Classes

All ten classes, how to unlock them, and how multiclassing works

Unlocking a class

1. Melee fragment: fight with the class's starter melee weapon, usually bone or stone.
2. Ranged fragment: fight with the class's pipe gun (or a bow, for classes that use them). Not a higher-tier gun.
3. Craft both fragments using paper, combine them into the Class Book, and read it.

• Progress comes from damage and kills: headshots count for more than body shots, and kills count most. Your fragment progress shows in the crafting skills tab of the skills window, and in the indicator at the bottom left of the screen.
• Secondary weapons don't count toward a class you're training, though they still progress their own classes.
• The shortcut: read a weapon expertise book for one of the starter weapons to complete that fragment outright. You can also scrap unwanted expertise books into fragments, and fragments into the book you need.

Which weapons unlock which fragment

Each class book is one melee fragment plus one ranged fragment. Using the listed weapon (or a higher-tier one of the same type) unlocks the fragment recipe.

The Witch Doctor unlocks the same way as the standard classes; it is only "advanced" in that it needs level 8 to carry over. The Berserker is different, see below.

The ten classes

Most classes level from 1 to 10, and their weapon bonuses scale as they go. The Thug's damage bonus, for example, runs from +2.5% at level 1 to +50% at level 10. Top-tier weapon names come from a late-2024 video.

Auras

• An aura gives you and nearby allies a chance to trigger its effect.
• Craft the Aura mod at the forge from molten steel once the class is active. In the recipe list it's named after the class ("Hunter Aura Mod").
• Aura mods fit any armor slot, but only one of each type counts.
• Auras originally triggered only on ranged hits. A late-2024 update let melee trigger them too, with a better chance on power attacks. (2024 video)

How a class levels

A class levels through its weapon expertises. For the class to keep leveling, at least one of its weapon expertises has to be at the class's current level. Once the class catches up, progress goes back into the expertise. In practice, fighting with your class weapons levels both.

Multiclassing

• You can switch whenever you can build the next class book. To keep a class's bonuses and aura after switching, it has to reach level 6 first. The Witch Doctor needs level 8 and the Berserker level 10.
• Below that level, a class's bonuses switch off when it isn't active. Reach the threshold later and they come back.
• Your first class doesn't stop leveling when you switch. Every weapon type belongs to one class, and kills with it feed that class whichever class is active. A class that isn't active earns at half rate (with the Berserker active, other classes' melee kills earn 75%). Standard classes cap at level 10.
• Should you finish a class before adding one? Switch at the carry-over level if you mostly want the next class's skills sooner; the old class can still reach 10 later, at half speed, as long as you keep using its weapons. Finish it to 10 first if its higher levels matter to you and you plan to drop its weapons, since those levels go twice as fast while it's active.
• You're not stuck with a class weapon you dislike. After the class is active, you can use any weapon, and you unlock a new weapon type by reading its expertise book.
• The author's expectation is two, maybe three classes in a normal playthrough. Class XP rate is adjustable in the settings.
• Save expertise books for your next class so it doesn't start from level 1.
• Thug stuns pair well with ranged classes like the Hunter or Soldier.

The Berserker is different

• It has one weapon expertise, Melee, that covers every melee weapon type (spears, clubs, swords, axes, batons, knuckles, hammers, knives, scythes). Melee kills with other classes' weapons still feed those classes too.
• It has no expertise books, and it maxes at class level 15 instead of 10, so it's slow to level.
• How to unlock it: the Berserker book is two fragments, each made from another class's melee expertise fragment. Fragment 1 comes from a Thug, Technogeek, Madman or Builder melee fragment (the blunt weapons: clubs, batons, knuckles, hammers). Fragment 2 comes from a Hunter, Butcher, Soldier, Sous-Chef or Witch Doctor melee fragment (the bladed ones: spears, swords, axes, knives, scythes). Combine them into the book and read it. The fragments' in-game descriptions list these classes the other way round; the recipes, which are what the game uses, are as shown here. The starting Class Reference Book can also be turned straight into a Berserker book, so it can be your first class.
• Multiclassing: the Berserker can be combined with other classes. It stays on after you switch away once it reaches level 10, and while it's active, your other classes at level 6+ (Witch Doctor 8+) stay on as usual.
• Other classes' ranged weapons: while the Berserker is active, each class's own ranged weapons are locked. Below Berserker 10 none of them work; from Berserker 10, a class's ranged weapons work if you have that class on (level 6+, Witch Doctor 8+). On horde night everything works.
• Rage abilities only work while the Berserker is your active class.
• Always usable while it's active: every bow and crossbow, the pipe weapons, the rocket launcher, the LDT MGL and the Robotic Sledge. During a Blood Moon it gets full rage all night and every weapon works. Each class's top-tier melee weapon needs player level 40 and either that class or the Berserker.
• Page Down triggers defensive rage: faster attacks, higher jumps, faster movement, much faster stamina regen, and immunity to elemental damage. Page Up triggers offensive rage. Both need Rage Pills (the class description calls them rage capsules), which you can craft from class level 3.