Underkeep Beginner Guide – Food, Resting, Stats

Starting your adventure in Underkeep can be challenging, especially if you are unfamiliar with its turn-based combat, character classes, races, and exploration mechanics. The game has plenty of systems to learn, and making the wrong decisions early can make battles much harder than they need to be.

In this Underkeep Beginner Guide, we will explain everything you need to know before exploring the dangerous underground areas. From choosing your first party and understanding character stats to managing food, using skills, and dealing with enemies, I’ll cover the important mechanics that will help you survive.

If you are completely new to the game or simply want to improve your early progress, these beginner tips will help you build a stronger party, avoid common mistakes, and make better decisions during your adventure.

Underkeep Beginner Guide – Food, Resting, Stats

Underkeep is a turn-based RPG where your party explores dangerous underground areas, fights different enemies, collects resources, and discovers hidden objects.

Your party consists of multiple heroes, and each character has a specific role. Some characters are designed to deal damage, while others protect the party, heal teammates, or control enemies.

Before getting too far into the game, you should understand a few important mechanics:

• Each hero normally gets one action per combat round.
• You can use a basic attack or an active skill when it is your hero’s turn.
• Potions and inventory items are free actions.
• Certain skills can also be used as free actions.
• Your party cannot move after one of your heroes has taken an action until the round ends.
• Resting restores HP, Mana, and Stamina but consumes food.
• Positioning matters because melee characters cannot normally attack enemies from the back row without a skill or weapon that provides Reach.

Learning these rules early will make combat much easier.

2. Choose the Right Race for Your Character

Races provide different bonuses and disadvantages. Your choice can influence how well a character performs in combat, so it is worth understanding their abilities before creating your party.

Here are the available races and their main characteristics.

Human

Humans are a balanced race with no major weaknesses. Their biggest advantage is a 10% experience bonus, allowing them to gain levels faster.

Beginner tip: Humans are a safe choice if you do not want to worry about managing unusual racial disadvantages.

Dwarf

Dwarves are physically tough and receive 3% elemental resistance. They also have infravision, which helps them see in dark areas.

Beginner tip: Dwarves are useful for characters who spend a lot of time fighting on the frontline.

Stoneborn

Stoneborn characters cannot wear body armor. However, they receive additional armor at certain levels:

• Level 1: +1 Armor
• Level 5: +1 Armor
• Level 9: +1 Armor
• Level 13: +1 Armor

Beginner tip: Stoneborn characters can work well as Warriors or Paladins because their natural armor helps compensate for their inability to wear body armor.

Raven

Ravens begin with two random mutations: one good mutation and one bad mutation.

These mutations can significantly change how your character performs. Some provide powerful combat bonuses, while others introduce disadvantages that you need to manage.

Beginner tip: Check your Raven’s mutations before building your character around a particular role. Some combinations are much stronger than others.

Elk

Elk characters receive +1 Armor against Animals.

Beginner tip: This is particularly useful during early exploration when you encounter animal enemies such as rats and wolves.

Slugman

Slugmen are immune to critical hits but receive double Fire damage.

Beginner tip: Their immunity to critical hits can be useful, but you should be careful when fighting enemies that use fire attacks. Fire resistance becomes especially important for this race.

3. Understand All Seven Character Classes

Your party needs a good combination of damage dealers, defensive characters, and support heroes. Each class has a different purpose, so choosing the right combination is important.

Warrior

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The Warrior is a frontline physical damage dealer that mainly uses Strength. This class specializes in weapons, powerful attacks, taunts, and party buffs.

Warriors can use different weapon types, and some skills require specific equipment.

Best for: Players who want a straightforward frontline fighter.

Beginner tips:

• Focus on Strength to improve physical damage.
• Use taunt abilities to draw enemy attention.
• Choose skills that match your equipped weapon.
• Use defensive buffs when your frontline is taking heavy damage.

Paladin

The Paladin is a defensive frontline class that focuses on Strength and can benefit from Wisdom. It combines tanking, healing, and damage against undead and demons.

Paladins use a resource called Zeal. Basic attacks generate Zeal, while certain powerful abilities consume it.

