In Dead by Daylight, you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to Killers. From iconic characters like Pinhead to unique murderers like The Nurse, the game gives you plenty to work with. The Skull Merchant is the latest original Killer to join the fray. She offers a distinct playstyle as the ultimate tracker. When you have the best builds for The Skull Merchant, you can counter the Dead by Daylight Survivors and take them all out. We’ll highlight builds for beginning players and veterans alike.
Best Builds for The Skull Merchant in Dead by Daylight
The Skull Merchant is the most recent Killer courtesy of CHAPTER 27: Tools of Torment. With how new she is, many players are still testing the waters with her. She’s an exceptional tracker thanks to her ability, and in the right hands, she can become unstoppable.
Unique Perks for The Skull Merchant
We’re here to touch on some of the best builds for The Skull Merchant to make your time in Dead by Daylight fun and successful. But before we do that, let’s address her unique perks below:
- THWACK!: When you break a Pallet or Breakable wall, Survivors within 28/30/32 meters of you will scream and reveal their aura for 4 seconds.
- Leverage: Activates when you hook a Survivor and gains 1 Token. For each Token, the Altruistic Healing speed of Survivors reduces a stackable 3/4/5% for the next 30 seconds.
- Game Afoot: Activates when you chase your Obsession. The Survivor you chase the most becomes the Obsession after you hit them with a Basic Attack. After you damage a Generator, Pallet, or Breakable Wall, you gain Haste for 8/9/10 seconds.
As you create the best builds for The Skull Merchant, you should do so around her Dead by Daylight abilities. Her Power is Eyes in the Sky. She has a total of 4 Drones she can deploy that have 2 modes:
- Active Mode: Creates a Detection Zone around it, and Survivors within it gain Lock On progress. You’re Undetectable after 2 seconds.
- Scouting Mode: The Drone emits 2 Laser beams for a sweeping scan of the area. If it catches a Survivor, it jumps back into Active Mode. If a Survivor disables it, it returns to The Skull Merchant, but the Survivor has a Claw Trap on.
The Claw Trap is a great way to track Survivors as it broadcasts their location to your Radar. Meanwhile, Lock On, once the effect is full, triggers Killer Instinct. Also, Survivors are Exposed, an effect that lingers for 60 seconds once they leave the Detection Zone.
Best Beginner Builds for The Skull Merchant in Dead by Daylight
The Skull Merchant can make running and hiding tough on the Survivors. You can create a solid build for her just by using her unique perks and the perks built into the game without having the other DLCs.
Let’s say you want the best build in Dead by Daylight using THWACK! from The Skull Merchant. You should use perks that focus on speed so you can break things and keep moving:
- Enduring (The Hillbilly): Reduces Pallet stun duration by 40/45/50%.
- Brutal Strength (The Trapper): Increases action speed of breaking Pallets, Breakable Walls, and Generators by 10/15/20%.
- Whispers (General): You hear The Entity when a Survivor is within 48/40/32 meters of you.
The first perks are great to keep you moving with Pallets, while Whispers ensures you always find Survivors.
Some of the best builds for The Skull Merchant make it harder for Survivors to heal in Dead by Daylight. Use Leverage along with these perks:
- A Nurse’s Calling (The Nurse): Reveals auras of Survivors being healed or healing when they’re within 20/24/28 meters of you.
- Sloppy Butcher (General): Basic Attacks cause Hemorrhage and Mangled effects. Bleeding frequency increases by 50/75/100%. Regression rate of Healing Progression increases by 15/20/25%.
- Unnerving Presence (The Trapper): Survivors healing/repairing in your Terror Radius sees a decrease in Success zone of Skill Checks by 40/50/60%. Increases Trigger odds of Skill Checks by 10%.
Add-ons like Adi Valente Issue 1 and Shotgun Speakers work well with this build as it further messes with the Skill Checks for Survivors. This can slow them down and make the Trial easier for you.
Best All-Perks Builds for The Skull Merchant
If you have all the Killers, you have incredible freedom to play around and make the best Dead by Daylight builds possible for The Skull Merchant.
Let’s lean into her “all-seeing” style. With the following build, you can always maintain the pressure on Survivors by finding them with ease. This brings THWACK! from our Skull Merchant with the following other perks:
- Barbecue & Chilli (The Cannibal): Hooking a Survivor reveals the auras of Survivors within 60/50/40 meters for 4 seconds.
- Lethal Pursuer (The Nemesis): Auras of all Survivors are revealed at the start of the Trial for 7/8/9 seconds.
- Scourge Hook: Floods of Rage (The Onryō): 4 random hooks change to Scourge Hooks at the start of the Trial. Each time a Survivor is unhooked from one, the auras of other Survivors are revealed for 5/6/7 seconds.
An add-on like Geographical Readout pairs well with THWACK! as it keeps you moving fast. Another solid add-on is Advanced Movement Prediction, as it further reveals a Survivor’s aura.
Related:
Dead by Daylight Best Executioner Build (March 2023)
Some of the best builds for The Skull Merchant in Dead by Daylight pile pressure on Survivors. Try out these perks with her:
- Dissolution (The Dredge): 3 seconds after you injure a Survivor, it activates for 12/16/20 seconds. If a Survivor inside your Terror Radius fast vaults over a Pallet, The Entity breaks said Pallet for you.
- Bamboozle (The Clown): After vaulting a Window, The Entity blocks it for 8/12/16 seconds. Your vaulting speed increases by 5/10/15%.
- Hex: Devour Hope (The Hag): Receives 1 Token when you are within 24 meters of a rescued Survivor.
- 2 Tokens: Gain 3/4/5% Haste for the next 10 seconds after you hook a Survivor.
- 3 Tokens: Survivors are permanently Exposed.
- 5 Tokens: You can kill Survivors with your own hand.
- Hex: Crowd Control (The Trickster): The Entity blocks a Window when a Survivor performs a rushed vault over it for 14/17/20 seconds.
Drones are perfect for protecting your Hex Totems. Set them up around them and force Survivors to choose between disabling the Drone or blessing the Totem.
You also want the right add-ons to make this one of the best builds for The Skull Merchant in Dead by Daylight. For starters, bring Expired Batteries. This makes all Survivors start with a Claw Trap on. Secondly, use Ultrasonic Trap Speaker. It causes Survivors with a Claw Trap to break Pallets that they fast-vault over.
It pairs with Dissolution well since, once the Claw Trap is gone, the perk will still help you break Pallets. Bamboozle and Crowd Control push Survivors toward Pallets. Meanwhile, Devour Hope helps you catch up and find them.
Don’t forget to play around with her Drones, as they will help you immensely in a Trial.
Dead by Daylight is available on PC, PS5 and PS4, Xbox One and Series, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.
