TOKON/GUIDE
Menu

Secret fighter

How to Unlock Champion

Short answer: clear any one of the five Episode modes. Champion — the final boss of Episode mode — becomes a playable fighter once a single Episode is complete, joining the game as a hidden 21st character beyond the launch roster.

Community-documented · updated August 9, 2026

Step by step

The unlock, in three steps

  1. Open Episode mode and pick any one of the five story team Episodes — every one of them works.
  2. Play the Episode through to its ending. The final stretch pits you against The Promoter, then Champion himself as the last boss.
  3. Finish the Episode and the game notifies you that Champion is now playable. That’s it — no extra requirements documented.

Who you’re unlocking

Who is Champion?

Final boss of Episode mode, fought after The Promoter. Outside of Episode mode he stays hidden — he is not part of the 20 launch fighters and is not selectable until the unlock is done. Once he joins, he’s yours in the regular modes like any other fighter.

How we know this: this unlock is a post-launch, in-game discovery documented consistently by multiple independent outlets (sources below). It is not yet described in the official store or support pages we track — we’ll re-verify the details against official material the moment it appears.

Choosing your route

Which Episode should you clear?

All five Episodes unlock Champion, so there is no “correct” one and no reason to hunt for the shortest. The useful way to choose is by roster: each Episode follows one of the five story teams, so pick the team built around fighters you actually want to learn, and treat the run as practice rather than a chore.

If you have no preference, start with the team whose members sit highest on our tier list — you will come out of the Episode having put real reps into fighters worth keeping.

Common mix-ups

Two things Champion isn’t

He isn’t DLC, and he isn’t one of the Year 1 characters. Champion is included in the base game and unlocked purely by playing — no edition upgrade or pass gets you there faster, and buying the Year 1 Characters and Stage Pass does not include him. That pass covers four separate post-launch fighters, the first of which is Phoenix Cyclops. If someone tells you Champion is paid content, they are confusing the two.

He isn’t on our tier list. Our launch tier list ranks the 20 launch fighters only. Champion is a converted boss character and the community has not settled on where he belongs — or on whether he is legal in the tournament rulesets that matter. Rather than guess, we have left him unranked until there is enough competitive evidence to place him honestly.

TokonGuide Editorial · The unlock steps above stay Community-sourced, see below.

Keep going

After the unlock

Guides

Character Guides

Learn the launch fighters while the Episodes load.

Start here

Beginner Guide

Your first session, step by step.

Reference

All Characters

All five story teams and every launch fighter.

Community-documented

Sources & further reading

03 sources
  1. SRC-DOTESPORTS-CHAMPION
  2. SRC-SHACKNEWS-CHAMPION
  3. SRC-SCREENRANT-CHAMPION