Deltarune Chapter 5 introduces eight new recruitable enemies as part of its Festival Day storyline, and collecting all of them takes more than just showing up to fights. The recruitment system punishes hasty players and rewards patience, so knowing exactly which enemies you need and how many times you need to spare each one makes the difference between a full Castle Town and a frustrating late-game backtrack.
This guide covers every Chapter 5 recruit, the spare counts required, how the system works, and what to do if something goes wrong.
All Deltarune Chapter 5 Recruits
Chapter 5 adds eight standard enemy types to the recruit pool. All of them are flower-themed Darkners tied to the Festival Day Dark World, and none of them are bosses. The table below shows every recruit and the number of peaceful wins you need for each one.
| Recruit | Spares Required |
|---|---|
| Floradinn | 1 |
| Terakota | 1 |
| Shinobeetle | 2 |
| Sheary | 2 |
| Kawkaw | 3 |
| Shi | 3 |
| Leafling | 4 |
| Netskie | 4 |
Floradinn and Terakota are the easiest to finish since a single spare completes each one. Leafling and Netskie are the hardest because they each require four, and most players miss them simply by skipping optional encounters or ending fights too quickly.
If you find yourself short on recruits after finishing the chapter, check Leafling and Netskie first. Those two cause the most incomplete runs.
How to Recruit Enemies in Deltarune Chapter 5
Recruitment works by sparing enough enemies of the same type during standard encounters. You have three ways to spare an enemy: use ACT commands, use Pacify when the option appears, or select the standard Spare action at the end of a turn.
Once you spare enough individuals of a specific type, the game counts that species as recruited. They then become eligible to appear in Castle Town.
A few things are worth knowing upfront. Bosses cannot be recruited at all, so you only need to focus on regular encounters. Fights inside the Party Dojo also do not count toward recruitment progress, which means you can fight aggressively there without any consequence. All recruitment happens exclusively through normal chapter encounters in the Dark World.
The game tracks each enemy type separately. Seeing an enemy is not the same as sparing it, and sparing it once does not guarantee it is recruited unless the required count is one. Keep sparing until the counter confirms completion.
Where to Check Recruit Status in Chapter 5
You can check your recruit progress at any SAVE point through the Recruits menu. The menu lists every enemy type you have encountered and shows how many more of each type you still need to spare. Any entry showing “Not yet fully recruited” still requires more peaceful wins.
Two in-fight signals also help you track progress without leaving the encounter. First, sparing an enemy while a type is still incomplete triggers an on-screen counter that shows your running total. Second, once a type is fully recruited, its Recruits menu entry stops showing a remaining count and instead shows a complete profile with the enemy’s name, level, Attack, Defense, Element, Likes, and Dislikes. That filled-in profile confirms the recruit is locked in.
There is also a late Chapter 5 RSVP-style check near the top of the castle. If the message indicates everyone is invited, that is a good sign for your Chapter 5 recruit count. Still, the Recruits menu is the most reliable confirmation because it gives you actual names and numbers.
How LOST Status Blocks Recruiting in Chapter 5
LOST status is the one mechanic that can permanently block a recruit on your current save file. When you defeat an enemy violently during a standard encounter, that enemy type becomes LOST. The game then removes any recruits of that species you had already collected, and you cannot add them back on the same save.
The only fix is to reload an earlier save from before the violent defeat occurred. If you do not have a usable save, you may need to replay a portion of the chapter to correct it.
Two things prevent LOST from becoming a problem. Avoid violent wins during any normal Chapter 5 encounter, and spare every new enemy type you see before you worry about anything else. The extra HP from aggressive combat is not worth losing a recruit permanently.
Party Dojo fights are the one exception. Violent wins there do not trigger LOST status, so you can battle freely in the Dojo without affecting your recruit goals.
How to Find Recruits You Missed in Chapter 5
If the Recruits menu shows an incomplete entry after finishing Chapter 5, compare your list against the full roster: Floradinn, Kawkaw, Leafling, Netskie, Sheary, Shi, Shinobeetle, and Terakota.
Once you identify the missing type, go back into Chapter 5 and spare more of that enemy until the count finishes. Start with Leafling and Netskie since their four-spare requirement makes them the most likely to be incomplete. Follow that with Kawkaw and Shi, which each need three.
If your full Chapter 5 list looks complete but Castle Town still appears incomplete or cracked, stop replaying Chapter 5. Castle Town reflects recruits from every chapter, not just the most recent one. A town that looks off after finishing Chapter 5 usually points to a missing recruit from Chapter 1 through 4, not something you skipped in Festival Day.
How to Get All Recruits Without Missing Any
A few habits make collecting all eight Chapter 5 recruits significantly easier from the start.
Spare every new enemy type the moment you encounter it. You do not always know which type needs one spare and which needs four, so defaulting to peaceful encounters prevents gaps from forming early.
Check the Recruits menu at every SAVE point, not just at the end of the chapter. The mid-chapter checks let you catch missing types while you still have easy access to those encounters.
Do not assume a type is complete based on memory alone. Chapter 5 has enough enemy variety that it is easy to think you finished Sheary when you only spared it once. The menu gives you the actual number, so trust it over recall.
After confirming all eight Chapter 5 recruits, consider checking Pink Coins and the Shadow Crystal before leaving the chapter behind. Both reward the same kind of thorough side-path exploration that a complete recruit run already requires. Play Now!
