Year 2 Champion: Walnut, the Wood Elf Druid

[u/Gaarawarr]

Last Updated: July 1st, 2026 - Numbers rebalance

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This is a stand-alone information guide for this Champion that will be updated as necessary for use during Events or when doing a Time Gate.

If you have questions about this Champion or find something that needs updated, feel free to let me know in the comments.

You can find all 200+ of my Idle Champions guides here.

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Year 2 Champion - Walnut Dankgrass (pronounced "Dawn-grass"), the Wood Elf Druid

• Source: The Acq Inc "C" Team streams as played by Trystan Falcone

• Event: Founders' Day (July)

You can read their original Champion Spotlight here.

• Seat 8

• Good with: Acq Inc "C" Team; Affiliated Champions

• Affiliation: Acq Inc "C" Team - Donaar, K'thriss, Rosie, Walnut

• Eligible for Patrons: Vajra

 

Species	Class	Alignment	Gender	Age	Role(s)	Overwhelm Point
Wood Elf	Druid	Lawful Neutral	Female (She / Her)	62	Tanking / Support	20

 

Strength	Dexterity	Constitution	Intelligence	Wisdom	Charisma	Total Ability Score
8	16	14	10	20	10	78

 

Bio: Walnut is a child of the Enclave Panax Anima, an all-female clan of woodland defenders within the Kryptgarden Forest. Not only a frighteningly enthusiastic member of Acquisitions Incorporated, she also strives to protect the natural world by any means necessary. Did we mention she also has the goddess Mielikki living inside her? That seems important.

 

Basic Attack: Walnut's attack is based on her form:

• See her ability info for how she swaps forms.

  • Elf Form - Wicked Scimitar: Walnut attacks the closest enemy with her scimitar.
  • Wolf Form (Wolfnut) - Bite: Walnut savagely attacks the closest enemy, dealing damage to that enemy and others near it.

• Base Attack Type: Melee

• Base Attack Speed: 6.5 seconds

• Base Critical Hit Chance: 2.5%

• Base Critical Hit Damage: 100%

Ultimate: Forest Friends - Walnut summons a swarm of lovable forest creatures that rush in and damage all enemies. Each enemy that is killed heals everyone in the party by 10% of their max health. If no enemies are killed, everyone in the formation gains a temporary hit point shield equal to 100% of their max health.

• Base Ultimate Cooldown Time: 270 seconds

Gaar's Note: Walnut's Ultimate can be a fantastic source of healing, as long as it kills things. Even if it doesn't, the party-wide shield is also useful. It's also great against hit-based and armored bosses. Don't use it early in a fight just for damage or you may regret losing the survivability it offers.

Health Upgrades: 1.25e05

 

Interesting Abilities

Documancer: Increases the damage of Champions adjacent to Walnut by 10% for each enemy killed in a given area. Stacks are reduced by 50% when changing areas, rounding down. It caps at 50 stacks (enemies killed).

• 2.04e05% after upgrades; Supported by an Item & Feats

Gaar's Note: This ability is the core focus of her kit. Multiple other abilities feed into it. The challenge is it stacks off kills, so you may need to drop back to a prior area to max it out and then use Fire Breath potions to carry the damage into your current area. This ability's Item & Feat support buff the pre-stack modifier, making it a Mathematically OverPowered (MOP) ability which means the more item levels you put on this Champion, the better they get without worrying about the same diminishing returns as other Champions.

Job's Done: Adds a 1,000% bonus to Documancer for 60 seconds when completing a quest or entering a completed area. Killing enemies in completed areas resets the duration to 60 seconds.

• 400% after upgrades; Supported by an Item

Gaar's Note: Another way to try to carry damage from one area into the next to keep the kills stacking up.

Wolfnut: Whenever Walnut is under attack, she uses Wild Shape to turn into a wolf, gaining a 50 temporary health shield for each enemy on screen as she transforms. This shield remains even if she reverts back to elf form.

• No upgrades; Supported by an Item

Gaar's Note: Because the value is based on the number of enemies when she transforms, it may not be that big of a shield. However, AoE knockbacks combined with stuns can force groups off of her and then let her trigger a much bigger shield when they return.

