Champion Level Overview
Darkness Rising Intro
Champion Levels have more in common with Artifact leveling than with their predeccesor, Master Levels. You don't complete encounters, you don't do raids, there's no specific list of tasks to do... you just need to earn experience. A lot of experience.
You start Champion Levels by talking to your King after you reach level 50 - you will also need to return to the King each time you have earned enough experience to advance a level (you can earn experience toward the next CL without talking to the King, but won't get a point to spend on a CLA). After you've talked to him, any experience you earn - ANY experience - will count toward Champion Levels. (You can view your current experience by clicking on your experience bar twice; the first time will switch it to show realm points, the second Champion Experience. Custom UIs will only have that ability if they have been updated for DR.)
Each Champion Level requires 20,000 Champion Level experience (CLXP). In PvE, you gain one point of CLXP per 2 million normal experience, meaning a Champion Level takes 40 billion experience. However, quest experience and all bonuses (outpost, artifact, guild) count toward CLXP. Some Catacombs quests earn several billion experience, and Chapter 3 of the Champion Quests should earn you almost three Champion Levels. But, if you can't take PvEing to get it, you can RvR...
In RvR, you gain one point of CLXP per 333k normal experience - one sixth the amount needed for a point when in PvE. A single solo kill in RvR can earn you over half a bubble of CLXP, the equivalent of 15+ capped monsters. The downside to exp'ing in RvR is that your kills are not going to come with the kind of regularity that they will in PvE, but it's obviously assumed that many people will continue to RvR as normal and gain CLXP while they do so.
Other benefits for Champion Levels include titles and access to the King's Quartermaster, who sells special mounts, respec stones (ML and skill), and other useful items. At Champion Level 5, you can get your Champion Weapon with all of its abilities unlocked, and can ignore the quests completely.
Champion Level Titles
CL1: Seeker
CL2: Enforcer
CL3: Outrider
CL4: Lightbringer
CL5: King's Champion
Quartermaster Items:
CL1
Grey Horse - 3p
Spotted Horse - 3p
Chocolate Horse - 3p
Bay Horse - 3p
CL2
Palomino Horse - 4p
Black Horse - 4p
Silver Horse - 4p
King's Star of Destiny -250g
CL3
Chestnut Warhorse - 6p
Spotted Warhorse - 6p
Bay Warhorse - 6p
Grey Warhorse - 6p
Luminescent Cambriare Stone (CLA Respec) - 25c
CL4
Palomino Warhorse - 8p
Black Warhorse - 8p
Chocolate Warhorse - 8p
Silver Warhorse - 8p
CL5
Undead Horse Voucher - 15p
Unicorn Voucher - 15p
Nightmare Voucher - 15p
Earth Horse Voucher - 15p
Ice Horse Voucher - 15p
Fire Horse Voucher - 15p
Luminescent Cambriare Stone (CLA Respec) - 25c