The Spirit is one of Dead by Daylight‘s more unique takes on the slasher role. Requiring tough navigation and an unconventional approach to gameplay, this mobile and challenging killer can be difficult to master.
Here are our best The Spirit builds in DBD to get the most out of this killer.
Dead by Daylight: The Spirit best builds
Best early The Spirit build
If you are short on Bloodpoints and haven’t progressed through the Bloodweb much, the Spirit’s initial perks are fantastic to fill the gap. The Spirit starts with the following perks, with one of them being a fantastic early-game choice:
| Perk | Description |
| Rancor | Marks one survivor as an obsession of the Spirit. Each time a generator is fixed, the Spirit’s obsession can see her for five seconds, and in turn, she sees all survivors for three seconds. |
| Spirit Fury | After breaking four pallets, the Spirit gains the help of the Entity who will automatically break a pallet the next time she is stunned by one. |
| Hex: Haunted Ground | Two Hex Totems spawn on the map and whenever one of them is destroyed, all survivors gain exposed for 40 seconds, allowing the Spirit to down them in one hit. |
Assuming you only have one or two unlocked perk slots, I recommend you focus on taking Rancor and Spirit Fury; they give guaranteed effects. While Haunted Ground is also a great perk, survivors can simply choose not to cleanse totems, therefore annulling its effect. Rancor is more or less a must-have since Yamaoka’s Haunting prevents you from seeing survivors and having a general sense of their location is crucial.
As for early-game add-ons, Muddy Sports Day Cap or Survivor Pudding maximize your Bloodpoints gain so you can move to the mid-game and lategame builds sooner.
Best mid-game The Spirit build
With the right perks, Rin Yamaoka turns into an outright powerhouse, especially during the closing moments of the match. If you are a ruthless and hostile killer, with these perks you’ll have the chance to chase down all your enemies and land the killing blow if they still manage to open the Exit Gates:
| Perk | Description |
| Rancor | Marks one survivor as an obsession of the Spirit. Each time a generator is fixed, the Spirit’s obsession can see her for five seconds, and in turn, she sees all survivors for three seconds. |
| Unrelenting | Recover more quickly after missing a basic attack. |
| Sloppy Butcher | Hitting a survivor inflicts Mangled and Hemorrhage, debuffing their healing. |
| Spies from the Shadows | Crows signal survivor locations if you are within range. |
These perks are a fantastic mid-game combination and will most likely become available after only a few Bloodweb levels. With the Spirit, revealing survivor locations is key due to your inability to see them while Yamaoka’s Haunting is active. Knowing preemptively where to attack and go will make your life a whole lot easier, which is where perks like Rancor and Spies from the Shadows come in quite handy.
Her slow attacks are also good to boost and Unrelenting does the trick by improving your recovery from missed attacks by 30 percent at level three.
As for add-ons, the mid-game build can include many but my go-to are the Muddy Sports Day Cap and Katana Tsuba which boost the quickness of Yamaoka’s Haunting and give you an extra edge in terms of movement speed.
Best lategame The Spirit build
The lategame build is the most efficient, but it also requires the most to fully unlock. Whereas the early and mid-game builds are geared towards those focusing only on the Spirit, the lategame one needs a few other killers prestiged as well: The Demogorgon, Ghost Face, the Nurse, and the Legion. Here are the perks:
| Perk | Description |
| Discordance (Legion) | Generators being repaired by two or more survivors have their auras revealed in yellow when within range. |
| A Nurse’s Calling (Nurse) | Reveals auras of survivors being healed or healing others if within range. |
| Cruel Limits (Demogorgon) | When a generator is fixed, all vault locations on the map are blocked for a duration and their auras are revealed to you. |
| I’m All Ears (Ghost Face) | Survivors performing a Rush Vault are revealed to you. |
| Optional: Sloppy Butcher | General perk which makes your basic attacks inflict Hemorrhage and Mangled on survivors, thus hampering their healing. Can be taken instead of I’m All Ears. |
The Spirit needs to plan ahead, knowing exactly where survivors are headed so she can surprise them effectively. These lategame perks are the best for that exact function, with Sloppy Butcher giving your attacks an extra edge that keep survivors bleeding more frequently, allowing you to follow your ears and track them even if you cannot see them in Yamaoka’s Haunting.
Lategame add-ons should focus on boosting your Yamaoka’s Haunting gameplay, making those such as the Dried Cherry Blossom mandatory. Uchiwa is also great for prioritizing chasing, and any movement speed-boosting add-on is also great.
How to play The Spirit effectively in Dead By Daylight
There is a reason why the Spirit is marked Hard. Her power, Yamaoka’s Haunting (Spirit Phasing) is genuinely difficult to use effectively and her whole gameplay relies on it. Since it removes your vision of survivors, you have to rely on different tracking tricks. By using aura-revealing perks, you will get a general idea of where survivors are located or headed, allowing you to preemptively and invisibly approach the area and surprise them.
This notion of tracking and surprising survivors is key. Chasing them in the open is not such a great idea, since most good survivors can outmaneuver you; you possess no other means of mobility besides Yamaoka’s Haunting. Spirit Phasing between locations is your best bet to move unseen and strike from invisibility as survivors have no real means of fighting back.
The Spirit also has the unique ability to see scratch marks, which are visible even during Yamaoka’s Haunting (though not if you pick Dried Cherry Blossom). Scratch marks can be a bit challenging to figure out at first, but once you get the hang of how they are left around the map, you’ll be finding survivors with no issue whatsoever.
Remember not to spam Yamaoka’s Haunting and be mindful of its cooldown and cast time. Plan every move and keep one step ahead of survivors and you’ll have no issue taking down even the most skilled players with few issues.
