Every hero in Darkest Dungeon is an expendable cog in the grand scheme of things. After all, the fabled manor in which the game takes place is a meat grinder where adventurers go in and treasure comes out, with or without the majority of those adventurers. Even so, you'll want to practice a bit of consideration and think of preserving the lives of said adventurers.
With that in mind, picking the highest pedigree of these heroes ensures that some or most of their comrades make it out of dungeons alive. Some of them just happen to be more efficient than others in their intended roles. They're either easier to pilot or simply fit in well with any party. Make sure to include these heroes in your party to lighten up the Darkest Dungeon if only a little bit.
Updated November 1, 2021, by Sid Natividad: With Darkest Dungeon 2 well into Early Access, you know what time it is: time to brush up on your knowledge about the Darkest Dungeon's best classes. Because there is no better training than steeling yourself for the grim oppression of future hardships than immersing yourself into those past.
Of course, you wouldn't want to fail too often — so picking the best Darkest Dungeon characters for your party is almost mandatory. It's a game of brutal numbers after all, so every attack, every miss, and every inch gained in a dungeon run is a gamble for dear life. So take another look at this roster of Darkest Dungeon's best heroes and play them to prepare yourself for the sequel.
15 Jester
- Best camp stress healer
- Reliable Bleed damage auxiliary
Anywhere else, a fool would be useless. But in the most hopeless and dreary situations in the Darkest Dungeon, a bit of laughter won't hurt. That's where the Jester excels. He's actually one of the best stress healers in the game, particularly when it comes to camping.
Consequently, that makes the Jester less desirable for short dungeon runs where there's no need to camp. Still, medium and long dungeons are typically more profitable. So the Jester is always valuable. Apart from that, he also has a bit of Bleed damage for when your Hellion or other Bleed sources keep missing.
14 Musketeer
- Works similarly to the Arbalest
- Deals impressive backline damage
You want a sniper? Well, you got one. Put simply, the most dangerous or most damaging enemies in Darkest Dungeon are always at the rear of the rank. The Musketeer will deal with them quickly because she specializes in obliterating any enemy hiding behind the frontline meat shields.
Think of her as a more damage-focused Arbalest. Her guns, however, make her vulnerable in rank or position disruptions. If she ever gets pulled to the front, then your team might get in trouble since she'll lose her most functional purpose. Thankfully, that won't happen too often if you use trinkets that prevent the move disruption.
13 Flagellant
- Excellent bleed capabilities
- Excels in high-stress and near-death situations
Since there's no berserker-type class in Darkest Dungeon, the Flagellant takes the spot. The lower his health, the more dangerous he becomes. The Flagellant will receive a huge damage bonus if ever he dips into the Death's Door status.
With that said, he plays it pretty close to the chest so he might not be the best class for beginners. To make up for that, the Flagellant grants convenient tactical advantage by having lots of forward move skills, giving you resilience against move attempts. Also, he makes enemies bleed like a gutted pig. That's always good. He does have some weird quips that might stress out some of the other party members.
12 Shieldbreaker
- Good at attacking all ranks
- Tanky
- Versatile
The Shieldbreaker is a tank, but she's also a damage dealer and utility character thanks to her flexible kit. One of her main stat bonuses is PROT (or protection) so she can take hits like a champ. That doesn't mean she lags behind in other areas. Put her in the frontline and she might just win the battle all by herself.
She has the ability to strike at all ranks and even pierce armor. If ever the party's positioning gets disrupted, the Shieldbreaker has forward movement skills to help with tactical recovery. If all that's not enough, she can also inflict Blight on the enemies, which makes her scale well in the endgame.
11 Leper
- Clumsy at first
- Can deal incredible damage later on
Speaking of someone who can take hits, the Leper is a tough nut to crack. What he lacks in accuracy during the low levels he makes up for with inherent toughness and awe-inspiring reactiveness to Death's Door or stress breakdowns.
Once you start improving his skills and after he gains access to better moves, then the Leper becomes a beast in the frontline. He's great at trading blows with the enemy frontliners, and might even destroy them and their corpses thanks to his big damage potential. Again, not exactly a good class for beginners, but experienced players will relish the Leper's specialist role.
10 Vestal
- Best healer in the game
- Can stun enemies
The best hero for keeping your other heroes alive is none other than the Vestal. She's the cleric or medic equivalent in this game and has several healing skills that other heroes will find pretty hard to match.
