After fighting their way through countless undead, monstrosities, and horrors, the time has finally come for the Champions to finish their journey in Barovia. It is time to storm Castle Ravenloft and face off against the vampire Strahd von Zarovich. Your final test awaits you...

Note: You will need to complete the Grand Tour Adventure Backtracking through Barovia in order to access these new adventures.

Excavating History

It is time to enter the infamous and foreboding Castle Ravenloft. However, the welcome the Champions receive is not what they were expecting...

• Variant: Screams of the Dead — As the Champions ascend the tower, they are haunted by the screams of the dead. Old enemies appear in boss areas, forcing the Champions to fight through their fears and regrets.

Towering Expectations

The Champions have the tools needed to confront Strahd von Zarovich... but are they truly ready? There's only one way to find out!

• Variant: Guests of the Groom — Barovian wedding 'guests' take up two slots in the formation, causing adjacent Champions to deal random amounts of damage.

See the in-game Change Log for more information!

The start of spring is traditionally marked by a day of peace and rejoicing, featuring beautiful displays of flowers in celebration of Lathander, God of Spring and The Morninglord. Unfortunately for the town of Triboar on the Sword Coast, their celebrations are interrupted by the arrival of a githyanki raiding party... That's right, it's time for the Greengrass Y2 event!

Greengrass 2 runs until Monday, April 22nd, 2019 at 12:00pm PDT. Our latest Year Two Event introduces Aila, the Storm Herald Barbarian and Hero of Aerois. It also brings back Nrakk, the Githzerai Monk!

New Champion: Aila

Aila was found and raised by a clan of wild elves, but never truly felt like she belonged. The tartan that was found with her is the only clue she has to her lost elven roots. Aila is stubborn and proud. Whenever anyone questions her past, she simply states 'I'm a delight!'. However, her smirk holds a lifetime of anger & questions that she's held close to her heart.

Aila is a path of the Storm Herald Barbarian, able to Tank and Support in formations. She wields the primal power of storms to damage, stun, and weaken enemies.

When you want to add Aila to your formation, you can swap her with Makos (Slot 9). For more information about our latest Champion, check out the Idle Champion Spotlight: Aila dev blog!

Returning Champion: Nrakk

Having watched your party's progress for many years from Limbo, the Great Githzerai, Zaerith Menyar-Ag-Gith, has dispatched Nrakk to join your party on the Material Plane. Though his true motivations are unknown, Nrakk is a Way of the Kensei monk whose weapon of choice is a Naginata, making him a true force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Reserved and aloof, Nrakk sometimes has a hard time interacting with those he sees as his lessers, but he nevertheless seems committed to the party's cause.

Nrakk is a methodical Githzerai DPS Champion. His methodical approach to DPS has him able to deal AoE damage, stun, and bonus damage to single targets. When you want to add Nrakk to your party, you can swap him with Delina or Hitch (Slot 8).

Year Two Variants

• Pixie Machinations — A pixie riding an intellect devourer (like you do) arrives in every area. When it appears, a random Champion is stunned until the pixie is destroyed.


• Starve Them Out — Only champions with INT 12 or less can be used. A giant intellect devourer with 200 armor-based HP arrives in each area. While it is alive, all other monsters are immune to damage. For each collective point of intellect BELOW 12 in your formation, the giant intellect devourer's armor is reduced by 10, to a minimum of 10 armor-based hits. For example. If you have Bruenor in your formation, his 8 INT (4 less than 12) will reduce the giant intellect devourer's health by 40 (4x10).


• Ride the Storm — Aila starts in your formation. Aila's Storm Aura hits two enemies with each strike. Only enemies who are either Primed or Electrified by Aila can be damaged.

Year One Variants

• Whispers — The Elder Brain slowly drives your Champions mad. Whenever a Champion lands a killing blow, they gain 5–10 stacks of a "Whispers" debuff. When they reach 100+ stacks, they are stunned for 15 seconds.


• Flower Power — Sentient flower enemies spawn at random in non-boss areas. When killed, they imbue the champion who killed them with a random power, which can be good or bad.