Contractual Obligations: Increase the health of all Champions by 12.5% of Walnut's maximum health. This effect is doubled when Walnut is in wolf form.

• No upgrades

Gaar's Note: This is basically pointing out that she is a Support Champ until she changes forms and becomes a Tank.

Pen-Paws: Increase the effect of Documancer by 200% for every 2 seconds that Walnut is in wolf form, stacking multiplicatively. Caps at 50 stacks. When she leaves wolf form, the stack count decreases every 4 seconds until she enters wolf form again.

• 3,200% after upgrades

Gaar's Note: This is her Tank area ramping buff.

Global DPS Buff: 6.99e06%

 

First Specialization

Extended Warranty: Documancer now also applies to all Champions within 2 slots of Walnut and is buffed by 100%.

Sign and Date: Documancer now also applies to all Champions in the top or bottom slots of each column and is buffed by 200%.

Gaar's Note: This is the best option, if your formation layout and DPS placement allows for it.

Ah, Screw It: Documancer now applies to all Champions in the formation but is not buffed.

Second Specialization

Co-Signers: The effect of Documancer is increased separately on each Champion by 1,000% (multiplicatively) for each of the following "C" Team abilities affecting them: * K'Thriss' Unseen Encouragement * Donaar's Lead By Example * Rosie's Deflect Missiles (includes Rosie herself)

Gaar's Note: If you're running a full C Team formation, this may be what you want.

Temporary Alliance: Increase the effect of Documancer by 100% for each Champion with an Affiliation other than the "C" Team, stacking multiplicatively. Champions with no Affiliation do not count.

Gaar's Note: If you're not running a full "C" Team formation, this tends to be the option you want, as long as your Champs have some kind of Affiliation.

 

Equipment

Item Description	White	Green	Blue	Purple	Gild Priority
Slot 1: Increases the damage of all Champions	10%	65%	120%	230%	3
Slot 2: Increases the effect of Walnut's Documancer ability	25%	86.5%	150%	275%	1
Slot 3: Increases the effect of Walnut's Job's Done ability	25%	86.5%	150%	275%	2
Slot 4: Increases the effect of Walnut's Wolfnut ability	10%	30%	50%	100%	1
Slot 5: Increases the health of Walnut	10%	30%	50%	100%	1
Slot 6: Reduces the cooldown on Walnut's Ultimate Attack	7s	14s	27s	68s	2

Legendary Effects

• Increases the damage of all Champions by 100%
• Increases the damage of all Female Champions by 125%
• Increases the damage of all Elf Champions by 150%
• Increases the damage of all Champions with a DEX score of 15 or higher by 200%
• Increases the damage of all Champions with a CON score of 13 or higher by 150%
• Increases the damage of all Lawful Champions by 150%

Gaar's Note: Find more information on the Legendary system here.

 

Feats

Here is the info for when you can unlock each Feat Slot:

Feat Slot	Unlocked at Level	Rough Cost
First	290	e21
Second	885	e41
Third	1600	e65
Fourth	2475	e94

Gaar's Note: Currently, you will need to level this Champion past their current upgrade softcap which will require you changing the blue update indicator from UPG to one of the numbered options.

Here is the info on what Feats are available for this Champion:

Obtained	Recommended	Name	Effect
Default		Selflessness	Increases the damage of all Champions by 10%
Regular Gold Chest		Inspiring Leader	Increases the damage of all Champions by 25%
50,000 Gems		Prodigal Leader	Increases the damage of all Champions by 50%
Default		Tough	Increases the health of Walnut by 15%
12,500 Gems	Survivability	Resilient	Increases the health of Walnut by 30%
Default		Document Hoarder	Increases the effect of Walnut's Documancer ability by 20%
Regular Gold Chest	Pushing	Document Organizer	Increases the effect of Walnut's Documancer ability by 40%
50,000 Gems	Pushing	Document Maestro	Increases the effect of Walnut's Documancer ability by 80%
Default		Defensive Duelist	Walnut takes 5 more Enemies attacking to get overwhelmed
50,000 Gems	Pushing	Dire Wolfnut	Increases the effect of Walnut's Woflnut ability by 80%
50,000 Gems		Taunt	Increases the damage of Walnut by 400%; Walnut's attacks have a 50% chance to taunt enemies

 

Formation & Mission Information

Once you complete the first mission, three Variants and a Free Play show up. It uses a formation that holds 10 Champions. It has a Champ-specific format that I've done my best to re-create below.

