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The best cleaner in Back 4 Blood is Mom, whose team effect grants the whole squad +1 Extra Life — the single most valuable team-wide stat once you reach Nightmare and No Hope. Doc (+20% Team Healing Efficiency) is the best pure support, Hoffman (+1 Team Offensive Item) is the best economy pick for grenade-heavy groups, and Holly is the best solo and melee front-liner because her stamina bonus pays off whether or not your teammates cooperate. The rest of this list ranks all eight base cleaners plus the three expansion cleaners by team role, survivability, card synergy, and how much they genuinely change a run.
📋 Table of Contents
Quick comparison: every cleaner at a glance
Team effects below are the values listed in the in-game cleaner descriptions; tiers assume a standard four-player campaign run rather than a premade speedrun squad.
| Cleaner | Team effect | Best for | Tier | Strongest on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mom | +1 Team Extra Life | Coordinated co-op, high difficulty | S | Nightmare, No Hope |
| Doc | +20% Team Healing Efficiency | Healing and support decks | S | Veteran and above |
| Hoffman | +1 Team Offensive Item capacity | Grenades, ammo economy | A | All difficulties |
| Holly | +10% Team Stamina | Melee builds, solo runs | A | All difficulties |
| Karlee | +50% Team Use Speed | Speed, trap-heavy maps, loot | A | All difficulties |
| Walker | +10% Team Damage | First playthroughs, general DPS | A− | Recruit–Veteran |
| Jim | +10% Team Weakspot Damage | Precision and weakspot decks | B+ | Veteran and above |
| Evangelo | +5% Team Movement Speed | Solo mobility, dodging grabs | B | Recruit–Veteran |
| Sharice (expansion) | Armor and bolstered-health kit | Dedicated tank front line | A− | Veteran and above |
| Heng (expansion) | Utility and consumable economy | Long Act runs, attrition play | B+ | All difficulties |
| Dan (expansion) | Support-leaning, aggression buffs | Aggressive co-op groups | B+ | All difficulties |
Why team effects outrank personal passives
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Every cleaner brings three things: a team effect that applies to all four players, a personal passive, and a starting loadout. The team effect is the only part that scales with group size. A +10% damage bonus is worth four times as much on a full squad as it is solo, while a personal passive is worth exactly the same either way. That one rule explains most of the rankings above — and it is why the top of the list barely changes between Recruit and No Hope.
S tier: the cleaners that carry hard runs
Mom — best overall
Mom’s +1 Team Extra Life is the strongest effect in the game because lives are the only resource you cannot buy back mid-level. When a cleaner burns their final life they are out until the next level, which on Nightmare usually means the run ends where it stands. On a full squad, Mom’s effect is worth four extra lives per level — the equivalent of an entire extra attempt at every map.
Who it suits: any coordinated group pushing Veteran or higher, especially one that already covers healing. Main trade-off: her personal kit is deliberately thin, and the team effect is close to worthless in solo play, where you are only protecting one life.
Doc — best pure support
+20% Team Healing Efficiency makes every bandage, pill and med kit stretch further across the whole squad, and per the in-game description her passive also returns some healing to Doc herself when she patches up a teammate. Because trauma damage permanently lowers your maximum health until you reach a first aid station, healing efficiency compounds over the length of an Act.
Who it suits: groups where at least one player is willing to carry healing items. Main trade-off: if nobody picks up medical supplies, Doc’s team effect multiplies items that do not exist.
A tier: strong, situational, easy to justify
Hoffman — best economy pick
+1 Team Offensive Item capacity gives four players an extra grenade, molotov or pipe bomb each — four extra slots per level, refreshed every time you restock. His passive ammo scavenging keeps the squad’s weapons fed, which matters most on long Acts where you cannot rely on shop runs. Trade-off: the bonus only pays out if your team actually throws things; a squad that hoards grenades gets nothing from him.
Holly — best solo and best melee
+10% Team Stamina raises the resource that gates sprinting, shoving and melee swings — the three actions that keep a lone player alive. Her passive restores stamina on melee kills, so a Holly with a bat or machete can hold a doorway almost indefinitely. Trade-off: closing to melee range against the biggest mutations is a losing trade without teammates covering you, and her team effect is modest for a back-line shooter.
Karlee — best for speed and trap-heavy maps
+50% Team Use Speed is a bigger multiplier than it looks. A four-second crate or door interaction drops to roughly 2.7 seconds, and across a map with dozens of interactions that is minutes of standing still that your team does not spend exposed. Her passive flags nearby hazards and special Ridden, per the in-game description, which softens the ambush maps considerably. Trade-off: on short, combat-heavy maps there is little to interact with.
B tier: fine picks, replaceable effects
Walker — best first pick
+10% Team Damage is unconditional, obvious, and helps every weapon in the game. It is also the most replaceable bonus once decks are built, which is exactly why Walker is a great Recruit and Veteran pick and a mediocre No Hope one. Trade-off: his damage bonus tempts new players into skipping defensive cards on difficulties where two hits end a run.
Jim — best for weakspot decks
+10% Team Weakspot Damage rewards aim, and it stacks cleanly with weakspot cards on a sniper or marksman build. Trade-off: weakspot damage only pays out when you are hitting heads, and during a horde you rarely are. Jim is a scalpel that needs a team keeping the crowd off him.