• Unlikely Allies — Two Githzerai monks take up slots in the formation. Each increases the DPS of Nrakk by 400% as long as he is adjacent to them, stacking multiplicatively.

See the in-game FAQ for more information!

Her eyes narrow. The corner of her lips curl up into a smile so slight, it's barely noticeable. "What did you say?" She asks stepping forward.

Her hand instinctively reaches to her warhammer. The air around us electrifies instantly. "Here we go again," I say as I reach for my weapons.

"What?" She turns around, smirking openly now. "I'm a delight!" She laughs as her barbarian rage takes over and she jumps into the fray; lightning coursing through her Warhammer, the Howling Gale.

Aila was created by Katie Morrison, a member of The High Rollers D&D crew, based in the UK. The High Rollers stream each week at the High Rollers Twitch page at 5PM BST, or noon Eastern every Sunday. You can also follow thair adventures on Youtube! For more info on Aila, the High Rollers crew, and the homebrew world of Aerois created by professional dungeon master Mark Hulmes, check out the High Rollers Aerois wiki.

Aila's Stats

Race: Wild Elf	Class: Barbarian	Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
STR: 18	DEX: 18	CON: 16
INT: 9	WIS: 13	CHA: 10

Aila is a path of the Storm Herald Barbarian, able to Tank and Support in formations. She wields the primal power of storms to damage, stun, and weaken enemies. When you want to add Aila to your formation, you can swap her with Makos (Slot 9).

Aila's Story

Aila was found in the lowlands of Aerois by the wild elf Airdeith clan. While she is also a wild elf, she hails from a long lost clan. The only clue she has to her past is the tartan that was found with her.

When she grew older she began to realize that she possessed powers that most others didn't. When angered, her fingertips would produce lightning. She cultivated the strength of her ancestors, becoming the Barbarian that now travels with the Heroes of Aerois. She is stubborn, proud, and often very sarcastic.

Wild elves in Aerois typically have Celtic and Viking themes which inspired Katie to bring her own Scottish roots into her character. The scrap of clan tartan became an important item and Aila's story was formed around it. The name Aila means "from the strong place" in Scottish Gaelic. A fitting name for a barbarian!

The Art of Aila

Aila's portrait and model were drawn by Alexis Theroux. Her equipment was drawn by Kat Crane! As always, they've done an amazing job and we hope all of you enjoy their efforts on Aila!

Basic Attack

Aila attacks the nearest enemy with her warhammer, the Howling Gale, knocking them back slighlty with the gust cantrip.

Formation Abilities

Before we get into her abilities, I want to talk about two statuses she inflicts on enemies: Primed and Electrified. Multiple formation abilities refer to both Primed and Electrified enemies. Enemies become Primed from Aila's Storm Aura. They become Electrified from her Storm Soul & Raging Storm abilities. Primed enemies take more damage from all Champions. Electrified enemies take EVEN MORE damage!


Primed enemies are shown visually by a small lightning ball overlay on their model.
Electrified enemies are shown visually by a wreath of lightning around them.

• Storm Aura — Every 4 seconds a random enemy approaching the formation is Primed. Primed enemies take 50% more damage from all Champions.


• Heart of the Storm — Increases the health of all Champions by 25% of Aila's max health.


• Storm Soul — When Aila attacks a Primed enemy, they are stunned for 2 seconds and they become Electrified, increasing the damage they take from all Champions by a much larger amount for EACH Electrified enemy on screen!


• Raging Storm — When Aila attacks an Electrified enemy, all nearby Primed enemies become Electrified and then all nearby Electrified enemies are stunned for .5 seconds.


• Shielding Storm — When an Electrified enemy attacks Aila, she gains temporary HP at 10% of her max health for each Electrified enemy on screen.