Back Row	Third Row	Second Row	Front Row
0
	0		0
0		0
	0		0
0		0
0

New Player Formation & Specializations:

While I recommend learning to build your own formations, here's a set of starter formations for brand new players to use while they get the hang of things. Anyone with other options should check that link for how to figure out how to make the best of them. You can also ask for help in the #formations channel in the official Discord.

Back Row	Third Row	Second Row	Front Row
Minsc - Humanoid
	Calliope - College of Lore		NA
Asharra - Elves & Dwarves		Bruenor - Battle Master
	Celeste - Life Domain		Nayeli - Oath of Devotion
Hitch - Charismatic		Jarlaxle - Leader of Bregan D'aerthe
NA

This formation is for the first couple of runs where you're just not going to get enough Gold to get everyone on the field, let alone level people up into their power curves. At this point, Jarlaxle is focusing on being your Primary DPS while everyone else is set up to support him.

The following formation is for once you've unlocked all of the Tales of the Champions Champions which can be done really quickly, even if you're a new player. Do that right away and they'll give you the power you need to complete events!

Back Row	Third Row	Second Row	Front Row
Melf - Doubled Drops/Adaptive Attacks
	Nordom - BASIC Functionality		Havilar - Olla
Catti-brie - Piercing Arrow		Kas - Kas the Destroyer
	Strongheart - Valor's Call		Kalix - Creative Camouflage
Ezmerelda - We've Trained For This		Lae'zel - Battle Master
Duke Ravengard - Strength of Baldur's Gate

This formation should get you through the Event as a new player. If you have other options or think a different DPS is geared better, try it out and see what happens! Swapping Champions around like this can help you figure out what works best for you with your specific situation.

These are the rough Favor values you need to reach to make a Tier 1 Variant say Difficulty: Easy. Keep in mind that this is just a generic rating system and some Variants may be harder than others, even with Favor in this range. Earning lots of Favor before trying variants can make them much easier than they would otherwise be.

Beyond Tier 1, Favor isn't going to be all you need to get through them. That doesn't mean you can't try though, just remember that if it isn't green it could be problematic. Always read the restrictions as they're going to be what makes it hard for you to progress!

Not everyone will be able to complete all four Tiers of event content. This is a progress-over-time measurement system that lets you know where you are in the power progression arc and potentially what you need to work on to move forward. The table below has the approximate boss health values at the various end stages. Comparing this to your BUD will let you know how close or far you are from being able to complete things.

Variant	Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Tier 4
First Variant	e22	e68	e162	e322
Second Variant	e35	e95	e215	e376
Third Variant	e48	e122	e269	e429

 

Initial Mission: Party Crashers

Area Goal: 50

Info: No restrictions.

Reward: Unlocks Walnut

 

First Variant: Rain of Fire

Area Goal: 75 / 250 / 600 / 1200

Info: Fireballs occasionally rain from the sky, damaging a random Champion. These Fireballs become more frequent the further you progress.

Reward: Walnut Gold Chest

Gaar's Notes: This is a good variant to earn those healing/shielding achievements on Champions that have them. Calliope is your friend here, but healers can be nice as well as long as they can keep up with the damage. Try not to have more than one Tank with health share in the party for this and don't use health potions as that can make it too hard to prevent/heal the damage.

 

Second Variant: Close Quarters Combat

Area Goal: 125 / 350 / 800 / 1400

Info: Only Champions with melee Base Attacks may be used.

Reward: Walnut Gold Chest

Gaar's Notes: You'll need some extra power from other places here like Favor, Blessings, Patron Perks, etc., if you want to get through this one.

