A great cosmic conflict has spilled out upon the prime material plane.

While celebrations to mark the start of spring begin in the quaint Sword Coast town of Triboar, a Githyanki raiding party descents from above, raining destruction.

It's up to the Champions to defend the innocent and figure out what has drawn the attention of the Gith and their Endless War. It's time for Greengrass 6!

Greengrass 6 introduces Antrius, the Human Bard from Deerstalker Picture's 1 for All, and brings back Gazrick Nomrad, the Gnome Druid from Rivals of Waterdeep and Orkira Illdrex, the Dragonborn Cleric of Heroes of the Planes. Players have until Monday, April 24th at 12PM Pacific to complete their Greengrass 6 unlocks and objectives.

New Champion: Antrius

Antrius is your classic fantasy Bard - he’s a lover, not a fighter. His supportive parents paid his way through Bard College, and now Antrius is out on the road trying to make a name for himself with bravado, showmanship, and a seductive smolder.

Antrius is a Support and Healing Champion who empowers his companions with an Inspiring Song. With this song, he increases the damage of nearby companions and gives them temporary health to push through tough enemies. His tales depend on the stories of your Champions, so he buffs his companions based on the number of feats you have unlocked. Once unlocked, you can find this human bard in Slot 4 with Jarlaxle.

For more information on Antrius and his abilities, check out his Champion Spotlight!

Year Six Variants

Mirror, Mirror: Defend Triboar from a Githyanki invasion with Antrius! Antrius starts in the formation (Slot 3) and can not be removed or swapped out. Two reflections of Antrius take up slots in the formation (slots 4 and 5). These reflections are just that, and don't actually have any of Antrius' abilities.

Reach Area 75.

A Timely Tune: Defend Triboar from a Githyanki invasion with only 1 hit point left! Antrius starts in the formation (Slot 3) and can not be removed or swapped out. Antrius starts out with Inspiring Song unlocked. After area 5, Champions' health is set to 1 and can not be healed above this. 1-3 Skeleton Archers spawn with each wave.

Reach Area 125.

Pick Your Poison: Defend Triboar from a Githyanki invasion with Antrius's favorite heroes! Antrius starts in the formation (Slot 3) and can not be removed or swapped out. You can only use Champions who are Bards, or have a total ability score of 78 or lower, or are Chaotic.

Reach Area 175.

Much more detail and information can be found in the game! Enjoy!

A great cosmic conflict has spilled out upon the prime material plane.

While celebrations to mark the start of spring begin in the quaint Sword Coast town of Triboar, a Githyanki raiding party descents from above, raining destruction.

It's up to the Champions to defend the innocent and figure out what has drawn the attention of the Gith and their Endless War. It's time for Greengrass 5!

Greengrass 5 introduces Gazrick Nomrad, the Gnome Druid from Rivals of Waterdeep, and brings back Orkira Illdrex, the Dragonborn Cleric, and Melf, the legendary Elf Fighter and Wizard. Players have until Monday, April 18th at 12PM Pacific to complete their Greengrass 5 unlocks and objectives.

New Champion: Gazrick Nomrad

Hailing from the bitter cold of Icewind Dale, Gazrick is at home in the snow. But he was happy to be done with the cold as a traveling merchant, and he headed for the warmer climates of Waterdeep. There he fell into the company of the Rivals, joining them on adventures despite his insistence that he is just a simple entrepreneur. He may not think of himself as a hero, but he's done plenty of heroic deeds!

Gazrick is a member of the Rivals of Waterdeep, and is a Support and Gold Find Champion. He thrives in snowy environments and uses his cold-based attacks to slow and stun enemies. His attacks also reduce how much damage you need to deal to damage armor-based enemies! When you want to add him to your formation you can swap him with Minsc (Slot 7)

For more information on Gazrick and his abilities, check out his Champion Spotlight!

Year Five Variants

Cool Comrades — Gazrick starts in the formation, and can't be moved or removed. Two Ice Mephits have befriended Gazrick and have joined the formation. It's not weird.

Reach Area 75.

