The time has finally come to wrap up your unfinished business in Chult. Five new challenging variants await the most stalwart of adventurers, with the reward of unlocking Dragonbait, the Saurial Paladin with their completion.

Good luck!

Note: you will need to have completed the base adventures and at least 17 additional adventures in the Tomb of Annihilation campaign in order to unlock the first of these variants.

New Champion: Dragonbait

Dragonbait is a champion of good and a saurial—a race that originated on a distant world and whose members have long lives. Very few saurials dwell in the Forgotten Realms, and no saurial communities are believed to exist anywhere in the world. The saurial's language is a combination of clicks and whistles beyond the human range of hearing, so Dragonbait relies on 'shouting' scents to communicate emotions. Dragonbait's known scents include: brimstone (confusion), roses (sadness), lemon (pleasure or joy), baked bread (anger), violets (danger or fear), honeysuckle (tenderness or concern), wood smoke (devotion or piety), tar (victory or celebration), and ham (nervousness or worry).

Dragonbait is a Tank and Support Champion. His Shen-state formation ability offers a variety of scent-based positional formation buffs. When you wish to add Dragonbait to the formation, you can swap him with Jamilah (Slot 11).

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

Tomb of Annihilation Variants

• Exploring Port Nyanzaru Variant 3: Patience is Key — Only Champions with a base attack cooldown of 5 seconds or more can be used.
  Reach area 300.

• Running of the Saurs Variant 3: Relay Race — Each Champion can only be used for 150 unique areas. Once a Champion has been in the formation for 150 unique areas, they are no longer allowed to be used until the adventure is reset.
  Reach area 325.

• The Templar's Camp Variant 3: Overwhelming Force — All monsters deal 50% more damage and move 20% faster for each enemy alive.
  Reach area 350.

• Rescue in the Jungle Variant 3: Starving in the Jungle — Gold drops are reduced by 2% per area (stacking multiplicatively). Your Champions take 4% unavoidable damage every second in non-boss areas.
  Reach area 375.

• The Lost Love Variant 2: A Saurial's Resolve — Dragonbait takes up a slot at the very front of your formation, and cannot be moved or swapped out.
  
  While alive, Dragonbait will buff your formation. Each time you encounter Valindra Shadowmantle (the Area 50 Boss), she respawns after she is killed, gaining increased health and damage for each resurrection.
  
  Valindra will respawn once for every 50 areas you've unlocked (so once on area 50, twice on area 100, three times on area 150, etc). Whenever she respawns, Dragonbait increases his resolve, gaining buffs to his tanking and buffing abilities.
  Reach area 400.
  

Completing A Saurial's Resolve rewards you with Dragonbait - the latest Evergreen Champion

Happy new year! Would you like to learn about your first new Champion of 2020?

It's time to dive in to the wondrous world of Saurial scents and see what we can find...

A truly rare creature...

Dragonbait is a champion of good and a saurial—a race that originated on a distant world and whose members have long lives. Very few saurials dwell in the Forgotten Realms, and no saurial communities are believed to exist anywhere in the world. The saurial's language is a combination of clicks and whistles beyond the human range of hearing, so Dragonbait relies on 'shouting' scents to communicate emotions. Dragonbait's known scents include: brimstone (confusion), roses (sadness), lemon (pleasure or joy), baked bread (anger), violets (danger or fear), honeysuckle (tenderness or concern), wood smoke (devotion or piety), tar (victory or celebration), and ham (nervousness or worry).

Dragonbait is a Tank and Support Champion. His Shen-state formation ability offers a variety of scent-based positional formation buffs. When you wish to add Dragonbait to the formation, you can swap him with Jamilah (Slot 11).

II. Dragonbait's Stats

Race: Saurial	Alignment: Lawful Good
Class: Paladin	Gender: Male
Age: 242	Affiliation: none

STR: 15	DEX: 13	CON: 17
INT: 14	WIS: 16	CHA: 18

Eligible for Patrons: Mirt, Vajra

III. Dragonbait's Design

Bringing an old character with a lot of history to life is always a unique challenge -- even more so when said character is as unique and quirky as Dragonbait. Saurials are rare, after all, and not originally native to Toril. Yet here is Dragonbait, co-starring in The Finder's Stone Trilogy of novels by Kate Novak and Jeff Grub, starting with Azure Bonds in 1988, and then popping up again decades later in 2017's Tomb of Annihilation where he has since become the traveling companion of Artus Cimber. This little sauriel gets around!

