Ready to master another new killer in Dead By Daylight? As with every new addition to this asymmetric horror king, opinions on the Spirit’s viability are all over the map.
Some consider Rin Yamaoka more useless than Freddy, while others believe her to be the most OP killer around. The truth is somewhere a bit more in the middle.
The Spirit is essentially an upgraded version of the much-maligned Wraith, but she takes a bit more skill to master. The real key to getting kills with her is to think more like a survivor than a killer.
Using The Spirit’s Power
Rin Yamaoka’s power lets her go invisible and move at increased speed, but at the cost of not directly seeing survivors.
When activating Yamaoka’s Haunting, the Spirit leaves a stationary husk that still triggers normal effects on survivors, like increased heart rate, etc. You can use this to your advantage to fake out players and survivors who know how the Spirit works.
One tactic is to just stop running mid-chase and stay still. Players who are familiar with the Spirit will assume you went ethereal and are chasing them while invisible. They will likely run back toward you (thinking you are the husk). This can lead to an easy kill.
However, players will eventually catch onto this tactic; when players catch on to Haunting, pull the double cross and actually go ethereal. This is particularly useful when you’re around a generator.
While ethereal, you can’t see survivors. However, you can still see signs of their passing, like scratch marks. This isn’t as much of a disability than you might think. All have to do is take into account where you would run when being chased by the killer.
Players tend to perform specific actions, like wall-hugging, or go to specific locations, like windows and vaults, when they’re being chased.
You’re faster in Haunting mode. Take advantage of that by going to where the survivor will be rather than where they were.
Another solid strategy is staying near your husk. When players get near the husk, the ethereal Spirit audio cue is masked. Use yourself as a cloaking tool to confuse survivors and easily dispatch them.
Using Spirit Skill Combos With Other Killers
The Spirit isn’t just powerful alone. Pair her with other killers, and you’ll get some good skill combinations.
The teachable skills from other killers impact how The Spirit plays. In particular, skills that reveal the auras of survivors can make your Haunting more effective, like Territorial Imperative or A Nurse’s Calling.
If you prefer generator grabs, take Tinkerer. Combine this skill with Haunting to terrorize survivors trying to fix generators.
Combining the Spirit Fury perk with Enduring can give you nearly an instant hit when a survivor thinks you will be stunned by a broken pallet.
Rancor has got to be one the best perks, however, as it briefly shows you the location of all survivors when a generator is repaired. Even better, it means that the object of your obsession will be permanently vulnerable to you after the last generator is repaired.
For new players having trouble wiping out teams, that essentially means you get an insta-kill on one survivor near the end of the match.
Weaknesses of The Spirit
The Spirit is slow. Survivors who know how to work the environment can be difficult to chase while you aren’t Haunting.
The Haunting ability also has a critical weakness. When ethereal, you can’t phase through objects.
That means a survivor vaulting through a window while you are Haunting effectively counter your power entirely. The only way to negate this is if they keep sprinting after the vault and reveal themselves through scratch marks.
Finally, watch out for survivors with the flashlight equipped! There’s currently a bug causing the blind effect to accrue far more rapidly than it should. Expect it to be patched out in the near future, but for now the flashlight can be your main Achilles’ heel.
—
What do you think of the Spirit as the new Dead By Daylight killer, and do you plan to invest time learning her abilities? Sound off in the comments below, and check out the rest of our Dead By Daylight guides here.
