Underkeep Best Classes, Races, and Starting Party Guide

Creating your party is one of the most important decisions in Underkeep. This classic tile-based RPG gives you four character slots, allowing you to build a team with different classes, races, and abilities. However, your initial choices will have a lasting impact because you cannot change a character’s race or class later.

Before starting your adventure, you should understand how each class works, which races suit them best, and what skills deserve your upgrade points. This guide covers the best starting party, recommended race combinations, class rankings, and the most important skills to level up in Underkeep.

Underkeep Character Creation Guide

Underkeep allows you to create a party of four heroes. You can use premade characters, but creating your own team gives you more control over your party’s setup. During character creation, you can select each hero’s class, race, name, and appearance.

You cannot manually adjust their starting attributes. However, you can reroll their starting stats until you get a combination that you like. This is important because every class benefits from different attributes, so getting good starting stats can make your adventure much easier. There are seven available classes in Underkeep:

• Warrior
• Thief
• Paladin
• Ranger
• Voidcaller
• Wizard
• Blood Mage

Most classes use Stamina or Mana to activate their abilities. Blood Mage is different because this class uses Bones instead of Mana. If you run out of Bones, you can sacrifice your own health to continue using certain abilities. Despite this drawback, Blood Mage is a strong frontline fighter that combines physical attacks, curses, and bleeding effects.

Underkeep Class Tier List

Not every class performs equally well in Underkeep. Some are excellent damage dealers, while others focus on protecting the party or keeping everyone alive. Here is a ranking of the seven classes based on their overall usefulness.

S Tier

Warrior

Warrior is one of the best choices for your frontline position. This class has high durability and deals strong physical damage, making it suitable for players who need a reliable tank. Warriors can absorb enemy attacks while protecting weaker characters in the back row.

Ranger

Ranger is a ranged damage dealer that focuses on attacking enemies and applying debuffs. This class can deal significant damage but does not have the durability to survive many direct attacks. Keep your Ranger in the back row and use its abilities to weaken enemies before your other heroes attack.

Wizard

Wizard specializes in elemental magic and powerful area-of-effect attacks. This makes it one of the best classes for dealing with groups of enemies. However, Wizards consume Mana quickly, so you need to manage their resources carefully and keep enough Mana available for important battles.

A Tier

Blood Mage

Blood Mage is one of the most interesting classes in Underkeep. It combines melee attacks, curses, bleeding effects, and defensive abilities, making it a flexible choice for the frontline. Its Blood Pact skill can reflect damage back to attackers, while Leechcraft provides health recovery whenever you deal blood damage.

With the right equipment and upgraded skills, Blood Mage can become surprisingly difficult to kill. It is also less dependent on traditional Mana and Stamina potions.

Thief

Thief focuses on critical hits, bleeding damage, and evasion. It can deal excellent damage when its abilities and status effects work together. However, this class needs some preparation to reach its full potential, especially when using poison, bleeding, and other negative effects against enemies.

B Tier

Paladin

Paladin is a strong fighter with useful abilities, especially against undead and demon enemies. It uses Zeal to activate and improve its skills, meaning you need to manage its abilities carefully during combat.

Although it does not offer the same straightforward damage and durability as Warrior, Paladin remains a good option. Upgrading its buffs and damage abilities can make it much more effective.

C Tier

Voidcaller

Voidcaller works similarly to a traditional healer or cleric. Its main purpose is to keep your party alive through healing and defensive support. While it does not offer much direct damage compared to other classes, having a Voidcaller can save you from spending too many resources on healing potions.

Despite its lower damage potential, Voidcaller is still an important class for a balanced party.

What’s the Best Starting Party in Underkeep?

The recommended starting party in Underkeep consists of Warrior, Thief, Wizard, and Voidcaller. This combination provides a good balance between damage, defense, and healing. Warrior protects the team from incoming attacks, while Thief and Wizard handle most of the damage.

Voidcaller supports the entire party with healing abilities, making it easier to survive longer encounters. This setup is also beginner-friendly because every character has a clear role during combat.

Here is the recommended party positioning:

1. First Front Row: Warrior or Paladin – Your main tank should stand here to absorb incoming attacks and protect the rest of the party.
2. Second Front Row: Thief or Blood Mage – These classes can deal close-range damage while offering additional offensive abilities.
3. First Back Row: Wizard or Ranger – Keep your main ranged damage dealer away from direct attacks.
4. Second Back Row: Voidcaller – Place your healer in the back to reduce the chances of being targeted.

Remember that the two frontline characters will receive most of the enemy attacks. Because of this, you should prioritize durability when selecting their races and starting attributes.

You can also experiment with different combinations. For example, Paladin and Blood Mage work well together in the frontline, while Ranger and Voidcaller can support the team from the back row. Ranger can weaken enemies with debuffs, while Blood Mage can use Blood Pact to reflect incoming damage.

Best Races for Each Class in Underkeep

Choosing the right race is just as important as selecting a class. Each race comes with different attributes and traits, which can improve a character’s performance depending on their role.

Some races offer better Strength and Endurance, while others provide additional Dexterity or Wisdom. Here are the recommended race combinations for every class in Underkeep.

Warrior – Dwarf

Dwarf is the best race for Warrior because it provides high Strength and Endurance. These attributes improve your physical damage and survivability, making it easier to stay in the frontline.

Dwarves also have increased elemental resistance, which gives Warriors additional protection against different types of enemy attacks.