-----Update! 5/22-----

Aerois Synergy — We're introducing a new affiliation boon for the Heroes of Aerois! There will be a pool created when either Aila or Qillek is in your formation and has the Aerois Synergy upgrade unlocked. The pool is noted as the Aerois Synergy Pool. Heroes of Aerois contribute to the pool based on how well they're performing in the formation, and then one or more of their abilities are buffed by a percentage of that total pool. The more Heroes of Aerois Champions you have in the formation, the higher the pool, and the higher the buffs to each Champions' ability!

You can see what the pool total is by viewing the formation buffs for each Champion once they unlock their Synergy formation ability. The details of Aila's contributions are listed below. For her, enemies that are electrified take additional damage based on a percentage of the total Aerois Synergy Pool.

-----End of 5/22 Update-----

Specializations

• Stormcaller — Reduces the cooldown on Aila's Storm Aura by 2 seconds. Use this if you want to get more enemies Primed quicker!


• Stormbreaker — Increases Aila's Storm Soul stun by 2 seconds and increase the length of Aila's Raging Storm stun by .5 seconds. Use this if you need to hold enemies back longer, allowing your DPS Champions time to clear them out!

Ultimate Attack

Storm Herald — Aila lifts her Warhammer high into the sky, calling the lightning and unleashing the power of her ancestors. Once her warhammer is charged with lightning, she unleashes it across all enemies, damaging and stunning them for 5 seconds. It deals 10% more damage for each Electrified Enemy on screen.

Equipment

• Furs of the Stormbringer — As a barbarian of the lowlands, she's been raised to hunt. "Take what you can and leave nothing behind; it's the way of my people."


• Mr Snappy the Trap — Mr Snappy is always around if you need a quick meal.


• The Howling Gale — The warhammer given to her by the Airdeith, her adoptive clan.


• Heritage Tartan — She was found and raised by the Airdeith clan. The tartan she carries is the only clue to her past.


• Airdeith Clan Boots — "Just because I'm a barbarian, doesn't mean I run around with bare feet!"


• Belt of the Storms — Why have a simple belt when you can be awesome instead?

Final Thoughts

We are super excited to begin introducing the Heroes of Aerois to Idle Champions. If you enjoy the character, consider checking out their Aerois campaign on the High Rollers Twitch channel!

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

Welcome, Champions!

We've got a ton of content for you today, so let's get started!

• Core 12 Balance Update: As Justin discussed in the Community Q&A yesterday, we're rolling out a long-awaited update: The Core 12 rebalance! Almost all of the Core 12 characters saw an update (those that didn't were updated in last year's Tanking & Healing update). Read below for more specific detail on each Champion!


• Browser-Based Platforms: In addition to the balance update, we're releasing a whole new way to play Idle Champions: In your web browser! We've released the game on the following new platforms: our own Codename Entertainment Games portal (where our other two live service games are available as well), Kongregate, and Armor Games! Now PC players who prefer to play in a browser can start their own Idle Champion Adventures!


• New Variants: In addition to all of those updates, we're also releasing 6 new variants for the Grand Tour campaign within Ravenloft!


• Explorer's Pack: But we're not done! To celebrate the core 12 rebalance and the release on browser-based platforms, we're releasing a new founder's pack-like DLC pack: The Explorer's Pack. This $10 USD DLC pack includes 16 chests, an exclusive Champion Bruenor outfit, as well as a bunch of potions and contracts to get you started on your adventures!

Now let's get into the details of the Core 12 Balance Update! Note that Arkhan and Nayeli recieved no changes.


We wanted to add a different choice to Bruenor's specialization, and focus his kit around making his Rally ability really competitive. To this end, his rarely used Inspired ability is no longer a focus of his upgrades, and instead serves as an introduction to position-based formation abilities and not much more.

• Removed "DPS" tag
• Removed "Champion" specialization (increased "Inspired" effectiveness)
• Added "Shield Master" specialization (increases "Rally" effectiveness when nearby allies are under attack)
• Added "Dwarven Glory" ability at level 475 (increases "Rally" effectiveness for each additional dwarf in the formation)
• Removed most upgrades that increase the effectiveness of the "Inspired" ability
• Slot 1 equipment now buffs global DPS (instead of self DPS)
• Slot 3 equipment now buffs Dwarven Glory (instead of Inspired)
• Minor adjustments to global DPS upgrades and upgrades to "Rally" to match the curve set by the previous Tanking and Healing balance update.

