It feels like we just finished our last report card, but given that this section of the campaign is only four maps long I guess it's not surprising. Let's jump straight to our heroes' GPAs:
- Wilbur - 3.98
- Faustus - 3.98
- Phoenix - 3.98
- Vez'nan - 3.89
- Bravebark - 3.78
- Durax - 3.78
- Reg'son - 3.64
- Lilith - 3.56
- Lynn - 3.51
- Prince Denas - 3.51
- Xin - 3.47
- Bruce - 3.36
- Eridan - 3.31
- Arivan - 3.31
- Catha - 3.24
- Razz and Rags - 3.00
The most notable change this time around was the end of the straight-'A' streak for our top three heroes. Mactan's Retreat iron proved to be their undoing, where ironically the fact that all three are flying worked against them in their inability to provide crucial blocking. Still, their GPAs are nothing to sneeze at, and they easily outpace the rest of the field.
Compared with last time there was virtually no movement in the rankings. Bravebark and Durax, who have been neck and neck the entire time for the 5th and 6th spots, are now tied with each other. Reg'son improved his GPA by a whopping 0.09 due to some killer performances, but he has a long way to go to catch up to them.
Lilith leap-frogs Lynn and Prince Denas to move up two spots, but our mid-tier heroes are still very tightly packed. And our bottom tier heroes are what they are. Their order remains the same, but their GPAs continue to drop precipitously, with Razz and Rags just barely avoiding dropping below 3.00.
I've been rooting for Bruce for some time now, but it's time to accept that he's just not a very good hero. If you had told me when I started this challenge that Bruce would be straining to keep ahead of Eridan and Arivan in the rankings I would have been shocked. He seems like he should be a reliable tank like Prince Denas, with perhaps somewhat less survivability in exchange for better DPS, but it's just not playing out that way for some reason. I'm not entirely sure why, but I will say I've come to realize his Hero Spell is really not that great. It's not bad, it's just not great. It's basically a slightly better version of the High Elven Mage's Timelapse, except that the cooldown is much, much worse. If it had a 30 second cooldown instead it would be much more useful.
Our Best Choice awards went to a small crowd this time around, with Wilbur taking three, Phoenix taking three, and Reg'son taking a whopping four, including a clean sweep of the Mactans' Retreat map. Reg'son is serious business and not to be overlooked. While I'm not sure he'll be able to move up any more places unless Bravebark or Durax have serious drops, I stand by my assertion in a recent post that Vindicator is the best Hero Spell in the game. He may not be the best all-around hero, but when he is the best choice for a map, he is decisively the best choice.
All this talk of Bruce's and Reg'son's Hero Spells makes me realize I need to do a ranking of Hero Spells when this is all over. Someone remind me to do that.
The iron modes continue to ramp up the difficulty, with The Ascent iron and Mactans' Retreat iron tying at 2.88 for hardest map - the same score as The Unseelie Court Heroic from the last section. We thankfully only had one trivial all-'A' map in Arcane Quarters campaign mode, and I stand by my assertion that it will truly be the last one.
We now enter the final phase of the game with the bonus maps. There are eight total, divided into three mini-campaigns. Given how many there are and how hard I know they'll be, that's a lot of opportunity to shake up the rankings one last time before we give our final report card. I'm excited but also anxious. I've only done these maps one time each on my Impossible Mode Walkthrough, but I remember they were all quite difficult. Will I be able to finish with every hero, or am I going to finally have to hand out some 'F's? There's only one way to find out, so join me as we take the plunge.
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