Dungeon Settlers Hire Settlers Worth a Career

Recruiting is the transfer window of Dungeon Settlers. Gold, clan rank, and a 480-minute refresh timer decide who sits on the bench. A bad hire is not a cosmetic mistake: talents lock growth, diets lock your kitchen, and permadeath means the person you skipped inspecting may be the person who dies to the Red Monster Rat. Read this after the beginner guide and before you trust the race tier list.

The candidate pool

New units appear as candidates. The list refreshes every 480 in-game minutes (a third of a day at the 18-minute day length). You can inspect a candidate before buying; inspection reveals hidden talents. Skip that click and you are rolling a career blind.

Candidate count and level scale with clan rank. Low ranks show about 6–7 people; higher ranks push toward 8–10 and higher starting levels. The current build caps usable clan rank early (ranks 3–7 exist in data but stay locked), so do not wait for a mythical rank-7 market. Rank 2 is the practical milestone because Elves only appear from rank 2.

Price, inscriptions, and why the surcharge is often a bargain

Price has two parts:

1. Level component — roughly 120 gold at level 1 up to about 4,200 at level 12, plus a small random swing.
2. Inscription surcharge — Common +200, Uncommon +400, Rare +800, Legendary +2,000 gold.

Born-with inscriptions use the same rarity weights as level-up rolls (about 807 / 170 / 20 / 3 per 1,000). A candidate who already holds a Rare or Legendary inscription is usually cheaper than trying to hit that rarity later, especially once Greater mana stones dry up. The inscriptions page lists the dangerous trades (Gloom’s +20% stats for Mood −3) so you do not buy a misery machine you cannot feed.

Talents: the actual scouting report

Each settler has six major stats — Strength, Constitution, Willpower, Intelligence, Agility, Perception — and a talent tier per stat: Poor, Moderate, Outstanding, Exceptional, Genius. Starting talent sums hover around 2–5 tiers across all six. One Exceptional or Genius score is a find; a sheet of Moderates is a labourer, not a twelve-level carry.

Inspect, then hire for the job you need:

• Frontline wants Strength and Constitution, plus Shield or Greatsword aptitude.
• Bow wants Agility and Perception.
• Caster / researcher wants Intelligence and Willpower.
• Camp specialist can live with weaker combat talents if cooking, farming, or research bonuses are huge.

The stats and talents guide explains per-level gain ranges and offering multipliers. Do not spend Plentiful offerings on a Poor-talent stat.

Races you can actually hire

Weights in the current build: Human 100, Lizardman ~35, Elf 25 from rank 2 (about 16% of the rank-2 pool). Dwarf, White Demon, and Tal have weight 0. Lycan exists as trait groundwork, not a recruitable race.

Short version (full rankings on the race tier list):

• Human — flexible omnivores, bonus XP, woodcutting/building/cooking, sword and fire aptitude. Their mood quirk is Growth Fatigue if you leave XP capped; level them promptly.
• Lizardman — mining and taming, greatsword/shield/blunt aptitude, weak research and cooking, hates vegetables (Plant Rage). Excellent guards.
• Elf — research and farming, bow and nature/water aptitude, hates meat (Carnal Guilt), weaker woodcutting. Unlock at clan rank 2, then steal them for the lab.

Backgrounds (blacksmith, carpenter, deserter, messenger, and dozens more) twist those racial baselines. A claustrophobic miner is a meme, not a plan.

Diet is a roster constraint

Elves take Mood −2 from carnivore food. Lizardmen take Mood −2 from vegetarian food. Humans eat both. A mixed-race roster needs a mixed pantry — see mood and food. If you refuse to cook two lines, hire one race and lean into it. That choice also drives party compositions.

Unique names and presets

Some named settlers appear as scenario or unique profiles and do not show in the normal recruitment list. Do not hunt the market for a specific unique name you saw in a trailer. The market is a weighted random table, not a collection checklist.

Hiring script for the first week

1. Inspect everyone. Note Genius/Exceptional stats in writing if you have to.
2. Buy a shield-capable body (often Lizardman) and a flexible Human.
3. Fill remaining slots with a bow or caster if talents allow; otherwise hire a hauler-cook for camp.
4. Pay the inscription surcharge when the inscription is actually good.
5. After clan rank 2, reroll mentally for Elves with research or bow talent.
6. Never spend your last gold on a pretty portrait if camp has no food. The settlement guide still has to run.

Refresh is 480 minutes. If the board is trash, work the camp, run a short expedition, and come back. Panic-hiring is how mediocre Moderates clog your population cap.

Official store copy mentions “a curious Lizardman with a drifter’s past.” That line is flavor. Your job is to read the talent row under the flavor.