Rank the job, not the class name

A single S-to-D list hides the decision that matters: what must this hero do for this party? Current data supports clear specialist comparisons, but it does not support one universal ranking across tanking, damage, healing, growth, wages, traits, and every dungeon. This page records defensible leaders by measured profile and shows how to build a tier list that will survive contact with real recruits.

Tank specialist

Guardian

Highest health modifier and the most concentrated conventional defence: Threat 1.8, with Armor Use, Parry, and Mitigation at 1.7.

Damage ceiling

Arcanist

Highest damage modifier and maximum Spellcraft bias, balanced by the lowest health modifier and a real protection requirement.

Direct healing

Cleric

Maximum Healing weight, supported by Composure, Decisions, Concentration, and Anticipation rather than offensive breadth.

What those leaders do not prove

Specialisation is not universal superiority

Guardian does not automatically outrank Warden or Paladin. Warden trades part of the pure defensive concentration for Strength, Aggression, Power, and Crowd Control. Paladin adds Resolve, Bravery, Leadership, Discipline, and a meaningful Healing lean. If the party needs proactive control or stabilising breadth, the specialist leader may be the worse fit.

Arcanist's ×1.6 damage modifier does not make it free damage. Its ×0.66 health modifier puts more pressure on the tank, healer, and positioning. Blademaster offers a ×1.5 physical melee profile with neutral health, while Ranger supplies ranged damage with a ×0.95 health modifier and strong anticipation and execution weights. A lower ceiling that remains active can outperform a fragile specialist the party cannot protect.

Cleric leads the Healing weight, but Druid divides its top emphasis between Healing and Support and adds Teamwork plus Crowd Control. Bard leads Support and strongly favours Teamwork and Leadership. Ranking healers only by Healing discards the reason the other two classes exist.

Race rankings

Rank pairings, never races in isolation

Race tendencies gain value only through the class that uses them. Elf is a clean Ranger fit because Marksmanship, Agility, and Reflexes overlap while the Strength penalty misses the displayed class weights. Dwarf fits Paladin, Warden, and Guardian through defensive attributes. Half-Orc fits Warden through Strength, Power, Aggression, and Vitality while its Spellcraft penalty lands on a suppressed row.

The same race can be mixed or poor elsewhere. Halfling boosts Blademaster Agility and Reflexes but penalises its high-weight Power and Strength. Tiefling gives Paladin Resolve and Leadership but reduces Armor Use. Aasimar improves Arcanist Spellcraft and Composure while reducing Critical Strike. Good tiering must show the cost, not only the overlap that makes a pairing sound attractive.

Human deserves a separate note. Its three +1 team-oriented tendencies are modest, but it has no negative tendency and the fastest growth modifier at ×1.08. That makes Human a useful low-risk baseline, especially for Bard, without proving it is the best race for every class.

A defensible tier method

Score six dimensions separately

Role floor: can the hero perform the required tank, damage, or healer job?
Core completeness: are several defining attributes strong, not just one?
Party fit: does the candidate cover a weakness or create redundancy?
Risk: do health, negative tendencies, traits, or conditions expose a failure?
Timeline: when will growth and current age deliver useful performance?
Economics: are wage, signing cost, and Hall space justified by the upgrade?

Keep the six scores visible instead of collapsing them immediately. Two heroes with the same total can be completely different contracts: one safe and expensive, the other narrow and developmental. The party requirement decides which shape belongs in the higher tier.

When a global list helps

Use it to learn the extremes

A global list is useful for remembering measurable specialists: Guardian for conventional defence, Arcanist for damage ceiling, Cleric for direct Healing, Bard for Support, Human for growth, and races with +3 tendencies for particular attributes. It teaches the shape of the data and gives new players a set of pages to inspect first.

When it fails

Stop before signing a contract

The moment real heroes appear, the universal list loses candidate rolls, traits, age, wages, existing party members, and dungeon context. Replace it with the six-dimension comparison. A lower-ranked class that fills the vacancy with a complete, affordable hero is better than an S-tier label attached to the wrong job.

Keep rankings versioned

A tier list without a patch is not evidence

The class and race tables on this site are tied to the build shown in the header. When a value changes, a ranking based on the previous weight can remain internally logical and still be wrong for the current game. Put the version beside every published tier list, record the criteria, and link the source pages used for the decision.

For an actionable alternative, use the party builds as role frameworks, then apply the race and class selection guide to real candidates. Verify named bonuses in the synergy table and consult the changelog before reusing an older list. That produces a ranking someone else can audit instead of a row of unexplained letters.