Dead by Daylight: Full Guide to The Blight

BASIC INFORMATION
The Blight is a very high mobility killer that is capable of using his ability to quickly traverse around the map, even moreso than The Hillbilly. If you’re struggling with generator defense, and have your basic looping and mindgames down, then this is the killer for you as he is capable of maintaining so much map pressure that you can very easily keep gens across the entire map from eachother even if they’re both being pressured at the same time.

Blight’s Power is called “Rush”, when Blight Rushes, he runs in a straight line very, very quickly, while only mildly being able to turn. After rushing, you can Slam into walls and objects in order to change which direction you are going, after Slamming once, you may perform a ‘Lethal Rush’, which is merely a lunge out of rush. The power has a relatively short cooldown, per every Rush you use, you need to wait 2 seconds to use it again, I.E 1 Rush is 2 Seconds, 5 Rushes are 10 Seconds. It is also worth noting, that as of an update that was released shortly after Blight Launched, he can now destroy Pallets and Breakable Walls with a Lethal Rush.

In chase, the main use of his power, Rush, is to get hits while the Survivor is in-between safe areas. The most optimal time to activate the power is after you break a pallet, while the Survivor is running away to find a new area to loop at. Of course, it’s much harder to use in action than I am making it out to be, but, that is what this guide is for, to help learn how and when to use Rush optimally.

The obvious issue with Rush as an ability is that it’s practically unusable at most loops, but that is why Blight is a very high Skillcap killer, his ability seems very basic, just run in a straight line, slam into some stuff, get free hits when the survivor is out-positioned like the little drug addicted pinball he is. But, the ability has far more application to looping than that, with enough Knowledge of the game, you can practically use his power at any loop to get hits with enough Map Knowledge and technical skill. But, obviously, that’s not something I can teach, because it would take far, far, far too long to go over every single loop in the game and how to apply his power to them. When you’re starting out with Blight, focus on learning how to force Survivors to out-position themselves, and THEN start learning how to apply the Rush to Jungle Gyms and Loops.

Your first few matches with Blight will probably feel very rough, almost Unplayable, honestly. When I first played Blight, I thought he was downright terrible, he felt so, so terrible. However, he quickly became my favorite Killer in the entire game due to how overwhelmingly oppressive Rush is when used properly.

From this point on in the Gameplay area of the Guide, I will assume you have learned by now how his power generally works and how you can use it to your advantage

PRESSURE BY RUSH
As I stated earlier, one of the main appeals of Blight is the sheer amount of Map Pressure that his power gives him, I would even argue he gets more pressure than Freddy, who can use the 3 Gen Strategy practically no matter where the gens on the map are. (For those unaware of the 3 Gen Strat, it’s when you purposefully force Survivors to do wrong generators, leaving them only generators that are all next to eachother that you can patrol very easily. For those that only play Survivor that are reading this, please, remember to always think about the gen you’re doing and if it will hurt your team or not. )

With the Power only having a maximum of a 10 Seconds cooldown (Without Addons), you can easily use it to travel from one end of the map to the other, which also makes him the easiest Killer to engage in chase in, typically, if you aren’t chasing someone within the first 20 seconds of a match with Blight, you are getting VERY unlucky with where you’re checking, or, you’re playing against some Very immersed Survivors.

Blight really shines when there’s only 1 gen remaining to do, as the Survivors will constantly be rushing to get it done, meaning you will always know where people are, and can get to them as fast as Freddy would be able to, without having the long cooldown that Freddy has. With Gen Defense perks, Blight is practically undefeatable. I will go over perks that are specifically good on him later on in the guide.

WEAKNESSES AND COUNTERPLAY
Despite how incredible The Blight is, it’s not to say he doesn’t have weaknesses, even against a fantastic blight, things like Circular loops are agonizing for him. That loop on all of the basic maps that’s just 2 big rocks and a pallet? He’s just an M1 killer there. There is literally almost nothing he can do with his power at it unless the survivor makes a severe mistake, or if the map RNG is very good and gives him alot of things in the perfect spots to bounce off of.

One other very prominent weakness is that Blight hates 45 Degree Angles, if he’s going for a hit and you run towards him at a Perfect 45 Degree angle, he’s almost guaranteed to miss unless he’s expecting it, think of it like Spinning a Nurse, It’s very easy to do unless she is expecting it, which, any good Nurse is.

