Traits

Each *Castle Cats* hero has a trait that confers a special ability or bonus that is applied to the parameters of a quest or during or upon completion of a quest. The trait is unlocked when the hero is evolved to Rank 3. The description of a cat's trait is shown in the lower right of that cat's page in the Hero Book. In the Fortress and on quest configuration screens, tapping a trait icon will also display its description. Currently there are 7 Common traits, 11 Rare traits, 16 Mythic traits, and 8 unique Legendary traits.

## Great Success Chance Boosters

These traits increase a quest's Great Success Chance, although not beyond the 95% maximum. The criteria stated in the trait's description must be met when configuring a quest in order for the trait to take effect.

## XP Reward Boosters

These traits increase the amount of XP awarded for completing a quest by a percentage of the quest's base XP reward. Some of them have criteria that must be met when configuring a quest in order for the trait to take effect. The Demonic Possession trait offers the highest percentage increase, but is unusual in that it imposes a 75% Great Success Chance on the quest.

## Gold Reward Bonuses

These traits increase the amount of gold awarded for completing a quest by a percentage of the quest's base gold reward, except for the Gambler trait, which randomly increases *or decreases* the reward.

## Bonus Rare Materials (Chance)

The first three traits in this group offer a 5% chance of receiving a Rare Materials item as a bonus quest reward. The Fairy Familliars [sic] trait, unique to the Alchemy cat Eira, offers a 15% chance of receiving a rare material as a bonus reward for *each* of the three rare materials; it is therefore possible to get more than one kind of rare item when Eira completes a quest.

## Bonus Embers (Chance)

The first six traits in this group offer a 5% chance of receiving an Ember as a bonus quest reward. The Flamebringer trait, unique to the Alchemy cat Chroma, offers a 15% chance of receiving a random Rare Ember as a bonus quest reward.

## Bonus Gems

Heroes with these traits are essential contributors to a player's Gem earnings. Nicole's unique Duplicator trait only duplicates gems from standard quest rewards, and not from Keen Eyes or Diamond Lens bonuses. Moreover, it actually only awards one extra gem per quest reward, whether that reward consists of a single gem or a block of them.

## Quest Duration Reduction

These traits reduce the time it takes to complete a quest by a percentage of the quest's default duration. Some of them have criteria that must be met when configuring a quest in order for the trait to take effect. The Rusher trait is particularly unusual in that the reduction varies inversely with the quest's Great Success Chance, from as little as 5% for a quest with a 95% Great Success Chance, to a maximum of 50% for a quest with a 75% Great Success Chance.

## Battle Enhancements

These traits take effect *during battles*; there is nothing to be gained by sending cats with these traits on quests left to idle unopened. The Fighter trait "doubles the damage of regular hits (the cat scratches)" inflicted by heroes with the trait, according to a developaw, while the damage dealt by "their Attack Skill is increased by 30%". The Fighter, Warlord and War Hero traits shorten open battles whether or not the player is actively engaged in the battle. The Recharger trait can also shorten battles but only if the player is activating the Attack Skill as it recharges.

## Bonus Loot

The following traits, like those immediately above, only apply when quests are opened for battle. Bonus loot (not to be confused with bonus *rewards* - trait and boost bonuses awarded at the end of quests) comes from enemy drops, which for standard quests occur at the end of each round. Bonus loot primarily consists of common resources: gold coins and the Basic Materials metal, cloth, and wood. But each drop has a small probability of being a rare item instead: a Gold Nugget, Oldwood, Silk or Gem. The Ninja Looter trait increases that small chance by a small amount—the percentages have never been disclosed—and applies to all drops throughout a battle regardless of which hero on the quest does the damage that causes the drop. Multiple Ninja Looters on a quest mean multiple increases to the base probability. Chloe's Pugomancer trait doubles *all* bonus loot: coins, common materials, rare items and embers. A devlopaw stated that the Flame Catcher trait "enables Embers to drop as Battle Loot as the default chance is 0%." The Flame Catcher trait can also be stacked, and the chance of embers dropping increases with the level number (higher level quests = higher chances).

## Unique Legendary Traits

These three Legendary cats have unique traits that don't fit into any category. Jade's Zen Replication trait is especially interesting as she adopts the trait(s) of the other non-Legendary cat(s) with whom she is sent on a quest. In other words, the trait(s) of the other cat(s) will be applied to the quest *twice*.

