Warhammer Survivors unlocks include rescued characters, paint-pot rewards, purchasable characters, and weapons, with different requirements for each route. On Imperial Bastion, defeat the guards and approach Trooper Bartosz Kozlowski to complete the rescue. To unlock the Black Templars Castellan, collect Abaddon Black and then spend 800 coins. Choose the Warhammer 40,000 universe for these routes; previews describe character unlocks and permanent upgrades as specific to each universe.
Understand what each unlock actually gives you
The official store description advertises a roster of more than 40 playable characters across Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Some are available from the start, and the unlockable playable characters have their own requirements. Battlefield paint pots also unlock character forms and secrets. Treat a character rescue, a paint-pot discovery, and a character purchase as distinct objectives: the Castellan route specifically requires a purchase after the collectible has been found.
An unlock can also change the weapons or companions available during a run, rather than simply adding another starting character to choose. The release review identifies Knight-Commander Pask's Leman Russ Battle Tank and Commissar Sebastian Yarrick's Power Klaw as weapons that can be unlocked and equipped later, regardless of the starting hero. That description concerns later weapon access; it does not provide the individual unlock requirements for either weapon.
Choose your universe before working on progression
Select Warhammer 40,000 before attempting either Imperial Bastion route below, since both character tutorials place their objectives in that universe. Previews describe the two universes as having separate characters, upgrades, and unlocks, even though some passive abilities appear in both. The TechRaptor preview specifically says permanent increases such as damage and health are exclusive to their respective universe, so plan those upgrades around the universe you intend to play.
The official description connects gold collected during runs with becoming stronger in future attempts, making currency another part of progression alongside discoveries and rescues. The release review describes money accumulating across multiple runs and being spent in a metaprogression menu that boosts basic stats. Keep that permanent-stat spending separate from the Castellan's character purchase when deciding what you want to unlock, because his documented route ends with an explicit 800-coin transaction.
Rescue Trooper Bartosz Kozlowski on Imperial Bastion
For the Trooper rescue, choose Imperial Bastion in Warhammer 40,000; the tutorial describes it as that universe's first map and says any character can attempt the rescue immediately. Once the run begins, pause the game and open the map tab to find the green question marks. Look for the question mark that corresponds to the rescue target. The Castellan’s paint pot has a separate marker.
Head toward the rescue target and follow the green indicator at the edge of the screen to the Trooper. The tutorial places him close to the spawn and says there is no need to concentrate on gaining many levels along that short approach. When you reach him, defeat all the elite enemies surrounding him, then walk up to the freed character to complete the rescue interaction.
After that interaction, the tutorial says the Trooper thanks you and joins the battle as a follower using his lasgun for the remainder of the run. Finding and rescuing him on Imperial Bastion is also the requirement for unlocking him as a playable character. These are the immediate results to look for after defeating the elites: the character joins your battle, and the map's character-rescue objective is completed.
Find the Castellan's paint pot and finish the purchase
The Black Templars Castellan follows a collectible-and-purchase route, so do not apply the Trooper's rescue instructions to this character. Start Imperial Bastion in the Warhammer 40,000 universe with any character, then pause and open the map tab. Look toward the top of the map, up and left of your spawn, for the green question mark associated with the paint pot.
The Castellan tutorial tells you to head north and gain levels along the way, describing a longer walk than the nearby Trooper rescue. The paint pot sits inside a walled base beside a large red container, which gives you a physical landmark beyond the map marker. Walk over the pot to collect it, then look for the paint-pot-found confirmation screen and check the paint pots menu for Abaddon Black.
Once the relevant paint pot has been collected, go to character selection, where the tutorial says the Castellan becomes available to buy for 800 coins. Select the purchase option to finish acquiring him; finding the pot is the step that makes this purchase available. If you have reached the collection confirmation but have not bought the character, your next action on this documented route is the character-selection purchase.
Use rescued companions through their associated weapons
The PC Gamer demo account describes a broader rescue pattern in which defeating the enemies threatening an unlockable character frees that character to join the current battle. It also says rescued companions can join subsequent battles when you choose one of their associated weapons during a level-up. This later recruitment behavior was described in the demo, so keep that version context attached to the weapon-selection advice.
A separate demo account gives Kozlowski as a concrete example: taking the Lasgun brings him into the party to fire at nearby enemies. That account also reports that upgrading the Lasgun adds more Guardsmen, tying the expanding squad to weapon upgrades within the run. The release review describes the broader squad system as recruiting another character to wield a granted weapon when your chosen hero cannot equip it.
Use the map and check the result of each route
The release review describes the pause-menu map as an item radar that can be zoomed to locate relics and pickups and track them through onscreen indicators. It also notes that the map lacks landscape detail and cannot be freely scrubbed through, so physical landmarks still matter when following a collectible route. For the Castellan, combine the upper-left question mark with the walled base and red container; for the Trooper, follow the rescue marker to the guarded character.
Check completion against the route you chose: the Trooper rescue produces a fighting follower and completes the Imperial Bastion rescue objective. The Castellan route instead produces a paint-pot confirmation, a collected entry in the paint pots menu, and an available character purchase. Permanent stat growth is a separate use of accumulated money, while the official description presents additional paint pots as sources of forms and secrets beyond these specific character examples.