“I speak with the flames and razor-sharp edges of my sword. They beat words to hell.”

No one knows what Warduke looks like under his dread helm. He never removes that helmet to reveal his face to others, only showing his piercing, red, glowing eyes. This Simril he dons that signature helmet again to take his place in the Idle Champions roster!

I. Warduke

Warduke's services as a remorseless killer-for-hire can be easily bought. The evil swordsman isn't terribly bright, which is why he leaves the plotting and scheming to others. He just likes to hit things with his sword.

This deadly warrior is a Tanking and DPS Champion who grows more powerful the more he swings his sword, all while inverting the positional formation abilities of the other Champions. Once you have unlocked his services, you can swap Warduke with Delina in Slot 8.

II. Warduke's Stats

Race: Human	Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Gender: Male	Pronouns: He/Him
Age: 39	Class: Fighter

STR: 19	DEX: 11	CON: 17
INT: 9	WIS: 11	CHA: 11

Role: Tanking, DPS

Eligible for Patrons: Mirt & Vajra

Slot: 8 (Delina)

III. Warduke's Design

Fans of D&D will recognize Warduke from his most recent appearance in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, working for the League of Malevolence as they try to acquire a powerful staff. But this imposing warrior has been in the D&D world for over 40 years, including appearing alongside Dungeon Master in the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, and becoming an action figure produced in the 1980s! He's even a foe our players have already encountered in Idle Champions, so it's fun to be able to secure his services to help the Champions instead!

Warduke is A Trained Killer who relishes in battle, becoming more powerful every time he attacks or takes damage. He's often seen serving The League of Malevolence, as the odious assemblage of villains provides a convenient arrangement for achieving his goals. As a Bodyguard for the Highest Bidder he'll make sure his employers stay alive long enough to pay him, increasing the health of all Champions in the formation. However if a better offer were to come along, he would have no qualms about changing his allegiances. Those chaotic tendencies affect the rest of the Champions as well. Warduke inspires a Chaotic Inversion of positional formation abilities. This means when Champions in the formation have an ability that only affects certain slots, he will invert it so it affects the opposite slots instead! He's also Drawn to Power as his damage is increased for each positional formation ability affecting him.

This evil swordsman will work for anyone who has the coin, but Specializes in a few specific formations. If Chaos Reigns then Warduke will increase his damage for every fellow chaotic Champion in the formation. Or he can draw power from other evil Champions as if surrounded by the League of Malevolence. But if getting paid is all that matters, this Mercenary for Hire will hit harder the more gold find Champions there are! With his epic sword Nightwind in hand, Warduke is a deadly foe as he leaps forward to slash through multiple enemies. And when it's time to turn up the heat, Nightwind ignites into a Flame Tongue Sword so Warduke can deal the ultimate amount of damage possible!

IV. Warduke's Abilities

Basic Attack

• Nightwind - Warduke moves up to the closest enemy and swings his sword, dealing one hit to all nearby enemies with a melee attack.

Formation Abilities

• A Trained Killer - Each time Warduke attacks or is damaged, he gains a Remorseless stack. Warduke increases his damage by 100% for each Remorseless stack he has, stacking additively. Stacks are reset when traveling to a new area.

• Bodyguard for the Highest Bidder - Increase the health of all Champions by 25% of Warduke's max health.

• Chaotic Inversion - Most positional formation abilities' targets are inverted. Affected abilities will have "(Inverted)" appended to the ability name everywhere it is used.

• Drawn to Power - Warduke's damage is increased by 100% for each positional formation ability affecting him, stacking multiplicatively. Buffs apply to the pre-stack multiplier.

Specializations

• Chaos Reigns - Warduke's damage is increased by 100% for each chaotic Champion in the formation, stacking multiplicatively.

• Mercenary for Hire - Warduke's damage is increased by 300% for each gold find Champion in the formation, stacking multiplicatively.