Always keep in mind that as Survivor against a Blight, you aren’t automatically safe from his power at a loop, of course, you can play properly to make sure you’re safe, but, Ultimately, a good Blight has control of the chase with Rush, so always keep in mind of your surroundings and what he can bounce off of and what angles he can hit you from.

Much like Huntress or Deathslinger, or even Demogorgon, remember to use the map geometry to your advantage when running from the Blight, even a small rock can be the different between being hooked or being chased for another gen.

The Blight’s Character Perks

DRAGON’S GRIP
After kicking a Generator, for the next 30 seconds, the first Survivor that interacts with it will scream, revealing their location for 4 seconds, and becoming afflicted with the Exposed Status Effect for 60 seconds.

Dragon’s Grip has a cool-down of 120/100/80 seconds.

“Such potential in this compound… even the slightest trace causes unnatural effects.” — Journal of Talbot Grimes

HEX: BLOOD FAVOUR
A Hex that gains the favour of The Entity when blood is spilt.

When a Survivor is hit with a Basic Attack, all Pallets within a radius of 16 meters of your location are held in place by The Entity for 15 seconds and cannot be pulled down by Survivors.

Hex: Blood Favour has a cool-down of 60/50/40 seconds.

“It would be no leap of the imagination to suggest that the Trials are a biological response of sorts.” — Journal of Talbot Grimes

HEX: UNDYING
A Hex which maintains the vile powers that flow throughout the Trial.

While Hex: Undying is active, Survivors within 2 meters of any Totem have their Aura revealed for 4/5/6 seconds.

When another Hex Totem is cleansed, that Hex transfers to an available Dull Totem, losing any Tokens in the process.

DISCUSSING BLIGHT’S CHARACTER PERKS
Dragon’s Grip: I believe that the main draw of Dragon’s Grip is that it essentially prevents Survivors from touching a gen of your choosing, for a short period of time. It goes Quite well with a variety of other perks, such as Pop Goes The Weasel, Overcharge, Trail of Torment, really anything about kicking Gens. At the time of writing this however, I believe it’s Blight’s weakest perk, you’ll typically only get one use out of it per match, but, that’s not to say it doesn’t have it’s uses when even perks like Distressing fit into Builds, I’m sure someone out there is absolutely in love with Dragon’s Grip.

Hex: Blood Favour: This perk is a bit of a weird one, it feels as if it was specifically made for Blight and no other killer, almost. When you hit a Basic Attack, all the Pallets around it get locked off for 15 seconds, meaning the Survivor needs to relocate to a new loop, giving Blight an opportunity to easily use his power. However, on other Killers, I don’t really think this would have very much use, without other perks influencing it. I can see it being… Situationally good with Cruel Limits, and perhaps even great with Save the Best for Last, but, once again, this is a perk that will only be used in obscure builds because it doesn’t fit into the Meta. Speaking of the Meta,

Hex: Undying: This may genuinely be the most powerful Killer perk to ever be released, which, was honestly very needed at high ranks. The last Meta perk to release with a Killer was Plague, with Infectious Fright and Corrupt Intervention. It shows you the aura of Survivors who are near your Totems, making it a better version of Thrill of the Hunt to a perceptive player. And, the main draw of it obviously being that your totems respawn when they are destroyed, Often times, Survivors get very focused on Totems if they find one, trying at all costs to destroy it no matter how many times they need to be hooked or go down, and this practically does nothing but waste their time, unless you get unlucky and they get the Undying totem as soon as they spawn, which, Unfortunately happens more often than not. It pairs flawlessly with Ruin, it makes the game so much fun to play again, people may complain about it, but, this perk is the exact fix that Killer needed to be fun at High Ranks again.

OTHER PERKS THAT BLIGHT IS GOOD WITH IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
TINKERER: Tinkerer gets rid of your terror radius for 16 seconds and alerts you when a generator is 70% complete, due to blight’s incredible speed and map pressure, it’s an obvious choice for him, I personally run it in all of my Blight builds because it’s simply that fantastic on him.

Pop Goes the Weasel: Once again, due to Blight’s speed, he can hook someone and get practically anywhere on the map in seconds, meaning that even after Pop is nerfed, it will not be an issue for him in any way, shape or form. Hag on Mother’s Dwelling be Damned.

