O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree -- how angry are thy branches...!
O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree -- how much you embody the rage of nature and bring the wrath of the elements down upon us all!

Once again The Nate Before Christmas blesses our doors, and this year we are visited by a bouncy bundle of joy: Springy, the Patchwork Plush.

The Nate Before Christmas Tier 7 introduces Springy, the Patchwork Plush and brings back Odile, Snowflake Defender, Frosty the Snowman, RoboSanta, The Dark Helper, RoboRudolph, Xander the Xmas Dragon, Wrena the Fair and Kris, the Enraged Elemental!

New Tier 7 Crusader: Springy, the Patchwork Plush

Tags: Event, Support, Gold, Animal, Male, Supernatural

A new day, a new planet. You've been trekking through the tangled weeds, grasses and trees from the portal opening when you almost trip on a hard flat object in the ground. Glancing around, you see the foliage isn't as dense and you can make out a structure in the distance. As you approach, you note a sign that says " G M L" on it mounted on the side of the structure.

You see a door and step inside, smelling an oddly familiar cinnamon and popcorn scent on the stale air. It's an alien mall! And some franchises are just that powerful. You walk in further, eyes adjusting to the gloom of dirty skylights.

A rustling noise draws your attention. Something seems to be approaching you. As it gets closer you hear a rhythmic thumping and the tinkle of something metal hitting the tile floor. It thumps into a brighter patch of light and you see a kangaroo plushie made of assorted fabrics just before it jumps on you and you thud to the floor.

"Friend?" the creature asks.

"If I say yes, will you get off me?"

The kangaroo ducks their head and carefully steps off you. "Sorry. It's been ages since someone visited."

"You're here all alone?"

The kangaroo hops. "There's the occasional mouse that I stomp on, but they don't talk, so they don't count."

You scratch your head. "My friends and I are travellers, and we're a pretty large band. In the spirit of the season, would you like to join us?"

"Would I still get to stomp things?" they ask.

You smile. "Definitely."

Springy, the Patchwork Plush has joined your party.

New Tier 7 Objectives

Recruit Springy | Springy takes up a slot in the formation. RoboSanta and Frosty the Snowman start in the formation, and can't be removed. For every cast of Storm Rider, up to 500 casts, Frosty gets a 15% DPS boost, stacking multiplicatively. Note: This will require having cleared the objective Bullet Hell on Ready Player Two to complete. Beat area 650.

Island of Misfit Presents | RoboRudolph and The Dark Helper start in the formation and can't be removed. The formation has been changed. Note: This will require having cleared the objective Washed Up on World's Wake to complete. Beat area 750.

Krampus is Watching | Xander the Xmas Dragon and Wrena the Fair start in the formation and can't be removed. Krampus spawns randomly on non-boss areas and marks 3 random Crusaders with coal, disabling their DPS for 6 seconds. Note: This will require having cleared the objective Washed Up on World's Wake to complete. Beat area 800.

Carpet of Pine Needles | Kris, the Enraged Elemental starts in the formation and can't be removed. Pine spirits randomly spawn. For every spirit exorcised, Kris provides a 10% gold buff, stacking additively. Note: This will require having purchased the max level of the Arithmagician Talent to complete. Beat area 850.

My Snowman and Me | Odile, Snowflake Defender starts in the formation and can't be removed. Monsters drop less gold. A snowman occupies a slot in the formation. The snowman freezes every Crusader except for Odile. Frozen Crusaders don't contribute upgrades. A hot chocolate monster spawns on every non-boss area, the first time you enter the area. For every 88 hot chocolate monsters killed, the snowman freezes one less Crusader. Note: This will require having purchased the max level of the Arithmagician Talent to complete. Beat area 900.

More info

You'll have until Wednesday, Dec 29th, 2021 at 12:00 PM Pacific Time to complete The Nate Before Christmas 7!

For more info on previous The Nate Before Christmas Crusaders and objectives check out the The Nate Before Christmas 6 blog post.

Equipment for event Crusaders can be found in Silver and Jeweled Christmas Chests, which you can earn from objectives and the free play or buy in the shop. Each non-recruitment objective will drop a chest for its given tier of Crusaders, and free play will drop All Tier chests. Gear for Tier 2, Tier 3, Tier 4, Tier 5, Tier 6, and Tier 7 Crusaders will only appear in All Tier chests once you've unlocked the respective Crusaders. You can select the tier of chest you buy in the shop when you go to purchase chests with real money or event currency.

'Tis the Season for Giving!

Get into the giving mood of the holiday season by tackling the Bushwhackia Christmas event.

