DragonSword: Awakening – How to Unlock Characters

DragonSword: Awakening looks like a gacha game, but it never asks you to pull for heroes. Every one of the 19 launch characters is yours to earn by playing, though you won’t have the full roster the moment you start. New heroes arrive as you push through story chapters and collect a dedicated unlock currency.

Quick answer: Some heroes join automatically as you clear quests. For the rest, earn Fate’s Invitation tickets, open the Exchange menu, and spend a ticket on the character you want to add them to your team.

How character unlocks work in DragonSword: Awakening

There are two ways a hero ends up on your roster. Certain characters are added for you automatically as you clear specific quests and story missions. Others sit in a locked list until you spend a ticket to bring them in. Because this is a buy-to-play title with no character gacha, there are no duplicate pulls, pity counters, or premium summon tickets involved.

There is no set order for the ticket-based unlocks. You decide who to recruit first based on the team you want to build, whether that leans toward Bleed, Fire, Stun, or another Status Ailment for tag-team combos.

How to earn Fate’s Invitation tickets

Fate’s Invitation is the special currency used to unlock heroes, and it has only that purpose. You gather it by completing story content and Hero Quests. There are no microtransactions, so every ticket comes from playing.

Source	Tickets earned
Completing the Prologue	1 (your first ticket)
Finishing each story chapter	1 per chapter
Clearing Hero Quests	Additional tickets

The game is split into chapters, starting with the Prologue where you play as Lute and meet Castella and Johnny. That opening takes roughly 15 minutes and rewards your first Fate’s Invitation. After that, you receive a ticket every time you finish a chapter. Chapter lengths vary, so it helps to keep a ticket or two in reserve rather than spending the moment you earn one.

Hero Quests are the other main source. These are special missions tied to specific characters, and they stay locked until you progress far enough into the main story. Once a Hero Quest is available, clearing it grants more tickets. A ticket works the same way no matter how you earned it.

How to spend tickets in the Exchange menu

Once you hold at least one Fate’s Invitation, open the menu and head to the Exchange section. This is where the game lists every hero, both the ones you already have and the ones still locked.

Pick the locked character you want and spend a ticket to unlock them. There’s no wrong choice here, so prioritize the role or Status Ailment your team is missing.

After the exchange completes, the hero moves into your roster and can be added to your active party right away. You’ll know it worked when they appear as available in your team selection instead of the locked list.

Post-launch heroes coming free

The launch roster of 19 isn’t the end of the list. Four more heroes, Ryza, Jerome, Veronica, and Logan, arrive free during the second half of 2026 as sequential content updates rather than paid expansions. They join through the same play-based system, so you won’t need to buy anything to add them once they’re live.

The takeaway is simple. Keep clearing chapters for a steady drip of tickets, take on Hero Quests as they open up, and cash your Fate’s Invitations in the Exchange for whoever fits your team plan. Play long enough and the entire roster becomes yours, no summons required.