All 25 Killers Ranked from Least to Most Intelligent! (Dead by Daylight Tier List)

Hey everyone, today we’re going to be ranking all of the killers from least to most intelligent. For some characters I’m going to count in strategy and survival as part of intelligence, as obviously the killers in the game have such a wide variety of experiences. Some live out in the woods, secluded and alone, others basically exist in the modern day, and some are completely otherworldly. So, with that in mind, let’s get into it.

Chapter 21.5 has been revealed and is named Hour of the Witch, featuring new survivor Mikaela Reid. Mikaela is bringing a new type of survivor perk named Boon perks, that can bless dull totems, turning them into Boon totems.

Music used from YouTube Audio Library:
The Emperor's Army - Jeremy Blake
Clean and Dance - An Jone

Hope you enjoy!

Intro 0:00
Nemesis 0:22
Demogorgon 0:58
Leatherface and Hillbilly 1:39
Legion 2:13
Hag 3:14
Spirit 3:56
Trickster 4:27
Shape 4:53
Nurse 5:31
Clown 6:15
Huntress 6:53
Pig 7:41
Twins 8:24
Wraith 9:07
Trapper 9:58
Executioner and Freddy 10:35
Deathslinger 11:49
Oni 12:33
Plague 13:16
Cenobite 13:57
Ghost Face 14:38
Doctor 15:21
Blight 16:03
Outro 16:48

[arkslippyjunior]

Billy is pretty smart actually

He outplayed an entire police force and can apparently make his own tools according to tinkerer

[deputyrook]

i was expecting tiers from "basically a rock" to "absolute mega big brain"

[Kingslayerrrr]

I'd put Trickster a little higher since in the lore it mentioned how he purposefully left clues for the police to find while also not getting caught. I think that goes to show how intelligent he actually is.

[danielholguin]

If we’re using the 2018 timeline, Myers is very smart. He knows exactly what people are going to do and how to stop them, when to kill, how to get away with it, and especially from what we’ve seen in Halloween Kills trailers, he has gotten much smarter over his 40 years in prison.

[Kizokuriyuu]

Considering Nemesis is engineered to as smart as a human, as it both disables things to prevent Jill's escape and intentionally misses by throwing the flamethrower in front of her so it can show off the rocket launcher in the remake, I don't think it's accurate to put it in the least intelligent spot.
Much of the time its behavior is more toying with its target more than just going for the immediate kill - in one route of the original RE3 it kills Nikolai very efficiently because he's messing with Nemesis's target. While it is noted they had to work to reduce the Nemesis-types intellect as one of the other prototypes managed to outsmart and escape confinement, the fact it's smart enough to choose to toy with its targets and is able to be given relatively complex orders and adapt to changes in the situation makes me think it should be at least above the killers noted to act on instinct and those with noted mental impairment / lower intellect.

Love your content, but you can't do my boy Nemmy like that

[ghost]

Michael is actually pretty smart if you analyse what he does in the films. He's not only extremely resilient, he's very good at creating strategies and predicting the near future. He's also an escape artist, a good one. Of course a lot of his acts are enhanced by his supernatural strength and resistance, but we have to remember he's basically evil incarnate.

[top_banananaplays]

The blight: Sometimes my genius is, its almost frightening

[lilalaurenz_]

I actually consider the demo to be quite intelligent because we saw that even these demo-dogs were good hunters and knew when to attack

[TrueAuthenticSweets]

“I think Doctor has an overrated level of intelligence”

**is the 2nd highest on the list**

[boopert]

You mightve forgotten, but Pinhead was a Captain during WWI for the British army, so he obviously displays intelligence in battle tactics. (Edit: I completely forgot that he lost his memory of it. I'm stupid)

[goobygwape]

Huntress should be lower in my opinion. How do you forget to feed people?

[posiettv]

i'd say demo is less than nemesis. in RE, Nemesis is specialized for its intelligence. still not smart, but a very very advanced parasite.

[snarkbotanya]

This is kind of a tricky thing to list, because "intelligence" is such a broadly and variously defined concept with all sorts of varieties, which would have different killers at the top for each. For instance, if we're talking about *academic* intelligence, I'd put Doctor and Blight at the top, no question; but if we're discussing *strategic* intelligence I'd put Trapper above them, and if we're discussing *creative* intelligence or innovation I'd put Deathslinger as top-tier.

[puffpuffpassmako]

I'd love to see "Killers ranked from Least to Most Sympathetic/Justified". The tiers could be "Irredeemable/True Monsters", "Understandable but Not Excused" and "Needs a Hug"

[krzychson]

How Nemesis is less intelligent than bubba for example and other killers? I'm pretty sure he's smarter than most of the killers

[glenock]

Normally I love these lists, but I gotta disagree HARD with the Pig placement. I'd rank her 4th minimum given how she can engineer traps, can think great on the spot and plans great aswell.

[dill_pickle_]

12:24 meg just wanted to learn, you’re a monster

[grubbay]

i love how my two mains Blight and Nemesis are on completely opposite sides

[eightpixstruggle]

I was expecting nemesis to be one of the highest because he is engineered to have strategic attacks like flanking and bursting through walls, he also likes to "play with his food" with victims by exhausting them and making them break down in pain.

[jonathanjosueuriassalinas]

I felt the pain of that stolen hit in 4:15