Codename Entertainment turned Dungeons & Dragons into a formation puzzle. You slot Champions into numbered seats, their positional buffs multiply whatever sits beside them, and the party keeps fighting whether the game is open or closed. More than 140 Champions are collectible, from Drizzt Do'Urden and Minsc & Boo to the Baldur's Gate 3 cast, spread across nine campaigns and over 200 adventures. Progress comes from resetting runs for Divine Favor, not from grinding one area until it breaks.
Starting Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms is a strategy game built around Formation seats and positional buffs and Divine Favor resets. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Tank | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| DPS | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Support | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Gold Find | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Healing | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with DPS. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Healing as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn Formation seats and positional buffs
Every campaign has its own formation shape with numbered seats, and most Champion buffs are positional: adjacent slots, within two slots, or the same column. Front seats take hits, back seats hold the damage and support that must not, so the same roster can perform wildly differently after a rearrangement.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Formation seats and positional buffs works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to A Grand Tour of the Sword Coast
The starting campaign and the only one not adapted from a published D&D book. It uses a ten seat diamond formation, the simplest shape in the game, which makes it the right place to learn how positional buffs actually reach.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Uncommon gear: it's the most accessible early upgrade. A real step up from Common and the realistic ceiling across most of your roster early on. Upgrading the slots that feed a Champion's headline ability matters far more than upgrading all six evenly.
Step 4: Understand Divine Favor resets
Resetting an adventure converts the run into Divine Favor for that campaign, and unspent Favor passively raises gold find. The correct loop is therefore short runs and frequent resets rather than pushing a single adventure as far as it will physically go.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Tomb of Annihilation
The second campaign, adapting the 2017 hardcover. Its ten seat layout has a wider front line than the Grand Tour diamond, which changes which Champions can reach each other and forces a rebuild.
Essential Mechanics Explained
Formation seats and positional buffs
Every campaign has its own formation shape with numbered seats, and most Champion buffs are positional: adjacent slots, within two slots, or the same column. Front seats take hits, back seats hold the damage and support that must not, so the same roster can perform wildly differently after a rearrangement.
Divine Favor resets
Resetting an adventure converts the run into Divine Favor for that campaign, and unspent Favor passively raises gold find. The correct loop is therefore short runs and frequent resets rather than pushing a single adventure as far as it will physically go.
Blessings
Divine Favor buys Blessings, split into Local Blessings with multiple ranks and Global Blessings you buy once. Favor spent on a Blessing stops counting toward your passive gold find, and resetting a campaign's upgrades refunds only 99 percent of what you put in.
Champion gear slots
Every Champion has six gear slots, each holding a Common, Uncommon, Rare or Epic item pulled from chests. A Shiny item adds a permanent 50 percent to that slot's proficiency, and a Golden Epic overrides Shiny with 100 percent.
Specializations and Feats
Champions pick between Specialization branches that change how their abilities behave, while Feats are permanent upgrades running from Uncommon to Epic, plus a Legendary tier with secondary effects gated behind stack counts. Both are per Champion and both survive resets.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Pushing one adventure as far as it will possibly go
The game pays for resets, not stubbornness, and every minute stalled is Divine Favor you are not banking.
2. Copying a formation without copying the seats
Screenshots of endgame formations are position-specific, and dropping the same Champions into different slots strips out most of what made the formation work.
3. Spreading gear upgrades across forty Champions
Six slots on six Champions you actually field beats one slot on everybody, because gear scales the abilities of Champions in the formation rather than on the bench.
4. Leaving Specializations unset
They are free choices that meaningfully change how a Champion behaves, and an unset Specialization on a formation Champion is a straightforward upgrade left on the table.
5. Buying every Blessing you can afford
Favor sitting unspent is already a gold find bonus, so a Blessing has to beat that passive value before it justifies the 99 percent refund on any future rethink.
