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

There's not a whole lot to say about this one - or rather, I don't want to say much about it in order to contain my seething rage.  It's largely a redux of campaign mode, with the same frustration that you need to keep your blockers at least somewhat alive.  However, the constant stream of Deathcoils makes that a tall order.  The solution is to go all-in with DWAARPs.  Once you get a few rolling with Furnace Blast it takes care of them and everything for the rest of the level, but until then you're stuck just watching your hero, dwarves, and reinforcements die constantly.

This map is particularly evil in that even if you try to send your hero and reinforcements after a Deathcoil, most likely another one is about to enter the map and immediately start sniping them.  This constant drip of Deathcoils continually covering one another is particularly rage-inducing.

We have to give all heroes 'A's again, again not because the map is easy, but because there's nothing much for them to do.  I forgot to explicitly mention it in the campaign mode entry, but part of the strategy here is to deliberately place your hero below the dwarves.  The dwarves will then be closer to the Deathcoils, making them target the dwarves first instead of your hero.  This allows your hero to actually do a bit of their job in blocking and DPS mobs that make it to the chokepoint, but as with campaign mode, there's not enough of it that it really makes a difference which hero you use.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - Darklight Depths Heroic

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

Welcome to the most trash map in the entire game.  Why is it trash?  Well my friend, trash has a name, and that name is Saurian Deathcoils.

In the Dusk Chateau campaign entry we talked about the problem Frontiers has with unfair and unfun enemies, like Blacksurges and Vampiresas.  But all of those have absolutely nothing on the Deathcoils.  What do you even say about a unit that can snipe your melee units with powerful shots from halfway across the map?  They're meant to make heroes, reinforcements, and melee towers largely useless, but there's a reason they're truly infuriating.

We've had several iron modes where melee towers aren't allowed, and in the original Kingdom Rush many iron modes didn't allow heroes either.  So the issue isn't that Deathcoils basically disallow melee units - we're used to it (reinforcements excepted).  No, the issue here is that you have to have melee units, but you have the stupidly annoying challenge of trying to keep them alive just enough to do their job.

With only two build points right at the exit and three entry lanes nearby (two where the Saurians climb up the walls and the one on the left where the Saurian Razorwings appear), you just don't have enough for a pure DPS solution to keep mobs from escaping (and let's just mention how annoying it is you can't sell the Dwarven Hall that's forced upon you).  So you really need your hero, reinforcements, and the Dwarves to hold down the fort, but only a bit of blocking is all that's needed.  As long as units get stalled for a few moments, the two Mechas near the exit can take care of anything that gets that far.  But with multiple Deathcoils sniping your units left and right, the constant danger is that all your blockers go down, letting mobs slip through to the exit.

So the challenge on this map is to find the build that can take out the Deathcoils as quickly as possible.  Besides them this map doesn't introduce anything new compared to the Saurian levels in the main campaign, and if you recall, all we had to do with those levels was spam Mechas.  So if not for the Deathcoils we could do the same here and call it a day.

I will say I spent quite some time experimenting with different builds to try to find the best solution.  You would naturally think that an AoE solution would be best, since you can't count on archer or mage towers to always target the Deathcoils.  However, I tried both Mechas and DWAARPs, but in the end the rather shocking best solution was Archmage spam.

I will say that the build order and placement is pretty key here.  Building out Archmages the way that I do maximizes their ability to take out the Deathcoils before they make the turn where the two paths join, which is where they usually get in range of the melee units.  You still have to use Rain of Fire occasionally through wave 9 to keep things under control, but after that everything's golden.  There are no Deathcoils in waves 10 and 11, so you it gives you plenty of time to build out enough Archmages so that when they do reappear, there's more than enough DPS on the top of the map to take them out before they can become dangerous.

The Archmage spam also turns out to be ideal for taking down the boss, whose name I can't be bothered to look up (something like "Xxxyz" I think).  He appears solo for about 30 seconds before more mobs show up behind him, giving the Archmages plenty of time to wail on him.  Stalling him slightly with reinforcements means that usually he dies right around the time he makes it to where the paths join, so it's a pretty solid strategy.

