Many famous monsters and villains from popular horror media have featured as Killers across various DLC chapters in Dead By Daylight, but developer Behaviour Interactive has also created a comprehensive catalog of original Killers. The Plague is not part of the base game and must be purchased, either from the in-game Store or with the Demise of the Faithful DLC chapter. Adiris, The Plague, is perhaps the oldest Killer on the Entity's roster. According to Dead By Daylight lore, Adiris was once a high priestess in Ancient Babylon who succumbed to a deadly plague. As a Killer, The Plague can attack from a significant distance and punish Survivors for any pressure they manage to mount.
Like all other Killers in Dead By Daylight, The Plague has two main powers and three unique Perks that can eventually be unlocked for all other characters. She primarily uses her vomit, Vile Purge, to infect Survivors, or her Profane Censer to injure and down them with a Basic Attack. Her powers can be improved upon with dozens of Add-On items in her Bloodweb. The Plague is considered an Intermediate-difficulty Killer, and she is not often a player's first choice. However, as players learn to capitalize on her unique abilities, she can become an unstoppable, merciless Killer and one of the most terrifying Killers to play. Here's everything players should know about The Plague's abilities and strategies for playing her effectively in Dead By Daylight.
How To Build The Plague In Dead By Daylight
When Killers choose to use The Plague as their character in Dead By Daylight, they will need to master her two basic weapon powers. The Plague uses her Profane Censer to bludgeon Survivors as a Basic Attack. She can also vomit on Survivors with her Vile Purge ability to infect them with sickness, similar to The Nemesis. Vile Purge also works to infect objects for a short duration, like Pallets, Windows, and Generators. Any Survivor who interacts with an infected item will become infected. Survivors have a Sickness Meter that increases each time they are hit by Vile Purge. Once it is filled, they become injured and are not able to heal. They will also vomit and infect objects and other Survivors. The longer the Survivor spends infected, the easier they are to down and sacrifice on the hook.
In Trials with The Plague, Survivors will see Pools of Devotion around the map. They can interact with these pools to cleanse them of all sickness, but this will corrupt the pool and take it out of the game. The Plague can ingest the corruption from these pools, giving her access to a special ability called Corrupt Purge for the next 60 seconds. Survivors hit with Corrupt Purge automatically lose a Health State, ignoring the Sickness Meter; if they are Healthy, they will become Injured, and if they are Injured, they will go down and enter the Dying state.
The Plague has three unique Perks that initially only appear in her Bloodweb. At levels 30, 35, and 40, they can be taught to other Killers. These Perks include:
- Corrupt Intervention: At the start of the Trial, the three Generators farthest from The Killer are blocked by The Entity for 80/100/120 seconds.
- Infectious Fright: Anytime a Survivor is put in a Dying State, all other Survivors within the Killer's Terror Radius will scream and reveal their location for 4/5/6 seconds.
- Dark Devotion: The Killer becomes obsessed with a single Survivor. When that Survivor has been hit by a Basic Attack, they begin to emit a Terror Radius of 32 meters for 20/25/30 seconds, and the Killer is granted the Undetectable status effect. The obsession Survivor will hear their own Terror Radius.
While all three of The Plague's unique Perks can be useful, playstyle will dictate which ones a player equips and which they borrow from other Killers. Most players who use The Plague keep Corrupt Intervention and Infectious Fright but drop Dark Devotion to pick up two Generator Perks or a Generator and Stealth Perk.
Because of the sheer height of The Plague, she can be easy to see coming. Some players may want to invest in The Hillbilly's Tinkerer Perk, which triggers a Loud Noise notification whenever a Generator is fixed to 70% and grants the Killer the Undetectable status effect for up to 16 seconds. They may also choose to play using Surge, a Generator disruption Perk from the Demogorgon, or Hex: Ruin from The Hag to increase Generator regression. They may also choose Thanatophobia from The Nurse to decrease Survivor speed when sabotaging, repairing, and cleansing totems. Other good options include Discordance from The Legion and Pop Goes the Weasel from The Clown to track Survivors working on Generators and cause them to regress often.
Players can use Add-Ons found in The Plague's Bloodweb to increase her power. Some of the best options include:
- Black Incense: Reveals infected Survivors' Auras for 5 seconds any time they vomit
- Blessed Apple: Start the Trial with one Pool of Devotion already corrupted
- Ashen Apple: Start the Trial with one Pool of Devotion already corrupted and slightly increase the infection duration on objects
- Incensed Ointment: Slightly increases movement speed while charging Vile Purge and moderately decreases cooldown time on Vile Purge
- Devotee's Amulet: Considerably increases Corrupt Purge duration
Killers are limited to whatever items appear randomly in their Bloodweb, so it is a good idea to experiment with different Add-Ons to find a combination that works best for the player's preferred style.
The Purge is not one of the most popular Killers in Dead By Daylight, and she is often forgotten by players. However, her ability to spread the infection to all Survivors and transform their only means of curing themselves into her own personal special attack makes her a significant threat and great fun to play. If players can learn to angle Vile Purge and Corrupt Purge, they can strike from a distance while largely undetected and quickly infect and injure multiple Survivors. This can be good for new players, who may still be learning to be effective and strategic Killers, and especially good for veteran players who can play with Perk combinations for even more unpredictability.
Dead By Daylight is available for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, & Nintendo Switch.