We've learned a lot in the last seven years of creating Idle Champions, and the game has grown and changed quite a bit. But it's nice to know that even our oldest Champions are still doing good work in their formations. That doesn't mean they don't deserve a bit of a makeover, especially when we're talking about the second event Champion to arrive in the game! This versatile tortle has patiently waited for the youngin's to finish their fun, so now it's time to introduce the new and improved Gromma Nander!

I. Gromma

Extremely elderly for a Tortle, Gromma Nander grew discontent with her secluded life after giving birth to her offspring. Once they were old enough to fend for themselves, she ventured back out into the world to learn as much as she could about the strange creatures that inhabit it. Gromma is a wise and inquisitive Tortle who is quick to friendship but slow to trust. She carries a pouch of smooth colored stones that she has collected on her journey and walks with the aid of a battle-worn spear.

Gromma is a DPS, Support and Tanking tortle who has learned how to be flexible enough to take on almost any role in the formation. She has a soft spot for "the youngins" and does her best to assist anyone younger. She's found a comfy spot in Seat 3 opposite Nayeli.

Check out our Champion Spotlight Video embedded below for a quick overview of Gromma's abilities, and read on to get all of the details!

II. Gromma's Stats

Race: Tortle	Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Gender: Female	Pronouns: She/Her
Age: 80	Affiliation: None	Class: Druid (Circle of the Land)

STR: 14	DEX: 10	CON: 18
INT: 12	WIS: 17	CHA: 13

Role: DPS, Support, Tanking

Eligible for Patrons: Vajra, Zariel, Elminster (available until May 1st, 2027)

Seat: 3 (Nayeli)

III. Gromma's Abilities

Basic Attack

Gromma's normal attack can change based on her specialization. She starts with Slow and Steady and changes to Melf's Acid Arrow if the Melf's Acid Arrow specialization is chosen.

• Slow and Steady (Melee) - Gromma Nander, moving faster than you would expect for an 80 year old Tortle, stabs the closest enemy with her spear.

• Melf's Acid Arrow (Magic) - Gromma shoots a bolt of acid at the nearest target.

Formation Abilities

• Hardened Shell - Gromma has a hardened shell, reducing effects of the Overwhelm debuff by 25%.

• Grandmotherly Love - Gromma increases the damage of all other heroes proportional to their age. The buff starts applying to each Champion at 100%, and for every 10 years younger than 100 that Champion is, the buff on them is increased by 100%, stacking multiplicatively.

• Ancient Heroism - Gromma increases the health of all other Champions by 25% of her max health.

• Runnin' With The Youngin's - The effect of Grandmotherly Love is increased by 50% for each Champion in the formation younger than Gromma, stacking multiplicatively.

First Specializations

• Circle of the Mountain - Gromma increases the damage of Neutral Champions (on the Good/Evil axis) by 5% for each enemy that has spawned and boss enrage stack in the current area, stacking multiplicatively and capping at 100.

• Circle of the Arctic - Gromma now casts Sleet Storm on enemies she attacks, causing her targeted enemy, and all nearby enemies, to take 400% additional damage from all attacks.

• Circle of the Swamp - Gromma's damage is increased by 50% of the highest Grandmotherly Love buff she's applying to another Champion in the formation.

Second Specializations

• Stoneskin - Increase the effect of Hardened Shell by 100%. Enemies that attack Gromma are impaled by her spiked shell, instantly taking 10 seconds of BUD damage.

• Entanglement - The effect of Gromma's chosen Circle specialization is increased by 100%, and enemies damaged by Gromma have their movement speed and attack speed halved.

• Melf's Acid Arrow - Replaces Gromma's base attack with Melf's Acid Arrow, changing her into a magic attacker. After hitting its target (dealing damage) the arrow explodes, damaging its target (again) and all nearby enemies for an additional 5 seconds of BUD damage.

Ultimate Ability

• Wall of Stone - A wall of stone bursts up out of the ground under a random enemy. The targeted enemy and any enemies in the column that the wall appears in take damage and are knocked backwards. The wall lasts for 15 seconds, and for that time enemies cannot pass it.

IV. Gromma's Epic Equipment

Slot 1: Runnin' With The Youngin's	Slot 2: Global Damage	Slot 3: Grandmotherly Love
Slot 4: Specializations	Slot 5: Ultimate Attack Damage	Slot 6: Ultimate Cooldown

V. Gromma's Achievement and Adventure Variants

Achievement:

• How Do You Do, Fellow Kids! - Complete 1000 areas while Gromma's Runnin' With The Youngin's has 9 stacks.

