Empowerments of Nature

'Nature now helps you get some of the bad guys off of its planet, in the form of the new 'Empowerments of Nature' mechanic.  -- Changelog for 4.4

Empowerments of Nature becomes available the first time you reach zone 236, after which it changes between the 3 types of Nature every 5 levels at zones ending in 1 and 6 (I.e. 236, 241, 246). Only the current empowerment will be active at any given time, so for instance between zone 236 and 240, only poison will be active, and between 241 and 245, only wind will be active.

Tokens

Every time you change Nature there will be a random enemy with the color of the previous empowerment. Defeating this enemy will reward tokens depending on the zone you reached. The further in the world you reach, the more Tokens the enemy will drop. The initial reward is 1 Token of Poison at Zone 241, then 1 Token of Wind at Zone 246, 1 Token of Ice at Zone 251, then 2 Tokens of Poison at Zone 256 and so on. It is also possible to gain Tokens by beating certain rows in Spires after the first Spire.

One type of tokens can be traded for another type at the ratio of 10:5 e.g. trade 10 tokens of Poison for 5 tokens of Wind. With the Natural Diplomacy Mastery, one can increase this transfer ratio to 10:6, then to 10:8.

Like Bones and Helium, nature Tokens persist through Portals.

Empowerment Types

There are 3 types of Empowerment:

Empowerment of Poison

Each successful attack by your Trimps stacks a debuff on the enemy, causing it to take 1% (+1% per level) of the damage you dealt every turn until it dies. Each attack by your Trimps further adds to this effect.

Empowerment of Wind

Each successful attack by your Trimps stacks a debuff on the enemy, causing winds to swell and knock extra resources into your reach. Each stack increases Helium gained from all sources by 0.1% (+0.1% per level) and increases all other resources by 1% (+1% per level) until the enemy dies. Maximum of 200 stacks. Note that the helium bonus does not apply to maps (this includes Void Maps).

Empowerment of Ice

Enemies will be Chilled every time your Trimps attack. The Chill debuff stacks, reducing the damage that the enemy deals by 1% (+1% per level with diminishing returns, up to 100%) per stack, and increasing the damage your Trimps deal to the same enemy by the same percentage until it dies. Note: With enough levels/stacks, it is possible for enemies to deal 0-0 damage.

A single imp with two effects upon it.

Transfer Level

Besides level of effect, each Empowerment also has a transfer level: this allows for a percentage (1% per level, max of 80 levels) of the effect to pass on to the next enemy. The transferred stacks round up, and even if there was only 1 stack on an enemy you kill, a 1% transfer would result in one stack on the next enemy. The transferred stack is now treated by the game no differently to any other stack on that next enemy. When the next enemy dies, it again transfers 1% of the total number of stacks it has accumulated, both from transfer and what was added during your attacks on it. As of patch 4.61, it is possible for the effect to be transferred across the switching of Empowerments, briefly having a single enemy affected by two effects at once.

Natural Diplomacy III gives 5 free levels of both the effect level and the transfer level (which allows it to go up to 85%).

Each upgrade of an Empowerment costs 4 more tokens than the previous level.

Strategy

With enough empowerments and transfer rates, Poison zones greatly increases your killing power. As such, void maps (which don't benefit from wind) should be done in these. Similarly, these are also the best zones for Dark Essence farming. At the end of poison zones, the player can farm higher level equipment by using +level maps.

With enough empowerment, max transfer rates, and Natural Diplomacy III, the player can consider farming wind zones by stacking up to 200 wind stacks.The player probably wants at least 100 empowerment before doing this.

When stacking wind, you do not want the corrupted or healthy imp you're fighting to die before getting the stacks to max. This requires careful planning of your attack power (to be able to defeat the imp in approximately 30 attacks (at 85 transfer)) to maximize Helium gain without it taking too long.

Ice is pretty useless overall. However, it may help with clearing Spire III later on easily.

In early nature, it is worth buying one level of transfer in wind and ice as soon as possible. As stack transfer rounds up, each enemy will now start with a minimum of one stack. This does not apply to poison, as it is not calculated in terms of stacks, but as a sum of poison damage from each attack you deal to the enemy, so rounding will have much less of an effect (1% transfer of ~1% of your total damage to an enemy at level 1 poison empowerment would mean that the next enemy receives 0.01% of the previous enemy's health as damage with each of your attacks, which is almost completely negligible).

