Dungeon Settlers Race Tier List

Only Humans, Lizardmen, and Elves can be recruited in the current Early Access build. Elves require clan rank 2. Dwarves, White Demons, Tal, and Lycan exist as data or groundwork with recruit weight 0. This list ranks the three you can actually put on a party. Cross-check recruiting before you spend gold.

Weights: Human 100, Lizardman ~35, Elf 25 after rank 2. You will see more Humans. That is not a bug.

S — Specialist you build around

Elf (once unlocked)

Work: +30% research, +30% farming, −20% woodcutting. Combat: +2 bow, +2 nature, +1 water, −1 greatsword. Diet: Carnal Guilt (Mood −2) on meat; vegetarian line is free.

Elves are the best researchers and the cleanest bow/nature cores. They are also a kitchen project and a woodcutting penalty on a game that eats twigs. Hire them for the lab and the backline, not as your only hauler. Keep a Human or two for logs. Details on mood and food and stats.

A — Default excellent

Lizardman

Work: +20% mining, +20% taming, −20% research, −20% cooking. Combat: +2 greatsword, +1 shield, +1 blunt, −2 fire/nature/water. Diet: Plant Rage (Mood −2) on vegetables; meat line is free.

If you want a guard for the Red Monster Rat, this is the racial package. They mine the bones and ores your forge wants. They should not sit on the Research Station. A Lizardman cook is a joke the mood system will finish. Pair with a Human cook or accept a carnivore-only roster.

Human

Work: +20% woodcutting, +20% construction, +30% cooking, +15% XP. Combat: +1 sword, +1 greatsword, +1 fire. Diet: omnivore. Quirk: Growth Fatigue if XP sits at cap.

Humans are the glue. They cut the trees Elves will not, cook for mixed rosters, and level slightly faster. Sword/fire aptitude makes them fine all-rounders. They are rarely the best at a niche, which is why they sit in A instead of S — and why your first four hires will still be mostly Human. Level them on time so Growth Fatigue never becomes a fake mystery.

B — Situational

Any race with Poor combat talents belongs here regardless of the S/A header. A Poor-Strength Lizardman is a miner, not a guard. A Poor-Intelligence Elf is a farmer with Carnal Guilt. Hire them for camp jobs listed in the settlement guide, not for combat.

Backgrounds can shove someone down: claustrophobic (−80% mining), nature lover (−80% woodcutting), simple-minded (−80% research). Read the trait, not the ancestry icon. The inscriptions page covers the rest.

Not in the pool (yet)

• Dwarf — mountain crafter flavor, no names, weight 0.
• White Demon — lore about heretics who sided with humans; no art, weight 0.
• Tal — “mask,” unique personalities planned, most art-ready stub, still unhireable.
• Lycan — affecter groundwork and placeholder names, not a playable werewolf.

Do not plan a dwarf forge core in 2026. Watch the roadmap.

Kitchen matrix

Roster	Cook for	Risk
Human only	Anything	Growth Fatigue if you forget to pray levels
Lizardman heavy	Carnivore	Plant Rage on leftover salad
Elf heavy	Vegetarian	Carnal Guilt on dungeon meat
Mixed	Two lines	Extra farm and hunt work

Practical hire order

1. Human cook/builder with decent Constitution.
2. Lizardman guard if shield/greatsword talent is not Poor.
3. Human or Lizardman flex for the third and fourth expedition slots.
4. After rank 2, Elf researcher or bow if Intelligence/Agility popped.

If gold is tight, skip pretty inscriptions on labourers and save the surcharge for a Rare combat roll. Candidate refresh is 480 minutes; work camp while you wait.

Racial rank is a prior, not a destiny. Combine it with weapon tiers and party comps after you have looked at the talent row.