Dead by Daylight: Best Builds for The Shape (2023)

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The Shape: Best Non-Teachable Build (2024)

The Shape: Best Build (2024)

The Shape: Best Add-Ons (2024)

The first licensed Killer to arrive in Dead by Daylight, The Shape – more commonly known as Michael Myers – is a ruthless Killer with a dark obsession. Stalking Survivors from afar, The Shape can increasingly build his ferocity by tracking his prey before going in for the kill. This relentless pursuit is what makes The Shape so terrifying, as he eliminates players one by one.

This Dead by Daylight guide will highlight some of the best builds for players to run on The Shape. This also includes teachable and non-teachable perks alike for players of varying experience so that they can make the most out of their experience playing as this sinister character.

Updated on March 7, 2024 by Lewis Smyth: In 2024, the meta for Dead by Daylight killer perks has shifted once again. This updated guide for the best builds to run on The Shape, aka Michael Myers, includes an updated list of teachable and non-teachable perks, as well as a catalogue of his most effective add-ons.

Dead By Daylight: Every Status Effect Explained

Dead by Daylight can have some confusing mechanics. Here's every status effect explained to make surviving or killing easier.

The Shape: Best Non-Teachable Build (2024)

dead by daylight the shape best build non teachable

Without access to the perks of other Killers in Dead by Daylight, playing The Shape can lead to a challenging trial, but not an impossible one. This build makes use of Play With Your Food to quicken Myer’s decreased movement speed while using Sloppy Butcher to passively slow down the game. Finally, Bitter Murmur and Hex: No One Escapes Death allow the Killer to decimate any players still standing in the endgame, without needing to stalk Survivors for an instant down.

Play with Your Food (The Shape) – After starting a chase with the Obsession, letting them escape will grant the Killer up to three tokens. Each token increases movement speed by 5%. Performing any attack uses one token.
Hex: No One Escapes Death (General Perk) – After the final generator is completed, all Survivors suffer from the Exposed status ailment, and players gain a 4% Haste effect until the Hex Totem is cleansed.
Bitter Murmur (General Perk) – Each time a generator is completed, the auras of Survivors within 16 meters of that generator are revealed for 5 seconds. Once the last generator is complete, all Survivors’ auras are revealed for 10 seconds
Sloppy Butcher (General Perk) – Basic attacks cause the Mangled and Hemorrhage status ailments, slowing down healing by 25% and regressing healing progress when left unfinished.

The Shape: Best Build (2024)

dead by daylight the shape best build teachable

This build focuses on slowing down generator progress with a variety of perks. As The Shape has little map mobility, his focus should be territorially guarding a cluster of nearby generators, keeping track of their progress, and decimating them with The Artist's Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance and Grim Embrace. Meanwhile, Corrupt Intervention allows for early game pressure, and Coup de Grâce enables The Shape to better play around loops where he would otherwise struggle.

Corrupt Intervention (The Plague) – At the start of the trial, the three generators furthest from the Killer's starting location are blocked for 120 seconds or until the first survivor is downed.
Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance (The Artist) – The Killer starts with four tokens. For each different Survivor hooked on a white Scourge Hook, lose one token and blow up the generator with the most progress, causing it to lose 25% of progress.
Grim Embrace (The Artist) - Each time the Killer hooks a new Survivor, all generators are blocked for 12 seconds after moving 16 meters away from the hook. After hooking each Survivor once, all generators are blocked for 40 seconds and the Obsession's aura is revealed for six seconds.
Coup de Grâce (The Twins) – For each generator completed, this perk gains two tokens. Use one token to increase lunge attack distance by 80%.

The Shape: Best Add-Ons (2024)

Memorial Flower

The best Michael Myers add-on, at the common rarity, is without a doubt the Memorial Flower. While this add-on is nothing spectacular, the 11% increased stalking rate is a nice bonus to The Shape’s slow stalking speed.

Hair Brush

An upgraded version of the common Blond Hair add-on, the Hair Brush extends The Shape’s instadown power by an additional 20 seconds, at the cost of having to stalk for 50% longer to reach Evil Within III for the first time. It is worth it when paired with stalking-rate gain add-ons to allow for a more threatening Killer power.

Glass Fragment

The Glass Fragment reveals the aura of a Survivor stalked for at least one second. This add-on, paired with a perk like The Nemesis’ Lethal Pursuer, allows Michael to predict the Survivor path while he is stalking them, creating perfect opportunities for cutting them off or outwitting them.

Dead Rabbit

While this macabre offering to The Entity may seem like a bad trade, the Dead Rabbit’s decrease of the Terror Radius by 25% in Evil Within II is massively helpful. However, since it also increases the Terror Radius in Evil Within III, it’s recommended that you run this add-on alongside a perk like Monitor and Abuse, or another perk that changes the Terror Radius, to avoid alerting Survivors too early.

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Dead By Daylight: The Best Killer Perks, Ranked

Dead by Daylight is a 4v1 multiplayer horror experience where killers kill and survivors survive. Here are the best killer perks in the game.

Mirror Shard

Exactly the same as the Glass Fragment, this add-on reveals auras for an extra 2 seconds, which can make all the difference when playing around tight corners and powerful loops.

J. Myers Memorial

Like the Memorial Flower, this add-on grants a flat 25% bonus to his stalking gain rate, making The Shape a much more efficient and threatening hunter.

Hair Bow

Contrary to common sense, the Rare Hair Bow add-on is far superior to the Very Rare Lock of Hair add-on. Like the Hair Brush, it increases the duration of Evil Within III at the cost of an extended stalk time, though this add-on is by far the most efficient of the three.

Tombstone Piece

Arguably The Shape’s strongest add-on, the Tombstone Piece allows Michael to immediately kill any Survivor, regardless of their hook state, upon reaching Evil Within III – effectively functioning like an old Memento Mori.

This brutal ability can quickly turn the tide of a game, and outclasses the Ultra Rare Judith’s Tombstone add-on by omitting the speed debuff that accompanies it.

Scratched Mirror

A unique add-on in The Shape’s repertoire, the Scratched Mirror prevents him from progressing past Evil Within I, but turns his stalking power into an aura reading ability. Without a Terror Radius to signify his approach, albeit moving at decreased speed, this add-on is best deployed alongside an indoor map offering like the RPD Badge, as well as a speed increase perk like Play with Your Food. With this setup, Survivors will never see you coming.

Fragrant Tuft of Hair

Though the Shape's stalking rate is reduced by a whopping 200%, this add-on grants infinite Evil Within III. As such, you will never have to worry about managing your power, and you can insta-down Survivors without needing to stalk them first.