List of Zones, Active Empowerment, & Token Rewards

Start Zone	End Zone	Active Empowerment	Token Zone & Number
236	240	Poison	Zone 241 (1 Poison Token)
241	245	Wind	Zone 246 (1 Wind Token)
246	250	Ice	Zone 251 (1 Ice Token)
251	255	Poison	Zone 256 (2 Poison Tokens)
256	260	Wind	Zone 261 (2 Wind Tokens)
261	265	Ice	Zone 266 (2 Ice Tokens)
266	270	Poison	Zone 271 (3 Poison Tokens)
271	275	Wind	Zone 276 (3 Wind Tokens)
276	280	Ice	Zone 281 (3 Ice Tokens)
281	285	Poison	Zone 286 (4 Poison Tokens)
286	290	Wind	Zone 291 (4 Wind Tokens)
291	295	Ice	Zone 296 (4 Ice Tokens)
296	300	Poison	Zone 301 (5 Poison Tokens)
301	305	Wind	Zone 306 (5 Wind Tokens)
306	310	Ice	Zone 311 (5 Ice Tokens)
311	315	Poison	Zone 316 (6 Poison Tokens)
316	320	Wind	Zone 321 (6 Wind Tokens)
321	325	Ice	Zone 326 (6 Ice Tokens)
326	330	Poison	Zone 331 (7 Poison Tokens)
331	335	Wind	Zone 336 (7 Wind Tokens)
336	340	Ice	Zone 341 (7 Ice Tokens)
341	345	Poison	Zone 346 (8 Poison Tokens)
346	350	Wind	Zone 351 (8 Wind Tokens)
351	355	Ice	Zone 356 (8 Ice Tokens)
356	360	Poison	Zone 361 (9 Poison Tokens)
361	365	Wind	Zone 366 (9 Wind Tokens)
366	370	Ice	Zone 371 (9 Ice Tokens)
371	375	Poison	Zone 376 (10 Poison Tokens)
376	380	Wind	Zone 381 (10 Wind Tokens)
381	385	Ice	Zone 386 (10 Ice Tokens)
386	390	Poison	Zone 391 (11 Poison Tokens)
391	395	Wind	Zone 396 (11 Wind Tokens)
396	400	Ice	Zone 401 (11 Ice Tokens)
401	405	Poison	Zone 406 (12 Poison Tokens)
406	410	Wind	Zone 411 (12 Wind Tokens)
411	415	Ice	Zone 416 (12 Ice Tokens)
416	420	Poison	Zone 421 (13 Poison Tokens)
421	425	Wind	Zone 426 (13 Wind Tokens)
426	430	Ice	Zone 431 (13 Ice Tokens)
431	435	Poison	Zone 436 (14 Poison Tokens)
436	440	Wind	Zone 441 (14 Wind Tokens)
441	445	Ice	Zone 446 (14 Ice Tokens)
446	450	Poison	Zone 451 (15 Poison Tokens)
451	455	Wind	Zone 456 (15 Wind Tokens)
456	460	Ice	Zone 461 (15 Ice Tokens)
461	465	Poison	Zone 466 (16 Poison Tokens)
466	470	Wind	Zone 471 (16 Wind Tokens)
471	475	Ice	Zone 476 (16 Ice Tokens)
476	480	Poison	Zone 481 (17 Poison Tokens)
481	485	Wind	Zone 486 (17 Wind Tokens)
486	490	Ice	Zone 491 (17 Ice Tokens)
491	495	Poison	Zone 496 (18 Poison Tokens)
496	500	Wind	Zone 501 (18 Wind Tokens)
501	505	Ice	Zone 506 (18 Ice Tokens)
506	510	Poison	Zone 511 (19 Poison Tokens)
511	515	Wind	Zone 516 (19 Wind Tokens)
516	520	Ice	Zone 521 (19 Ice Tokens)
521	525	Poison	Zone 526 (20 Poison Tokens)
526	530	Wind	Zone 531 (20 Wind Tokens)
531	535	Ice	Zone 536 (20 Ice Tokens)
536	540	Poison	Zone 541 (21 Poison Tokens)
541	545	Wind	Zone 546 (21 Wind Tokens)
546	550	Ice	Zone 551 (21 Ice Tokens)
551	555	Poison	Zone 556 (22 Poison Tokens)
556	560	Wind	Zone 561 (22 Wind Tokens)
561	565	Ice	Zone 566 (22 Ice Tokens)

Best Ratios of Upgrades and Stack Transfer for Nature

This table indicates the most efficient way to level empowerment and stack transfer rate for poison. The values were determined under the assumption of exactly 100 enemies with health equal to exactly 100000x your minimum attack, but the values hold up almost exactly, even under a drastic change of conditions. It should be noted that, due both to rounding of stacks and differing use cases, the table will not be perfectly accurate for ice or wind.

How to read: Take your level of Nature Empowerment. The % Stack Transfer is how much you should have before you buy the next level of Empowerment. [1]

Note: As detailed in the Strategy section, in early nature it is worth buying one level of transfer in wind and ice as soon as possible because, as stack transfer rounds up, each enemy will start with a minimum of one stack.

Level		Stack Transfer
1		0%
2		0%
3		0%
4		0%
5		0%
6		0%
7		0%
8		1%
9		1%
10		2%
11		2%
12		2%
13		3%
14		4%
15		4%
16		5%
17		6%
18		6%
19		7%
20		8%
21		9%
22		10%
23		11%
24		13%
25		14%
26		16%
27		17%
28		19%
29		21%
30		23%
31		25%
32		28%
33		31%
34		36%
35		42%
36		80% (max)