She fits in all parties unless you're not keen on keeping everyone's health in check. Aside from her healing skills, the Vestal also has some decent stun abilities which put her in a pure support role. Even trinkets intended for her tend to turn her into a healing bot.
9 Plague Doctor
- Offensive support role
- Stun and Blight scale well into late-game
Think of the Plague Doctor as the polar opposite of the Vestal. She's highly intent on reducing the enemies' health in the most sinister way possible. That's why she has some reliable Stun and Blight skills to do the trick.
This puts the Plague Doctor on quite a high tier compared to other support classes since both of those skills can be lifesavers in long dungeons or in boss fights. Stun takes enemies out of combat while Blight is deadly against enemies with high protection.
8 Crusader
- Well-rounded hero
- Deals high damage
- Can heal stress and health
You simply can't go wrong with the Crusader. He's one of the first heroes to be introduced in the game and still holds well no matter which dungeon or level. He's a well-built character that can do tons of damage and also look after his teammates.
He's one of the best frontline heroes in the game. When not purging heretics in dungeons, he's either healing stress or offering protection during the heat of battle. Plus he looks great and intimidating with all that armor.
7 Arbalest
- Off-field healer
- Deals high damage, higher with Mark
- Can hit backline enemies
The Arbalest is another character you wouldn't want to ignore for a party. This is because backline enemies in Darkest Dungeon are a death sentence, and the Arbalest can deal with them fast.
Her powerful ranged attacks have good coverage as long as she's in an optimal rank in the party. More than that, she makes for a reliable healer during camping with her field medic skills. With her in the party, you can probably even forego the need for a Vestal.
6 Hellion
- Great frontline hero
- Deals high damage
- Can go toe-to-toe with the enemy frontline
- Has decent Bleed damage
The Hellion would be another solid option or alternative for the frontline if the Crusader is too sanctimonious or preachy for you. She's focused on one thing only: dealing damage to any hostile in front of her, and that usually means enemy frontliners.
The Hellion can hit multiple frontline enemies at once. At times, she can even cause them to bleed. Even without that kind of utility, she's still incredible at dealing big chunks of immediate damage.
5 Man-At-Arms
- Best tank in the game
- Can also protect other party members if need be
Man-at-Arms is Darkest Dungeon's attempt to make the game a bit easier for anyone, as he's one of the few certified meat shields in the hero roster. Lore-wise, he can no longer strike with his sword-arm as hard as he could in his prime.
Hence, he makes up for it in an overwhelming amount of defense. A Man-at-Arms in any party can draw fire to himself. When it comes to offensive utility, you can also take advantage of his Stun skills and push attacks to mess up the enemy team.
4 Highwayman
- Glass cannon
- Flexible and high damage dealer
- Can cause Bleed
The Highwayman is best summed up as a more versatile version of the Hellion except less suited for the frontlines. This pure damage-dealer class knows several ways of murder, be it bleeding an enemy to death or putting holes in their heads.
He's awesome for boss fights due to his penchant for dealing multiple kinds of damage types such as area, melee, Bleed, or ranged. Other than that, he really doesn't have other uses for the party — but he doesn't need to have other roles anyway.
3 Houndmaster
- Several roles
- Has everything you want in a hero
An even better jack-of-all-trades than the Crusader, the Houndmaster does everything and does it well. Thanks to his good boys, he can also stress heal on top of being able to heal himself and his dogs.
The Houndmaster also does Bleed damage and can mark enemies. He can also attack all ranks and shred some of the enemies' protection. He's just so good and self-sustaining that having a party consisting of four of him will work well no matter the content.
2 Occultist
- Can also heal
- Effective at disrupting enemy formations
The Occultist is also another semi-jack-of-all trades that can heal while dealing some devastating utility and damage to the enemy. Having him in a party automatically makes it better, even from just one skill.
That skill would be Daemon's Pull; it can ruin the enemy's formation and make them waste a turn or open up their vulnerabilities. Otherwise, the Occultist's wide-sweeping attacks and damage mitigation are also enough for any party.
1 Bounty Hunter
- Great single-target damage
- Can Stun repeatedly
Speaking of disrupting enemy tactics, the Bounty Hunter is an expert anarchist in the field. He can easily pull enemies and make them more vulnerable, true enough to his name.
What he excels in is doing high amounts of single-target damage as well as incapacitating a single enemy repeatedly thanks to his advanced Stun skills.