Best Clown Builds In Dead by Daylight (February 2023)

As far as ironic Killers come, The Clown certainly does not live up to his name. If anything, he’s closer to nightmare-inducing, which can make him a fun Killer in Dead by Daylight. The important thing is to know how to use him. We’ll give you the best builds for The Clown whether you only work with the base perks in Dead by Daylight or all the DLCs.

Best Builds for The Clown in Dead by Daylight

Dead by Daylight introduced us to The Clown back in CHAPTER 8: Curtain Call. He’s not too difficult to use with some players feeling like he wasn’t nearly as strong as other Killers. However, like everything, it all comes down to how you use him.

The best builds can make The Clown a formidable foe in Dead by Daylight. Let’s check out everything that comes with The Clown before we dive deep into specific builds:

• Bamboozle: After you vault a Window, The Entity will block said Window from Survivors for 8/12/16 seconds. It also increases your Vaulting Speed by 5/10/15%.
• Coulrophobia: Any Survivor in your Terror Radius experiences a reduction in Healing speed by 30/40/50%. The rotation speed of the Healing skill checks increases by +50%.
• Pop Goes the Weasel: Activates after Hooking a Survivor for the next 35/40/45 seconds. Damaging a Generator instantly regresses it by -20%.

When you come up with the best builds for The Clown in Dead by Daylight, you also want to work with his power: The Afterpiece Tonic. This works in two ways:

• Purple Afterpiece Tonic: Creates an intoxicating cloud that impairs Survivors’ vision, causes coughing, suppresses their fast Vault, and causes a 15% Hindered effect.
• Yellow Afterpiece Antidote: Releases a gas cloud that invigorates The Clown and Survivors. Survivors get a 10% Haste effect for 5 seconds.

Now that we know how The Clown works on his own, let’s check out some great builds to make them a terrifying Killer.

Best Beginner Builds for The Clown

When we talk about beginner builds, we mean for those of you who only have The Clown DLC and the perks from the base game. Seasoned players and novice ones alike can make use of these types of builds.

If you need the best builds for The Clown to keep pressure on the Dead by Daylight Survivors, consider bringing his unique perks Pop Goes the Weasel and Bamboozle. These two will help keep Generators unfinished and keeps The Clown moving fast. From there, add these two perks:

• Enduring (The Hillbilly): Reduces Pallet stun duration by 40/45/50%.
• Jolt (General): When you use your Basic Attack to down a Survivor, Generators within 32 meters explode and begin regressing. There’s also a Progression penalty of 6/7/8%.

If you want to slow Survivors down even more, consider using add-ons like Kerosene Can as that will cause intoxicated Survivors to have the Blindness effect for 30 seconds.

Another sold build for The Clown focuses on better catching and damaging Survivors. You will want to use The Clown’s Coulrophobia perk. After, add these perks to your arsenal:

• Hex: No One Escapes Death (General): This activates when the Exit Doors are active, and there’s still a Dull Totem on the map.
• Sloppy Butcher (General): Basic Attacks cause Hemorrhage and Mangled effects. Bleeding frequency increases by 50/75/100%. Regression rate of Healing progression caused by Hemorrhage increases by 15/20/25%.
• Enduring (The Hillbilly): Pallet stun duration reduces by 40/45/50%.

For add-ons, Sulphuric Acid Vial works well with this build since it causes intoxicated Survivors to have the Mangled effect until Healed.

Best All-Perks Builds for The Clown in Dead by Daylight

Now, for those of you who have access to all the perks, you can play around more with the builds.

For this build, let’s focus on those Generators. This makes it harder for Survivors to get anything done. From The Clown, you want Pop Goes the Weasel. With that in hand, add these perks:

• Corrupt Intervention (The Plague): The Entity blocks 3 Generators located furthest from you at the start of the Trial for 80/100/120 seconds.
• Call of Brine (The Onryō): Activates for 60 seconds after you damage a Generator. Said Generator regresses at 150/175/200% of its normal regression speed. Its Aura is highlighted in yellow, and you receive a noise notification when a Survivor hits a good skill check on it.
• Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance (The Artist): 4 random hooks are changed to Scourge Hooks at the start of the Trial with the Auras highlighted in white. When a Survivor is hooked on one, the Generator with the most progression explodes and loses 9/12/15% of its progression as it regresses. Any Survivors repairing that will scream but won’t reveal their position.

Since we’re focusing on the Generators, the add-ons are not all too important so you can use what you wish.

Related:

Best Nurse Builds in Dead by Daylight (January 2023)

But what about the best builds that deal with Generators and keeping The Clown on the move in Dead by Daylight? Well, you can make great use of two perks from The Clown: Pop Goes the Weasel and Bamboozle. With those two, you can hinder Survivors on the Generators and during a chase. Meanwhile, you also want these perks:

• Hex: Devour Hope (The Hag): If you are 24 meters away from a Survivor rescued from a hook, the hex receives 1 Token. When you have 2 Tokens, 10 seconds after you hook a Survivor, you will gain 3/4/5% Haste effect for 10 seconds. With 3 Tokens, Survivors are permanently Exposed. With 5 Tokens, you can kill Survivors with your own hand.
• Jolt (General): When your Basic Attack downs a Survivor, Generators within 32 meters explode and regress. They have a Progression penalty of 6/7/8%.

You want to keep your hex active so you can work on killing those Survivors. A great way to do that is to utilize The Clown’s power. Consider an add-on like Bottle of Chloroform that increases the spread and size of your Afterpiece Tonic gas cloud. Flask of Bleach is good too as it increases the Hindered effect penalty.

If you’re ready, jump into a Trial and play around with different builds. You’ll discover what works best for your Clown and play style in no time.

Dead by Daylight is available on PC, PS5, PS4 systems, Xbox One and Series consoles, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.