Hex: Ruin: I’m sure you’re noticing at this point that most of these are taking advantage of his speed, this works perfectly with Tinkerer, it allows you to run to a gen as soon as it reaches 70%, have it start regressing, AND get a hit because of Tinkerer

Hex: Undying: I feel as if this one speaks for itself, Undying should always be run with Ruin, it’s an incredible perk, and Blight can even defend his totems better than any other characters (besides maybe Demogorgon)

The Four perks Above are the Perks that I always run on The Blight, they’re incredibly efficient together. I have pop in there because against Rank 1’s your Totems are often immediately found and destroyed at the very start of the match, and it’s always good to have a backup. If you feel as if you can defend your totems fine, then feel free to switch this to any of the perks listed below.

BBQ and Chili: Again, you pop a survivor on a hook, and immediately get told where to go, which, with Blight, is perfect.

A Nurse’s Calling: I’ve found this perk to get alot of Success with Blight’s rush, alot of Survivors continue healing behind walls expecting you to have never been able to even process the possibility of someone being there, letting you get free hits.

Surveillance: Surveillance always goes great with Ruin and Pop, and on top of that, much like the rest of the perks in this list, you can immediately get to the gen that it was set off on.

Make Your Choice: With Make Your Choice you can immediately get away from the hook, and immediately come back when needed, of course, your lethal rush isn’t a basic attack, but, typically at a hook, survivors will be out-positioned anyway, so you can merely just stop rushing, and get a hit.

Spirit Fury: Blight’s main gameplay loop is always dealing with Pallets, then chasing the survivor with Rush after they drop the pallet and you kick it, so, Spirit Fury on blight is VERY good for chases.

Corrupt Intervention: can be good very situationally. Blight’s speed in a way eliminates the need for this perk, but I mean, hey, you can always make the early game even easier on yourself by using this.

BROWN

Placebo Tablet: Gives 100% bonus Bloodpoints for Rush Score Events, and Decreases rush speed to 85%. Ironically, this makes navigating maps like Lery’s and Hawkins far more tolerable with his Rush.

Foxglove: Reduces the Rush Fatigue by 0.25 seconds.

Compound Seven: Causes you to automatically face the nearest Survivor within 16 meters after a Slam, is also the single most disorienting thing in the game.

Chipped Monocle: When Rushing, shows you a Target on whatever surface you are going to collide with if you continue moving that way

YELLOW

Shredded Notes: Reduces Token Regen time by 0.33 Seconds Per Token, but, decreases token amount by 1, leaving you with 4 tokens total.

Pustula Dust: Increases Slam timer by 0.75 Seconds

Plague Bile: Slightly increases your term rate, the game is very unspecific with things like these, but, it increases it by 0.1°, which, doesn’t sound like much, but, it adds up a bit.

Canker Thorn: Reduces Rush fatigue time by 0.5 Seconds

Blighted Rat: Increases Rush movement speed by 4% per rush you perform in the chain, so, 4%, 8%, 12%, 16%, 20%, then it resets.

GREEN

Umbra Salts: Increases Rush Turn Rate by 0.15°, combined with Plague Bile for a total of 0.25°.

Rose Tonic: Considerably Increases Slam duration by 1 second, combined with Pustula Dust, this gives you an extra 1.75 seconds in Slam, on paper this doesn’t sound incredible, but you can Really get around things with this much Slam time.

Compound Twenty-One: What is debated to be “Incredibly Overpowered” by some, when Initiating a Slam, reveal the Aura of all survivors within 8 Meters for 3 Seconds- It also gives you a point bonus, letting you know when it’s happened. One way this is used is to inform you if there is someone in a locker near you or not, because it still gives you the point bonus.

Blighted Crow: Increases Rush movement speed by 6% per rush you perform in the chain, so, 6%, 12%, 18%, 24%, 30%. With Blighted Rat, it makes it 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%.

Adrenaline Vial: Decreases Token Regen Time by 0.66 Seconds, With Shredded Notes, makes it 0.99 Seconds decreased per token. Also Increases the angles you can turn your camera in by 50% while Rushing, And increases your Token amount by 2, however, Decreases your turn rate by 0.8°, essentially locking you to a straight line.

