What's the best class in Dark and Darker?
It's a bit debatable what the best class in the game is, so we have decided to explain each class and pick the ones that are easier for new players to grasp.
Well, it’s official, Ironmace’s Dark and Darker is set to make the jump to mobile sometime in 2024. The hardcore extraction shooter (or should that be extraction hack-n-slash?) made waves with its beta on Steam before being embroiled in a legal battle when publisher Nexon accused the developers of infringing on their intellectual property.
However, as announced back in August, that hasn’t stopped equally massive publisher Krafton from taking on the licence to bring Ironmace’s hotly-anticipated game to mobile. A short gameplay demo revealed earlier this month also confirmed some features of the title, such as a third-person perspective and a familiar roster of classes.
But what’s this? Classes? Stats? Magic? This isn’t exactly like every other modern military extraction shooter, so if you’re confused, here’s a breakdown of the classes in Dark & Darker and what they mean for your dungeoneering efforts…
What is Dark & Darker?
Dark and Darker is a dungeon-crawling extraction shooter that tasks a group of up to three players to work their way through a fantasy dungeon, fighting enemies and looting treasure as they go. But it’s not just you and the monsters, as other teams of players are also there and willing to kill for their share of the gold and treasure.As you fight, and hopefully win, you’ll extract via portals back to the main base of the tavern. From there you can equip stronger weapons and other items, building your motley three-man crew into a dungeoneering force to be reckoned with. But be careful, because one wrong step and you lose it all because dying in the dungeon means everything you took with you is now forfeit.
But, without further ado let's get into the classes of Dark and Darker and what it offers.
1
What are Classes?
Unlike other extraction shooters, Dark & Darker has players select from a variety of classes, as you would in a fantasy RPG. Each of these classes level up individually, and you can slowly unlock new perks and skills that let you have a fighting chance even if you end up losing all your gear in a run gone wrong.
While Dark & Darker has been out in early access on PC for a while, we don’t yet know what classes will make the cut for the initial release on mobile. So, for the sake of argument, we’re going to cover all of them in brief and update as and when we have more information!
For the sake of brevity, we’re going to split these classes into two categories, Magic and Non-Magic. Here’s a brief explanation for each category...
2
Non-Magical Classes
Your classic set of mundane warriors, these classes focus on simple-to-learn but hard-to-master abilities. Boasting high melee stats and self-buffs or other special abilities, they nonetheless lack the spells and other attributes magical classes have. They are Fighter, Barbarian, Rogue and Ranger.
The Fighter is a “Master of Arms” and consequently they focus on versatility in combat. Able to equip a wide variety of weapons and skills, they can use abilities including Second Wind to recover health without using other’s spells or potions, or Adrenaline Rush to vastly increase their movement speed.
The Barbarian, meanwhile, is “The Brawny Warrior” and is focused on pure, raw damage output. They mainly focus on frontline combat, and are exceptional warriors, but need strong support from their teammates for things like healing and spells. Using skills such as Savage Roar to frighten enemies and War Cry to buff their teammates they form an excellent lynchpin.
The Rogue is “The Sly Assassin” and breaking with the commonality thus far, the Rogue can become invisible using abilities such as Hide or dodge away from attacks with Backtumble. They concentrate on sneaky attacks and kneecapping their opponents. They’re the bane of any backline support or Ranger and can move around enemy NPCs with ease.
Finally, we have The Ranger, “An Astute Hunter”, Rangers are currently the best and most prominent non-magical ranged class. The Ranger will form the backbone of any team with a ranged component and can also use skills such as Multishot or Quick Fire to enhance their ranged output.
3
Magical Classes
A brief note on magic: Magic is somewhat difficult to learn and harder to master. However, it also represents possibly the most varied skill set in the game. As with the classic fantasy roleplaying games that Dark & Darker is based on, magic-users are a core part of many potential party set-ups, but they’re not for the faint of heart (or the low of INT). They are: Wizard, Warlock, Bard and Cleric.
The Wizard, “The Almighty Sorcerer” is the most prominent of magic users. Weak in melee, slow and with low health, they may seem more a burden than a boon. But they boast a huge variety of spells, with everything from Invisibility, Fireball and Ignite to Chain Lightning, a Wizard can do huge damage to both NPCs and players alike in mere moments.
The Warlock, meanwhile (sadly no epithet available for them) casts spells from their health, and boasts a much crueller variety of spells. Abilities such as Evil Eye can be used to remotely scan nearby rooms, while they can use perks and abilities to mitigate their health damage from casting - which still allows for functionally limitless casts regardless. The Warlock is still a WIP, so is the class most likely to not see the cut for the initial mobile release.
Next, we have The Bard, “The Magical Minstrel”. Unlike the other magic users, the bard has a unique mechanic, requiring players to play out a mini rhythm game in order to cast a variety of musical “spells”. For players confident in their timing and able to rely on their teammates this makes the Bard a fantastic support class to bring along.
Finally, we have The Cleric, “A guardian angel”, and very much so. They not only have solid melee stats that grant them much greater survivability on their own than the other classes but also possess the ability to heal other players’ otherwise non-recoverable HP (as only a portion of damage taken can be healed with other means).
4
Dark and Darker Classes Ranked
To rank these classes from top to bottom, in terms of difficulty and usability we would select them like so…
- Cleric - Very user-friendly, healing spells give plenty of breathing room for newer players and their teams.
- Fighter - The most “classic” and familiar of classes that everyone can grasp and get use out of.
- Barbarian - A little harder to use, but possesses great potential for high damage.
- Ranger - The lack of close-combat options makes them a bit more difficult, but with a good team, you’ll be in the backlines.
- Wizard - The entry-level magic user and the one with the most spells to choose from, highly recommended to at least try them out to grasp the system.
- Bard - A unique mechanic that makes them exciting and interesting to play, but not for beginners.
- Warlock - The newest and one of the most difficult to get to grasp, but has the potential to be powerful in the right thanks.
So, now that you have learned about what's the best class in the game, learn how to earn gold and other currencies in Dark and Darker. You can never have enough anyway!