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Formation seats and positional buffs and Divine Favor resets
- Choose DPS as starting build
- Clear A Grand Tour of the Sword Coast main content
- Acquire Uncommon gear or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Tomb of Annihilation
- Reset the moment you stop progressing. Sitting on a stalled adventure earns nothing, while a reset converts the run into Divine Favor, and unspent Favor passively lifts gold find for every future run in that campaign.
- Read the formation shape before you read the Champion list. Buffs are described as adjacent, within two slots, or same column, so a strong Champion in a seat that reaches nobody is a wasted slot.
Tips for New Players
- Reset the moment you stop progressing. Sitting on a stalled adventure earns nothing, while a reset converts the run into Divine Favor, and unspent Favor passively lifts gold find for every future run in that campaign.
- Read the formation shape before you read the Champion list. Buffs are described as adjacent, within two slots, or same column, so a strong Champion in a seat that reaches nobody is a wasted slot.
- Spend Divine Favor on Blessings carefully. Favor you spend stops counting toward passive gold find, and resetting a campaign's Blessings returns only 99 percent, so every experiment costs you a slice permanently.
- Fill all six of a Champion's gear slots before upgrading any of them. An empty slot contributes zero proficiency, which makes a Common item strictly better than nothing at all.
- Prioritize Shiny and Golden Epic drops on the Champions you never bench. Shiny grants a permanent 50 percent bonus to that slot's proficiency and Golden Epic grants 100 percent, and the Golden version overrides Shiny rather than stacking with it.
- Build toward Briv Steelmarrow's area skipping. His Steelbones stacks convert into Sprint stacks on reset, and once he holds at least 50 Sprint stacks he can skip areas outright, each skip burning 4 percent of the pool. The Metalborn specialization cuts that consumption by 20 percent.
- Click during boss fights. Clicking staggers enemies, which is often enough to finish a boss you would otherwise stall against, and it costs nothing but your attention for a few seconds.
- Let Familiars handle the busywork. They automate levelling Champions and picking up gold, which leaves your attention free for the formation decisions that actually change your ceiling.
- Treat each campaign as a separate save file. Divine Favor, Blessings and campaign Champions do not transfer, so spreading effort across all nine early leaves you weak in every one of them. Push one to a comfortable level first.
- Patrons are a late layer rather than a shortcut. Zariel alone needs 50 unlocked Champions and the Elturel's Last Stand adventure, and each Patron adds roster restrictions in exchange for its rewards.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many campaigns are there?
Nine. A Grand Tour of the Sword Coast is the original, and the other eight adapt published D&D adventures: Tomb of Annihilation, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Light of Xaryxis, Turn of Fortune's Wheel and Vecna: Eve of Ruin.
What is Divine Favor and how do I get it?
It is the per-campaign reset currency. Resetting an adventure converts that run into Divine Favor, unspent Favor passively raises your gold find, and spent Favor buys Local and Global Blessings for that specific campaign.
Is Idle Champions pay to win?
It is free to play with paid chest bundles and Champion packs, and money speeds up gear noticeably. Everything sold is also obtainable through gems, event participation and time, so paying shortens a run rather than removing a wall.
Why does everyone talk about Briv?
Because he skips whole areas. Steelbones stacks convert into Sprint stacks when you reset, and with at least 50 stacks he can sprint straight past the next area, spending 4 percent of the pool each time. Formations built around keeping those stacks fed are the backbone of endgame gem farming.
How much gear does one Champion need?
Six slots, each holding one of four rarities. Shiny items add 50 percent to that slot's proficiency and Golden Epics add 100 percent, so a fully geared core Champion is a long project while a freshly unlocked one only needs its slots filled with anything at all.
More Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Guides
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Overview
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Best Builds
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Tier List
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Walkthrough
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Tips & Tricks
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Weapons Guide
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Combat Guide
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Boss Guide
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Maps & Locations
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Crafting Guide
- Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms Classes & Characters
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If you enjoy Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms, check out these related guides:
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- Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord Beginner's Guide: strategy game with similar mechanics
- RimWorld Beginner's Guide: strategy game with similar mechanics