PURPLE

Vigo’s Journal: Become Undetectable while Rushing, meaning, you lose your Terror Radius. This is one of Blight’s best add-ons, but, also, means that if you’re using Tinkerer on Blight, like you Should Be, this is essentially a wasted slot.

Summoning Stone: Hitting a Survivor with Lethal Rush causes Pallets within 12 Meters to be Blocked for 6 seconds, the goal being to cause the Survivor to panic and relocate, letting you Rush again.

Soul Chemical: Reveals the Auras of Survivors within 8 Meters while Rushing, I honestly prefer this over Compound Twenty-One, I find it to be much more helpful, seeing as you’re essentially rushing at all times.

Alchemist’s Ring: Considerably Reduces Token Regeneration time by 0.5 seconds per token. With Adrenaline Vial, Decreases Token Regen time by 1.16 Seconds, with Shredded Notes, decreases Token Regen Time by 0.83 Seconds. On top of that, Hitting a Survivor with Lethal Rush will Instantly regenerate all Tokens.

IRIDESCENT

Iridescent Blight Tag: Upon hitting a Lethal Rush after having used all of your Rush Tokens, you will instantly put survivors into the Downed State.

Compound Thirty-Three: Any Survivors within 16 Meters of your Slam will become Hindered for 3 seconds, slowing the Survivor for an unspecified percentage. On top of this, you can now Destroy Pallets and Breakable Doors by Rushing into them, this breaks them in 1.5 seconds, rather than the standard 2.6

COMMENTS ABOUT THE ADD-ONS
Firstly, I would like to discuss the Placebo Pill more indepth. Due to how it slows you, it means you get less Distance in your Rush, but it also means that you have more time to turn, if used with Umbra Salts, you can do some incredible things with this, like turning the 90° hallways of Midwich. I’ve found that to some degree, the way you turn with your mouse affects the way the blight turns, personally, I’ve developed a habit of when knowing I’m going to make a sharp turn when Rushing, changing my DPI mid rush using buttons on my mouse to incredibly overwhelming numbers, and then quickly swapping back to my normal DPI once the turn is made.

Compound Twenty-One is considered Wildly Overpowered, infact, soon after Blight’s release, it was nerfed from 16 Meters down to 8. However, personally, I don’t consider this to be his best Add-on, I consider his absolute best Add-on to be Blighted Crow and Blighted Rat, combined with Tinkerer and Pop or Ruin, these 2 Add-on’s together have saved me so, so, so many times.

Also Compound Thirty-Three’s Pallet Rush is actually Faster than Brutal Strength by quite a significant Margin, I consider it to be one of Blight’s best Add-ons, while Iri Blight Tag is honestly too Situational to be worth the use, in my personal opinion.

Speed Kills
Hit 30 survivors with a Lethal Rush in public matches.
You will likely get this just from playing the character for a few matches with no effort

Adept Blight
Achieve a merciless victory with The Blight using only his 3 unique perks in a public match.
This one takes a little more effort, you need to get a Merciless Victory using only Undying, Blood Favour, and Dragon’s Grip, in order to get a Merciless, you need to play perfectly, Chases can’t last too long, or be too Short, assume that no-one can die before you 3 hook them, and don’t let too many gens get done, but also don’t finish the match too quickly. It’s a very unfairly designed achievement that the Survivors are entirely in control of whether you get it or not, so, if you want it, then, good luck.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND ABOUT FRAMEDATA
For alot of people, Framedata is a very overwhelming concept that is only applicable in Fighting Games, but that is simply not true, there’s Framedata in every game you play, and Memorizing it can insure that you do things frame perfectly with some practice. Knowing this information could be the difference of whether you hit someone vaulting a Window or Whiffing.

FRAMEDATA

In 1 second in Dead by Daylight, there are 60 Frames of Animation, so, a number like 86 Frames for example would mean 1.26 Seconds.

Rush Startup: The absolute most minimal possible time before a Slam is 4 frames when you are in a pixel perfect position to the wall, implying that 4 Frames is the Startup before you begin the Rush

Slam Cool-down: It takes 10 frames to recover from the knockback of a slam before you can Rush again.

