Every four years, a special leap year day follows Midsummer between Flamerule 30 and Eleasis 1. Known as Shieldmeet, this special day is celebrated across Faerûn.

In the city of Waterdeep, Shieldmeet also serves another important purpose. On this auspicious day every four years, the lords of Waterdeep meet with the Open Lord to reaffirm their rule.

As the Champions arrive in the City of Splendor on Midsummer, the day before Shieldmeet, they are summoned by The Blackstaff, Vajra Safahr. It seems that Open Lord Laeral Silverhand has gone missing...

Midsummer 2 introduces Shandie Freefoot, the Halfling Rogue and member of the Heroes of Baldur's Gate. Players will have until Monday, August 5th, 2019 at 12:00pm PDT, to unlock her!

New Champion: Shandie Freefoot

Shandie grew up on the rough streets of the Lower City of Baldur's Gate. She quickly learned that if she wanted to survive, she needed to be fast on her feet and even faster with her wit and weaponry. The first time Shandie saw a bowmaster gracefully launch an arrow into a bull's-eye, she knew she had to master archery. With years of practice under her belt, any opponents underestimating this stealthy halfling will soon realize how dangerous she is as a volley of arrows bear down on them unexpectedly from shadowy corners.

Shandie is an agile Support Champion. Her Dash ability can increase formation speed, while Explosive Arrows and Agile Allies offer potent formation buffs. When you want to add Shandie to your formation, you can swap her with Asharra (Slot 6).

For more information about our latest Champion, check out the Idle Champion Spotlight: Shandie Freefoot dev blog!

Year One Champion: Xander Cesso

Fascinated by magic at a young age when he lived in an orphanage, but lacking any ability or proficiency, Xander is not terribly good at much of anything, though something about his adorable clumsiness and childlike wonder anytime magic is being used nearby has been known to inspire those around him. Until recently, he was living on the streets of Waterdeep, scraping together just enough to survive. Now, he is a faithful member of your party, always ready to leap into the fray, even if he doesn't really seem to be able to hit much of anything.

Xander is a Support Champion. His Lucky Shot ability has a chance to double quest progress, and his Streetwise ability increases the damage of Champions behind him. When you want to add Xander to your formation, you can swap him with Calliope (Slot 5).

Year Two Variants

• Dreams of Grandeur — Jenks really wants to meet Vajra Blackstaff. From Area 12 onward, Jenks takes up a slot in your formation.


• Stay Back — Only Champions that attack with ranged or magic-based attacks can be used.


• Haunted Past — Only Neutral, Evil, or Champions with a Dexterity (DEX) score of 15 or higher can be used. Shandie beings the adventure in your formation and cannot be swapped out, moved, or removed. Strahd Vampires that can only be damaged by Shandie randomly spawn in non-boss Areas. Luckily, Shandie will prioritize Strahd Vampires over all others and attack twice as frequently when they are present.

Year One Variants

• Waterdeep Escort — The Waterdeep City Watch Officer insists that he accompany you on your adventure. He fills one slot in the formation, and if he is killed, your DPS goes down by 33% every 10 seconds.


• Drow Deception — The Drow said they were looking for a wizard, but the Champions seem like a more interesting quarry to chase! A Stealthy Drow Pickpocket appears on every level, and if they reach the formation, you fail the area and have to head back to the previous level.


• Commander Xander — Xander takes the lead as his childhood wishes of becoming a Hero have come true! Champions not adjacent to Xander have a 50% chance to miss whenever they attack (Xander isn't great at command). Those that are adjacent to Xander attack normally. He does enough missing for everyone.

See the in-game FAQ for more information!

It's time for our newest Champion Spotlight! Today, we're previewing the release of Shandie Freefoot, a halfling rogue, and member of Heroes of Baldur's Gate! Read on to learn about this new and exciting Champion releasing later today in Midsummer Y2!

Who is Shandie?

Shandie grew up on the rough streets of the Lower City of Baldur's Gate. She quickly learned that if she wanted to survive, she needed to be fast on her feet and even faster with her wit and weaponry. The first time Shandie saw a bowmaster gracefully launch an arrow into a bull's-eye, she knew she had to master archery. With years of practice under her belt, any opponents underestimating this stealthy halfling will soon realize how dangerous she is as a volley of arrows bear down on them unexpectedly from shadowy corners.

