The Dredge arrived with Chapter 24: Roots of Dread on 7 June 2022 and has one of the strangest reputations in Dead by Daylight: almost everyone agrees it is fun, almost nobody agrees on how good it is, and almost every guide about it is quoting numbers from 2024.
That last part is measurable. Its community wiki page carries a Change Log that stops at Patch 8.2.0 (27 August 2024). Behaviour's own patch notes say otherwise: Patch 9.6.0, live 28 April 2026, contains the line "Increased movement speed while charging Reign of Darkness to 4 m/s (was 3.8m/s)." The wiki still prints 3.8 m/s in two places. One of The Dredge's own teachable perks is worse — Septic Touch has been three times stronger than its wiki entry since September 2025.
This guide is written against Patch 10.1.2a, live 17 September 2026, and every value below is traced to Behaviour's published patch notes rather than a wiki table.
Quick answer: The Dredge is a 115% Killer (4.6 m/s) with a 32-metre Terror Radius. It drops a Remnant, enters The Gloaming at 4 m/s, and teleports between Lockers at 19 m/s by day. Filling the Nightfall meter to 300 charges triggers 60 seconds of near-total darkness in which it gains Undetectable, teleports at 38 m/s and drops its Gloaming cooldown from 10 seconds to 4. Its best add-ons buy Nightfall uptime, not chase power. Survivors counter it by locking Lockers early and by walking during Nightfall rather than running.
How does Reign of Darkness actually work?
The power has three layers that new players routinely collapse into one. They are separate systems and they charge separately.
Layer one: the Remnant and The Gloaming. Hold the Power button and The Dredge leaves a physical copy of itself behind — the Remnant — and shifts into The Gloaming, where it cannot attack or interact with anything and moves at 4 m/s rather than 4.6 m/s. In exchange, every Locker Aura on the map is revealed to it.
Layer two: the teleport. The Dredge starts with 3 Tokens. The secondary power button consumes one and teleports it into any Locker at 19 m/s during Daytime, chainable until the Tokens run out. The attack button cancels The Gloaming and snaps it back to the Remnant — but the Remnant disappears after the first teleport, or the moment a Survivor walks into it. The Gloaming cooldown is 10 seconds by day, 4 during Nightfall, and the power needs 10 seconds after load-in to come online.
Layer three: Nightfall. The meter that decides whether a Dredge match is easy or miserable for the Survivors, covered in full below.
Two unsignposted restrictions catch people out: The Dredge cannot teleport to a Locker within 12 metres of a hooked Survivor, nor to one it is already within 3 metres of. And if it teleports into an occupied Locker it grabs the Survivor and emerges carrying them — a 3 second interaction that works in reverse too, which is why Survivors stop using Lockers entirely against a good Dredge.
What are the exact Nightfall charge numbers?
This separates a Dredge who gets one Nightfall a match from one who gets four. The meter fills to 300 charges, then runs for 60 seconds. The base Daytime rate is +0.25 charges per second — twenty minutes on its own, so the meter is designed around accelerators:
- Hiding inside a Locker: +6 c/s
- Each injured Survivor: +1 c/s, stacking up to +4 c/s with all four injured
- Injuring a Survivor with a basic attack: +20 charges, instantly
- Hooking a Survivor: +20 charges, instantly
- Teleporting back to the Remnant: +10 charges, instantly
Read those together and the optimal early game is obvious: get someone injured and leave them injured. Four injured Survivors quadruple your passive rate before you have hooked anybody — which is why good Dredge players hit-and-leave in the opening minute.
The rest of the timing values, none of which appear in-game:
- Imminent Nightfall warning: fires globally at 85% charged
- Transition into Nightfall: 3 seconds. Out of it: 1.5 seconds
- Nightfall ends after 60 charges have discharged at -1 c/s
- Inside-Locker field of view: 120 degrees, with a warning sound after 8 seconds
- Killer Instinct radius during Nightfall: 16 metres, lingering 3 seconds
During Nightfall, The Dredge gains Undetectable, teleports at 38 m/s instead of 19, drops The Gloaming cooldown to 4 seconds, and triggers Killer Instinct on Survivors within 16 metres of a Locker it occupies or of the Remnant on return. Survivors see a glow on each other at up to 54 metres; The Dredge sees it at 20 — a detail still widely misreported as symmetrical.
One thing Nightfall does not do is hide The Dredge. It glows. A well-upvoted r/deadbydaylight thread puts it flatly: "Why the hell does the dredge glow bright white during what's meant to be the stealth part of his killer power." Behaviour has not announced a change.
What did Patch 9.6.0 change, and why does every guide miss it?
