Champion Roles

General Info

• Element: Light 
• Argon is the first champion accessible and he provides the most significant power-boosting to heroes in terms of attack and defense potential (and his hair stays impeccable while doing it)
• This is useful for completing more challenging quest areas or difficulties than a party could otherwise do on their own and can be particularly helpful to complete higher levels of the Tower of Titans or the Lost City of Gold

Max-Rank Innate

• Aura of the Paladin
  • +40% attack 
  • +40% defense

Recommended use-cases

• Accessing more difficult quest areas in early- and mid-game
• Defeating bosses without max heroes (eg, Tower of Titans, high-level LCOG)

General Info

• Element: Water 
• Lilu’s ability enhances a party’s survivability by way of HP increase and regeneration over a battle (not to mention with her boundless optimism) is particularly effective when paired with heroes with high evasion (because they get more chances to heal over time)
• Some very effective early/mid-game party compositions with high evasion heroes (eg, wanderers) can be built to take on difficult quest areas – complement with lizard spirits to take full advantage of this effect
• Lilu also decreases the rest time of a party after a quest and, as such, can be considered when trying to increase the rate of questing – when pressed for time with events, for example

Max-Rank Innate

• Sacred Circle
  • Heals 20 HP/turn 
  • +25% more HP
  • +50% faster resting time

Recommended use-cases

• HP regen is most effective with high evasion heroes
• Decreasing time required to complete quests/events

General Info

• Element: Air 
• Sia’s primary use is to increase the number of components obtained from a quest
• She can be useful at any stage of the game, to keep up with the demands of crafting or flipping to market 
• Her real time to shine is during the Lost City of Gold where she should be used as often as possible; she should ideally always be used for LCOG keybearer bosses from level 9 and up, paired with a bugle for maximum effect
• Sia provides a decent attack boost as well, but other champions provide more bang for the buck when boosting heroes
• Pro-tip: Don’t forget to book her early for belly-dancing classes

Max-Rank Innate

• Eye of the Beholder
  • +100% components/quest
  • +25% attack

Recommended use-cases

• Keeping components in stock at any time
• Maximizing gold bars collected in LCOG

General Info

• Element: Dark 
• In terms of hero boosting, Yami can increase the critical hit chances and evasion of a party
• This can be particularly beneficial for crit-based heroes as well as those with some evasion but who are not hitting the evasion cap naturally
• Yami also decreases the time needed to complete quests and can be considered when trying to increase the overall rate of questing – when pressed for time with events like ToT, for example
• In the Lost City of Gold she can also be helpful when running a smaller party as she helps them keep pace with a full set of 5-man teams

Max-Rank Innate

• Perfect Ambush
  • +20% critical hit chance
  • +20% evasion
  • +50% faster questing time

Recommended use-cases

• Most effective paired with crit-based heroes and/or evasion heroes under cap
• Decreasing time required to complete quests/events like ToT or LCOG

General Info

• Element: Fire 
• Rudo’s burly bonuses are geared towards reducing the number of rounds of a battle as he provides both an increase to a party’s critical hit chances (the highest increase of any champion) and a decrease in the overall break chances, but only for early rounds
• This will be most useful when paired with crit-build hero types that hit hard and keep the battle short, thereby keeping repair costs down
• He also makes a natural questing partner for heroes with high critical damage bonus but limited natural critical chance bonuses

Max-Rank Innate

• Total Mayhem (*lasts 4 rounds*)
  • +50% critical hit chance
  • -100% break chance

Recommended use-cases

• Most effective paired with crit-based heroes, even those with low natural critical hit chance
• Keeping repair costs down during shorter battles