## Trait Combinations

* **Multiple gold rewards are compounded.** When the game applies multiple gold-reward traits at the end of a quest, it calculates each individually and sequentially, so that the base reward *plus the first bonus reward* becomes the base for calculating the *next* bonus. For example, when a Mercenary (+15%) and a Scavenger (+20%) are sent together on a quest, the bonus gold reward will be closer to 38%, rather than 35%, of the base gold reward.

* **Multiple XP rewards are compounded.** Similar to how gold bonuses are determined, XP traits, except Demonic Posession, are also applied sequentially upon completion of quests with more than one XP-boosting hero. So, for instance, when three Holy Aura (+20%) cats are sent on a quest together, the XP bonus will be not 60% but closer to 72% of the base XP reward.

* **Multiple identical materials reward chances are applied individually.** When the game applies traits offering a 5% random chance for a materials item, it does not combine multiple chances for the same item into a single, higher chance when multiple heroes with the same trait are on the same quest. Each chance is rolled individually. While this makes little difference to the overall odds of that item being awarded, it does provide for the possibility of *multiple* identical items being awarded if more than one of the chances succeed.

* **Demonic Possession and Rusher cats combine to quicken hero leveling.** The Demonic Possession trait increases the amount of XP awarded by 25% but sets a quest's Great Success Chance to 75%, while the Rusher trait cuts the time-to-completion of such quests in half. This combo is useful when sending low-level heroes on high-level quests, which might otherwise drop the chance of success below 75% , in order to level them up quickly.

* **Warlords and Ninja Looters combine to generate more rare bonus loot on Battle Quests.** On most quests, enemies drop bonus loot only at the end of each round. In Battle Quests, however, enemies drop bonus loot whenever a Warlord commands other heroes to use their Attack Skills. So combining a Warlord and a Ninja Looter on a Battle Quest means both more drops and a higher percentage chance of rare items in the drops. Adding a second Ninja Looter or Chloe to the mix increases the potential yield of rare loot even further.

## Trivia

* After its beta phase, during which the developaws refined the assignment of traits to various cats, the first major revision to the game's traits came in September 2018 with the addition of the Captain, Gambler and Warlord traits, assigned initially to three heroes introduced in that year's Halloween Event, White Widow, Harvey and Hilda respectively. Other traits, including Dynamic Duo, Enduring, Holy Aura, Rusher, Scavenger and Speed Runner, received minor adjustments as well.
* In October 2019, the Mythic trait Speed Runner, described as "+50% XP Reward when alone and Hero Level is higher or same as Quest Level" and with a lightning bolt for an icon, became the first, and so far only, trait in the game to be discontinued. It was removed, said a developaw, because it had "a really high diminishing return to it." The then-Rare Rusher trait was upgraded to Mythic status (from -20% to -50% reductions in quest duration) and assigned to the four heroes who lost the Speed Runner trait: Lagoon, Lumoz, Navi and Wetbeard. The Rare cats who were previously Rushers—Blink, Cluck Norris, Dash, Grubb, Paytone and Rudolph—were given the Captain trait instead.
* Peanut was introduced in the Purrismas Event 2018 as the first merge Alchemy cat; she was only a Rare yet required the sacrifice of six other heroes, and players made their dissatisfaction with that known to the developaws. When Peanut returned for the Purrismas Event 2019 she had been elevated to Mythic status and her Captain trait replaced with Fortune Teller.
* When introduced, the three Reputation cats were Mythics with standard Mythic traits: Sting was a Gambler, Jade was a Warlord, and Thena was a Fighter. As the difficulty involved in recruiting these cats warranted greater rewards once obtained, the three were upgraded to Legendary status and got their current unique traits in December, 2019.
* The Flame Catcher trait was introduced in October, 2020, with the Halloween cat Xerxes. Prior to that time, embers were not included in battle loot drops, although a long-standing, infrequently occurring visual glitch had made it seem so.
* The Ember Catcher and Booster traits were introduced in late November, 2020, with the new Purrismas event heroes. The icon for the Booster trait is an upgraded version of the one formerly used for the now obsolete Speed Runner trait.

## References

1. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/401029535744655361/401029535744655364/430727892406763520 Discord post by *Castle Cats* developaw Robin, April 3, 2018.
2. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/697368878246002749/745264663222157412/1146078651474006076 Discord post by developaw Robin on the Flame Catcher trait, Aug. 29, 2023.
3. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/401029535744655361/401029535744655364/640137607614955540 Discord post by *Castle Cats* developaw Henrik, November 2, 2019.
4. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/castlecatsgame/photos/a.1091007500921428/2752652964756865/ *Castle Cats* Facebook post about game update, December 17, 2019.

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