So what does all this say for hero grades?  Well, just like the last map, Dusk Chateau iron, we have the odd situation of a very difficult map where the difficulty doesn't really change based on what hero you're using.  This is yet another reason this map is trash, as all your hero gets to do is stand around occasionally doing a bit of blocking and DPS, hopefully not dying too many times over the course of the map.  So I technically have to give everyone 'A's, even though this map is the opposite of trivial.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - Darklight Depths Campaign

Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Dusk Chateau Iron

The Shadowmoon campaign wraps up with one of those frustrating maps that's difficult, but yet the difficulty really doesn't vary based on which hero you're using.  As such, I have to give every hero an 'A', but that usually implies the map is trivial, which it isn't.  This is yet another example of how Frontiers is balanced around the build instead of your hero.

It's a pretty straightforward map despite the difficulty.  As with campaign mode, you generally have to go with physical damage on the left side and magical damage on the right.  The only subtlety is building one Mecha in the center so it can cover the right side as well when needed.  And again you have to micro Lucrezia to deal with Vampiresas, but it's not as demanding as previously.

The real challenge comes about two thirds of the way through when the Abominations appear.  You need to deal with the ones on the right side as quickly as possible so you can then pivot back to the left side before they get too close to the exit.  It's a pretty narrow window, and if the Rain of Fire goes badly or your hero or Lucrezia accidentally get killed it can turn into a loss pretty quickly, but once all the Abominations are dead the rest is easy.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - Dusk Chateau Iron

Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Dusk Chateau Heroic

For heroic mode we have a challenge, but not quite as brutal as campaign mode was.  The key to this map is to build in the lower center of the map so that Mechas can be repositioned to cover both lanes as needed.  There just isn't enough gold to build two separate, solid chokepoints on each lane.  Besides that we also adopt a very aggressive approach to going after the Abominations, trying to jam up a lot of them at the castle gates to avoid our defenses getting overwhelmed down the road.

Impressions

Most everyone does well here, as things just aren't as intense as campaign mode was.  Cronan moves up to an 'A' for this map because of his good stalling ability, which is what's most needed from our heroes here.  However, unlike campaign mode we do also need some decent DPS as well this time around to help get the Abominations out as fast as possible.  For that reason Dierdre and Grawl swap grades from campaign mode.  Dierdre took a surprising 'A' there while Grawl earned a 'B' for his mobility problems.  But this map doesn't require nearly as much mobility as that one, and Grawl has a much better balance between stalling and DPSing than Dierdre.

This is another of those maps where Sha'tra's Abduction ability really shines.  The ability to take out an extra Abomination really helps, and he earns an 'A' after a 'B' in campaign mode.  Ashbite similarly redeems himself with an 'A' here.  He still can't block, but here his superior DPS does in fact make up for it, as is normally the case with him.

Besides that, Karkinos and Kutsao step up to 'A's from campaign mode.  Kahz earns a 'B' here - his issues are still a problem, but not quite so bad as campaign mode was.  And finally poor Saitam just can't catch a break.  His DPS is just far too low, and it really shows here.

Final Grades

• Alric - A
• Mirage - B
• Captain Blackthorne - A
• Cronan - A
• Bruxa - A
• Nivus - B
• Dierdre - B
• Grawl - A
• Sha'tra - A
• Ashbite - A
• Karkinos - A
• Kutsao - A
• Dante - A
• Bonehart - A
• Kahz - B
• Saitam - B

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - Dusk Chateau Heroic

Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Dusk Chateau Campaign

This map is the culmination of everything we've faced in the previous Shadowmoon maps.  Not only does hero micro get cranked up yet another notch, now we have the added complication of having to manage Lucrezia.

