Kingdom Rush Origins (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Arcane Quarters Iron

This is a fun map.  It's different, much in the way that Unseelie Court iron was different, but yet it's not really hard, as Beresad can basically win the whole map for you.  After the challenge of the hard mode it's a nice, relaxing time watching spiders explode by the hundreds.

Impressions

The grading was a little different this time around.  As said, Beresad can win the map for you, so the only real question is if a hero is good enough to win without Beresad.  So I assigned 'A's to non-Beresad heroes and everyone else got 'B's.

Not surprisingly our usual honor roll trio pulled out 'A's here.  Vez'nan joined them as well, even though his basic attack does virtually nothing to spiders due to magic resistance.  Magic Shackles and Soul Burn still got some work done, but the real key was proper use of Dark Pact.  As with Royal Gardens iron, the demon can absolutely mow down hordes of enemies with its true damage AoE attack.  Proper timing of his Hero Spell and Thunderbolt ensured a Beresad-less win.

I hesitated a little on giving Lilith her 'A'.  While I did finish without using Beresad, it's only because I got really good RNG and got rain of fire instead of fallen angels on her Hero Spell every time.  Fallen angels would not have cleared out the packs of spiders like rain of fire.  Because of the RNG element I almost gave her a 'B' instead, but I erred on the side of generosity.  'A's are going to become scarcer and scarcer as we continue on, so I like to hand them out while I can.

Speaking of which, I was pleased to be able to give Eridan an 'A' for this map as well.  Arrow Storm, with its large physical AoE damage, is the perfect antidote to a tightly packed group of spiders.  Now I'll admit it wasn't easy to get him his 'A', and it did take a few tries.  The timing of Thunderbolts and Arrow Storms has to be very precise so they come off cooldown again the next time you really need them, and it's only that Thunderbolt at the very end of the map that nets him the win.  Still, Eridan doesn't exactly pull in many 'A's, so it's nice to be able to give him one.

But the best surprise of all on this map was Razz and Rags - yes, Razz and Rags - earning a non-trivial 'A'.  Finally we have a map that plays to his strengths.  There are some incredible opportunities to use Changeling for once, and careful management of the cooldown of Hammer Time helped take down the thickest waves of spiders. 

Final Grades

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

Best Choice

Phoenix, of course.

Kingdom Rush Origins Impossible Hero Challenge - Arcane Quarters Iron