Dead By Daylight’s best Exhaustion perks, ranked

When playing as a Survivor in Dead By Daylight, you will need to make use of all tools at your disposal to ensure you don’t get struck down and placed on a hook. Some of the strongest perks on your side will give you a big boost at the cost of giving you the Exhausted status, preventing you from spamming the ability multiple times until it recharges. Here are all eight of the Exhaustion perks in Dead By Daylight ranked.

Related: Who is the next Survivor in Dead by Daylight?

Best Exhaustion perks in Dead By Daylight

Honorable mention: Vigil (Quentin Smith teachable)

Vigil is not necessarily an Exhaustion perk, but it does allow you to recover from the Exhausted status quicker (among other statuses). It also applies to nearby Survivors, so you may want to consider equipping this to get more chances to use the below perks.

8. Balanced Landing (Nea Karlsson teachable)

Balanced Landing is very map dependent for you to get any use out of. You need to be playing on a map with long drops. When you land, your stagger and grunt are reduced, and you get a sprint boost, but there are not enough maps for this to be one of the perks we recommend equipping.

7. Head On (Jane Romero teachable)

Head On is very situational, but at least it can be used on any map. To activate it, you need to stand in a locker for three seconds and wait for the Killer to get close. You then rush out of the locker and stun them if they are close enough. The problem, though, is if you have been in the locker that long, the Killer likely wouldn’t know you are there yet, and if you have been there long enough to get crows revealing your location, the perk will not activate.

6. Sprint Burst (Meg Thomas teachable)

Sprint Burst gives you a big boost of speed the moment you begin sprinting, making this a great perk for quickly getting places. The problem is that you can accidentally activate it when trying to run somewhere, and then you won’t have it for when the Killer appears. While it gives you a speed boost, you are overall slowed because you have to save it.

5. Lithe (Feng Min teachable)

Lithe allows you to get a massive sprint boost for a few seconds after you rush vault over an obstacle. This can be great for creating space between you and the Killer, but picking and choosing the right time to use it can be challenging.

4. Adrenaline (Meg Thomas teachable)

Adrenaline is probably the best perk for pushing you to the finish line if you make it that far. Once the exit gates are powered, you heal a health state and sprint faster for five seconds. You will instantly wake from the Dream World if playing against Freddy Krueger, and this perk ignores any other Exhaustion timer you have on.

3. Smash Hit (Yun-Jin Lee teachable)

Smash Hit gives you a much-desired speed boost after you stun the Killer with a pallet. Not only will they be momentarily stopped, but this also gives you that much more chance to escape their sight and hide.

2. Overcome (Jonah Vasquez teachable)

Overcome allows you to take a hit from the Killer and keep your speed boost for a couple more seconds. On its own, this is a pretty nifty perk to have, but combining it with other choices can make escaping a chase much easier.

1. Dead Hard (David King teachable)

Dead Hard stands out from all other Exhaustion perks because not only do you get to activate it whenever you want, but during this dash forward, you negate any damage you would have taken otherwise. This can be a vital tool for escaping the Killer’s grasp in a pinch.