On 28 April 2026, under Killer Updates in the 9.6.0 live patch notes, sits exactly one line for this Killer:
The Dredge — Increased movement speed while charging Reign of Darkness to 4 m/s (was 3.8m/s).
Small buff, large consequence. The Gloaming is how The Dredge repositions, and the gap between 4 m/s and a Survivor's 4.0 m/s sprint is now zero rather than negative — you can shadow a running Survivor without falling behind.
Nearly every reference page misses it for a structural reason: the wiki's Change Log terminates at 8.2.0 and looks complete, so writers stop reading. A Change Log that simply stops is not evidence that a Killer has stopped changing.
The 8.2.0 basekit pass of 27 August 2024 remains the foundation of the current version: charge speed 3.68 to 3.8 m/s (now 4), Daytime teleport cooldown 12 to 10 seconds, teleport speed 12 to 19 m/s, locked-Locker exit 3 to 2.25 seconds, Nightfall rate per injured Survivor 0.75 to 1.0 c/s. Behaviour's August 2024 Developer Update gave the intent: "We've incorporated part of the effects of some must-have Add-Ons into the base kit, then toned them down accordingly."
Are The Dredge's three perks any good in 2026?
Two of the three are genuinely strong, and one is stronger than almost anyone realises.
Septic Touch. Any Survivor who heals inside your Terror Radius suffers Blindness and Exhausted, lingering 20 / 25 / 30 seconds after the heal is interrupted. That comes from Patch 9.2.0, live 23 September 2025: "Increased the linger duration of the Blindness and Exhausted status effects to 20/25/30 seconds (was 6/8/10 seconds)." Community reference pages still print 6 / 8 / 10 and carry no Change Log for the perk at all. That three-times-wrong number is why Septic Touch reads as filler in old tier lists and plays like a real anti-heal perk in 2026 — thirty seconds of Exhausted takes Sprint Burst, Lithe and Dead Hard off the table for a whole chase.
Darkness Revealed. Searching a Locker reveals the Auras of all Survivors within 8 metres of any Locker for 6 / 7 / 8 seconds, on a 30 second cooldown. The values are current, but its page still sits under a stale "upcoming Patch 8.1.0" banner — 8.1.0 went live 16 July 2024. A top-tier information perk on any Killer that passes Lockers naturally, which is every Dredge.
Dissolution. Live: three seconds after injuring a Survivor by any means, it activates for 12 / 16 / 20 seconds and instantly breaks the next Pallet a Survivor fast-vaults inside your Terror Radius. "Any means" includes Locker and Survivor grabs, because both apply damage. It does nothing while you are Undetectable, which means Dissolution is dead during your own Nightfall.
It is also the one perk here not to build a habit around. In the 10.2.0 PTB of 15 September 2026 it becomes: "3s after a Survivor takes damage from a basic-attack, for 13/14/15s, the next time a Survivor fast-vaults a Pallet while within your Terror Radius, it is destroyed. (was any damage and 12/16/20s)." Behaviour's dev note: "We found the combination of Dissolution or Blood Favor and Killers that can use their power to quickly get an injury to be unhealthy." A wash for The Dredge, which injures with basic attacks anyway. Full breakdown in our DBD perk changes for 10.2.0.
Which Dredge add-ons are worth running?
There are twenty, sorting into four jobs. The ranking is by what they do to Nightfall uptime, the only resource this Killer converts into pressure.
Tier 1 — buy Nightfall uptime. Malthinker's Skull (+25% charge rate while Survivors are injured) is the best add-on in the kit and pairs directly with the hit-and-leave opening. Broken Doll (+20 seconds of Nightfall) turns a 60-second window into 80. Fallen Shingle (+15% charge rate while using Reign of Darkness) rewards constant power usage. Burnt Letters (+25% for injuring) and Wooden Plank (+25% for hooking) are the budget versions.
Tier 2 — buy chase and tempo. Destroyed Pillow cuts The Gloaming's Nightfall cooldown by 2.5 seconds, enormous on a 4-second cooldown; Ottomarian Writing does the same for Daytime at -2 seconds. Air Freshener raises your Token count to 4 — the difference between reaching a loop and reaching the right side of it. Boat Key adds +3 m/s to Daytime teleports and breaks every Locker lock once the gates are powered.
Tier 3 — information. Caffeine Tablets highlights locked Lockers in yellow. Worry Stone reveals the Aura of any Survivor locking a Locker for 6 seconds. Mortar and Pestle makes you emerge from the Remnant facing your current direction — small, but it stops the most common Dredge misplay.