Luckily for us, Dragonbait's unique quirks made for a rich opportunity with his design. Since Dragonbait is unable to speak common, he communicates his emotions primarily with scents, so we used those scents as the base for his design with Shen-state. Everything builds off Shen-state, from the range of Dragonbait's formation buff with Scent: Pie Crust to the effective power of the buff with Scent: Roasted Vegetables and Scent: Meat Sauce.

We hope you like him!

IV. Dragonbait's Abilities

Basic Attack

• Slice Through — Dragonbait attacks the closest enemy with his sword, hitting all nearby enemies with a small cleave.

Formation Abilities

• Shen-state — Dragonbait increases the damage of Champions within one slot of himself by 100%. This ability is buffed by Dragonbait's various Scents.

• Scent: Pie Crust — The range of Shen-state is increased by 1 for each Healer Champion in the formation, stacking additively.

• Scent: Roasted Vegetables — The effect of Shen-state is increased by 100% for each enemy attacking Dragonbait and each enemy enrage stack, stacking additively. This effect is increased by 100% for each other Tanking Champion in the formation (multiplicatively).

• Scent: Meat Sauce — The effect of Shen-state is increased for each Support Champion in the formation. The increase amount is based on how close the Support Champion is to Dragonbait. The following values are used:
• 1 slot away: 50%
• 2 slots away: 150%
• 3 slots away: 100%
• 4 slots away: 50%
• 5+ slots away: 25%

• Fast Friends — Dragonbait increases the health of all other Champions by 25% of his max health.

Specializations

• Scent: Roasted Chicken — The effect of Scent: Meat Sauce now uses the following values for each Support Champion in the formation:
• 1 slot away: 75%
• 2 slots away: 100%
• 3 slots away: 125%
• 4 slots away: 150%
• 5+ slots away: 200%

• Scent: Herbs and Spices — The effect of Scent: Roasted Vegetables is increased by an additional 50% for each Tanking Champion in the formation (multiplicatively).

Ultimate Ability

• Holy Avenger — Dragonbait jumps out and strikes with his Holy Avenger, dealing damage to all enemies on screen and immediately clearing any stun/charm effects on Champions. Any Fiends or Undead left alive are marked with an overlay of the Holy Avenger, causing Champions who attack them to take 400% additional damage.

V. Dragonbait's Equipment

Slot 1: Global DPS	Slot 2: Max Health	Slot 3: Roasted Vegetables
Slot 4: Meat Sauce	Slot 5: Ultimate Damage	Slot 6: Ultimate Cooldown

VI. Conclusion

Your latest Evergreen Champion has arrived — complete those Tomb of Annihilation variants, unlock Dragonbait, and then let us know what you think!

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

You've braved the undead hordes in the jungles of Chult, battled gargoyles to save Kir Sabal, vanquished the warlord Ras Nsi, and uncovered the mysteries of the Tomb of the Nine Gods. Acererak, the Soulmonger, and the unholy abomination it was giving life to, the Atropol, have been destroyed. The world has been saved — but you're not done yet! The Guardian of Orlunga needs your help....

This update brings the final two Adventures for the Tomb of Annihilation campaign along with a variant for each.

Note: The story may be ending, but that does not mean we are finished with the Tomb of Annihilation campaign! There will be additional difficult and extremely difficult variants added in the future, so keep farming Kelemvor's Favor!

The Guardian of Orlunga

The Champions journey to Orolunga seeking an audience with Saja N'baza, an ancient guardian. However, they soon discover that the Red Wizards of Thay have arrived first...

• Variant: Think Your Way Out of It — Only Champions with an Intelligence (INT) score of 13 or higher can be used.

The Lost Love

Allies old and new come together to put a stop to a rising evil in the lost city of Mezro, with one companion making the ultimate sacrifice.

• Variant: A Saurial's Lament — Dragonbait relives the loss of his friend in a haze. He accompanies the party but doesn't attack, and every 10 areas he gives off a different scent due to his grief, empowering enemies.

