We jump straight from an ultra-trivial map that doesn't even require heroes into one of the hardest challenges we've faced so far. This one is just shy of being as hard as Ma'qwa Urqu iron, but it still gives it a run for its money, so let's break this beast down.
Your first idea might logically be to go all-in with Mechas as we did in campaign mode, but a little experimentation will show that it just doesn't work, for reasons we'll discuss shortly. So we're going to have to go with a more conventional solution.
The first step in conquering this map then is realizing the difference in the enemy compositions between the right and left paths. The left path is solely Gorillons, Poukai Riders, and Savage Hunters, while the right path is all the other types of Savages. This immediately suggests we need different solutions on each side - AoE on the right, and high single-target damage on the left.
On the right side we might still be tempted to go with Mechas, since they just finished proving how ridiculously overpowered they are, but they're actually not the right choice here. The map is limited to level 4 upgrades, which means artillery towers don't have the Shock and Awe stun-on-hit chance. This is a large part of what makes Mechas so powerful since they hit so frequently, but here it means we're not going to get the stalling power we need. Thus a better solution is a DWAARP / Necromancer combo.
The left side is the real nightmare of this map. Poukai Riders means an AoE solution is out (otherwise we could just go with DWAARPs with Core Drill to take down the Gorillons). No one does single-target DPS better than the Archmage Tower, so that's what we need to roll with. However, managing the Poukais is still a bit of a nightmare. In particular there's a very tricky transition point between waves 2 and 3. Generally you end up with a Gorillon who's nearing the end of your defenses with a few Poukai Riders behind him. When wave 3 pops it has to be instantly called to refresh Rain of Fire, which then has to be used either to finish off the Gorillon or - more often - carefully targeted to eliminate the Poukai.
There's a lot of RNG that goes into this map, and while the plan is fairly straightforward early on, by the middle you're really having to pay attention to both sides to decide where to devote resources. Are reinforcements better used on the left to stall Gorillons, or on the right to stall Blood Tricksters? Depending on how things are going left versus right will also determine which side the next build upgrade goes on. It's really not until wave 6 starts that things are finally under control and you can be confident that there are not going to be leaks on either side.
Instances like the wave 2-3 transition mentioned above make this a map that really stretches you in terms of your micro, which is fairly rare in the series. On that note I'd like to point out a subtlety from the videos that might not be completely obvious. You'll notice that when I place reinforcements to stall Gorillons, I always place them behind the Gorillon. As long as they're still in blocking range (and I do mess that up a few times in the videos) they'll walk over to block the Gorillon. However, it can take upwards of a second for that to happen, and during that time the Gorillon is frozen in place. In addition, because they're moving they generally can't be hit by Poukai Riders or Savage Hunters. It might not seem like much, but eking out that extra second with every reinforcement placement adds up to a lot over the course of the map.
This was an incredibly hard map to grade. Because of the prevalence of ranged enemies on the left side, it makes sense to commit the hero fully to the right side in taking down the Savages. However, there's still a lot of RNG here as well, and even good heroes sometimes allowed leaks (especially if bad RNG on the left side meant reinforcements needed to be sent there instead of dealing with Blood Tricksters). Because of that, I've decided to take the somewhat unprecedented step of giving every hero a 'B', even if on their video it looks like they didn't have any particular trouble. I'm only making two exceptions - Sha'tra and Bonehart.
Sha'tra's Abduction ability changes the game entirely, allowing you to start out with the right side basically fully developed while he takes care of the Gorillons solo. You still have to build Crossbow Forts to deal with the Poukai, but it can be delayed until after the map start. Ultimately this means you can be confident both sides are locked down, even though I honestly screwed up a few of his Abduction timings over the course of the map.
As for Bonehart, he's the only hero powerful enough to feel confident that the right side is truly locked down and not subject to bad RNG. The left side still is, but that's not the fault of the hero. So ultimately this turned out to be a bit of a weird map, but overall a very satisfying challenge.
Final Grades
- Alric - B
- Mirage - B
- Captain Blackthorne - B
- Cronan - B
- Bruxa - B
- Nivus - B
- Dierdre - B
- Grawl - B
- Sha'tra - A
- Ashbite - B
- Karkinos - B
- Kutsao - B
- Dante - B
- Bonehart - A
- Kahz - B
- Saitam - B
No comments:
Post a Comment