Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Port Tortuga Campaign

We finally arrive at the bonus campaigns, and they do a good job of dialing up both the challenge and the fun.  The Greenfins and Redspines introduced here aren't much to worry about, but the major unit introduced is the Blacksurge.  In a top 10 list for most annoying enemy in the whole Kingdom Rush franchise, these guys certainly make a play for the top spot.  Really though it's just about adjusting build strategy accordingly.  These guys beg you to use Mechas, since disabling the Mecha tower doesn't actually prevent the Mecha from firing.  And of course we're all about the Mecha spam already, so we just dial up that for our solution.  The other annoying thing about them is their ability to become damage immune and regenerate, but you just have to accept that - absent an insta-kill solution - you just have to wait until they get close enough to the exit that they can't use that ability anymore and let your final chokepoint take them down.

The only other subtlety to this map is figuring out the build order.  Because of the second exit lane at the bottom, it makes most sense to set up a chokepoint for the first half of the map at the bridge, so that the Mechas there can take on all enemies regardless of which lane they're on.  Afterwards we set up a second chokepoint at the east exit to handle the enemies that start coming from the northwest sea lane.

The only other point of importance is that it turns out it's better to build Mechas but not give them Wasp Missiles right away.  Due to the dynamics of the map, it just plays much better getting multiple Mechas up as soon as possible and adding missiles later.

As with most Mecha-spam solutions, we don't ask a lot of our heroes.  As such it's mostly 'A's across the board.  The lone exception is Mirage.  Her low DPS just means that there's more pressure on the chokepoint, which means she allows a few leaks that have to be cleaned up.  She still does fine, but just not as smoothly as the other heroes, and that is the definition of a 'B'.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - Port Tortuga Campaign

Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Emberspike Depths Iron

Sadly we finish up the main campaign maps with a whimper instead of a bang.  After a nicely challenging heroic mode, iron mode just doesn't take nearly as much effort.  There are multiple potential ways of dealing with it, and we could have gone our normal Mecha spam route, but I just particularly liked the idea of filling every build spot with Crossbow Forts.  The result is a map that is almost completely self working, needing very minimal micro and almost no hero support.  So no hero grades for this one, but I'm really looking forward to the elite campaigns.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - Emberspike Depths Iron

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Excavation Gateway Heroic

We continue on to heroic mode, which I feel is actually a step up in difficulty from campaign mode - not something I've been able to say all that often in Vengeance.  Still, once the build is perfected micro has a bigger impact on the final result than the heroes.

Impressions

The grades decline slightly compared to campaign mode.  Even more so than campaign mode, a key ingredient here for the heroes is having the DPS to swiftly take down the Velociraptors.  They come quickly one after another, so it's key to take one down before the next one arrives - and it also minimizes the chance that they can kill a blocker and lay an egg.  Sadly Asra and Oloch come up short in that regard, and this map really highlights their lack of DPS, so they get 'C's.  Veruk's DPS is nothing great either, but his superior blocking and stalling ability at least earn him a 'B'.

Besides our mobile-free trio, the only other non-'A' is a surprising 'B' from Margosa.  While she certainly has the DPS we're looking for, what makes her performance lack the smoothness we look for in 'A's is the fact that her hero spell can't help with the other exit lane.  There really isn't much time or opportunity for heroes to lane-dance on this map, as usually both chokepoints are under assault at the same time, so hero spells which can help out the other chokepoint turn out to be fairly important - even the underwhelming ones like Jigou's.  Margosa is very much a "Me, myself, and I" kind of character, and normally that's not a problem, but here it does cost her a grade.

Final Grades

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

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Excavation Gateway Heroic

Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Emberspike Depths Heroic

We get a pretty serious challenge on this map, and while the challenge only slightly falls on our heroes' shoulders, it's still a fun map that requires a good build plan and solid micro.  The key realization here is that it's more effective to push chokepoints towards the entrances so we're only having to defend two lanes instead of three.  This does cause some issues with the Saurian Nightblades (and to a lesser extent the Darters) since they can slip past an early chokepoint, but thankfully there are not many of them and we can plan our micro around it accordingly.