Opportunity to Lethal Rush: upon recovering from the Slam Cooldown, you have 37 frames to do another rush with no Add-ons

Rush Recovery: Upon coming out of a Rush, it takes 86 frames to Recover with no Add-Ons

Lethal Rush Attack Startup: Connects on Frame 17 of the Animation after you press M1

After Attack Recovery: the after attack Cooldown takes 88 frames until you can swing/interact with things again, meaning, attacking takes 105 frames total

Spoiler Warning, if you care about that, for some reason.
The first chunk of Information about The Blight, A.K.A Talbot Grimes can be found in Tome 1, Awakening

The Alchemist: The Hunger
Memory 1746
He moves through the death and decay of the void. He doesn’t remember his name. Everything’s a blur. He feels pain in his stomach. In his arms. In his veins. He needs… he needs to find one of those… flowers… the nectar… the sweet serum that gives… strength. Strength for what? He remembers… the killers… experimenting on them. Why? Why was he experimenting on them? He doesn’t… remember. He caused a lot of suffering, but he doesn’t feel remorse. He doesn’t even know if he should feel remorse. He doesn’t feel anything but an ache in the pit of his stomach for power.

Memory 1747
He has flashes of The Doctor. His screams. His agony. Turning the tables on him. Experimenting on him like he had done with so many others. Where? Not here. Somewhere else. Another world. All of these… these… survivors… marooned from other… worlds… How does he know this? He doesn’t remember… He remembers the experiments. What was he trying to understand? The nectar? The serum? The right dose? The right dose… to use without hurting himself. Too late.

Memory 1748
He feels the hunger. Not for food or drink. Not for talk or fun. For a flower. A single flower. For serum. He knows The Entity is watching him. He knows it. Feels it inside his bones. He doesn’t want to be snatched for another trial. To suffer or cause suffering. And to what end? The great horrible mystery of it all. He wants to understand this place. He does. But he senses that to know… to really know would drive him… mad. Madness. That’s what this place is. The embodiment of madness. He doesn’t want to be pulled into another trial. He wants to return home. He must return home. That’s why he was studying the serum. It gave him insight. Insight to what? He doesn’t remember.

Memory 1749
Home… he doesn’t even remember where home is. He only remembers The Void. Hundreds maybe thousands of discarded survivors. Not dead. Not alive. Something else. Alive but dead inside. Burnt. Emotionless. Useless to The Entity. He remembers… he remembers rising from The Void, finding… a flower… Had this flower been his salvation? Had the flower been his way out? He falls to his knees and shouts at the abyss and the abyss answers with… silence. The silence is so deafening it hurts. He buckles over. Climbs to his knees. He needs… serum…

Memory 1750
He’s lost. He doesn’t know where he is. He sees things like tentacles reaching out for him from the fog and he knows they’re not real. None of it is. He’s losing his mind if he hasn’t lost it already. His eyes play tricks on him. He sees giant, nameless creatures looming over him. Doesn’t matter. They’re not real. None of it is. His hunger confuses him. Oppresses him. He’d do anything for that feeling again. Anything. Even… return to the trials. He would. He’d rip survivors and killers apart limb from limb for that feeling again. He begins to mumble words. A promise… one flower… one flower… and I will do anything…

To understand the human condition, one must rise above it. This was the credo of Talbot Grimes, a Scottish chemist whose unrestrained ambition took him to towering heights. As a boy, he was a popular child—bright, charismatic, and unafraid to challenge authority—yet despite his social graces he was fiercely independent, spending much of his time exploring the sprawling fields near his town alone. What began as a child’s curiosity nearly turned deadly after experimenting with a patch of poisonous foxglove. For days, he laid in bed dripping with sweat, purging any food that touched his stomach. When he recovered, it wasn’t fear that gripped him, but fascination. There was something magical in how a single flower could so drastically affect him.

Into his adult years, his ambition developed as quickly as his questionable methods. He attended the London School of Medicine and excelled despite several reprimands. His willingness to push the limits secured him a position with the British East India Company, and within seven years he was made head chemist. In time, he completed one of his greatest achievements: a chemical that could increase a worker’s productivity while reducing their need for rest. He was rewarded with a secret laboratory beneath a prison camp on Dyer Island.

