Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 27. Dominion Dome Heroic

I had a solid feeling when doing my test runs that this was going to be a two hero kind of map, and boy am I glad I didn't try to solo-hero it.  This one was rough with the lower tier heroes, and I highly doubt I would have been able to finish it.

Strategy-wise it's pretty straightforward - rely on Tricannons with Bombardment to do the heavy lifting (as per usual) and otherwise weather the storm.  I will absolutely not miss the Darksteel Fists once this DLC is over.  I would honestly rather face a never ending stream of Darksteel Hulks and Guardians than waves of Fists.  They're really the only thing making this map (or heck, this whole DLC) hard.  By the way, I just now realized that for all the blog posts on this DLC, I've been referring to Fists as Hammerers by mistake.  Sorry about that.  The Hammerers are the basic-Becky mobs with no special abilities.

Impressions

Talk about clear separation.  We have eight heroes in 'C' tier, only two in 'B', and five in 'A'.  Oddly only Broden earns an 'A+' this time around.  The other flying heroes were fine of course, but he was the only one where I felt I could be ultra-aggressive in calling waves.

As for the bottom tier, well, they just aren't cut out to handle Darksteel Fists efficiently.  They're either melee heroes and get stunlocked trying to deal with them, or they're ranged but lack the DPS to take them down quickly.  Either way that's kind of been the story of this DLC.

Final Grades

• Vesper - C-
• Raelyn - C
• Nyru - C+
• Torres - C
• Anya - C+
• Grimson - C
• Broden - A+
• Therien - C+
• Onagro - B-
• Warhead - B+
• Lumenir - A
• Kosmyr - A
• Stregi - C+
• Bonehart - A
• Sylvara - A

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 27. Dominion Dome Heroic

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 27. Dominion Dome Campaign

This DLC wraps up with a campaign mode that is fun, if not terribly challenging.  This was another case where I got it on my first test run, and I don't think I even did a second try before I started recordings.  It's one of those were I probably could have done a single hero solution, but it would have been super painful with the worst heroes, and after doing that in heroic and iron modes for the previous level I just didn't have it in me.

It's impossible to overstate how much heavy lifting the Tricannon's Bombardment ability has done throughout this entire playthrough, and it seems as though that's been especially true in this DLC.  It's more than a bit overpowered, and takes me back to special abilities like Overcharge for the Tesla and Wasp Missiles for the Mecha that made those towers ludicrously OP.

One of the reasons I like this map is because there are some good opportunities for micro work.  I don't think I discovered this technique in the previous levels, but the Darksteel Guardians can be completely neutralized with some fine micro.  Their attack is so slow and so telegraphed that you just have to have your blocker move out of the way right before it lands and then quickly move them back to keep the Guardian blocked.  It's cheesy, but it works wonders for heroes that don't have any natural tanking ability.

The boss fight here is rather disappointing, I must say.  He's pretty trivial, all things considered.  There should be way more mobs that start appearing as soon as the fight starts to distract your towers and make killing him actually a challenge.  As it is, stalling him with reinforcements and DPSing him down is all too easy.  And speaking of micro, it's very easy for your heroes to dodge his fist-launching ability just by moving at the last second.  Nyru racked up quite a lot of damage for the Dark Army heroes just by following behind him and constantly hitting him with ranged damage while easily dodging his attacks.

Impressions

With two heroes in play grades improve compared to what they have been.  Raelyn, Torres, and Streggi still end up in 'C' tier, but that should not be terribly surprising.  Sadly I could not give Kosmyr an 'A+' like the rest of his flying comrades.  For whatever reason his performance was just not quite as fluid as the rest of the 'A+' crew.  He still gets an unadorned 'A' though, of course.

Ongaro was a pleasant surprise here as well.  Honestly I considered and would have been justified in giving him an 'A-', but to be fair there was a lot of heavy lifting on Nyru's part.  I know I said I wasn't going to adjust grades based on whether there was a second hero or not anymore, but this case kind of felt extreme.  So sorry, Onagro, I know you could use the GPA boost, but I'm keeping you at a 'B+'.

Final Grades

• Vesper - B-
• Raelyn - C
• Nyru - B+
• Torres - C+
• Anya - B-
• Grimson - B-
• Broden - A+
• Therien - B+
• Onagro - B+
• Warhead - B
• Lumenir - A+
• Kosmyr - A
• Stregi - C+
• Bonehart - A+
• Sylvara - A+

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 27. Dominion Dome Campaign

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 26. Replication Chamber Iron

We finish out this map with an iron mode like heroic - pretty trivial with two heroes, so we go for the solo hero attempt.  And just like heroic mode, this turned out to be a tale of two maps - or two hero tiers, really.