• League of Malevolence - Warduke's damage is increased by 500% for each evil Champion in the formation, stacking multiplicatively.

Ultimate Ability

• Flame Tongue Sword - Warduke's sword Nightwind ignites in flames for 30 seconds. For the duration, Warduke deals an additional 1000% damage with his normal attacks and he takes half damage from all sources.

V. Warduke's Epic Equipment

Slot 1: Self DPS	Slot 2: A Trained Killer	Slot 3: Drawn to Power
Slot 4: Specializations	Slot 5: Heath Increase	Slot 6: Ultimate Cooldown

VI. Conclusion

Are you ready to hire this terrifying swordsman? We think he will be an epic addition to your formation! Let us know how deadly Warduke is 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!

We left Thither and travelled to Yon, the final of the 3 areas within Zybilna's fey domain. We're on the hunt for the final hag of the Hourglass Coven and the route to the Palace of Heart's desire!

This week's update to The Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaign brings two new adventures and adventure variants, as well as Tier 4 Blessings! It's time to dive back into the Feywild!

Note: you will need to have completed the previous two Wild Beyond the Witchlight Adventures, Best Laid Plans and The Howling Peaks of Yon, in order to access these new Adventures.

The Minions of Endelyn Moongrave

Negotiate a peace between the Korreds and Brigganocks of Yon.

• Variant: Between a Brigganock and a Hard Place - These peace talks would be easier if we weren't literally between the two groups!
  • A Korred and Brigganock join the formation. Champions next to them deal no damage due to their constant squabbling.
  • Complete area 800

Love Unsoiled

Gain Endelyn's allegiance by performing the epic tragedy: Love Unsoiled!

• Adventure Variant: The Play's the Thing! - Put your best actors on stage to make this play shine!
  • You may only use Champions with a Charisma of 17 or higher.
  • The damage of all Champions is increased by 100% for each Champion in the formation with a custom costume (aka a skin), stacking additively.
  • Complete area 850

Witchlight Tier 4 Blessings

With the release of Part 7 of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaign, the fourth tier of blessings have also been added to the game:

• Magic Medley - Local: Increases the damage of all Champions by 10% for each magic attacking Champion in the formation.
• Health Kick - Local: Increase the base health of all Champions by 10%.
• Recruit Blooshi - Local: Increases the damage of all Champions by 100% and Blooshi by an additional 100%.
• Reliable Friends - Increase the damage of the non-core evergreen Champions by +400%

You can find all this information, and even more details, in game!

We would love to hear about your experiences in the Feywild on the Idle Champions Subreddit, on the Steam forums, or on the Official Idle Champions Discord!

Storms can be beautiful displays of raw energy, or dangerous heralds of destruction. It takes someone calm, cool, and collected to harness and wield that power.

Virgil is a friendly, easy going aasimar who is happy to work together and peacefully avoid a fight. But don't be fooled by his calm demeanor, with a snap of his fan he is ready to summon a storm! He joins the rest of the Rivals of Waterdeep in the Champion roster during the Feast of the Moon!

I. Virgil

With unexpected and unwelcome Celestial heritage, Virgil was always trying to get away from both his past and a disapproving family. He put his talents to work on the sea, traveling with crews who he hoped would ask nothing more than that he earn his keep by way of his magic. Eventually he grew tired of wandering and ended up in the quiet lakeside town of Caradoon, thinking he might put down roots. But that all changed when he met and fell for a kindred spirit in the form of a charming and witty Tiefling named Kent. After some over-enthusiastic handling of the local tavern's rat problem, they found themselves on the move again. Fortunately they met Selise Astorio of the Rivals of Waterdeep, and while quickly becoming entangled in the group's adventures they discovered a new family and a new home.

Virgil is a support and speed Champion who is the master of lightning speeds! He makes the attacks of adjacent Champions faster, and speeds up progress if the formation is quickly dispatching enemies. Once unlocked, Virgil and his storm sorcerer powers can be found with Tyril in Slot 10.