For more information, check out the in-game Change Log!

The party has saved the world from the Death Curse, but their work in Chult is not yet finished. While on their way back to Port Nyanzaru, the party explores ancient ruins, crosses paths with Red Wizards, liberates a mine from a dragon, and runs into an ancient hero and his Saurial companion.

Today's update to the Tomb of Annihilation campaign brings two new adventures, The Immortal Warrior and The Wyrmheart Mine, each with a new challenging variant to complete.

Note: you will need to have completed the Tomb of the Nine Gods adventure in order to unlock these adventures!

The Immortal Warrior

The ancient ruin of Shilku offers priceless treasures and dangerous relics - the perfect place to stop by on the way back to Port Nyanzaru!

• Variant: Hold for the Red Wizards — A Red Wizard appears in every area, casting Hold Person on a random Champion and locking them out of the formation until he is defeated.

The Wyrmheart Mine

On the way to Orolunga, a dwarf asks the Champions for help retaking a dwarven mine from a dragon.

• Variant: They Who Smelt It — A skunk takes up a slot in the formation, and the smell causes adjacent Champions to deal a fraction of their normal damage.

Features:

• Added two new Tomb of Annihilation adventures: The Immortal Warrior and The Wyrmheart Mine. In order to start these new adventures, you will need to have completed the Tomb of the Nine Gods adventure.

See the in-game Change Log for more information!

After a long and difficult journey through the jungles of Chult and into the depths of the Tomb of the Nine Gods, the party succeeded in ending the Death Curse.

However, your work in Omu is not yet complete: a soul stirs in the beyond. A companion who gave the ultimate sacrifice yearns to return to the mortal world...

Today's update is something of an epilogue to the main Tomb of Annihilation storyline, offering eight new variants and the potential to unlock another Champion: Azaka Stormfang, Weretiger Fighter. These variants are extremely challenging to complete. Fortunately, we also have raised the max level for upgrades on each Champion to help you push further. Good luck!

Note: To start these new variants, you need to have completed the corresponding adventures to unlock them.

New Champion: Azaka Stormfang

A former guide who operated out of Port Nyanzaru on Chult, Azaka Stormfang originally concealed her curse of lycanthropy from the champions, having lost many friends to that revelation in the past. Her true self was revealed after she valiantly helped them to collect the puzzle cubes they needed to defeat the villain Acererak in the Tomb of the Nine Gods. Azaka paid the ultimate price in that battle, but was able to be resurrected afterwards once the champions destroyed Acererak's soulmonger.

Azaka increases Gold Find and buffs party damage while outdoors. The longer she is in her human form, the more she increases party Gold Find. The longer she is in her weretiger form, the more damage she deals with her Taste for Blood ability. When you want to add Azaka to your party, you can swap her with Arkhan or Zorbu.

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

Homecoming

Struggling through Omu — Only Champions with a charisma of 13 or lower can attempt to gain the friendship of the Aarakocra.

Lost Heir of Omu

Lobsterfolk Assault — Who brought a lobster to a pirate fight? Aldani spawn in every area, and they don't drop gold.

The Forbidden City

No Good at All — Only Champions who are of Neutral or Evil alignment are allowed. No Good-aligned Champions are allowed.

Captured!

Double Vision — All enemy spawns are doubled, including bosses. These duplicated enemies drop no gold and do not count towards quest progress.

The Grand Puzzle

Never Split the Party — It seems not all of you returned from the Fane! Every 25 areas there is only one Champion available per bench slot. The Champion available in each slot randomly changes every 25 areas.
Note: There is always at least one champion open in every slot, so if you only have base champions, this variant is just like a normal run.

Azaka's Procession, Part 1 — You cannot leave Azaka behind. When she dies, her body takes up the center location on your formation.

The Tomb of the Nine Gods

The Soulmonger Calls — Champions start at 50% health - Whenever a Champion dies, their soul is sucked into the Soulmonger and they are unavailable for the remainder of the adventure.

Azaka's Procession, Part 2 — Azaka's body takes up the center location of your formation as in Azaka's Procession, Part 1. Completing both of the Azaka's Procession variants unlocks Azaka Stormfang.

