Chained Beasts characters define your gladiator playstyle through unique passive buffs, base stat trade-offs, and physical chain properties. Developer Featherweight Games confirmed that the full game features 8 distinct beasts alongside unlockable beast variants that alter stats, perks, and cosmetics. Whether brawling solo or managing tethered positioning in 1 to 4 player co-op, selecting the right animal dictates your mobility, damage output, and team economy in the arena.
Playable Beasts and Character Traits
Each gladiator character brings a set of baseline properties designed around specific arena roles, ranging from mobile crowd-pleasers to heavy damage sponges.
| Character | Core Strengths | Known Drawbacks | Primary Playstyle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lion | +50% damage on special attacks | Standard mobility and reach | Heavy-hitting melee attacker |
| Eagle | Earns twice as much money from crowd tips | Standard health pool | Economy generation and shop scaling |
| Bear | Bonus HP, 20% damage reduction, brief fury/invulnerability on hit | 20% movement speed penalty | Frontline tank and attrition brawler |
| Lioness | Longer tether chains, +10% movement speed | Lower raw durability | Agile positioning and chain tripping |
| Wolf | Starts with 3 random skills and a random affliction | Unpredictable initial affliction | High-variance rogue and hybrid build |
| Panther | Higher base damage, +50% special attack damage | Reduced health pool | High-risk, high-reward burst glass cannon |
| Rhino | 30% passive damage reduction, high stagger resistance | Slower handling profile | Bulwark brawler and crowd controller |
| Ibex | Increased movement speed and swift repositions | Lower defensive buffer | Hit-and-run harasser |
Lion
The Lion serves as the straightforward, aggressive combatant. His passive provides an immediate bonus to charged special attacks, scaling up the impact of heavy sword thrusts, hammer swings, and spear strikes. He excels when an ally trips enemies, leaving vulnerable targets open to devastating follow-up strikes.
Eagle
The Eagle focuses entirely on arena economy. By doubling the custom coin payouts received from crowd tips, players running the Eagle accumulate gold significantly faster across successive days. This excess cash allows teams to purchase expensive shop equipment earlier, such as Quilted Armor, Obsidian Pilums, and passive team-wide buffs like bonus max stamina.
Bear
The Bear trades agility for sheer staying power. Across open beta and demo tests, the Bear features a 20% movement speed penalty that makes evading projectile-heavy archers and boss charge attacks difficult. In exchange, the Bear receives either 20% to 30% less damage or an expanded health pool. When struck, the Bear briefly gains invulnerability and a fury state, enabling aggressive, high-damage counterattacks while absorbing enemy blows.
Lioness
The Lioness provides unique utility through arena mechanics rather than raw numbers. Her passive grants +10% movement speed and gives her tether a noticeably longer chain. In multiplayer co-op, a longer chain gives both tethered players broader separation to maneuver around arena pillars, avoid friendly fire sweeps, and clothesline entire enemy packs across the sand.
Wolf
The Wolf is an unlocked specialist designed for chaotic, adaptable runs. Selecting the Wolf bypasses the standard starting baseline by granting three random skills immediately, balanced against an automatic starting affliction (such as a tier-2 physical penalty). This allows the Wolf to begin Day 1 with advanced synergies, like immediate throw criticals or vigor on dodge, at the price of coping with early ailments.
Panther
Featured in later acts on advanced difficulties like Centurion, the Panther strips away defensive safety in exchange for speed and carnage. The Panther suffers from reduced maximum health but deals higher baseline damage across all strikes and gains a massive +50% boost to charged special attacks. Panther runs require careful evasion and crowd favor management, rewarding clean executions with rapid room clears.
Rhino and Ibex
Introduced during the demo beast overhaul, the Rhino and Ibex expand the roster beyond traditional predators. The Rhino operates as a heavily armored juggernaut built to blunt opposing shields and absorb direct hits with passive damage mitigation. In contrast, the Ibex offers high-tempo foot speed, letting players skirt around dangerous fire pits, snake baskets, and falling arena rubble.
How to Unlock Characters and Variants
Progression in Chained Beasts combines in-run milestone unlocks with long-term beast mastery:
- Survival Milestone Unlocks: Base characters like the Wolf unlock by surviving deeper into the gauntlet. For example, reaching Day 3 in the arena unlocks the Wolf for future runs.
- Difficulty Clear Unlocks: Advancing through difficulty tiers (such as Pleb, Legionnaire, Centurion, and Hades) opens up advanced options and specialized beast archetypes for subsequent arena attempts.
- Beast XP and Variants: Featherweight Games designed each beast to gain experience across arena runs. Levelling up a specific beast unlocks alternate variants that carry altered stat spreads, alternate perk combinations, and unique cosmetic appearances.
Character Synergy in Co-op Play
Multiplayer matches tether 2 to 4 gladiators together, transforming character passives into shared team mechanics:
- Pairing Economy with High Durability: Combining an Eagle with a Bear allows the Bear to hold chokepoints and soak damage while the Eagle generates the crowd tips needed to buy group-wide shop upgrades, such as medicine and armor plates.
- Chain Management: Placing a Lioness on a team increases available leash distance. This prevents teammates from dragging each other into bear traps, spike walls, or friendly weapon throws.
- Triggering Affliction Synergies: Skills unlocked during leveling—such as gaining +5% damage per affliction level—work exceptionally well on the Wolf, who enters the arena already carrying a pre-existing tier-2 debuff.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many characters are in Chained Beasts?
The full release features 8 distinct playable beasts, with each beast possessing unlockable variants that modify abilities, base stats, and cosmetics.
Can you remove starting afflictions on the Wolf?
In the full game structure, gladiators can visit the surgeon between acts to treat wounds and remove afflictions. However, in early demo builds, the surgeon is unavailable, meaning starting afflictions remain permanent for the duration of that demo run.
Does character choice change your weapon options?
No. All beasts can equip, swing, and throw any weapon found in the dungeon or arena, including swords, spears, flails, maces, halberds, and bows. Character selection primarily dictates your base stats, passive perks, and physical chain length.
