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