Features:

• Added eight new Tomb of Annihilation variants: Struggling through Omu, Lobsterfolk Assault, No Good at All, Double Vision, Never Split the Party, Azaka's Procession, Part 1, The Soulmonger Calls, and Azaka's Procession, Part 2.
• Added a new Champion: Azaka Stormfang, Weretiger Fighter.
• Added new Champion upgrades for each Champion.

See the in-game Change Log for more information!

Welcome to what will hopefully be the first of many new dev blogs highlighting our Champions. We hope this blog will give you all the details you need on our newest Champion: Azaka Stormfang - Weretiger Fighter. She's launching in the update set to go live tomorrow - Wednesday August 8th, but we wanted to give folks a day to get ready for her arrival!

How you can unlock Azaka:

Azaka is unlocked by completing the two Azaka's Procession variants at the end of the Tomb of Annihilation campaign, so if you haven't completed the campaign yet, get cracking! It's quite a challenge to unlock her, but we've increased the level cap for Champions this week as well, so that should help you push a bit further. Once you acquire Azaka, she swaps with Arkhan or Zorbu.

Why we chose Azaka:

In each of our campaigns, we want to unlock multiple permanent Champions. These are Champions that you can unlock as an achievements for completing a certain level of a campaign, whose equipment gets added to regular gold & silver chests once you collect them. The Grand Tour has Drizzt Do'Urden (unlockable in a variant of the Underdeep Cartography adventure), and now Tomb of Annihilation has Azaka Stormfang. We're looking forward to unlocking more permanent Champions in the future.

We chose Azaka as our first permanent Champion in the Tomb of Annihilation campaign because of our fans. Let me explain. When we began designing the Tomb of Annihilation campaign, we needed a guide to get us around Chult. We chose Azaka as our guide in much the same way that any DM running the Tomb of Annihilation TRPG campaign might, since she is a listed as one of the possible guides within the book.

Azaka joined the Champions as a guide to Chult in the fifth Tomb of Annihilation adventure: The Templar's Camp.

However, once she was around for a few adventures, Dylan started hearing requests on our official Discord and livestream for her to join the Champions. We didn't realize how quickly our fans had become attached to our guide, but as soon as we heard the request, we realized how much we liked the idea. Suddenly, our first Tomb campaign Champion was born!

Azaka's Design:

We wanted to make sure Azaka could be impactful to your late game strategy once you acquire her. Rather than look at what she could do differently in the slot, we focused instead on what she wanted to do as a character.

As a weretiger, she's really a beast of two worlds, and we wanted to reflect that in her design. Additionally, we didn't want to go the same route as Tyril where her weretiger form was just one option out of her specializations. We wanted to highlight swapping between human & weretiger forms as the cornerstone of her design. Her Curse of Lycanthropy ability dictates how she transforms.

Azaka's Curse of Lycanthropy

In human form, the counter over her head tracks how long until she transforms again (normally 20 attacks).	In her weretiger form, the counter counts down till she transforms back to a human (normally 60 seconds). The red arrows remind you that she gets stronger with every attack.

As a guide, she hides her weretiger curse from the heroes as long as possible, so we wanted to make sure she felt like more of a guide than a raging beast of DPS all the time so we leaned on her increasing gold find in human form with her Guiding Hand ability. While in human form she increases gold find by 20%. This percentage continues to increase as you gain levels with Azaka, but it is decreased by 50% while she is in weretiger form.

We also wanted to show how adept she was at traversing the jungle. We started with a formation-wide boost to damage while in Chult. However, we didn't want her to only be a viable Champion in the Tomb of Annihilation campaign, so we extended her Adept Traveler ability to any outdoor area, which there is plenty of in Chult.

When we looked at her Weretiger form, we leaned on the narrative that we designed around her final assault on the Lost City of Omu. The Champions were captured and Azaka (in her weretiger form) assaults 3 of the shrines on her own, single-handedly collecting a third of the puzzle cubes that the Champions need before she succumbed to the death curse. Because of that story beat, we wanted to allow her to continue to grow in strength the longer she remains in her weretiger form. From that discussion, her Taste for Blood ability was born. Each time she attacks in weretiger form, she does 10% more damage than the previous attack (stacking multiplicatively). If you can maximize her time as a weretiger, she's a beast on the battlefield!

