As we prepare for our 9th Anniversary next week, we're back with the latest wave of Mastery Variants for August 2026!
Today's batch of Mastery Variants is connected to the second adventures in each of the first 8 campaigns (all campaigns except for Vecna & Tales).
As a reminder from last month's Introducing Mastery Variants Blog, in order to see the Mastery Variants, you need to:
With 8 new Mastery Variants available today, players can earn another Legendary Feat from the Mastery Shop, choosing from Drizzt, Pwent, and Wulfgar. Three more play-reward Legendary Feats will be added to the Mastery Shop in October. In the meantime, a new Legendary Feat for Shadowheart is available today via DLC!
Highharvestide returns NEXT WEEK alongside our in-game Anniversary Celebration, a new back to school collection of Skins, Founder's Pack IX release, and the arrival of our next Hero of the Lance: Caramon Majere!
Come back on Friday for Caramon's Champion Spotlight blog, and stay tuned to our Discord community to learn more about our week-long anniversary next week!
As a reminder from last month's Introducing Mastery Variants Blog, in order to see the Mastery Variants, you need to:
- Have all 10 campaigns unlocked.
- Have completed all three variants of the base adventure
August 2026 Mastery Variants
A Grand Tour of the Sword Coast: The Cursed Farmer
Variant: Mastery - This Formation is Cursed
Investigate the cursed farm you passed earlier with every curse imaginable.- A chicken takes up a slot in the formation. Champions adjacent to the Chicken must have at least one ability score that is 18 or higher.
- A mad cow takes up a slot in the formation. Champions adjacent to the Cow must have a base attack speed higher than 5 seconds.
- All slots in the formation are cursed, except for one. Champions placed in cursed slots cannot attack with their base attacks or use their ultimate abilities.
- Complete Area 1,450
Tomb of Annihilation: Seeking Allies
Variant: Mastery - Thay It Ain't So
Attempt to get on the good side of some red-robed academic wizards.- Three Red Wizards join the formation. An Abjurer at the front, an Illusionist in the top left corner, and a Transmuter in the bottom left corner.
- Champions placed between the Abjurer and another Red Wizard must be either dwarves or Small Champions (Small Champions are fairy, gnome, goblin, halfling, kender, kobold, and plasmoid Champions.)
- Champions placed between the Illusionist and another Red Wizard must have a magic base attack.
- Champions placed between the Transmuter and another Red Wizard must have a total ability score of 78 or lower.
- These restrictions persist even if any or all of the Red Wizards are defeated.
- Complete Area 1,550
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist: Building Trust
Variant: Mastery - Wizened Waterdeep Walkabout
Is it wise to escort a mysterious noble through a dangerous night out in Waterdeep?- No two Champions in the formation can share the same WIS score. If they do, the damage of all Champions is set to 0.
- Only Champions with an INT score of 12 or higher may be used.
- A fancy red panda in a top hat riding a unicycle (don't ask) takes up a slot in the formation. You must have at least one core or evergreen Champion adjacent to the red panda, or else the damage of all Champions is set to 0.
- Complete Area 1,650
Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus: The Dead Three
Variant: Mastery - Absolute Entourage
Patrol the streets of Baldur's Gate with some heroes from Baldur's Gate.- You may only use Champions from the Heroes of Baldur's Gate or Absolute Adversary affiliations.
- Minsc starts in the formation.
- Once a Champion is added to the formation they may not be removed or swapped out.
- After a Champion has been in the formation for 500 areas, they are removed and can not be used for the rest of the adventure. Minsc is immune to this effect.
- Complete Area 1,750
Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden: The Everlasting Rime
Variant: Mastery - Hallucinations of Mithral Hall
Continue to Ten-Towns with the Companions of the Hall while trying not to get distracted.- Wulfgar must be unlocked to start this variant.
- Wulfgar starts in the formation and can not be removed or swapped out.
- Only Champions from the Companions of the Hall affiliation can deal damage.
- Chadwick joined the formation. He's still experimenting with some spell scrolls, so Champions adjacent to Chadwick deal 0 damage to normal enemies and bosses.