Tier 4 — situational. Field Recorder starts the trial in Nightfall and re-triggers it on the last generator. Tilling Blade applies Blindness, Haemorrhage and Mangled for 80 seconds to anyone injured during Nightfall. Iridescent Wooden Plank applies Exposed for the last 12 seconds of Nightfall — a win condition that telegraphs itself.
The Iridescents are the weakest part of this kit, and the community knows it. A well-received comment on the subreddit this month asked Behaviour to "rework his Iri add-ons: short haste coming out of a locker, completely silent locker exits," adding "Surely BHVR has the data that show his Iris never get used."
What are the best Dredge builds right now?
Nightfall-uptime build. Septic Touch, Darkness Revealed, Corrupt Intervention, Deadlock, with Malthinker's Skull and Broken Doll. One loop: injure early, leave them injured, ride +4 c/s into a long Nightfall, use Darkness Revealed every time you emerge. See our best Killer perks tier list for the generic slots.
Locker-pressure build. Darkness Revealed, Septic Touch, Nowhere to Hide and a regression perk, with Caffeine Tablets and Air Freshener. Makes every Locker a threat and every heal a liability. Push it further with our aura-reading perks guide.
Endgame build. Field Recorder, Boat Key, No Way Out, Remember Me and Blood Warden. Forced Nightfall on the last generator plus Boat Key breaking every lock is one of the few genuinely scary endgame setups in the game.
One PTB note before you commit Bloodpoints: in 10.2.0, Distressing gains "Survivors within your Terror Radius repair 6/7/8% slower," a real consideration on a 32-metre Killer for the first time. Not live yet.
How do you counter The Dredge as a Survivor?
The Dredge is countered before Nightfall starts, not during it.
- Lock Lockers early, especially near generators. Every Locker spawns with an open latch. Locked ones cannot be entered by Survivors, and The Dredge takes 2.25 seconds to force one open from the inside, loudly.
- Know the priority order. Given two candidates, The Dredge teleports first to the Locker a Survivor is hiding in or interacting with, then to the locked one, then at random. Locking a Locker while it is charging actively pulls it toward you.
- Never enter a Locker without a reason. A teleport into your Locker is an instant grab and carry with no counterplay.
- Walk during Nightfall. You see other Survivors at up to 54 metres; it only sees you at 20. Darkness is closer to neutral than it feels — scratch marks are not. Walking out of the 16-metre Killer Instinct bubble beats sprinting.
- Touch the Remnant. Colliding with it destroys it and cancels the free return — the most underused counter to this Killer.
- Do not heal in its Terror Radius. Thirty seconds of Exhausted from Septic Touch is worse than staying injured in most situations — but staying injured also feeds +1 c/s into Nightfall, so this is a decision rather than a rule.
For where it sits against the rest of the cast, see our DBD Killer tier list for September 2026.
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FAQ
How fast is The Dredge while charging its power? 4 m/s, as of Patch 9.6.0 on 28 April 2026. Pages still listing 3.8 m/s are quoting the August 2024 value. Its normal speed is 4.6 m/s and its Terror Radius is 32 metres.
How many charges does Nightfall need? 300, then it lasts 60 seconds. Base rate 0.25 c/s, plus 6 c/s while hiding in a Locker, plus 1 c/s per injured Survivor up to 4, plus flat bonuses of 20 charges per basic-attack injure, 20 per hook and 10 per Remnant return.
What is Septic Touch's real duration? 20 / 25 / 30 seconds of lingering Blindness and Exhausted, tripled in Patch 9.2.0 on 23 September 2025. Pages showing 6 / 8 / 10 are a year out of date.
Can The Dredge teleport to any Locker? Almost. Not to one within 12 metres of a hooked Survivor, or one it is standing within 3 metres of. It has 3 Tokens by default, 4 with Air Freshener.
Does Dissolution work during Nightfall? No. Nightfall grants Undetectable, which sets your Terror Radius to 0 metres, and Dissolution only works inside it. Plan it as a Daytime perk.
Is The Dredge visible during Nightfall? Yes. It is Undetectable, so no Terror Radius and no red stain, but its model is still lit and players report it reading as bright against the darkness.
How much does The Dredge cost? 4,500 Iridescent Shards or 250 Auric Cells. The standalone chapter was retired on 14 May 2024, so the in-game store is now the way to get it.
Is The Dredge in 2v8? Not in the current run. The 2v8 rotation that ends today, 29 September 2026, fields 16 Killers and The Dredge is not among them.
Accurate as of Patch 10.1.2a, 17 September 2026. Power, perk and add-on values sourced from Behaviour Interactive's published patch notes (8.1.0, 8.2.0, 9.2.0, 9.6.0 and the 10.2.0 PTB); character stats from the Dead by Daylight community wiki, corrected against those notes.
