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Heroes
June 21, 2026 at 06:07 PM
Added the four confirmed post-launch Heroes (Ryza, Jerome, Veronica, Logan) with their combat roles, plus the post-launch Hero Quests and Rift System and the planned quality-of-life work
DragonSword: Awakening has nineteen playable Heroes. Each Hero has a distinct Status Ailment ability, which is the primary thing that differentiates them mechanically from one another.
Under the Buy-to-Play Model for the Western release, every Hero is obtainable through the story and in-game activities. No Hero is locked behind gacha pulls or extra paid purchases beyond the base game. Hound13 has stated on record that all heroes originally intended for World 1 are included in the package and obtainable through story progression and gameplay. This is a deliberate departure from the Korean free-to-play version, which used gacha to distribute heroes.
Status Ailment variety is the clearest way to understand what a Hero does. One Hero might specialise in stacking a particular ailment; another might chain debuffs that set up big burst damage. Players extend those ailments with Active Skills and close with Signal Skills through the Switching Signals tag-team system, so the practical question is which ailments and which Signal Skills the player wants to have in their active rotation.
Eleven Heroes are publicly named as playable as of the early-June 2026 pre-launch campaign. The first six (Lute, Castella, Aria, Kalien, Theresia, and Ornette) were revealed through April and May 2026; three more, the knights of the Orbis Royal Castle (Cerese, Reina, and Kalsion), were introduced in the Orbis Kingdom Hero Teaser at the start of June 2026, and a tenth, Charlotte, was revealed on June 4, 2026 ahead of a developer live stream. An eleventh, Roxy, a bow user, was playable in the June 2026 demo, where she featured in the demo roster and tag-team gameplay; her faction and Status Ailments have not been detailed in official material yet. A separate public name, Johnny, is recorded as a travelling companion of Lute but has not been confirmed as one of the nineteen playable Heroes; he is listed in the Companions and Side Cast section below. The remaining identities will be revealed through the rest of the run-up and the June 2026 Steam Next Fest demo. The June 2026 demo additionally includes a demo-exclusive Hero who is not part of the full-game roster.
Hero | Role / Faction | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
Protagonist / Mercenary band | Stun, Down | Greatsword all-rounder. Heals allies through the Goddess's power. | |
Castella | Mercenary band assault vanguard (Elf) | Break, Stun | Frontline frame-shaker for the band. Appears in the Tag Combo Preview. |
Mercenary band firepower specialist | Burn, Airborne | Bomb-using ranged setup. Confirmed via the Tag Combo Preview. | |
Red Fox Mercenary Corps Spiritist | Stun (fire-flavoured) | Commands Sur, a fire-element fox spirit. | |
Organa Order Heretic Inquisitor | Bleed, Stun | Twin sacred maces. One of only ten Inquisitors with execution authority. | |
Organa Order Saintess of the Dawn | Shock, Down | Scythe-wielding hybrid of sacred magic and action. Second named member of the Organa Order. | |
Continent of Orbis Magic Knight Order, commander | Not yet detailed | Leads the Orbis Royal Castle's Magic Knight Order and handles the kingdom's magic-related matters. Introduced in the Orbis Kingdom Hero Teaser with a redesigned look. | |
Orbis Royal Castle, 8th Knight Order captain | Not yet detailed | Captain of the 8th Knight Order, specialising in reconnaissance and guerrilla warfare through superior mobility. | |
Orbis Royal Castle, king | Not yet detailed | Called the Sun of the Kingdom, the leader the Orbis knights serve. Moves for the peace and stability of Orbis. | |
Charlotte | Not yet detailed | Not yet detailed | Newest revealed Hero (June 4, 2026). Her combat kit was previewed at the June 5 developer live stream; ailments not yet itemised. |
Roxy | Not yet detailed | Not yet detailed | Bow user. Playable in the June 2026 demo roster and shown in tag-team gameplay; faction and ailments not yet detailed in official material. |
Hound13 has confirmed that Ryza will be the first of four new Heroes added across the second half of 2026. The studio has stressed these four are part of the full version rather than paid DLC and will be developed regardless of sales. Ryza arrives first because implementation issues kept her out of the initial roster, and the other three follow in an order still being decided internally.
Post-Launch Hero | Combat Role | Confirmed Details |
|---|---|---|
Ryza | Shock specialist | Throws her spear, then teleports to its location to continue the assault for fast, stylish combat. First of the four to be added. |
Jerome | Knockdown specialist | A small-statured Hero wielding a massive greatsword. Unleashes skills on Super Armor Destruction and uses a Grab that builds up to three stages. Prioritised right after Ryza because the launch roster lacks a dedicated knockdown specialist. |
Veronica | Bare-handed plus gun | Inspired by community requests for a fist fighter. Fires a gun at range and switches to martial arts up close, with Stun as her primary ailment. |
Logan | Tank | Attacks with a massive shield and protects allies. Being developed into a more versatile Hero before his debut. |
Alongside the new Heroes, Hound13 has outlined post-launch systems for the second half of 2026. Hero Quests will explore the untold stories of Heroes not covered in the main story, starting with Othello's quest and followed by one tied to Ryza. A Rift System is also in development, in which rifts appear across the world and let the player travel to other dimensions for combat. The studio has also named quality-of-life work, including a lock-on feature, gamepad and hit-feedback improvements, camera options, a Photo Mode, and a help system, as a top priority for the launch build and the updates that follow.
Another Hero, Othello, has appeared in pre-launch material, but the studio has said his character model is still unfinished and will be polished before launch. His role and ailments have not been detailed.
Three named characters travel with Heroes but have not been confirmed as playable members of the nineteen-Hero roster:
Character | Travelling With | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Dana | Searching for her missing mother, who is also Kalien's friend. Whether she is a sworn member of the Red Fox Mercenary Corps has not been confirmed. | |
Johnny | Mercenary band leader-figure publicly named in pre-launch material but not yet confirmed as one of the nineteen playable Heroes. First met on the road to Orbis. |
Sixty years before the events of the game, a Dragon nearly destroyed the continent, and six legendary Heroes of Old rose to drive it back. Those six are not part of the playable roster; they are a lore element. One of the main pre-launch quest hooks is that the modern party is tracing the footsteps of the legendary Heroes across the continent to uncover their hidden secrets.
The title of the game is in-universe as well as marketing copy. Hound13 describes the central question as whether the modern cast, led by Lute, can truly become the Dragon Sword, savior of the continent. The Dragon Sword is not a weapon item; it is the title borne by whoever rises to take on the Dragon threat. Whether the player's Heroes earn that title, and what happens if they do not, is the spine of the main story.
Status Ailments - the combat layer every Hero is built around.
Active Skills and Signal Skills - the mid-combo and finisher layers each Hero contributes to.
Buy-to-Play Model - why every Hero is unlocked through play rather than through gacha.
Continent of Orbis - the open-world setting the Heroes share.
