Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Dragon's Power Campaign

The final map for this mini-campaign turns out to be interesting.  It's moderately challenging, but I wouldn't say it's really difficult.  It's more an exercise in a series of "Okay, now how are you going to handle THIS!" build-puzzles.  Not that I don't enjoy that sort of thing, but once you have the build down it's fairly straightforward to execute on.  I'm just glad that for the first time I'm able to build Melting Furnaces to handle Mogwai, which I've been wanting to do for this entire mini-campaign but it was never the right strategy.

Impressions

Grades are unsurprising here.  This map is a bit of a return to what I called "standard hard" back in the Origins hero challenge.  As such it sorts our heroes nicely into their usual tiers of 'A's versus 'B's.

Final Grades

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

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Dragon's Power Campaign

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - City of Rivers Iron

I was angry / worried when I first tried this map out, because it gave me PTSD flashbacks to Ancient Ghosts iron.  What do you do when they give you an iron mode that certain heroes just aren't qualified for?  Thankfully it turned out to be possible to win with those heroes anyway.  Despite the unique nature of this challenge though I can't say I particularly enjoyed it.

Impressions

The issue here of course is that the Carnival Dragons can't be blocked, so melee-only heroes can't damage them normally - that's Veruk, Margosa, and Jigou.  Margosa's bat can attack the dragons, so she can at least provide a consistent additional DPS with it.  The bat has a pretty good attack, so I didn't have to give her worse than a 'B'.  Jigou can use his Ice Ball against the dragons, and it has the benefit of doing both area damage and having a short cooldown, so he can contribute fairly well.  In addition, his Earth Slam ability can affect the dragons as well (the game seems to be wildly inconsistent about what AoE abilities can affect the dragons though), so he also gets a 'B'.

And then there's Veruk.  Literally the only thing he can contribute is his hero spell, since the goblins have a ranged attack.  It's not much at all, but it does make a difference over the course of the map - enough to keep him out of 'D' territory, at least.  Although I will say a surprising factor in how well this map goes is how often you get Demon Lords when you spawn reinforcements, since they have an AoE ranged attack that is highly effective.  Over the course of the map, which takes 4.5 to 5 minutes, I would think the law of large numbers would apply, but it could be that I just happened to get an above average number of Demon Lords that helped him out.

Final Grades

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

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - City of Rivers Iron

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - City of Rivers Heroic

Unlike last time, we got a real step up in difficulty for the heroic mode on this map.  Things get intense here.  Perhaps the biggest realization in the build is not to worry about trying to kill the High Sorcerers with damage, but just using the magic pot things to insta-kill them.  It gives less gold than killing them, but I don't know that trying to kill them with most heroes is realistic.  This also applies to the Nian in wave 1.  The top tier heroes can try to kill them, but for the others it's better to just use the pots on the middle lane to take out the first four that head for the northern exit.

And we haven't even talked about the Mogwai wave yet, which is the most difficult part of the map.  If you can survive this wave it's probably going to be a win, but man this one is difficult. What I show in the videos is the best solution I've found - the hero on the top lane, a Bone Flinger on the middle lane, and reinforcements on the bottom lane.  You're still going to have leaks, as the Bone Flinger isn't fully upgraded yet and reinforcements can't hold a lane by themselves (this might be one of the ultra-rare maps where the Demon Guards might be a better choice than the Hellion Tridents, but I didn't bother to test), but it saves you from having to play the game of trying to get Soul Impact to refresh almost instantly by killing enough Mogwai with it (which is what I tried to do at first with mixed results).

The rest of the map is difficult, but not exceptionally so. You have to group up the High Sorcerers in wave 4 for a pot kill, but other than that it's just about building out Bone Flingers to DPS everything down.

Impressions

Oloch yet again wears the dunce cap for his pitiful DPS.  I was a bit surprised to have to give Margosa and Mortemis 'B's for this map.  But while they do well in holding their lane on the Mogwai wave, the rest of the map didn't flow smoothly enough for me to justify giving them 'A's.