Frontiers has a real problem with enemies that are just plain unfair and not fun to face.  Blacksurges definitely fall in that category, and here we have another in the Vampiresas.  There are two main problems with them.  First is the pitiful bounty you get for killing them - 15 gold is a joke for an enemy this powerful.  Second is the fact that you largely have to rely on Lucrezia in order to kill them.

I'm sure these two things are related.  If they gave a decent bounty (which should be at least 30 gold, if not 50), it would probably be too easy to crank out Mechas to deal with them (which is the only reliable non-Lucrezia way to manage them).  But for whatever reason, Ironhide decided that a secondary hero should be absolutely vital to the strategy on this stage.

While there are several challenging waves of Vampiresas, wave 8 is by far the worst.  Earlier waves have smaller, more manageable numbers, and by later waves you have enough Mechas to help handle them, but wave 8 is the make-or-break.  You have to develop a rhythm of holding back Lucrezia to make sure her Slayer attack is on cooldown, group up the Vampiresas with other blockers, bring her in to drop Slayer and kill them all, then move to the other lane to rinse and repeat.  But the micro has to be pretty precise - if you waste even a single Slayer attack that doesn't kill at least the majority of Vampiresas on a single lane, things can go downhill very fast.

Unfortunately the need to manage Lucrezia in no way diminishes the need to micro your main hero as well.  Yet again, mobility is a huge hero metric for heroes on this map.  They'll need to lane dance quite a bit, at least for the first half of the map.

The other main subtlety to the build here is the blocking solution.  The large number of Vampiresas - as well as Phantom Warriors - are what make Necromancers virtually required on this stage, as skeletons are immune to the both the Vampiresas' and Phantom Warriors' life draining attacks.  We do use a couple of level 1 barracks on each lane just to help towards the beginning with Zombies and Ghouls, but our Necromancers are the real workhorses for this map.

Impressions

Grades here follow the pattern they largely have for the rest of this elite campaign.  Due to the mobility requirements of the map, Grawl takes yet another 'B', while Dierdre earns another 'A' despite this being one of the toughest maps in the game.  As with Desecrated Grove, Ashbite earns another 'B' as his inability to block is yet again a real hindrance.

The rest of the heroes fall into a fairly unsurprising 'A' / 'B' mix.  But once again, Kahz earns the dunce cap with a 'C'.  Even more than Desecrated Grove, this map shows how unreliable his Bull Rush ability makes him.  And when you're desperately trying to hold back half a dozen Vampiresas while waiting for Lucrezia's Slayer to come off cooldown, you'll swear it seems like it's going off every three seconds.  Daedalus' Maze is annoying as well, as he seems to have a penchant for pulling Phantom Warriors from the Archmage-heavy right side over to the Mecha-focused left side.

Final Grades

• Alric - A
• Mirage - B
• Captain Blackthorne - A
• Cronan - B
• Bruxa - A
• Nivus - B
• Dierdre - A
• Grawl - B
• Sha'tra - B
• Ashbite - B
• Karkinos - B
• Kutsao - B
• Dante - A
• Bonehart - A
• Kahz - C
• Saitam - B

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - Dusk Chateau Campaign

Kingdom Rush Frontiers (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Desecrated Grove Iron

I think this map is the best demonstration in the game of how the game is balanced.  All our heroes earn 'A's here, but that belies the difficulty involved.  That's really been the story of this Impossible Hero Challenge - Frontiers is balanced around your tower build, not your heroes.  There have been several maps that were extremely challenging in terms of getting the build right, but once you do, pretty much any of the heroes can pull it off.  Contrast this with Origins, where tower power was dialed back some and your choice of hero has a much, much bigger impact on the difficulty (also due in no small part to the addition of hero spells).

Here it's all about surviving waves of Lycans and Werewolves with only melee and archer towers.  Fortunately Crossbow Forts provide plenty of DPS, it's really just about stalling the enemies with blockers long enough for them to do their job.  The only subtlety to this map is the necessity of killing Jack O'Lantern as many times as possible for the extra gold to get upgrades out as soon as possible.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers Impossible Hero Challenge - Desecrated Grove Iron