Underkeep Walkthrough: Party & Class Guide

Party Formation: The First Step of Any Underkeep Walkthrough

Starting an Underkeep walkthrough without a plan can turn a promising run into a cycle of restarts. Your four-slot party decides who absorbs damage, who controls the field, and who carries the damage. This guide focuses on the choices that matter most: formation, race, class, and skill order. A good Underkeep walkthrough starts before the first fight, and the tables below show how to build a party that survives the front line while still having answers in the back.

• The front two slots are built for melee pressure. Put your most durable characters there, even if they also have support tools.
• The back two slots can use reach weapons, so a melee build in the back is possible. The front slots still take most incoming damage.
• At least one front liner should be comfortable taking punishment. A party of glass cannons has very little room for mistakes.
• Back-row characters usually lack the strength for heavy armor, so plan their defense around positioning, evasion, or barriers rather than raw armor.

Race Picks That Change Your Underkeep Walkthrough

Stats are rolled rather than manually assigned. Your class pushes the highest stat toward its main attribute, while your race shapes the spread. That is why a dwarf warrior and an elk warrior can feel like different characters even with the same class. The race and class mechanics tie every stat to equipment requirements, so a balanced spread can unlock more gear than a min-maxed spread in one narrow area.

Strength affects melee damage, HP, and which weapons and armor you can equip. Dexterity drives ranged accuracy, ranged damage, evasion, and critical hits. Endurance feeds HP growth, stamina regeneration, and resistance to negative effects. Wisdom feeds mana and elemental resistance; it does not directly increase spell damage.

Human is the easiest race to justify when a build wants three stats. A paladin, for example, wants strength for melee damage, endurance for HP, and wisdom for equipment requirements. Humans do not have the highest ceiling in any one stat, but they are less likely to leave a key requirement short. The 10% XP bonus is real, but it is not a reason alone to pick human because the cap is 15.

Dwarf and stoneborn lean hard into strength and endurance. Dwarf’s elemental resistance helps offset low wisdom, but it mostly brings the race back to par rather than pushing it ahead. Stoneborn’s body-armor restriction is more than a raw armor loss because many body armors carry healing, reflection, or similar effects. Elk is the dexterity pick. Raven is flexible but random. Slugman is the endurance pick, with a fire weakness that matters because burn effects are common.

Class Guide for a Balanced Underkeep Walkthrough

Every class has five ranks per skill, and the level cap is 15. In practice, that means a character can fully max about three skills. Spreading points across every option leaves you with several half-finished abilities instead of a reliable core. The frontline and backline tables below highlight the skills that give the cleanest return.

Warrior’s best early pick is Skull Rattle. A stun that also deals damage is better than a pure stun because a failed control attempt still advances the fight. Cleave with a two-handed weapon hits two enemies, which matters when multiple foes surround the party. Battle War is excellent for martial-heavy teams, but it loses value in magic-heavy parties.

Thief is the evasion tank. Nightshade Mastery turns basic attacks into status applicators, and Mark of the Dead adds 20% increased damage to a marked enemy before scaling higher. Evasive Roll raises evasion and increases the 60% evasion cap by 2% per rank, reaching 70%. Shadow Instinct is the alternative if you prefer passive crit and partial armor ignore.

Paladin is one of the strongest front-line supports because Lay on Hands turns basic attacks into healing. Zeal builds from basic strikes, so the resource keeps coming back. Zealous Resolve adds melee damage per zeal, and Judgment is a smite-style burst tool that hits demons and undead especially hard. Level Lay on Hands to rank 2 first, put about three ranks into Zealous Resolve, then max Judgment.

Ranger is the most important offensive backline class because arrows are free. Cloak of Swiftness improves evasion, ranged hit chance, and ranged crit chance, which keeps your shots reliable. Hunter’s Prey marks an enemy for three rounds, and Execution Shot deals extra damage to marked targets. That combination gives the whole party a damage boost while keeping stamina use focused.

Void Caller has the best heal in the game because Mend heals and removes negative statuses. Its three auras level together, so you can switch between Aura of the Void for barrier absorption and Aura of Thorns for melee reflection later. Power of the Void increases healing effectiveness. Wizard’s fire path is the most consistent, especially after Fireball unlocks at level 6, but mana management is constant. Blood Mage is easier on resources because its spell cost stays at one bone even at higher ranks.

Recommended Party and Leveling Plan for Your First Underkeep Walkthrough

This party covers front-line durability, healing, control, ranged damage, and a second mark. It is not the only viable setup. If you prefer more evasion, swap Warrior for Thief. If you want more elemental burst, swap Blood Mage for Wizard, but expect more mana management and more resting.

• Put early paladin points into Lay on Hands until rank 2 so you can consume more zeal per heal.
• At level 3, Zealous Resolve becomes available and should carry your damage between heals.
• At level 6, Judgment unlocks and becomes the main zeal spend for burst damage.
• Do not spread points across every skill. A focused character with two or three maxed skills performs better than a character with six partial abilities.

Combat and Resource Tips for Every Underkeep Walkthrough

Evasion and armor are not equal choices for every character. Evasion is capped at 60% unless you are a Thief, and most backline characters will not have enough dexterity to make evasion reliable. Armor is usually the better fallback for low-dexterity support characters, while Thief can lean into evasion and push the cap higher.

Stun is stronger than paralyze in most fights. Stun stops the target from acting; paralyze only stops movement. That is why Skull Rattle is so valuable: it deals damage and can stun, so a failed stun is not a wasted turn. Pure control skills that deal no damage are riskier because a resisted effect leaves you behind on tempo.

Resource management decides how long your party can keep going. Martial classes spend stamina, wizards spend mana, and paladins spend zeal. Zeal is the most renewable because basic strikes rebuild it. Blood Mage is the most forgiving caster because bone costs stay low, and the class can also use blood when bones run out.

Marks are one of the best force multipliers in the game. Mark of the Dead and Hunter’s Prey both increase damage a marked enemy takes, and Execution Shot gains bonus damage against marked targets. If two characters can apply marks, your party can keep the debuff active across multiple turns.

Status effects are constant, especially burn, bleed, poison, and freeze. Endurance helps resist them, Void Caller’s Mend removes them, and Slugman’s fire weakness makes burn effects especially dangerous. Build at least one answer to status pressure instead of relying on raw healing alone.

FAQ

Which party setup is safest for a first Underkeep walkthrough?

Start with two durable front slots and two ranged back slots. A paladin plus warrior or thief up front, then ranger and blood mage or void caller in back, covers healing, control, and damage without stretching resources.

Which race is best for a first Underkeep walkthrough?

Human is the most flexible if your build wants three stats. Dwarf or stoneborn fit strength and endurance front liners, elk fits dexterity builds, and slugman fits endurance builds such as blood mage.

How many skills can I max in one run?

The level cap is 15, and each skill has five ranks. You can fully max about three skills, so choose a core and build around it instead of spreading points across every ability.

Is wizard or blood mage better for a smooth Underkeep walkthrough?

Blood mage is easier on resources because its spell cost stays at one bone even at higher ranks. Wizard has strong fire burst, especially after Fireball unlocks, but it consumes mana quickly and requires more potions or rest.