Choosing the right classes and races is one of the most important decisions you will make in Underkeep. Your party has four heroes, and each character has a different role in combat. Some are better at taking damage, while others focus on dealing heavy damage, supporting teammates, or weakening enemies.
In this guide, I’ll go through the Underkeep class tier list and explain which classes are worth choosing for your starting party. I’ll also cover the best race for each class, recommended party combinations, and the skills you should prioritize when leveling up.
Whether you want a balanced team that can handle almost anything or a more aggressive party that focuses on dealing damage quickly, this guide will help you make the right choices. Let’s get into the rankings.
Underkeep Class Tier List – Best Classes, Races, Skills
There are seven playable classes in Underkeep: Warrior, Thief, Paladin, Ranger, Voidcaller, Wizard, and Blood Mage. Each class has its own strengths, weaknesses, and abilities, so not all of them perform equally well in every situation.
Some classes are excellent damage dealers, while others are more useful for keeping your party alive. For this ranking, I’ve considered their overall combat performance, usefulness throughout the game, skill progression, and how well they fit into a four-character party.
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| Tier | Classes |
|---|---|
| S Tier | Warrior, Ranger, Wizard |
| A Tier | Blood Mage, Thief |
| B Tier | Paladin |
| C Tier | Voidcaller |
This doesn’t mean that lower-tier classes are useless. In fact, Voidcaller is extremely valuable because of its healing and support abilities. The rankings are based on overall class performance and efficiency, rather than whether a class has a place in a good party.
S Tier – Best Classes
These are the classes I recommend prioritizing when creating your party. They offer excellent damage, strong abilities, or important combat advantages.
Warrior – Best Frontline Fighter
Warrior is one of the strongest choices for your frontline position. It combines high physical damage with defensive abilities that help protect the rest of your party.
Its weapon-based skills allow you to adapt to different situations. You can use abilities that stun enemies, ignore armor, or deal powerful melee damage. Provoking Shout is particularly useful because it encourages enemies to attack your Warrior instead of your weaker back-row characters.
Another important ability is Flow of Life, which improves maximum health and elemental resistance. This makes the Warrior more reliable during longer encounters.
Why Warrior is S Tier:
- Excellent frontline damage.
- Strong defensive options.
- Can taunt enemies and protect teammates.
- Has useful weapon-specific attacks.
- Works well with several different party combinations.
Ranger – Best Ranged Damage Dealer
Ranger is one of my favorite choices for the back row because it combines ranged damage with useful enemy debuffs.
Its biggest advantage is the ability to mark enemies and make them easier for your party to eliminate. Hunter’s Prey is particularly useful because it allows you to focus your team’s attacks on a selected target.
Rangers can also improve their ranged accuracy and critical-hit potential through skills such as Cloak of Swiftness. This makes them excellent damage dealers when properly supported.
However, Rangers are not designed to absorb heavy damage. You need to protect them from enemies that can reach the back row.
Why Ranger is S Tier:
- Excellent ranged damage.
- Can mark enemies for increased damage.
- Provides useful debuffs.
- Strong critical-hit potential.
- Works especially well with frontline damage dealers.
Wizard – Best Magical Damage Dealer
Wizard is the class to choose if you want powerful elemental attacks. It can use Fire, Ice, and Lightning magic to deal damage and control enemies.
One of its biggest advantages is its area-of-effect damage. Wizards have access to powerful spells that can hit multiple enemies, making them especially useful when your party is surrounded.
However, there is one thing you need to manage carefully: Mana. Wizards can consume Mana very quickly when repeatedly using their strongest abilities. Without enough Mana recovery, you may struggle to maintain your damage output throughout longer encounters.
Feel the Flow and Dragon Arcana are important skills to consider because they improve the Wizard’s magical capabilities.
Why Wizard is S Tier:
- Powerful elemental damage.
- Excellent area-of-effect abilities.
- Can Freeze and control enemies.
- Useful against groups of enemies.
- Strong magical damage throughout the game.
A Tier – Very Strong Classes
These classes are excellent choices, but they require a little more planning or specific combinations to reach their full potential.
Blood Mage – Best Hybrid Damage Dealer
Blood Mage is one of the most interesting classes in Underkeep. Unlike traditional spellcasters, it uses bones and health to power its blood magic abilities.