- Three random Illusory Enemies from other campaigns appear with the first wave of each area. They do not drop gold nor count toward quest progress, but in addition to the normal quest, you must also defeat these enemies in order to advance. Only Champions adjacent to Chadwick can deal damage to Illusory Enemies.
- Complete Area 1,850
The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: The Witchlight Carnival
Variant: Mastery - Very Familiar
Uncover the mysteries of the Witchlight Carnival with Nat & several familiars.- Nat and Gale the Miniature Giant Seahorse take up slots in the formation
- They must be distracted by more familiar friends or else the damage of your formation will suffer.
- If you have fewer than 17 familiars assigned to your formation, the damage of all Champions is reduced by 99.9% for each unassigned familiar.
- If you have fewer than 11 familiars assigned to your formation, the damage of all Champions is set to 0.
- Only Champions with a CHA score of 13 or higher may be used.
- No two adjacent Champions in the formation may have a DEX score that is within one. If they do, the damage of all Champions is set to 0.
- Complete Area 1,950
Light of Xaryxis: The Evacuation of Waterdeep
Variant: Mastery - Squiddly Versus The Space Clowns
Get to the Dock Ward before the city is overrun and your Champions are burnt to a crisp.- Squiddly riding a rocket joins the formation.
- Squiddly has figured out his fuse issues from the previous Mastery Variant and his rocket will not explode if you take too long to complete an area. Instead, the blast from the rocket damages Champions in the columns behind him for 25% of their max health every 5 seconds.
- Only Champions with a WIS score of 12 or lower can be placed in the columns behind Squiddly, because... why would you stand there?
- If Squiddly is defeated, his rocket explodes, instantly killing all the Champions in the columns behind him.
- One Red Wizard Transmuter spawns with each wave. When it's defeated, it polymorphs into a Space Clown. The Space Clown has 5 hits-based health, moves 200% faster, and ignores all taunt abilities. This is why kids are afraid of clowns.
- Complete Area 2,050
Turn of Fortune's Wheel: The End is the Beginning
Variant: Mastery - The Four Pillars
WWWW JJJJ HHHH HHHH?- Four slots in the formation have glowing, sparking, or pulsing pillars in them.
- Each Champion in a slot with a glowing pillar must count as more than one species. If they don't, the damage of all Champions is set to 0.
- Each Champion in a slot with a sparking pillar must count as more than one alignment. If they don't, the damage of all Champions is set to 0.
- Each Champion in a slot with a pulsing pillar must count as more than one class. If they don't, the damage of all Champions is set to 0.
- All Champions with a positional formation ability must be adjacent to at least one Champion without a positional formation ability. If they're not, the damage of all Champions is set to 0.
- Complete Area 2,150
New Legendary Feat
With 8 new Mastery Variants available today, players can earn another Legendary Feat from the Mastery Shop, choosing from Drizzt, Pwent, and Wulfgar. Three more play-reward Legendary Feats will be added to the Mastery Shop in October. In the meantime, a new Legendary Feat for Shadowheart is available today via DLC!
Shadowheart
Astral-Touched Tadpole - Level 1: Shadowheart adds up the total Wisdom scores of all the Champions adjacent to her and increases the effect of Twilight Trickery by 100% for every 5 Wisdom she counts, stacking multiplicatively. If she has at least 20 stacks, your formation gains one additional Ceremorphosis stack.- Per Level Adjustment:
- x2 damage buff per Feat level
- -1 stacks required to activate additional Ceremorphosis
- Caps at level 10
Countdown to the 9th Anniversary!
Highharvestide returns NEXT WEEK alongside our in-game Anniversary Celebration, a new back to school collection of Skins, Founder's Pack IX release, and the arrival of our next Hero of the Lance: Caramon Majere!
Come back on Friday for Caramon's Champion Spotlight blog, and stay tuned to our Discord community to learn more about our week-long anniversary next week!
We Want YOUR Feedback
What do you think about today's update? Are you excited to challenge your skills and unlock your next Legendary Feat or Chromatic Skin? Join our community on one of our official platforms and let us know what you think!- The Official Idle Champions Discord.
- The Official Idle Champions Subreddit.
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