The top end heroes were all able to use my original build plan, which started with two Cannoneers and a single Flamespitter, and it all worked out fine.  However, the weaker heroes ended up needing an altered build plan, one where I started with two fully upgraded Flamespitters and only started building the Cannoneers after the fact.  Even still, this was a rough map with the bottom tier heroes, as we'll see in the grades below.

Impressions

This was legit painful with the bottom-end heroes, with five ending in 'C' tier and Vesper getting a dreadful 'D'.  These heroes lack the tools - generally the DPS, that is - to deal efficiently with the Hammerers, which are honestly the most dangerous enemy to come out of this DLC.  What's a poor hero to do, honestly?  Vesper can either engage in melee and get stunlocked, or else stand at a distance and plink arrows off their armor for trivial damage.

As with heroic mode, we have a small middle tier of 'B's and then a top tier of the usual suspects with 'A+'s.  I have to say I'm getting a little disappointed in Alliance for having such poor hero balance, with most of the heroes competing either for the very top or the very bottom.  Hopefully the remaining campaigns will provide a little more variety in the grades.

Final Grades

• Vesper - D
• Raelyn - C-
• Nyru - B
• Torres - C
• Anya - C-
• Grimson - B-
• Broden - A+
• Therien - B+
• Onagro - C
• Warhead - C+
• Lumenir - A+
• Kosmyr - A+
• Stregi - B-
• Bonehart - A+
• Sylvara - A+

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 26. Replication Chamber Iron

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 26. Replication Chamber Heroic

We follow up a challenging campaign mode with what is honestly a pretty trivial heroic mode.  Now, you probably wouldn't think that from looking at the grades below, but I label it trivial because it admits a one hero solution, which has become fairly rare in the bonus and DLC levels (as you would hope).  My standard operating procedure when starting a new map is to do with with Nyru and Grimson.  I cakewalked my way through on the first try, and that's when I knew I could do single-hero.

It's not a trivial matter with a single hero, to be sure.  This map plays the same game as campaign mode, where the Darksteel Hulks on the bottom lane are more about using up your reinforcements when you really need them on the top right lane.  Things can get pretty hairy up there between the waves of Shielders and Hammerers.

Impressions

This is a tale of two maps, as unlike campaign mode where we had a pretty good distribution from top to bottom, here it's feast or famine.  There are six heroes in 'A' tier, six in 'C' tier, and only three in between with 'B's.  I like to call this the 'boob distribution', the reason why being left as an exercise for the reader.

Despite earning a rare 'B' in campaign mode, Streggi falls back down to her usual 'C' here.  I'm realizing with her that it's all about how much pressure the enemy cadence puts on the cooldown of her hero spell.  In campaign mode, every time the enemy broke through and needed to be pushed back her hero spell was available, but on this map the pressure is much greater, and those instances where you need it come faster than the cooldown.

Anya flirts with greatness here again, earning a rare 'A-'.  Similar to Streggi, Anya just needs maps where the stars align properly for her to perform well, which apparently they do here.  I have no doubt that next map she'll be back to her normal dismal performance though.

The rest of the grades hold no surprises.  I'm looking forward to getting done with this DLC, as it hasn't been my favorite.

Final Grades

• Vesper - C
• Raelyn - C-
• Nyru - B-
• Torres - B-
• Anya - A-
• Grimson - C
• Broden - A+
• Therien - B-
• Onagro - C
• Warhead - C
• Lumenir - A+
• Kosmyr - A+
• Stregi - C
• Bonehart - A+
• Sylvara - A+

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 26. Replication Chamber Heroic

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 26. Replication Chamber Campaign

We have another campaign mode that's not exactly my favorite.  This one is especially frustrating because I just know in my gut that there's a better build for this.  I'm pretty sure it involves Cannoneers, but at this point I just don't have it in me to go back and try again.

The issue is that you need lots of ranged physical DPS for the "boss" fight, as the deformed clones have significant magic resistance until you take down their shield.  That usually means relying heavily on Royal Archers (which are also needed to deal with Drones), but I think I've made my feelings on the Archers known in previous posts.  And they certainly do you no favors in dealing with the waves of Darksteel Hammerers.

Surprisingly the Darksteel Hulks are not that big of a threat.  Linerean reinforcements can stall them indefinitely while towers DPS them down.  The real danger with them is that you then no longer have reinforcements to help with the chaos going on on the upper right exit lane, and believe me there's plenty of chaos throughout the level.