You don’t need to rely on a constant supply of Mana or Stamina potions in the same way as other classes. Instead, you need to collect bones during exploration. If you don’t have bones available, casting spells costs additional HP.
Blood Mage is also tougher than you might expect and can work in the frontline. Its Blood Pact ability reflects damage back at attackers, while Leechcraft restores health when you deal blood damage.
Once you improve Leechcraft, the class becomes much more sustainable because it can recover a percentage of its blood damage as HP.
Why Blood Mage is A Tier:
- Combines magical abilities with physical combat.
- Can work in the frontline.
- Blood Pact reflects incoming damage.
- Leechcraft provides healing through damage.
- Does not rely on traditional Mana management.
Thief – Best Critical-Hit Specialist
Thief is a strong physical damage dealer that focuses on critical hits, evasion, and negative status effects.
It can become extremely dangerous when enemies are already affected by Bleed, Poison, or other debuffs. Nightshade Mastery is useful for applying negative effects, while Shadow Instinct improves critical-hit performance and helps deal with enemy armor.
The main weakness is that Thief requires some setup. You will get much better results when you combine its abilities with status effects instead of simply using basic attacks.
Why Thief is A Tier:
- Strong critical-hit potential.
- Excellent evasion.
- Can apply multiple negative status effects.
- Deals increased damage against weakened enemies.
- Works well alongside Ranger and other debuff-focused characters.
B Tier – Good but Requires More Planning
Paladin – Best Defensive Alternative
Paladin is a reliable frontline class that combines physical combat, healing, and defensive abilities.
Its main mechanic is Zeal. Basic attacks generate Zeal, which can then be spent on powerful abilities. This means you need to manage your attacks and skill usage carefully instead of repeatedly using the same ability.
Paladin is particularly effective against Undead and Demons, making it useful in encounters where those enemy types are common.
However, Warrior is generally a more straightforward choice for a frontline damage dealer. Paladin requires more attention to its Zeal rotation to get the most out of its abilities.
Why Paladin is B Tier:
- Strong defensive abilities.
- Can provide healing.
- Effective against Undead and Demons.
- Zeal can improve its damage and support abilities.
- Requires more careful skill management than Warrior.
Paladin is still a great choice if you want additional protection and healing in your party.
C Tier – Support Specialist
Voidcaller – Best Dedicated Support Class
Voidcaller is essentially your party’s dedicated healer and support character. It provides healing, barriers, debuffs, and auras that help your other heroes survive.
Its main ability, Void Mend, becomes particularly useful as you upgrade it because it can remove several negative status effects in addition to restoring HP.
Voidcaller is ranked lower here because it does not offer the same damage output as the other classes. However, that doesn’t mean you should ignore it.
In fact, I would strongly recommend including a Voidcaller in your first party. Having reliable healing can save you from spending too much gold on potions and make difficult encounters easier to manage.
Why Voidcaller is C Tier:
- Excellent healing and support.
- Can remove several negative status effects.
- Provides defensive auras.
- Helps the entire party survive longer.
- Lower direct damage compared with other classes.
Important: Tier placement does not tell the whole story. A class like Voidcaller may not deal much damage, but its support abilities can make your entire team more effective.
What’s the Best Starting Party in Underkeep?
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If you are starting your first playthrough, I recommend using Warrior, Thief, Wizard, and Voidcaller.
This is a balanced party that gives you strong physical damage, magical damage, frontline protection, and healing support.
Here is how I would arrange the team:
| Position | Class | Main Role |
|---|---|---|
| Front Row | Warrior | Tanking and physical damage |
| Front Row | Thief | Critical hits and melee damage |
| Back Row | Wizard | Elemental and area damage |
| Back Row | Voidcaller | Healing and support |
Why This Party Works
Warrior: Your main frontline character. It can take damage, use taunts, and deal consistent physical damage.
Thief: Provides additional melee damage and can weaken enemies with Bleed, Poison, and other negative effects.
Wizard: Handles magical damage and provides area-of-effect attacks against groups of enemies.
Voidcaller: Keeps the party alive with healing, defensive abilities, and status-effect removal.
The main advantage of this setup is that every character has a clear purpose. You have two frontline characters, two back-row characters, reliable healing, and different types of damage.
