[ENG] How to reach rank 1 as Killer (for achievement)

This guide will break all the mechanics you need to know to get to rank 1. Although, I won't dive into specific killers (how to play them). As far as i know every killer is viable to in pursuit of rank 1. Not every one of them will be as consistent as S/A tiers killers, but it is certainly doable.

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My other guides.

All you need to know...

...will be in next sections.

We need some introduction before we dive into what you are here for.

Achieving killer rank 1, is certainly more demanding than doing the survivor counterpart. You won't have 3 other teammates to rely on if you ♥♥♥♥ up, or if you won't play good enough. But it also mean, if you play well your result will be much more consistent (in a good way).


Killers are not survivors.[knowyourmeme.com]
They are much more than different model/dubbing/breathing/grunting. Every killer is played differently so juggling them in the middle of rank-up progress might have unfortunate results (of course if you doesn't play them good enough - but killers have much more in common than you think).

Here are the things you can count on:

• your skill;
  
• tactical thinking(which includes map and tiles knowledge);
  
• killer you are using and how to benefit from his/her kit;
  
• perks and add-ons you are using.

On the other hand you can't rely on:

• survivors;
  
• map;
  
• HEX perks.

Belive me or not but survivors -in most cases- will play as complete douchebags, almost like their only goal is to prevent you from ranking up. Seriously, they play like they have exactly the opposite things to do in game.
They will repair generators, they will try to get away from you, stun you, blind you, stab you (courtesy of Decisive Strike) and escape both through exit gates AND hatch. Shocking isn't it? Maybe it is just my bad luck but I won't be surprised if you will get such survivors as well.
You have been warned!

And map - there is no way you will get only maps you want. Good for you if you get map like that, but you should think ahead and pick killer/build/addons to be more balanced on all kinds of maps if you are not sacrificing map-specific offering.
To make process easier for you to pick oni/ nurse/ pinball(blight)/ whiskers(mastermind)/ singularity/ demogorgon you should take into account:

• two leveled maps (Midwich Elementary School);
  
• very big maps that need mobility or swift 3-gen patrolling killer/build (Mother's Dwelling);
  
• very open maps with low amout of objects in the way between generators (Rotten Fields);
  
• pendulum like maps with two sides and narrowing in the middle (Azarov's Resting Place);
  
• maps with tremendous amount of surivor-sided tiles (Mt. Ormond Resort);
  
• indoor maps with restricted map visibility (Treatment Theatre).

HEX perks are the most unreliable inconsistent ones for a killer. They can last for 15 seconds, or stay till the end of a match. If you want to use them, you should take into consideration both variants or killer who can somewhat reliably defend them.

I would like to say that playing as killer will pressure you much more. You will face T-bagging, "flashlight flicking" (slightly nerfed for some time), flashlight saves, annoying good loopers that will mind-game you on every possible occasion to waste your time so their teammates can do genes and you would like to camp them for eternity but in the end some n00b with Borrow Time will save him/her/them and then they will T-bag you in the exit gate because you can't do nothing about it (you can use Memento Mori on them :> ).
On top of that you will face the post-game chat with things like: "ez", "camper", "убийца нуб", "trash killer", "report that scum", [very unpleasant racist trans/homophobic words], jokes about your mother and family, life-threatening messages and many many more.

I encourage you to look at this DbD forum thread, to know what you can do as a killer and to what extent: Here are things you can't be banned for no matter how much survs cry about it.[forums.bhvr.com]

Originally posted by JollyStrangler:

Discarded report reasons
THE FOLLOWING ARE NOT CONSIDERED BANNABLE OFFENSES - PLEASE DO NOT REPORT:

Camping
Slugging
Tunneling
Streamsniping
Teabagging
Bodyblocking
Looping
NOTE: We do not control anything that happens outside of Dead by Daylight.

This includes private Steam messages/groups/names, PS4/XBOX messages, Discord messages, Twitch/social media interactions, etc. Anything that occurs on these platforms must be reported to their respective authorities.

These are not bannable offenses, so don't listen to some salty survivors that say they will report and ban you for camping or slugging. You might feel bad after doing so, but you're playing for your own entertainment/enjoyment. You're not responsible for survivors experience. If they want to enjoy game, well... "git gud". Although watch out when you're excessively focus on one person without any reason, without intention to change target as it may be seen as "Holding the game hostage" or "Targeting specific users repeatedly in order to ruin their game experience" which is bannable. Be mindful about that.

And at the end of this short introduction, i would like to say:
Behave like an civilized adult.
Survivors will often do things you just can't handle, but you can't win solo battle against four monkeys that will fool around boasting how good they are just to trigger you.
Don't let them - because this is the only thing that will make them "happy". Some of them won't play just to win, they will play to humiliate you and have some disgusting fake fun out of it (which cast some shadow on humanity overall, but i suppose this is not guide about it).
Don't let them break you - you are the dominant force here (unless you are playing Clown on Ormond Resort...then you're just a Clown).

Here is some motivational video for you, to keep going...alone...against all odds (in this case toxic survivors):
Cringe motivational video.

Emblems!

