Since I get a lot of comments disagreeing with me and my opinions, which is perfectly fine, I just want to state that majority of this guide is based on my experience and opinions and includes information that I feel is best for a new player. Everyone is allowed their own opinion.

This guide is a little outdated, but can still be useful to beginner players

During the late-game, survivors just become skins as you can eventually get the teachable verion of all the perks in the game and get them on every single survivor. However, choosing your starting survivor can be very important. I'll be listing the top 3 survivors based on their customization, perks and other characteristics. I will be listing their unique perks and the level at which it can be taught to other survivors.


Perks:

• Empathy - Level 30
  
• Botany Knowledge - Level 35
  
• Self-Care - Level 40

Claudette is hands down the best survivor in the game and the one you should start off with. Her perk Self-Care is the best in the game, allowing you to heal yourself without the need for teammates, however her other two perks are nothing special. Empathy can be useful as it allows you to track injured survivors, which can reveal the location of the killer to you. She is also quite small and can be hard to see, especially with her prestiged outfits. Her grunts of pain and breathing also aren't very loud. She also has a wide range of customization options - if you're into that stuff.


Perks:

• Quick & Quiet - Level 30
  
• Sprint Burst - Level 35
  
• Adrenaline - Level 40

Meg is another exceptional survivor as all her perks are good, if not above average, sprint burst being the best as it allows you to get some distance when a chase starts, helping you learn to survive. Quick & Quiet is good for locker jukes or sneaky vaults, and adrenaline is nice if you're playing with a group or friends, or just tend to get caught when the gates are powered. The reason she isn't the best is because her clothing is quite bright and her grunts of pain and breathing is very loud. Like Claudette though, she also has a wide selection of outfits.


Perks:

• We're Gonna Live Forever - Level 30
  
• Dead Hard - Level 35
  
• No Mither - Level 40

David has two very good perks, dead hard which is good to help to stay alive and we're gonna live forever which is amazing for point farming. The reason I put him above all the other survivors (besides Meg and Claudette) is because WGLF is excellent to help you progress faster and level up more people. Other survivors may have better perks, but I think two decently good perks outweigh one very good perk (like Laurie's decisive strike). No mither is quite a bad perk, it's usually used just to have fun, but isn't very practical. He is quite big and burly, as with most male survivors, so he's hard to hide with. However, compared to other male characters his breathing and grunts of pain are quite faint.

Jake Park - Iron Will
Laurie Strode - Decisive Strike
Feng Min - Lithe
Dwight Fairfield - Bond
Nea Karlsson - Urban Evasion

For this section I've just made a table with all the perks ranked in classes from best to worse:
S - Meta perks that are the most powerful and most popular in the game
A - Great perks that are also very powerful but not used as much
B - Good perks that are too situational or do not provide enough of an advantage that higher tier perks do
C - Average perks that you really should not be using unless you have a specific build for fun
D - Weak perks that are bad concepts or have low values to make them useful
E - Terrible perks that are useless in most situations

This entire table is opinion-based, if you disagree with something let me know in the comments and we can have a discussion.

S

Self Care | Sprint Burst | Decisive Strike | Adrenaline

A

Borrowed Time | We'll Make It | Iron Will | We're Gonna Live Forever | Lithe | Balanced Landing | *Deliverance

B

Unbreakable | Urban Evasion | Bond | Empathy | Quick & Quiet | Dead Hard

C

Alert | Plunderer's Instict | Tenacity | Botany Knowledge | Technician | Lightweight | Up The Ante | Slippery Meat | Dance With Me | Detective's Hunch | Kindred | *Autodidact

D

Leader | No Mither | Object of Obsession | Premonition | Spine Chill | Saboteur | Streetwise | Resilience | Dark Sense | Stake Out | Pharmacy | Ace In The Hole | Vigil | Windows of Opportunity | *Diversion

E

Calm Spirit | Deja Vu | Hope | Left Behind | Sole Survivor | No One Left Behind | Open Handed | Prove Thyself | Small Game | This Is Not Happening | Wake Up! | Boil Over

Self-care has consistently been the best perk in the game, and it's become a must-have. Perks like Desisive Strike are also good, but are seemingly overpowered and seen as crutches. Sprint Burst is just the best exhaustion perk, and great for getting away from the killer when spotted.

