Every time there is anew Killer in Dead By Daylight, Survivors have to learn how to avoid their attacks, and stay off the hook. The latest addition is The First, nicknamed Vecna by Dustin Henderson and his friends. With this new Killer comes new powers that you will have to learn how to counter if you want to stay alive.

How To Counter The First (Vecna) In Dead By Daylight

Just like other Killers in Dead By Daylight, The First (Vecna) can simply injure or down you with a hit. Vecna uses his arm of twisted vines for this main ability. His special abilities, on the other hand, take some getting used to.

Firstly, he has the Vine Attack. This is when he can aim and conjure up a small area on the ground to either apply a Worldbreaker token to a Survivor, or to deal damage when the Survivor is in Worldbreaker/The Upside down mode.

You will know when you are in Worldbreaker mode when the clock strikes and the environment goes dark and red.

His second special ability is the Undergate. This is where Vecna can travel in a portal through the Upside Down, where he can move quite quickly to find Survivors. Once he has found a Survivor, he emerges from the portal, creating a massive radius that, when it hits a Survivor, can either apply two Worldbreaker tokens or injure them if they are in Worldbreaker mode.

Once you have four Worldbreaker tokens, you will be in Worldbreaker mode.

You must avoid getting hit by either of his special attacks as he is much more powerful in Worldbreaker mode. The trick to avoiding his Vine Attack is to be unpredictable in your movements. He will be looking for you to take the usual loops and vaults, so make sure you confuse him as much as possible.

Do not camp pallets! This is a surefire way to getting his by his Vine Attack as he will predict that position. Try to also fake window vaults, then watch as he uses his Vine Attack on the vault, while you are running away in the other direction.

Vecna is a slow Killer, akin to The Hag, so his weakness is in his inability to close loops. This is where he will try to slow you down with his special attacks, and take the Survivor team into Worldbreaker mode.

Worldbreaker mode will last for a predetermined amount of time (it depends on Vecna’s add-ons and the number of players still alive), but this can be reduced by using any of the four Grandfather Clocks around the map. It is worth one Survivor using the clock to reduce the timer, to also reduce Vecna’s power in Worldbreaker mode.

Vecna can also perform a sort of ‘mini mori’, a bit like the Final Judgement of The Executioner (Pyramid Head). If a Survivor has four Worldbreaker tokens and their last hook would be their death hook, Vecna can hold them in the air and kill them outright, even without a Memeto Mori offering.

Best Build To Counter The First (Vecna)

A good stealthy speedster build would be perfect for getting away from The First. You will want to shy away from any perk that requires you to vault a pallet or window, as Vecna can easily ensnare you with his Vine, giving you a Mindbreaker token, or injuring you.

Instead, you will want to use an exhaustion perk like Sprint Burst or Overcome to get away quickly. Add Ghost Notes to this build paired with Lightweight, so your scratchmarks disappear quicker, and your exhaustion reduces quickly, and finally Vigil to help you take even more time off that exhaustion time.

Here is the build:

It is also a good idea to bring along a med kit with a syringe to have an extra chance to recover from exhaustion. Try out this build the next time you load up Dead By Daylight and see how you can run rings around Vecna.