Gromma's Adventure Variants:

Respectful Restraint -

• Ultimate Attacks can not be used and any attacks with a cooldown of 5 seconds or less have an additional 3 second cooldown. These lengthened attacks don't do any additional damage due to their longer cooldown.
• Area Goals:
  • Tier 1: Complete Area 75.
  • Tier 2: Complete Area 250.
  • Tier 3: Complete Area 600.
  • Tier 4: Complete Area 1200.

The Relentless Undead

• Undead monsters have 2x as much health as normal and, when they take a killing blow, they are stunned for 10 seconds before coming back to life.
• Area Goals:
  • Tier 1: Complete Area 125.
  • Tier 2: Complete Area 350.
  • Tier 3: Complete Area 800.
  • Tier 4: Complete Area 1400.

A Grand Nandventure

• Gromma Nander starts in your formation and cannot be moved or removed. She has a 4x damage boost and her normal attack cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds.
• Area Goals:
  • Tier 1: Complete Area 175.
  • Tier 2: Complete Area 450.
  • Tier 3: Complete Area 1000.
  • Tier 4: Complete Area 1600.

VI. Conclusion

How many different ways have you used this versatile tortle? Let us know in one of these places:

• The Idle Champions Subreddit or Steam forums.
• The Official Idle Champions Discord.
• Our YouTube Channels: Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms and CNEGames.
• Our social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok!

"Won't you be my friend?"

The entire Heroes of the Planes affiliation have been a part of Idle Champions for quite a while now, including everyone's favorite friend in shrub form: Penelope! With the benefit of time, and now surrounded by all her Heroes companions, Penelope deserved a rework of her kit. Because while she might be everyone's friend, she's also ready to pack an earth filled punch to protect them! So let us introduce you to the new and improved Penelope Half-Pint!

I. Penelope

Penelope "Half-Pint" is a halfling who just wants to be everyone's best friend, even if they are evil, or a plant, or a rock. With friends that already include a treant named Neverember and a clan of chwinga that have adopted her, Penelope is ready for anything! She has the heart of a true hero and will always stand by her friends...until she goes into shrub mode of course.

Penelope is a Support, Gold Find, and Healing Champion who focuses on crowd control by slowing and debuffing enemies. She'll have her insect friends ready for when you swap her with Arkhan in seat 12.

Check out our Champion Spotlight Video embedded below for a quick overview of Penelope's abilities, and read on to get all of the details!

II. Penelope's Stats

Race: Halfling	Alignment: Chaotic Good
Gender: Female	Pronouns: She/Her
Age: 33	Affiliation: Heroes of the Planes	Class: Druid (Circle of the Moon) / Warlock

STR: 10	DEX: 16	CON: 14
INT: 8	WIS: 17	CHA: 14

Role: Support, Gold Find, Healing

Eligible for Patrons: Mirt, Vajra, Zariel, Elminster (available from April 3rd, 2024 until April 3rd, 2027)

Seat: 12 (Arkhan)

III. Penelope's Abilities

Basic Attack

• Go Away - Penelope jumps out and hits the closest enemy with her quarterstaff, dealing damage and knocking it back slightly.

Formation Abilities

• Have You Met My Friends - Whenever Penelope attacks an enemy and doesn't kill it, for the next 30 seconds, all Champions deal 500% additional damage against them.

• Insect Plague - Upon entering an area, Penelope summons 4 medium-sized, randomly positioned Insect Swarms on the near 2/3rds of the battlefield. Enemies who are in a Swarm are slowed by 100% and are afflicted by the Have You Met My Friends debuff. The slow effect can stack multiplicatively if an enemy is inside multiple Swarms. Every second that one or more enemies are inside the swarm, the slow effect is additively reduced by 1%. When the slow effect reaches 40%, the swarm is dispersed and disappears.

• Chwinga Mask - When any enemy enters one of Penelope's Insect Swarms, Penelope dons her chwinga mask, calling an elemental friend to her aid. It sits on her shoulder while her mask is on. All Champions adjacent to Penelope gain the following charm(s) based on their tags. Charms last until the party changes areas.
  • Healing Charm (Tank Champions) - Penelope heals affected Champions for 100 HP every second.
  • Tools for the Job Charm (Healing, Support, or Gold Find) - Penelope increases the damage of all Champions by 400% for each Champion affected by this charm. This effect stacks multiplicatively.