Shandie Freefoot is a member of the Heroes of Baldur's Gate, created by Jim Zub and Max Dunbar for the Legends of Baldur's Gate series by IDW. She joins her comrades Boo, Minsc, Delina, and Nerys Kathon as the fifth and second-to-last member of the team to join Idle Champions.

Shandie's Stats

Race: Halfling	Class: Rogue	Alignment: Chaotic Good
Age: 63	Affiliation: Heroes of Baldur's Gate
STR: 10	DEX: 18	CON: 15
INT: 13	WIS: 12	CHA: 14

To add Shandie to your formation, you can swap her with Asharra (Slot 6).

Basic Attack

Shandie fires an arrow at a random enemy.

Formation Abilities

• Agile Allies — Increase the damage of Champions within 2 slots of Shandie by 100% (multiplicative) for each Champion adjacent to Shandie with a DEX of 15 or higher.
• For reference that list currently includes: Aila, Birdsong, Black Viper, Calliope, Catti-brie, Xander, Drizzt, Hitch, Ishi, Jarlaxle, K'thriss, Korth, Minsc, Nrakk, Paultin, Regis, Rosie, Qillek, Spurt, Stoki, Tyril, Walnut, Warden, and Zorbu!


• Dash — Increases the game speed by 25% when the formation hasn't been under attack for 60 seconds. Early levels are quicker to get through with Shandie!
  
  Note: this will not increase speed beyond the current limit of 10x speed.


• Explosive Arrow — When the formation is under attack, Shandie fires Alchemist Fire-equipped arrows that explode and increase the damage of Champions in the column in front of Shandie for each enemy hit. Put your DPS Champions in front of Shandie!

Specializations

Shandie's Specializations allow her to choose where to double-down her abilities

• Ranger Training — Select Ranger Training to increase the effect of Dash by 100%. Zoom Zoom.


• Alchemist's Fire Expertise — Select Alchemist's Fire Expertise to increase the effect of Explosive Arrow by 100%


• Criminal Contacts — Select Criminal Contacts to increase the effect of Agile Allies by 50% for each Neutral or Evil Champion next to Shandie.

Ultimate Attack

Survivalist — Shandie throws smoke grenades and caltrops onto the battlefield, causing enemies to bleed and miss 50% of their attacks for 10 seconds.

Equipment

Final Thoughts

Like Deekin from Founder's Day, Shandie is a go-to speed assistant, helping your Champions advance through the early areas quicker. Put her in the center of your formation, and surround her with dextrous friends (see the list above) to maximize her contribution to the formation!

As always, feel free to send us feedback on via the Idle Champions Subreddit, Steam forum, or the Idle Champions Discord!

Today we're introducing the first half of our year one Champion balance update. The purpose of this update is to give fresh life to some underappreciated and/or underutilized Champions from the first year of events and adventures. This update includes everything from small tweaks to complete reworks for Binwin, Bruenor, Catti-brie, Diath, Drizzt, Evelyn, Nrakk, Regis, Stoki, Wulfgar, and Zorbu. Read on to learn more about the Champion changes in this update.

Binwin

We wanted to give Binwin a major overhaul while retaining his ability to hit things a lot of times and smash through armor and hits-based health like butter. His new abilities give you many options for building a formation around Binwin, but shorter races will win out over taller ones for the biggest boosts. The new "Lingering Damage" ability also gives Binwin an interesting catch-up mechanic if he's playing the role of secondary DPS. Try him out!

• Binwin's base attack cooldown is now 6 seconds, up from 4 seconds
• Binwin's "Extra Attacks" ability now grants extra attacks based off of attacks by adjacent Champions, instead of doing so randomly. It still grants bonus damage for each successive hit, but is no longer buffed by any other upgrades or gear
• Added a new ability "Extra Damage" at level 70 which grants additional bonus damage on Binwin's next attack(s) based on kills by adjacent Champions since his last attack, including kills via ultimate attacks
• Added a new ability "Tallest in Faerun" at level 260 which buffs Binwin's damage based on the number of dwarves, gnomes, kobolds, and halflings in the formation
• Added a new ability "Lingering Damage" at level 380 which causes "Extra Damage" to roll over a portion of its bonus damage to Binwin's next attack(s) if he doesn't kill anything with his current attacks
• Removed Binwin's old specializations
• Added a new specialization choice "More Minions" at level 200 which increases the range of "Extra Attacks" and "Extra Damage" so that all Champions within 2 slots of Binwin contribute hits and kills
• Added a new specialization choice "Antisocial Dwarfing" at level 200 which changes "Extra Attacks" and "Extra Damage" to only trigger off of non-adjacent Champions, but which also boosts Binwin's base damage by a large amount
• Binwins's upgrades and balance has been completely redone
• Slot 3 gear now buffs Binwin's "Extra Damage" ability instead of global DPS
• Slot 4 gear now buffs Binwin's "Tallest in Faerun" ability instead of increasing his "Extra Attacks" chance
• Added the "barbarian" tag to Binwin, as we now have support for mutli-class Champions in the game that we didn't have when he was originally released