Alternative Starting Party Combinations
If you want to experiment with different classes, here are two more combinations worth considering.
Party 2: Paladin, Blood Mage, Ranger, and Voidcaller
| Position | Class | Main Role |
|---|---|---|
| Front Row | Paladin | Tanking and healing |
| Front Row | Blood Mage | Hybrid damage and damage reflection |
| Back Row | Ranger | Ranged damage and debuffs |
| Back Row | Voidcaller | Healing and support |
This is a good alternative if you prefer having a Blood Mage instead of a traditional Warrior.
Paladin provides additional protection, while Blood Mage can deal damage and reflect incoming attacks through Blood Pact. Ranger weakens enemies, and Voidcaller keeps everyone healthy.
Party 3: Warrior, Paladin, Wizard, and Voidcaller
| Position | Class | Main Role |
|---|---|---|
| Front Row | Warrior | Main tank and physical damage |
| Front Row | Paladin | Defensive support and healing |
| Back Row | Wizard | Magical damage |
| Back Row | Voidcaller | Healing and support |
This party is more defensive. It is a good option if you are struggling with difficult encounters and want additional protection.
The downside is that you lose the Thief’s critical-hit damage and status-effect combinations.
Best Races for Each Class in Underkeep
Choosing the right race is just as important as choosing your class. Each race has different attributes and racial traits that can improve a character’s performance.
For example, Dwarves are excellent frontline choices because of their physical attributes and elemental resistance, while Humans are useful for characters that benefit from faster leveling.
Here are my recommended race combinations for each class.
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| Class | Best Race | Alternative | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warrior | Dwarf | Stoneborn | Strong physical attributes and defensive benefits |
| Thief | Raven | Dwarf | High Dexterity with useful offensive potential |
| Paladin | Human | Dwarf | Experience bonus helps with skill progression |
| Ranger | Elk | Raven or Human | Supports a damage-focused ranged build |
| Voidcaller | Slugman | Human | Wisdom and Endurance support a durable healer |
| Wizard | Slugman | Elk | Better survivability or stronger Wisdom focus |
| Blood Mage | Stoneborn | Dwarf | Strong physical and Endurance potential |
Best Race for Warrior – Dwarf
Dwarf is my first choice for Warrior because it combines physical attributes with additional elemental resistance.
Since Warriors spend most of their time in the frontline, having better survivability is important. Dwarf is a reliable option if you want a character that can deal damage while taking hits.
Stoneborn is another good choice. It cannot wear body armor, but its natural armor increases at certain character levels.
Best Race for Thief – Raven
Raven is a strong choice for Thief because of its Dexterity and Endurance potential.
The combination works well for a character that relies on critical hits and evasion but still needs enough survivability to handle frontline combat.
The downside is that Ravens receive one random good mutation and one random bad mutation. Check both before committing to a build.
If you are playing on Hard difficulty and prefer a more durable character, Dwarf is another option worth considering.
Best Race for Paladin – Human
Human is a great choice for Paladin because of its 10% experience bonus.
Paladins benefit from their skill progression and Zeal-based abilities, so leveling faster can help you develop the character more quickly.
Dwarf is another option if you prefer additional physical toughness and elemental resistance.
Best Race for Ranger – Elk
Elk is a good choice for a damage-focused Ranger.
The additional armor against Animals can also help during encounters with animal enemies, although you should still avoid allowing enemies to reach your back row.
If you prefer a more balanced character, Raven or Human can also work well.
Best Race for Voidcaller – Slugman
Slugman is a strong option for Voidcaller because of its Wisdom and Endurance potential.
Your main goal with Voidcaller is to keep your party alive, so survivability is extremely important. You do not want your healer dying before it can support the rest of your team.
Try to get a reasonable Strength or Dexterity roll as well. This helps your Voidcaller contribute more when healing is not immediately required.
Remember that Slugmen take double Fire damage, so you need to be careful against enemies that use Fire attacks.
Best Race for Wizard – Slugman
Slugman is a good choice if you want a Wizard with better Endurance and survivability.
Elk is another option if you want to focus more heavily on Wisdom and magical damage.
Wizards can be vulnerable when enemies reach the back row, so I prefer having some additional survivability rather than focusing entirely on damage.
Best Race for Blood Mage – Stoneborn
Stoneborn is a strong choice for Blood Mage because of its physical and Endurance potential.