Impressions

We have a very nice distribution from the top all the way to the bottom.  The flying hero chads all earn 'A+'s as usual, while down at the bottom Vesper was an absolute nightmare, earning a 'D'.  His low physical DPS is a perfect mismatch for the enemies here, making completion with him a crapshoot.

The rest of the heroes fill out the middle about what you would expect.  Stregi does a little better than normal with a 'B', as this is one of the maps where her hero spell does quite well in managing the hordes, continually moving mobs back into range of the Tricannon to finish them off efficiently.

Final Grades

• Vesper - D
• Raelyn - C
• Nyru - B
• Torres - C-
• Anya - B-
• Grimson - B
• Broden - A+
• Therien - B-
• Onagro - C
• Warhead - C-
• Lumenir - A+
• Kosmyr - A+
• Stregi - B
• Bonehart - A+
• Sylvara - A+

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 26. Replication Chamber Campaign

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 25. Colossal Core Iron

This map is a cheeky little thing, because the key realization in strategy is that the bonus Rocket Gunners you get are a hindrance, not a help, and need to be sold immediately for extra cash and to free up the back build point.  I don't know, maybe Ironhide had a build solution in mind that does legitimately use them, but I found things much easier to just get rid of them to go more all-in on Elven Stargazers.

I didn't find the Arborean Emissaries useful here either.  Instead it's all about getting to the Stargazers' Even Horizon ability to manage the end of the map, continuously teleporting enemies backwards on the path until they're all taken down.  It gets dicey plenty of times, and there are multiple points where you're sure you've lost, but you just have to trust that the teleport will kick in at just the right time.

Impressions

Nothing terribly surprising here.  Raelyn yet again wins the dunce cap with the sole 'C' tier performance, but otherwise grades are pretty strong all around.  Mostly all that's asked of your hero is additional DPS to bring the mobs down.  Onagro does end up on the lower end, however, for his mobility issues, lack of blocking, and physical DPS.  I'm not sure what happened with Nyru here, but it was a struggle to complete the map with here.

Final Grades

• Vesper - B
• Raelyn - C
• Nyru - B-
• Torres - B+
• Anya - A
• Grimson - B+
• Broden - A+
• Therien - A-
• Onagro - B
• Warhead - A
• Lumenir - A
• Kosmyr - A+
• Stregi - B+
• Bonehart - A+
• Sylvara - A+

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 25. Colossal Core Iron

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 25. Colossal Core Heroic

We finally again have a heroic mode where I feel they decently beefed up the difficulty from campaign mode, and I appreciate it, even if it makes this map quite the challenge.  Everything is mostly manageable until the end, but then surviving the seemingly endless waves of Darksteel Fists and Brute Welders becomes quite difficulty.

I eschew the Cannoneers for this mode, going back to a more standard setup of a Tricannon to deal with large numbers and Arcane Wizards to finish off larger mobs.  I did try to replicate my strategy from campaign mode originally, but was not happy with the results.  I still feel like there is a better strategy that would keep the end of the map from being such a wild, chaotic mess, but I haven't found it yet.

Speaking of the end of the map, there's unfortunately a decent degree of RNG involved in the wins on these maps.  Part of the strategy for this map is trying to manage to fist pounds, and the last one that occurs really needs to kill two Brute Wielders either on the top or the bottom path, or else it's probably a loss with anything but a top-tier hero.  That's part of the reason for the barracks to the right - they do delay the mobs, helping prevent an overrun on the left side, but it also baits the fists into targeting them, trying to catch the Brutes with them.  Besides that you also have RNG such as which tower gets disabled by a Brute when killed.  If it hits your Tricannon that's a major loss and can cost the win.  I hate relying on RNG, but I just don't know if there's a build that can sufficiently control for it.

Impressions

Despite the difficulty the grades aren't all that bad, with only Grimson ending up in 'C' tier.  Unfortunately it's a function of the RNG - when it doesn't break your way, you just lose, but when it does, things feel...well not easy, but at least not so hard.

The one surprise in the grades is Stregi earning an 'A-' for her performance - especially when none of the other bottom-half heroes earned 'A's.  The reason is that this map is perfect for her hero spell.  It allows her to make one of the lanes at the end "safe" by constantly teleporting and sleeping the mobs on it, allowing you to devote all your resources to taking care of the other lane first, which is a huge plus.

Final Grades

• Vesper - B-
• Raelyn - B-
• Nyru - B
• Torres - B-
• Anya - B
• Grimson - C+
• Broden - A+
• Therien - B
• Onagro - B+
• Warhead - B
• Lumenir - A+
• Kosmyr - A+
• Stregi - A-
• Bonehart - A+
• Sylvara - A+

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 25. Colossal Core Heroic