Bruenor

Not a major change, but we added an ability to Bruenor for synergy with the Companions of the Hall (Bruenor, Drizzt, Catti-brie, Regis, and Wulfgar). It's a small bump for Rally even if you can only sneak one other Companion into your formation, but the payoff could be huge if you're going to try out a full Companions combo.

• Added a new upgrade for "Long Lost Companions" at level 1000 which synergizes with the other Companions of the Hall Champions, increasing your gold find by 100% and buffing "Rally" based on the number of Companions in the formation

Catti-brie

Catti-brie got some small buffs to increase both her buffing ability and her solo damage. Her design intent is to have her as a secondary DPS and support for Drizzt in a Companions of the Hall formation. She should now be able to support well in almost any formation, though, thanks to her "Death March" ability, which stacks multiplicatively (though buffs apply after the stacks, like normal).

• Catti-brie's base attack cooldown decreased to 5.3 seconds from 5.4 seconds
• Added a new ability "Death March" at level 135 which increases the damage of all Champions in front of Catti-brie based on the number of enemies affected by "Mark of Death"; the stacks apply multiplicatively, so the numbers get quite large when a lot of enemies are afflicted by "Mark of Death"
• Added a new ability "Take Them Down" at level 375 which synergizes with the other Companions of the Hall Champions, increasing your gold find by 100% and increasing the damage enemies take in certain situations based on the number of Companions in the formation
• Changed the specialization "In The Zone" to increase Catti-brie's attack speed after a critical hit
• Catti-brie's upgrades and balance has been completely redone

Diath/Xander

Diath has been replaced by Xander. Xander's stats, formation abilities, and attacks are functionally identical to Diath's (with the exception of one affiliation-specific formation ability), although their names and appearances are different.

• Replaced Diath with Xander
• Converted all Diath chests into Xander chests
• Updated Xander's ultimate attack to summon a stone giant
• Updated some achievements to require Xander; existing progress is not lost
• Updated some adventures/variants to require Xander
• "Childlike Wonder" now buffs "Streetwise" for each sorcerer, warlock, and wizard adjacent to Xander
• Updated Xander's tags
• Note: Paultin's "Stronger Together" ability has had its base value increased

Drizzt

Drizzt has been completely refactored from his scimitars up. His panther summon has moved from his ultimate to an innate ability, and he is now built around bursts of damage and speed when Guenhwyvar is active. As with other Companions of the Hall, he also synergizes in a very powerful fashion when more of them are active in the formation.

• Drizzt's attacks have been refactored; he now attacks in sequence, similar to Delina, striking first with his scimitar Icingdeath, then his other scimitar Twinkle, then both at once
• Added a new ability "Guenhwyvar" at level 20 which causes Drizzt to randomly summon Guenhwyvar to aid him in combat for 30 seconds. Guenhwyvar attacks two enemies just before Drizzt and deals Drizzt's damage plus a 20 second bleed; Some of Drizzt's other abilities are triggered off of attacking enemies who have this bleed on them
• Changed "Icingdeath" to cause Drizzt to deal more damage and reduce his cooldown when he attacks an enemy bled by Guenhwyvar with his scimitar Icingdeath
• Changed "Twinkle" to cause Drizzt to deal AOE damage and increase the target's chance to miss when he attacks an enemy bled by Guenhwyvar with his scimitar Twinkle
• Note the effects of both "Icingdeath" and "Twinkle" proc when Drizzt attacks Guenhwyvar-bled enemies with both scimitars at once
• Changed "Companions of the Hall" to synergize with the other Companions of the Hall Champions, increasing your gold find by 100% and increasing the damage Drizzt does based on the number of Companions in the formation
• Replaced the "Whirl of Steel" specialization with "Leader of the Companions" which boosts the gold find synergy of the "Companions of the Hall" ability
• Changed the "Drow Stalker" specialization to increase Drizzt's base damage
• Drizzt's upgrades and balance has been completely redone
• Drizzt's ultimate attack has been replaced by "Whirl of Steel", which attacks enemies for massive damage one after another until a hit doesn't kill an enemy (similar to Jalaxle's base attack, but with ultimate level damage)
• Slot 3 gear now buffs Drizzt's new "Icingdeath" ability instead of Global DPS
• Added a Champion achievement for Drizzt

