To rescue a champion in Warhammer Survivors, find the captive on the stage during a run and kill every highlighted enemy guarding them. Once the guards are dead, the champion joins your run as a follower and stays unlocked on the character select screen for every run after.
Rescues are how most of the roster opens up, and each stage has its own rescue scenario with a Steam achievement attached. Below we cover how a rescue works step by step, which champion you rescue on each stage in both universes, how to make the fight around the captive easier, and what a rescue gives you.
How Rescue Scenarios Work
Warhammer Survivors splits its roster between Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar, and only a few champions are open from the start. The rest you unlock by playing, and the rescue scenario is the most common way. It plays out inside a normal run:
- Start a run on a stage that has a rescue. Each universe’s stages hold different captives, so pick the stage for the champion you want (see the tables below).
- Find the captive. They are out on the map rather than beside you at the start, so you have to push through the swarm to reach them.
- Kill the highlighted enemies. The captive is guarded, and the guards are marked. Every one of them has to die before the rescue completes.
- Keep playing. The rescued champion fights beside you for the rest of that run, and from the next run on you can pick them as your own champion.
A rescue does not end the run, so a strong build can rescue a champion and still go on to the stage’s boss.
Every Warhammer 40,000 Rescue
| Stage | Champion you rescue | Steam achievement |
|---|---|---|
| Imperial Bastion | Trooper Bartosz Kozlowski and the Legend of Catachan | One Man Army |
| Gallowdark | K9 Mastiff | Does He Bite? |
| Ork Stronghold | Commissar Sebastian Yarrick | Old Bale Eye |
| Imperial Shipyard | Saint Celestine | Living Saint |
| Death World | Not confirmed (see below) | Lord Macragge |
Imperial Bastion has two champions to free, so it is worth returning to until you have both.
The Death World’s achievement is named Lord Macragge, the title of Marneus Calgar, which points to him as the champion freed there, though we could not confirm it.
Every Age of Sigmar Rescue
| Stage | Champion you rescue | Steam achievement |
|---|---|---|
| The Great Parch | Armand Callis and Hanniver Toll | Witch Hunter |
| Skrappa Spill | Gotrek Gurnisson | Realmslayer |
| Bloodwind Spoil | Rostus Oxenhammer | Extra Ham |
| Under-Empire | Ulgromthier | Runemaster |
| Twin-Tailed City | Not confirmed | Weaver of Secrets |
Ulgromthier is the rescue we would chase first on this side. Auroch’s Steam Next Fest post says the Fyreslayer Runemaster starts each battle with a higher health pool, which makes every later run safer.
How to Make Rescues Easier
The fight around a captive is the hard part, because you have to stand your ground among the guards while the swarm keeps coming. These help:
- Bring area damage. Weapons that hit all around you, such as Nuln Oil and the Whirlwind Battery on the 40K side or the Nebulous Sea-Fog in Age of Sigmar, keep the swarm off you while you work through the guards.
- Level up before you go. There is no prize for reaching the captive early with a weak build. Spend the opening minutes collecting experience, then head out.
- Use pick-ups. Auroch’s Pick-ups post describes items such as the Blast Template, which destroys everything on screen (some enemies resist it), and the Melta-bomb, a delayed blast. Save one for the crowd around a captive.
- Watch the faction traits. Killing Tyranid Synapse creatures stuns the smaller bioforms near them, and when the screen turns red on an Ork stage a Waaagh! is starting and more enemies spawn, per Auroch’s Faction Traits post.
- Buy survival Enhancements. Toughness, Wounds and Save make the guard fight much more forgiving. Our guide to the best Enhancements to buy first has the order.
What a Rescue Gives You
A rescue pays off twice. During the run, the champion joins your squad as a follower. Auroch’s Squad System post says followers “cannot take damage or collect items,” so a rescued champion is free extra damage that can never die. After the run, the champion is unlocked for good.
Auroch’s November 11 hotfix fixed one rescue on Steam: the Legend of Catachan, “upon being rescued,” no longer attacks with a Chainsword instead of Frag Grenades. Auroch says GOG, PS5, Xbox, Switch, Switch 2 and mobile get the hotfix from next week.
Not every champion is a rescue. Some are bought with coins, some unlock from kill goals, and some need a set of Warhammer paint pots. Our guide to every champion and how to unlock them has the full list, our best build guide covers what to run once your new champion is unlocked, and the Warhammer 40,000 guides hub has the rest.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you rescue characters in Warhammer Survivors? Find the captive on the stage during a run and kill all the highlighted enemies around them. The champion then joins you as a follower and is unlocked for future runs.
Does a rescue end the run? No. The rescued champion fights beside you for the rest of the run, and you can carry on to the boss.
Which stage has two champions to rescue? Imperial Bastion has two on the Warhammer 40,000 side, Trooper Kozlowski and the Legend of Catachan, and The Great Parch has Armand Callis and Hanniver Toll on the Age of Sigmar side.
Can rescued followers die? No. Auroch says followers cannot take damage or collect items.
Is there an achievement for rescues? Yes, one per stage, from One Man Army on Imperial Bastion to Runemaster on the Under-Empire.
Do rescues from the demo carry over? No. Auroch’s official FAQ says demo progress does not transfer to the full game.