Kingdom Rush Origins (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Neverwonder Iron

I was legitimately dreading this map, because I knew it would be Royal Gardens iron mode all over again.  Again you're given swarms and swarms of enemies and expected to hold back the tide somehow.  I was fearing this might be my first time to hand out 'F's, and it almost came to it.

I was shocked to discover that magic towers - not artillery - was the way to go on this map.  With hordes of Boomshrooms, artillery seems logical, doesn't it?  But I was getting awful results with it, and only tried magic towers out of frustration, but for whatever reason they just work better here.

Impressions

This was a rough map, and the grades reflect it.  The average ended up being a mere 3.00 - second worst only to Royal Garden iron's 2.75.

I almost had to give Faustus his first B here.  We'll call it an A-, with emphasis on the minus.  I was on the fence about him, and pretty much not ruining his straight-A streak was what swayed me into giving him an A.

Catha earns the dubious distinction of being the only D here.  I initially wanted to give 'D's to Arivan and Bruce as well, because it was so rough finishing with them, but only with Catha did I have to "cheat" and play the Shroom Game to get extra gold.  It was honestly the only way I found to drag her through.

The crux of this map revolves around the three Fungus Breeders that appear near the mid point.  One comes from the top, and then a few seconds later two appear from the right lanes.  The top one has to be killed completely before the other two arrive, otherwise you risk when the Munchshrooms turn into Boomshrooms on death the other Fungus Breeders turning them right back into Munchshrooms.  If that happens it's pretty much game over, and Catha's DPS is just so bad she had trouble making that happen.  Only by playing the Shroom Game for extra gold and altering my build strategy was I able to make it.

Other than that, Xin and Lilith fell from 'B's to 'C's over the iron mode, while Razz and Rags moved up to a B.  It's still a hard map with him, but there are actually some fantastic opportunities for Changeling on this map.  Everyone else more or less did the same as they have for all of Neverwonder.

Final Grades

• Eridan - B
• Arivan - C
• Catha - D
• Reg'son - A
• Prince Denas - B
• Razz and Rags - B
• Bravebark - A
• Vez'nan - B
• Xin - C
• Phoenix - A
• Durax - B
• Lynn - A
• Bruce - C
• Lilith - C
• Wilbur - A
• Faustus - A

Best Choice

If you don't want Neverwonder to be a tooth-grinding frustration, whichever mode you're on, then Phoenix is the way to go.

Kingdom Rush Origins Impossible Hero Challenge - Neverwonder Iron