Evelyn

Evelyn didn't need much work this round, since she was recently a part of the Shielding, Healing, and Tanking update. We did give her some health gear to give her a bit more scalability, but the price to pay was a small decrease in the power of her specializations.

• Slot 4 gear now increases max health instead of specialization abilities
• Evelyn's specialization have had their base values increased to compensate for the lost gear. They now increase Divine Prayer by 300% when active, up from 100%

Nrakk

We've rebuilt Nrakk from the ground up to focus on a unique "Ki Points" mechanic. Nrakk generates Ki Points from his attacks and abilities and uses those Ki Points to increase his damage, decreasing his attack cooldown, and stun enemies. Each specialization choice results in a unique attack rotation with predictable stuns, cleaves, and big bursts of damage. Oh, and did we mention he can buff adjacent support Champions to be even more supportive, so even if you're not using him for DPS there may be some super unique and effective formations he can fit in. Super interesting!

• Added a new ability "Ki Master" at level 20 which causes Nrakk's base attack to grant Ki Points whenever he attacks. Ki points increase Nrakk's damage and decrease his base attack cooldown for each one he has. He can have up to 8 Ki Points at once
• Changed "Stunning Strike" to trigger when Nrakk has 4 or more Ki Points. Guaranteed stun instead of a change to stun, and consumed 4 Ki Points
• Changed "Deft Strike" to grant an additional Ki Point (for a total of 2 per Deft Strike attack)
• Added a new ability "Githzerai Focus" at level 185 which increases the effectiveness of adjacent Champions' formation abilities if their WIS score is 14 or higher
• Changed Nrakk's "Kensei Advantage" specialization to grant 3 Ki Points (for a total of 4, or 5 with a Deft Strike) whenever "Kensei Cleave" hits more than one enemy
• Renamed Nrakk's "Unerring Accuracy" specialization to "Unerring Precision" and changed it to make "Deft Strike" grant 2 extra Ki Points per hit instead of 1 (for a total of 3 Ki Points per Deft Strike), and also grant a moderate damage increase
• Nrakk's upgrades and balance has been completely redone
• Nrakk's base attack has been renamed Naginata, and the base cooldown has been increased to 5.5 seconds from 5 seconds
• Slot 3 gear now buffs "Ki Master" instead of global DPS
• Moved Nrakk's old achievement to the "Legacy" category; it is no longer attainable
• Added a new achievement for Nrakk

Regis

We wanted to bump up the power of Regis to give him a shot in some formations. His new ability increases the effectiveness of his buffing, potentially by a lot if you can structure your formation properly. We also gave him a Companions of the Hall synergy ability which grants a big one-time heal when your formation comes under attack. It has a pretty hefty cooldown, but if you're constantly coming under attack and then wiping out your attackers, it could be useful.

• Added a new ability "Ruby Amplification" at level 320. This ability increases the effect of "Ruby Encouragement" for each Champion being affected by it
• Added a new ability "Ruby Invigoration" at level 450 which synergizes with the other Companions of the Hall Champions, increasing your gold find by 100% and causing Regis to heal the formation when it comes under attack for an amount based on the number of Companions in the formation. The heal is large, but has a 15 second cooldown and only triggers when the formation becomes under attack, not while it is already under attack
• Regis' ultimate attack now deals damage and slows all enemies. Enemies slowed by his ultimate take additional damage. His ultimate is now classified as a magical ranged attack, instead of melee
• Slot 1 gear now buffs global DPS instead of self DPS
• Added the "healing" tag to Regis since he now has an ability that can heal the formation

Stoki

Stoki has been refactored in order to excel as a formation buffer and gold finder at your wall or during challenging encounters with lots of enemies. Her abilities now buff people directly instead of her Marks of Ki debuffing enemies, but she still marks enemies to power those buffs.