So we felt like we had a good idea of what her two forms would do, then we needed to work out the specializations. As I noted above, we didn't want her weretiger form to just be a specialization route, we wanted her transformation to be available early and used often. Her specializations allow you to highlight which version of Azaka you need for that adventure. In order to do that we decided the dial we would turn would be the length of time she spends as a weretiger.




If you choose Resist the Curse, she spends less time as a weretiger (from 60 seconds to 15 seconds), focusing instead on the gold find boost of her human form more often.

If you choose Lycanthrope Forever, instead of transforming into a weretiger after 20 attacks, she transforms into weretiger every 12 attacks instead, maximizing how often she shifts into weretiger form.

Azaka's Ultimate Attack:

We decided early on that her ultimate attack would be tied to her Mask of the Beast, a magic item listed in the Tomb of Annihilation campaign. When she uses the mask, she can cast the spell animal friendship, so her ultimate has her donning the mask and calling two tigers to her aid. The tigers have two abilities that are tied to her specialization.



If she specializes in Lycanthrope Forever, the tigers help you transform into a weretiger, and allow you to stay in that form even longer:

• Their attacks (every 5 seconds) count as her attacks for the purposes of Curse of Lycanthropy, advancing your counter into weretiger form quicker.
• For the duration of the ultimate, the countdown out of weretiger form is paused. So instead of the normal 60 seconds in weretiger form, you get 60 seconds + whatever time you spend as a weretiger while the ultimate is active.

If she specializes in Resist the Curse, the tigers help you collect gold:

• Attacks by the tigers cause enemies to drop gold whether or not they are killed by the attack. They will still drop gold when they are killed.

Azaka's Equipment

Azaka has 6 equipment slots, and a variety of Chult-inspired equipment to collect.


Slot 1: Scimitar

• Azaka's Scimitar is always by her side, granting her a bonus to her DPS.

Slot 2: Puzzle Cubes

• The puzzle cubes remind Azaka of a great moment of triumph for her and her friends, granting a bonus to the party's DPS.

Slot 3: Coin Pouch

• Azaka's Coin Pouch grants a bonus to her Guiding Hand ability, increasing the party's gold find while Azaka is in the formation.

Slot 4: Earrings

• Azaka's Earrings grant a bonus to her Taste for Blood ability, increasing her damage in weretiger form.

Slot 5: Map

• Azaka is an adept guide throughout chult. As such, her map grants a bonus to her Adept Traveler ability, increasing the party's DPS whenever they are in an outdoors area.

Slot 6: Mask of the Beast

• Azaka's Mask of the Beast decreases the cooldown of her ultimate attack, allowing her to use her Mask of the Beast more often.

TL;DR- Final Azaka Thoughts

We're super excited to introduce Azaka into the game. We think she's going to be a strong DPS character who can also help you boost your gold find and help you get to your Champions' level cap sooner and push to your wall. However, we can only design and test a Champion so much. We'll be watching the discussion online and on discord to see how well she's received, so let us know what you think on Facebook, Twitter, or on the official Discord!

After the defeat of the warlord Ras Nsi and his followers the party begins making final preparations to depart the Lost City of Omu and descend into the deadly tombs below.

Beneath the fallen kingdom, the souls of the dead are being stolen by a necromantic artifact in order to feed the hunger of a malignant, otherworldly threat.

The time has come to brave the Tomb of the Nine Gods and end the death curse once and for all.

Today's update brings an epic conclusion to the Tomb of Annihilation storyline with two new adventures, A Grand Puzzle and The Tomb of the Nine Gods. These adventures conclude the main storyline of this campaign, but don't worry – there will be more side-quests and variants to come, so don't stop earning favor with Kelemvor!

Note: To start these new adventures, you need to have completed the Captured! adventure.

A Grand Puzzle

One of your companions reveals that they have been afflicted by the Death Curse, and it's a race against time to discover the secret to gain entry into the Tomb of the Nine Gods and save them.

The Tomb of the Nine Gods

Desperate to save the souls trapped in the Soulmonger, the party descends below Omu to confront the powerful lich Acererak.

Features:

• Added two new Tomb of Annihilation adventures: A Grand Puzzle and The Tomb of the Nine Gods. In order to start these new adventures, you will need to have completed the Captured! adventure.