*I haven't played much with the new DLC perks, so if you feel they are misplaced make sure to tell me.

Exhaustion perks are the perks that give you a speed boost (usually for 3 seconds) and cause exhaustion, which restricts you from using any other exhaustion based perk for a period of 60/50/40 seconds, depending on the tier of the perk. You do not recover from exhaustion if you are running. I've ordered them from best to worst, so here you go:


When starting to run, break into a sprint at 150% your normal running speed for a maximum of 3 seconds. Causes Exhaustion for 60/50/40 seconds.

Sprint Burst is Meg's unique perk, unlocked at level 10 and taught at 35. It is undoubtedly the best exhaustion perk at the game's current state. It does encourage a very boring playstyle, where you mostly walk (or crouch) the entire game and only sprint when being chased, but it's honestly the best way to survive. You can often get Sprint Burst once at the start of the chase, since you don't recover while sprinting and would have to stop and walk.


You are fuelled by unexpected energy when on the verge of escape. Instantly heal from injury/injury/injury or dying state and sprint at 150% your normal running speed for 3/5/5 seconds when the Exit Gates are powered. Adrenaline is on hold if you are disabled at the moment it should take effect and will activate when freed. Adrenaline ignores Exhaustion. Causes Exhaustion for 60/50/40 seconds.

Adrenaline is Meg's unique perk, unlocked at level 15 and taught at 40. It is quite situational, as it only activates once all 5 generators are complete and the exit gates are powered. You gain a 5 second speed boost and are healed one health state. What makes this perk good is that it can activate even while on the hook, so it's much harder for a killer to camp and farm you once the exit gates are powered. If you can run the killer around for a while, this is the perk for you. I feel like it isn't fair putting Adrenaline on the same list as these other perks since, although it's an exhaustion perk, it's also a late-game perk while the other's can be used throughout the game. Nonetheless it is still very powerful.


After performing a vault, break into a sprint at 150% of your normal running speed for a maximum of 3 seconds. Activates in chases only. Causes Exhaustion for 60/50/40 seconds.

Lithe is Feng's unique perk, unlocked at level 10 and taught at 35. It's basically exactly like Sprint Burst, except it activates when you vault a window or pallet during a chase. After the exhaustion change that removed the ability to recover whilst sprinting, this perk grew more popular, mostly because of the fact you can't waste it as it doesn't trigger unless you're in a chase. With sprint burst you're forced to walk around if you don't want to use up the perk, not with lithe though. This allows more freedom, and if Sprint Burst isn't your cup of tea then lithe probably is.


When Balanced Landing is active, stagger effects from long falls are reduced by 50/75/75 %.
Tier III only: Upon landing, start sprinting at 150% your normal running speed for a maximum of 3 seconds if not exhausted. Causes Exhaustion for 40 seconds.

Balanced Landing is Nea's teachable, unlocked at 5 and taught at 30. You only get the 150% movement speed boost at tier 3, and it's a suprisingly good perk. The one issue is the fact that you have to fall from a high place for it to activate, which there aren't many of on maps. However, if you do get a map that has many drop-downs then this perk really shines. The fact that it reduces the stagger penalty by 75% at ALL times means you can almost abuse these drop-down areas. However, you're taking a gamble, and since it is very situational I'd recommend you use Lithe or Sprint Burst first.


You can take a beating. When injured, tap into your adrenaline bank and dash forward quickly to avoid damage. Press the activate ability button while running to dash forward. During the dash, you avoid damage. Causes Exhaustion for 60/50/40 seconds.

