Best Builds for The Unknown in Dead by Daylight

There’s a reason horror directors like to keep the monster off-camera. Nothing is as frightening as what you don’t understand. Behaviour has tapped into that primordial fear with its urban legend-inspired killer: the Unknown. Wielding an AoE launcher and the ability to teleport to Hallucinations, the Unknown is a fantastic macro killer. You won’t win by devoting yourself to chases though. Instead, you’ll need to control the Trial with unexpected movements. Catch survivors unprepared, and they’ll learn to fear you. Here are some of the best builds for the Unknown in Dead by Daylight.

Meta Build

(Updated on November 1, 2024 – updated links, excerpt, and a build)

Assuming you can keep survivors Weakened, the Unknown thrives in macro gameplay. With the ability to teleport across the map in an instant, the Unknown is a persistent threat. With well-timed aura reads, you can contest unhooks, disrupt generator progress, and force survivors off of exit gates. The best Unknown builds in Dead by Daylight allow you to force survivors into unwinnable situations. Build pressure, and the team will crumble. This build does so through a mix of info perks and top-tier gen regression.

Lethal Pursuer reveals the auras of all survivors at the start of the Trial. It also increases the duration of your other info perk. Nowhere to Hide reveals the locations of nearby survivors when you kick a generator. Pop Goes the Weasel causes massive damage to the first generator you kick after hooking a survivor. Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance damages the most advanced generator from afar when you hook a survivor on a Scourge Hook. With this combo, the Unknown can shift between chases and punish every down with gen regression.

Aggressive Sniping Build

Unlike Chucky, the Unknown lacks natural stealth, but you can compensate for that with the right build. Playing the Unknown as a sneaky sniper is off-meta, but it can be a fun and effective way of switching things up. Take advantage of your Hallucinations to teleport to advantageous positions mid-chase, cutting survivors off from pallets and other resources. If you’re ambitious, you can even drop one survivor for a juicier target, cornering and downing them thanks to this aggressive loadout of perks.

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Discordance alerts you when two or more survivors work together on a generator, allowing you to set up double hits. Monitor and Abuse shrinks your Terror Radius when you’re outside of chase, allowing you to get in range without alerting anyone. Friends ’til the End reveals and Exposes your Obsession whenever you hook another survivor. Hooking the Obsession, meanwhile, transfers the Obsession status and makes the new Obsession scream. Deadlock blocks the generator with the most progress whenever another generator pops, allowing you to keep your focus on the chase. The pressure from these perks make this one of the best Unknown builds in Dead by Daylight.

End-Game Build

If you’re looking for an unusual but powerful alternative to the meta, this end-game build is just the thing. It synergizes well with the Unknown’s ability to teleport the map to check exit gates and contest unhooks. NOED makes multiple, fast downs easy, and your other perks ensure survivors will be stuck in the end-game as long as possible. Without gen regression and stall perks, the generators will go quickly, so you need to get Obsession hits and hooks fast to charge up your perks. If you’re able to do so, the Trial becomes a two-stage boss battle with the Unknown in its strongest form.

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Hex: No One Escapes Death Exposes every survivor once the last generator is completed, allowing you to insta-down multiple players. Remember Me slows exit gate opening speeds, making it harder to leave. No Way Out blocks the exit gate switches when survivors first touch them. That greatly extends the end-game if you’ve hooked multiple survivors. Blood Warden is a niche but powerful second-chance perk that seals the exit if a survivor is hooked during End Game Collapse, making it possible to kill the entire team. The Unknown is grotesque, but nothing is as monstrous as the best Unknown builds in Dead by Daylight.