The Veil Race Tier List — Best Races by Playstyle
A reasoned tier list of all 10 races in The Veil, with verified trade-offs, playstyle-based picks, and guidance on when to keep or reroll your race.
Quick answer: For general play, the legendary race — called Whaleborn in the gameplay video and the wiki tier list, and Veilborne by ProGameGuides — is the consensus S-tier pick. Its Dusk Weaver trait caps weaves at 4 stacks instead of 5, granting +7.5% universal damage and +7.5% speed per weave (30% total vs the normal 25%), plus +10% insanity and a night-only skill. Below it, the best pick depends entirely on your build: Underling or Goblin for casters, Gemhead for summoners, Obelite for tanks. There is no universal winner — the ranking below weights combat potential, survivability, utility, and fit with popular builds, and does not weight how easy a race is to obtain.
Recommendation summary
- Any build: the legendary race if obtainable; otherwise Human is the reliable but modest default, and Rat/Wraith gives universal passive avoidance.
- Mage / caster: Underling for raw cast damage (+15% cast damage, +25% fire resistance, +10% regeneration); Goblin if you value -10% cast cooldown and +20% luck on an easy-to-get uncommon race.
- Summoner: Gemhead (+10% summon damage, +15 summon life); Skeleton only as a fallback.
- Tank: Obelite — its resistance stack, knockback and Exert Energy suit a slow, tanky build if you can accept -10% speed.
- Night-focused play: the legendary race's night-only skill, or Hiveling/Havling for night resistance despite its attack-speed penalty.
Comparison method
The Veil has 10 races. These rankings weigh each race's verified traits read from release-day footage, overall usefulness, combat potential, survivability, utility, and how well the bonuses complement popular builds and playstyles. The game launched September 5, 2026 with two races (Mushling and Obelite) rebalanced on day one, so this is an early-meta comparison, rechecked after each patch, dated to the Beta v1.0.0 launch window. Placements are largely test and community consensus, not official balance data, and class data is incomplete, so build-synergy recommendations are partly provisional.
Race trade-offs
| Tier | Race (Rarity) | Traits | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Whaleborn / Veilborne (Legendary) | Dusk Weaver: weave cap 4 stacks instead of 5, each weave grants +7.5% universal damage and +7.5% speed (30% total vs 25%); +10% insanity; night-only skill | Best overall; strongest damage and speed; pairs well with night-focused play |
| A | Underling (Rare) | +25% fire resistance, +10% regeneration, +15% cast damage | Strongest caster race, but unattractive for non-casters |
| A | Goblin (Uncommon) | +20% luck, +10% cast damage, -10% cast cooldown | Very good for mage builds; easy to obtain |
| A (low) | Obelite / Obelus (Epic) | +10% resistance, +10% stone resistance, +15% knockback, -10% speed; day-one Exert Energy (+8% base resistance; active grants +15% resistance but slows you, followed by 15 seconds of reduced regeneration and stamina regen) | Tank builds; the speed penalty only suits slow, tanky, strong builds. The day-one buff moved it up within A tier |
| A | Gemhead | +10% summon damage, +15 summon life | Best summoner race |
| B | Human (Common) | +5 max HP per prestige level (~50 extra HP-equivalent at 10 prestiges) | Works with every build but modest; no offensive, mobility or utility bonuses |
| B | Rat / Wraith (Rare) | 5% chance for any hit taken to pass through harmlessly (~1 in 20 hits on average) | Free passive avoidance for any build, but entirely chance-based |
| B | Mushling | +10% regeneration, +10% healing, -10% stamina regeneration; day-one Decompose skill | Decompose makes it somewhat more useful; grouped as situational |
| C | Skeleton (Uncommon) | -10% resistance, +10% speed, +10% summon damage | Speed is good and summon damage is niche, but Gemhead outclasses it for summoners; no strong identity |
| C | Havling / Hiveling (Uncommon) | +10% resistance at night, -10% in day, -10% attack speed, +10% damage | Night resistance suits night grinding (most mobs spawn at night), but the day/night split and permanent attack-speed nerf make it inconsistent |
A few placements are currently inconsistent between rankings, so treat them as approximate:
- The legendary race's name appears as Whaleborn (gameplay video, wiki tier list) and Veilborne (ProGameGuides) for the same Dusk-Weave race; Rat and Wraith also appear to be the same 5% pass-through effect under different names. Check the race's card in-game for the exact label.
- The legendary race's night-only skill is only approximately transcribed in footage — its exact effect isn't fully confirmed. Verify in-game before building around it.
- Obelite's post-patch value wavers between low A and higher B depending on the ranking; the Exert Energy buff helps, but the speed penalty and regen drawbacks remain.
- The wiki tier-list page only fully details the S-tier race; finer placements are community consensus rather than a single authoritative table. No race ranks at F/D — all provide at least some usefulness.
Keep or reroll
Races are never permanent: the Stylist NPC in the spawn town handles rerolls after character creation, and free rerolls come from daily rewards and codes redeemed in the in-game shop (RELEASE gave 6 rerolls, VERITYBOMB gives 3). A mediocre starting race is therefore a low-stakes problem — but the day-one meta is unstable enough that you should recheck rankings before spending a reroll.
Match the race to your class before rerolling: the Florist caster class pairs well with cast-damage races (Goblin, Underling), Gladiator pairs well with tank races such as Obelite, and Hive Disciple synergizes with the legendary race and nighttime play. If your current race already fits your class's strengths, keep it; reroll only for a clearly better fit on this table. Before spending anything, read the full race reference for your chosen race to confirm its exact traits.
Related Guides
Races and Traits
Look up race identities, named abilities, and verified traits without unsupported rankings.
How to Reroll Your Race
Follow the verified race-change process and understand its costs and consequences before rerolling.
Veilborne Race Guide
Learn Veilborne traits and weaving-related mechanics in more depth than the general race roster.