Dead Hard is David's unique perk, unlocked at level 10 and taught at 35. It is very popular as it controlablle, unlike sprint burst, you can press the activation key ("e" by default) to dash forward for around 0.5 seconds. When dashing you avoid all damage, so you basically dodge the killer's hit. You can only do this while injured, which is one of the perks major downsides, as it can be quite useless against one-shot killers. This used to be a very popular and powerful perk, however, killers eventually got used to it. If you're playing against a decent killer they may not even swing at you and wait for you to waste the Dead Hard. Then they can easily down you since you've left yourself exposed and have no exhaustion perk to help you.

Just because Dead Hard is at number 5 doesn't mean it's a bad perk, in fact all of these perks are great, but there are bound to be some more powerful than others. I for one prefer to use Balanced Landing since it fits my playstyle, and might sometimes swap it for Lithe. And I almost always have Adrenaline in my loadout too. Don't be afraid to try them all out and see which one you like the most.

Like I did with survivor, I will be presenting you with the top three best killers in the game. Rather than focusing on characteristics and perks however, most of the judgements will be based on the killer's power, since each one is very unique and different. I will be listing their unique perks and the level at which it can be taught to other killers.


Perks:

• Stridor - Level 30
  
• Thanatophobia - Level 35
  
• A Nurse's Calling - Level 40

Ever since the nurse was released, she has trumped every single other killer and claimed her throne as the best killer in the game. Her ability to teleport allows for you to hit survivors from a great distance and also traverse the map fast. Her perks are also very good, thanatophobia helps with slowing down the game and nurse's calling allows you to see people who are being healed, which you can then down by blinking to them. She is however quite hard to master, and it may take a lot of time to do so. Her addons are also quite nice, with some adding additional blinks (up to 5 blinks in total) which in most cases is extremely powerful.


Perks:

• Enduring - Level 30
  
• Lightborn - Level 35
  
• Tinkerer - Level 40

Hillbilly is an amazing killer, and is one of the most popular. He is very fun to play as and against while also being very effective. His chainsaw allows you to instantly down people from close, afar or travel across the map in seconds. His first perk, enduring, is one of the best in the game since pallet looping is a very prominent tactic. Lightborn is also very good against flashlights, and tinkerer can be amazing if use with addons that increase the charge time, with the best one's the chainsaw is almost instant. He is not as lethal as the nurse during chases but is better in terms of map control and pressure.


Perks:

• Beast of Prey - Level 30
  
• Territorial Imperative- Level 35
  
• Hex: Huntress Lullaby - Level 40

Huntress is a great killer, fun to play but hard to master. She, like the other top two killers, has a very high skill cap and curve, moreover I would argue she is harder to learn than the hillbilly. She's the only ranged killer in the game, which makes her stand out from the rest. She's one of the few killers who can almost negate pallets, if you know when to throw hatchets. However, her perks are quite off-putting, none of them are exceptional, with the latter two being mediocre. Territorial Imperative could come in handy in basement builds, but that's about it. The huntress is also slow, same speed as The Hag at 110% or 4.4m/s, which can make her a target for looping around tall objects. One other unintentional downside is the fact that the hatchet hitboxes are quite questionable. Sometimes they might be in your favour, and you'll hit a survivor from behind cover, other times they will go straight through them or collide with the hitboxes of objects.

Cannibal - Barbeque & Chilli, Knockout, Franklin's Demise
Doctor - Overcharge
Trapper - Agitation, Brutal Strength

For this section I've just made a table with all the perks ranked in classes from best to worse:
S - Meta perks that are the most powerful and most popular in the game
A - Great perks that are also very powerful but not used as much
B - Good perks that are too situational or do not provide enough of an advantage that higher tier perks do
C - Average perks that you really should not be using unless you have a specific build for fun
D - Weak perks that are bad concepts or have low values to make them useful
E - Terrible perks that are useless in most situations

This entire table is opinion-based, if you disagree with something let me know in the comments and we can have a discussion.

