Mewgenics Class Tier List (Patch 1.1)

TL;DR

Cleric is still the single most important collar in the game and the safest opener at every difficulty. Patch 1.1 touched 11 of 14 collars, and three names define the new meta: Mage got the biggest buff pass, Tinkerer jumped from afterthought to S on a full rework, and Hunter fell out of S after Hunter's Boon went once-per-turn.

S Tier: Cleric, Mage, Tinkerer, Tank A Tier: Butcher, Hunter, Psychic, Fighter B Tier: Druid, Necromancer C Tier: Monk, Thief, Jester D Tier: Collarless

Methodology

The 1.1 balance patch touched 11 of 14 collars and rewrote the breeding economy that feeds them. Tiers reflect each collar's standalone power assuming a bred cat with 5+ base stats in the priority slots, not a stray rolled out of the alley. A B-tier collar on a god-roll cat will still out-clear an S-tier collar on a base stray. The list does not adjust for that.

Two factors weight each placement. The first is stat modifier ceiling: a +4 single-stat bonus moves the math more than a +2 spread. The second is problem-solving ability: collars that cover healing, frontline, mana economy, or blast defense earn weight beyond raw damage, because damage is fungible and team-slot relief is not.

The 1.1 breeding rework also reshapes what is worth investing in. The Mutation stat no longer rerolls existing mutations or birth defects, so the late-game pipeline of inbreeding hard and cleaning up with Mutation rerolls is dead. Inbreeding now scales Stimulation's benefit downward and raises the chance of inheriting parent defects, which hurts collars that lean on aggressive mutation-stacking. Voice inheritance dropping from 98% to 75% means the mom-voice-everywhere strategy no longer locks in. Our Mewgenics breeding guide covers the full 1.1 economy.

S Tier

Cleric remains the single most important collar in the game. Healing, revival, and Holy element coverage still give it three ways to keep a run alive. The 1.1 changes were sideways and mostly favorable: item:cleric-cleanse went single-target with a much larger upgrade area, and item:cleric-open-wounds is now magic damage that scales with Cleric's INT investment. A Cleric/Fighter or Cleric/Tank core remains the safest opener at every difficulty. Run this first, always.

Build: f1315f1f

Mage is the biggest mover in 1.1. The +2 range buff hit six core spells (item:mage-bolt, item:mage-fire-blast, item:mage-firebolt, item:mage-jolt, item:mage-long-cast, item:mage-tri-attack) plus the basic attack, with Firebolt and Tri-Attack also gaining a point of damage. item:mage-blizzard was reworked into a high-damage 100% Freeze that pairs with the new item:mage-ice-paws line, which now damages frozen units instead of bouncing off them. The Forbidden Spells pool split into a 90% basic pool and a 10% crippling pool, so Luck investment steers the outcome rather than gambling against Psychosis on every cast. item:mage-inferno, item:mage-thunderburst, and item:mage-overload all gained damage. The fragile, low-CON cat now plays at a safer range and finishes fights faster, which solves its old survivability problem from the other end.

Tinkerer went from afterthought to S in a single patch. item:tinkerer-bombchu, item:tinkerer-build-nuke, item:tinkerer-electrolyze, Firecrackers, and item:tinkerer-rocket-ride each shed two mana, and Throw Weapon no longer costs an action, which doubles its turn economy when it lands a craft. item:tinkerer-mr-mega gained blast radius and explosion damage. Four passives (EMP, Mr. Mega, Napalm, Demo Man) now apply Blast Resistance, a new defensive status that gives Tinkerer the only self-mitigation kit outside Tank and Cleric. item:tinkerer-conductor inflicts electric damage on metal-wearing targets, Math! stuns on prime-number rolls, and item:tinkerer-lightning-rod now grants Tech with an Energized upgrade. The kit that used to lose value to gadget RNG now has so many reliable abilities that the random crafts are upside, not the whole identity. Our Mewgenics status effects guide breaks down how Blast Resistance stacks with the other defensive layers.

Build: b02c7ea803e7

Tank still earns S on the +4 CON modifier and now runs a marginally cheaper crowd control kit. item:tank-ass-blast lost a mana point and gained +2 Knockback; item:tank-clap lost a mana point. The +4 modifier roughly doubles a stray Tank's effective HP, and that wall is relevant in every encounter. The math has not changed; the small quality-of-life bumps just make the rotation smoother.