• Stoki's base attack now hits random enemies instead of the front-most
• Stoki's base attack cooldown is now 5.75 seconds instead of 3.75
• Changed "Ki Strike" to be a base ability (no specialization required); instead of debuffing enemies to take more damage, Stoki now buffs Champions on the edge of the formation based on how many Marks of Ki are active on enemies
• Changed "Golden Palm" to buff gold dropped when Champions adjacent to Stoki kill enemies. The amount of bonus gold is again based on the number of Marks of Ki active on enemies
• Added a new ability "Ki Infusion" at level 190 which makes it so each enemy can have up to five Marks of Ki at once. Stoki adds one Mark of Ki each time she attacks an enemy, and can add multiple Marks of Ki per attack if she attacks the same enemy multiple times
• Added a new specialization option "Ki Overflow" at level 275 which causes enemies with five Marks of Ki to have a chance of being stunned when struck by Stoki
• Added a new specialization option "Ki Explosion" at level 275 which causes enemies with five Marks of Ki to have a chance to explode when struck by Stoki, doing damage and spreading additional Marks of Ki to other nearby enemies
• Stoki's upgrades and balance has been completely redone
• Slot 1 gear now buffs global DPS instead of self DPS
• Removed the "dps" tag from Stoki - she is now intended to be a full support Champion
• Moved Stoki's old achievement to the "Legacy" category; it is no longer attainable
• Added a new achievement for Stoki

Wulfgar

Wulfgar has been turned into the Companions of the Hall go-to tanking Champion, with multiple abilities that synergize powerfully with other Companion Champions. He's still a stunning machine, with bursts of power when he stuns multiple enemies multiple times in a row.

• Removed Wulfgar's existing specializations, but the names are being used for the new formation abilities, just to be confusing
• Added a new ability "Clangeddin's Will" at level 20 which provides powerful formation buffs when Wulfgar stuns 3 or more enemies at once (more likely when he's tanking a cluster of enemies)
• Added a new ability "Dumathoin's Will" at level 70 which provides a powerful damage shield for Wulfgar when he stuns a boss creature. The size of the shield is relative to the remaining health of the boss monster he stunned
• Added a new ability "King of the Elk Tribe" at level 110 which increases the health of all Champions by a percentage of Wulfgar's max health
• Added a new ability "Moradin's Will" at level 130 which increases the damage of Companions of the Hall Champions based on the number of enemies Wulfgar is tanking
• Added a new ability "Empowered Warhammer" at level 180 which synergizes with the other Companions of the Hall Champions, increasing your gold find by 100% and increasing the chance of Wulgar's base attack stun based on the number of Companions in the formation
• Updated the "Smash 'n Grab" ability to temporarily buff the damage of the whole party when Wulfgar attacks an armored enemy but doesn't break a piece of armor
• Added a new specialization choice "Heavy Blows" at level 265 that increases Wulfgar's base attack stun chance
• Added a new specialization choice "Flag Bearer" at level 265 that gives Wulfgar an additional chance to stun boss enemies, and causes stuns against bosses to trigger Clangeddin's Will with a higher damage buff than normal enemies
• Added a number of upgrades that increase Wulfgar's max health
• Wulfgar's upgrades and balance has been completely redone
• Removed the "dps" tag and added the "tanking" tag, since Wulfgar has been rebalanced as a tank intended for Companions of the Hall formations
• Slot 1 gear now buffs global DPS instead of self DPS
• Slot 2 gear now buffs max health instead of self DPS

Zorbu

We removed Zorbu's Favored Enemies idea and replaced it with Lifelong Enemies, our second ability whose stacks persist through resets. Zorbu gains damage buffs against certain enemies for each enemy of that type that he kills, and the rest of his abilities receive buffs based on those totals, meaning if you focus on Zorbu as your DPS, the scaling potential is massive. We haven't forgotten that Zorbu can also play a big support role, so we've bumped up his global DPS buffs by quite a bit (more than making up for a small gear swap)