S

Hex: Ruin, Barbecue & Chilli, Brutal Strength, Enduring

A

Agitation, Franklin's Demise, A Nurse's Calling, Overcharge, Make Your Choice, Whispers, *Sprit Fury, *Rancor

B

Deerstalker, Lightborn, Hex: Devour Hope, Knock Out, Monitor & Abuse, Thanatophobia, Iron Grasp, Tinkerer, Bitter Murmur, Remember Me, Hex: NOED, Bamboozle, Sloppy Butcher, *Hex: Haunted Ground

C

Distressing, Dying Light, Unnerving Presence, Hex: Thrill of the Hunt, Shadowborn, Overwhelming Presence, Blood Warden, Pop Goes The Weasel, Coulrophobia, Save The Best For Last

D

Beast of Prey, Bloodhound, Hex: Huntress Lullaby, Spies From The Shadows, Unrelenting, Territorial Imperative, Fire Up, Hangman's Trick, Surveillance, Predator

F

Insidious, Hex: The Third Seal, Monstrous Shrine, Play With Your Food, Stridor

Hex: Ruin is almost crucial on most killers that are not able to apply enough pressure on the maps, and on killers like hillbilly and nurse it's even more powerful. Brutal strength and enduring have been meta perks for a while because of pallet looping, however brutal strength isn't needed as much due ot the recent buff to the default pallet breaking. BBQ is amazing for point generation and as well as whispers, great for locating survivors.

*I haven't played much with the new DLC perks, so if you feel they are misplaced make sure to tell me.

This question has been popping up a lot ever since the iron grasp nerf. Killers aren't sure whether they should continue using it or swap to agitation.


Your powerful hold onto the Survivors causes escapes to be nearly impossible. Effects of Survivor struggling are reduced by 25/50/75 %. Time to struggle out of your grasp is increased by4/8/12 %.

The default time for a survivor to wiggle out of the killer's grasp is 16 seconds. Iron grasp increases that by 4/8/12% (depending on the tier), and we know from data given to use by the devs that the default killer movement speed while carrying is 3.68m/s. Using simple maths (distance = speed x time) we can figure out that you are able to cover a distance of 58.88m (16x3.68) without iron grasp. With iron grasp the time to wiggle off is 16.6/17.3/17.9 seconds, allowing you to cover a distance of 61/63.7/65.9m (16.6/17.3/17.9x3.68).


You get excited in anticipation of hooking your prey. Increases your speed while transporting bodies by 6/12/18 %. While transporting a body, your Terror Radius is increased by 6/8/12 meters.

So rather than increasing the amount of time to wiggle, agitation increases your movement speed when carrying a survivor by 6/12/18%. Since the default movement speed when carrying someone is 3.68m/s, the movement speed with agitation would be 3.90/4.12/4.34m/s. Using the same formula from earlier, a killer can cover a distance of 62.4/65.9/69.5m with agitation.

From all the information above, it may seem like agitation is much better, and I honestly believe it to be in most situations, however, one factor I haven't considered is the actual wiggling of the survivors and how the killers move around. Iron grasp reduces this movement by 25/50/75%, which means you're less likely to bump into objects and sway side to side. Since the movement is random, it's difficult to perfectly pin point the distance traveled. In conclusion, in it's current state I would suggest iron grasp over agitation, but all things considered it's really just personal preference. Iron grasp can be better since the survivors need to wiggle more to get Decisive Strike (if they have it) but with agitation you're wasting less overall time carrying survivors, and time is your most valuable asset.

TydeTime made a great video on this topic, you should check that out as well.

Prestiging is the act of resetting your characters (killer or survivor) progress in order to gain a reward in a form of a cosmetic. You lose your offerings, items, addons and perks and your level is reset to 1. You can only prestige after you reach level 50, and you can do it for a max of 3 times. For example, if you get Claudette to level 50, you can choose to prestige her, making her prestige 1 level 1 (I-1). In order to prestige again, you must get to level 50 once more. In the game, beside your rank and bloodpoints it will show you your character's level and prestige. Take II-27 as an example: the first part "II" represents the prestige, which in this case is prestige 2. The second part represents the character's level, which is 27.