We were pretty happy with where Celeste ended up after the Tanking and Healing update, but we wanted to tweak her healing spec to give her some more formational utility, rather than making her healing better.

• Doubled the base healing of Mass Cure Wounds (to 6)
• Changed "Life Domain" specialization (now increases range of "Mass Cure Wounds" by 1)

Jarlaxle has been completely redesigned from the ground up to be the bad-ass, sarcastic elf he is in both our cinematics and the Dragon Heist book. His buffs are now based on the class, race, alignment, and gear of other Champions in the formation. He is now a potent early game damage dealer and gold finder, and he scales up as you unlock more and more event Champions (and more and more epic gear) that power-up his abilities.

• Removed "Room to Work" and "Equal Opportunity" upgrades
• Reworked his basic attack (he now attacks another monster for less damage if he kills his target; this continues until he doesn't kill a monster or all monsters are dead)
• Reworked his ultimate attack (now hits all enemies and has a new visual)
• His ultimate attack now unlocks a little bit later (at level 125 instead of 50)
• Added "Master of Piracy" ability (increases gold find based on # of Rogues and Drow in the formation)
• Added "Master of Disguise" ability (increases self damage based on # of adjacent Good or Neutral Champions)
• Added "Master Attuner" ability (increases self damage based on # of epic items on Champions in the formation)
• Added "Secret Lord of Luskan" specialization (increases effect of Master of Disguise)
• Added "Leader of the Bregan D'aerthe" specialization (increases effect of Master of Piracy)
• Slot 2 equipment now buffs Master Attuner (instead of self DPS)
• Slot 3 equipment now buffs Master of Disguise (instead of Room to Work)
• Slot 4 equipment now buffs Master of Piracy (instead of Equal Opportunity)
• Complete rebalance of upgrades to compliment new abilities

We've adjusted Calliope so that squishies can't sponge damage as effectively as tanks without at least a few tanks in the formation somewhere. We'll be watching to make sure this doesn't render any variant objectives too challenging.

• Song of Protection's shield effect now caps at 2x each receiver's maximum health.

Asharra has received some major increases to both her buffing ability and her DPS ability. She should now be a decent DPS Champion for newer players, and a solid support Champion though-out the meta if you can stack your formation just right.

• The magnitude of the Bond abilities have been increased
• Added "Paragon of Kir Sabal" ability (increases the effect of all bonds based on the # of Champions affected by them. Asharra also gains the bond effect if at least 3 Champions in the formation are affected by it)
• Added "Take Flight" ability (increases self damage over time when the formation is under attack; also comes with some slick new animations)
• Slot 2 equipment now buffs Take Flight (instead of self DPS)
• Slot 3 equipment now buffs Paragon of Kir Sabal (instead of global DPS)
• Complete rebalance of upgrades to compliment new abilities

We've beefed up Minsc's kit with a few new abilities, including the first ability in the game that causes additional monsters to sometimes spawn, which could help veterans speed through the first few hundred areas just a little bit faster. Along with more damage and some synergies with his Favored Enemy ability, he should have some more lasting power in many formations.

• The magnitude of the Favored Enemy abilities have been increased
• Added "Boastful" ability (whenever a non-boss enemy wave spawns, there's a small chance of one or two additional enemies spawning as well)
• Added "Overkill" ability (whenever Minsc's base attack hits only one enemy, it does more damage)
• Added "Legendary Slayer" ability (Minsc deals extra damage against his Favored Enemies)
• Updated his ultimate attack (the bonus damage to enemies Boo scratches is now equal to his Favored Enemy bonus)
• Slot 3 equipment now buffs Overkill (instead of global DPS) (note: several new global dps upgrades have been added to compensate)
• Complete rebalance of upgrades to compliment new abilities

Delina has too long been the laughing stock of the Champions world. She has had enough and wants to show everyone what she is truly capable of. With that in mind, her entire set has been redesigned from scratch and she is on track to compete with the best of them for the title of most insane damage dealer in the Realms.

