Descent: Champions
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Descent: Champions is an hour-long race league introduced in Season Five. The race is similar to Descent and uses many aspects of roguelike games: the player's character starts at the beginning of a dungeon and gradually progresses through the levels, fighting increasingly tougher foes on the way to the final level where the boss awaits.
Differences
Like Descent, Champions is a significant departure from the other race leagues. Here is a rundown of the main differences.
Interaction with other leagues and players
- No partying is possible. A Descent: Champions race is purely a solo experience.
- Dead characters are permanently transferred into a Void league where they reside until the end of the league. Once Descent ends, its characters and Void characters become permanently unplayable. Items are not carried across to Standard or any other league.
Area differences
- Descent areas are unique among leagues, although they're based on existing tilesets. They have their own names and themes, and are considerably larger.
- There is no town area or vendor, and therefore no reason to pick up valuable items that you won't use.
- Once you enter an area, you can't go back. If you log out during the race, your character will respawn at the beginning of the current area.
- There are no waypoints or any other quick means to travel between areas or skip them aside from running through.
- All areas contain unique bosses similar to their map counterparts, but unlike most maps, bosses may be located near the beginning.
- Areas don't loop.
Difficulty and ladder positioning
- Descent doesn't have the same "Normal—Cruel—Merciless" system where areas loop with increasing difficulty, but instead switches to Cruel and Merciless penalties starting with certain areas.
- If a character dies during the race, it can still hold a position on that race's ladder, marked accordingly.
- If a character dies in a Cruel or Merciless area, it is subject to experience loss, which is applied before the final experience value is put on the ladder.
Gear and drops
- Item drops are improved compared to other leagues. The exact differences are unknown.
- There is no stash and no vendors to trade items with. Everything that may be of use must be used or carried in inventory; everything else is just a burden.
- Some gear is provided via special chests located in most areas, as well as at the start of the first area. See the next paragraph for more info.
Special chests
Main page: Descent: Champions Chests
Zones
| Order | Zone | Level | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Entrance Hall | 2 | ? |
| 2_1 | The Chattering Halls | 4 | ? |
| 2_2 | The Croaking Halls | 4 | ? |
| 3 | The Rasping Halls | 6 | ? |
| 3_side1 | The Freezing Chamber | 7 | ? |
| 3_boss | The Shrine of the Pagan God | 6 | ? |
| 4 | The Dungeon of Anarchy | 8 | ? |
| 5_1 | The Dungeon of Necromancy | 10 | ? |
| 5_2 | The Hollow Cave | 10 | ? |
| 6_1 | The Haunted Dungeon | 12 | ? |
| 6_1_side1 | The Obelisks of Faith | 12 | ? |
| 6_2 | The Burning Cave | 12 | ? |
| 6_2_side1 | The Chamber of Greed | 12 | ? |
| 6_boss | The Cage | 12 | ? |
| 7 | The Necromantic Crypt | 14 | ? |
| 8_1 | The Diabolic Crypt | 16 | ? |
| 8_2 | The Misty Cave | 16 | ? |
| 9_1 | The Ember Crypt | 18 | ? |
| 9_2 | The Stormy Ledge | 18 | ? |
| 9_3 | The Frozen Cave | 18 | ? |
| 9_boss1 | The Glittering Crypt | 18 | ? |
| 9_boss2 | The Glittering Cave | 18 | ? |
| 10 | The Inner Halls Level 1 | 20 | ? |
| 11 | The Inner Halls Level 2 | 22 | ? |
| 12 | The Inner Halls Level 3 | 24 | ? |
| 12_boss | The Nexus | 24 | ? |