A Tier

Butcher kept its A placement without a single direct change. Food-pickup sustain still removes the dedicated-healer requirement in the early game, and Hook positional control still shapes mid-game encounters. The 1.1 breeding shifts hit Butcher sideways at worst, because its kit does not lean on aggressive mutation stacking, so the new inbreeding penalties cost it less than they cost glass-cannon collars. A strong starter unlock that also pays off as a long-term breeding target.

Hunter drops out of S. Hunter's Boon is now once per turn instead of once per trigger, which kills the burst-clear loop that defined the high-difficulty Hunter playstyle. item:hunter-ball-of-spiders and item:hunter-flea-shot no longer scale with DEX, so the high-DEX breeding investment returns less. item:hunter-heavy-shot lost two damage, picked up a 50% miss chance, and costs an extra mana. Scattershot costs three more mana, and the upgrade no longer exempts allies. Hunter is still the best long-range finisher in the cast, but the carry profile is materially smaller. An A, not an S.

Psychic picked up a mana cut on item:psychic-shatter-the-sky and is otherwise untouched. The kit still solves mana economy while throwing enemies around the field, which remains a unique two-for-one. That dual control-plus-economy function is what holds Psychic in A even without big patch movement. Bred Psychics with high INT and CHA never run dry; stray Psychics often do, and that gap is the failure mode that drops the collar to B when the cat is not bred for it.

Fighter stays in A despite a item:fighter-merciless nerf. The passive no longer triggers on actions that cost movement, which removes some kiting-into-finisher loops, but the +2 STR and +1 SPD profile carries the kit on its own. Fighter remains the most reliable starter pick and one of the easiest collars to bring online without breeding investment.

B Tier

Druid got a price cut on its summon kit. item:druid-plant-mushroom now costs two less mana and item:druid-summon-caterpillar one less, so the action economy on a turn-one summoner opener is cleaner. The respawning familiar still mirrors the cat's stats, effectively giving Druid a second action per turn. A CON penalty (per community sources) still makes the cat itself fragile, which caps Druid as a team-comp piece rather than a solo carry.

Necromancer climbs within B. item:necromancer-evil-incarnate lost three mana, and item:necromancer-flesh-golem now costs three less HP per cat to cast, which lowers the floor on the corpse-summon loop. The collar still needs a downed body to function, which is not always available in the encounters where you want the summon. It is self-destructive support best paired with a Cleric, but it fires off easier than it did at launch.

C Tier

Monk drops in 1.1. item:monk-fist-of-fate+ now requires its repeats to hit different targets, which kills the single-target chain that defined the carry build. The double-attack profile and the no-equipment penalty are unchanged, so Monk keeps a niche in damage-focused comps where the base attack value is already high. The carry ceiling just got lower.

Thief picked up small movement and damage bumps. item:thief-caltrops gained a movement point (five on upgrade), item:thief-poison-gas gained poison stacks, and item:thief-nail-flurry+ locks its hit count at cast time so DEX swings no longer undermine the rotation. The job still overlaps with Hunter, and Hunter does it more reliably. Useful for item theft on specific runs.

Jester rolls random ability access from other collars and is otherwise unchanged. The variance defines the kit: good draws turn Jester into any role, bad draws leave the cat idle. Hard to plan around. The 1.1 cosmetic reorder to the end of the class list reflects that design intent.

D Tier

Collarless has no stat modifiers and no class abilities. The slot exists for cats that need to be uncollared for specific events, not for combat.

Breeding Investment by Tier

The 1.1 breeding rework matters more for some collars than others. Mage, Hunter, and Mutation-stacked DPS profiles needed the old inbreeding-fix pipeline to hit their power curve, and the new coupling between Stimulation and inbreeding makes those chains slower and less reliable. Cleric, Tank, and Butcher are forgiving on this axis because their kits work on baseline stat rolls. Our Mewgenics mutations guide covers which mutations are worth chasing under the new acquisition rules, and the Hunter, Mage, and Tinkerer build pages are the three priorities for any breeding chain rebuilt around the 1.1 patch.