Vanillaware games are always a bit much, aren't they? You open up the map in Unicorn Overlord, see a sprawling continent, and realize there are over 60 unique units just waiting for you to find them. It's overwhelming. Honestly, if you try to grab every single one of the Unicorn Overlord recruitable characters without a plan, you’re going to end up with a messy roster of benchwarmers and no Honors to upgrade them.
The game doesn't hold your hand. It lets you execute people. It lets you let villains walk free. Sometimes, being a "good guy" is the worst thing you can do for your army's efficiency. You've got to be cold-blooded about who gets a seat at the table and who gets left in the dirt.
The Early Game Trap: To Execute or Not?
Right out of the gate in Cornia, you meet Gammel. He’s a jerk. He’s a criminal. Most players want to throw him in the dungeon because, well, he deserves it. But if you do that? You lose out on a high-tier Rogue. In Unicorn Overlord, your moral compass is basically a difficulty slider.
Forgiving Mandrin and Gammel might feel wrong from a roleplay perspective, but Rogues are some of the most annoying units to fight against and some of the most useful to own. Their "Passive Steal" is a game-changer when you're trying to shut down high-threat targets. You need to look past the character's crimes and look at their AP/PP potential.
Then there’s the case of Monica. To get her, you have to complete "The Lost Princess" quest. She’s a Great Knight, and frankly, you can never have enough of those. The game rewards you for being thorough, but it also punishes you for being indecisive. If you miss the prompt to recruit someone because you’re rushing the main story, they’re often gone for good. Or worse, they show up later as an enemy you have to kill.
The Power of the "Blue Hair" Protagonist Squad
Alain is your core. Obviously. But the characters he starts with—Lex, Chloe, and Scarlett—aren't just filler. While some Unicorn Overlord recruitable characters you find later have flashy designs, the "Old Guard" has some of the most reliable growth rates.
Take Clive, for example. You get him early. He looks like a standard knight. But because of how the initiative system works, a squad of Knights (the "Cavalry Sandwich") is one of the most broken builds in the mid-game. If you recruit Clive, Adel, and Monica, you can basically steamroll through most of Drakenhold without breaking a sweat. It’s almost boring how effective they are. Almost.
Why You Shouldn't Skip the Mercenaries
It’s tempting to only use the "named" story characters. They have unique sprites and backstories. They have Rapports. But let’s be real: sometimes the randomized mercenaries are just better.
When you hire a mercenary at a fort, you get to pick their "Growth Types." This is huge. You can take a standard Sellsword and turn them into a glass cannon or a bulky frontline tank. You can't do that with Berenice or Aubin. They are stuck with whatever stats Vanillaware gave them.
If you're playing on Tactical or Expert difficulty, those stat spreads matter. A lot. I’ve had runs where a generic Gryphon Knight I hired in a tavern outperformed half of my "legendary" heroes just because I tuned her stats for maximum Evasion. Don't be a snob. Hire the help.
Drakenhold and the Importance of Wyverns
Once you move into Drakenhold, the game shifts. You’re no longer just dealing with foot soldiers; you’re dealing with verticality and high-defense targets. This is where you meet characters like Fran and Hilda.
Hilda is a fan favorite for a reason. She’s a Wyvern Knight, and her ability to ignore terrain while providing massive AOE damage is essential. But here’s the kicker: you can actually miss her. If you don't interact with her correctly during the "The Self-Effacing Knight" quest, you lose out on one of the best flyers in the game.
- Pro Tip: Always talk to everyone. If a character has a name and a unique face, they are likely a recruitable asset.
- The Choice: Some recruits are mutually exclusive or depend on who you’ve spared previously.
- The Reward: Recruiting often gives you "Divine Shards" or specialized equipment you can't buy in shops.
The Elheim Conundrum: Magic and Support
Elheim is beautiful, but the enemies there are a nightmare if you haven't recruited the right counters. You need Elves. Specifically, you need the Elven Archers and Elven Fencers.
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Lhote and Celeste are great, but the real prize is Rosalinde and Eltolinde. They are semi-automatic recruits based on story progress, but how you use them changes everything. They bridge the gap between pure physical damage and pure magic. In a game where armored units like Hoplites can wall you off, these Unicorn Overlord recruitable characters are your "get out of jail free" card.