• Story Time - Each time a Champion adjacent to Penelope attacks, add a stack of Story Time. The party's gold find is increased by 1% for each stack of Story Time, stacking additively. Story Time stacks are capped at 1,000,000,000. Whenever a boss enemy enters an Insect Swarm, the number of Story Time stacks are increased by 2.5%.

First Specializations

• Keep Your Friends Close - Increases the effect of Have You Met My Friends by 150% for each Good Champion in the formation, stacking multiplicatively.

• Keep Your Future Friends Closer - Increases the effect of Have You Met My Friends by 125% for each Evil Champion in the formation, stacking multiplicatively.

• Everybody Gets To Be Friends - Increases the effect of Have You Met My Friends by 70% for each Champion in the formation, stacking multiplicatively.

Second Specializations

• Fury of the Fireflies - Each time one of Penelope's Insect Swarms is dispersed, the effect of Chwinga Mask (both charms) is increased by 200%, stacking multiplicatively and resetting when you change areas.

• Splitting The Hive - Each time one of Penelope's Insect Swarms is dispersed, another smaller swarm appears randomly (preferring to appear on an enemy if possible), damaging monsters in it for 15 seconds of BUD damage and slowing them using the same rules as the original Insect Plague. These smaller swarms do not spawn additional ones when they disperse.

• Dance of the Ladybugs - Each time one of Penelope's Insect Swarms is dispersed, Penelope reduces the cooldown of all adjacent Champions ultimate abilities by 20% of its remaining cooldown.

Ultimate Ability

• Erupting Earth - A fountain of churned earth and stone erupt in the enemies' path (centered on the nearest enemy), dealing area damage in a large radius and creating difficult terrain that lasts for 30 seconds. Enemies that encounter the difficult terrain have their movement slowed by 50% while they travel through it.

IV. Penelope's Epic Equipment

Slot 1: Global DPS	Slot 2: Have You Met My Friends	Slot 3: Chwinga Mask Healing Charm
Slot 4: Chwinga Mask Tools for the Job	Slot 5: Specializations	Slot 6: Ultimate Cooldown

V. Penelope's Achievement and Adventure Variants

Achievement:

• Slow down a minute! - Slow the movement of 1,000 enemies with Penelope's difficult terrain from her Erupting Earth ultimate.

Adventure Variants:

Half-Empty Crypts - Half of the crypts are empty! We've interrupted some grave robbing!

• A collection of Grave Robbers appear in each area. They don't drop gold, nor do they count towards quest progress. While one or more Grave Robber is alive, Undead Creatures move 100% faster and deal 200% additional damage.
• Area Goals:
  • Tier 1: Complete Area 75.
  • Tier 2: Complete Area 250.
  • Tier 3: Complete Area 600.
  • Tier 4: Complete Area 1200.

Half-Full Outlook If we're going to make such a mess, let's clean up as we go!

• In each wave, Awakened Cleaning Supplies spawn. Awakened Cleaning Supplies deal 200% additional damage and spawn with 4 hits-based health chunks. However, Penelope and her positive outlook can destroy each of these enemies with one hit. Penelope starts in the formation. She can be moved.
• Area Goals:
  • Tier 1: Complete Area 125.
  • Tier 2: Complete Area 350.
  • Tier 3: Complete Area 800.
  • Tier 4: Complete Area 1400.

Half-Pint Friends

• Penelope starts in the formation and can't be moved. Penelope's base attack cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds. Only Good champions can be used.
• Area Goals:
  • Tier 1: Complete Area 175.
  • Tier 2: Complete Area 450.
  • Tier 3: Complete Area 1000.
  • Tier 4: Complete Area 1600.

VI. Conclusion

How many friends has Penelope made in your formations? Let us know:

• The Idle Champions Subreddit or Steam forums.
• The Official Idle Champions Discord.
• Our YouTube Channels: Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms and CNEGames.
• Our social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok!

At the beginning of the very first year of Idle Champions, Dhadius the Scarlet joined the Champion roster. Originally from the game Betrayal at Baldur's Gate, this arrogant wizard proudly launched his Chromatic orbs from the formation. But over time he has not been taken as seriously as he thinks he should be, so he now becomes our first Champion to be reworked so he can finally get the respect he craves!