• Removed the "Favored Enemy" specialization choices
• Removed the "Colossus Slayer/Horde Breaker" specialization choices
• Added a new ability "Lifelong Enemies" at level 30 that increases Zorbu's damage against humanoid, beast, undead, drow enemies based on the total number of those enemies he has killed. Persists through resets
• Added a new ability "Seething Hatred" at level 50 which increases Zorbu's damage by a portion of the aggregate "Lifelong Enemies" buff
• Added a new specialization choice "Lead The Pack" at level 90 which increases Hunter's Pack by the same amount as Seething Hatred increases Zorbu's damage
• Added a new specialization choice "Favored Enemies" at level 90 which increases Zorbu's "Lifelong Enemies" damage bonus
• Added a new specialization choice "Focused Anger" at level 90 which increases the rate at which stacks are earned with "Lifelong Enemies"
• Zorbu's upgrades and balance has been completely redone
• Slot 2 gear now buffs self DPS instead of global DPS
• Slot 3 gear now buffs his new "Seething Hatred" ability instead of "Favored Enemy"

It's a time of celebrations and festivities for Waterdeep. Founders' Day is a time of legendary displays of martial and arcane prowess from the notable Champions who call the City of Splendor home, where visitors and locals alike gather and share stories of Waterdeep's history.

Unfortunately, these festivities have also attracted the attention of one of the Lords of the Nine Hells, who has come to collect souls for the Blood War...

Founders' Day 2 introduces the Wild Elf Druid, Walnut Dankgrass, and brings back Deekin Scalesinger, the Kobold Bard. Players will have until Monday, July 15th, 2019 at 12:00pm PDT, to unlock them!

New Champion: Walnut Dankgrass

Walnut is a child of the Enclave Panax Anima, an all-female clan of woodland defenders within the Kryptgarden Forest. Not only a frighteningly enthusiastic member of Acquisitions Incorporated, she also strives to protect the natural world by any means necessary. Did we mention she also has the goddess Mielikki living inside her? That seems important.

Walnut is a versatile Tank and Support Champion. Her Documancer ability can be customized for your formation needs through multiple specializations. When you want to add Walnut to your formation, you can swap her with Delina (Slot 8).

For more information about our latest Champion, check out the Idle Champion Spotlight: Walnut Dankgrass dev blog!

Returning Champion: Deekin Scalesinger

A former member of the Dripping Fang clan, Deekin was once a Skald for a White Dragon named Tymofarrar. Once he was released from Tymofarrar's service, he set out to become the most amazing storyteller in all of FaerÈ—n. He yearns to sing and tell stories of heroic deeds, but his songs often devolve into "tales" of the doom that is coming to him or his companions.

Deekin is a Support Champion. He helps the party by buffing DPS and by attracting enemies (to help clear areas more quickly) with his Song of Doom. When you want to add Deekin to your formation, you can swap him with Bruenor (Slot 1).

Year Two Variants

• Rain of Fire — Fireballs occasionally rain from the sky, damaging a random Champion. These Fireballs become more frequent the further you progress.


• Close Quarters Combat — Only Champions with melee Base Attacks may be used.


• Aww, Hells Nuts — Enemies become much more powerful over the course of the adventure. Walnut starts the adventure in your formation and cannot be moved, removed, or swapped out. Demonic Squirrels occasionally spawn. When killed, these squirrels drop Hell-Nuts, which increase the effectiveness of Walnut's Documancer ability and last until the end of the adventure, stacking additively.

Year One Variants

• Spectator Sport — Three local farmers have joined in on the Founders' Day tussle, and won't take the hint that they should probably take a seat. It might be because they are pretty drunk. They take up a slot in your formation and change positions every 25 areas.


• Doom is Coming to Waterdeep — Deekin must sing a song so everyone in Waterdeep knows that doom is coming. I know. We tried talking to him. However, he doesn't know which spot will give him the best acoustics. Deekin is always in your formation and will change positions every 10 areas. Deekin cannot be moved because, well, Deekin is singing a song.


• The Blood War — Whenever you kill a demon, devils get stronger and demons get weaker, and vice-versa.

See the in-game FAQ for more information!

It's time for our newest Champion Spotlight! Today, we're previewing the release of Walnut Dankgrass, the Wood Elf Druid, Documancer, and final member of Acquisitions Incorporated: The "C" Team! Read on to learn about this new and exciting Champion releasing later today in Founders' Day Y2!

Who is Walnut?

Walnut Dankgrass (the k is silent) is played by Amy T. Falcone on Penny Arcade's The "C" Team every Wednesday at 4PM Pacific on twitch.