Upon prestiging, you receive a piece of cosmetic that is smeared with blood. As a survivor, you will receive a bloody top/shirt at prestige 1, bloody trousers at prestige 2 and a bloody face at prestige 3. You do not get to choose which piece of clothing to add blood to, you just get the default versions of the survivors clothing with blood on it. As a killer you get a bloody weapon at prestige 1, bloody body at prestige 2 and a bloody head/face at prestige 3. You also get a slight increase to getting higher rarity items in your bloodweb - although it isn't very noticeable.

Legacy prestige refers to the limited-time item of clothing that you could only unlock if you had prestiged your character before patch 1.3.0. Legacy prestiged items are "touched by the entity" and, like normal prestiges, they are a variant of the default clothing for the character, except rather than having blood on them, they have burn marks that glow. There is no legit way to get legacy prestige items anymore, as the deadline is long-gone. Here's an old video showing it off:


This is up to you. If you are new at the game, there is not much of an incentive to prestige, I recommend you instead level up other characters to get their teachable perks. Once you feel like you have leveled up enough characters and have a good amount of teachables, then it's up to you to prestige a character. It would make sense to go for someone you play the most, rather than someone you don't really like, as grinding all the way back up to level 50 can take some time.

Yes, you can actually continue spending points on your bloodweb even after level 50. The bloodwebs will be similar each time, costing a minimum 60-80k bloodpoints to complete one. Most people do this once their character has reached prestige 3 level 50 (III-50) so that they can buy all the perks and get them to tier 3, which takes a very long time, or to get addons and items. Leveling past 50 won't show on your character, regardless of how many levels you surpassed it by. It will still only show your character as a level 50 one.

Every character has 3 unique perks that only they can unlock and use. However, teachables allow you to unlock the perks for other survivors or killers, meaning you can find the perk in the bloodweb. For example, one of Meg's unique perks is adrenaline which only she can use, but once you reach the appropriate level, you can unlock that perk for other survivors. So there's a chance adrenaline will appear in someone elses bloodweb and you can buy and use it.


In order to unlock a teachable for other characters you need to reach a certain level. To unlock the first teachable you need to reach level 30, then level 35 for the second teachable and finally level 40 for the third. You don't just unlock it by reaching that level though, you have to actually buy the teachable perk. You will know what it looks like because the perk is an orange colour, which is different from others. Since adrenaline is Meg's third perk (as it is unlocked at level 15, while the other's are unlocked at level 5 and 10) you need to level her to 40 to unlock it.

Yes you do. Prestiging only affects your offerings, addons, items and perks, however not your teachable perks, they remain unlocked no matter what happens.

Shrine of secrets is an alternative to leveling up survivors to get their teachables. Every week, the shrine of secrets refreshes (usually on a wednesday) and 4 random unique survivor or killer perks. Purchasing perks from the shrine is basically like unlocking a teachable, except you don't have to level the character or spend bloodpoints, instead you spend "Iridescent Shards". You get 1 Iridescent Shard each minute you're in a match up to a maximum of 10 per match. Usually the perks cost 550 IS (Iridescent Shards) but one's from the most recent DLC cost 750 IS. Good thing about the shrine of secrets is you also don't need to buy the DLC in order to unlock a perk from a DLC killer or survivor.

For the first 4 main survivors: Dwight, Meg, Claudette and Jake and 3 main killers: Trapper, Wraith and Hillbilly, you need to reach level 40 with them to unlock their unique perks and their teachables to get the adept achievement. However for any other killer or survivor you just need to survive (as a survivor) or kill everyone (as a killer) once.

1.0:
- Guide created.

1.1:
- Fixed grammatical errors.
- Adjusted the rankings of perks: Territorial Imperative and Tinkerer.
- Added "What is prestiging?" section.
- Added "What is the best exhaustion perk?" section.

1.2:
- Edited guide description.
- Added "Should I use iron grasp or agitation?" section.

1.3:
- Added "What are teachable perks?" section.
- Added and adjusted several perks for killers and survivors.
- Adjusted the rankings of perks in the "What is the best exhaustion perk?" section.

1.4:
- Adjusted the rankings of killers in the "Who is the best killer?" section.
- Adjusted text in the "Should I use iron grasp or agitation?" section.

1.5:
- Updated several sections to match patch 2.3.0.