[Guide] Town of Salem Best Roles (And Worst)

Town of Salem Roles, Town of Salem Best Roles
No matter your role you better watch your back.


Town of Salem has a large number of roles that players can be placed in, 33 to be exact. With the addition of the Coven DLC which gives players 49 roles to experience. Today, however, I’m going to be focusing on the original game itself, excluding all coven specific roles from this list. Please keep in mind that every role has a purpose and even if it is ranked low on this list does not mean that it is useless, it probably means that it isn’t the most fun or important role to play. In this list, I will be outlining Classic Mode roles only, so any All Any or Extra Mode roles will be excluded. With that in mind, let’s see what roles stand out from the pack and which ones fall short. 

*The Random Town role is ultimately a random selection of several different roles and is not on this list because of its broad nature. *

15. Jester

Jester, a Neutral Evil role is an all or nothing style role that only grants the player a victory if they manage to die by public lynching. 

Jester Review

  • Placed last on this list due to its unimportance to the roles around it. 
  • Jester isn’t a very entertaining role, especially if you end up losing.
  • The odds are stacked against you and make this role extremely difficult to navigate. 

 

14. Executioner 

The second Neutral Evil role, Executioner is a role that is slightly more versatile than the jester but nearly just as boring. The goal of the Executioner is to get their town target lynched and if they die any other way they are ultimately turned into a second Jester. 

 

Executioner Review

  • Much like Jester this role isn’t very entertaining and can be difficult to get a win with.
  • Extra points for immunity and the ability for the role to change depending on your target’s death.
  • However, those extra points don’t mean much because you ultimately are turning into a Jester… yuck. 

13. Medium

The first Town Role included in my ranking, Medium is a role that allows players to speak to the dead and relay messages to the living. 

Medium Review:

  • The medium can play an important role depending on the scenario.  In order for the Medium role to play to its full potential, the dead have to be active.
  • Another downside to Medium is how easy it is for others to claim, fake medium claims make it difficult for real Medium’s messages to be considered. 
  • Overall, Mediums are rarely understood and rarely make an impact on many matches. 

12. Framer

The first Mafia role on my least is the Framer, this role gives players the ability to frame a player each night in an attempt to steer investigators in their direction rather than the Mafias. 

Framer Review:

  • Unarguably the most boring Mafia role to play and for good reason. A lot of times it can feel as if the Framer is useless.
  • A role that is usually easily found and killed off first.
  • In comparison to the other Mafia roles, receiving this one is unlucky. 

11. Vigilante 

One of the two Town Killing options, Vigilante is a fun role but can be difficult to navigate which is why it falls lower on this list. This role allows players up to three shots to shoot evildoers. 

Vigilante Review: 

  • Vigilante is a great role if used correctly, which is a hard thing to accomplish.
  • Many players will randomly shoot which can result in the death of another town member. 
  • Overall, the vigilante is inferior to its counterpart the Veteran. 

10. Lookout

The third town role on my list is Lookout. This role allows players to watch a player’s house at night to spot visitors.

Lookout Review: 

  • Lookout is undoubtedly an important role but, alone it can mean almost nothing at times. 
  • Without the aid of the investigative roles of the town, lookout is a hard role to navigate. 
  • Lookout does a good job of aiding the investigative roles in locating what evil players have been up to at night.

9. Escort

Escort is a town support role that allows players to distract someone each night. Escort is a valuable role but, escorts usually find themselves in danger quite often.

Escort Review:

  • Escorts are a role that can prevent a killing for a night or even two, because of that they are extremely valuable.
  • Escorts often find themselves in dangerous situations and can be killed by a Serial Killer upon visit or even a Veteran. 
  • Escort is a common counterclaim so players may have a hard time proving their innocence. 

8. Mafioso

The second Mafia member in command and second of its team on my list is the Mafioso. A Mafia killing role that takes direct orders from the Godfather but also serves its own purposes, Mafioso can be a fun role to play. 