• Added "Surge of Power" ability (increase Delina's damage with each attack; restarts after 10 stacks or a lull in attacks)
• Updated "Twinned Spell" ability (25% chance to duplicate any attack on a different enemy)
• Updated "Empowered Spell" ability (50% chance for enemies to burn for extra damage over time)
• Added "Spell Bombardment" ability (increase Delina's damage for each Champion ahead of her in the formation)
• Replaced normal attack with "Wild Magic" (Delina now has three base attacks that she rotates though in sequence. Fire Bolt is a single target attack. Lightning Bolt attacks all enemies in a line. Ice Storm (her previous ultimate) deals damage to a large group of enemies.)
• Replaced ultimate ability with "Controlled Chaos" (reduces attack cooldown to 1 second and prevents Surge of Power stacks from resetting for 15 seconds)
• Removed "Endless Empowerment" specialization
• Updated "Font of Magic" specialization (increases damage done by Empowered Spell)
• Added "Tides of Chaos" specialization (increases damage bonus from Surge of Power)
• Slot 3 equipment now buffs Surge of Power (instead of global DPS)
• Slot 4 equipment now buffs Spell Bombardment (instead of Twinned Spell)
• Complete rebalance of upgrades to compliment new abilities

Minor changes to Makos allow players to build more interesting/meta specific formations with him, though his Dark Blessing buffing power is vastly improved in all cases.

• Added "Eldritch Alchemy" ability (increases the effect of Dark Luck by 25% for each evil or warlock Champion in the formation)
• Added "Draw Power" ability (increases the effect of Dark Blessing when Makos is NOT on the edge of the formation)
• Boosted the power of Dark Blessing to better match the current meta's upgrade curves
• Added several brand new global DPS upgrades

Cover your eyes! It's a minor nerf to Moonbeam if he's too surrounded.

• Changed the Moonbeam reduction amounts for adjacent Champions from 10, 40, 70, 90% to 30, 60, 80, 95%.

Jamilah has been a shadow of the damage dominator she was when the game first launched, so we've completely redesigned her to be a DPS that synergizes with tanks and hangs out near the front of the formation. It should allow for some interesting formation opportunities for those brave enough to try them out.

• Removed "Frenzy" ability
• Removed "Reckless Attack" ability
• Removed "Brute Strength" specialization
• Removed "Uncanny Speed" specialization
• Updated base attack (now attacks the nearest monster and up to two additional nearby monsters; if the additional attacks trigger, her attack cooldowns (both base and ultimate) are reduced by 2 seconds)
• Added "Unarmored Defense" ability (increases Jamilah's max health based on adjacent tank Champions)
• Added "Frontline Fighter" ability (increases damage based on adjacent tank Champions)
• Added "Berserker Confidence" ability (increases damage based on damage shields affecting Jamilah)
• Added "Retaliation" ability (increases damage when nearby Champions are under attack)
• Added "Bruiser" specialization (increases effect of Frontline Fighter)
• Added "Indomitable Might" specialization (increases effect of Berserker Confidence)
• Slot 3 equipment now buffs Frontline Fighter (instead of global DPS)
• Slot 4 equipment now buffs Berserker Confidence (instead of Reckless Attack)
• Complete rebalance of upgrades to compliment new abilities

But wait, there's more!



That's right, you can now play Idle Champions in your web browser! Starting now, you can log into our own CNE Games portal, Kongregate, or Armor Games to play Idle Champions!



Not exciting enough? How about a new outfit and a great deal on chests!



