To survive the demonic hordes in Dark Jay Studio's newest bullet heaven, you need to know exactly how to unlock characters Arms of God. Released into Early Access on June 8, 2026, this Doom-inspired autoshooter drops you into a grimdark universe where you play as a heavily armed Templar wielding five mechanical arms. While you start with just one basic class, the game features a full roster of 10 playable characters, each boasting distinct abilities, elemental affinities, and massive gameplay shifts.
Because Arms of God relies heavily on meta-progression, expanding your roster isn't just a cosmetic choice—it is a mandatory strategy to beat the game's brutal Inferno difficulty. Thin, generic guides won't help you navigate the intricate weapon merging and material farming required to access the late-game heroes. This comprehensive guide breaks down the exact requirements, optimal farming routes, and hidden achievement triggers you need to claim every Templar in The Cathedral.
The Cathedral Hub: Where to Unlock Characters Arms of God
The meta-progression in this game revolves entirely around what the community calls the Cathedral Progression Loop. You start by choosing to Enter 60 Handcrafted Levels. Once inside, your goal is to Slay Demon Hordes and Gather Holy Materials. After you inevitably fall or triumph, you Return to The Cathedral. Here, you spend those resources to Unlock New Templars. For example, you need to Collect 5,000 Materials just to Unlock Voltaris.
The Cathedral serves as your strategic headquarters. Between runs, this gothic sanctuary allows you to interact with the Gunsmith to permanently upgrade your base arsenal and unlock passive buffs using the Crux system. However, your primary focus in the early game should be the hero selection altar.
Unlike Vampire Survivors or Brotato, where characters are often unlocked through arbitrary time survival, Arms of God ties its roster expansion directly to specific in-game milestones and material thresholds. You cannot simply buy your way through the roster; you have to earn it by mastering the game's elemental damage types (Holy, Fire, and Shock) and understanding how to manipulate the Revelation Pedestals scattered across the maps.
Complete Requirements to Unlock Characters Arms of God
The Early Access build features 10 characters. While the developer has promised more in future patches, these initial Templars provide enough build variety to conquer the current endgame. Here is the exact unlock criteria for every class.
| Character | Unlock Requirement | Key Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Primaris Templar | Unlocked by default | Balanced stats, Aura Emitter synergy |
| Voltaris | Collect 5,000 Materials | Shock Damage +50%, HP Steal 12% |
| Synthar | Defeat the first major boss | High base armor, Fire damage scaling |
| Lightning Knight | Complete 15 waves without taking damage | High mobility, Electric burst damage |
| Ignis Crusader | Merge 5 Fire weapons in a single run | Area-of-effect Fire damage |
| Sanctus Defender | Reach the Cathedral with 10,000 Materials | Holy damage, Invulnerability shield |
| Blood Zealot | Achieve the "Single Purpose" achievement | Melee attack speed, Gore generation |
| Iron Penitent | Survive the Inferno Difficulty Spike | Massive health pool, slow movement |
| Radiant Inquisitor | Unlock all Revelation Pedestals | Ranged Holy damage, screen-clearing |
| Void Breaker | Complete all 60 Handcrafted Levels | Crux system mastery, all-element buff |
When examining the VOLTARIS PROFILE, it becomes clear why this Shock Damage Specialist is a fan favorite. You must look at the Primary Stat modifiers and the Weapon Merge potential. Voltaris boasts a massive Shock Damage +50% increase, alongside an HP Steal 12% baseline. If you tag your builds correctly—focusing on Electric and Melee keywords—you can survive the grueling Inferno difficulty and engage the Crux system. Just remember, this powerhouse Requires 5,000 materials to unlock in the Cathedral.
Important Achievement Caveats
Take special note of the Blood Zealot's unlock requirement: the "Single Purpose" achievement. This achievement tasks you with completing a specific objective using only one weapon type. However, as noted in the version 0.506 patch notes, this achievement does not work if you are playing as the Primaris Templar. You must use a different unlocked character—like Synthar or Voltaris—to trigger the unlock for the Blood Zealot.
Fastest Farming Routes to Unlock Characters Arms of God
Unlocking the back half of the roster requires tens of thousands of materials. If you play passively, this grind can take dozens of hours. To speed up the process, you need to optimize your runs for maximum resource generation.
Every run follows a brutal escalation curve. In Wave 1: The Horde Approaches, you are relatively safe. But as you Merge 5 Weapons to keep up with the enemy scaling, you will eventually hit the Inferno Difficulty Spike. Surviving this spike is the only way to ensure your Materials Secured for Unlocks are maximized before you extract.
Here are the most efficient strategies for farming materials:
- The Aura Emitter Exploit: Currently, the community has discovered that pairing the Primaris Templar with an RF-style aura gun is incredibly overpowered. This build can easily reach 300 HP and 12k DPS, creating a screen-wide damage zone that instantly vaporizes low-tier demons. Use this build to mindlessly farm materials on the mid-tier levels.
- Target Revelation Pedestals: Always prioritize moving toward Revelation Pedestals when they spawn on the map. Not only do they provide massive mid-run buffs, but they also drop dense clusters of high-value materials upon activation.
- Push the Crux System: Once you unlock the Crux system in The Cathedral, invest your early points into material drop multipliers rather than raw damage. The math heavily favors economic scaling in the first ten hours of gameplay.
FAQ: Unlocking the Roster
Can I use cheats to unlock the roster instantly? Yes. Because Arms of God is a purely single-player experience with no server-side anti-cheat, third-party PC trainers (like Wand or XMODhub) can inject God Mode or Infinite Health. While this lets you bypass the grind, it completely removes the satisfaction of the Cathedral Progression Loop.
How long does it take to unlock all 10 characters? If you follow the optimized farming routes and utilize the Aura Emitter build, you can unlock the entire Early Access roster in roughly 15 to 20 hours. Casual play without targeted farming will push this closer to 35 hours.
Will my unlocked characters carry over to the full release? Dark Jay Studio has indicated that Early Access progress will likely carry over to the 1.0 release, though specific character stats and unlock thresholds may be rebalanced as development continues.
By mastering the weapon merge system and understanding exactly where to spend your hard-earned materials, you can easily dominate the demonic legions. Get back into The Cathedral, optimize your builds, and let the holy fire fly.
Sources
- Dark Jay Studio Official Steam Community Updates (Patch v.0.506 & v.0.507)
- Arms of God Early Access Launch Documentation
- Community Build Testing & Reddit Meta Discussions (June 2026)