Emblems are THE THING. They are the only mechanic that you need to focus on (apart from all the gameplay stuff), if you want to rank up. If you dive a bit more into how each emblem is obtained, you will see that much more here depends on survivors than it should be. But we will analise each of them more thoroughly later.



You need certain amount of points to pip up (example above is based on red ranks). They are represented as red bars on horizontal axis;
you can check it after the game through ONLINE KILLER GRADE tab:

*8 or less points will decrease your rank by 1 pip
*9-12 points is for 0 pips in either side (aka safe pip)
*13-15 points will reward you with 1 pip
*16 points will give you 2 pips

Very important thing - Bloodpoints does not equal emblems. You will get more bloodpoints while working for emblems of better quality, but more bloodpoints not always means higher emblem (as it was before first ranking-up rework).

To get rank up you need 5 pips (thresholds for pipping are lower the closer you get to rank 20, but who cares about them - this guide is for tryhards not casuals).

Emblems quality are:
• no emblem (0 points)
  
• bronze emblem (1 point)
  
• silver emblem (2 points)
  
• gold emblem (3 points)
  
• iridescent emblem (4 points)

To get iridescent emblem you need at least 100 points in respective category.
More on that you can find on DbD wiki[deadbydaylight.fandom.com]

Emblems categories are *drum rolls*...:

Gatekeeper (Deviousness)

Points (you start with 0):
• 1pt for each unrepaired generator every minute (up to 9th minute);
  
• 10pt for each unopened gate at the end of the match;

For iridescent emblem you need 35 points.

Very straightforward - you need to protect generators. You gain points for unfinished generators up to 9th minute, and you also get points for generators remaining at the end of trial. You should not have problems with getting gold emblem here if there is at least 1 generator left at the end of a game (if you killed all survivors, or they left through hatch) or you had very solid early game with 4-5 gens left.

If gates are powered, you'll get points for unopened ones. If there is no chance you will stop survivors from opening at least one gate - open one yourself and camp other one. Preferably with bodyblocking, as it will save you some points here. It will force survivors into endgame collapse (so they won't t-bag you for next 10 minutes), and they will need to get-the-hell-outta-here in 2(up to 4) minutes. You can also bluff that you have Blood Warden and some smarter ones will leave immediatly, this is especially effective if you are using NOED.
If map is big and you can't cover both doors, it is better to let survivor escape via hatch because you won't lose 10pt if gate is opened.

Important note - kicking generators does not reward you any points for this emblem, it only indirectly rewards you by increasing time needed to repair said generator through regression[en.wikipedia.org].

Devout (Sacrifice)

Points (you start with 0):
• 2pt sacrifice(hook)/mori/disconnect
  
• 1pt for hooking all survivors at least once
  
• 1pt for getting 9 or more hooks in match

To get iridescent quality emblem you need 10pt.

Now we are getting into part where survivors has much more to say than they should have. This might be the most troublesome emblem to get iridescent quality. You need 9 hook actions to get iri. Seems easy? It is not.

You'll get 1 hook action after hooking a survivor. Each survivor can be hooked up to 3 times in total. But here is the catch - if two survivors decide they want to die on first hook they will block you from gaining iridescent emblem here.
Let's say you hooked 2 survivors, and they both died on 1st hook (#redranks). That is only 2 hook actions from possible 6. Two others guys - if you manage to hook them 6 times, it will get you only to 8 hook actions in the end. Sounds silly, right? But this is reality - emblems right now are not in favor of killers and sometimes you have to be a babysitter instead of killing machine if you want to rank up.
Camping near hooks or early DC's can make survivors suicidal timid and efficiently block you from double pip.

Also, don't forget to hook EVERY survivor at least once as it gives you additional points (on top of 9 hook actions).

Malicious (Brutality)

Points (you start with 0):
• 1pt for successful hit
  
• 2pt for each new hook state
  
• -1pt every time survivor heals
  
• -1pt every time survivor escape your grasp

To get iridescent emblem, you need 36 points.

You are rewarded for successfuly hitting survivors (i'm not sure if hitting survivor that has an endurance effect counts).
Whenever next hook stage is reached on any survivors, you also get points.
You'll get only one point for one-shot downing survivor with ability or exposed status because you skipped injured state (of 2 possible while using basic attack).
*note* If you are playing Billy or Bubba, Speed Limiter is actually a good addon to help you with this emblem - especially with Bubba since each token will hit once, so it is possible to down healthy survivor with endurance effect (or mettle of man/sceptic agent players) and gaining score for each hit like it was normal M1.

You lose points when survivor is healed, when survivor escape your grasp (flashlight save/pallet stun/wiggle (escape via Decisive Strike does not remove any points here)) and you also lose points when you lose chase (when survivor escapes from your sight and game decides that chase has ended). When you begin chase try to down survivor ASAP - if you think survivor you are going after is too strong in looping to down him without sacrifice in generators (or time overall), let it go and focus on weaklings.