I appreciate maps like this because they show that, while the Mecha certainly is OP, it's not OP enough to trivialize the entire game.  Certain challenges can be hard enough to warrant a more diverse strategy, and this is one.  Necromancer towers as always generate blockers without us having to invest in Barracks, and also provide crucial DPS against flying units.  The right side is the only side Nightblades appear from (aside from any summoned by Savants), so a DWAARP with Furnace Blast is the better choice here initially to help minimize that threat.  After that of course we spam Mechas like there's no tomorrow, because they're the best DPS choice for high-swarm maps like this.

Micro is fairly important on this map as well.  Our Rain of Fire cooldown is carefully managed and every use is planned for maximum effect.  For reinforcements, the choice of which side to place them on is also carefully planned, at least up until wave 5, by which point things are largely under control and the win is pretty much guaranteed.  It also behooves us to try to use our heroes as much as possible to help out with the Saurian Savants.  They're the greatest threat on this map, since up to three can appear at once if they're not dealt with quickly, and even Mecha spam has a hard time keeping up with that many summoned mobs.

Speaking of our heroes, besides the Savants we again have a case where largely all we're asking from them is just a little additional blocking and DPS support, as well as handling the occasional leak.  Pretty much all heroes do this well enough, although I do feel I need to give 'B's to Mirage and Dierdre.  They allowed a few more leaks than all the other heroes, so I had to work slightly harder with them to keep things contained.  I won't bother writing out the usual grade list since it's simple like this, though.

I'm getting really excited now, because we just have to get through iron mode and we'll be into the elite campaigns, where I feel like the challenges will really start separating the heroes out into distinct tiers.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - Emberspike Depths Heroic

Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Emberspike Depths Campaign

At long last we arrive at the final map of the main campaign, and this one really tests our strategic chops.  Sadly, however, it doesn't really test our heroes.  After coming up with this build plan, all that's asked of our heroes is a little chokepoint support and maybe helping out with some stragglers.  They don't even help out all that much with the boss, since they tend to get killed by him if sent toe to toe.  More importantly than that, the real determination of how hard this map is is the RNG involved with the boss himself, but we'll get to that in a bit.

Once again Mecha spam is our path forward, but it's a little more complicated this time around.  For one, there are three exit lanes, and that's a bit much to ask Wasp Missiles to cover, especially considering we only can start out with one fully-upgraded Mecha.  So we have to throw in some level 1 Barracks to make honest to goodness chokepoints and hold up the enemy.  We move the troops all the way up towards the center at the beginning (but not where they'll get hit by Malagar) to minimize the area we have to defend, then pull them back farther down the paths when wave 8 starts to make sure they pick up Saurian Nightscales coming out of invisibility.

Once the barracks plan is worked out, it's just a matter of spamming Mechas - to a point.  I played around with the balance of the boss battle, and what I settled on was a total of six Mechas, then switching to building four Crossbow Forts with Barrage.  This allowed me to save up over 2,000 gold for the boss battle and replacing destroyed towers.  I tried spamming Mechas all the way through wave 15, in the hope that if I just built enough it would be enough for the fight regardless of how many he destroyed.  It worked, but not as reliably as I liked, so this was the build I settled on.

It's absolutely worth filling all the remaining build points - even the ones you have to clear - with level 1 archer towers, as it saves you so much money and offense if Umbra destroys one of these instead.  In fact, during the boss battle you should rebuild a level 1 archer tower as soon as he destroys a tower, because he can actually target that build point again later.