You'll want to get started by heading to the event area in the Commons to meet up with the stranded elf and help him fix his teleporter. (It's delicate, OK?) Once you've got it operational, you'll be able to make the journey far to the North Pole where you'll find a bevy of characters who need your special skills to make the holiday celebrations work!

Your primary task will be helping the elves make presents by bringing them Candy Canes (that you find in bushes), but there is a veritable smorgasbord of holiday related quests to complete as well. All of these quests will unlock over the course of the event, with the last ones unlocking on Christmas Day.

Once you've found reindeer chow for the poor reindeer, then you can help out Santa by delivering a present to a random house daily.

New for 2021

This year's update includes:
- a new Christmas tree for your ranch received from completing the Decorate Tree quest
- a new Snowman companion from the Build a Snowman quest
- another custom item for ice fishing
- a new house to deliver presents to
- a new item to steal
- and more!

Christmas Mannequin Base!

Get 100% completion this event to collect the final Holiday Mannequin Base of 2021!


The Christmas Mannequin Base!

Presents all Around!!

Here's the event that started the gifting tradition! Once a day, if you have excess tokens, you can send a Present to a friend! These presents will contain a random amount of gold, energy, mana, power and come with some other treats as well. If you want to send more presents in a day, it will cost you a few Bush Bucks. Talk to Sasha in the North Pole to learn more!


Sasha has the power to gift your friends!

Event Achievements - POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!!

There are a total of TWENTY NINE possible Achievements to earn in the Christmas 2021 event:

Achievements Returning in 2020:
Apprentice Elf Helper - You've been responsible for at least one present!
Journeyman Elf Helper - You've been responsible for at least 20 presents!
Professional Elf Helper - You've been responsible for at least 50 presents!
Expert Elf Helper - You've been responsible for at least 50 presents from each Elf!
Santa Man - You've delivered a present to someone's house!
Diverse Santa - You've delivered a present to several houses!
Schoolyard Victor - You won 5 snowball fights!
Reindeer Herder - You've saved the reindeer 5 times!
Yay! Presents - You've opened a present from the Developers!
12 Days of Bushmas - You completed all 12 days of Bushmas!
Christmas Savior - You've helped all the citizens in need at the North Pole!
Snow-ho-ho! - You built yourself a snowman!
Well-arranged Caroling - Find all the special arrangements of famous Christmas carols. Sweater Weather - Buy one of Mrs. Claus' specialty sweater weather.
Grumpy Cocoa - You helped fix Grumpus a hot cocoa!
Kind Krampus - You've delivered a present dressed as Krampus!


Added/Changed for 2021:
Under the Tree - You bought all the 2021 Christmas event items!*
Pilfered Plushie - You stole something from someone's house!


We also have 11 achievements from previous year's events, which may be earnable by spending some Bush Bucks, if a player was not present during the initial years:

Santa Santa - You're practically Santa! (deliver a present while dressed as Santa)
Materialist - You bought all the Christmas 2012 event items!
Reverse Grinch - You've delivered a present dressed as a Grinch!
All The Toys - You bought all the Christmas 2013 event items!
No Returns Allowed! - You bought all theChristmas 2014 event items!
Season of Shopping - You purchased all the Christmas 2015 event items!
Winter Solstice Souvenirs - You purchased all the Christmas 2016 event items!
The Gift of Getting - You purchased all the Christmas 2017 event items!
Boxing Day - You purchased all the Christmas 2018 event items!
Stocking Stocking Stuffers - You bought all the 2019 Christmas event items!
Holiday Haberdashery - You bought all the 2020 Christmas event items!


* The Christmas Mini Golf piece is NOT included in the Under the Tree achievement, and therefore it is not required to purchase it.

Note: The achievements Reverse Santa, Reverse Santa 2.0, Napping Nate Nabber, The Gift of Taking, Naughty Nabber, Perks of the Job, Burglar Burglar and Nicked Knicknacks are not available during the 2021 event.

Mount Packs

New 2021 Mounts!


Sturdy Horse-Pulled Sleigh Mounts

New mounts are available from December 13th to 15th!
The One Horse Open Sleigh mount comes free with your first purchase of 100 Bush Bucks or more!
The Holiday Horse Open Sleigh and Nightmare Horse Open Sleigh are in packs containing 100 Bush Bucks, 10 Pristine Feed Vouchers, and a VIP Voucher!

Pet Packs

New 2021 Pet Packs:


What festive critters are these?!

COMING SOON! December 17th to 20th! Keep an eye out for the sale pop-up!

Many other pets and ranch items available from previous years via the "Ye Past Yuletide Store"

Share the holiday spirit on the forums!

The Christmas event will run until Friday December 31st at Noon PST (8pm GMT.)

Someone outside Luskan has been pillaging the food stores in advance of this year's Simril celebration. Residents are becoming worried that there may not be enough to last the long Sword Coast winter to come!