Best for: Players who want a character that can protect and support the party.

Beginner tips:

• Build Zeal with basic attacks.
• Save Zeal for powerful finishing abilities when needed.
• Use healing skills when teammates are in danger.
• Take advantage of abilities that improve armor and protection.

Thief

The Thief is a fast physical damage dealer that focuses on Dexterity. It specializes in critical hits, evasion, bleeding, and attacks against weakened enemies.

Thieves can be dangerous when they combine their abilities with negative status effects.

Best for: Players who enjoy fast attacks and high damage against vulnerable enemies.

Beginner tips:

• Focus on Dexterity.
• Use skills that apply Bleed or other negative effects.
• Attack enemies already affected by status effects.
• Remember that evasion has a maximum limit.

Ranger

The Ranger is a ranged damage dealer that uses Dexterity. It specializes in precise attacks, marking enemies, and using elemental arrows.

Rangers are particularly useful when you want to eliminate dangerous enemies without placing another character on the frontline.

Best for: Players who prefer ranged combat and focused damage.

Beginner tips:

• Keep your Ranger in the back row.
• Mark important enemies before focusing your party’s attacks on them.
• Use elemental arrows to exploit enemy weaknesses.
• Take advantage of skills that deal additional damage to marked targets.

Wizard

The Wizard is a magical damage dealer that focuses on Wisdom. It uses Fire, Ice, and Lightning abilities to damage enemies and control the battlefield.

Wizards can also use defensive and utility abilities, making them useful in different combat situations.

Best for: Players who want powerful magic attacks and crowd control.

Beginner tips:

• Invest in Wisdom to improve your magical capabilities.
• Use Ice abilities to control dangerous enemies.
• Check enemy resistances before choosing an elemental attack.
• Keep your Wizard protected in the back row.

Voidcaller

The Voidcaller is a support class that focuses on Wisdom. It provides healing, barriers, debuffs, and auras that help the entire party.

This class is particularly useful for beginners because healing and defensive support can make difficult battles more manageable.

Best for: Players who want reliable healing and party support.

Beginner tips:

• Keep healing abilities available.
• Use defensive auras when your party needs extra protection.
• Remember that only one aura can be active at a time.
• Upgrade your preferred aura to improve its effects.

Blood Mage

The Blood Mage is a magical damage dealer that focuses on Endurance. It uses blood magic, bleeding effects, and abilities that consume health or bones.

This class can deal powerful damage, but it requires more resource management than some other classes.

Best for: Players who want a high-risk magical damage dealer.

Beginner tips:

• Collect bones and skulls whenever possible.
• Keep an eye on your Blood Mage’s HP when casting spells.
• Use bleeding effects to improve your damage.
• Avoid wasting blood magic abilities when your health is already low.

4. Best Starter Party Combinations

A balanced party makes the early game much easier. You should avoid building a party that only focuses on damage because you will also need healing, protection, and ways to control enemies.

Here are three useful party combinations to consider.

Classic Party

Position	Class	Role
Front	Warrior	Physical damage and tanking
Front	Paladin	Defense and healing
Back	Wizard	Magical damage
Back	Voidcaller	Healing and support

This is a good beginner setup because it gives you a strong frontline, reliable healing, and magical damage.

The Warrior and Paladin can handle enemies at close range, while the Wizard deals elemental damage from the back row. The Voidcaller provides additional healing and defensive support.

Hunter’s Pack

Position	Class	Role
Front	Warrior	Frontline damage
Front	Thief	Fast physical damage
Back	Ranger	Ranged damage
Back	Blood Mage	Magical damage and bleeding

This party focuses more on dealing damage. It has multiple ways to weaken enemies and eliminate dangerous targets quickly.

However, it has less traditional healing support than the Classic Party, so you need to manage health and consumables carefully.

Holy Order

Position	Class	Role
Front	Paladin	Tanking and healing
Front	Thief	Physical damage
Back	Voidcaller	Support and healing
Back	Wizard	Magical damage

This combination provides good defensive support while maintaining enough damage to deal with different enemy types.

My recommendation: If this is your first playthrough, start with the Classic Party. Having both a Paladin and Voidcaller gives you more options to recover from mistakes and survive difficult encounters.

