Warhammer Survivors characters unlock six ways: Coins at character select, stage rescues, objectives, Warhammer Paint Pots, merchants and secret riddles. Only Malum Caedo and Neave Blacktalon are ready from the first run. The rest of the roster is earned by playing stages, killing specific enemies and picking up paint pots.
Key takeaways
- Brother Luca Amasius (200 Coins) and Sister Superior Amalia Novena (400 Coins) are the cheapest early unlocks.
- Twelve champions are rescued on specific stages, and Imperial Bastion holds two of them.
- Paint pots unlock six champions, and the merchants and riddles in the Secrets menu hide the rest.
Unlocking characters with paint pots appeals to me. It’s always that collector’s mindset, but it’s something you’ve got to be interested in. I unlocked every single character in League of Legends back when it was difficult, because you had to grind Blue Essence for them, before Xbox Game Pass could unlock a bunch of them for you. I wanted them all, and I’ve got about £3,000 of skins on that account. So grinding for a paint pot would appeal to me and others like me. Over 40 champions is plenty for now, and I assume they’ll add more as it goes along.
How many characters are in Warhammer Survivors?
The game launched on 10 November on PC and consoles with over 40 playable characters split between Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar. Each one starts with its own weapon and stats, so a new unlock changes how a run plays, not just how it looks.
Gold you collect in a run carries over to make you stronger for later runs. Most unlock objectives also stay hidden until you’ve survived a minute on the stage they belong to, so the list in your menu grows as you push into new stages.
Which characters do you start with?
Malum Caedo, the hero of Boltgun, is your first Warhammer 40,000 pick. If you liked him there, the sequel’s date is in our Boltgun 2 release time guide. On the Age of Sigmar side you start with Neave Blacktalon.
Lorai, Child of the Abyss and Juntar Bernskyn also sit on the select screen early, though they may ask for a few Coins before you can take them out.
Which characters do you buy with Coins?
Two Warhammer 40,000 characters are bought straight from the character select screen:
- Brother Luca Amasius: 200 Coins
- Sister Superior Amalia Novena: 400 Coins
These are the quickest unlocks in the game. I’d buy Brother Luca first, because 200 Coins is the lowest price on the whole roster.
Which characters are rescued, and on which stage?
Rescues are the biggest group. You find the character trapped on a stage, survive what spawns around them and free them. On Imperial Shipyard, for example, getting close to Saint Celestine’s captive spawns six Beasts of Nurgle first. Each stage below has its own rescue achievement on Steam:
- Imperial Bastion: Trooper Bartosz Kozlowski and The Legend of Catachan
- Gallowdark: K9 Mastiff
- Ork Stronghold: Commissar Sebastian Yarrick
- Imperial Shipyard: Saint Celestine
- The Great Parch: Armand Callis and Hanniver Toll
- Skrappa Spill: Gotrek Gurnisson
- Bloodwind Spoil: Rostus Oxenhammer
- Under-Empire: Ulgromthier
Chapter Master Marneus Calgar and Mistress Verentia are rescues too, and the two rescue stages not listed above are Death World and the Twin-Tailed City. The Death World rescue achievement is called Lord Macragge, which is Calgar’s title, so start your search for him there. Where Verentia is rescued isn’t confirmed yet. Imperial Bastion and The Great Parch are the best value, since each gives you two champions.
Which characters unlock from objectives?
These come from playing in a certain way, often across many runs:
- Canoness Aurora Veritas: apply Burning to 100 Death Guard enemies
- Max Mahon: defeat 1,000 Nurglings in a single run
- Captain Tor Garadon: defeat 10,000 enemies across all runs
- Sergeant Furan: get the Gauntlet and Lightning Bolt passives to level 5 on Ork Stronghold
- Knight-Commander Pask: defeat 100 Ork Vehicles
- Celestian Sacresant Aveline Aboyé: collect 10 Relics
- Chaplain Fo’Baran: recover 1,000 Wounds in ’Eavy Metal mode
- Shakana Goldenblade: apply Slowed to 100 enemies
- Sharynn Azurwrath: defeat 10 Troggoths
- Hendrick, The Silver Wolf: defeat 10,000 Gloomspite Gitz in a single run as Neave Blacktalon
Captain Tor Garadon is the one you’ll get without trying, because the 10,000 kills add up over every run you play. Hendrick is the hardest on this list, since it all has to happen in one run with one specific character.
