to harness the new killer.

How Does The Lich Work in Dead By Daylight?

The Lich is a versatile killer with four spells available.

• Fly allows him to fly, circumventing obstacles such as pallets.
• Flight of the Damned conjures spectral entities that fly through obstacles and hit anyone in their paths.
• Mage Hand summons a spectral hand to hold pallets in place, or reset them.
• Dispelling Sphere creates a moving AOE sphere that reveals survivors and disables their magical items.

In addition to his spells is another twist – namely, chests. When opening one of these special chests, players will roll a 20-sided die.

• 1: Critical fail: Expect a nasty surprise.
• 2-3: Receive a regular item (Map, key, flashlight, first aid kit, toolbox).
• 4-19: Boots or Bracers (These items are equipped automatically, and counter one of Vecna’s spells).
• 20: Critical success: Survivors will receive either the Eye of Vecna, giving them a period of invisibility after exiting a locker, or the Hand of Vecna, which lets them teleport from locker to locker. However, using these cursed items will injure the survivors.

In addition to the above, The Lich comes with three unique perks.

• Weave Attunement: When a Survivor’s item becomes depleted for the first time, it drops to the ground, revealing the auras of any nearby survivors. Any survivor picking up an item will become oblivious for a brief duration.
• Languid Touch: Survivors scaring a crow inside your terror radius become exhausted.
• Dark Arrogance: You’re blinded and stunned for longer, but gain a faster vault speed.

Now, for the builds…

All The Lich Builds in Dead By Daylight

Rogue: Thief

This build is all about weakening, or stealing, a survivor’s items.

• Weave Attunement, as above, forces Survivors to drop their items, while revealing their auras – and making them oblivious if they pick the item up.
• Hoarder works well alongside this. Survivors facing The Lich will likely spend time on chests, and this perk will alert you whenever a survivor picks up an item or unlocks a chest within a vicinity of up to 64 meters.
• Overwhelming Presence will increase the depletion rate of items by up to 100%, making Weave Attunement activate more frequently.
• Franklin’s Demise will force any survivors you hit to drop their items, revealing the item’s aura. Additionally, the items will disappear if not picked up in time.

Rogue: Assassin

This build is all about stealth, letting you come in for the kill.

• Dark Devotion activates whenever the obsession loses a health state, transferring your terror radius to them while making you undetectable.
• Unforeseen activates whenever you damage a generator, granting you the undetectable status effect while transferring your terror radius to it.
• Furtive Chase will make you undetectable whenever you hook a survivor while granting you a 5% speed boost.
• Machine Learning compromises the most recently damaged generator, granting you Undetectable and Haste whenever it’s completed.

Rogue: Acrobat

This build is based on vaulting speed, helping you catch up with survivors who focus on windows in a chase.

• Dark Arrogance will increase your vaulting speed at the cost of increased stun and blind durations.
• Bamboozle will increase your vaulting speed while blocking the window.
• Superior Anatomy activates whenever a survivor performs a rushed vault within eight meters, granting you a significant speed boost on your next vault action.
• Zanshin Tactics highlights the auras of any windows, pallets, or breakable walls in your vicinity.

Three vaulting speed perks may seem like overkill, so you may want to switch one of these out. We’ve yet to test whether Enduring or Lightborn will circumvent the downsides of Dark Arrogance, but if so you may want to consider switching out Superior Anatomy. Hex: Crowd Control will also block any windows your victim vaults to all survivors only which can help to shut down some loops.

Artificer

This build is based on generator defense, which is a crucial component of any good Killer strategy.

• Pop Goes the Weasel will increase the damage you inflict with a break action after hooking a survivor.
• Hex: Huntress Lullaby will gain a token whenever you hook a survivor, making skill checks harder to hit.
• Unnerving Presence will increase the chances of a skill check being triggered in your terror radius by 10%, and decrease their success zones.
• Undone gains three tokens whenever a survivor misses a skill check while healing or repairing a generator, up to a maximum of 30 at tier three. Kicking a generator will consume all tokens, granting a 1% bonus to regression and blocking the generator for one second for each token consumed.

Of course, there are plenty of gen regression perks that make great alternatives. Surge will damage any generators near a down, while Eruption and Oppression can damage multiple generators at once. Hex: Ruin passively damages generators, and Nowhere to Hide will help you track down any survivors near any gen you damage if you want to exchange damage for tracking.

Ranger: Hunter

This perk is based on tracking Survivors, making it easier to follow up with your ranged attack.

• Lethal Pursuer Reveals the auras of every survivor at the start of a match and lengthens the duration of any aura reading perks.
• I’m All Ears reveals the auras of any survivors performing a rushed action in your vicinity.
• Nowhere to Hide reveals the auras of any survivors in your vicinity whenever you damage a generator.
• Darkness Reveals activates whenever you open a locker, and reveals the aura of every survivor within eight meters of any locker on the map. Perfect if, say, that survivor has mysteriously teleported to the other side or become invisible and just so happens to have been injured.

