I did it. I freaking did it. I thought for sure this would be the map where I had to hand out my first Fs, but I managed to finish with every hero. Of course I did have to hand out some Ds, but I'll take it.
This is the first really hard scenario in the game, and the enemies are relentless and brutal. It was a challenge for me both in my veteran and impossible mode playthroughs, and I expected the same here. I managed to get through originally on impossible with Phoenix, as really good AoE is needed to handle the ridiculous number of enemies, but I shuddered at the thought of taking this map on with, say, Catha.
Impressions
And then Catha goes and gets a freaking B. How did that happen?!? And how did Xin get a B as well? There were definitely some surprises here. Now I will chalk some of it up to experience. Xin and Catha were some of the last characters I did the map with (because I was dreading doing it with them). When you complete a map 16 times, you get really well acquainted with it. So by the time I was playing them my micro was mostly perfect and I knew when best to use my cooldowns to within a few seconds. There's also RNG to consider, and it may be that I beat the map with Catha on my first try because of it. Of course that makes assigning grades a little dicey, but we have to go on what we see.
Our usual A students make the grade here still, but I was somewhat shocked by Bravebark pulling an A. Granted he's almost made straight As so far, but usually you think of him as a heavy tank, and thus not suited for a swarm map like this. But between Rootspikes and Nature's Wrath he had more than enough AoE, and Oakseeds definitely helped by adding extra blockers.
I was sad - and a little surprised - to have to break Durax's straight-A record here, but I just couldn't justify giving him higher than a B. Based on his past performance I was just sure going into it he would ace it, but I struggled more than I expected, hence the B.
We may not have handed out any Fs, but we did have to give our first Ds, with Razz and Rags and Bruce gaining that infamy. I will say there were some Cs that could have easily been Ds if RNG had been a little worse though. I'm not terribly surprised that Razz and Rags earned a D, but I'm kind of shocked that Bruce did. Now granted his kit is geared more towards single, powerful enemies, but his DPS is usually good enough that he can still keep up with swarms somewhat. Nevertheless it by far took me the most attempts to get a win with him, and then only by good RNG, and that is what a D is by definition.
Final Grades
- Eridan - C
- Arivan - C
- Catha - B
- Reg'son - C
- Prince Denas - C
- Razz and Rags - D
- Bravebark - A
- Vez'nan - A
- Xin - B
- Phoenix - A
- Durax - B
- Lynn - C
- Bruce - D
- Lilith - B
- Wilbur - A
- Faustus - A
Best Choice
Wilbur, of course. I'm thinking of retiring this section if he keeps taking the top spot every time. A special honorable mention goes to Vez'nan for his demon, however. The demon absolutely obliterated the swarms of Gnoll Burners that appear in the middle of the map, and earns the award for Best Use of a Cooldown.
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