Walnut is a child of the Enclave Panax Anima, an all-female clan of woodland defenders within the Kryptgarden Forest. Not only a frighteningly enthusiastic member of Acquisitions Incorporated, she also strives to protect the natural world by any means necessary. Did we mention she also has the goddess Mielikki living inside her? That seems important.

Walnut Drankgrass is the fourth and final member of Acquisitions Incorporated: The "C" Team. She joins fellow "C" Team members Donaar Blit'zen, K'thriss Drow'b, and Rosie Beestinger as the latest Event Champion to join Idle Champions.

Walnut's Stats

Race: Elf (wood)	Class: Druid	Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Age: 62	Affiliation: Acq Inc "C" Team
STR: 8	DEX: 16	CON: 14
INT: 10	WIS: 20	CHA: 10

To add Walnut to your formation, you can swap her with Delina (Slot 8).

Basic Attack

Walnut has two different base attacks which trigger based on which form Walnut is in:

• Elf Form - Wicked Scimitar: Walnut attacks the closest enemy with her scimitar.


• Wolf Form - Bite: Walnut savagely attacks the closest enemy, dealing damage to that enemy and others near it.

Formation Abilities

• Documancer — Documancer is the heart of Walnut's kit and is buffed by other abilities. Documancer increases the damage of all Champions adjacent to Walnut by 5% for each enemy killed in a given area. It caps at 50 stacks (enemies killed) and resets when changing areas. The longer you're on an area, the more she'll buff her adjacent allies! This is especially helpful at your wall.


• Job's Done — When the current area's quest is completed, increase the effect of Documancer for 30 seconds. This cooldown resets to 30 seconds whenever an enemy is killed in a completed area. This is another ability that helps you collect more gold near you wall. Finish the quest and hanging around for a bit? Walnut is on the case!


• Wolfnut — Whenever Walnut is under attack, she uses Wild Shape to turn into a wolf, gaining a temporary health shield equal to 10 HP for each enemy on screen as she transforms. This shield remains even if she reverts back to elf form. While in wolf form, her attack changes from Wicked Scimitar to Bite and the effect of Contractual Obligations is doubled.


• Contractual Obligations — Increase the health of all Champions by a percentage of Walnut's maximum health. This effect is doubled when Walnut is in wolf form. This helps her tank in the front of the formation, keeping those behind her safe!


• Pen-Paws — Increase the effect of Documancer for every 2 seconds that Walnut is in wolf form, stacking additively. Caps at 50 stacks. When she leaves wolf form, the stack count decreases every 4 seconds until she enters wolf form again. This again helps position her as a strong tank, increasing the damage of those around her while she's under attack!

Specializations

Walnut has two sets of specializations, one for extending the reach of Documancer to affect more Champions and a second for increasing the effects of it based on synergies.

First Specialization Choices

• Extended Warranty — Documancer now also applies to all Champions within 2 slots of Walnut and is buffed by 100%. Spread the Documancer love to more Champions!


• Sign and Date — Documancer now also applies to all Champions in the top or bottom slots of each column and is buffed by 50%. Added flexibility for Documancer based on where your DPS slosts are.


• Ah, Screw It — Documancer now applies to all Champions in the formation but is not buffed. This allows you to get everyone a boost, but it doesn't buff Documancer any more than it already is.

Second Specialization Choices

• Co-Signers — The effect of Documancer is increased separately on each Champion by 100% (multiplicatively) for each of the following "C" Team abilities affecting them:
• K'Thriss's Unseen Encouragement
• Donaar's Lead By Example
• Rosie's Deflect Missiles (includes Rosie herself)
You obviously want this specialization if you're running a "C" Team heavy formation.

• Temporary Alliance — Increase the effect of Documancer by 25% for each Champion with an affiliation other than the "C" Team. Champions with no affiliation do not count. Nice try, Spurt.

Ultimate Attack

Forest Friends — Walnut summons a swarm of lovable forest creatures that rush in and damage all enemies. Each enemy that is killed heals everyone in the party by 10% of their max health. If no enemies are killed, everyone in the formation gains a temporary hit point shield equal to 100% of their max health.

Equipment

Final Thoughts

Walnut is the final piece to the "C" Team and we're excited to see folks' "C" Team formations! She's a strong and versatile tank who can customize her Documancer ability to work in multiple types of formations! Try her out and let us know what you think!

As always, feel free to send us feedback on via the Idle Champions Subreddit, Steam forum, or the Idle Champions Discord!