Final Grades

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

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - City of Rivers Heroic

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - City of Rivers Campaign

I really like this level.  Unlike Ancient Gate, you can't cheese it by setting up chokepoints before the rivers, making you think long and hard about the Mogwai.  It took me a little bit to figure out the right build strategy.  My first thought on going all-in with Bone Flingers was "this will never work", but it turned out to be the right strategy (plus a single Shadow Archer with insta-kill on the bottom lane to take care of the High Sorcerers).

Even with this build though it keeps you on your toes.  The multiple waves of Arcane Magi accompanied by all sorts of different units can get out of hand quickly.  The Magi seem to get off teleport chains very easily on this map, and you can quickly find a couple of Nian teleported from the entrance to 75% of the way down the path in the blink of an eye.  It's a good exercise in managing resources (Soul Impact, hero spells, and reinforcements) and knowing which waves to early call and which to let time out. 

Impressions

You need a few specific things from your hero on this map:

1. Help contain the Mogwai before they reach water
2. Efficiently burn down the Nian before they can break through your chokepoint and reach water
3. Move from hotspot to hotspot across the map

Hmmm, which hero would have the hardest time with all that?  Yeah, it's Oloch, who takes the lone 'C'.  With his slow attack he's not much help with the Mogwai (be prepared to use Seal of Isolation), his magical DPS is already low and further curtailed against the magic-resistance Nian, and of course he's slow as molasses, taking forever to move around the map.

You'd think Mortemis and Jigou would similarly fare poorly here due to their slow speed (and Mortemis' magical DPS), but they have other strengths that help make up for it, so they only get 'B's.  Veruk and Asra get 'B's as well for being bottom-tier heroes, and everyone else gets an 'A'.

Final Grades

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

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - City of Rivers Campaign

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Ancient Gate Iron

After being introduced in the campaign mode, I felt certain that the iron mode was going to revolve around Mogwai, and I was right.  It's an interesting setup at least - hordes of Mogwai try to overwhelm your chokepoint with numbers, while a few Nian are thrown in to wear down your blockers.  Losing even a single blocker could be the difference in a couple of Mogwai slipping through and hitting the water, after which it might well be game over.

But when you're given an OP tower like Twilight Harassers most problems like this disappear.  I'll admit, it's on the border of what the Harassers can handle, but with proper support from your hero, their hero spell, and reinforcements, the job gets done unless you get some really bad RNG.  Iron modes like this are what I like to call a palate cleanser - a refreshing change from campaign and heroic modes while being mildly challenging enough to be interesting. 

Impressions

It's really about whether your hero has the DPS to bring down things efficiently so your Harassers don't get too overwhelmed.  As such, Veruk and Oloch get unsurprising 'B's while everyone else gets 'A's.

Final Grades

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

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Ancient Gate Iron

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Ancient Gate Heroic

After a good run of heroic modes we return to a rather blah one that feels like just a condensed version of the campaign mode.  All the same lessons and strategies apply here, except you do need to use some barracks to deal with the Mogwai rush wave.  Certainly things can still go crossways on you with some really bad RNG, but coming off campaign mode it feels like a step down in difficulty.

Impressions

No different than campaign mode, your hero just needs to provide a little chokepoint support, which everyone does adequately.  As such, the grades are identical to campaign mode.

Final Grades

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

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Ancient Gate Heroic

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

After the disappointment of Ancient Ghosts iron, we head into the final elite mini-campaign.  For some unfathomable reason Ironhide changed the numbering so that Cursed Bargain is actually last now based on the map numbering, which annoys me.

This map feels like we're getting a breather, as it's pretty easy.  There are some interesting tricks the game tries to play here - the Mogwai multiplying when they hit water, coupled with Arcane Magi who can teleport them forward on the path to get them there sooner.  However, setting up choke points prior to the first river generally shuts this all down.

Overall it's a fairly easy map, but one in which it's possible for things to go sideways quickly.  Sometimes the Arcane Magi happen to get a teleport chain going where one teleports some mobs forward to where another Magus is, who immediately teleports them again.  These can get mobs past your chokepoint, requiring a bit of scrambling to manage the situation.

Impressions

Your hero just needs to be able to help hold the line of your chokepoint, so everyone does adequately well here.  'B's for our trio of weaklings, 'A's for everyone else.