We've released a new $10 USD DLC pack to celebrate the revised core Champions and the launch on browser-based platforms. The Explorer's Pack is a great deal at $10 as it gets you set up quickly to blast through the early campaign adventures! It contains:

• An exclusive Skin for Bruenor (Champion Bruenor)
• 16 Gold Chests (containing 2 guaranteed Shiny loot cards)
• 2500 Gems
• 2 Epic Potions of Fire Breath
• 2 Epic Potions of Giant's Strength
• 2 Epic Potions of Clairvoyance
• 2 Epic Potions of Speed
• 2 Epic Bounty Contracts

The Explorer's Pack is available RIGHT NOW on Steam, CNE Games, Armor, Kongregate, iOS, and Android. We'll be rolling the pack out to Xbox and PS4 in the coming weeks. Sorry! #BlameChris as this is our first new DLC pack on consoles and he didn't realize there were a bunch of additional steps to rolling it out on those platforms. Sorry!

And finally, 6 new variants in Ravenloft!

• The Mists of Ravenloft Variant 2: Werewolves in the Mist — Extremely powerful werewolves spwan randomly. These extra enemies drop more gold, but have much higher health and damage. Lycanthrope champions (like Azaka) do four times damage to these extra enemies.


• Family Entanglements Variant 2: Poor Fortune — For every gold pick-ups collected, Champions deal 5% less damage and gold find is reduced by 5%. The stacks halve when you change areas or completely kill all enemies on the screen.


• Tower on the Lake Variant 2: Shorty's Day Off — There's a convention for short races going on in Waterdeep. No Dwarves, Gnomes, Halflings, or Kobolds can be used (Sorry Spurt!).


• Seeds of Deceit Variant 2: Seeds of Corruption — Every 25 enemy kills, a random Champion is cursed with a Seed of Corruption for 30 seconds. Corrupted Champions have their DPS and formation abilities disabled.


• Flies on the Wall Variant 2: Class Vacation — There's a conference in Baldur's Gate for certain classes. Bards, Barbarians, Clerics, and Druids cannot be used.


• Backtracking through Barovia Variant 2: Late Game — Champions in seats 1-4 are unavailable. Only Champions in seats 5 or higher (Calliope or higher) can be used.

Welcome, everyone! I'm here to chat with our newest "Champion": Spurt the Kobold Inventor. Some of you may remember him from his 20-minute epic guest spot on Critical Role, played by none other than Chris Perkins himself!


I'm Spurt. Can we be friends?

I'm an adventurer!

Spurt, we're getting off track.

AHHHHH! You're really loud.

How's this?

Much better. Have you seen my skunk, Pepe? He smells real nice.

Spurt. . .

That’s me!

You're here to tell us what makes you cool and why the Idle Champion fans will love you!

I eat my own poo.

Sigh. What makes you a great adventurer?

I like to explore and make weapons out of stuff.

A Champion for those less fortunate.

Less fortunate than me?

What's that on your stick?

This is Stingy. He's a scorpion that stings.

A scorpion on a staff, that's a pretty formidable attack!

He once stung a Goblin in the eye.

OK, and what other cool inventions do you come with?

I have a centi-pult. It throws centipedes.

Oh? And what else?

I can put rot grubs in your mouth when you're sleeping!

No thanks, Spurt.

I have a wasp's nest in a bag.

That makes sense. We normally get into a bit more detail though. How is your kit built? What is your focus: DPS, Support, Gold Find, or Tanking?

I think I’m a tank.

Did I read this correctly? You worked with the Mighty Nein?

The Mighty What?

You're only 11 days old?

Hey, did they say I died?!?

Nevermind that. Which Champion are you excited to work with?

The big one that pukes is pretty cool.

His name is Donaar.

Donut?

When are you joining the Idle Champions?

Huh?

OK. How about an easy one. What are your stats?

OH! I have the biggest stat block. Bigger than a dragon’s!

Race: First	Class: INVENTOR!	Alignment: Askew
Weak: 7	Fast: 15	Don't Eat That: 12
Dum: 8	Smarts: 7	Level of Drool: 8

Um, are you sure about those? Those don't look like actual stats.

I'm 11 days old. What do you expect?

Fair enough. What should I list as your top tier ability?

I die well.



I think that's enough foolishness for today. You heard it here first: Spurt, the Kobold Inventor will be joining the Champions in an upcoming event! At least he thinks he will.


I win!