If you see a lot of flashlights in the lobby, consider switching one of these perks out for Lightborn. Not only will this make you immune from being blinded, but you’ll also see the auras of anyone who tries. Meanwhile, A Nurse’s Calling will reveal the auras of anyone performing a healing action or being healed in your vicinity.

Ranger: Beast Master

The realms are filled with crows, but few perks utilize them. This build enhances your tracking and chase abilities with animalistic perks, as well as your feathered friends.

• Languid Touch will exhaust any survivors who disturb crows.
• Spies from the Shadows will cause a noise notification whenever survivors in your vicinity disturb crows.
• Bloodhound will make blood brighter and help it stay around longer.
• Beast of Prey activates whenever you enter Bloodlust, making you undetectable until Bloodlust ends.

You could also switch Bloodhound for Predator, which spawns scratch marks closer together, helping you better keep track of hasty survivors.

Fighter

This build is based on all-out offense, exposing survivors to one-hit downs.

• Friends ’til the End reveals your obsession’s aura, exposes them, and makes them oblivious whenever you hook another Survivor. Meanwhile, hooking your obsession will mark a random survivor as your new one, making them scream.
• Hex: Devour Hope will gain stacks every time a survivor is unhooked and you’re 24 meters away. At three tokens, all survivors are exposed, while at five tokens you can instantly mori any survivors.
• Iron Maiden will expose survivors after they exit a locker, as well as making them scream. This way, even a survivor benefitting from one of The Lich’s cursed items will find themselves vulnerable.
• Starstruck exposes any survivors in your terror radius whenever you pick up a survivor, and lingers for up to 30 seconds after hooking them.

Consider Make Your Choice, Hex: Haunted Ground, or Hubris if you want exposure perks that are useful throughout the match, while Hex: No One Escapes Death will expose every survivor in the endgame.

Sorceror

This build covers a variety of bases, utilizing the innate magic of the realms and the entity, namely hex totems.

• Hex: Ruin causes any generators to instantly regress as soon as survivors stop repairing them.
• Hex: Face the Darkness activates whenever a survivor is injured, as long as there’s at least one dull totem on the map. Until that survivor is downed, healed, or the totem is cleansed, every other survivor will scream and reveal their auras up to every 25 seconds. The hex totem will become dull once the perk deactivates, and the hex can only be stopped permanently if the totem is cleansed while active.
• Hex: Plaything activates on a random totem whenever you hook a survivor. Once that survivor is unhooked, they’ll become oblivious until the totem is cleansed. Each individual survivor has their own totem, and sees its aura when within close proximity. For the first 90 seconds after activation, only the cursed survivor can cleanse their own totem.
• Hex: Pentimento allows you to rekindle any cleansed totems on the map, gaining a variety of effects ranging from a decrease in repair speed to reduced exit gate opening speed. At five stacks, this perk will permanently protect every hex totem on the map.

Barbarian

Relentless and destructive, this build turns you into a juggernaut in a chase.

• Enduring will decrease the duration of any stun.
• Brutal Strength increases the speed of the break action, whether you’re destroying pallets or kicking gens.
• Spirit Fury activates after you’ve destroyed enough pallets, and will instantly destroy the next pallet you get stunned with.
• Hubris will expose any survivors who make the mistake of stunning you.

This build is perfect for chasing, letting you chew through pallets, shake off attempts to stun you, and getting an easy down. You could also substitute Hubris with THWACK! if you want to exchange deadliness for tracking.

Warlock

Warlocks get their abilities from their pact with an otherworldly being, and what could be more powerful than the Entity? This build focuses on utilizing the entity itself.

• Corrupt Intervention will block the generators further from you at the start of a trial, helping to prevent losing a generator early and starting the game on the back foot.
• Whispers gives you the ability to understand the entity’s voice. When a survivor is within your vicinity, you’ll hear them speaking.
• Grim Embrace blocks all generators for a short period every time you hook a survivor for the first time. After you’ve hooked every survivor once, every generator will be blocked for 40 seconds, and you’ll see your obsession’s aura.
• Blood Warden activates once the exit gates are open. You’ll see the auras of any survivors in the vicinity of the gates, and hooking a survivor will block the exit gates for up to 60 seconds.

If you prefer auras when it comes to tracking, Barbeque and Chilli will show you the auras of any survivors outside of a set distance whenever you hook a survivor. No Way Out, meanwhile gains a token for every unique survivor hooked, and blocks survivors from opening the exit gates for 12 seconds, plus up to 12 additional seconds for each individual survivor hooked.

Of course, the coming weeks will see plenty more builds surface as people experiment with The Lich builds in the Dead By Daylight PTB. Want to grind out some Bloodpoints ahead of the release? Here’s our guide to the first level of the current tome, Splendor.