Streets of Rogue Best Character - Classes Tier List

Last Updated on April 14, 2025 by Samuel Franklin

This guide details the best character and traits in Streets of Rogue to maximise your odds of victory against the challenging game randomisation. Since each character has their own starting attributes, abilities, traits and items it can be difficult to initially determine the strongest option for your playstyle.

To help your decision this comprehensive character and trait guide explains the best options and provides inspiration for crafting your own custom characters. For new players I recommend the Soldier, Doctor, Hacker or Slum Dweller as they are available initially and have strong starting stats while being flexible to adjust to each game.

Table of Contents:
– Best Characters
– Best Traits

Best Characters

Many playstyles can beat Streets of Rogue from the aggressive fighter to a sneaky hacker and even pacifist playthroughs. The characters I recommend to maximise your success are:

Character	Playstyle / Strategy	Unlock Requirements
Soldier	Weapon specialist that provides reliable combat and starting loadout. Passive healing with Modern Warfarer trait which boosts survival Requires an aggressive playstyle where you use force to solve your problems while investing further in firearms and healing.	Starting
Doctor	Great stealth (chloroform hankie) or friendly focused character that builds a party around them but cannot use weapons themselves. Tranquilizer adds another option to run and hide from combat and should be combined with a taser purchase.	Starting
Hacker	Patient gameplay based on scouting the map to create a hacking plan each level to maximise rewards. High speed to run away from enemies with backup firearm option.	Starting
Slum Dweller	Maximum flexibility with high experience gain to scale for late game. Needs to be highly creative to complete missions early on. Prioritise a reliable weapon early on and then build towards a playstyle based on game randomisation.	Starting
Cop	Balances starting stats with reliable melee and firearm weapon at start. Can also use handcuffs to disable enemies for reliable mission completion. Has to follow the law to not lose experience but all NPC cops are allies.	Bribe 3 of this character (can include multiple runs)
Werewolf	Low starting attributes and negative traits but incredible combat ability. Acquire werewolf form boosting traits as you progress to extend the active time and reduce negative effects.	Kill a ghost
Assassin	Best stealth character with high speed, camouflage and backstabber for easy map and mission navigation. Low health requires careful planning and equipment purchases to overcome.	Finish a level with no kills or alerting
Shapeshifter	Weak initially but can possess any NPC to steal their stats for varied and flexible gameplay. Strong understanding of NPC types will maximise mission completion.	Beat a floor with 5 different characters (excluding custom)
Shopkeeper	Deadly firearm user with high potential to make money for top tier equipment to be incredibly powerful. Outscale content by throwing money at your character progression.	Spend $1,500 money across runs

The playstyle and character mechanics of these classes make it easier to progress in Streets of Rogue as they have the following:

Starting Setup: Characters that have a powerful set of starting items, attributes, abilities or traits are stronger as they can recover from gameplay mistakes easily and maximise potential by completing missions.
Damage: Aggressive playstyles have an edge in Streets of Rogue as they are a reliable method to get you out of trouble and work in the vast majority of situations. Characters that start with a setup that supports this are likely to be significantly easier to complete the game with.
Social Skills: If you aren’t playing a character that deals strong damage you’ll need high social skills to excel with the most challenging characters ones that can’t be friendly but also lack damage.
Flexibility: A character that has flexibility can handle any randomised scenario while characters with limited utility will struggle to complete particular situations.

Streets of Rogue Best Traits

Whether you are designing your own custom character or wanting the best traits for level ups these are the options that I recommend. Some need to be unlocked with chicken nuggets before being added to the available pool of traits:

Trait	Effect	Availability
Bloodlust	+10 Health per kill – Provides easy and reliable health regeneration	Werewolf
Bullet Sponge	Reduces bullet damage and knockback – Mitigates a common game damage type	Zombie or level up
Durabilitacious	Melee weapons last longer – Ideal for melee fighters to retain strong weapons for longer	Level up (7 chicken nuggets to unlock)
Friend of the Common Folk	Slum Dwellers become loyal – Useful safety perk early to provide protection from attacks	Level up (10 chicken nuggets to unlock)
G-P-Yesss	Reveals icon on map – Quality of life trait to ensure you don’t miss anything	Level up
Graceful	Floor hazards and lasters don’t trigger – Removes the main methods of triggering alarms for added forgiveness during missions	Courier or level up
Jack of Extra Trades	2 more trait options for level up – Extra options improve your odds of acquiring useful traits	Slum Dweller, Upper-Cruster or level up
Nimble Fingers	Operating bar (interaction with objects) fills up faster – Significantly improves your speed of actions	Level up
Shrewd Negotiator	35% discount in shops – Purchase significantly more use items and equipment for your adventure	Shopkeeper or level up
Slippery Target	Lowers enemy accuracy – Improves survivability by reducing the accuracy of enemies with projectile weapons	Alien, Thief or level up
Studious	Gain 30% extra experience – Level up faster and have a higher character potential	Level up (10 chicken nuggets to unlock)
Trust Funder	Recieve money at the start of each floor – Useful to refresh items, ammo and health regularly if one upgrade is purchaed early	Level up (7 chicken nuggets to unlock)

Written by

Samuel Franklin

Samuel Franklin is the founder and lead editor of the Games Finder team and enjoys video games across all genres and platforms.

Sam has played Streets of Rogue since its original release with hundreds of game runs thanks to the high quality roguelite mechanics and varied gameplay. Having played and unlocked all the available characters he prefers to play as aggressive and money focused characters like the Shopkeeper to claim victory over the mayor and continues to return to the game after each major update.