Final Grades

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

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Ancient Gate Campaign

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - The Ancient Ghosts Iron

Well, all good things must come to an end, as they say.  When I started my Kingdom Rush Origins Impossible Hero Challenge my grading scheme included the possibility of 'F's, which meant that I just couldn't finish a map with that hero.  When I started out I thought for sure I would ultimately end up with some 'F's, as some of the heroes were pretty awful.  But challenge after challenge, I kept finding a way to win with even the worst heroes.  Even if it took many, many tries I ultimately managed to get a win and squeak a hero by with a 'D' every time.  There were times when I despaired and thought it wasn't going to happen, like on Beheader's Seat Iron, but eventually with enough attempts I got the RNG to break my way enough to do it.  The end result was that I never had to hand out an 'F' in Origins.

Once I got started in Vengeance and realized how much they had nerfed the difficulty here I never even thought about the possibility of 'F's.  For the longest time I wasn't sure I was even going to need to hand out any 'D's.  Then we got to the elite bonus campaigns and the difficulty shot up to more what I was used to from previous games.  Still, heroes were generally getting by with at least 'C's, and I retained my confidence that everything would be fine.

As we rounded third with the Cursed Bargain mini-campaign and home plate was in sight with only the latest Rise of the Dragon campaign left, my confidence remained high.  Yes, these maps were kind of nightmares to do with Oloch and Mortemis due to the prevalence of high magic resistance enemies, but I still managed to do it.  Even the quite difficult campaign and heroic modes for the final map succumbed to my persistence.  Then we got to the iron mode.

What are you supposed to do here?  You have only two enemy types: Liches and Haunted Skeletons, who have 90% and 80% magic resistance respectively, making both Oloch and Mortemis pretty much completely useless aside from their hero spells, and you just don't have enough resources here for a hero-less win.  At first I gave up hope of ever completing it with either of them.

I posted a challenge to the KR Reddit to see if anyone could beat this map with them.  Thankfully, user Safe_Activity came through and posted this video of him winning with Mortemis.  It took many tries on my part, but I was able finally to replicate it.  His strategy of building a Bone Flinger in the middle where it could cover both left and right sides proved the key improvement to the build I used in all the other videos.

Impressions

Sadly, no one has been able to replicate this feat with Oloch, and I firmly believe it's impossible (at least without 1-in-a-million kind of RNG).  As such, I have to hand out my first ever 'F'.  It's a sad, sad day for me.

This is hands down the hardest map I've done so far.  It's not easy even with physical DPS heroes.  You ideally need to use your hero to control one of the entrances, taking down Liches as soon as they appear.  Still, getting your towers to handle all the other lanes is not easy.

Mortemis of course gets a 'D', as it took me many, many tries before I was able to replicate Safe_Activity's win, and believe me, it is the most minus 'D-' ever - like only a millimeter above an 'F'.  While his ranged attack is largely useless, he does have a few things going for him.  His ability to raise zombies, both when enemies die and he dies, is great for stalling Liches until either Rotten Bodyguard or Soul Impact come off cooldown, which are really the only ways he can kill Liches.  His Call of the Haunted ability is also good for taking a Lich out of the fight momentarily.  Finally, his melee attack at least does physical damage, which does help ever so slightly.

Besides Mortemis I had to give Veruk and Asra 'D's as well, as I struggled mightily with them also, and felt the win came only with some good RNG.  Margosa surprisingly gets a 'B', but then everyone else get's 'A's.  I think this map more than any other emphasizes the difference between the top and bottom tier heroes.  When Veruk struggles to get a 'D' but half the heroes breeze through pretty easily with 'A's, you know the hero balance is way off.

I still hope someone can show that this is beatable with Oloch, but I'm not holding my breath.  While Mortemis has some abilities that still prove useful against the Liches, Oloch just doesn't.  Even his melee attack does magical damage, so he truly can't do any DPS.  Hellish Infusion and Magma Eruption are his only two abilities that can really help contribute, and they're very weak.  Seal of Isolation is almost counterproductive to use, as it just backs up the Liches and gives them more time to summon skeletons.

Final Grades

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

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - The Ancient Ghosts Iron