A God in the Fog: The Best Builds for The Nurse in Dead by Daylight

For years, The Nurse has stood at the top of Dead by Daylight’s killer tier list. Her unique power, “Spencer’s Last Breath,” allows her to ignore the fundamental rules of the game’s map design by teleporting through walls and across great distances. While she is notoriously difficult to master, a skilled Nurse is an unstoppable force. Unlike other killers who rely on a combination of perks for map presence and chase potential, The Nurse’s power is so overwhelming that her best builds often focus on two key areas: information and slowing down the game. With the recent updates and meta shifts in 2025, a few key builds have emerged as the most dominant, allowing The Nurse to be a true terror in the Fog.

The core philosophy of a strong Nurse build is to compensate for her weaknesses. She has a low base movement speed, which makes traversing the map without her blink a time-consuming affair. Her power also has a fatigue mechanic, which leaves her vulnerable after she blinks. The best perks, therefore, are those that give her information on where survivors are, allowing her to make the most of her blinks and apply pressure across the entire map, while also providing a secondary slowdown to prevent survivors from finishing generators too quickly.

The “All-Seeing” Build: Information is Power

This is arguably the most common and effective build for a skilled Nurse. It’s designed to give you constant information on survivor locations, allowing you to quickly teleport to them and secure a down before they can react. This build capitalizes on The Nurse’s ability to end chases almost instantly, making a traditional “gen slowdown” build less necessary.

• Lethal Pursuer (The Nemesis): This perk is a must-have for any information-based build. It starts the trial by revealing the auras of all survivors for a long duration, giving you a clear direction at the beginning of the match. On a killer like The Nurse, who can blink to a survivor in seconds, this is an incredibly powerful perk that can lead to a quick first down and set the tone for the entire match.
• A Nurse’s Calling (The Nurse): This is a Nurse’s own teachable perk, and it’s a perfect fit for her power. It reveals the aura of any survivor who is healing or being healed within your terror radius. Survivors often try to heal at the edge of your terror radius, but The Nurse can simply blink to their location and get a free hit or even a down, punishing them for trying to recover.
• Barbecue & Chili (The Cannibal): A classic perk that gives you a glimpse into the survivor’s minds. After hooking a survivor, this perk reveals the auras of all other survivors who are a certain distance away. This is invaluable information that allows you to immediately plan your next move and blink to your next target, keeping the pressure on the entire team.
• Nowhere to Hide (The Artist): This is a perfect chase perk for The Nurse. After kicking a generator, this perk reveals the aura of any survivor who is within a short range of the generator. It’s excellent for catching survivors who are hiding nearby or for tracking their path, allowing you to accurately plan your blinks and surprise them with an attack.

The “Hybrid” Build: Balanced Slowdown and Information

While the “All-Seeing” build is fantastic for experienced players, a more balanced approach can be better for those still mastering The Nurse’s blinks. This build combines strong information perks with powerful generator regression perks, ensuring that even if you can’t get a quick down, the survivors are still losing progress and time.

• Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance (The Artist): When you hook a survivor on a Scourge Hook, the generator with the most progress instantly explodes and loses a significant amount of progress. The Nurse’s ability to get quick downs makes this perk incredibly valuable, as you can activate it multiple times throughout the trial, constantly regressing generators without having to waste time kicking them.
• Pop Goes the Weasel (The Clown): After hooking a survivor, your next generator kick will instantly regress a large chunk of progress. This perk is a great alternative to Pain Resonance, as it gives you more control over which generator to regress. With The Nurse’s high mobility, you can quickly hook a survivor and then blink to the furthest generator to get maximum value.
• Deadlock (The Cenobite): This is a simple but effective perk. After a generator is completed, the generator with the most progress is blocked for a short period of time. This prevents survivors from snowballing and completing generators too quickly, giving you the time you need to find and chase them.
• I’m All Ears (The Ghost Face): This is an excellent chase perk. When a survivor makes a fast vault or rushes out of a locker, their aura is revealed to you for a short time. This is invaluable for The Nurse, as it allows you to anticipate a survivor’s movements and land a precise blink hit, especially at key vault locations.

Add-ons: A Strategic Advantage

The Nurse’s add-ons are crucial to her playstyle, and they can be used to either improve her basic power or fundamentally change how she plays. The most popular and effective add-ons are those that reduce her fatigue time or increase her blink range without changing the number of blinks. This allows you to maintain muscle memory while still gaining a significant advantage.

• “Pocket Watch” (Rare): Reduces the fatigue duration after a blink. This is a simple but powerful add-on that makes The Nurse’s power feel much smoother.
• “Bad Man’s” Last Breath (Very Rare): Increases the blink distance. This is a great choice for players who are confident in their aim, as it allows you to cover even more ground and surprise survivors from an even greater distance.
• “Plaid Flannel” (Common): Reveals where you will land after a blink. This is a fantastic training add-on for new Nurse players, as it helps them learn the distance and trajectory of her blinks.

In the current state of Dead by Daylight, The Nurse remains a top-tier killer, and with these builds, you can maximize her potential. By focusing on a combination of information and slowdown, you can ensure that you are always one step ahead of the survivors, making every trial a terrifying and unyielding nightmare for them.