Overview
Mewgenics ships with five starter class collars and gates the other nine behind specific adventure clears. The starter five are entity:collarless, Fighter, Hunter, Mage, and Tank. Of those, two carry the early game and three are situational. This guide tells you which collars to pick first, what their stat math actually does, and which adventure to clear next to unlock the rest.
Class collars do not change a cat's bred stats. They add fixed modifiers on top. Picking a collar is picking which stats matter and which trade-offs you can stomach.
Core Build
The five starter classes
Fighter sits at +2 STR, +1 SPD, -1 INT, for a net of +2 stat points. The STR bonus turns a baseline 5 STR cat into a 7 STR melee striker, which is the breakpoint where the community guide starts calling cats "god tier" rather than "average." The SPD bonus matters more than it looks. SPD controls turn order and movement range, so a 6 SPD Fighter acts before most strays and reaches enemies the same turn it spots them. The -1 INT hurts mana regen, but Fighters rarely need to spam abilities, so the trade is clean.
The Fighter is the default early-game pick for almost every starting cat. Community tier lists rank it A-tier and consistent. It pairs cleanly with a entity:cleric backline as soon as you unlock one, which is the first thing you should be doing anyway.
Tank sits at +4 CON, -1 DEX, -1 INT, for a net of +2. This is the largest single-stat bonus any class gives. CON multiplies HP by four, so +4 CON adds sixteen HP on top of whatever the cat would have had. A bred 7 CON Tank ends up at 11 effective CON for 44 HP, which is double what a stray Tank from the alley typically rolls. This is the difference between "survives the first boss" and "dies in two hits."
Tanks are the second-most-popular starter pick for a reason. The class is straightforward, the stat math is the largest in the game, and the role is always relevant. Pair with anything that needs a body in front of it.
Mage sits at +2 INT, +2 CHA, -1 CON, -1 STR, for a net of +2. The INT and CHA bonuses stack to create the only sustained-spellcaster archetype available at game start. INT determines mana regen per turn (6 INT = 6 mana per turn), and CHA determines max mana pool (CHA x 3). A bred Mage with 6 base INT and 6 base CHA hits 8 INT / 8 CHA after the collar, which is 8 mana per turn into a 24 mana pool. That is enough to chain spells across an entire encounter without running dry.
The CHA bonus has a hidden benefit: CHA also drives the breeding compatibility formula. A high-CHA cat is a better breeder, so a Mage you bred for combat can retire into a productive parent slot. This is the only base class with that overlap.
The catch is the -1 CON. A Mage is fragile, and a base 4 CON Mage sits at 12 HP after the penalty, which can disappear in a single hit. entity:monk-position carefully.
Hunter sits at +3 DEX, +2 LCK, -1 CON, -2 SPD, for a net of +2. This is the highest single-stat-pile in the game (+5 across DEX and LCK), but it pays for it with the most aggressive penalties of any starter. The -2 SPD is brutal because it puts most Hunters at the bottom of the turn order and limits movement range to a handful of tiles per turn. The -1 CON is the same problem the Mage has but worse because the Hunter is supposed to be the ranged backline carry, and a backline carry that gets two-shot has no value.
This is a glass cannon archetype in the most literal sense. The math is incredible if it lands, and lethal if it does not. Community tier lists place Hunter S-tier on the back of Lobbed Shot, an ability that ignores obstacles and finishes mobs from across the map. But that ranking assumes a bred Hunter with 7 base DEX, 7 base LCK, and at least a 5 base CON to survive contact. A stray Hunter from the alley is not going to clear the early adventures.
Treat Hunter as a Gen 2 or Gen 3 target, not a starter slot.
entity:collarless has no stat modifiers and no class abilities. It exists for cats that need to be uncollared for specific events or for cats whose base stats are so good they would lose value from a class trade-off. In practice, a entity:collarless cat is a wasted roster slot. Community tier lists rank it dead last (D-tier across the board) for exactly this reason.