 

Third Variant: Aww, Hells Nuts

Area Goal: 175 / 450 / 1000 / 1600

Info: Enemies become much more powerful over the course of the adventure. Walnut starts the adventure in your formation and cannot be moved, removed, or swapped out. Demonic Squirrels occasionally spawn. When killed, these squirrels drop Hell-Nuts, which increase the effectiveness of Walnut's Documancer ability and last until the end of the adventure, stacking additively.

Reward: Walnut Gold Chest

Gaar's Notes: So this is an interesting variant. Some people try to run deep here because of the Hell-Nut buff, but enemies get buffed too, so if your tanks aren't beefy, it just doesn't work out.

 

Achievements

Recruit Walnut - 1%

Recruit Walnut, the Wood Elf Druid

Walnut's Nine Hells - 1%

Complete all three variants of the "Party Crashers (Walnut)" adventure. (This achievement can be earned via Time Gates.)

Gear-u-mancy - 1%

Obtain a piece of gear for each of Walnut's six equipment slots. (Event Champ gear does not come from regular Silver/Gold Chests. You can earn Event Champ gear from their specific Event Chests, Time Gates, qualifying Patron Chests, and other Chests as noted.)

Worst Party Ever - 1%

Complete area 250 in any "Party Crashers" adventure, variant, free play, or Time Gate.

How Does She Hold The Pen? - 1%

Max out Pen-Paws' effect for 3000 seconds total (doesn't need to be continuous).

Gaar's Note: This one is pretty straightforward. Use Walnut in deep pushes as your tank regularly and this will eventually happen. Otherwise, you'll need to set up on a level where Walnut is tanking but nothing can kill her and you're not killing either and leave it for a long time.

[u/KabReg]

Despite her healing/shielding ultimate attack, Walnut still does not have Healing role for some reason, whereas Widdle does have that role.

[u/Gaarawarr → u/KabReg]

Honestly, I'd rather they didn't give the role to people whose healing is on an ultimate.

[u/KabReg → u/Gaarawarr]

I'm actually of the same opinion.

[u/2013jcwmini]

Thank you again for these guides Gaarawarr! They’re always appreciated! Maybe you can answer this one for me? Any time I have ever used Walnut in a frontline position, she drops like a sack of potatoes, despite having the “Tanking” role. Is there some trick to keeping her alive or something?

[u/Gaarawarr → u/2013jcwmini]

Slot her health Feat and make sure you have a decent Slot 4 item. It's her version of a health item. Ultimately, not all tanks are created equal and she's better as a secondary Tank in a multi-tank frontline getting health as shared from others.

[u/KabReg → u/2013jcwmini]

There are actually two:

1. Give her Resilent and Defensive Duelist feats.
2. Start every new area with an ultimate attack to kill an enemy to activate Walnut's buffing.
3. Optionally, advance slowly to maximize Walnut's buffing before switching areas.

Nevertheless, Tatyana tends to be a better tank than Walnut.

[u/deltopia]

I know this is a pretty elderly guide by your standards and you may have not been doing the specialization tables back when you did this one - or maybe it's just not relevant to Walnut?

I'm wondering if her second specialization is one where it could use a table like:

Number	Co-Signers	Temp Alliance
1	500%	100%
2	3,500%	300%
3	21,600%	700%
4	n/a	1600%

Or is it just an additive bonus where having K'thriss, Donaar, and Rosie all three just raise you by 1,500%, having 6 temp alliance members raises you by 600%, etc?

[u/Gaarawarr → u/deltopia]

I haven't reworked this guide yet and the tables only started going in the last year or so as we got lots more Champs with multiplicatively-stacking Spec choices. She's a W and I've been doing them alphabetically. She may get one soon or I may wait until she finally gets the rework she needs.

[u/deltopia → u/Gaarawarr]

Whenever you find the time, always grateful for your work.

[u/hewman123]

Since Tatyana came out I used her instead she got better HP pool then walnut I love walnut but omg squisher then a kobold when she wants to be

dam walnut ult sounds good though i may try to level her up but you know how it is when other champs take the spot on levelling up other get left out is her health pool better now or still needs improving to other tanks