Monster Champion

Introduced in Update 24 and reworked in Update 34, some enemies gain randomized buffs on Hard, Elite, and Reaper difficulties in quests with an effective level of 5 or higher (i.e. starting with level 4 quests on Hard difficulty, and level 3 quests on Elite or Reaper). These enemies are called Champions, and they have a visible crown above their head to mark them.

Monster Champions do not directly spawn in any raid (the champions in Legendary Shroud's Part 5 are granted champion buffs but cannot drop Remnants), nor do they appear at all in any wilderness area (with the singular exception of Balthan Korl, who again cannot drop Remnants) or quest on Solo, Casual, and Normal difficulty. Furthermore, Reapers and red-named and purple-named enemies cannot spawn as Champions.

Tiers
Not all champions are alike - some are tougher, some are a lot tougher, and any can have different abilities (see below). The more dangerous champions are only encountered in the higher difficulty settings, and low difficulty will have no champions.


 * Casual/Normal - no champions
 * Hard - Tier 1 only
 * Elite - Tier 1 and 2
 * Reaper - Tier 1, 2 or 3

The color and size of a champion's crown designate whether the Champion is Tier 1, Tier 2, or Tier 3:
 * A small yellow crown indicates it is Tier 1
 * A medium orange crown indicates it is Tier 2
 * A large red crown indicates it is Tier 3

All Champions have a set of basic abilities and/or elemental resistances, and most have an extra vulnerability to a certain type of elemental damage. Tier 2 and 3 Champions gain extra abilities on top of these.

Spawn rate

 * Hard
 * Normal monsters: 6%
 * Orange-named monsters (mini-bosses): 33%
 * Elite & Reaper
 * Normal monsters: 9%
 * Orange-named monsters (mini-bosses): 66%

Rewards
When defeated, champions have a chance to drop s
 * Regular (yellow) champions have a chance to drop Mysterious Remnants, which will appear at the feet* of the character that delivered the killing blow. Similar to treasure bags, any and all characters can "use" these remnants to collect them, even characters entering a quest after that champion is killed. These remnants only last in place for a minute or so, then disappear.
 * * This includes if the character is in mid-jump or mid-fall. In these situations, remnants will be suspended mid-air, occasionally making them challenging to collect.


 * Mini-boss (orange) champions have a chance to drop a chest when defeated, which will always include Mysterious Remnants along with randomly generated treasure appropriate to the modified level of the quest. These chests remain for the duration of the quest, and, similar to any other chest, are only collectable by characters that are in the quest when the chest is first opened.
 * These chests are all considered unique, so are not subject to the chest ransack mechanic.
 * Drop rates:
 * 33% chance to drop chest or remnants (and 66% during Double Remnant events)

Buffs
Champions come in 20 different varieties, and it's random which type will be applied to any one champion. Each variety will have their own template of abilities based on a theme (inspired by the Outer and Inner Planes where they get these powers). Players can see the kind of Champion they are facing by looking at the creature's title, and additional detail can be found in the examination window.

Note that many* have True Sight, making such common tactics as Invisibility ineffective against them.


 * (* 7-8/20 of yellow-crown champions, 10-11/20 of orange-crown, and 15-16/20 of red-crown; note that Mark of Chaos champions are largely randomly generated, and it is unknown what percentage chance they have for this ability, potentially adding a full +1 to the minimum listed values.)

For the details of Special Champions which appear in Hardcore Server, see Monster Champion/Hardcore. (Note that as part of some events, such as 2021's Spooky Summer, Hardcore champions can appear on the main servers.)
 * These champions work slightly differently - most have no elemental vulnerability, and have all of their possible buffs regardless of Tier. They are often significantly more dangerous than their main server counterparts.

Special appearance during special events

 * During the Night Revels, Champions' crowns show a little jack o'lantern under the usual crown of fire.
 * During the Snowpeaks Festival, the crown is frosty rather than fiery.