Most people struggle here because they over-rely on Shamans like Selvie. Selvie is incredible—maybe the best support unit in the game—but she can’t do damage. You need to balance your recruitment so you aren't just collecting "debuffers" while forgetting to hire people who actually swing swords.
Missing the Beastals in Bastorias
Bastorias is where things get weird. You start recruiting "Beastals"—Werewolves, Werebears, and Werelions. These units function differently because they have day/night cycles that affect their stats.
Recruiting Yunifi is a must. She’s a Snow Ranger, and her "Glacial Rain" ability is arguably the most powerful board-clear in the entire game. If you pair her with a unit that has "Quick Spell" or some way to boost her initiative, the battle is over before the enemy even moves. It feels like cheating. Honestly, it kind of is.
But getting her requires navigating a fairly long questline. If you're just clicking through dialogue, you might miss the nuance of the conflict between the humans and the beastals. Stay focused. The payoff for recruiting the Bastorias cast is a significant jump in your army's raw power.
The "Secret" Recruits You Probably Missed
There are characters in Unicorn Overlord that require you to go way out of your way. We aren't just talking about side quests; we're talking about specific world-map interactions.
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Have you found the carvings? The stone circles? There are units tied to the "faded journals" scattered around the world. For instance, finding all the carvings in a specific region and then visiting them in order can lead to a recruitment or a powerful item.
Then there's the post-game. Without spoiling too much, the final push toward the capital opens up opportunities to bring former enemies into the fold. If you were bloodthirsty early on, your options here will be limited. It’s a long-term consequence system that actually feels like it has weight. You aren't just picking a color at the end of the game; you're living with the decisions you made 40 hours ago.
Managing Your Roster Without Going Insane
By the time you reach Albion, you’ll have dozens of characters. The UI is good, but it’s not that good. You need to start categorizing your recruits.
I tend to group my Unicorn Overlord recruitable characters by movement type. I have a "Flyer Squad" for sniping towers, a "Cavalry Squad" for clearing roads, and a "Watchtower Squad" full of archers and mages to provide assist fire. If you try to make every unit a "balanced" mix of everything, you’ll fail. Specialized squads are the only way to survive the late-game maps where the enemy outnumbers you three to one.
Practical Steps for Building Your Army
If you're currently staring at the map of Fevrith and wondering who to go after next, here is how you should handle your recruitment strategy:
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- Check the "Library" constantly. The game tracks every person you've met. If someone has a portrait but isn't in your unit list, you missed a step. Go back to that region and look for a missed "!" icon.
- Prioritize the "Renown" rank. You can't even use most of the characters you recruit if your unit size is capped at three people. Grind out those side deliveries to hit Rank B and Rank A as fast as possible.
- Don't execute for the sake of it. While getting 2000 gold or some Honors feels good in the moment, a unique character is worth infinitely more in the long run. You can farm gold; you can't farm a unique Spear-user with custom growth rates.
- Experiment with "Rapport" conversations. Some recruitments only trigger after certain characters talk to each other. If Alain has a Rapport with an enemy commander on the battlefield, make sure they actually fight or interact.
- Use the "Mock Battle" feature. Once you get a new recruit, don't just throw them into a story mission. Test them at a fort. See how their skills interact with your existing leaders.
Unicorn Overlord is a game about synergy. One "average" character can become a god if they're standing next to the right teammate. The fun isn't just in finding the characters; it's in figuring out why Vanillaware put them in the game in the first place. Every recruit has a niche. Your job is just to find it.
Go back to Cornia. Check those corners. There’s probably a Sellsword or a Cleric you walked right past because you were too busy trying to save the world. Save them first—they’re the ones who are going to actually do the heavy lifting for you.
Next Steps for Your Playthrough: Open your current save and check your "Unit List." If you don't have at least one Wyvern Knight and one Shaman by the time you hit level 15, head to the Drakenhold border immediately. Those two classes fundamentally change how you interact with the game's physics and enemy AI. After that, focus on clearing the "Carving" quests in Cornia to unlock the hidden weapons that make your new recruits actually viable in the mid-game.