I. Dhadius

Dhadius is a mage of legendary status and acclaim...at least, in his own mind. Being an egomaniac, he seeks out esoteric lore and rare magical secrets so he may know things that the 'common fools' do not. Dhadius hails from Luskan in the north, where he is a member of the Arcane Brotherhood, an infamous group of wizards, and is determined to let it be known far and wide that he is a wizard to be respected and feared.

Dhadius has been reworked to modernize his kit and give him some additional formation niches that he may be able to slot into. We've buffed up his abilities and altered his equipment so that his powerful magic is better utilized and encourages more experimentation. This glass cannon can be unlocked in seat 5 opposite Calliope.

Check out our Champion Spotlight embedded below for a quick overview of Dhadius' abilities, and read on to get all of the details!

II. Dhadius

Race: Human	Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Gender: Male	Pronouns: He/Him
Age: 57	Affiliation: None	Class: Wizard

STR: 8	DEX: 12	CON: 10
INT: 18	WIS: 9	CHA: 11

Role: DPS and Support

Eligible for Patrons: Strahd

Seat: 5 (Calliope)

III. Dhadius' Abilities

Basic Attack

• Chromatic Orb - Dhadius tosses a Chromatic orb with a random element (acid, frost, or fire) at the nearest enemy.

Formation Abilities

• Skill Empowerment - Increase Dhadius's damage and the damage of Champions with 14 or more Intelligence within 2 slots of Dhadius by 100% for each Champion in the formation affected by this ability, stacking multiplicatively.

• Practice Makes Perfect - Enemies hit by a Chromatic Orb are debuffed based on the orb's type (acid, frost, or fire). Each debuff increases the damage of subsequent orbs of the same type by 400%, stacking multiplicatively. Enemies can have up to 5 debuffs of each type; debuffs do not expire.

• Chromatic Wonder - Dhadius keeps track of the total number of sets of all three orb types he has cast in the current area. Dhadius increases the effect of Skill Empowerment by 100% for each set, stacking multiplicatively and capping at 20 stacks.

Specializations

Dhadius' first Specialization determines whether or not he works with Magic users or non-magic users:

• Together In Magic - The effect of Skill Empowerment is increased by 100% for each Champion in the formation with a Magic base attack, stacking multiplicatively.

• Apart in Magic - The effect of Skill Empowerment is increased by 100% for each Champion in the formation that does not have a Magic base attack, stacking multiplicatively.

Dhadius' second Specialization determines what he focuses on:

• Empowered Orbs - Chromatic Orbs now do AOE damage and deal 400% more damage.

• Empowered Empowerment - Increase the effect of Skill Empowerment by 200%

• Use Smaller Words - Dhadius reduces the required Intelligence of Skill Empowerment to 12 and higher.

Ultimate Ability

• Magic Missile Barrage - Dhadius wildly fires off a large number of magic missiles. The number of magic missiles starts at 10 and increases by 1 for each enemy on the screen. Each missile hits a random enemy, so not necessarily every enemy will be hit.

IV. Dhadius' Epic Equipment

Slot 1: Together In Magic and Apart in Magic	Slot 2: Global DPS	Slot 3: Skill Empowerment
Slot 4: Practice Makes Perfect	Slot 5: Chromatic Wonder	Slot 6: Ultimate Cooldown

V. Dhadius' Achievement and Adventure Variants

Achievement:

• Smart Companions - Complete 100 areas while Dhadius is buffing everyone in the formation with Skill Empowerment.

Adventure Variants

Frightful Weather

• In areas where it is snowing (excluding boss areas), your party will take 1.7% of their max health as unavoidable damage every second.
• Area Goals:
  • Tier 1: Complete Area 75.
  • Tier 2: Complete Area 250.
  • Tier 3: Complete Area 600.
  • Tier 4: Complete Area 1200.

Light in the Darkness

• Several slots in the formation are taken up by floating magical torches.
• Area Goals:
  • Tier 1: Complete Area 125.
  • Tier 2: Complete Area 350.
  • Tier 3: Complete Area 800.
  • Tier 4: Complete Area 1400.

A Wise Endeavour

• Only champions with a wisdom score of 13 or more, plus Dhadius, may be used.
• Area Goals:
  • Tier 1: Complete Area 175.
  • Tier 2: Complete Area 450.
  • Tier 3: Complete Area 1000.
  • Tier 4: Complete Area 1600.

VI. Conclusion

Does new and improved Dhadius live up to his own hype? Let us know what you think:

• The Idle Champions Subreddit or Steam forums.
• The Official Idle Champions Discord.
• Our YouTube Channels: Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms and CNEGames.
• Our social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok!