Wintershield sees a celebration of maps in the Realms, symbolizing our paths through the new year. As part of this year's tradition the Champions have purchased a map from a Waterdeep street vendor. And then it started talking...

Wintershield 3 introduces Artemis Entreri, the Human Assassin who first appeared in RA Salvatore's 1988 novel The Crystal Shard, and brings back Nerys Kathon, Human Cleric of Kelemvor, and Barrowin Undurr, Dwarf Cleric of Gond. Players have until Monday, December 30th at 12PM Pacific to complete their Wintershield 3 unlocks and objectives.

New Champion: Artemis Entreri

Raised by the thieves' guild in Calimport, Artemis Entreri has since become one of the deadliest and most feared assassins in the history of Faerûn. Entreri is completely devoted to mastery of his craft, leaving no room in his life for emotional attachment or even personal pleasures. His fighting skills and tactical brilliance are equalled only by one other - the drow warrior Drizzt Do'Urden.

Artemis is an extremely potent DPS Champion who observes and copies the support abilities granted to other DPS Champions, duplicating them for himself. When you wish to add Artemis to the formation, you can swap him with Nayeli (Slot 3).

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

Year 2 Champion: Nerys Kathon

Nerys Kathon joined the Heroes of Baldur's Gate on a mission to protect her church, but was soon pulled into a harrowing journey to Barovia and beyond. As a cleric of Kelemvor, she grew up in service to the dying and the dead, and developed a cold detachment to anything outside of duties to her faith. Beneath that frosty exterior is a loyal and caring adventurer, but it's a side she rarely shows to anyone outside her closest friends.

Nerys is a Support / Healer Champion. She uses her Spiritual Weapon ability to support DPS Champions, giving a powerful extra attack to the highest DPS Champion in the formation, while at the same time healing Champions within two spaces. When you want to add Nerys to your formation, you can swap her with Arkhan (Slot 12).

For more information about Nerys, check out the Idle Champion Spotlight: Nerys dev blog!

Year 1 Champion: Barrowin Undurr

A proud daughter of Clan Undurr and a devout follower of Gorm Gulthyn, the dwarven god of vigilance and duty. She spent fifteen years in the city of Ironmaster, in Icewind Dale, overseeing and protecting her family’s investment in the city’s lucrative mining operations. However, she saw little action and feared that her talents were being squandered. She has recently found a home within a budding organization called the Order of the Gauntlet, which vigilantly guards against the rise of evil in all its forms.

Barrowin is a Support / Healer Champion. She uses her Blessed Hammer ability to increase the power of Champion’s attacks through a stacking buff each time she attacks, while at the same time healing Champions in her column. When you want to add Barrowin to your formation, you can swap her with Tyril (Slot 10).

Year Three Variants

• The Infamous Assassin — Only DPS and Support Champions may be used. Artemis begins the adventure in the formation. Champions other than Artemis cannot deal damage; instead, Artemis' Basic Attack Cooldown is reduced to 3 seconds and his Ultimate Ability Cooldown is reduced to 60-seconds and he begins the adventure with his Ultimate Ability unlocked.
  Reach Area 75.

• Designation: Hostile — Only Champions with a Strength (STR) score of 12 or higher may be used. Mechanical Guards spawn in each area. These Mechanical Guards stun Champions at random whenever they appear, and the stun only wears off once the Mechanical Guard has been killed.
  Reach Area 125.

• Fan Club — A really excited costumed Arkhan fan joins the formation. Every 50 areas, another costumed fan takes up another slot in the formation (this ends after Area 151).
  Reach Area 175.

Year Two Variants

• Dragons Are Wild — The Cult of the Dragon attempts to distract you by unleashing illusionary dragons within the walls of Waterdeep! Armored Bronze Dragon Wyrmlings spawn in each area. They do no damage and drop no gold.
  Reach Area 75.


• A Waterdhavian Party — Now that you're a 'local' adventuring group, you've become a tourist attraction. Two Drunk Waterdhavians join your adventure, taking up slots in your formation and moving every 25 areas.
  Reach Area 125.


• Once More with Necromancy — Nerys begins the adventure in your formation. Relentless Undead spawn in each area, attacking your formation. When Relentless Undead are killed, they get back up after three seconds and continue their attack. However, Relentless Undead killed by Nerys' Spiritual Weapon are destroyed for good.
  Reach Area 175.

Year One Variants

• The Chatty Map — The map is extremely chatty. Every 15 seconds it engages in deep conversation with a random Champion in your formation, disabling their DPS and Formation Abilities for 15 seconds.
  Reach Area 75.


• The Cult of Daggers — Dagger-throwing Cultists spawn alongside normal waves and toss daggers at random Champions in your formation. These additional monsters drop no gold.
  Reach Area 125.


• Only the Strong Survive — Only Champions with a Strength stat of 13 or higher can be used.
  Reach Area 175.

See the in-game FAQ for more information!

"...He recognized the man at once, though he hadn't seen him in years, by the emerald-encrusted dagger hilt protruding from the sheath on his hip. Regis had often contemplated stealing that beautiful weapon, but even he had a limit to his foolhardiness. The dagger belonged to Artemis Entreri..."


RA Salvatore, The Crystal Shard (1988)

One of the most-requested characters we've ever had for Idle Champions finally arrives with Wintershield 3 later this week. It's time to introduce Artemis Entreri, the legendary assassin and ruthless arch-enemy of Drizzt Do'Urden, in the final Idle Champion Spotlight of 2019.

Are you ready to learn more?

A Legendary Assassin...

Raised by the thieves' guild in Calimport, Artemis Entreri has since become one of the deadliest and most feared assassins in the history of Faerûn. Entreri is completely devoted to mastery of his craft, leaving no room in his life for emotional attachment or even personal pleasures. His fighting skills and tactical brilliance are equalled only by one other - the drow warrior Drizzt Do'Urden.

Artemis is an extremely potent DPS Champion who observes and copies the support abilities granted to other DPS Champions, duplicating them for himself. When you wish to add Artemis to the formation, you can swap him with Nayeli (Slot 3).

II. Artemis' Stats

Race: Human	Alignment: Lawful Evil
Class: Rogue (Assassin)	Gender: Male
Age: unknown	Affiliation: none

STR: 14	DEX: 20	CON: 15
INT: 16	WIS: 16	CHA: 13

Eligible for Patrons: Mirt, Vajra

III. Artemis Entreri's Design

How do you bring to life Drizzt Do'Urden's ultimate nemesis? A legendary assassin able to match skills with anyone he comes across? As it turns out, you make him do just that!

We approached Artemis Entreri as an incredibly capable, observant, and adaptable fighter. When Artemis sees a move in combat, he can immediately duplicate it — and this is also true with formation abilities. If a DPS Champion other than Artemis receives a positional formation buff, Artemis will also receive a portion of the effect of that formation buff as well. This means Artemis is at his most powerful when fighting alongside other DPS Champions, opening up new formation possibilities where a support champion might be substituted for a DPS Champion so Artemis can duplicate multiple formation abilities from them. These stolen formation buff 'fragments' stack multiplicatively with any formation abilities that Artemis himself receives, and with the proper specialization choice, if the buffs are stolen from Drizzt or Catti-brie, this effect is further increased.

In addition to this unique mechanic, Artemis has a unique attack with his Vampiric Dagger. Getting a killing blow causes the dagger to become empowered, increasing Artemis' damage. This effect can stack multiple times, and with each attack there is a chance that the empowered dagger's power will be unleashed, dealing additional damage to whichever enemy was unlucky enough to be hit with the unleashed attack. Vampiric Dagger can cause Artemis' damage to spike randomly whenever he is reliably killing enemies, increasing his BUD-boosting potential.

Finally, Artemis' Ultimate Attack, One Upped, furthers increases his synergy with other DPS Champions by causing his Basic Attack cooldown to become reset whenever another DPS Champion attacks. This increases his damage based on the number of other DPS Champions in the formation, and lasts for the duration.

IV. Artemis Entreri's Abilities

Basic Attack

• Vampiric Dagger — Artemis attacks the nearest enemy with his Vampiric Dagger.

Formation Abilities

• Observance — Artemis observes and copies the positional formation abilities applied to other DPS Champions in the formation and gains a copy of those abilities on himself at 75% of their effectiveness, even if he himself already receives that effect.


• Jeweled Power — Artemis' Vampiric Dagger is empowered. Whenever Artemis kills an enemy, Artemis' damage is increased by 100%, stacking multiplicatively. While this ability has at least 1 stack, there is a 10% chance per stack (additive) that the power will be unleashed when Artemis attacks, dealing 300% additional damage on that attack and resetting the empowered stacks to 0.

Specializations

• Friend — Observance's effect is increased by 10% for positional formation abilities observed and copied from Champions adjacent to Artemis.


• Foe — Observance's effect is increased by 25% for each positional formation ability observed and copied from either Drizzt Do'Urden or Catti-brie.

Ultimate Ability

• One Upped — For 30 seconds, Artemis concentrates on showing off his martial prowess, increasing his base damage by 300% for each DPS Champion in the formation (including himself), stacking multiplicatively. Artemis' Basic Attack cooldown is reset to 0 whenever another DPS Champion attacks.

V. Artemis Entreri's Equipment

Slot 1: Self DPS	Slot 2: Self DPS	Slot 3: Observance
Slot 4: Jeweled Power	Slot 5: Ultimate Damage	Slot 6: Ultimate Cooldown

VI. Conclusion

It's been a long time coming, but Artemis Entreri is finally coming to Idle Champions. We had a fantastic time trying to find a way to bring this legendary character to life, and we think we've created a unique and potent DPS Champion with Artemis Entreri -- and more importantly, he really shines when he's stealing the buffs of the Companions of the Hall. We can't wait to see how far players go from here!

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

An unknown disaster has struck the city of Elturel, and the remaining citizens have fled west to Baldur's Gate seeking refuge.

But the metropolitan city harbors secrets of its own, and the Champions soon find themselves entangled in the even-seedier underbelly of Baldur's Gate...

Note: you will need to have completed the previous two Descent into Avernus Adventures, A Tale of Two Cities and The Dead Three, in order to access these new Adventures.

The Darkness Runs Deeper

It's time to find out what's going on in Baldur's Gate, and there's no better place to start than in the Lower City...

• Variant: Troublesome Prisoner — Amrik Vathampur takes up a slot in the formation, doing no damage. Additionally, Champions adjacent to Amrik also deal no damage.
  Reach area 200.

Difficult Terrain

The Champions leave the darkened streets of Baldur's Gate on a journey to the library-fortress of Candlekeep in search of answers.

• Variant: Cold & Wet — Two members of the Flaming Fist take up slots in the formation, changing positions every 25 aeas. In all areas where it is raining, Champion DPS and Gold Find is reduced by 99%.
  Reach area 225.

Hand of Vecna

As we descend deeper into Avernus we’re excited to release our latest DLC ⁠— The Hand of Vecna Skin & Feat pack for none other than Arkhan the Cruel. Pick up this awesome skin and get a wicked double-edged boost for Arkhan.




See the in-game Change Log for more information, including a full list of changes and fixes included in this update.