Basics
In the Grim Forest, you’ll explore an expansive map filled with difficult opponents and hidden treasures. There are over 120 battles to complete, with roaming enemies whose position will change with each rotation, including the Grim Forest’s terrifying guardian – Leshun the Entangled One.
Format
- There are two Grim Forest difficulties – Normal and Hard.
- Similar to the Cursed City and the Doom Tower, you’ll have 30 days to complete all Stages and collect all the available rewards across both difficulties. Once a rotation ends, the gloom will blanket the map once more and the position of all enemies and treasures will be reshuffled, resetting your progress back to the beginning.
- From your starting position in the Old Camp, you can choose which direction to venture in and which region of the Grim Forest you want to explore first. It’s completely up to you!
- You’ll receive rewards after you win a battle for the first time. If you decide to rerun the battle once you’ve already completed it, you will not receive the rewards again.
- Each rotation of the Grim Forest comes with special Quests for you to complete. Completing these Quests will earn you a mode-exclusive currency called Grim Gold. When a Grim Forest rotation ends, all Quest progress will be reset.
- Every day, you will receive a set amount of Distorted Energy to explore the Grim Forest with. Maximize your exploration by exhausting your supply of Distorted Energy each day. Leftover Distorted Energy will not carry over at the end of each day.
- Find Grim Crowns hidden across the map to unlock the Grim Forest’s main Boss – Leshun the Entangled One.
Decks and Pre-Battle Prep
At the start of each new rotation in the Grim Forest, you’ll need to set up your Squad. Each Squad is composed of 2 Team Decks, which contain the Champions you are able to use as you fight through the Grim Forest.
- On Normal, you can have 10 Champions per Deck, with 20 in the total Squad.
- On Hard, you can have 20 Champions per Deck, with 40 in the total Squad.
You only need to set up your Team Decks for a single difficulty to start exploring the Grim Forest. When the current Grim Forest rotation ends, your current Team Deck setups will be saved. Upon starting a new rotation, you can continue with your pre-existing Team Decks once you have confirmed them, or edit them to face the new challenges ahead of you.
At the start of each battle, the Champions you can take into battle will be drawn at random. Each Stage may have a different number of Champions drawn from each Deck. You will always receive a selection of Champions from both Decks.
If you don’t like the Champions that have been drawn, you can redraw all of the chosen Champions. You have 2 redraw attempts each day by default, but can increase this limit by 2 if you find the 2 Redraw Altars hidden on the map.
Map
Your journey into the Grim Forest always begins at the Old Camp in the center of the map. Every action you take, such as moving to an empty Stage or starting a battle, costs 1 Distorted Energy. You will receive 30 Distorted Energy to use each day, and any leftover Energy will not carry over at the end of each day. All Distorted Energy is shared across Normal and Hard difficulties.
You will receive rewards for each battle completed within the Grim Forest. Defeating tough enemies or roaming Bosses (Isheth the Crimson Siren, Tauraze the Bestial Flame, Maximoz the Weeping Blade, & Draugnell the Eternal Gatherer), will reward you with a Chest that includes Gear from the Variable Gear Set, Mercurial, which offers up to HP +15%, RES +40, SPD +32%, & 3 Total Guard stacks.
At the start of each new rotation, everything on the map changes position and the paths between Stages will also change. Sometimes, you may even encounter new enemies that weren’t present during the previous rotations. Everything is hidden under a dense fog, which you can only remove by stepping into. As you explore, you’ll gradually unveil more of the map.
There are four regions on the map in terms of difficulty, similar to the Cursed City. Each region is indicated by a letter. Easy Stages are marked with the letter E, Medium Stages marked with the letter M, Hard Stages with the letter H, and Nightmare Stages with the letter N. There is a special, high-difficulty zone on the map which can only be unlocked once you have defeated Leshun the Entangled One. You can spot the high-difficulty zone by the differently-colored fog that envelops it.
Leshun the Entangled One
Like every other part of the Grim Forest, Leshun will not be in the same spot on each rotation. You’ll need to track him down through the fog. But before you can fight him, you must also collect three Grim Crowns.
Grim Crowns are defended by Mythical opponents, scattered throughout the Grim Forest. Their location will also change with each rotation.
Once you start the battle with Leshun, he will appear alongside four minions: Isheth the Crimson Siren, Tauraze the Bestial Flame, Maximoz the Weeping Blade, and Draugnell the Eternal Gatherer.
If you’re looking for a challenge, there are few harder in RAID. However, if you wish to even the odds a little, you can hunt down each of these minions across the Grim Forest and take them out individually. If you do this, when you fight Leshun, he will be alone against you and your Champions.
