The Veil dropped ten playable races on players at launch and explained almost none of them in-game. Each one rewrites your stat sheet in a different direction — cast damage, summon health, resistance, luck, raw movement speed — and because races are rerollable at any time, the pick is less permanent and more of a build decision you keep revisiting.
Quick answer: Reroll toward Veilborne if you can hit it; otherwise take Underling or Goblin for casters, Gemhead for summoners, and Obelite for tanks. Rerolls are free at the Stylist NPC in the spawn town using daily reward rolls or code rewards.
The Veil race tier list: All 10 races ranked
| Tier | Races |
|---|---|
| S | Veilborne |
| A | Underling, Goblin, Gemhead, Obelite |
| B | Wraith, Human, Mushling |
| C | Skeleton, Hiveling |
There is no D or F tier here, and that is not politeness. Even the bottom two races carry a usable stat line; they just lose the comparison to something in A tier that does the same job without a permanent penalty attached.
Every race effect and rarity
| Race (tier) | Rarity | Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Veilborne (S) | Legendary | Dusk Weaver: weave caps at 4 stacks instead of 5, each stack gives +7.5% universal damage and speed (30% total); +10% insanity; unlocks a night-only skill |
| Underling (A) | Rare | +25% fire resistance, +10% regeneration, +15% cast damage |
| Goblin (A) | Uncommon | +20% luck, +10% cast damage, -10% cast cooldown |
| Gemhead (A) | Rare | +10% summon damage, +15% summon life |
| Obelite (A) | Epic | +10% resistance, +10% stone/stun resistance, +15% knockback, -10% speed, +8% base resistance; Exert Energy grants +15% resistance while active, then 15 seconds of reduced regeneration and stamina regeneration |
| Wraith (B) | Rare | 5% chance for any incoming hit to pass through you for no damage |
| Human (B) | Common | +5 max HP per prestige level |
| Mushling (B) | Uncommon | +10% regeneration, +10% healing, -10% stamina regeneration; Decompose skill |
| Skeleton (C) | Uncommon | -10% resistance, +10% speed, +10% summon damage |
| Hiveling (C) | Uncommon | +10% resistance at night, -10% resistance during the day, -10% attack speed, +10% damage |
Note: roll odds have never been published, and one race is held back entirely for community events, so the pool you can actually land on is smaller than the full roster.
Why Veilborne is the only S-tier race
Veilborne is the single Legendary race, and its Dusk Weaver passive does something no other race touches: it edits the weave system itself. Standard weaving climbs to five stacks worth 5% universal damage and speed each, for 25%. Veilborne cuts the ceiling to four stacks but pays 7.5% per stack, landing on 30% — a bigger number that you also reach one stack sooner.
Universal damage means it does not care whether you swing a greatsword, cast, or summon, and the matching speed bonus makes every build feel better in the maze. The night-only skill is bonus utility on top. The +10% insanity is the only real cost, and sanity pressure is already part of the nightly loop, so it rarely changes how you play.
A-tier races and the builds they serve
The A tier is where most players will realistically live, and the four races barely overlap. Underling is the strongest raw magic option at +15% cast damage, with fire resistance and regeneration bolted on for survivability. Goblin trades a chunk of that damage for -10% cast cooldown and +20% luck, which is why it is the better farming race even though it hits softer per cast.
Gemhead is narrow and unapologetic about it. Boosting summon damage and summon life does nothing if you are not running minions, but if you are, nothing else competes. Obelite is the dedicated tank: stacked resistances, stun resistance, extra knockback, and the Exert Energy active for a resistance spike. The -10% speed and the post-ability regeneration slump are real costs, and they are the reason it does not push higher.
| Build | Best race |
|---|---|
| Overall | Veilborne |
| Caster damage | Underling |
| Caster value and farming | Goblin |
| Summoner | Gemhead |
| Tank | Obelite |
| Simple scaling | Human |
B and C tier races, and what holds them back
Wraith’s 5% phase chance is free mitigation that costs you no accessory slot and works against every damage type, which is genuinely nice. It is also chance-based and averages out to about one dodged hit in twenty, so it never carries a build. Human is the opposite kind of pick — +5 max HP per prestige level is boring, permanent, and compounds quietly the longer you play. Mushling was the weakest race at launch until the day-one patch handed it the Decompose skill; the regeneration and healing bonuses now come with something to press, though the -10% stamina regeneration still stings.
Skeleton and Hiveling both give with one hand and take with the other. Skeleton’s +10% speed is useful and its summon damage is fine, but -10% resistance is a bad trade in a horde game, and Gemhead does the summoner job better anyway. Hiveling swings hardest on paper with +10% damage, then hands back a permanent -10% attack speed and flips its resistance bonus into a penalty every daytime cycle.
One naming quirk worth knowing: Wraith’s phase effect turns up listed as “Rat” in some race breakdowns, and Veilborne and Obelite are occasionally transcribed differently. The effects are identical across those listings — only the spelling moves.
How to reroll your race at the Stylist NPC
You know the reroll landed when the race screen shows the new race name and its passive list on your character. If your stat bonuses look unchanged, you either closed the screen before confirming or the reroll never spent, in which case your reroll count will still be the same number it was before.
How this ranking was built
Placements weigh each race’s actual passive numbers, how much of that value survives outside a specialist build, and what the drawback costs you in a game built around night hordes. Rarity is deliberately not a factor — Goblin is only Uncommon and still outperforms two Rare races, and Human being the starter race does not push it below anything.
This reflects the September 2026 launch build, Beta v1.0.0, including the day-one rebalance that gave Mushling its Decompose skill and Obelite its Exert Energy active. The game shipped on September 5, 2026, patches are landing quickly, and the developers have already confirmed that the half-finished Sanguine era gets completed in a later update — so treat the ordering below A tier as the version most likely to shift.
If you are early and sitting on Human, there is no rush. Rerolls are free, the Stylist is always there, and a Common race with prestige HP behind it clears the first nights fine while you save rolls for something that matches the build you actually want.
