Prelude Dark Pain Recruit All Heroes

Steam Early Access ships Prelude Dark Pain with nine playable heroes sharing sixty-three skills across Act 1: Soren, Tizon, Tammais, Maya, Sade, Gala, Rufio, Urza, and Rayder. Full release targets twenty-plus heroes across eight class types, but the current roster already covers tanks, hunters, engineers, gunslingers, support casters, and flexible DPS roles. Missing even one optional recruit narrows squad builds before the Act 1 finale—especially when missions expect five deployed units with varied tools.

This guide explains how each hero joins, what utility they bring, and which systems—main story, world missions, or dialogue—gate their availability. Spoilers stay mechanical rather than plot-heavy, but assume you are actively playing Act 1.

Recruitment rules in Early Access

Prelude Dark Pain ties companions to narrative decisions and optional content. Quickfire confirms that previous choices can lock heroes later. Talent respecs are free, but recruitment is not reversible—save before major forks if you want to compare routes.

Heroes fall into three buckets:

1. Story mandatory — join through main quests you cannot skip.
2. Story optional — join if you choose specific dialogue or spare/defeat outcomes after key fights.
3. World mission — join after NPC contracts or regional arcs from the overworld map.

Cross-reference World Missions & Raids while hunting optional recruits.

Soren — rebel leader and flank assassin

Soren is the protagonist: a retired warrior posing as a blacksmith until the Ashen Crusade attacks his family and Statera demands he lead the Blue Net resistance. He joins automatically in the prologue and never leaves the roster.

Role: melee DPS with bleed-focused flank gameplay.

Why recruit: you cannot avoid him; mastering Soren teaches Flanking & Positioning fundamentals.

Kit notes: slides behind Crusade lines, applies bleed, amplifies damage against bleeding targets—pair with Maya blind or Tizon knockback.

Tizon — engineer son

Tizon is Soren’s son, fighting beside him from the opening escape sequence. Story-mandatory in Act 1.

Role: trap and turret engineer with rifle knockback.

Kit notes: bear traps control paths, mechanical turrets punish movement, push skills enable environmental kills on moving maps—see Combat Basics.

Tammais — frontline bruiser

Tammais appears early as a high-health defender who draws enemy focus while allies reposition.

Role: frontline tank / aggro anchor.

Recruitment: main-story ally during the first rebellion arcs; available well before Act 1’s midpoint.

Kit notes: hold choke points so Soren can flank; upgrade his armor first at the Crafting & Blacksmith forge.

Maya — hunter and owl support

Maya brings ranged pressure with an owl companion that blinds and exposes enemies, plus cone attacks for grouped Crusade units.

Role: ranged DPS / debuff support.

Recruitment: early main-story companion once the overworld opens; hard to miss if you follow critical path markers.

Kit notes: blind reduces enemy accuracy while your flankers work; elevation improves arrow cones.

Sade — gold-masked zone support

Sade is a support hero who drops a giant cross onto the battlefield and amplifies zones with follow-up skills—excellent area denial against Pain creatures and Crusade clusters alike.

Role: magic support / battlefield control.

Recruitment: typically gated by a story branch or specific world mission in Act 1’s mid-to-late regions. Explore NPC hubs after major chapter unlocks and revisit the Citadel dialogue board.

Kit notes: combine with Gala explosives or Tizon traps for controlled kill zones.

Gala — gunslinger demolitions

Gala places blood crystal barrels she can detonate without harming herself—high skill-ceiling DPS for players who plan two-turn setups.

Role: ranged DPS / explosive control.

Recruitment: often tied to optional world content or faction choices favoring aggressive rebellion tactics. Check regional contracts on the world map before leaving Act 1 hubs.

Kit notes: detonations reward enemies grouped by Maya cones or Sade crosses.

Rufio — flexible frontline fighter

Rufio fills frontline or flex-melee slots depending on skill loadout, helping when Tammais is raid-locked or injured.

Role: bruiser / secondary tank.

Recruitment: optional world mission or dialogue outcome; easy to miss on a rush playthrough.

Kit notes: bench insurance for Citadel Management rotation-heavy strategies.

Urza — ranged or hybrid specialist

Urza extends your ranged bench alongside Maya and Gala, useful on maps demanding height control or anti-Pain creature kits.

Role: ranged DPS or hybrid (verify active build in Citadel after recruitment).

Recruitment: late Act 1 optional content; may require prior world mission completion chains.

Kit notes: deploy on elevation-heavy missions referenced in Flanking & Positioning.

Rayder — late Act 1 companion

Rayder rounds out the Early Access roster with a distinct kit complementing support or DPS gaps depending on your story choices.

Role: flexible slot—confirm virtues after joining.

Recruitment: among the last optional recruits; sweep remaining world missions before triggering Act 1’s final cutscenes.

Kit notes: respec freely once recruited to fit your five-hero meta on the Tier List.

Full roster checklist

Hero	Likely gate	Priority
Soren	Prologue	Mandatory
Tizon	Prologue	Mandatory
Tammais	Early main story	High
Maya	Early main story	High
Sade	Mid story / world mission	Medium
Gala	Optional world / choice	Medium
Rufio	Optional world / choice	Medium
Urza	Late optional chain	Medium
Rayder	Late optional chain	Medium

Squad ideas with nine heroes

Once roster-complete, rotate these five-deployed templates:

• Balanced rebellion: Tammais, Maya, Soren, Tizon, Sade.
• Explosive control: Tammais, Gala, Sade, Maya, Soren.
• Anti-boss burst: Tammais, Soren, Urza, Rayder, Tizon.

Adjust for mission challenges and battle point budgets from Battle Points & Skills.

If you missed someone

Reload a save from before the gating choice if possible. Otherwise finish Act 1 and start a New Game+ or second playthrough focusing World Missions & Raids—recruitment variance is a feature, not a bug, in Prelude Dark Pain’s branching Statera campaign.

Collecting all nine heroes ensures you experience Act 1’s full sixty-three-skill design space before Quickfire expands toward twenty-plus companions at 1.0.