Best Starting Class Serpent's Gaze: Solo & Co-Op Tier List

The implicit question every new player asks when booting up Feeble Minds' punishing new action roguelite is simple: which build actually survives the first biome? The answer to finding the best starting class Serpent's Gaze has to offer depends entirely on whether you are playing solo or dropping into a co-op lobby. For solo runs, The Druid and Plague offer the highest survivability and standalone damage output. In a squad, however, the Support (Healer) becomes the undisputed best starting class in Serpent's Gaze, keeping your team alive against the game's brutal Awareness system.

Developed by ex-Coffee Stain studio veterans, Serpent's Gaze blends heavy, tactical soulslike combat with the creeping, randomized build creation of a roguelite. You play as a Scion—a warrior brought to life by the withering tree god Magnolia—tasked with vanquishing opposing deities across an ancient desert. Because your starting choice dictates your base stats, initial weapon, and foundational dodge mechanics, picking the wrong class dooms your run before you even reach the Attar'Esh cathedrals.

Here is the definitive tier list and mechanical breakdown of the starting classes in the current Early Access build.

01

Understanding the Best Starting Class Serpent's Gaze Metatag

Unlike traditional soulslikes where your starting class is just a minor stat allocation you can respec later, Serpent's Gaze locks you into your foundational archetype for the duration of the run. Your class determines your starting weapon mastery, your base health pool, and your innate passive abilities.

As you progress through the handcrafted levels, the game's "Awareness" system actively works against you. The longer a run goes on, the more the opposing gods take notice. This system introduces random environmental hazards and dispatches hunting minibosses to track you down. If your class lacks the burst damage to clear rooms quickly or the sustain to survive a war of attrition, the Awareness system will overwhelm you. Therefore, the meta revolves around two distinct strategies: overwhelming early-game physical damage to snowball your Scion's power, or high-utility support to keep a 4-player co-op team functioning when healing items dry up.

02

S-Tier: The Best Starting Class Serpent's Gaze Has for Solo Playerstag

For solo players who need to rely entirely on their own mechanical skill and damage output, two classes stand head and shoulders above the rest.

The Druidtag

The Druid is the quintessential vanguard of Serpent's Gaze. If you are looking for the Optimal Solo Survival Build, The Druid Scion is it. You begin the game with a standard One-Handed Sword, which offers the perfect balance of swing speed and stagger damage against the nomadic Majin enemies in the opening desert biome.

Mechanically, the Druid boasts High starting vitality for its Base HP, allowing you to absorb a stray hit without immediately burning a precious healing relic. Furthermore, its base Stamina pool is generous enough that it Allows 4 dodge rolls in rapid succession—a lifesaver when dodging the sweeping attacks of early bosses. Out of the gate, your damage profile is roughly Physical Damage 75% and Blight Damage 25%, depending on your initial relic rolls. Because of this balanced, sturdy foundation, the Druid is widely considered The most reliable vanguard for early Majin encounters. If you are playing SOLO and prefer MELEE combat tied to the lore of MAGNOLIA and the SCION, this is your pick.

Plaguetag

The Plague class is a high-risk, high-reward powerhouse that scales incredibly well into the late game, provided you understand how its mechanics actually work. In the current Early Access build, the community has rightfully pointed out that the Plague class tooltip is poorly worded. The in-game UI makes it difficult to tell if nearby enemies are debuffed when the player is inflicted with a status, or when the enemy is.

After extensive testing, we can confirm it is the latter. When you successfully apply a debuff to a target, the Plague class triggers a cascading AoE effect that spreads the rot to adjacent enemies. This makes it devastating in crowded arenas. If you focus your build on picking up Blessings that increase Blight DMG scaling, the Plague class can melt elite enemy health bars without requiring you to stay in melee range.

03

A-Tier: The Co-Op Kingstag

If you are diving into the desert with friends, the dynamic shifts entirely. What works for a solo Scion does not necessarily translate to a 4-player lobby where enemy health pools are massively inflated.

Support (Healer)tag

In a 4-player co-op run, healing is the most valuable resource in the game. Serpent's Gaze is incredibly stingy with restorative items, and the Support (Healer) class is the only reliable way to keep a bruised squad on their feet.

