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.
These tips go beyond the basics. They're the strategies experienced players use to play more efficiently, the hidden mechanics most people miss, and the optimizations that compound over a full playthrough. If you're just starting, check our beginner's guide first.
Essential Tips
1. Reset the moment you stop progressing
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.
2. Read the formation shape before you read the Champion list
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.
3. Spend Divine Favor on Blessings carefully
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.
4. Fill all six of a Champion's gear slots before upgrading any of them
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.
5. Prioritize Shiny and Golden Epic drops on the Champions you never bench
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.
6. Build toward Briv Steelmarrow's area skipping
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.
7. Click during boss fights
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.
8. Let Familiars handle the busywork
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.
9. Treat each campaign as a separate save file
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.
10. Patrons are a late layer rather than a shortcut
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.
Advanced Strategies
Build Optimization
The difference between an average build and an optimized one is massive. See our builds guide for full breakdowns.
For Tank (A-Tier):
- Focus on Formation seats and positional buffs combinations for maximum output.
- Core gear: Common gear
- Stat priority: Offensive stats first
For DPS (A-Tier):
- Versatile approach that handles any situation.
- Core gear: Uncommon gear
- Stat priority: Balanced stats
Mechanic Interactions
Understanding how Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms's systems interact is where the real optimization lives. Our combat guide covers this in detail.
Formation seats and positional buffs + Divine Favor resets: 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. Combined with Divine Favor resets, resetting an adventure converts the run into divine favor for that campaign, and unspent favor passively raises gold find.
Blessings + Champion gear slots: Divine Favor buys Blessings, split into Local Blessings with multiple ranks and Global Blessings you buy once. When paired with Champion gear slots, every champion has six gear slots, each holding a common, uncommon, rare or epic item pulled from chests.
Specializations and Feats scaling: 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.
Equipment Efficiency
| Equipment | Best Use Case | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Common gear | Filling slots on Champions you just unlocked | The baseline drop and the filler that keeps a Champion's six slots occupied. |
| Uncommon gear | Mid-roster Champions who see regular formation time | A real step up from Common and the realistic ceiling across most of your roster early on. |
| Rare gear | Your five or six most-used Champions | Gold and Electrum chests are the practical source. |
| Epic gear | Core formation Champions and anyone carrying a run | The top base rarity and where serious formations live. |
| Golden Epic gear | Briv, your main damage Champion and your primary support | An Epic with gold trim, granting a permanent 100 percent bonus to that slot's proficiency and overriding the 50 percent a Shiny would have given. |
Location Efficiency
A Grand Tour of the Sword Coast (Your first campaign, from area 1 onward): 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.
Tomb of Annihilation (After you have a working Grand Tour formation): 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.
Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (Mid game, once gear is Rare across your core): A city campaign with its own Champions and its own Blessing tree. Divine Favor is tracked per campaign, so nothing you banked on the Sword Coast helps you here and nothing you earn here helps you there.
Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus (Later game, 50 or more Champions unlocked): The Avernus campaign, notable for a formation with unusual adjacency and column depth. Clearing the Elturel's Last Stand adventure with at least 50 Champions unlocked is what opens Zariel as a Patron.
Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden (Later game): The frozen north campaign, one of the eight adapted from published adventures. Like every campaign it holds its own Champions, Blessings and Favor, so treat it as another full progression track rather than a side mode.
Mistakes Even Veterans Make
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Pro Quick Tips
- 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.
- Start with DPS, switch to Tank when ready
- Invest in Common gear above everything else
- Clear areas in order: A Grand Tour of the Sword Coast → Tomb of Annihilation → Waterdeep: Dragon Heist → Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus → Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. See our maps guide
- Formation seats and positional buffs + Divine Favor resets together are stronger than either alone
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 Beginner's Guide
- 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
Similar Games
If you enjoy Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms, check out these related guides:
- Sid Meier's Civilization V Tips & Tricks: strategy game with similar mechanics
- Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord Tips & Tricks: strategy game with similar mechanics
- RimWorld Tips & Tricks: strategy game with similar mechanics