II. Virgil's Stats

Race: Aasimar	Alignment: Neutral Good
Gender: Male	Pronouns: He/Him
Class: Sorcerer	Age: 32
Affiliation: Rivals of Waterdeep

STR: 9	DEX: 13	CON: 14
INT: 13	WIS: 12	CHA: 18

Role: Support and Speed
Eligible for Patrons: Mirt, Vajra, and Strahd
Slot: 10 (Tyril)

III. Virgil's Design

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As a Storm Sorcerer, Virgil is all about offering lightning quick buffs, causing adjacent Champions to do more damage as well as attack faster. If enemies are being defeated quickly, he'll be impressed by the Rapid Fire and increase the chance that those creatures drop double quest items or count for double quest progress. Virgil also harnesses the energy to Weather Control, increasing Champion damage every time the weather changes. All of these buffs are intended to help keep the formation alive, but if a Champion is knocked out, Virgil has a Surprise Mood: Angry! That anger bleeds into his attacks, making his normal Magic Missiles turn red, and causing any enemy he hits to take a lot more damage! He's especially protective of his partner Kent, and since the two of them are Inseparable, where one goes the other can follow.

Virgil's mood can be seen in the color of his attacks, and changing his Specialization also changes the power he is focusing on. If his mood is Relaxed, his Magic Missile and Chain Lightning attacks turn green as he increases Storm Sorcerer's damage bonus, as well as helping Champions attack even faster. Amber colored attacks means he's Anxious, increasing the number of Magic Missiles he fires and adding a chance to stun an enemy he hits. If there are plenty of other Rivals of Waterdeep Champions in the formation he will feel Determined, and his violet attacks indicate that his Weather Control damage boost is greatly increased.

If Virgil has had enough of being attacked, the weather will change to thunder as he summons a fearsome bolt of Chain Lightning! This powerful electric discharge forks as it strikes multiple enemies, laying waste to anyone attacking the formation.

IV. Virgil's Abilities

Basic Attack

• Magic Missile - Virgil summons 3 magic missiles and fires them at random targets.

Formation Abilities

• Storm Sorcerer - Virgil increases the damage of all adjacent Champions by +100%, and decreases their normal attack speed cooldown by 1 second.

• Weather Control - Virgil gains a Weather stack each time the weather changes when advancing to a new area or when it's changed by an ultimate attack or other ability. Virgil tracks each type of weather in a separate stack. Each stack is multiplied by 10% and then all stacks are multiplied together to get a total value which increases the damage of all Champions. Each stack caps at 500.

• Rapid Fire - Enemies that are defeated within 2 seconds of being on screen have a 5% chance to drop double quest items or count for double quest progress for each Rivals of Waterdeep Champion in the formation, stacking additively.

• Surprise Mood: Angry - While a Champion in the formation is knocked out, Virgil's magic missile and chain lightning attacks turn red and any enemy he hits with his base attack takes an additional 1000% damage for the next 5 seconds. If an enemy is hit again, the timer is reset but doesn't otherwise stack.

• Inseparable - If Kent qualifies for an adventure restriction based on his tags, age, ability scores, etc., Virgil may be used as well.

Specializations

• Mood: Relaxed - Virgil's Magic Missile and Chain Lightning attacks turn green, and he further increases Storm Sorcerer's damage boost by 100% and increases the attack cooldown reduction by a further 1 second.

• Mood: Anxious - Virgil's Magic Missile and Chain Lightning attacks turn amber, he increases the number of Magic Missile's he fires by one, and there is a 25% chance he stuns an enemy struck by a Magic Missile for 5 seconds.

• Mood: Determined - Virgil's Magic Missile and Chain Lightning attacks turn violet, and Virgil increases Weather Control's damage boost by 33% for each Rivals of Waterdeep Champion in the formation, stacking multiplicatively.

