Elites and champions
An elite is an ordinary NPC ship that spawned with one to three modifiers. A champion is a named NPC with a fixed set of bonuses and an escort. Both sit between ordinary ships and the bosses.
Elites
An NPC can be promoted to elite when it spawns. The chance grows with the breach tier, with breach mutators, and with how bloody the session has become. The tier caps how many modifiers one ship can have: one in Stratum 1, two in Stratum 2, three from Stratum 3. A ship never has the same modifier twice.
| Prefix | Effect | Tag on the HUD | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reinforced | Armor tripled | Armor | |
| Fortified | Kinetic damage to armor reduced by 30% | Resist | |
| Savager | Turret damage 2.5 times | Dmg | Stratum 2 and deeper |
| Rapid Fire | Turrets cycle in 60% of the time | Rapid | Stratum 2 and deeper |
| Deadshot | Turret range doubled | Range | |
| Tracker | Turret tracking doubled | Track | |
| Executioner | Turret crit chance 2.5 times | Crit | |
| Overclocked | Top speed 2.5 times | Speed | |
| Charger | Thrust tripled | Thrust |
Reading an elite
- One modifier: the prefix goes in front of the ship's name, as in "Reinforced Hornet".
- Two or three: a made-up name replaces the ship's name, built from two syllables such as Ash, Blight, Char, Cinder or Dread and fang, maw, veil or brand.
- The selected ship's panel shows one tag for each bonus.
- The ship is drawn larger: a quarter larger with one modifier, half again with two, three quarters with three. Champions are drawn at twice the size.
- An elite spawns with two ordinary copies of its own hull as escort. Escorts have half again as much armor, and their wrecks roll rarer loot than an ordinary ship's.
Some scripted spawns, such as beacon encounters and faction patrols, can field a three-modifier elite whatever the tier.
Champions
A champion appears only at the place that names it. The first ship that place spawns becomes the champion. Once it is dead the place goes back to ordinary spawns until the next tide.
The hull figures are base values for hull, armor, signature and top speed. The breach tier raises them and the champion's bonuses come on top.
| Champion | Hull | Bonuses | Escort | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Juggernaut | Golem: 1,000 / 2,400 / 3,200 / 70 | Armor 4 times. Kinetic damage to armor reduced by 30%. Chance to repair hull pens when hit. Missile hits chain to a nearby enemy at half damage. No single hit can do more than 10% of its max armor. The Golem hull also has a shield bash and its own small EMP nova. | 2 Guardians | Foundry Descent: Refinery |
| The Count | Beltane: 650 / 1,450 / 2,000 / 68 | Armor half again as high. Mine trigger radius +40%. Kinetic damage to armor reduced by 22%. Detonated mines spawn three smaller mines. Cloaks for 15 seconds when it lays a mine. Marksman. | 2 Hornets | Foundry Descent: Generator Main |
| The Reaver | Seraph: 400 / 1,100 / 1,800 / 74 | Turret crit chance 2.5 times. Kinetic damage to armor reduced by 31%. Repair amount doubled. +50% speed for 3 seconds on a crit. Berserk: fires up to twice as fast as its armor falls from 60% to nothing. | 2 Hornets | Cloud Wake: Collector Room. The Gallows: Abandoned Hangar. Foundry Descent: Obelisk South. Exile's Hideout and Warren Tombs: Coolant Collector |
| The Magus | Enforcer: 800 / 1,600 / 2,400 / 68 | Missile damage doubled and missile recharge halved. Barrier HP tripled and barrier regen doubled. Missile hits chain at half damage. Its barriers explode for half their HP when destroyed. | 2 C Eyes | Cloud Wake: Brain Room. Exile's Hideout and Warren Tombs: Mind Vault |
| The Scourge | Orstrog: 600 / 1,300 / 2,200 / 65 | Turret range 2.5 times and turret damage doubled, with slower tracking. Barrier HP and regen doubled. Marksman. | 2 Eions | Exile's Hideout and Warren Tombs: Derelict Reactor |
| Thrustmaw | Thermavore: 1,000 / 2,200 / 2,750 / 86 | Thrust and top speed 2.5 times, turning half again as fast. Turret range doubled. Kinetic damage to armor reduced by 22%. Servo Lock: tracking improves the longer it fires at one target. | None | Nest Sanctum: Nest B-One |
| Elder Maul | Thermavore: 1,000 / 2,200 / 2,750 / 86 | Armor tripled and hull doubled. Turret range half again as long. Chance to repair hull pens. No single hit can do more than 10% of its max armor. Brawler: turret damage doubled up close and halved at long range. | None | Nest Sanctum: Nest B-Four |
Marksman is the opposite of Brawler: turret damage is halved up close and doubled at long range. Get inside a Marksman's range and stay out of a Brawler's.
Champions drop better loot than elites, and each has loot of its own on top.