Mafioso Review:

  • Although you are serving under the Godfather’s will, Mafioso still has the power to make some real change if the Godfather is role blocked or jailed.
  • Upon the death of the Godfather, Mafioso is promoted to the new Godfather and granted immunity. This is truly a versatile role. 
  • One downside to this role is that it can feel unimportant especially if the Godfather is unwilling to compromise or difficult to work with.

7. Veteran 

The second town killing role on my list is Veteran. The veteran role allows players to go on alert at night and kill anyone who visits them. 

Veteran Review: 

  • The veteran is a fun but tricky role to play, it can do some real good in finding evil roles but subsequently, it can do some real damage to the town.
  • No matter who you kill you get 3 nights of alerts. 
  • Overall it is much more effective than the vigilante role and easier to prove your role.

6. Serial Killer


Serial Killer is a Neutral Killing role that allows players to kill someone each night. The strength of this role also comes with its challenges. 

Serial Killer Review: 

  • Players get the tough challenge of tricking the entire lobby of their innocence. 
  • Working alone can pose a challenge but, with immunity, you won’t die at night. 
  • Serial Killer automatically kills the jailor and escorts upon visits, so it can become difficult to prove your innocence.

5. Godfather

The most powerful Mafia role, Godfather is the head man-in-charge and this role allows for players to kill someone each night. It also grants players night immunity. 

Godfather Review:

  • Much like the Serial Killer, the Godfather has the same goal but he has 2 helpers to aid him.
  • With the help of the Mafioso and Framer, the Godfather can prove to be a powerful and a hard role to detect at times. 
  • Unable to show up as suspicious to Sheriffs so Godfathers can ultimately hide for a longer period of time.

4. Doctor 

The Doctor is a town protective role that allows the player to visit someone at night and save them if they are attacked. 

Doctor Review: 

  • This role is unlike any of the other town roles in Classic Mode because it has the ability to save the life of other town members that would otherwise be dead without their work.
  • It also gives players the ability to save themselves once and if done successfully that is another unique attribute.
  • Doctors are a common claim for evil roles, specifically Serial Killers so you may not be believed unless you keep a detailed will.

3. Sheriff

 

The sheriff is a town investigative role that allows players to see if the target that they are viewing is suspicious or not suspicious. This role is useful but can fall short if other roles do their job well.

Sheriff Review: 

  • Sheriffs are good for finding suspicious players and outing them directly.
  • However, based on the activity of the framer, some of this information may be inconclusive and be a false suspicion.
  • It should be noted that the Godfather does not show up as suspicious, because of that the Sheriff is truly only capable of finding the Mafioso, Framer, and Serial Killer in Classic Mode. 

2. Jailor

Jailor is a town killing role that allows players to pick someone to jail during the day for the following night and gives players the option to execute them. 

Jailor Review: 

  • Jailor plays a very important role in the town. With the ability to jail players for the night and rip them of all of their nightly abilities.
  • Execution is an option if Jailors feel they have found an evil role that can help the town get rid of evil roles outside of just lynching or vigilante/veteran luck.
  • Jailor has a weakness though because they have no protection for themselves unless protected by a doctor and if they are to jail a Serial Killer they are automatically killed. 

1. Investigator 

The investigator is one of two town investigative roles that allow players to look into the activities of other players in the lobby. 

Investigator Review: 

  • Investigators are an essential part of the unraveling of the roles of the town. 
  • Results are given in a list of 3 possible roles. At first, it can be hard to determine which role they may be but, once the graveyard begins to fill up the investigator’s role becomes extremely vital.
  • It is essential that investigators keep an organized and informative will so that players can have a good idea of what roles players may have. 

As I stated earlier, all of the roles in Town of Salem serve their own purpose and work extremely well in conjunction with the roles around them. Nevertheless, that concludes my countdown of the Classic Mode Town of Salem Roles from worst to best based on stand-alone abilities. No matter which role is your favorite, mastering all of these roles is essential to understanding the game and putting yourself in the best position to win. Good luck out there Townies! 

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