There, off the coast of India, prisoners from the Opium War became his unwilling subjects, leading to a drug that allowed soldiers to withstand incredible amounts of pain. Though most side effects were minor, there were rumours that a small number of soldiers went mad. In feral states, they massacred villages, impaling the populace on bayonets, leaving them hanging from trees. There were no official reports on the subject, and Talbot refused to blame himself for what could only be exaggerated war stories.

Though his callous brilliance seemed unflappable, he was ignorant to the enemies his questionable work had amassed. The realisation struck him quite literally—with a steel pipe to the back of his head during a trip to Mangalore. He was bound and loaded into a wagon. When his blindfold was removed, a sickly man showed him a mass grave filled with hundreds of bodies. Unbeknownst to Talbot, his productivity-increasing drug had killed nearly an entire factory’s worth of workers. He knew he couldn’t defend himself against the anger and accusations of his abductor—all he could do was curl up as the blows from the steel pipe rained down. His body was thrown into the grave and left for dead. Shifting between consciousness and the darkest black, he crawled for an escape, fingers sinking into rotting flesh. Black flies feasted on his uncovered skin, the sensation of a hundred pin pricks stabbing into him. As he collapsed, he came face to face with a dead woman’s dazzling hazel eyes. Too weak to pull away, he could do nothing but witness his life’s work.

Then, from the edge of death, he was brought back. He found himself on a small bed as a kindly, wrinkled face looked over him. With each pained breath, he was nursed back to health in an ancient mystery school posing as a monastery. In verdant gardens behind tall, unassuming walls, monks studied forbidden texts, striving to expand the human mind in the search for other dimensions—believing one to be connected to the other.

Talbot’s knowledge proved indispensable, his mind-altering chemicals integrating seamlessly with theories of neural expansion. He realised then that his salvation was no coincidence—he was plucked from the pit specifically to advance the school’s knowledge. He agreed to help until his recovery was complete, being tasked with researching what the monk’s called the soul chemical, a compound derived from the pineal gland that could open the mind’s eye. What began as a favour to his saviours, soon became an obsession. Poring over the school’s archives of lost texts, he uncovered scientific formulas that confirmed previously unthinkable ideas. He dreamt of ushering humankind into a new period of enlightenment. Perhaps then, the nightmares of hundreds of dead factory workers—and of those two hazel eyes—would fade from his mind.

As he came closer to a breakthrough, the demeanour of the monks shifted. The gentle smiles they offered were paired with uneasy eyes that quickly darted away when spotted. The polite conversations he was once privy to turned to hushed murmurs. The last thing he would see of the school was the cracked ceiling above his bed, branching like a dendrite through plaster.

His next memories were a shattered mosaic of images and sensations. Smearing lights, horse hoofs on cobblestone, coarse burlap scratching at his cheeks, and sharp bites into his arm. He awoke ragged and unwashed, splayed on the straw mattress of an opium den. Mind in a dense fog, his first thought was of his notes, the only record of his groundbreaking revelations. He searched frantically, scrambling through the dingy basement, pleading aloud for help. The few other denizens looked up from their hammocks, offering nothing but drug-soaked eyes and apathetic gazes that soon fell into half-slumber. Before he noticed the robed figure appear behind him, a needle plunged into his arm and the world disappeared once more.

Awoken. Again. Each time, hazier than the last. He tongued at hollow gaps between his teeth. How long, he wondered. A faint memory returned. The soul chemical. His notes. The verge of a breakthrough. A faraway whisper entered his mind.

He fumbled with a stone, sharpening it with shaking hands. In the dim light of the den, amongst the catatonic occupants, he carved his research from memory into the walls. He wrote for hours until his fingers bled, moving to the floor, taking in everything the voice whispered despite his inability to comprehend it. When there was nowhere left to write, he gripped the stone and carved the message into his chest. Stained with blood, he witnessed a miracle appear before him—a magnificent field of lush, orange flowers. The whispered voice beckoned to him, urging him to enter the field and discover worlds and dimensions beyond human comprehension. For a moment, Talbot felt the sense of wonder he possessed as a child.

The denizens of the opium den awoke to silence, the dry scent of smoke still lingering in the air. Shambling out of their drug-hazed fog, they found the stone floor wet with blood, tiny rivulets coursing through the cracks. As eyes adjusted to the darkened room, the jagged lettering scrawled along its length began to appear. Written over and over without end, there was but one single line: Death is only the beginning.