Brain Freeze — Gazrick starts in the formation, and can't be moved or removed. He's created three Snow Golem companions. Each Snow Golem has an Intellect Devourer perched on their head. Really, it's not weird.

Reach Area 125.

Armored Assault — Gazrick starts in the formation, and while he can't be removed he can be moved. His Armor Ablation ability starts unlocked. All boss enemies have at least 25 armored health. This is the least weird.

Reach Area 175.

Much more detail and information can be found in the game! Enjoy!

A great cosmic conflict has spilled out upon the prime material plane.

While celebrations to mark the start of spring begin in the quaint Sword Coast town of Triboar, a Githyanki raiding party descents from above, raining destruction.

It's up to the Champions to defend the innocent and figure out what has drawn the attention of the Gith and their Endless War. It's time for Greengrass 4!

Greengrass 4 introduces Orkira Illdrex, the Dragonborn Cleric of Heroes of the Planes, and brings back Melf, the legendary Elf Fighter and Wizard and Aila, Wild Elf Barbarian of the Heroes of Aerois. Players have until Monday, April 19th at 12PM Pacific to complete their Greengrass 4 unlocks and objectives.

For more information about Year 4 Events and how they work, please check out our Year 4 Events Dev Blog.

New Champion: Orkira Illdrex

Orkira Illdrex is a gold dragonborn from the Nentir Vale, where she grew up nurturing a love of healing and fire. Between a strange life filled with monsters, Gods, time and multiplanar travel, death, the destruction of worlds and the saving of others, Orkira has survived and adapted to deal with any situation with a motto of 'One problem at a time.'

Orkira is a Healing and Support Champion who continuously heals non-adjacent damaged Champions with Lesser Restoration, and will Self-Sacrifice if she can prevent the death of one of her companions. She also boosts DPS with Elemental Fire. When you want to add Orkira to your formation, you can swap her with Bruenor (Slot 1).

II. Orkira's Stats

Race: Dragonborn (Gold)	Alignment: Chaotic Good
Class: Cleric (Phoenix Domain)	Gender: Female
Age: 34	Affiliation: Heroes of the Planes

STR: 13	DEX: 14	CON: 16
INT: 8	WIS: 20	CHA: 18

Role: Healing, Support

Eligible for Patrons: Mirt the Moneylender, Vajra Safahr, Zariel

Slot: 1, (Bruenor)

Orkira's Abilities

Orkira heals and buffs the party, she continuously heals nonadjacent Champions with Lesser Restoration, she aids the party by damaging enemies with Elemental Fire. This is boosted by her Healing Flame. Noble and kind of heart, she will Self-Sacrifice to swap places with a non-adjacent ally when they are about to receive a killing blow. The Phoenix has played a large role in Orkira's life, and her bond with the Phoenix is explored with her Specializations Breath of the Pheonix to increase damage and Tailfeather of the Phoenix to increase healing.

For more information on Orkira and her abilities, check out her Champion Spotlight!

Year Four Variants

• Wise Warriors Wait — Only Champions with a WIS score of 13 or higher can be used. Enemies move 100% faster. Every 25 areas, that speed boost is increased by 100% (additively).
• Reach Area 75.

• Volo's Guide to Orkira — Orkira starts in the formation and can't be moved or removed (save for her ultimate, of course). Volo joins the formation and catalogues Orkira's unique capabilities. - Volo forgot to mention that he angered a swarm of spined devils before joining us. They appear in each area and deal 300% additional damage.
• Reach Area 125.

• Flayer Whispers — Armored Mind Flayer Guards appear in each area. The Elder Brain slowly drives your Champions mad. When a Champion gets a killing blow, they gain 5-10 stacks of a "Whispers" debuff. When they reach 100+ stacks, they are stunned for 15 seconds. Mind Flayers and the Elder Brain all deal 100% additional damage.
• Reach Area 175.

For information on previous years' variants, check out the Greengrass 3 blog.

A great cosmic conflict has spilled out upon the prime material plane.

While celebrations to mark the start of spring begin in the quaint Sword Coast town of Triboar, a Githyanki raiding party descents from above, raining destruction.

It's up to the Champions to defend the innocent and figure out what has drawn the attention of the Gith and their Endless War. It's time for Greengrass 3!