5. Learn How Combat Works

Combat in Underkeep is turn-based. Each hero normally receives one action during a round, and you need to decide how to use those actions.

You can choose between basic attacks and active skills. Some abilities are stronger than basic attacks, but they may require specific weapons, resources, or character levels.

Basic Combat Rules

Keep these rules in mind:

• Each hero gets one normal action per round.
• Basic attacks and active skills use that action.
• Potions and inventory items are free actions.
• Certain abilities can be used without consuming your normal action.
• The round ends after every hero has acted or when you use the hourglass button.
• Your party cannot move after a hero has acted until the round finishes.

One of the biggest beginner mistakes is wasting actions on unnecessary attacks or movement. Always think about which enemy is the biggest threat before choosing an ability.

Understand Front Row and Back Row

Your party’s positioning is extremely important.

Frontline characters are generally expected to fight enemies at close range. Characters in the back row are safer from many melee attacks, but they usually cannot use normal melee attacks against enemies.

If a back-row character needs to attack an enemy in melee range, they will need a skill or weapon that provides Reach.

You should generally keep Warriors, Paladins, and suitable Thieves in the front row, while Wizards, Voidcallers, Blood Mages, and Rangers perform their roles from the back row.

Focus Your Attacks

Instead of spreading damage across multiple enemies, try to eliminate one dangerous enemy at a time.

For example, if an enemy can poison your party or disable your characters, focus your attacks on it before dealing with weaker enemies.

This reduces the number of enemy actions you have to deal with during the fight.

Use Crowd Control

Some abilities can freeze, stun, blind, or otherwise weaken enemies.

These effects can be more useful than dealing a little extra damage because they prevent enemies from attacking effectively.

Use control abilities against enemies that deal heavy damage or have dangerous abilities.

Check Enemy Resistances

Not every enemy takes the same amount of damage from every attack.

Some enemies resist certain elements, while others have special weaknesses. Before using powerful elemental abilities, pay attention to the enemy’s characteristics.

Using the correct damage type can make a difficult encounter much easier.

6. Understand Character Stats

Character stats determine how well your heroes perform. Different classes benefit from different attributes, so you should avoid investing points without understanding what they do.

Here are the important stats and their effects.

Stat	Main Effect
Strength (STR)	Improves physical damage
Dexterity (DEX)	Improves accuracy, critical chance, and evasion
Wisdom (WIS)	Improves magical abilities, Mana, and elemental resistance
Endurance (END)	Improves blood magic resistance and helps against some status effects

Important Combat Formulas

The following formulas help explain how character stats influence combat:

Base Damage:

Strength / 2 + Weapon Damage + Bonuses

Physical Damage:

Base Damage – Target Armor + Sharpness

Critical Damage:

Normal damage × 1.75

Melee Critical Chance:

Dexterity / 10

Ranged Critical Chance:

Dexterity / 7

Ranged Hit Chance:

Dexterity × 10 – Enemy Evasion

Evasion:

Dexterity × 2%, with a maximum of 60%.

Mana per Level:

2 + Wisdom

Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Poison Resistance:

Wisdom × 2

Blood Magic Resistance:

Endurance × 2

Which Stats Should You Prioritize?

• Warrior: Prioritize Strength for physical damage.
• Paladin: Focus on Strength, with Wisdom also useful.
• Thief: Prioritize Dexterity for critical hits and evasion.
• Ranger: Focus on Dexterity for ranged attacks.
• Wizard: Prioritize Wisdom for magical abilities.
• Voidcaller: Focus on Wisdom for support and magical abilities.
• Blood Mage: Invest in Endurance for its class-related benefits.

The most important thing is to build each hero around their main role instead of trying to make every character good at everything.

7. Learn About Status Effects

Enemies can apply different status effects during combat. Some deal damage over time, while others prevent your characters from taking actions.

You should learn how these effects work because ignoring them can quickly put your entire party in danger.