General Info

• Element: Water
• With her steal-based innate, Polonia is easily the most valuable champion on a roster until a player is primarily selling T11/12 items 
• She increases a party’s defense and evasion, which is notable because the amount of extra loot she brings back depends in part on the length of a battle, making party survivability and limiting potency key
• Her ability can be maximized by a) increasing the rate of questing using heroes with rest-reduction skills and stamina drinks / gems to keep her awake 24/7 and/or b) by increasing the amount of loot she steals by pairing her with tricksters (see here for a closer look at how to optimize her ability)
• As of T12 and Cinderlake Volcano, Polonia’s steals have been significantly nerfed; realistically, they should no longer be described as “super valuable items” as they’re capped at T10 
• While her value in a late-game roster is diminished when only stealing T10s, she does still buff the tier of items dropping in non-steal slots, so at that point she can be used with nearly equal impact with or without tricksters (ie, the only difference being the number of discount fodder [T10] items she brings back)

Max-Rank Innate

• Captain’s Share 
  • 50% chance to steal “super valuable” items
  • +25% defense
  • +10% evasion

Recommended use-cases

• Pair with low-damage, high-survivability heroes to increase loot from quests all day, every day
• Temple and Peak easy are both sufficient for stealing T10 items; venture to harder quests (if your team can manage it) in the hopes of landing some T11/12 in the non-steal slots as well

General Info

• Element: Fire
• Donovan provides amongst the most significant boosts to a party in a way that can be tailored according to hero type (he boosts attack when paired with spellcasters, HP with fighters, and evasion & critical hit chances with rogues)
• This is useful for completing more challenging quest areas or difficulties than a party could otherwise do on their own 
• Given the dynamic nature of his ability, a range of different unique party compositions can be paired with Donovan to maximize this benefit, for example to adapt to and overcome class-specific debuffs applied by Tower mini-bosses
• Note that Donovan is considered as a spellcaster and always provides the +14% attack bonus to a party

Max-Rank Innate

• Philosopher’s Stone 
  • +14% attack per blue hero
  • +10% HP per red hero
  • +7% critical hit chance and evasion per green hero

Recommended use-cases

• Defeating more difficult quest areas and bosses
• Tailored buffing of unique party compositions

General Info

• Element: Dark
• Hemma is unique amongst the champions in that she is the only one to de-buff a party (draining HP over time) as well as boost it (increases starting HP and attack over time)
• In many cases she can actually lower the chances of success for a party (unlike the other champs that are pure buffs to your heroes)
• When Hemma’s innate changed in the 9.0 update (so that her ATK no longer scales with the heroes’ HP) she became slightly less lethal to her teammates; however, using high HP “battery” heroes with her also became less useful
• In general, she should particularly be avoided for longer battles as the constant HP drain can be a major issue
• If deciding to risk the lives of one’s heroes, she is most effective when added to teams that would have won the quest easily – the upside is that she’ll end the battle sooner

Max-Rank Innate

• Consume Essence 
  • Each turn: -7% HP from each hero, +8 HP to herself, +12% per hero to her attack 
  • +25% HP

Recommended use-cases

• Handle with care; avoid using for long battles
• Low-tier dungeon boss duty
• Add to overkill teams to reduce rounds and breaks

General Info

• Element: Earth 
• Once levelled sufficiently, Ashley provides a decent boost to the attack and defense to any party, which is useful for completing more challenging quests or difficulties than a party could otherwise do on their own 
• This is particularly helpful for bosses, where her bonuses are doubled and surpass even Argon’s buff
• In addition to the improved attack and defense, Ashley also reduces questing time; while this effect is less than Yami’s, it can still be useful for increasing the overall rate of questing

Max-Rank Innate

• Bushido Force 
  • +25% bonus attack and defense 
  • +20% faster quest time
  • Bonuses are doubled against bosses

Recommended use-cases

• Defeating difficult quest areas, especially bosses
• Decreasing time required to complete quests/events

Comments and Rationale

Familiar Selection

Easy button = Crushtacean

• Champion survivability is prioritized for these recommendations, to maximize the number of quests a champ can run per day (less time spent resting)
• At earlier levels, optimal familiar choice is situational and the quest simulator will help you assess your own set up; Tyrant and the Opulent Golem are consistently good. However, once your champs can equip T12, the combined strength of the DEF and HP boosts from crushtacean are too hard to beat

Familiar Enchants

Easy button = Inferno

• With the introduction of T12 enchants in update 9.5, the increased elemental scores mean barriers are significantly easier to break; if using T12 enchants on heroes, the additional barrier break potential from champs may be outweighed further by the benefit of just running crushtacean on everyone
• Nonetheless, if you’re depending on barrier breaking from your champ, consider matching familiar affinity enchantments with the champion’s natural element
• If running crushtacean for the sheer added survivability, maximize that value with the highest tier/quality fire element you can (remember they don’t break!)

