Dark and Darker classes, builds, stats, and playstyles

Dark and Darker class guide — (Image credit: IRONMACE)

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Fighter build
Barbarian build
Rogue build
Ranger build
Wizard build
Cleric build

The best Dark and Darker builds mean understanding each class's strengths and weaknesses There's no point picking fighter and not taking advantage of its increased movement, or using a rogue and not playing to its high agility. Obviously what you choose will depend to some degree on your personal playstyle, but there are key factors you should always consider with any class choice in Dark and Darker.

There are six different classes to choose between, Fighter, Barbarian, Rogue, Ranger, Wizard, and Cleric and each require a good understanding of their strengths and potential weaknesses to really use effectively. This is especially important if you're playing with friends - a poorly scaled character on your own only affects you, but online you're letting everyone else down. To help you with your build, here’s an overview of all the Dark and Darker classes, along with details for some of their best perks and skills.

How to choose Dark and Darker class builds and understand the stats

Dark and Darker has pretty standard class types, ranging from the sturdy melee warrior to the nimble marksman. Once you’ve created a character, you can find an extensive list of stats in the ‘Class -Perks and Skills’ menu. This will also provide you with an overview of the character’s passive abilities, perks, and the character’s active abilities, the skills.

Here’s an overview of the most important stats when choosing a Dark and Darker class:

Dark and Darker Fighter build

Weapon: A variety of physical weapons, such as spears, swords, and daggers
Fast movement and attack speed
Great starter class

The Fighter is a jack of all trades. Their balanced skill set, along with their ability to equip a wide range of weapons and armour makes the Fighter a great starting class for new players. As many perks and skills are focused on increased movement speed, this Dark and Darker class is surprisingly fast. Swift and the Combo Attack are great perks for your first Fighter build.

Although the Fighter may use dual-wielding, and even equip weapons outside of their class restrictions (at the cost of physical damage), it’s easier to start with a native one-handed weapon and a shield. Sprint and Second Wind are great starter skills, as the first can help you loot faster and escape, while the second recovers 50% HP.

Dark and Darker Barbarian build

Weapon: Heavy weapons
High HP
High physical damage

Thanks to their amazing strength stat, the Barbarian is the sturdiest Dark and Darker class. They’re great at handling enormous, two-handed battle axes, and no other class has higher HP. The Barbarian’s perks are mainly focused on further improving these qualities. As a new Barbarian, it’s best to go for a defensive skill like Iron Will, which increases magic resistance, or an attack-based skill like Axe Specialization, which increases damage from axes.

Sadly, there’s always a trade-off. In the Barbarian’s case, the sturdiness comes at the cost of agility, resourcefulness, and knowledge, making this class tediously slow. As a result, the Barbarian is better suited for teamplay, as a frontline fighter who can leave the interactions and quick looting to others.

Dark and Darker Rogue build

Weapon type: Daggers
Very evasive
Great for solo play

The Rogue class is blessed with a very high agility stat, making them the fastest attackers in Dark and Darker. They can use an impressive variety of perks, such as increased dagger attack damage, improved backstab attacks, enhanced stealth, or poisoned blades. Rogues have a bunch of handy utility perks as well, including the ability to detect traps and pick locks without lockpicks.

The main downside of the Rogue class is its vulnerability, as they lack proper strength and resistances. The Hide skill, which turns the character invisible until they move, can greatly improve your survival chances. Combine it with the Weakpoint Attack, and you have a strong starter kit to explore your first dungeon.

Dark and Darker Ranger build

Weapon type: Bows
Can track and trap enemies
Great for solo play

Rangers shouldn’t use melee weapons any more than absolutely necessary, but they’re highly deadly from a distance. Besides being excellent bowmen, Rangers are also masters of ambush and evasion, as their perks can increase their hearing or detect recent enemy activity. Furthermore, the Ranger’s high resourcefulness and agility stats greatly increase item placement speed (including traps and campfires) and attack speed.

If you plan on playing the Ranger solo, it’s wise to use the Spear Efficiency perk, which allows you to use spears and increases your strength. If you’d rather double-down on those deadly shots, Sharpshooter and Nimble Hands are the best options. They go well together with skills like Multishot and Quick Fire.

Dark and Darker Wizard build

Weapon type: Magical weapons
Has powerful magical spells
Lots of buffs, including invisibility

This arcane fighter suffers from very low strength and resourcefulness, but makes up for it with their amazing spellpower. As a vulnerable damage dealer, the Wizard is strongest when protected by allies. As you might expect, most of the class perks are focused on increasing magic damage while decreasing casting time. Consider using Quick Chant for increased spellcasting speed, Reactive Shield for better defence, and Sage for more knowledge (increased spell memory and casting speed).

As for skills, Spell Memory and Meditation (revive spells) are a strong combo. Equip some low-cost spells, like Zap, a few stronger ones, like Magic Missile, and useful buffs. Invisibility is highly recommended, as it turns your Wizard (the name probably gave it away) invisible.

Dark and Darker Cleric build

Weapon type: Mace
Useful support abilities
Can both heal and deal good physical damage

The Cleric is currently the best support class in Dark and Darker. Thanks to their high will stat, they’ve got impressive spellpower and long-lasting buffs. The Cleric has a choice of perks that improve physical damage, protect against incoming damage, or heal the party. While the extra damage may benefit a solo player, it’s strongly recommended to focus on skills like Advanced Healer and Kindness if you’re in a party.

As for the Cleric’s skills, it’s best to use a Spell Memory, which then enables you to use strong magic abilities such as Holy Light (heals allies or damages enemies) and Cleanse (removes debuffs). The main disadvantage to be aware of when choosing this Dark and Darker class, is the slow attack and interaction speed.

Have you found the best Dark and Darker class yet? Good luck in the dungeons!