Status Effect	What It Does	How to Deal With It
Poison	Deals damage every round, with a minimum of 1 damage	Poison Cure Potion or Void Mend at Level 4
Burn	Deals Fire damage every round	Frostvein Draft or Void Mend at Level 3
Freeze	Causes the affected character to skip a round	Frostvein Draft
Bleed	Removes HP every round	Void Mend at Level 2
Stun	Prevents the character from acting	Thunderwake Draught or Void Mend at Level 5
Paralyze	Prevents movement, but the character can still attack	Thunderwake Draught
Blind	Reduces hit chance by 50%	Wait for the effect to end
Disease	Prevents recovery while resting	Cure the disease before resting
Mental Fog	Prevents skill usage for a few rounds	Wait for the effect to end
Slime Corrosion	Reduces armor	Wait for the effect to end

Important Status Effect Tips

Do not rest while affected by Disease. Disease prevents normal recovery, so using food to rest may not give you the results you expect.

Keep healing and curing items available. A character affected by Poison, Burn, or Stun can become a serious problem if you ignore the effect.

Use Voidcaller support. Void Mend is especially useful because it can remove several negative effects as it gains levels.

Remember that Paralyze is different from Stun. A paralyzed character cannot move, but can still attack. Stun prevents the character from acting.

8. Collect Food and Manage Resting

Food is one of the most important resources in Underkeep.

Your party shares its food supply, and resting consumes food to restore HP, Mana, and Stamina. This means you should not waste food by resting after every small encounter.

When Should You Rest?

You should consider resting when:

• Several characters have lost a significant amount of HP.
• Your party has used a large amount of Mana.
• Your characters need to recover Stamina.
• You have finished a difficult encounter and want to prepare for the next one.

However, you cannot rest when enemies are nearby or when your party does not have enough food.

How to Save Food

• Search every area for food and useful supplies.
• Avoid resting when only a small amount of recovery is needed.
• Do not waste food by digging graves unnecessarily.
• Cook available ingredients into useful meals.
• Keep enough food for difficult areas where supplies may be limited.

Remember that food is shared by your entire party, so every resting decision affects everyone.

9. Explore Every Area Carefully

Exploration is an important part of Underkeep. You can find useful equipment, resources, hidden objects, and supplies by searching areas thoroughly.

Do not simply follow the main path. Check corners, walls, objects, and locations that look unusual.

Search These Locations

• Garbage piles
• Hollow trees
• Alcoves
• Tombstones
• Walls near dead ends
• Pressure plates
• Pushable objects
• Fragile objects
• Signposts

Some useful items are hidden in places that are easy to overlook.

Use the Map

Press M to open the map.

The map helps you understand the layout of the area and find places you have already explored. Pay attention to its legend because it can help you identify important locations and objects.

Activate Portal Stones

Whenever you find a portal stone, interact with it to activate it.

Portal stones provide fast travel, making it easier to revisit previously explored areas without walking through the same locations repeatedly.

Activating them as soon as you discover them is a good habit.

10. Understand Exploration Tools

You will find different tools during your adventure. Some are required to access hidden resources, while others help you interact with objects.

Tool	Purpose
Pickaxe	Breaks collapsed rocks
Reinforced Pickaxe	Required for certain stronger rock obstacles
Shovel	Allows you to dig graves
Golden Chisel	Used to collect gold from gold veins
Lockpick Tools	Opens locked chests
Mortar and Pestle	Used for alchemy and cooking

Important Tool Tips

Pickaxe: Use it when you find collapsed rocks blocking a path. Some obstacles require a Reinforced Pickaxe.

Shovel: You can use it to dig graves, but doing so consumes food. Make sure the reward is worth the cost.

Golden Chisel: Keep it available when exploring areas with gold veins.

Lockpick Tools: Use them to open locked chests and access additional rewards.

Mortar and Pestle: This is useful for preparing potions and cooking recipes.

You should search thoroughly before leaving an area because some tools can unlock additional rewards or paths.

11. Learn Alchemy and Cooking

Alchemy and cooking help you prepare useful consumables that can make your adventure easier.

Potions are particularly important because they allow you to recover health, restore resources, and remove negative status effects.