Which to pick first
If your starting cat is balanced (no stat above 6), put a Fighter collar on it and run the early adventures. Fighter is the most forgiving class because the stat penalty is to a stat the class does not need.
If your starting cat has 6 or 7 base CON, put a Tank collar on it. Tanks scale off CON, and the +4 collar bonus turns a high-CON starter into the strongest survivability cat you can field this side of the alley.
If your starting cat has high INT or CHA, put a Mage collar on it and start using it for both spellcasting and breeding. Just remember the CON penalty.
Do not put a Hunter or entity:collarless collar on your starting cat. Wait for a bred Hunter with the stats to support the class. Skip entity:collarless entirely.
Progression
Unlocking the other nine classes
Each unlockable class is gated behind clearing a specific adventure location for the first time. The order matters because some adventures are easier than others, and each unlock opens a class that helps clear the next.
| Adventure | Class Unlocked | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Alley | entity:cleric | Heals and revives. The single highest-impact unlock in the game. Run this first. |
| Sewers | entity:thief | Speed and Luck focus, item theft. Useful but not run-defining. |
| Boneyard | entity:necromancer | Summons from corpses. Niche but strong with a specific build. |
| Bunker | entity:tinkerer | Random gadgets. Lowest-rated unlockable in community tier lists. |
| The Core | entity:butcher | Drops food on kills, healing the team. Removes the need for a dedicated healer. |
| The Crater | Druid | Summons a crow familiar that mirrors the cat's stats. |
| The Moon | entity:psychic | entity:monk-position control, mana battery. Top-tier endgame class. |
| The Lab | Monk | Double attack per turn. Strong on paper, restricted by item limitations. |
| The Rift | Jester | Random ability draws. High variance. |
The community-recommended unlock priority is Alley first (entity:cleric), then The Core if you can stretch to it (entity:butcher), then The Moon (entity:psychic), then everything else as the runs allow.
After the first unlock
Once you have a entity:cleric, every team you field should include one. The entity:cleric+Fighter pairing is the most-cited "carry" combination in tracked-run data. Add a Tank for survivability and a Hunter or Mage for damage, and you have a four-cat team that can clear most of the early and mid adventures without specific build planning.
The unlockable classes start replacing starter slots in the mid game. A bred entity:butcher takes over the entity:cleric's job in many encounters because food drops scale off STR and the entity:butcher has front-line CON. A bred entity:psychic replaces a Mage in any team that needs control more than burst damage.
Stat targets per starter class
These numbers are the breeding floor (5) and ceiling (7) from the Steam community meta breeding guide, applied per class.
| Class | Priority Stats | Floor (avg) | Ceiling (god) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fighter | STR, SPD | STR 5, SPD 5 | STR 7, SPD 6 |
| Tank | CON, STR | CON 5, STR 5 | CON 7, STR 6 |
| Mage | INT, CHA | INT 5, CHA 5 | INT 7, CHA 7 |
| Hunter | DEX, LCK, CON | DEX 5, LCK 5, CON 5 | DEX 7, LCK 7, CON 6 |
| entity:collarless | n/a | skip | skip |
A cat that does not meet the floor in its priority stats is not a class candidate. Either keep it as a breeder for stats you care about or send it on low-stakes adventures until it retires.
Alternatives
If you find yourself short on entity:cleric unlocks and your team keeps dying to chip damage, the alternative is the Tank+Tank front line. Two Tanks at the front, a Fighter behind for damage, and a Mage in the back for mana economy. This doubles your effective HP pool and trades damage output for survivability. It is slower than a entity:cleric team, but it does not lose runs to a single bad encounter.
If your starting cat rolls high LCK and DEX, you can skip Fighter and run Hunter from turn one. The risk is real (the CON and SPD penalties are harsh on an unbred cat), but the upside is the highest single-target damage in the game and Lobbed Shot's ability to finish enemies behind cover. Pair the Hunter with a Tank to absorb hits and a Cleric to revive when the glass cannon predictably breaks.
For a complete map of which collars to chase across the full breeding chain, see the Mewgenics Class Tier List.