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.
This walkthrough takes you from your first session to endgame content. Each phase has specific goals, priorities, and milestones. New to the game? Start with our beginner's guide first.
Quick Progression Summary
| Phase | Area | Focus | Build | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Start | A Grand Tour of the Sword Coast | Formation seats and positional buffs basics | DPS | 1-2 hours |
| 2. Early | Tomb of Annihilation | Divine Favor resets mastery | DPS | 3-5 hours |
| 3. Mid | Waterdeep: Dragon Heist | Blessings + gear | Tank or DPS | 5-10 hours |
| 4. Late | Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus | Build optimization | Tank | 5-10 hours |
| 5. Endgame | Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden | Min-max | Tank or Healing | Ongoing |
See our maps guide for detailed area breakdowns.
Phase 1: Getting Started (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.
Level/Difficulty: Your first campaign, from area 1 onward Key Rewards: Core Champions, your first Divine Favor, the Blessings you will lean on all game
What to Do in A Grand Tour of the Sword Coast
- 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. Spend your first session getting comfortable with this.
- Pick DPS as your starting build. See our builds guide for why.
- 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.
- Acquire your first equipment upgrade: Uncommon gear or whatever's available.
- Clear all main content before moving on.
Phase 1 Checklist
- Understand Formation seats and positional buffs fundamentals
- DPS selected and functional
- A Grand Tour of the Sword Coast main content cleared
- Ready for Tomb of Annihilation
Phase 2: Early Game (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.
Level/Difficulty: After you have a working Grand Tour formation Key Rewards: Campaign Champions, a separate Divine Favor pool and its own Blessing tree
What to Do in Tomb of Annihilation
- Work on Divine Favor resets. Resetting an adventure converts the run into Divine Favor for that campaign, and unspent Favor passively raises gold find. This system becomes critical from here on.
- Farm for Uncommon gear if you haven't already. It's the key upgrade for this phase.
- 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.
- Complete all objectives before pushing to Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.
- Consider whether Tank might suit your playstyle better than DPS.
Phase 2 Checklist
- Divine Favor resets integrated into gameplay
- Uncommon gear acquired
- Tomb of Annihilation fully cleared
- Ready for Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
Phase 3: Mid Game (Waterdeep: Dragon Heist)
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.
Level/Difficulty: Mid game, once gear is Rare across your core Key Rewards: New Champions, campaign Blessings, gems from area milestones
What to Do in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
- Master Blessings. Divine Favor buys Blessings, split into Local Blessings with multiple ranks and Global Blessings you buy once. This unlocks a new layer of gameplay.
- Start working toward Common gear. It's the best equipment and becomes accessible around now.
- 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.
- This area is the main skill check. If you can clear it, you're ready for late game.
- Start investing in Champion gear slots for the tactical depth you'll need going forward.
Phase 3 Checklist
- Blessings mastered
- Common gear acquired or in progress
- Waterdeep: Dragon Heist fully cleared
- Ready for Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
Phase 4: Late Game (Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus)
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.
Level/Difficulty: Later game, 50 or more Champions unlocked Key Rewards: Zariel as a Patron, Avernus Champions and Blessings
What to Do in Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus
- Finalize your build. You should be running Tank or DPS with optimized gear.
- Common gear should be your primary. If you don't have it yet, prioritize getting it.
- 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.
- Specializations and Feats optimization starts here. Small improvements compound into massive advantages.
- Farm this area for the resources needed to push into Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden.
Phase 4 Checklist
- Build fully optimized
- Common gear upgraded to max
- Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus fully cleared
- Ready for Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
Phase 5: Endgame (Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden)
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.
Level/Difficulty: Later game Key Rewards: Frostmaiden Champions, campaign Blessings, event tie-ins
What to Do in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
- Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden tests everything. Come prepared with your best build and gear.
- 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.
- The endgame loop: run Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, optimize gear, push harder content.
- Experiment with Healing for a fresh take once you've mastered the standard builds.
- This is where Specializations and Feats mastery separates good players from great ones. See our tips guide for advanced strategies.
Phase 5 Checklist
- Endgame content on farm
- Best-in-slot gear acquired
- Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden fully cleared
- Ready for challenge content
Common Progression Mistakes
- 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.
Key Tips for Smooth Progression
- 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.
For more advanced strategies, see our tips & tricks guide.
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 Beginner's Guide
- 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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