Nuclear Throne character and B-skin unlock guide

Your guide to unlocking each Nuclear Throne character and their B-skins.
Your guide to unlocking each Nuclear Throne character and their B-skins.

Nuclear Throne is an absolute blast even if you are really really bad at it. But that’s okay! The more you play, the better you get. And the better you get, the further you can push into the wasteland, unlock more characters, see new places, and meet new challenges.

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There are twelve characters to play in Nuclear Throne, and let’s be frank: it’s going to take a long time to unlock them all if you’re new to the game. Some require you to find secrets, but most are unlocked by reaching a certain point in the game.

Not only do they all have different unlock requirements, but they all play very differently. You have basic characters like Crystal and Melting that play like night and day, and that trend continues as you unlock more characters. Some are better for some tasks than others, but you’re going to come across some you simply like playing more.

Let’s take a look at each character and how they can be unlocked as you push your way through Nuclear Throne.

Fish

How to unlock: Fish is one of the two characters available to you the first time you play, the other being Crystal.

Description: Fish starts out with more ammunition and gets more from weapon and ammo drops than other characters. His special ability is a high-speed roll for getting around the wasteland (and enemy projectiles) quickly, and his Throne Butt allows unlimited rolling.

B-skin unlock: Fish’s B-skin will unlock once you loop the game with each character.

Crystal

How to unlock: Crystal is the other character available when you start the game.

Description: Crystal may be available at the start like Fish, but her playstyle is completely different. She has the most HP of all the characters and and her special skill lets her shield herself from damage for a couple seconds. Her Throne Butt shortens her shield time but allows for a short-range teleport.

B-skin unlock: Reach the Cursed Crystal Caves area while playing as Crystal.

How to get to the Cursed Crystal Caves: Have a cursed weapon equipped when entering the portal to the Crystal Caves (4-1).

Eyes

How to unlock: Eyes is unlocked by reaching the Sewers (2-1).

Description: Eyes has telekinesis, which he can use to pull items (rads, chests, weapons, etc.) to him and push enemies away. He also has better sight in dark areas. Eyes’s Throne Butt makes his telekinesis stronger, making him pull or push items and enemies away faster.

B-skin unlock: Reach the Pizza Sewers while using Eyes.

 

How to get to the Pizza Sewers: Use an explosive weapon like a Grenade Launcher on a circular manhole in the Sewers (2-1).

Melting

How to unlock: Melting is unlocked after you die the first time.

Description: Melting is a very high-risk high-reward character. He starts with 2 HP but can make the corpses of his enemies explode to do damage in a radius. Melting’s Throne Butt makes the explosions larger, hence doing more damage.

B-skin unlock: Defeat the final boss as Melting without the Rhino Skin nor Strong Spirit mutations.

Plant

How to unlock: Plant is unlocked by reaching the Scrapyard (3-1).

Description: Plant has the fastest default movement speed of all the characters and has a special ability that shoots out a vine to snare enemies that walk into it. His Throne Butt makes the vines deadly, making them automatically kill any enemy below 33% health on contact.

B-skin unlock: Push through the game and defeat the Nuclear Throne in less than 10 minutes.

Yung Venuz (Y.V.)

How to unlock: Yung Venuz is unlocked by reaching Y.V.’s Mansion.

How to reach Y.V.’s Mansion: Have a Screwdriver on hand when entering 3-1 and look for a broken down car with hold trim.

Hit the car with the Screwdriver (or Energy Screwdriver or Golden Screwdriver) to repair it and enter the portal.

Description: Y.V. has a higher rate of fire with all weapons when compared with other characters, but that’s not all. His special ability allows him to fire his equipped weapon two rounds at a time for heavy damage, at the cost of a longer reload time. Y.V.’s Throne Butt lets him shoot four rounds at once with an even longer reload time.

B-skin unlock: Unlock a Golden Weapon for each character.

 

How to unlock a Golden Weapon for each character: Go through any portal with a Golden Weapon equipped on a character, and that Golden Weapon will be available for that character to start with during subsequent playthroughs.

Steroids

How to unlock: Steroids can be unlocked by reaching the Labs area (6-1).

Description: Steroids can wield (and hence shoot) two weapons at the same time. All of his weapons are automatic, meaning you can just hold down to shoot, at the cost of lower accuracy than the other characters. His Throne Butt gives a chance to regenerate ammo for one weapon while firing the other one.

B-skin unlock: Defeat the Technomancer boss using Steroids.

 

How to get to the Technomancer fight: Loop the game once and reach the Labs to fight the Technomancer.

Robot

How to unlock: Robot can be unlocked by reaching the Frozen City area (5-1).

Description: Robot can eat weapons to obtain extra HP or ammo and finds more powerful weapons at earlier levels. Its Throne Butt grants more health or ammo when eating a weapon.