When looking at a Class Tier Breakdown, the Support / Healer (4-Player Co-Op) archetype sits firmly in the A-Tier, right behind the S-Tier damage dealers like the Druid and Plague (High Blight DMG). The reason is simple: it directly Counters the Awareness System. As the gods throw more hazards and minibosses at your team, chip damage is inevitable. A dedicated Support player negates this attrition. While it lacks the solo carrying potential of the S-Tier picks, any comprehensive Solo vs. Co-Op Viability Matrix will show the Healer as a mandatory inclusion for group play.

04

C-Tier: Classes to Avoid Early Ontag

Not all classes are created equal, and one in particular is suffering from severe Early Access growing pains.

The Summonertag

On paper, a class that commands an army of desert spirits sounds incredible. In practice, the Summoner (AI Pathing Issues) is fundamentally broken in the current patch.

If you attempt a run with this class, you will immediately notice that Summons get stuck on desert ruin terrain during Majin ambushes. They struggle to navigate simple staircases and frequently trap themselves behind pillars. Worse, the enemy AI completely ignores your minions. The Greatsword Miniboss ignores minions and targets the player directly, meaning your summons provide zero crowd control or aggro relief.

If you manage to drag your summons to the later stages, Minion pathing fails inside the Attar'Esh cathedrals entirely, leaving you alone in narrow corridors. Compounding these offensive failures is the fact that the Summoner's Low base HP makes the Scion vulnerable to one-shot mechanics from late-game elites. Until Feeble Minds overhauls the minion AI, avoid this class.

05

How Blessings Change the Best Starting Class Serpent's Gaze Metatag

Your starting class is just the foundation; the roguelite Curse and Blessing systems are what truly define your build. As you explore, you will find shrines dedicated to various deities, offering run-altering upgrades that can completely pivot your playstyle.

For example, a standard physical-damage Druid run can change instantly if The Scion finds a shrine to Magnolia. By interacting with the roots, you might be offered a glowing green relic with a visible sign reading "Mark of the Magnolia".

This specific Blessing dictates that a massive percentage of your Physical damage converts to Blight! Suddenly, your standard one-handed sword is melting through armored targets, because Blight damage bypasses heavy physical resistances natively found on enemies like the heavily armored Attar'Esh knight. Understanding these synergies is what separates players who die in the first biome from those who reach the Amalgamation of Severed Arms boss fight.

06

The Mid-Game Pivot: Weapon Masteries and Relicstag

It is also worth noting that your starting weapon is not a permanent ball and chain. While the Druid starts with a one-handed sword and the Vanguard might start with a heavier blade, you will unlock new Weapon Masteries as you defeat bosses.

Mage weapons, for instance, are completely absent from the starting loadouts. If you want to play a true spellcaster, you have to survive the early game with a melee or hybrid class, defeat the first major boss, and unlock the arcane arsenals hidden in the cathedrals. This makes your choice of starting class even more critical—it is the vehicle that carries you to the build you actually want to play.

07

FAQ: Best Starting Class Serpent's Gazetag

Can I change my class later in a Serpent's Gaze run? No. Once you select your starting class in the hub, you are locked into that archetype's base stats and innate passives for the duration of the run. However, you can drastically alter your playstyle by finding new weapons and stacking Blessings.

Are Mage weapons available as a starting class? In the current Early Access build, no. True spellcaster weapons and staves are locked behind mid-game bosses. You must start with a melee, hybrid, or summoner class and pivot into magic later in the run.

Does the Support class scale well in solo play? It is viable, but incredibly slow. The Support class lacks the burst damage required to clear rooms quickly, meaning you will spend a lot of time dodging and whittling down enemies. It is highly recommended to reserve the Support class for co-op lobbies.

Will the Summoner class be fixed? Developer Feeble Minds has acknowledged the community feedback regarding the Summoner's AI pathing issues on their official Discord and Steam forums. Fixes are expected in upcoming Early Access patches.

Choosing your Scion's path is the first true test the tree god Magnolia throws at you. Whether you choose the reliable steel of the Druid, the chaotic rot of the Plague, or the selfless utility of the Support, your starting class sets the tone for the entire pilgrimage. Master your foundational mechanics, adapt to the Blessings you find, and you might just survive the desert.