Familiar Spirits

Easy button = Tarrasque

• For spirits, consider your goal for each champ
  • As no T12 spirits add threat, Mammoth remains the best way to draw agro
  • Phoenix buffs base HP and adds HP regen that is rewarding with evasion and/or over long battles
  • Christmas buffs base HP two ways: with both a flat and proportional bonus
  • Tarrasque adds a great boost to DEF, which is sorely needed in later dungeons
  • Kraken adds ATK for champs with high DPS potential (but consider their relative contribution to the heroes they quest with – survivability may help them more)
  • Pre-T12, Walrus and Lizard provide good survivability (base HP, or regen, respectively) while Bear delivers an all-around blend of HP and attack (a combination that does not exist with T12)
  • Champs have such low crit damage potential that survivability should add greater value than Carbuncle or Chimera

Note: These champs are not a permanent part of your roster, though it’s possible they will return; when available, you can see how long they will be around on their champ profile screen

Reinhold

General Info

• Element: Gold
• Well, the day has come.  The King is strapping on his hero boots and is ready to hit the dungeons.
• Reinhold was introduced as a champion for the 10.2 Update with an accelerated track to hire and rank-up
• It’s important to remember that Reinhold lives a comfortable life and is generally used to relying on other champions for protection; thus, as a member of your party, he is particularly squishy and provides little to nothing by way of pure stats
• However, he does have some value through boosting attack, defense, and HP up to 30% each. 
• Most importantly, he has a Polonia/Tamas-like skill of collecting extra items from quests. In his case, Reinhold brings home an extra slot of unusual loot (eg, paid and op/lux BPs) from each quest (notably not capped at T10), which scaled in tier with the dungeon and in number with his skill rank (but not the length of fight like Polonia’s skill)
• The King benefits from the company of a tank hero and a DPS unit or two (as he offers little himself)

Max-Rank Innate

• Wealth of the World 
  • +30% attack
  • +30% defense
  • +30% HP
  • Finds “lots” of “unusual” items from quests, IF he survives

Recommended Use-Cases

• Defeating more difficult quest areas and bosses
• Collecting valuable loot
• Remember he needs both tank and DPS support

Tamas

General Info

• Element: Earth
• This is no joke, dude. Our favourite herb-loving NPC is a part-time champion now!
• Tamas was introduced as a champion for the 2022 April Fools’ Day weekend with an especially accelerated track to hire and rank-up
• His appearance coincided with the first appearance of the Epsilon Tower in ToT and was a welcome boon to rosters that were not quite capable of meeting the new challenge
• Boosting a random amount of up to +200% per attack for the party proved to be exceptionally powerful and, once levelled and ranked, he provided his own decent attack to a party as well
• Making Tamas even more of an awesome dude, he also brings home an extra slot of leather-based loot from each quest (similar to a Polonia steal slot, but not capped at T10!), which scaled in tier with the dungeon and in number with his skill rank (but not the length of fight like Polonia’s skill)
• A spellcaster in terms of threat rating, Tamas benefits from the company of a tank hero and serves as a true DPS unit
• Come back soon, dude!

Max-Rank Innate

• Wealth of the World 
  • +30% attack
  • +30% defense
  • +30% HP
  • Finds “lots” of “unusual” items from quests, IF he survives

Recommended Use-Cases

• Defeating more difficult quest areas and bosses
• Collecting valuable loot
• Remember he needs both tank and DPS support