Carmina Mora, A.K.A The Artist was released November 30th, 2021 in Chapter XXII: Portrait of a Murder alongside Jonah Vasquez and a new map called Forsaken Boneyard. The Artist was instantly recognized as a great addition to Dead By Daylight Killers roster thanks to her complex and unique power. She remains of the best ranged Killers in the game. But her power is useful for much more than just damaging Survivors from a distance. Any DBD Artist build you consider should play into these unique strengths.
The Artist's power is extremely versatile. It is both a great tool for shutting down loops, forcing Survivors to escape out in the open. And collecting information from even the most remote part of the map. She is recommended for more intermediate players who are already familiar with playing the Killer role. The Artist happens to also be very satisfying to play. So be sure to pick her up if you want to shake up your Killer games!
If you are interested in just how strong The Artist is compared to other Killers, check out our tier list of all 26 Dead By Daylight's Killers!
Step 1: Learn About Dead By Daylight's The Artist
The main reason to pick up the Arist is her amazing power, Birds of Torment. Your crow good bois will be placed at your feet when using the ability. Then by tapping the power button you unleash your dire crows. The crows will begin flying in the direction you were facing when placing them on the ground. If they collide with Survivors at a short distance, that is highlighted to you when placing down Dire Crows, that Survivor will lose one health state as if he was hit by a basic attack. The crows can only collide with Survivors. They will travel in a line until they completely leave the playable area in any other case.
Survivors hit by your crows, who are outside mentioned highlighted area become swarmed by crows instead. If another Dire Crow hits them while they are swarmed they will lose a health state. Survivor affected by the swarm is highlighted to you for the duration. But Survivors can fight back against the swarm by performing the Repel action. Survivors can move freely during Repel and can even sprint. It takes 8 seconds to fully get rid of the crows. The Artist cannot see auras of Survivors who are currently Repelling the swarm.
| Survivor Running Speed | The Artist Basic Movement Speed | The Artist Speed When Setting Down Crows |
|---|---|---|
| 4.0 meters/second (or 100%) | 4.6 m/s (or 115 % ) | 3.68 m/s (or 92 %) |
The really amazing aspect of The Artist is that she can control generators and scout from across the map, even in the middle of chasing someone. When playing as her, you should definitely send your crows to random generators to check if anyone is there. Even if your crows do not hit anyone, they will trigger Killer Instinct when passing near anyone. This can even reveal Survivors hiding in lockers.
The Artist can by default summon up to 3 crows, and send them to completely different locations. If you set them some distance from one another on the same path, it is even possible to score a double hit from across the map, instantly damaging a Survivor. The cooldown before you regain your power after firing 3 crows is 12 seconds. Which is extremely low. You should spam your crows for information and potential hits all the time.
While you cannot aim your crows vertically, only horizontally. They will still “climb” stairs when in their direct path. So you can send your projectile down or up a flight of stairs. Or in some cases up or downhill. Which is extremely situational, but is still something that should be kept in mind for these rare occasions.
Step 2: Pressure The Survivors With The Best DBD Artist Build Aviable!
Best Perks For Dead By Daylight's The Artist
The Artist is like I mentioned in a very unique position when it comes to perks. Usually, you would want one or two information perks for any Killer. But The Artist can scan any area of the map she wants on 12 seconds cooldown. There are very few cases in which she really needs information perks. Thus, it is better to focus on slowdown perks to make it extremely tedious for Survivors to finish repairing generators and escape.
