Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Pond of the Sage Iron

I really, really liked this level, which sadly is something I've not been able to say much in this series.  Something in the enemy composition here just hits the sweet spot of difficulty, where it doesn't feel like you're facing overwhelming odds, but yet you have to fight really hard to win.  Good hero micro is especially crucial on this map, which is something we just haven't gotten enough of.

I think perhaps the key to this level being fun was the alternating difficulty between the top and and bottom lanes.  At the beginning you're tasked with figuring out the minimum you need to deal with all the Crystal Amphipteres on the top lane so you can devote the rest of your resources to the stream of Wardens on the bottom.  And just as the last Wardens are trying to plow through your bottom defenses Crystal Demolishers start appearing on the top, so you have to clean them up as quick as possible so you can move your hero and attention to the top again.  This pattern continues throughout the map and gives the feeling that you're always racing against the clock trying to quickly eliminate the current batch of enemies before the next appears.

Probably a big part of why I liked the map as well is the fact that you're given the two most powerful towers (of the free ones) in the game, so you're not wasting time trying to make up for the weaknesses of lesser towers.  All in all it's a good note for the Anurian mini-campaign to go out on.

Impressions

Again our physical DPS heroes struggle here, and I ended up assigning grades identical to the previous map.  I just feel Anurian Wardens with high hit points and 80% armor are a bad mob design, and they're used poorly in wave compositions as well.  In Origins Twilight Avengers were a similar major threat, but you usually only encountered them one or two at a time except in the most difficult challenges, and they had the decency to drop their armor rating to 40% when blocked.  Here the game just isn't ashamed to send a never-ending stream of Wardens against you, largely nullifying the usefulness of physical DPS heroes.

Final Grades

• Veruk - B
• Asra - B
• Oloch - B
• Margosa - B
• Mortemis - B
• Tramin - B
• Jigou - C
• Beresad - A
• Doom Tank SG-11 - A
• Jun'pai - C
• Eiskalt - A
• Murglun - A
• Jack O'Lantern - A

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Pond of the Sage Iron