Some useful recipe categories include:

• Health potions
• Mana potions
• Stamina potions
• Poison cures
• Frostvein Drafts
• Thunderwake Draughts
• Mindwell potions
• Armor bonuses
• Evasion bonuses
• Elemental resistance bonuses
• Resurrection items
• Permanent Mana boosts

Cooking can also help you turn ingredients into meals that support your party’s recovery.

Do Not Be Afraid to Experiment

You can experiment with ingredients when preparing recipes. Incorrect combinations fail without consuming the ingredients, so experimenting can help you discover useful recipes.

However, make sure you keep enough important ingredients for recipes you already know.

Always Keep Emergency Items

I recommend carrying items that can restore HP and remove dangerous status effects.

Poison, Burn, and Stun can make difficult fights even harder, so having the correct consumables available can save your party.

12. Manage Your Gold Carefully

Gold is shared by your party, so you need to think carefully before spending it.

You will find different opportunities to purchase equipment and other useful items during your adventure.

Your priority should be to buy upgrades that improve your party’s overall performance.

What Should You Spend Gold On?

• Better weapons for your main damage dealers.
• Armor and defensive equipment for frontline characters.
• Useful equipment upgrades for your support heroes.
• Important supplies when your inventory is running low.

Save Gold for Revival

One of the most important beginner tips is to keep some gold available for reviving fallen characters.

If a hero dies, you may need to pay at a Revival Statue to bring them back. Spending all your gold on equipment can leave you without enough money when you need a revival.

You can also sell unwanted gems and ores to earn additional gold.

13. Understand Raven Mutations

Raven characters have a special mechanic involving mutations.

Every Raven starts with one random good mutation and one random bad mutation. These mutations can change how the character performs in combat.

Some mutations are extremely useful, while others introduce weaknesses that require careful planning.

Good Raven Mutations

Mutation	Effect
Redundant Organs	Has a 40% chance to survive lethal damage with 1 HP
Roommate from Void	Melee attacks restore 5% of damage dealt as healing
Predator Instinct	Deals 10% additional damage against enemies below 50% HP
Adrenal Spike	Gains +4 damage and +4% critical chance below 30% HP
Gravemind Link	Restores 5 Mana and Stamina when a nearby enemy dies
Static Carapace	Punishes enemies that attack the Raven in melee
Crystal Chitin	Provides a defensive effect against melee attackers
Spore Spit	Punishes enemies that attack the Raven
Iron Mandibles	Applies a small Bleed effect

Bad Raven Mutations

Mutation	Effect
Backseat Parasite	Has a 50% chance to hit a random enemy
Allergic to Ice	Ice damage freezes the Raven for two rounds
Molting Season	Receives double Fire damage
Cracking Shell	Takes 15% more melee damage
Arcane Appetite	Spells cost 1 additional Mana
Heavy Metabolism	Basic attacks consume Stamina
Weak Circulation	Reduces maximum Stamina by 10
Glutton Parasite	Reduces Strength by 2 when food is below 10
Slow Regeneration	Reduces healing received by 25%
Reverse Osmosis	Doubles potion healing but also doubles Poison damage
Phase-Slip Carapace	Has a 50% chance to dodge spells but takes double damage when hit

Raven Beginner Tips

Before deciding how to build your Raven, check both mutations.

For example, a Raven with Predator Instinct can work well as a damage dealer because it receives additional damage against weakened enemies.

On the other hand, a Raven with Molting Season needs to be careful around enemies that use Fire attacks.

Do not focus only on the good mutation. The negative mutation can have a major impact on your character’s performance.

14. Know Your Early-Game Enemies

Different enemies have different strengths and weaknesses. Understanding their behavior will help you choose which abilities to use.

Here are some enemy types you may encounter during early exploration.

Enemy	Type	What to Watch Out For
Giant Rats	Animals	Basic early enemies
Underfangs	Animals	Can threaten weaker characters
Grassfang Snakes	Animals	Can inflict Poison
Wrathclaw Wolves	Animals	Dangerous physical attackers
Wrathspinners	Spiders	Can apply status effects
Stormspinners	Spiders	Can use dangerous effects against your party
Boneblades	Undead	Vulnerable to abilities suited for fighting undead
Boneblade Archers	Undead	Ranged attacks can threaten back-row characters
Orc Fighters	Orcs	Have armor that makes physical damage less effective
Ooze Cubes	Oozes	Can cause armor corrosion

How to Fight These Enemies

Animals: Elk characters receive additional armor against Animals, which can help during early encounters.