Chaser (Hunting)

Points (you start with 0):
• 5pt for starting new chase
  
  x points for chase:
  • 90pt for 0-15s
    
  • 60pt for 15-30s
    
  • 50pt for 30-45s
    
  • 40pt for 45-60s
    
  • 30pt for 60s or more
• 55pt for hit during chase
  
• -3pt for each second in 16m proximity of a hooked survivor
  
• -7,5pt for each second in 8m proximity of a hooked survivor

To get iridescent quality emblem, you need 2550 points.

Not that hard to do - just chase and down people quickly. You get points for hitting survivor while being in chase, and ending chase succesfully.

You lose points while being near hooked survivor (aka camping or proxy camping). This is troublesome, because sometimes it can (especially on smaller maps with 2 levels) punish you for being in chase near hook, not intentional camping. Although it won't destroy your emblem if you had solid game, it can sometimes make your emblem score be a little bit under border for another point, and prevent you from pipping-up. Be mindful about it.

More on emblems...

You won't get any emblem points for:
• kicking a generator (even with perks like Pop goes the Weasel);
  
• using non-lethal abilities on survivors (like Carter's Spark);
  
• grabbing a survivor (stealthy or mid-chase);
  
• letting survivor bleed out (slug);

All listed above actions will reward you with bloodpoints, but they are worthless for emblems.

A few words on killers...

If you made it up to here you probably have enough knowledge to make your rank-up game much better. But there are also some essential things you should know before diving into game.
I'm talking about killers.

You probably faced a lot of opinions that you can't get to rank 1 with certain weaker killers (like Clown), but those are lies and deceptions.
Every killer IS viable to get to rank 1 and stay there, if this is what you want.
The problems is that weaker killers can be less reliable and more inconsistent. Some killers flourish only in late game. Some killers rely on addons to be any good. Some killers can't do much without specific perks. Some killers will get utterly smashed on certain maps. All of those statements are true, but any killer (and i can't stress this enough) can get you to rank 1 if you master him/her/it enough (on top of overall skills needed in game, like information gathering, tactical thinking and so on).

Before playing killer you can also try playing survivors for a bit, to know where survivors can go, what mindgames they can do, how they behave on loops, what are their priorities in certain situations, and how they can poison life of a killer in many different ways. If you'll gain that knowledge, you'll be one step ahead in a game of life Dead by Daylight, because now you will know your enemy. You can also watch some YT videos to enrich yourself with skill information.

---

If you don't really have much experience in killer gameplay and you need help with "picking the right killer" i can give you some advices:

If you don't want to spend real cash on DLC's your best bet will probably be Nurse, Blight Huntress, Dredge, Unknown or Oni. They are all grindable with Iridescent Shards (9000 each (Nurse and Huntress is free)) and they consistently stick to higher meta levels for months or even years. Some of them (yes, i'm looking at you Nurse) are hard to learn, but think about it as long-term investment.

If you don't mind spending cash on DLC's your best pick will probably be Whiskers (Mastermind). He has very dynamic ability that can be used both offensively and as mobility. Also he has biggest base terror radius in game, which makes him best pick for anti skill-checks build.
Sadako(Onryo) is not bad either due to her conditional global mobility, built-in mori that sometimes can be triggered very early (watch out as this will hinder your emblems) and lack of terror radius in her "ghost" mode which can throw off some rookie players.
Bubba is my personal favorite, as with Speed Limiter can be an emblem machine but i won't recommend him to you since good survivors won't have problems playing against him.

On top of that i would like to encourage you to play what you have the most fun with. If some killer is not really rewarding or hardly ever played, but you have fun with it - stay with it. We are playing DbD for fun (survivors for sure), and it should give you entertainment - not another reason to tryhard and stress. Unless you are into that, then go ahead and play Hag or Skull Merchant. :)

Rank reset

Rank resets happens at 13th of each month (different hour in each timezone) - so if you think it may take you a while to get to rank 1, start at 14th to have the maximum window of time to get there. They reward you with bloodpoints - more the higher you get.

Examples where "good game" wasn't enough.

Sources and courtesy

Owner(?) of motivational video from 1st section

Sharing is carrying but be respectful - intellectual property speech

Words on intellectual property:
If you want to copy this guide somewhere else for free just for sharing purpose - just add link to my steam account at the end of it with postscript, that I was a creator.
There is no permission from me of any kind to share this anywhere for profit.
If sharing it, you'll agree to not change anything of this guide - just copy it as it is.
For any other purpouse, ask me for permission.

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Thank you for reading, and have a nice day.
-Sincerely,
Sh33p.

[Krusha]

Really good guide. Short, to the point and easy to follow. I don't even play that game anymore and this guide almost made me jump into a lobby.

[The Red Dragon]

much love from ur senpai :D

[StatiG]

First time I'm reached rank 1 with Freddy and really can recommend him for this. Build was with Corrupt and Pop as main perks. Also Surveillance for info (Yeah, Discordance is ok too) and BBQ for bloodpoints. I think ok idea was to switch from BBQ to Bamboozle if you dont need bonus bloodpoints. And check survivor profiles, because you can get "cyberathletes" on red ranks.

[Jamborini]

This is probably the only good guide I've seen that doesn't just say to play nurse or git gud. Thanks!