Greengrass 3 introduces Melf, the legendary Elf Fighter and Wizard, and brings back Aila and Nrakk. Players have until Monday, April 13 at 12PM Pacific to complete their Greengrass 3 unlocks and objectives.

Year 3 Champion: Melf

Born into the royal family of Celene, he assumed the simple name of Melf eschewing a life of comfort as a noble to study the arcane arts and train as a swordsman. He delved in the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk, the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and many other harrowing places honing his skills, knowledge and amassing powerful magic items. Melf sees himself as a weapon of weal hurtling toward the heart of the darkest evils in the realm. He is opinionated and has a touch of conceit that he is blissfully ignorant of possessing.

Melf is a Fighter and Wizard Support Champion. His legendary spellbook is filled with versatile Support Spells, offering a variety of potential damage buffs and speed boosts. When you want to add Melf to your formation, you can swap him with Arkhan (Slot 12).

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

Year 2 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 Aila, check out the Idle Champion Spotlight: Aila dev blog!

Year 1 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 Monk, able to DPS and Support formations. His meticulous 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).

For more information about Nrakk, check out the Year One Champion Balance Update, Part 1 dev blog!

Year Three Variants

• Honorable Discharge — Each Champion can only be used to complete 50 areas.
  Reach Area 75.


• The Problem Solvers — Only Champions with an INT score of 13 or higher can be used.
  Reach Area 125.


• Wheat From the Chaff — Melf starts out in the formation with Melf's Righteous Determination unlocked. Only enemies that Melf deems evil can be damaged. Blockers, bosses, and boss trash mobs are always deemed evil. All non-evil enemies are invulnerable and can not even be attacked.
  Reach Area 175.

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.
  Reach Area 75.


• 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).
  Reach Area 125.


• 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.
  Reach Area 175.

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.
  Reach Area 75.


• 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.
  Reach Area 125.


• 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.
  Reach Area 175.

See the in-game FAQ for more information!

Today's Idle Champion Spotlight is a bit special for us. We are always honored to be able to include legacy characters in Idle Champions, most recently with Artemis Entreri, and before that with the Companions of the Hall. Today we are very excited to introduce you all to Prince Brightflame, better known as Melf, an elven Fighter/Wizard created and played by Luke Gygax, son of one of the co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons, Gary Gygax.

Yes, THAT Melf! Creator of such spells as Melf's Acid Arrow and Melf's Minute Meteors.

We had our work cut out for us - but at the same time, we were blessed with the opportunity to work with Luke to bring his lifelong D&D character to life! Would you like to know more? Read on...

I. Prince Brightflame

Born into the royal family of Celene, he assumed the simple name of Melf eschewing a life of comfort as a noble to study the arcane arts and train as a swordsman. He delved in the dungeons of Castle Greyhawk, the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and many other harrowing places honing his skills, knowledge and amassing powerful magic items. Melf sees himself as a weapon of weal hurtling toward the heart of the darkest evils in the realm. He is opinionated and has a touch of conceit that he is blissfully ignorant of possessing.

Melf is a Fighter and Wizard Support Champion. His legendary spellbook is filled with versatile Support Spells, offering a variety of potential damage buffs and speed boosts. When you want to add Melf to your formation, you can swap him with Arkhan (Slot 12).

II. Melf's Stats

Race: Elf	Alignment: Neutral Good
Class: Fighter/Wizard	Gender: Male
Age: 210	Affiliation: none

STR: 17	DEX: 15	CON: 14
INT: 19	WIS: 11	CHA: 10

Role: Support
Eligible for Patrons: Mirt the Moneylender, Vajra Safahr, Strahd von Zarovich

III. Designing Melf

Having the opportunity to bring Melf into Idle Champions was a real treat for us at Codename Entertainment. Not just because we were bringing a legendary character from Dungeons & Dragon's past into the spotlight, but because we try to work directly with the creators of each character whenever possible. This time around, we got to work closely with Luke Gygax!