Blood Mage can work in the frontline, so natural armor can be useful. Its inability to equip body armor is a disadvantage, but its level-based armor bonuses help compensate for that limitation.
Dwarf is another good choice if you prefer wearing body armor and having additional elemental resistance.
Underkeep Class Progression Guide – Best Skills to Upgrade
Every character receives one skill point when leveling up. Since skill points are limited, you should focus on abilities that provide the most value to your chosen class.
I recommend prioritizing these skills when building your characters.
| Class | Best Skills to Prioritize | Why Upgrade Them? |
|---|---|---|
| Warrior | Provoking Shout, Flow of Life | Taunts enemies and improves survivability |
| Thief | Shadow Instinct, Nightshade Mastery | Improves critical hits and negative status effects |
| Paladin | Righteous Strike, Zealous Resolve | Improves attacks and damage from Zeal |
| Ranger | Hunter’s Prey, Cloak of Swiftness | Improves target damage and ranged accuracy |
| Voidcaller | Void Mend, Auras | Provides healing, cleansing, and party bonuses |
| Wizard | Feel the Flow, Dragon Arcana | Improves Mana and elemental magic |
| Blood Mage | Blood Pact, Leechcraft | Reflects damage and restores HP through blood magic |
Warrior – Provoking Shout and Flow of Life
Provoking Shout is one of the most useful Warrior abilities because it encourages enemies to attack your frontline character instead of targeting your weaker heroes.
Flow of Life improves maximum health and elemental resistance, making your Warrior more difficult to defeat.
I recommend investing in both if you want a reliable frontline character.
Thief – Shadow Instinct and Nightshade Mastery
Shadow Instinct improves the Thief’s critical-hit performance and helps it deal with enemy armor.
Nightshade Mastery adds negative status effects and improves their damage and duration.
These skills work particularly well together because the Thief becomes more dangerous when enemies are already weakened.
Paladin – Righteous Strike and Zealous Resolve
Righteous Strike improves the Paladin’s next attack and generates additional Zeal.
Zealous Resolve improves melee damage based on the Paladin’s accumulated Zeal.
Together, these skills help you build a stronger Zeal-based combat rotation.
Ranger – Hunter’s Prey and Cloak of Swiftness
Hunter’s Prey marks an enemy so your party can focus its attacks on that target.
Cloak of Swiftness improves ranged hit chance and critical-hit performance, making the Ranger more consistent in combat.
These abilities are particularly useful if your party relies on eliminating dangerous enemies quickly.
Voidcaller – Void Mend and Auras
Void Mend is the most important healing ability to prioritize. As you upgrade it, it gains additional cleansing effects that can remove Bleed, Burn, Poison, and Stun.
Auras provide another important benefit to the party. Aura of the Void is a good defensive option when starting out.
Later, Aura of Thorns is worth considering if you want to reflect damage back at enemies.
Wizard – Feel the Flow and Dragon Arcana
Feel the Flow increases maximum Mana, which is important because Wizards can consume Mana quickly when using powerful spells.
Dragon Arcana improves the damage and effects of elemental spells.
If you want your Wizard to deal consistent magical damage, these are two important skills to prioritize.
Blood Mage – Blood Pact and Leechcraft
Blood Pact reflects damage received back at enemies, making it useful for a Blood Mage that spends time in the frontline.
Leechcraft restores HP when you deal blood damage. At its highest rank, it restores up to 50% of the relevant blood damage as health.
This combination helps the Blood Mage deal damage while improving its ability to survive.
If you are new to Underkeep, I recommend starting with Warrior, Thief, Wizard, and Voidcaller. This combination gives you a reliable frontline, strong physical and magical damage, and enough healing to handle difficult encounters.
For races, my recommended choices are Dwarf for Warrior, Raven for Thief, Slugman for Wizard and Voidcaller, and Human for Paladin. You can use Stoneborn for Blood Mage if you want to take advantage of its natural armor progression.
You don’t have to follow these combinations exactly. Underkeep gives you plenty of room to experiment, and different races can work well depending on your character’s starting attributes and mutations.
The most important thing is to build a party with a good balance of damage, defense, and support. Once you have that, you’ll have a much easier time dealing with the enemies waiting underground.