Ultimate Ability

• Chain Lightning - Virgil attacks a random enemy with a bolt of lightning dealing ultimate damage. Every 0.10 seconds, the lightning bolt attacks another random enemy until 20 enemies are struck or no enemies remain. In addition, the area's weather changes to thunder.

V. Virgil's Equipment

Slot 1: Global DPS	Slot 2: Global DPS	Slot 3: Storm Sorcerer
Slot 4: Weather Control	Slot 5: Rapid Fire	Slot 6: Ultimate Attack Cooldown

VI. Conclusion

It's good to see Virgil joining Kent and the rest of the Rivals of Waterdeep in our formations! Let us know how much you enjoy Virgil and his storm sorcery 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!

As we approach the end of Season 1: Heroes of Aerois, we have an announcement regarding our plans for the Season 1 reward shop.



Season 1 will officially end on Wednesday, November 23rd at 12 PM Pacific. However, the Season 1 reward shop will remain open for one additional week. While players will not be able to complete quests during this time, it allows players to spend any remaining currency before the Season 1 reward shop closes on Wednesday, November 30th at 12 PM Pacific.

The following exclusive items from the Season 1 reward shop will become available in Wild Offers six months after the end of Season 1, on May 23, 2023:

• Season 1 Feats
  Season 1 Feats will also become available for 50,000 Gems each.
• Season 1 Skins
• Season 1 Familiar: Tiangong
• Season 1 Modron Core: Aerois Core

We want to thank everyone who has been playing through Season 1: Heroes of Aerois in Idle Champions since it launched on September 14th. We also want to give another special shout out to the players who have provided feedback and shared their progress on the Official Idle Champions Discord.

The Journey Continues

We've heard your banging on the door of the Prismatic Outpost and your yearning for power beyond level 460. In this update, we open the door to more of the Prismatic Passage!

Head to the Passage Outpost and enjoy a new whack of content! Three new zones await your well-honed bush whacking skills in this continuation of the Prismatic Passage.

Beyond the Outpost

Don your glimmering garments and step once again into a bedazzling underworld of glittering and gleaming flora and fauna. More mysterious inhabitants haphazardly bar your way as you pursue the Red Man deeper into the passage.

In this update, you can expect:

• 3 new bedazzling zones to complete!
• 20 more levels to attain! (new max is 480)
• More secrets to uncover!
• More trinkets to purchase, craft, and combine!
• 4 new crops to grow and research!

Prerequisites

If you've completed the Crystalline Cavity, you can now go back to the Prismatic Outpost zone to begin your journey.

Document your adventures on the forums, and share tips with your fellow players!

Check out all the changes released since our last update in today's release notes blog.

We faced Vecna and lost, big time, even with the help of Vajra, Elminster, and Mordenkainen! Though we did gain one key item, the Book of Tarchamus. It knows the location of the two final pieces that Vecna needs to complete his ritual: his hand, and his eye!

Note: You will need to have completed the previous two Grand Tour Adventures, Vecna Lives and Vecna Loots!, in order to access these new Adventures.

Return to the Tomb

We have been dispatched to return to the Tomb of Annihilation in search of the Eye of Vecna.

• Variant: Arcane Efforts - Return to the Tomb of Annihilation with Champions familiar with the arcane arts.
  • Only artificers, bard, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard Champions can be used.
  • Complete area 400

Heatwave

Collect the Hand of Vecna from Bel, the Archduke of Avernus.

• Variant: To Avernus in a Handbasket - Delina leads the trip to Avernus, but we're under assault by poultry-in-motion.
  • Delina starts in the formation. She can't be swapped out or removed.
  • You can't use other Champions with the dps role.
  • In all non-boss areas, whenever a non-poultry fiend is defeated, an Abyssal Chicken spawns. They don't drop gold, nor do they count toward quest progress.
  • Complete area 400

More details and information can be found in the game!