Underkeep Classes and Races Guide – Best Party, Character Builds, Stats, and Skills

Creating your party in Underkeep is one of the most important decisions you will make at the beginning of the game. Since this is a classic tile-based RPG, your choices will affect how your characters perform throughout the adventure. You need to select four heroes, each with their own class, race, starting stats, and abilities.

There are seven classes and six races available, each offering different strengths and weaknesses. You also need to consider weapon requirements and skill upgrades before finalizing your party. This guide covers the best starting party, recommended race combinations, stat requirements, and class progression to help you build a strong team.

Underkeep Character Creation Guide

Underkeep allows you to create a party consisting of four heroes. You can choose premade characters, but creating your own party gives you more control over your preferred classes, races, names, and character appearances. However, you cannot manually change your starting stats after character creation, so getting good stat rolls before starting is important.

There are seven available classes: Warrior, Thief, Paladin, Ranger, Voidcaller, Wizard, and Blood Mage. Most classes use either Stamina or Mana to activate their abilities, while Blood Mage has a different resource system that uses bones and can consume Health when bones are unavailable.

All Underkeep Classes Ranked

Not every class performs equally well in combat. Some are excellent damage dealers, while others focus on protecting the party or keeping everyone alive. Here is a general ranking based on their combat performance and usefulness throughout the adventure.

S Tier

• Warrior: The best choice for a frontline tank. Warriors can absorb plenty of damage while dealing strong physical attacks. Their defensive skills also make them reliable when protecting weaker party members.

• Ranger: A powerful ranged damage dealer that can also apply debuffs to enemies. Rangers work well in the back row, where they can attack safely while increasing the damage enemies receive.

• Wizard: Specializes in elemental magic and powerful area-of-effect attacks. Wizards can deal massive damage to groups of enemies, but they consume Mana quickly, so you need to manage their resources carefully.

A Tier

• Blood Mage: A flexible class that combines melee attacks, curses, and blood magic. Blood Mages are surprisingly durable and can work in the frontline. Their Leechcraft skill also provides lifesteal, allowing them to recover Health when dealing blood damage.

• Thief: Focuses on critical hits, bleeding, poison, and evasion. Thieves can deal excellent damage, but they need the right setup and negative status effects to reach their full potential.

B Tier

– Paladin: A strong fighter with useful buffs and abilities, especially against undead enemies and demons. Paladins use Zeal to activate their skills, so managing this resource and rotating abilities is important. They are slightly less effective as pure damage dealers than Warriors but remain a solid frontline option.

C Tier

– Voidcaller: Works similarly to a traditional healer, providing healing and support through different spells and auras. Although its direct combat damage is limited, having a Voidcaller can save you from spending too many Coins on healing potions. It is still a useful class, especially on higher difficulties.

How to Reroll Stats in Underkeep

Starting stats are important because they determine which weapons and equipment your characters can use later. Each race has different minimum and maximum stat values, meaning some races are naturally better suited for specific classes. Before starting your adventure, keep rerolling your character’s stats until you get values that match your intended build.

Here are the recommended starting stats for each class:

• Warrior: Aim for at least 7 Endurance, although 9 or 10 is better. Warriors need plenty of survivability because they will absorb most enemy attacks. You should also aim for 5 Dexterity to unlock certain stronger swords. Wisdom can remain low.

• Thief: Aim for at least 8 Dexterity, along with 5 Strength and 5 Wisdom. Dexterity is important for improving your main combat abilities, while the additional stats help with equipment requirements.

• Paladin: Get exactly 5 Wisdom and put the remaining points into Strength. Paladins are frontline fighters, so physical damage should be your main priority.

• Ranger: Aim for at least 9 Dexterity and 4 Strength. If you want to use the Heavy Crossbow, you will need 5 Strength, which can also be obtained through equipment bonuses.

• Voidcaller: Aim for at least 9 Wisdom and 5 Strength if you plan to use a staff. If you prefer ranged weapons, focus on Dexterity instead of Strength. You do not need to invest in both.

• Wizard: Prioritize Wisdom to improve your magical performance. You can then choose Strength for staff weapons or Dexterity for ranged weapons, depending on your preferred equipment.

• Blood Mage: Aim for at least 8 Endurance and 8 Dexterity if you want to place your Blood Mage in the frontline.

What’s the Best Starting Party in Underkeep?

A balanced party is important because you need enough damage, defense, and healing to survive different encounters. Your team consists of four characters, with two positions in the front row and two in the back row. Frontline characters will receive most enemy attacks, while backline characters can focus on dealing damage or supporting the team.

The recommended starting party is:

• Front Row: Warrior

• Front Row: Thief

• Back Row: Wizard

• Back Row: Voidcaller

This combination is a reliable choice for beginners because each class has a clear role. Warrior acts as the main tank, Thief provides physical damage, Wizard handles powerful magical attacks, and Voidcaller keeps everyone alive through healing abilities.

