The first licensed Killer to arrive in Dead by Daylight, The Shape – more commonly known as Michael Myers – is a ruthless Killer with a dark obsession. Stalking Survivors from afar, The Shape can increasingly build his ferocity by tracking his prey before going in for the kill. This relentless pursuit is what makes The Shape so terrifying, as he eliminates players one by one.
This Dead by Daylight guide will highlight some of the best builds for players to run on The Shape. This also includes teachable and non-teachable perks alike for players of varying experience so that they can make the most out of their experience playing as this sinister character.
Updated on January 13, 2025, by Siddarth Narasimman: While Michael Myers continues to be one of the weakest killers in the game, he remains a popular choice for new players. Furthermore, the recent buffs that he received in Patch 8.4.0 have given him some much-needed power to be a fairly usable killer. With these latest changes, it’s a good time for players to know the best builds and add-ons for one of the most iconic characters in horror history.
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The Shape: Best Non-Teachable Build (2025)
Without access to the perks of other Killers in Dead by Daylight, playing The Shape can lead to a challenging trial, but not an impossible one. This build makes use of Save the Best for Last to cut chase times short while using Sloppy Butcher to passively slow down the game. Finally, Bitter Murmur and Hex: No One Escapes Death allow the Killer to decimate any players still standing in the endgame, without needing to stalk Survivors for an instant down.
- Save the Best for Last (The Shape) – Hitting a Survivor that isn’t the Obsession grants one token, up to a maximum of eight. Each token gives a -4% cooldown reduction on a successful basic attack, up to a maximum of 32%. When the Obsession is hit, this perk loses two tokens.
- Hex: No One Escapes Death (General Perk) – After the final generator is completed, all Survivors suffer from the Exposed status ailment, and players gain a 4% Haste effect until the Hex Totem is cleansed.
- Bitter Murmur (General Perk) – Each time a generator is completed, the auras of Survivors within 16 meters of that generator are revealed for 5 seconds. Once the last generator is complete, all Survivors’ auras are revealed for 10 seconds
- Sloppy Butcher (General Perk) – Basic attacks cause the Mangled and Hemorrhage status ailments, slowing down healing by 25% and regressing healing progress when left unfinished.
The Shape: Best Build (2025)
This build focuses on slowing down generator progress with a variety of perks while getting a solid boost at the beginning of the game, as The Shape has little map mobility, and is also the worst killer in the early game. The Shape’s focus should be territorially guarding a cluster of nearby generators, keeping track of their progress, and decimating them with The Artist’s Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance and The Cenobite’s Deadlock.
Meanwhile, The Nemesis’s Lethal Pursuer allows The Shape to quickly find the Survivors and stalk them to ensure a strong start for the weakest early-game killer. Finally, Coup de Grâce enables The Shape to better play around loops where he would otherwise struggle.
- Lethal Pursuer (The Nemesis) – At the start of the match, see the aura of all Survivors for nine seconds. Additionally, all instances of aura-reading are increased by two seconds.
- Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance (The Artist) – The Killer starts with four tokens. For each different Survivor hooked on a white Scourge Hook, lose one token and blow up the generator with the most progress, causing it to lose 25% of progress.
- Deadlock (The Cenobite) – Whenever a generator is completed, the generator with the most progression gets blocked for 25 seconds. The blocked generator is revealed by a white aura.
- Coup de Grâce (The Twins) – For each generator completed, this perk gains two tokens. Use one token to increase the lunge attack distance by 80%.
The Shape: Best Add-Ons (2025)
Memorial Flower
The best Michael Myers add-on, at the common rarity, is without a doubt the Memorial Flower. While this add-on is nothing spectacular, the 11% increased stalking rate is a nice bonus to The Shape’s slow stalking speed.
Dead Rabbit
While this macabre offering to The Entity may seem like a bad trade, the Dead Rabbit’s decrease of the Terror Radius by 25% in Evil Within II is massively helpful. However, since it also increases the Terror Radius in Evil Within III, it’s recommended that you run this add-on alongside a perk like Monitor and Abuse, or another perk that changes the Terror Radius, to avoid alerting Survivors too early.
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J. Myers Memorial
This is The Shape’s second-best add-on as it grants a flat 25% bonus to his stalking gain rate. It is often paired with the Tombstone Piece to alleviate the negative side effect of needing increased time to reach Evil Within III.
Hair Bow
The Hair Bow is a great add-on to increase the threat level of The Shape, which is during Evil Within III. Pairing this with the J. Myers Memorial add-on is a solid way to consistently apply pressure on the map with multiple Evil Within III activations.
Tombstone Piece
Arguably The Shape’s strongest add-on, the Tombstone Piece allows Michael to immediately kill any Survivor, regardless of their hook state, upon reaching Evil Within III – effectively functioning like an old Memento Mori.
This brutal ability can quickly turn the tide of a game and outclasses the Ultra Rare Judith’s Tombstone add-on by omitting the speed debuff that accompanies it.
Lock Of Hair
Lock of Hair adds 40 additional seconds to Evil Within III, 10 more than the Hair Bow, while increasing the stalk rate for Evil Within III. The Hair Bow is generally the better option but the Lock of Hair is also a viable option for players that opt to run Lethal Pursuer and J. Myers Memorial.
Fragrant Tuft of Hair
Though the Shape’s stalking rate is reduced by a whopping 200%, this add-on grants infinite Evil Within III. As such, you will never have to worry about managing your power, and you can insta-down Survivors without needing to stalk them first.
- Released
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June 14, 2016
- OpenCritic Rating
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Fair