Luke was excited to hop on board and help us out, and he would regale us with tales of Melf, telling stories about playing Dungeons & Dragons as a child with his father as his Dungeon Master. To the rest of the world, Gary Gygax is the icon who helped to create the greatest role-playing game of all time. But to Luke? He was playing D&D with his Dad, who just happened to be 'the' Gary Gygax.

Over the course of our conversations and email exchanges Luke shared stories with us about how each of Melf's items came to be in his possession, often in incredible detail despite the events having occurred during games in his childhood. Melf has been a character for a long time, and Luke still has all of his character sheets, some of them written completely out on lined paper decades ago. Wow!

So what does all that leave us with? Well, we honed in on some of Melf's legendary artifacts and spells, choosing to craft for him an extremely versatile set of formation abilities that can be tailored to a variety of formations and situations. Melf's Adaptive Support Spell and Melf's Augmented Support Spell help you to refine your DPS buffs in a way that best works for you. At the same time, Melf's Speedy Supplement offers a mix of options for increasing the speed at which you complete adventures and variants.

Melf's legendary weapon, Zagyg's Needle, starts off being his Basic Attack, but once you combine it with his Ultimate Ability, Melf's Minute Meteors, things really start to get interesting, adding massive damage and AoE to Melf's attacks.

At this point you might be asking yourself, "Where is Melf's Acid Arrow?" -- but if you look closely, you'll find it ;)

IV. Melf's Abilities

Basic Attack

• Zagyg’s Needle — Melf leaps out and attacks the nearest enemy with his magic spear. If Melf has any Minute Meteors active, he fires one at a random enemy as well.

Formation Abilities

• Melf's Adaptive Support Spell — Melf creates a new spell to assist the formation. He customizes it based on the Champions in the formation and where Melf is placed within it. It increases the damage of Champions adjacent to Melf by 100% and that value is augmented based on some other parameters, each of which applies multiplicatively.
• If there is another Elf (aside from Melf) in the formation, increase the effect by 50%.
• Increase the range by 2 if Melf is not in the front-most or rear-most columns in the formation (affects all champions within 3 slots).
• Increase the effect by 10% for each unique race in the formation.
This ability is buffed by upgrades and equipment (buffs apply to the final calculated value, not the individual increases).

• Melf's Augmented Support Spell — Melf augments his Adaptive Support Spell for each Champion it affects.
• Increase the effect by 50% on the non-dominant gender in the formation (applies to non-binary champions all the time).
• Increase the effect by 50% for each slot away from Melf a Champion is (multiplicatively)

• Melf's Speedy Supplement — Melf provides one of the following effects at random. A new effect is chosen at random every 50 areas (though it could pick the same one multiple times in a row).
• Increase chance to spawn an additional enemy with each wave by 25%.
• Increase enemy spawn speed by 25%.
• Increase chance of double quest drops by 25%.
This ability is buffed by equipment; note if the chance of double quest drops gets above 100% it will then always cause double quest drops with a chance to cause triple quest drops, etc. Likewise with spawning additional enemies with each wave.

• Melf's Righteous Determination — Melf knows exactly what evil is. Whenever an enemy spawns it has a 50% chance of being deemed "evil" by Melf. Enemies that are deemed evil take 100% more damage from all Ultimate attacks.

Specializations

• Bonus Adaption — Increases the effect of Melf's Adaptive Support Spell by 100%.

• Extra Supplements — Increase the effect of Melf's Speedy Supplement by 100%.

• Absolute Righteousness — Increase the effect of Melf's Righteous Determination by 100%.

Ultimate Ability

• Melf's Minute Meteors — Melf summons six Minute Meteors that float around him. They are fired when he attacks normally and deal BUD-based damage to all enemies in a small area.

V. Melf's Legendary Equipment

Slot 1: Global DPS	Slot 2: Global DPS	Slot 3: Adaptive Support Spell
Slot 4: Speedy Supplement	Slot 5: Righteous Determination	Slot 6: Ultimate Damage

VI. Conclusion

What do you think about Melf? Will he fit into any of your formations? Let us know your thoughts, that we may flay them! If you have feedback, let us know in a Community Q&A or Champion feedback post on the Idle Champions Subreddit, on the Steam forums, or on the Official Idle Champions Discord!