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Tears of Metal features multiple playable heroes, each offering a distinct approach to combat. Heroes have their own fighting styles, attack patterns, and abilities, allowing players to tailor their playstyle to their preferred method of engaging enemy hordes. New heroes are unlocked by completing special objectives throughout the campaign. Three playable heroes shipped with the Early Access build, with more planned across the Early Access period. All three launch heroes are named: Wallace, Ruadh Stonecrusher and Brienne. Two further heroes appear in the game already but cannot yet be played, and Paper Cult has confirmed that a hero the community nicknamed the Plague Doctor is in development.

Confirmed Heroes

Ruadh Stonecrusher was confirmed by Paper Cult in February 2026. Ruadh wields a massive hammer and specializes in carving through large groups of enemies with heavy, wide-reaching strikes. The character's playstyle emphasizes raw power and crowd control over speed or precision.

Ruadh's unlock condition was changed in the July 24, 2026 patch, which tied it to defeating the Banshee. The same patch fixed gates that could stay shut and block progress partway through Brienne's unlock quest, which is how the third launch hero's name first became public.

Starting Hero

The campaign begins with Wallace, who was also the playable hero in the public betas and the demo. Players begin the campaign with this hero and unlock additional heroes, including Ruadh Stonecrusher, through progression and special objectives. Wallace picked up extra weapons and skins over the course of the public tests, and the demo let players strengthen both the hero and the wider army with weapons, trinkets and skins.

Wallace has the most documented equipment of the three. Post-launch balance passes cut the cost of his Flamberge sword from nine Dragonstones to three and made his Celtic Longsword purchasable for 500 triskelle, and a secret weapon chest hidden in the campaign grants a piece toward another of his weapons. His Committed Charge ability grants 35% damage resistance; the in-game description originally printed that figure as a negative and was corrected on July 24, 2026.

Wallace is also tied to the Seraphic Blade, which is assembled from pieces. Certain pieces can only be obtained after finishing the game once with Wallace. A patch on September 8, 2026 closed a gap that let players pick those pieces up early in multiplayer, and the blade now unlocks the moment its last piece is collected rather than when the level ends. Paper Cult has not said which hero wields it. The same patch stopped hero Trials unlocking in multiplayer before the selected hero was able to attempt them.

Brienne's only named weapon so far is the Bladed Vambrace. The September 8, 2026 patch fixed her third combo with it failing to trigger Emblem Finisher effects.

Hero Synergies

In co-op play, different heroes can combine their abilities and artifact builds to create powerful synergies. Paper Cult has designed the hero roster so that each character offers distinct combat approaches that complement each other in a four-player team. Additional playable heroes are planned for release during the Early Access period. Two further heroes are already visible in the game without being obtainable: two days after launch Paper Cult acknowledged the requests for what it called the two mysterious heroes shown but not yet playable, and said they would follow once desync, mid-run saving and balance work were further along. The studio has also listed more voice acting among the changes intended for the full version.

On August 21, 2026 the studio put a rough order on that. New content sits in the third of three phases, behind a stability patch and a round of system reworks, and Paper Cult said major additions would come later rather than during the rework phase. No hero has been dated.

Heroes in Development

On September 18, 2026 Paper Cult confirmed that it is actively working on a new playable hero the community has nicknamed the Plague Doctor. The studio used the nickname itself but has not given the character an official name, described its weapon or playstyle, or said whether it is one of the two heroes already visible in the game. A short animated teaser was the only material released with the announcement. No release date has been given, and under the studio's August plan major additions like this one belong to the third phase of Early Access.

Hero Selection

Heroes are chosen from a selection screen that shows the whole roster at once. Heroes the player has not yet unlocked appear as black silhouettes rather than being hidden, so the shape of a locked hero and the weapon it carries are visible before it is earned, which doubles as a hint at what the remaining unlocks involve.