The best slowdown perks for any DBD Artist build are:
| Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance * (Artist's Own Perk) | Dead Man's Switch * (Perk of The Deathslinger) | No Way Out (Perk of The Trickster) | Hex: Plaything (Perk of The Cenobite) |
|---|---|---|---|
| At the start of the Trial, 4 Hooks are changed into Scourge Hooks: Each time a Survivor is hooked on a Scourge Hook, the following effects apply: The Generator with the most Progression explodes, instantly losing 15 % of its Progression and starting to regress. Survivors repairing that Generator will scream, revealing their location. | After hooking the Obsession, Dead Man's Switch activates for the next 45 seconds: While activated, any Survivor that stops repairing a Generator causes The Entity to block the Generator until Dead Man's Switch's effect ends. Affected Generators are highlighted by a white Aura. | For each Survivor you hook for the first time, No Way Out gains 1 Token. When a Survivor interacts with an Exit Gate Switch, you receive a Loud Noise Notification, and The Entity blocks both Exit Gate Switches for 12 seconds and an additional 12 seconds per Token in your possession, up to a combined maximum of 60 seconds. | If there is at least one Dull Totem remaining in the Trial Grounds, Hex: Plaything activates on a random Totem each time a Survivor is hooked for the first time: The hooked Survivor suffers from the Cursed and Oblivious Status Effects until Hex: Plaything is cleansed. For the first 90 seconds, only the Cursed Survivor is able to cleanse the Hex Totem. The Aura of Hex: Plaything's Hex Totem is revealed to the Cursed Survivor within 16 meters. |
Since Pain Resonance is one of the best perks for The Artist out there and Dead Man's Switch combines so insanely well with it. I recommend grabbing both of these perks. But then you have somewhat of a problem. You desperately need to hook people on one of the four Scourge Hooks. But they spawn randomly on the map, which can result in some horrendous RNG shenanigans.
To counteract said bad random generation I recommend these perks, which will enable you to carry your victims anywhere on the map:
| Agitation * (Perk of The Trapper) | Iron Grasp * (Perk Available to All Of The Killers) |
|---|---|
| While carrying a Survivor you benefit from the following effects: Increases your Carrying Movement speed by 18 %. Increases your Terror Radius by 12 meters. | While carrying a Survivor you benefit from the following effects: Decreases Wiggle effects, which cause you to strafe sideways, by 75 %. Increases Wiggle duration by 12 %. |
And now we move on to add-ons for Birds of Torment. The Artist add-ons are certainly unique. She doesn't have the usual progression of the same effect add-ons carrying over from common to uncommon to rare and so on, but increasing the power of said effect. Instead, she has a variety of add-ons that cause different status effects upon hitting a Survivor with your power. Some of them should be generally avoided. For example, both of her rarest add-ons are extremely situational, and not worth sacrificing the add-on slot for in my opinion.
Here are the best add-ons to consider when making a great DBD Artist build:
| Severed Hands * (Very Rare add-on) | O Grief, O Lover * (Rare add-on) | Still Life Crow (Uncommon add-on) | Ink Egg (Very Rare add-on) |
|---|---|---|---|
Any Survivors near a Survivor being swarmed by Dire Crows will also be swarmed. | Survivors swarmed by Dire Crows suffer from the Exhausted Status Effect. | Increases the Frequency of Survivors dropping Blood Orbs by +33 %. Survivors drop additional Blood Orbs when they vault, throw Pallets, exit Lockers, crouch, or fail a Skill Check. | Increases the number of Dire Crows The Artist is able to hold by +1 Dire Crow. Reduces the Idle time of Dire Crows before they disintegrate by +4 seconds. |
Step 3: Start Playing The Artist!
And then, the last step, the most important step. You need to play The Artist, get used to her timings, develop strategies for each obstacle in your way. Something that can only come with experience, and no amount of guide reading is going to bypass this important step.
Remember to utilize your power for information gathering as much as possible. Any time the crows uncover anyone for you, try to remember their general location on the map. And when faced with the dilemma of chasing multiple Survivors, always consider which one seems to be the weak link in their team. And who you can chase into a corner of the map the easiest.
When cornering someone at the corner of the playable area you need to put down your crows and block any choke points. Pallets and windows are obviously what you should deny to Survivor players. Then it is a matter of chasing after them and wacking the Survivor with either your basic attack or the crow you placed beforehand. Just keep in mind that a Survivor is likely to fake running towards your crow and then double back. In an attempt to make you fire the crow too soon, allowing him to escape once it is gone.
With this DBD Artist build, you should become a top-tier Artist player in no time!