Recommended Party Positions

When creating your team, you should consider which characters are strong enough to survive in the front row. Placing a fragile character in the wrong position can make difficult battles much harder, especially when enemies focus their attacks on your weaker heroes.

Here are the recommended positions:

1. First Front Row Position: Warrior or Paladin.

2. Second Front Row Position: Thief or Blood Mage.

3. First Back Row Position: Wizard or Ranger.

4. Second Back Row Position: Voidcaller.

Alternative Starting Party for Hard Difficulty

If you plan to play on Hard difficulty, consider using a Dwarf Warrior instead of Blood Mage in a more defensive party. Warriors have better frontline potential and can use Provoking Shout to force enemies to attack them instead of targeting your weaker characters.

Another option is to use Warrior, Paladin, Wizard, and Ranger. This setup focuses more on damage rather than healing, allowing you to eliminate enemies faster. However, you will need to carry plenty of healing potions because you will not have a dedicated Voidcaller to restore your party’s Health.

What Are the Best Races for Each Class in Underkeep?

Underkeep has six different races, and each one comes with unique stats and racial traits. Choosing the right race can improve your character’s performance and make certain class builds much easier to manage. Some races are naturally better at physical combat, while others have higher Wisdom or special defensive bonuses.

Here are the recommended race combinations for each class.

• Warrior – Dwarf: Dwarf is an excellent choice for Warrior because it offers high Strength and Endurance potential. It also provides 3% elemental resistance and can equip body armor, making it a reliable frontline race.

• Thief – Raven: Raven has high Dexterity and enough Endurance to survive in combat. Its random mutations can provide additional benefits, although some mutations have negative effects. If you are playing on Hard difficulty, Dwarf is another good option because of its higher Endurance.

• Paladin – Human: Human is a strong choice because of its 10% experience bonus. Paladins depend heavily on their skills, so leveling up faster helps you unlock important abilities sooner.

• Ranger – Elk: Elk is a good choice for players who want to focus on maximum ranged damage through Wisdom and Dexterity-based builds. However, Rangers are fragile, so you will need to protect them carefully. Raven and Human are alternative choices for a more balanced build.

• Voidcaller – Slugman: Slugman offers high Wisdom and Endurance, making it suitable for a dedicated healer. You can focus on keeping your party alive while maintaining enough survivability to avoid being eliminated easily.

• Wizard – Slugman: Although Elk is naturally attractive because of its high Wisdom, Slugman provides additional Endurance. This makes your Wizard less vulnerable to enemy attacks while still allowing you to focus on magical damage.

• Blood Mage – Stoneborn: Stoneborn has excellent Strength and Endurance potential, making it a strong choice for a frontline Blood Mage. Dwarf is another option if you want a character that can equip body armor.

All Underkeep Races and Their Traits

Before choosing your characters, it is worth understanding what each race offers. Their racial traits can have a major impact on your build, especially when playing on higher difficulties. Some races provide additional protection, while others offer experience bonuses or special resistances that can help during difficult encounters.

Here are all six available races and their traits:

• Dwarf: Provides 3% elemental resistance and Infravision, allowing the character to perceive things that normal vision cannot detect. Dwarves have high Strength potential and can equip body armor.

• Stoneborn: Has the highest Strength potential alongside high Endurance. However, Stoneborn cannot equip body armor, which limits some defensive equipment options.

• Raven: Offers high Dexterity with enough Endurance to remain useful in combat. Ravens also receive random mutations, which can provide positive or negative effects.

• Human: Gains a 10% experience bonus, allowing characters to level up faster than other races.

• Elk: Has high Wisdom potential and receives +1 Armor when fighting animals.

• Slugman: Offers high Wisdom and Endurance. Slugmen are immune to critical damage but take double damage from fire attacks.

Which Underkeep Race Is the Best?

Dwarf is one of the most reliable choices for frontline characters because of its Strength potential, elemental resistance, and ability to wear body armor. Stoneborn can reach higher Strength, but the inability to equip body armor makes it less flexible when building a defensive character.

You should also pay attention to Raven mutations before committing to your character. Some mutations are useful, but others can create serious disadvantages. For example, Slow Regeneration reduces healing effects by 25%, which is especially problematic for a Blood Mage that depends on lifesteal to restore Health. If you receive this mutation, consider rerolling your character before starting the adventure.

Underkeep Gear Stat Requirements

One important thing to understand before finalizing your party is that weapons and equipment have specific stat requirements. Since you cannot freely change your starting stats after character creation, choosing the wrong values can prevent your heroes from using some of the strongest weapons later in the game.

You can increase certain stats through equipment such as belts, rings, and amulets. However, it is still better to meet important requirements during character creation rather than depending entirely on equipment bonuses.