B-skin unlock: Eat a Hyper Launcher, Hyper Rifle, or Hyper Slugger as Robot.

Chicken

How to unlock: Chicken can be unlocked by reaching the Jungle area.

How to get to the Jungle area: Have the Last Wish mutation before entering the portal to Frozen City (5-1) and a special blue flower should be somewhere in the map. Press ‘E’ at the flower four times to feed it 4 HP (if you have it) to open a portal to the Jungle.

Description: Chicken starts with the Chicken Sword and can throw her primary weapon to do damage, unlike the other characters. She also has the unique ability to continue on once her HP reaches 0 instead of dying via losing her head, then regenerating it at the cost of 2 maximum HP. Her Throne Butt makes her thrown weapons pierce enemies.

B-skin unlock: Reach the sewers (2-1) on Hard Mode using Chicken.

How to unlock Hard Mode: Loop the game twice on a single playthrough.

Rebel

How to unlock: Rebel can be unlocked by defeating the Throne II boss and looping.

Description: Rebel can summon temporary allies to fight alongside her at the cost of HP, with one ally costing 1 HP and a second costing 2 HP. If she enters a portal at less than full health, she will heal back to full before starting the next area. Her Throne Butt increases her summoned allies’ rate of fire.

B-skin unlock: Defeat the Mom boss while playing as Rebel.

How to reach the Mom boss: Loop the game once while playing and she should spawn in the Sewer area (2-1).

Horror

How to unlock: Horror can be unlocked by skipping the Radiation Canisters in two areas in a row and defeating the Horror that spawns in the next stage.

Description: Horror’s special allows it to shoot a radioactive beam that does damage and cancels projectiles, at the cost of collected rads. Horror cannot go down a level while firing its beam and has an extra mutation option when leveling up. Its Throne Butt makes the beam get wider faster and heals Horror if fired for a prolonged period of time.

B-skin unlock: Defeat the Hyper Crystal boss while playing as Horror.

How to reach the Hyper Crystal Boss: The Hyper Crystal will spawn in the Crystal Caves (4-1) after a loop.

Rogue

How to unlock: Rogue can be unlocked by defeating the Nuclear Throne and sitting on it.

Description: Rogue is a high-risk high-reward character with the special ability Portal Strike, which lets you draw a line on the ground to set off her special explosives. Radiation Canisters give ammunition for her Portal Strike instead of rads.

Rogue’s armor bursts and does AoE damage around her position when damaged. Her Throne Butt makes her explosions do more damage. All of this is at the cost of having the I.D.P.D. follow you through the entire run.

B-skin unlock: Defeat the Captain while using Rogue.

 

How to reach the Captain: The Captain boss is located on the last level of I.D.P.D. Headquarters.

I.D.P.D. Headquarters can be entered by looping the game and pressing the ‘E’ key at an I.D.P.D. van with its lights on.

Secret characters

There are two secret characters in Nuclear Throne not shown on the character selection screen. These are:

Skeleton

How to use: Die in a Necromancer’s resurrection circle in the Labs (6-1) as Melting to turn into Skeleton.

Description: Skeleton will take over for Melting should Melting die in a Necromancer’s circle, but he starts with 4 HP instead of Melting’s 2. The trade-off here is that Skeleton’s movement speed and accuracy are both fairly low.

Skeleton’s special ability allows you to fire your weapon with no ammo cost, at the risk of taking damage instead of using ammo. His Throne Butt makes it less likely he’ll take damage when using his special ability.

Frog

How to use: First you need to have a Crown.

Damage the Mom boss in loop 2-1 with a Golden Weapon and she will drop the Frog Pistol. Carry the Frog Pistol through that run and reach the Crown Vault, in which there should be a Proto Weapon Chest.

Place the Frog Pistol in the Proto Weapon Chest and play through the game with a different character.

Reach the Crown Vault on that character and open the Proto Weapon Chest to get the Golden Frog Pistol. Take it through a portal and the Golden Frog Pistol can be used as that character’s starting weapon. Equipping the Golden Frog Pistol turns your character into Frog once the run starts.

Description: Unlike Skeleton, Frog can be used from the start of a run. He is also immune to poison and can’t stand still. He will bounce off walls he collides with, so he requires constant movement on the player’s part. That said, he will stay still while you’re charging his special.

Frog’s special emits a toxic cloud that damages enemies. His Throne Butt makes the cloud spread further.

Each character is different from the next and you’re probably not going to click with all of them. But they all have their uses, and each use is deadly. Good luck unlocking them all!


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Ashley Shankle
Ashley's been with GameSkinny since the start, and is a certified loot goblin. Has a crippling Darktide problem, 500 hours on only Ogryn (hidden level over 300). Currently playing Darktide, GTFO, RoRR, Palworld, and Immortal Life.