Primal Dread character unlocks in Brotato

Five Primal Dread characters are available as soon as the DLC is installed: Veteran, Archaeologist, Droid, Time Shifter and Variant. The other five unlock through challenges. None of the five challenges requires a particular danger level.

Unlock conditions

Character	Challenge	Condition
Caveman	Bone Collector	Equip 5 fossils in a single run
Arsonist	The Floor Is Lava	Have 12 fire puddles on the ground at the same time
Poacher	Trophy Hunter	Kill 20 different enemy types in the Jungle
Survivor	Crate Expectations	Pick up 10 crates in a single run
Mad Scientist	Flesh and Steel	Win a run with Variant and a run with Droid

Caveman: five fossils

There are nine fossil items, each limited to one copy, so you need five different ones in the same run. Fossil: Tooth is the only Common one and the cheapest. Lock fossils when they appear in the shop instead of buying around them; a locked item stays for the next shop. The fossil guide lists all nine and their 12 November values.

Arsonist: twelve fire puddles at once

The Molotov Cocktail creates a pool of fire on impact that lasts 3, 3.5, 4 or 4.5 seconds from tier I to IV. One Molotov will not keep 12 pools alive, so carry several and add Attack Speed so new pools land before old ones expire. Higher-tier Molotovs keep each pool longer. Count only pools on the ground at the same moment; pools that expired earlier in the wave do not count.

Poacher: twenty enemy types in the Jungle

Only kills in the Jungle zone count, so pick the Jungle on the zone screen; a Random zone roll can put you in the Crash Zone or the Abyss instead. Unlike the Caveman and Survivor conditions, this one is not worded “in a single run”. Patch 1.2.0.2 removed Jeholopterus from the Jungle, so it can no longer be one of the 20.

Survivor: ten crates in one run

Archaeologist is the direct route: four dig sites appear each wave, and standing on one for 5 to 6 seconds digs up a crate. Archaeologist also gains +3% XP Gain for each crate. A player who could not complete the challenge got it by disabling mods and playing Archaeologist with Shovels; the Shovel has a 0.5% to 2% chance to dig up a crate when it kills an enemy.

If the challenge does not complete in co-op, try a solo run. Several players report the crate count failing in co-op and working solo.

Mad Scientist: wins with Variant and Droid

The two wins can be on any danger level and on any zone. They do not need to be consecutive.

• Droid loses materials instead of HP and dies at zero materials. It gets no stat upgrades on level-up; it gains a Mecha Part and +5% enemy damage instead.
• Variant evolves only toward Mutant and mutates once at the end of every wave. Since 12 November it has a 25% chance to mutate items as you equip them, which replaced the earlier tier replacement that turned items into unwanted ones.

Rewards for winning with each character

Character	Win unlocks
Veteran	Carbon Bow
Archaeologist	Dig Site
Droid	Failsafe Core
Time Shifter	Pocket Watch
Variant	Chimera Cells (Wildfire Mutation before 12 November)
Caveman	Blowgun
Arsonist	Magma Boots
Poacher	Mud Lover
Survivor	Boomerang
Mad Scientist	Light Saber

Challenge completed but character still locked

The 12 November patch fixed challenge rewards that were not unlocked on some saves. If a reward is still missing, use Verify Challenge Unlocks in the gameplay options; it re-checks completed challenges and unlocks their rewards. Disable outdated mods before testing, because the developers warn that old mods can break saves after an update.