1 The unlock list at a glance
| Traveler | How to unlock |
|---|---|
| Lacerta | Available from the start |
| Mist | Available from the start |
| Vesper | Reach the third region, the Starry Dream |
| Yubar | Collect 300 Dream Dust in total |
| Bismuth | Hold movement speed above 900 for 3 seconds |
| Aurena | Heal 30,000 across all runs |
| Nachia | Defeat the forest boss Belphomet 20 times |
| Shell | Bring three souls to the wooden doll and wake it |
2 The two you start with
Lacerta is the gentler of the two to learn on. Fighting at range keeps you out of the situations that punish inexperienced movement, and the whole opening stretch of the game is more forgiving when you are not being forced into melee range to deal damage.
3 The ones you unlock by playing normally
Three unlocks arrive on their own if you simply keep playing. They are worth knowing about only so that you do not waste effort chasing them.
Reaching the third region, the Starry Dream, is the requirement. That means pushing through the earlier dreamscapes rather than dying in the first two, so this one doubles as a competence check.
300 Dream Dust across any number of runs. Dust comes from defeating enemies, completing objectives and decomposing items, so this accumulates whether you win or lose.
Twenty victories over Belphomet, the boss of the forest region. Nothing about it is difficult once you can beat the fight; it is purely a matter of getting there twenty times.
4 The ones that need a deliberate attempt
5 A sensible unlock order
If you want a plan rather than a list, this order lines the unlocks up with the natural difficulty curve so that each one arrives roughly when you are ready to use it.
| Order | Traveler and reasoning |
|---|---|
| First | Yubar. 300 Dust accrues from ordinary play, so it lands early with no effort |
| Second | Vesper. Reaching the third region is the skill milestone you want anyway |
| Third | Bismuth. Worth one dedicated speed-stacking run once you know the shops |
| Fourth | Aurena. Arrives on its own if you keep taking healing picks |
| Fifth | Nachia. Twenty forest boss kills is time rather than skill |
| Last | Shell. Needs Nightmare or endgame access, so it comes when it comes |
6 On tier lists
Tier lists for this game circulate widely and they are more misleading than usual, because every Traveler is viable. What the high placements actually measure is how forgiving a character is, not whether it can finish a run. Bismuth and Nachia get named as strong early picks because they let mistakes slide, which is a genuinely useful property while you are learning and much less relevant later.
There are also builds that look unremarkable on a ranking and perform far above it. Yubar with the alternate passive and an auto-attack focus, built around Frostbite, Arrow Storm and Umbral Edge, is one that experienced players single out. That kind of specific pairing matters more than the letter next to a portrait.
Cetus joins the unlock roster
The roster did not stop at the original eight Travelers. Version 1.4 adds Cetus, a ranged Cold user who can protect himself and allies with shields. The official unlock action is to dig through Piles of Snow. This is a separate unlock from the eight entries above; do not substitute an existing character condition for it.
The announcement does not give a universal number of snow piles or a guaranteed location. Check the relevant in-game prompt when you find one instead of treating an invented counter as a requirement. After unlocking a Traveler, The Way of Stars provides another progression track; that is distinct from simply making the character selectable.
Cetus build testing also benefits from updating: version 1.4.1 corrects Essence effects on Overflowing Power and interactions involving Icy Veins and Refreshing Strike. An earlier failure of those interactions is not proof that the same setup cannot work after the fixes.
Sources: Cetus and The Way of Stars, 1.4.1 Cetus fixes. Checked 26 October 2026.
Lacerta and Mist are free, Vesper and Yubar and Aurena arrive through ordinary play, Bismuth needs a deliberate movement speed run, Nachia needs twenty forest boss kills, and Shell needs the wooden doll event on Nightmare or in the endgame. Farm the cumulative unlocks on low difficulty, because Dust totals and kill counts do not care which tier you played. Cetus is an additional unlock through Piles of Snow. Treat tier lists as a learning aid and check the current version before relying on a build.
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