Grassfang Snakes: Be careful about Poison. Keep a cure available if your party does not have a Voidcaller who can remove it.

Spiders: Pay attention to status effects and try to eliminate dangerous spiders before they repeatedly weaken your party.

Undead: Paladins are particularly useful against undead enemies. Use their abilities when fighting these enemies.

Orc Fighters: Their armor can reduce physical damage, so consider using skills that ignore armor or magical attacks.

Ooze Cubes: Watch out for Slime Corrosion because reduced armor can make your frontline much easier to defeat.

15. Best Beginner Tips to Remember

Here are some important tips that I recommend following throughout your first playthrough.

Save Your Game Frequently

Make regular saves, especially before entering dangerous areas or starting difficult encounters.

You should not rely entirely on automatic progress. Saving frequently gives you the option to recover if something goes wrong.

Rest Before Difficult Fights

If your party has low HP, Mana, or Stamina, rest before entering a dangerous encounter whenever possible.

Just make sure you have enough food and are not resting near enemies.

Use Free Actions First

Some skills and inventory items do not consume your normal combat action.

Use these abilities before spending your hero’s main action. This allows you to get more value from each combat round.

Check Your Skills and Equipment

Not every skill works with every weapon. Some abilities require specific weapon types or equipment.

Before using skill points, check the requirements and make sure the character has the correct weapon equipped.

Do Not Waste Movement

Once one of your heroes has acted, your party cannot move until the round ends.

Position your heroes before starting your attacks. This is especially important when you need to move a character into melee range.

Keep Your Back Row Safe

Rangers, Wizards, Voidcallers, and Blood Mages are generally better suited to the back row.

Do not expose your support and ranged characters to unnecessary melee attacks.

Carry Potions

Potions and inventory items are free actions, making them extremely useful during combat.

Keep health-restoring items and status cures available for emergencies.

Activate Every Portal Stone

Portal stones make travelling between explored areas easier.

Always interact with them when you discover one.

Search Everything

Do not ignore objects that look unimportant. Hidden resources and useful items can be found in garbage piles, hollow trees, tombstones, alcoves, and other locations.

Keep Gold for Revivals

Equipment upgrades are useful, but do not spend every coin you have. Keep some money available in case you need to revive a fallen hero.

16. Recommended Controls and Settings

You can improve your experience by adjusting the controls and settings before starting your adventure.

Important Keyboard Controls

Key	Action
WASD	Move
Q / E	Rotate or use directional controls
Arrow Keys	Movement
M	Open Map
Y	Pick Up All
Right-Click Item	Pick up one item
Right-Click Skill Slot	Change active skill
Hourglass Button	End the combat round

You can rebind controls through Options > Controls.

I recommend setting up convenient keys for the following actions:

• Attack
• Use Skill
• Quick Save
• Quick Load
• Open important panels
• Rest
• Skip Round

Recommended Settings

Some settings can make exploration and combat easier to understand.

• Turn off movement and turning animations if you prefer faster gameplay.
• Disable item tooltip delays so you can check items quickly.
• Enable the option to show items behind objects.
• Keep automapping enabled.
• Adjust floating combat text based on your preference.
• Choose a font size that is comfortable to read.
• Review accessibility settings before starting.
• Change the difficulty whenever you need a different challenge.

You do not need to use the default settings. Adjusting them to your preferences can make the game more comfortable.

Underkeep has several mechanics that you need to understand before making progress, but the game becomes much easier once you learn how combat, positioning, food, and character classes work.

For your first playthrough, I recommend using a balanced party with a Warrior, Paladin, Wizard, and Voidcaller. This combination provides reliable frontline defense, magical damage, and healing support.

Most importantly, save frequently, collect food, search every area, activate portal stones, and keep some gold for revivals. Once you understand these basics, you will be much better prepared to explore the underground world and face its more dangerous enemies.