Simril 5 introduces Yorven Springpaw, resident murder bunny Harengon Barbarian Druid. Simril also brings back Lucius the High Elf Sorcerer of the High Rollers: Aerois party, and Krull, the Tortle Death Cleric of Tiamat from Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. Players have until Monday, December 20th at 12PM Pacific to complete their Simril 5 unlocks and objectives.

I. Yorven Springpaw

When Yorven came across the Witchlight Carnival he managed to convince the owners to bring him on board. When the Witchlight Carnival returned to the Feywild years later, Yorven moved on, seeking his childhood home - and the hags who banished him.

As a barbarian druid, Yorven has plenty of muscle and power to bring to the Champion roster, and he uses his massive harengon legs to leap into battle with speed and ferocity! He's a DPS and Support Champion covered in magical tattoos and scars and is ready to scrap when you swap him with Tyril (Slot 10) to add him to your formation!

II. Yorven's Stats

Race: Harengon	Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Class: Barbarian/Druid	Gender: Male
Age: 39

STR: 20	DEX: 14	CON: 14
INT: 8	WIS: 13	CHA: 12

Role: DPS, Support

Eligible for Patrons: Vajra, can become eligible for Zariel with a feat

Slot: 10, (Tyril)

III. Yorven's Design

Our own sweet murder bunny. As the latest CNE Original this dark and dramatic seeker of vengeance has an endless flurry of epic monologues at the ready. When the Harengon became a playable race in Dungeons & Dragons, our Stream Executive Producer Dylan Wilks was inspired by the powerful bonus action jump ability to find out how dangerous he could make a hopping tank. Drawing on some of the newest character-building options available, he crafted a beastial barbarian who could cross entire battlefields in one giant leap! Once the Champion stats and basic backstory were created, our Content Designer Erin M. Evans began crafting the voice of Yorven, giving him his melodramatic flair.

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

Year Five Variants

• Adventure Variant 1: Raven Swarm — Yorven Springpaw begins in the formation. He can't be moved or removed. Three Ravens appear in each area. The ravens drop no gold, nor do they count towards quest progress. Every 5 areas an additional raven spawns in the swarm.
  Getting to know Yorven: If you choose the Hunger for Blood specialization, once Yorven defeats an enemy, he'll jump to another enemy to attack them as well!
  Complete Area 75.


• Adventure Variant 2: Fangclaw — In each boss area, a vicious rabbit boss enemy appears. It must also be defeated in order to progress. Gold Find is reduced by 99%. Only Champions with DEX of 14 or higher can be used.
  Complete Area 125.


• Adventure Variant 3: Raven Queen's Memories — Yorven Springpaw is haunted by his time in the shadowfell. A Wraith escorts the formation, increasing the base attack cooldown of each adjacent Champion by 4 seconds. If Yorven is in the formation, the increase is only 2 seconds instead. Enemies move 200% faster.
  Complete Area 175.

IV. New DLC

Also launching with Simril is the Icewind Dale Prudence Skin & Feat Pack! This pack includes an unlock for Prudence, the new Icewind Dale Prudence Skin, Prudence's Spell Master Epic Feat, which increases her damage by 120%, and 7 Gold Prudence Chests with 1 Guaranteed Shiny Equipment Card.

For information on previous years' variants, check out the Simril 4 blog. And 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!

Coppers of the Creature Collector

The eccentric Creature Collector has returned to the Commons, this time with a trio of puck pets!



Head to the event area and choose one to train. You have until noon on Wednesday December 8th to complete the collector's four daily quests, level up your chosen creature, earn Creature Coppers to spend in their store, and get another page to your Creature Collector's Compendium!

The Compendium Page will be given after the event ends. If you don't have the Creature Collector's Compendium ranch item, you'll get it when you get your first page.

After the event, the collector will be taking their creature back unless you adopt it by purchasing its corresponding mount pack, available starting Monday December 6th.

Train hard, Bush Whackers!

The training quests unlock at noon on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Those busy on the weekends can still catch up!

Notes
- The VIP "Quest Reset" power does not reset these mini event quests, and they are not affected by the Time Turner and Timey Whimey Watch.
- These three pets earn double the experience compared to other pets for the duration of this mini-event!

Ye Olde Creature Collector's Galleria - Pets

When you speak to Tanela Tiva in the event area, you can select the "What past pets are for sale?" chat option.

This will open a new store, which will contain 3 non-event premium pets you have never owned! They cost Bush Bucks, like in event stores. The selection will change next time Tanela Tiva visits to event area.

We've done this in response to players asking to see old premium pets they've missed out on, to help you fill out your pet collection. Snag those old-school pets you're missing out on!

Read the Release Notes!