Roaming Bosses
Isheth, Tauraze, Maximoz, and Draugnell will be roaming the Grim Forest. Similar to other features of the game mode, their position will change with each new rotation. Defeating them will not only remove them from the final battle against Leshun, but they will also grant you powerful rewards. If you choose to fight Leshun the Entangled One alongside these roaming Bosses and defeat him, the roaming Bosses will not disappear from the map. You can still hunt them down and defeat them separately for additional rewards.
Chests
You can find Chests while exploring the Grim Forest map. There are Small, Medium, and Large Chests. The bigger the Chest, the better the rewards inside of them.
Mimic
Not all treasure is what it seems, however. If you see a Chest on the road, be mindful as it may be a deadly Mimic. Defeating it will grant you a large amount of rewards so be sure to check every Chest you come across.
Phrygius the Trovemaster
A goblin whose love of gold goes further than any other’s, Phrygius will look to attack you on the paths of the Grim Forest. Although you can’t defeat this maniacal creature, you can achieve certain damage milestones to increase the amount of Grim Coins and Grim Gold you earn from fighting him.
Ambushes & Buried Treasure
While exploring the Grim Forest, an empty Stage may turn out to be home to either treasure or enemies. You’ll have to engage with the Stage to find out exactly what awaits you.
Difficult Enemies
If you see an enemy with a skull icon at the bottom of their portrait, know that they have been blessed with enhanced power. These fights will be much tougher than regular opponents, to prepare extra diligently.
Squad Progress Level & Trait Cards
Every battle you fight and Chest you find in the Grim Forest rewards you with Grim Forest XP. When you collect enough XP, your Squad Progress Level will increase and you’ll be granted a selection of Trait Cards to choose from. Your Squad Progress Level maxes out at Level 30.
Upon increasing your Squad Progress Level, you will be able to choose 1 out of 3 possible Trait Cards. These Trait Cards increase your Champions’ stats while fighting in the Grim Forest. There are four Rarity of Trait Card - Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. Every 10th Squad Progress Level, you will be able to choose between 2 Legendary Trait Cards.
You can increase a Trait Card’s Rank by picking up duplicates each time you increase your Squad Progress Level. Uncommon, Rare, and Epic Trait Cards can reach a maximum of Rank 5, and Legendary Trait Cards can reach a maximum of Rank 3. Your Squad Progress Level and Trait Cards are exclusive to each difficulty. At the start of each new rotation, your Squad Progress Level and all Trait Cards will be reset.
Curios
Mystical trinkets found across the Grim Forest, Curios grant your Squad special bonuses while fighting in the Grim Forest. There are 18 different Curios that all offer different effects. Curios are exclusive to each difficulty. You can receive Curios from either Curio Chests, which can be found on the map or as a reward from a battle, or from the Vendor.
You can manage your Curios in your Squad Profile. There are 6 Curio slots in total. You will start with only one slot unlocked and available for use. To unlock the other Slots, you must find Curio Altars on the map.
You can increase a Curio’s level by discovering duplicates while exploring the Grim Forest. Once a Curio has reached Level 3, you will not receive it again from Curio Chests. At the start of each new rotation, all Curio progress will be reset.
Altars
There are three types of Altars located on the Grim Forest map: Curio, Aid, and Redraw. The Curio Altars unlock Curio slots within your Squad Profile for you to customize. The Aid Altar grants you one additional Champion when drawing your Champions for battle. The Redraw Altars grant you an extra Redraw Token to use when drawing your Champions for battle. At the start of each new rotation, all Altar progress will be reset.
Vendor
You can buy various resources, including Curios and Vendor Chests, from the Vendor in the Grim Forest. There will be six Curios available for purchase, as well as Small, Medium, and Large Vendor Chests which contain Mercurial Gear. The six Curios that are available at the Vendor will change with each new rotation.
There is also a Change Team Decks token, which you can use to change up to 5 Champions within your Team Decks. The Vendor is exclusive to each difficulty.
Grim Charms
Out in the Grim Forest, there are 15 Grim Charms which you can find hidden on various empty Stages. If you collect all 15 of them, you’ll earn a special Treasure Hunt Chest, which includes powerful rewards.
Rankings
Similar to the Cursed City and Doom Tower, a player’s ranking is based on the number of locations completed and the number of turns it took to complete them. Turns used for completing all locations in the Grim Forest are cumulative. To improve your ranking, complete Stages again in fewer turns. Although there are no rewards for re-completing Stages, you can return to them to build the optimal team, improve your score, and improve your ranking.
There are two types of rankings: a global ranking, which shows the bravest explorers in all of Teleria, and a Clan ranking, which evaluates the performance of your Clan members.
The game will begin tracking your progress after you’ve completed eight locations in the Grim Forest. To see the top players and their teams at each Stage, tap “Best Teams” in the Team Selection window. You can view your current ranking in the “Rankings” section on the Grim Forest map. The final rankings will be available after the rotation resets.