See the in-game Change Log for more information!

Thanks to the magic of the Aarakocra in the ancient monastery of Kir Sabal, the Champions are now able to make their way across Chult towards the fabled Lost City of Omu. As the journey to destroy the Soulmonger continues the danger only increases, and the party soon find themselves in conflict with a Yuan-ti warlord known as Ras Nsi.

Note: To start these new adventures, you need to have completed the Homecoming adventure.

The Forbidden City

The Aarakocra have offered the party safe passage across the jungle canopy via the magical Dance of the Seven Winds ritual. It is now time to travel to the Lost City of Omu, location of the Soulmonger, the powerful artifact you now know powers the Death Curse.

• Variant: Periodic Petrification — every 15 seconds one of your Champions becomes petrified, stunning them for one minute.

Captured!

The party has been captured by the Yuan-ti warlord Ras Nsi. Luckily, a doppelganger employed by the Red Wizards of Thay helps the party to escape — but the party must fight their way free.

• Variant: Home Field Advantage — Yuan-ti enemies power up each second they are alive.

Features:

• Added two new Tomb of Annihilation adventures: The Forbidden City and Captured!, each with one variant. The first one, The Forbidden City, starts in Kir Sabal; these are very challenging adventures and variants. Note: to start these new adventures, you need to have completed the Homecoming adventure.

See the in-game Change Log for more information!

Today's update includes the largest number of new variants we've ever released at once! There are three new Grand Tour of the Sword Coast variants and two new Tomb of Annihilation variants, each more challenging and devious than the last. In addition, this update includes new upgrades for all Champions and more than half a dozen commonly-requested quality of life fixes and features. Check out the Change Log for more details!

Grand Tour of the Sword Coast Variants

• Escort to Waterdeep: Constant Banditry — Additional bandits spawn in every area but they don't drop gold.


• Waterdeep Detours: Easily Distracted — Every 15 seconds a random Champion has their DPS disabled for 30 seconds. Squirrel!


• Underdeep Cartography: Durable Deep — Monster health is replaced with five armored hits (bosses take 50).

Tomb of Annihilation Variants

• The Templar's Camp: Poor Guidance — Your normal guide is unavailable! Instead, the party is stuck with an ill-informed guide taking up the center formation slot, and every 10 seconds the ill-informed guide disables the DPS of a random Champion for 20 seconds.


• Rescue in the Jungle: Upholding the Law — Only lawful Champions may be used.

Features:

• Added three new Variants for the Grand Tour of the Sword Coast Campaign: Constant Banditry, Easily Distracted, and Durable Deep.


• Added two new Variants for the Tomb of Annihilation Campaign: Poor Guidance and Upholding the Law.


• Added a panel to the reset screen that shows statistics about the completed adventure.


• Monster types are now displayed when hovering over a monster, and hovering also brings their name and health bar to the front.


• Added a new hotkey that toggles scientific notation (Y).


• Free Play adventures now show the original adventure name in the quest display.


• Selected level-up multiplier is now remembered through reloads.


• Autoprogress is now turned on by default when starting a new adventure.


• Added a Community Champion achievement for players that "showcase outstanding community leadership" (Does not appear or count towards achievement total if not earned).


• If you get a golden item and already have a shiny item in that slot, you will now receive a bonus potion of polish which you can use to make a different item shiny.

Clarification (no actual change):

• Barrowin's Blessed Hammer skill description changed to specify that it only buffs base attacks.

Balance Changes:

• Added additional upgrades to all Champions, including a new "Bond" specialization choice for Asharra at level 350.


• Zorbu's Favored Enemy upgrades now start with a 300% bonus damage instead of 100%.

Fixes:

• Pressing 'Esc' while opening chests no longer closes the chest screen.


• Fixed several typos. You've almost found them all, but several more remain. Keep searching!


• Nrakk's ultimate description should now contain the correct buff amount based on all his ultimate bonuses (from gear, etc.)


• The description for Nrakk's Deft Strike should now show the proper buffed value.


• Fixed a case where the shiny effect on cards in the Blacksmith Contract dialog could animate incorrectly.

Coming Soon:

• Fixes for offline gold and party DPS calculations with certain Champions.

See the in-game Change Log for more information!