Here are some notable weapon requirements:

• Heavy Crossbow: Requires 5 Strength and 7 Dexterity.

• Embersand Saber: Requires 4 Strength and 6 Dexterity.

• Stormcleaver: Requires 4 Strength and 5 Dexterity.

• Soulcleaver: Requires 8 Strength. This is considered one of the best melee weapons in the game.

• Staff of the Archmage: Requires 8 Wisdom.

Recommended Stats for Equipment

If you are building a Dexterity-focused character, make sure you have enough Dexterity to equip weapons such as Embersand Saber. Rangers and Thieves should pay particular attention to these requirements because their builds often depend on Dexterity-based equipment.

For frontline characters other than Warrior, having at least 5 Strength and 5 Wisdom is a useful general target. Warriors can manage with lower Wisdom, but having 5 Dexterity is recommended if you want access to stronger swords such as Stormcleaver.

Underkeep Class Progression Guide

Leveling up allows your characters to become stronger by unlocking and improving their class skills. Every time a character levels up, you receive one skill point that can be invested in their abilities. Since skill points are limited, you should focus on the most useful skills instead of spreading them across everything.

The following skills are recommended priorities for each class. Try to upgrade the important abilities to Level 5 to get the most out of your character builds.

Best Warrior Skills

Warrior is your main frontline tank, so focus on skills that increase survivability and protect other party members. These abilities allow your Warrior to absorb enemy attacks while remaining a reliable source of physical damage.

• Provoking Shout: Forces enemies to target your Warrior instead of attacking other party members.

• The Flow of Life: Increases maximum Health and elemental resistance, making your Warrior more durable.

Best Thief Skills

Thieves focus on critical damage and negative status effects. Their performance improves when you invest in abilities that increase critical hit chances and make enemies suffer from additional debuffs.

• Shadow Instinct: Increases critical hit chance and allows attacks to partially ignore enemy armor.

• Nightshade Mastery: Adds negative status effects while increasing their damage and duration.

Best Paladin Skills

Paladins rely on Zeal to activate their abilities, so improving their main combat skills is important. Focus on abilities that increase melee damage and help you generate more Zeal during battles.

• Righteous Strike: Increases the damage of your next attack and generates additional Zeal.

• Zealous Resolve: Increases melee damage based on the amount of Zeal you have.

Best Ranger Skills

Rangers are powerful backline damage dealers who can weaken enemies before your other characters attack. Their skills should focus on increasing damage against marked targets and improving ranged accuracy.

• Hunter’s Prey: Marks an enemy, causing them to receive increased damage.

• Cloak of Swiftness: Improves ranged hit chance and critical hit chance.

Best Voidcaller Skills

Voidcaller is your primary healing class, so improving its healing abilities should be your main priority. It also has different passive auras that can provide offensive or defensive benefits to the entire party.

• Void Mend: A healing spell that can also remove certain negative status effects when upgraded.

• Auras: Provides different passive bonuses, including attack, defense, and reflected damage. Aura of the Void is useful during the early game because of its defensive benefits, while Aura of Thorns becomes a good option later because it reflects damage back at enemies.

Best Wizard Skills

Wizards specialize in elemental magic and area-of-effect damage. However, their Mana can run out quickly, especially when using powerful spells frequently. Focus on increasing Mana capacity and improving the damage of your elemental abilities.

• Feel the Flow: Increases maximum Mana, allowing your Wizard to cast more spells before running out of resources.

• Dragon Arcana: Improves the damage and effects of all elemental spells.

Best Blood Mage Skills

Blood Mage is a flexible class that can deal damage while recovering Health through blood magic. Its skill progression should focus on damage reflection and lifesteal, allowing it to survive longer without depending too much on healing potions.

• Blood Pact: Reflects damage received back toward enemies, making attackers suffer when they hit your Blood Mage.

• Leechcraft: Provides lifesteal, restoring Health whenever you deal blood damage.

Can You Change Your Party in Underkeep?

Choosing your party in Underkeep is an important decision because your starting character choices cannot be freely changed later. You should carefully select your four heroes, their races, classes, and starting stats before beginning your adventure. Unlike some RPGs, you cannot simply change a character’s class or manually redistribute their original stats after starting the game.

This is why rerolling your starting stats is highly recommended. Take your time to get the values you need, especially if you want to use specific weapons or follow a particular character build. If you are unhappy with your choices, it is better to restart before making too much progress.

Building a strong party in Underkeep starts with choosing the right combination of classes, races, and starting stats. Warrior, Thief, Wizard, and Voidcaller are a reliable combination for most players, but you can experiment with other setups depending on your preferred playstyle.

Remember to reroll your starting stats before beginning the adventure, check weapon requirements, and invest skill points in important abilities. These early decisions can make your journey through Underkeep much easier, especially when facing stronger enemies and playing on Hard difficulty.