Thief – Raven

Raven is an excellent choice for Thief because of its high Dexterity. It also provides enough Endurance to help your character survive longer during combat.

However, if you are playing on Hard difficulty, Dwarf is another option worth considering. Its higher Endurance can provide additional health, making your Thief less vulnerable to enemy attacks.

Paladin – Human

Human is the recommended race for Paladin because it provides a 10% experience boost. This helps your character level up faster and gain access to stronger abilities.

Since Paladin depends heavily on its skills and Zeal mechanics, getting additional experience can help you improve its performance throughout the game.

Ranger – Elk

Elk is a good choice for Ranger if you want to focus on maximum damage. It works well with a glass-cannon build that prioritizes offensive attributes over survivability.

However, this also means your Ranger will need more protection and healing. If you prefer a more balanced character, Raven and Human are alternative choices.

Voidcaller – Slugman

Slugman is a great race for Voidcaller because it provides plenty of Wisdom and Endurance. Wisdom helps improve your healer’s effectiveness, while Endurance makes it harder for enemies to eliminate them.

You should also try to get at least 4 points in Strength or Dexterity when rerolling your starting stats. This gives Voidcaller a better chance of contributing to combat instead of relying entirely on healing abilities.

Wizard – Elk or Slugman

Elk is a natural choice for Wizard if you want to focus on Wisdom. This helps improve your magical damage and Mana-related performance.

However, Slugman is a safer alternative because of its additional Endurance. Wizards can be vulnerable when enemies reach the back row, so having extra survivability can make a big difference.

Blood Mage – Stoneborn

Stoneborn is an excellent race for Blood Mage because it offers strong Strength and Endurance potential. These attributes work well with the class’s combination of melee attacks and blood-based abilities.

Dwarf is another good option if you prefer a different combination of attributes. However, keep in mind that Stoneborn cannot equip body armor, which is an important limitation when building your character.

Underkeep Class Progression Guide: Best Skills to Upgrade

Every time a character levels up in Underkeep, they receive one skill point. Since these points are limited, you should focus on abilities that provide the biggest benefits instead of spreading your upgrades across every available skill.

Most classes have two important skills worth upgrading to Level 5. Prioritizing these abilities will help your party become stronger and more effective during difficult encounters.

Warrior Best Skills

1. Provoking Shout

Provoking Shout forces enemies to attack your Warrior instead of targeting other party members. This is one of the most important abilities for a tank because it helps protect your weaker heroes.

2. The Flow of Life

This skill increases your Warrior’s maximum health and elemental resistance. Upgrading it improves your ability to survive heavy attacks and remain in the frontline for longer.

Thief Best Skills

1. Shadow Instinct

Shadow Instinct increases your critical hit chance and allows attacks to partially ignore enemy armor. This makes Thief more effective against enemies with high defense.

2. Nightshade Mastery

Nightshade Mastery improves the negative status effects applied by your Thief. It also increases their damage and duration, making poison, bleeding, and other debuffs more effective.

Paladin Best Skills

1. Righteous Strike

Righteous Strike increases the damage of your next attack and generates additional Zeal. This makes it an important ability for maintaining your resources while dealing damage.

2. Zealous Resolve

Zealous Resolve increases your melee damage based on the amount of Zeal you have. It works well with Righteous Strike and helps Paladin become a stronger physical damage dealer.

Ranger Best Skills

1. Hunter’s Prey

Hunter’s Prey marks an enemy, causing them to receive increased damage. This is especially useful against powerful enemies and bosses because your entire party can benefit from the increased damage.

2. Cloak of Swiftness

Cloak of Swiftness improves your Ranger’s ranged hit chance and critical hit chance. It helps make your attacks more consistent while increasing your overall damage potential.

Voidcaller Best Skills

1. Void Mend

Void Mend is your main healing ability. It restores health to party members and can remove certain negative status effects when upgraded.

This skill should be one of your main priorities because keeping your party alive is Voidcaller’s most important job.

2. Auras

Voidcaller can choose between different passive auras that provide offensive, defensive, or damage-reflecting bonuses. You can switch your selected aura whenever the character levels up.

Aura of the Void is a useful defensive option during the early game. However, Aura of Thorns becomes a better choice in later stages because it reflects damage back to enemies.

Wizard Best Skills

1. Feel the Flow

Feel the Flow increases your Wizard’s maximum Mana. Since this class relies heavily on magical abilities, having a larger Mana pool allows you to cast more spells before running out of resources.

2. Dragon Arcana

Dragon Arcana improves the damage and effects of your elemental spells. It is an important upgrade for players who want their Wizard to become one of the party’s main damage dealers.

Blood Mage Best Skills

1. Blood Pact

Blood Pact reflects incoming damage back to enemies. This is particularly useful for a frontline Blood Mage because enemies attacking your character can also hurt themselves.

2. Leechcraft

Leechcraft provides lifesteal whenever Blood Mage deals blood damage. Upgrading this ability improves your character’s ability to recover health during combat, reducing the need to rely on healing potions.

Building a strong party in Underkeep requires careful planning because your initial race and class choices cannot be changed later. For beginners, Warrior, Thief, Wizard, and Voidcaller offer a reliable combination of defense, damage, and healing.

If you want to experiment with different playstyles, Blood Mage, Paladin, and Ranger are also worth considering. Just make sure to choose races that complement each class and spend your skill points on abilities that improve their main roles. With the right party setup and skill upgrades, progressing through Underkeep becomes much easier.