Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Dwarven Gate Campaign

Without further ado, let's jump straight into our new Impossible Hero Challenge series!  I've really been liking Kingdom Rush Vengeance so far, so I'm pumped to get rolling on this challenge.  Even though map 0, Veznan's Tower, can be done on Impossible difficulty, it's still utterly trivial and it doesn't have heroic or iron modes, so we're skipping it for the purpose of this challenge.

We know from experience of course that many of the first few maps are going to be pretty trivial when using level 10 heroes and all upgrades.  This one is no exception, so what I wanted to see was how all of the heroes did if I sent them up against the mobs with no tower or reinforcement support (except to mop up leaks).  After all, if they can't handle a few waves of the two weakest enemies in the game in a reasonable manner then it doesn't bode well for the future.  Fortunately, even though it's fairly clear from the start how our heroes are going to generally sort themselves by power, all heroes did a perfectly fine job here.

Impressions

I had a feeling after doing this map that hero DPS had been bumped up significantly compared to Origins.  So I started putting my usual spreadsheet together and lo and behold I was right.  Whereas almost all heroes in Origins did less than 30 DPS, here most heroes are doing in the range of 30-45 DPS.  No one is doing Wilbur-levels of ludicrous DPS (except possibly Eiskalt due to Frost Blast), but no one is making me feel like I'm whipping the enemies with a wet noodle either.

I think my biggest takeaway so far from my experience with the heroes is that they all feel fun.  Now this may be premature since they have yet to be truly tested, but in my Impossible Hero Challenge for Origins it didn't take very long for some of the heroes to feel like a chore to complete maps with.  Even if it wasn't particularly hard to do so, they just weren't very interesting.  But so far at least I find myself enjoying all the heroes.  Good hero design is something Ironhide has been getting better at each game.

This was a trivial map of course, so it's 'A's for everybody.  Instead of the normal Grades and Best Choice sections, I want to run through all the heroes, giving my initial thoughts on them, their role, and their relative power levels.  I'll be interested to go back once I'm done and see how accurate (or not) my initial impressions were.

• Veruk - He reminds me a lot of Prince Denas - but hopefully a better version.  He has great survivability and summons reinforcements to provide additional blocking, but his DPS seems a bit better (which was Denas' Achilles heel).  His hero spell seems to trade numbers for better DPS, but it still seems weak.  I see him coming in 11th in our rankings, heading up the three free heroes.
• Asra - I was initially getting vibes of Mirage from Frontiers, but I think she's going to be a bit better than that.  Both her ability to teleport and Shield of Shadows ability seem designed to support Spider Bite, which is unique in being a guaranteed, but not instant, kill ability.  I can see her coming in 12th in the rankings.
• Oloch - He's a caster hero and...yeah, that's about it.  His abilities just increase his DPS in general, which unfortunately is not that great.  Seal of Isolation is really weak for a hero spell - it either needs to have half the cooldown or teleport enemies twice the distance.  I definitely see him coming in last at 13th.
• Margosa - I have a feeling I'm looking at my next Lynn - a hero I love using but who's just not powerful enough.  She's a one-trick pony, but she's really good at that trick - namely dueling powerful creatures and DPSing them down.  However, I'm worried that she's not going to hold up well against the more powerful enemies in the game.  With no other skills to speak of, I think she might be looking at 9th place.
• Mortemis - He's like a one-man Necromancer tower from Frontiers, which of course is awesome.  And like the Necromancer tower, all of his abilities synergize very well together.  He's powerful, but it's a crowded field at the top, so I see him coming in 6th.
• Tramin - His kit seems more interesting than useful, and his DPS is the lowest of any hero, so I'm not expecting much of him.  I see 10th place in his future.
• Jigou - Every game there's always an Ultimate Tank character, and this time it's obviously Jigou.  With absurd health and regeneration and also surprisingly great DPS, he's the one we'll call on to hold back the biggest mobs the game throws at us.  For all that, he still has pretty good crowd control, too.  I'm pegging him for 7th place.
• Beresad - The dragons in this game are absurdly powerful, and they will definitely form the Phoenix-Wilbur-Faustus trio of top performers for this game.  Beresad is the weakest of the three (if that has any meaning), so I see him coming in 3rd.
• Doom Tank SG-11 - An interesting hero with great both single target and AoE capabilities.  The damage potential here is extreme, and I see it coming in 4th behind the dragons.
• Jun'pai - I feel like Jun'Pai is the wildcard in this rankings.  His abilities are diverse, powerful, and all have short cooldowns.  I feel like I had to rank all the other heroes first and then see where he fit in.  As it is, I have him pegged for 8th place, but I feel he might be the hero I'm most wrong about.
• Eiskalt - All his abilities are powerful, but Frost Blast, which makes his basic attack (which is already true damage, mind you) an AoE, may be what puts him into the stratosphere.  I see him being the Phoenix of this game and taking 1st place, but potentially even more powerful than her.
• Murglun - Remember how powerful Reg'son's Vindicator hero spell was in Origins?  How could it be any better?  Well, how about a freaking AoE version?!  She pumps out ridiculous DPS through her other abilities as well.  I see her being the only one who might give Eiskalt a run for his money, but as it is I believe she will come in 2nd.
• Jack O'Lantern - He's not so great in melee, but Explosive Head and Nightmare are very powerful abilities.  I have him ranked as 5th right now, but I have a sneaking suspicion for some reason that I might be overrating him.

Let's summarize those rankings so it will be easier to come back and see how right or wrong I was:

1. Eiskalt
2. Murglun
3. Beresad
4. Doom Tank SG-11
5. Jack O'Lantern
6. Mortemis
7. Jigou
8. Jun'pai
9. Margosa
10. Tramin
11. Veruk
12. Asra
13. Oloch

With that, here is the playlist.  I'll hope you'll stick with me for this challenge!

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Dwarven Gate Campaign