Arena Champions

Welcome Travelers to day seven of the Unbroken, 9 day, Sequential Hype Week, Patch Extravaganza*TM! In this news post we’re going to be covering the new Arena of Champions!

Champion’s Gate

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In a remote stronghold in Heoborea, an abandoned castle once known as Jormun’s Fortress has seen renewed interest. Only its new inhabitants have taken to a new name, Champion’s Gate. A portal has opened within Champions gate, through which only one thing is known, what lies beyond this portal is endless swarms of combatants in every shape, form, and number. The unique nature of this portal has drawn an odd assortment of humans and Wengari to live here, so they may have access to thrilling combat whenever they please.

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Those who travel to Champion's Gate will find the recently set up Training Grounds. Here Travelers will find a set of five different specialized setups with training dummies for testing their abilities.
However, some few have chosen to stay within the realm beyond, as they have found a way to only face those who would be a challenge worthy of their battle lust. These few champions have fallen to their obsession with the ceaseless battles, letting the worst part of themselves take root and grow. In 0.8.5 enter this portal and face the once Champions of Eterra, now, Champions of the Arena.

Arena of Champions

Arena of Champions will offer an alternative approach to the current Endless Arena, while not replacing it. When accessing the Arena portal you will be presented with the opportunity to either compete in the existing Endless Arena, or the new Arena of Champions. With the Arena of Champions, you will have the option of four different tiers of difficulty, with escalating tiers providing increased difficulty, and greater rewards.

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Upon entering the Arena of Champions, you will face off against a number of waves. While progressing through the waves, you will be presented with a choice of additional modifiers to further increase the difficulty and rewards. However, be careful with your choices: In the Arena, all spoils only go to the victor. The final five waves will take place within one of the Arena Champion’s dedicated arenas, with the final wave containing the Champion of the Arena themselves. There are currently three Arena Champions, each a former Traveler from another timeline in which they failed to find purpose through the Epoch and strayed far from their path.

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Vaion the Arsenal

To sum up Vaion the Arsenal in one word: Pride. A skilled blacksmith, and collector of any and all weapons, Vaion never found purpose outside of his natural talents. Instead, he spends his time in the Arena honing his proficiencies to a point beyond mere skill. Fancying himself a true master of arms, he readies his entire armament for a challenger worthy of facing the full extent of his knowledge of blades, maces, shields, and more.

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The Crimson Blade

The familiar taste of copper in the air, the sensation of slowed time, and the look of shock and surprise on man, and beast’s faces alike. The Crimson Blade never lost their lust for taking lives, but instead thrives on the thrill of assassinations and the rush that comes with it. Honing herself to a razor’s edge as if a living weapon, The Crimson Blade waits in the shadows for those who may be able to share with her a new experience in the thrill of the kill.

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Alfrig Wolfmaw

Idolizing storms and avalanches, Alfrig Wolfmaw follows a path of might makes right. Embracing this mentality, Alfrig no longer sees animals as companions, but simply disposable power to be commanded. He has sought out the Arena as a method of strengthening his mind and body to become a force of destruction. In the Arena of Champions, Alfrig Wolfmaw seeks out those with power to continue proving his path is correct through the broken bodies of those who face him.

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Rewards

The Arena of Champions will be available in multiple tiers for adjustable difficulty, with higher tiers providing increased rewards. These Champions have been reigning within Champion’s Gate for decades, collecting the spoils from their victories over countless other adventurers across Eterra. Some of this loot they use to fight, some is kept in reserve. Other trinkets, like rare keys to hidden passages across Eterra, are kept close by as trophies to track their ongoing reign over Champion’s Gate.

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This brings to a conclusion today’s news for the Ceaseless, 9 day, Sequential Hype Week, Patch Extravaganza! Make sure to keep your eyes on our socials, as we will be continuing the pre-patch hype with tomorrow’s post on the the second dungeon, The Lightless Arbor!

March 9th- Depths of Eterra update Announcement
March 10th - New Uniques
March 11th - Dungeon - Soulfire Bastion
March 12th - Catalyst Rework
March 13th - New Unique Models
March 13th - New Wraith Models
March 14th - New Armor Set Models
March 15th - Arena Champions
March 16th - Dungeon - The Lightless Arbor
March 17th - Patch Notes & Video Overview
March 18th - Depths of Eterra Launch Day!

• Some dummies are registered as “evil” rather than aligned as “barrel”, so yes minions will attack them.

• You will use the same arena key for Arena of Champions (keys of memory have no effect on Arena Champions)

• The reference to keys is to dungeon keys (currently Lightless Arbor, Soulfire Bastion, and Temporal Sanctum)
• Arena Champions loot is modified by the options you select while progressing through the Arena waves. For example, at the end of wave 30 you might be offered two mods, one which makes the Arena Champion drop exalted gloves, the other makes the Arena Champion drop a unique bow (These may not be the exact mods you find, just examples). There is not a secondary reward mechanic for Arena Champions as there is with dungeons (eg. Soul Gambler and Vaults of Uncertain Fate).

It’s coming down to the wire, we’ll see what happens in the hotfixes.

That’s right, the ladder system is unchanged, you just have some more options when entering the arena now. Those earlier tiers are not included in the ladder and the infinite mode doesn’t have various difficulties.

I think that is a fantastic idea and one we have considered. A build that is fun to play and a build that is fun to play against are quite often very different things. That doesn’t mean that we can’t modify the build slightly to make it “fair” so to speak. It would be a new type of reward and I think it would be really cool. Like how awesome would it be to have as a reward for being the top build of each class. Becoming the arena champion boss for the next cycle.

I have no idea if it’s possible yet but I love the idea.

I think it would likely be done as a competition reward rather than a backer tier. Partially because I love the thought of competing for top spot and partially because we could only sell a few each cycle and I’m not sure of a fair way to pick which one gets it without making it so crazy expensive that almost nobody could afford it or just holding a lottery. I don’t think either of those would feel great in general.

It is displayed at the top of the screen below their health bar where a monster mod would normally be. It’s pretty clear once you get there.