Are there character skins and duos?
Some champions come as pairs. Characters can travel in your retinue, and finishing a stage with certain pairs in it unlocks a shared skin:
- Max Mahon and K9 Mastiff: the Max & K9 skins
- Armand Callis and Hanniver Toll: the Callis & Toll skins
- Gotrek Gurnisson and Maleneth Witchblade: the Gotrek & Maleneth skins
Each pair comes in two versions, such as Max & K9 and K9 & Max. They’re cosmetic, so leave them until the full roster is open, but they’re an easy extra once you have both halves of each pair.
Which paint pots unlock which characters?
Warhammer Paint Pots turn up on stages during runs, and once you pick one up it stays collected. There are 12 to find, and collecting all of them earns its own achievement. Six champions are tied to them:
- Black Templars Castellan: Abaddon Black
- Maleneth Witchblade: Leadbelcher
- Chief Librarian Mephiston: Abaddon Black, Leadbelcher, Mephiston Red and Rakarth Flesh
- Lyssa Revenya: Abaddon Black, Leadbelcher, Agrax Earthshade and Mechanicus Standard Grey
- Lieutenant Titus: Abaddon Black, Agrax Earthshade, Celestra Grey, Reikland Fleshade, Retributor Armour and Macragge Blue
- Valius, the Keeper Aqshian: Leadbelcher, Celestra Grey, Reikland Fleshade, Retributor Armour, Drakenhof Nightshade and Runelord Brass
Abaddon Black is found on Imperial Bastion and Leadbelcher on The Great Parch. Every one of the six paint pot champions needs at least one of those two, so they’re worth chasing before anything else.
How do you unlock the merchant and secret characters?
The last group sits in the Secrets menu as riddles. Most need you to meet the Merchant first. Several are tied to Steam achievements, so the full achievement list doubles as a checklist:
- Balphamus Vaulk: buy him as a playable character from Balphamus Vaulk himself
- Drekki Flynt: buy a Trade Agreement with Drekki Flynt on every stage
- Lord-Magnate Brokk Grungsson: buy a Trade Agreement with Brokk Grungsson on every stage
- High Abbess Morvenn Vahl: unlock every standard Warhammer 40,000 character
- Technoarcheologist Daedalosus: activate the Astropathic Relay on every stage
- Lord-Commander Carthalos: evolve the Stormcharged Warhammer
- Celestant-Prime, Hammer of Sigmar: evolve Uskavar the Sunderer
- Major Docheval: morph the Freeguild Fusilier into Captain Docheval
- Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear: defeat a Mangler Squig on Gnarlwood
Carthalos and Celestant-Prime come from weapon evolutions, so you’ll need to know which passive pairs with each weapon. Paint pots also unlock new forms for characters, and morphing a character has its own achievement. The same Secrets menu has an Incantation Entry box, where typed codes can unlock characters outright if you’d rather skip the grind.
What should you unlock first?
I’d spend the first Coins on Brother Luca, then head to Imperial Bastion. That one stage gives you two rescues and the Abaddon Black pot, which already unlocks the Black Templars Castellan and starts three more paint pot champions. The Great Parch is the next stop for two more rescues and Leadbelcher, which gets you Maleneth Witchblade on the spot.
After that, play whoever you enjoy and let the kill counters and Relics add up in the background. The objective unlocks mostly come by themselves. The Trade Agreement and every-stage riddles are the real end-game grind, because they need you to have opened every stage first.
If you want to compare how another bullet heaven handles this, our Megabonk characters guide covers its unlocks, and Steam now calls the genre bullet heaven.
If you like Warhammer Survivors, Let Them Come: Onslaught is in the same vein.