Umbra destroying your towers is what introduces so much RNG into the boss battle that completely outweighs any differences in the heroes.  Even if you do everything right, if he goes exclusively after your Mechas it can still end in a loss even if you do everything else right.  So no grades for this one, but I'm excited that we're nearly to the elite bonus campaigns, as they are some of the most fun and challenging maps in the whole KR series.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - Emberspike Depths Campaign

Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - The Dark Descent Iron

As I've mentioned in the past, it's been a long time since I last played Frontiers significantly (two years, according to my YouTube channel), so I've forgotten a lot about it in the meantime.  One of the things I had forgotten is that the game is geared far more towards build strategy and micro than heroes.  It's taken a bit to get used to this, as I started my Impossible Hero Challenge series with Origins, where your hero makes a huge difference in your overall performance.  All that to say that we yet again have a map where it's all about build strategy and micro (placement of reinforcements and Rain of Fire use), and the heroes just don't make enough of a difference to warrant grades.  Thankfully we're nearly done with the main campaign, and I know that the elite bonus campaigns have a severe spike in difficulty, so hopefully we'll have some grade-worthy maps there.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - The Dark Descent Iron

Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - The Dark Descent Heroic

There's just no stopping us, as we knock out yet another map with no challenge to our heroes.  As with some of the other recent maps, it did take a hot minute to figure out the right upgrade order and Rain of Fire usage, but once those are down, all the heroes do adequately in holding back the Saurians enough for the build to take care of the rest.  I will say what I've said before though: even though Frontiers is turning out to have many trivial maps like Vengeance, I'm still having so much more fun doing these maps.  Frontiers just has the elusive Fun Factor that Vengeance did not.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - The Dark Descent Heroic

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Excavation Gateway Campaign

I try to get out, and they pull me back in.  I was quite happy to be done with Vengeance for good after redoing the entire game with Dianyun, but then what drops out of nowhere?  Ironhide decides to add a fourth elite campaign and a new hero!  Now not only do I have to do these three new maps, but I have to replay the entire game again.  My only hope is that the new hero, Grosh, is powerful like Dianyun and can faceroll everything.

But that's all in the future.  Right now I'm just focusing on completing the new levels with the existing heroes, since Grosh doesn't unlock until the last map.  Here we have the first campaign mode, and it was decently challenging for our low-tier heroes.

Impressions

The only real strugglers here were Oloch and Asra.  Of the new enemies, the Prehistoric Dwarves seem like a big threat but really aren't.  It's the velociraptors that really put the pressure on your chokepoint.  Their high speed, high damage, and ability to multiply can cause things to go quagmire pretty quickly - at least for the low-end heroes.  It was only Oloch and Asra who struggled here, due to their low DPS and lack of real blocking ability.  Asra is not so bad and just earns a 'B' for requiring a bit more effort to get the win, and Oloch takes a 'C' for being overall garbage.  Everyone else handles things just fine.

Final Grades

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

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Excavation Gateway Campaign

Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - The Dark Descent Campaign

The difficulty ramped up slightly on this map.  It challenges our build skills and our micro, but ultimately not our heroes.  It took a little bit of doing to find the right upgrade path to handle the flying enemies (the only real threats on the map).  You can't just Mecha-spam this one - the Dwarven Bastions need to be upgraded slightly at one point to handle the Saurian Quetzals.  Then as far as micro, there's one point in wave 8 where we have to use Rain of Fire to strategically take out a Saurian Quetzal just as it's flying over some Myrmidons.  That's the only real challenge here, and by the time we start building DWAARPs to take on the rest of the enemies it's already over.  We could have continued building more Mechas, but DWAARPs actually make things go a little faster - especially with Core Drill to take down the Saurian Brutes towards the end.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - The Dark Descent Campaign

Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Beresad's Lair Iron

It's been years since I did my Frontiers walkthrough series, so I don't necessarily remember all the restrictions the iron modes have off hand.  This one earned a disdainful smirk when I looked at it for the first time in years.  Artillery in an iron mode?  It's like they're begging us to use Mechas - in fact, you have to, considering they're the only tower available that can target flying enemies.  So we spam Mechas once again and there's nothing interesting worth talking about here.  More easy 'A's for our heroes, and we soldier on.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - Beresad's Lair Iron