Monsters

**Monsters** are the combatants in Idle Monster Frontier. The goal of the game is to train up powerful monsters by increasing their levels and teaching them traits.

## Stats

All monsters have five stats: **vitality** (VIT), **strength** (STR), **intelligence** (INT), **speed** (SPD) and **fusion** (FUS)

Each base stats will have some minor randomization (i.e. not all Toads have the exact same stats, but most Toads are within 10% of each other.)

**Vitality** is the total amount of damage a monster must take to be killed. The higher this number, the more damage the monster can take without dying.

**Strength** determines the power of a monster's physical attacks. Strength is thus the main factor in determining the damage output of monsters of the warrior class, as warriors deal physical damage with their attacks. Additionally, as strength increases, damage received from physical attacks slightly decreases.

**Intelligence** determines the power of a monster's magical attacks. Intelligence is thus the main factor in determining the damage output of monsters of the mage class, as mages deal magical damage with their attacks. Additionally, as intelligence increases, damage received from magical attacks slightly decreases.

**Speed** determines how quickly a monster attacks. It is expressed in units of attacks per second. There are three base speed tiers: low (LOW), medium (MED), and high (HI). Low speed corresponds to a base speed of 1.00, medium speed corresponds to a base speed of 1.50, and high speed corresponds to a base speed of 2.00. Each monster's speed will be within 10% of its base speed tier's corresponding value. **Note: Speed also affects attack order, which is critical to the team composition.**

 Medium (MED)
 High (HI)

## Leveling

All monsters can be leveled up. Upon gaining a level, a monster's vitality, strength, and intelligence will increase. Speed is not affected by leveling up a monster.

Most level-ups cost gold. The higher the monster's level, the higher the gold cost. However, increasing to a level that is a multiple of ten will cost a certain number of monsters of at least a given rarity, and sometimes of at least a given level. If a monster is used to level up another monster, then it will be consumed and permanently removed from the player's inventory.

## Classification

Monsters can be classified according to their **rarity,** **class,** and **tribe.**

### Rarity

There are five possible rarities for monsters. In the order of increasing rarity, they are **common, rare, epic, legendary,** and **master.**

Rarity determines a monster's spawn rate and drop rate. As rarity increases, spawn rate decreases. As such, common monsters have the highest spawn rate, and master monsters have the lowest spawn rate. However, common monsters actually have the lowest drop rate at 1%. All other monster rarities have a drop rate of 5%.

Legendary monsters will not spawn until the player upgrades the Barracks to Level 4, and master monsters will not spawn until the player upgrades the Barracks to Level 7. Regardless of upgrades purchased, legendary and master monsters will only ever spawn on the player's frontier.

All bosses are considered to be of common rarity, but bosses cannot be obtained in any manner, including through random drops.

### Class

Monsters come in two classes: **warrior** and **mage**. When **warriors** attack, they deal physical damage based on strength (STR). By contrast, when **mages** attack, they deal magical damage based on intelligence (INT).

Some traits, such as Combat Blessing, may only be learned by warriors, while other traits, such as Arcane Knowledge, may only be learned by mages.

### Tribe

All monsters belong to one of the five tribes. The four main tribes are **beast, human, demon,** and **undead.** The V2.2.0 update added the **accursed** tribe as a fifth tribe. Tribe has no effect on a monster's stats or how it fights. However, many traits, such as Tribalism and Optimized Heal, are affected by the tribe of the monster that knows the trait.

## Drops

All enemy monsters have a chance to drop items when defeated. Monsters can drop more than one item at a time. Possible drops include:

* **Monsters.** All monsters except for bosses have a chance to be captured upon defeat. If a monster "drops itself," a sphere whose color corresponds to the rarity of the monster will be dropped. When captured, the player will be shown an image of the monster captures as well as its traits.
	+ At the cost of gems, the player will have a brief opportunity to "reroll" and obtain a monster of higher rarity. This is entirely optional, and is generally not recommended.
* **Gold.** The amount of gold dropped by each monsters increases as the player's progresses to higher-numbered areas and Dimensions. The Greedy trait can also increase the amount of gold dropped by a monster.
	+ The rarity of a defeated monster also affects how much gold is dropped.
		- Rare monsters drop 2x as much gold as common monsters.
		- Epic monsters drop 4x as much gold as common monsters.
		- Legendary monsters drop 8x as much gold as common monsters.
		- Master monsters drop 16x as much gold as common monsters.
	+ The more gold dropped, the "fancier" the icon will be.
		- If the monster drops 100-299 gold, the icon will be a single coin.
		- If the monster drops 300-999 gold, the icon will be a red purse filled with gold.
		- If the monster drops 1000-9999 gold, the icon will be a bag of gold.
		- If the monster drops 10,000+ gold, the icon will be a treasure chest.
* **Potions.** Epic monsters can drop small potions, legendary and master monsters can drop medium potions, and bosses can drop large potions.
	+ Only special monsters associated with holidays can drop the Holy potions and the Revive potion.
* **Scrolls****.** Only special monsters associated with holidays can drop scrolls.

If any item is dropped that the player does not have space for in their inventory, then it will drop to the ground where the defeated monster was previously standing. The player's team will progress beyond the dropped item; however, if inventory space is made for the item, then it will slide along the ground towards the player's team and be collected when it makes contact with one of the player's monsters. However, if the player's team exits the current area, the item will be permanently lost. Switching the order of monsters in the active team will halt its progression and give the item time to catch up.

## Boss

Bosses are encountered at the end of each area. They all have a regular attack and an Area of Effect (AoE) attack which deals the opposite damage type to their class (e.g. Cyclops' rockfall damage deals magical damage).

Bosses are common rarity and are therefore affected by Connoisseur and Ranger. There are also the only enemies affected by Giant Killer. Bosses are resistant to scroll effects, and are entirely immune to Banish Scrolls.