So I will say that Ironhide is beginning to live up to the promise of this DLC, that it "has a high difficulty level" as the map screens say. What we have here is some true nightmare fuel - hordes of Nomads backed by a couple of Djinnis. It took a long time to get the build right for this one, and believe me, it has to be exactly right.
I will admit this is actually the first time I've ever used the Shaolin Temple. As you probably know, for my Impossible Hero Challenge I'm committed to using towers that are free on mobile only, so prior to now I've never really had a motivation to use it. Now that I have I can finally say, wow, it really sucks.
So we're stuck with two of the worst towers in the game to take down wave upon wave of Nomads. The build here is extremely important. First, it's just not possible like in campaign or normal mode to build a central chokepoint where the paths diverge - the Nomads that enter the map right at the lower exit make that a nonstarter. That means we have to have separate chokepoints at each exit, which strains our resources. The Shaolin Temple just does not have the DPS to deal with so many mobs, so we have to rely on Goblirangs [shudder] to provide pseudo-AoE damage.
The Dragon Warrior upgrade for the Temples is also paramount, as every possible body is needed to stall the Nomads inside the Goblirangs range for as long as possible. Without them they would just walk straight out the exits. The final piece to the puzzle is the single un-upgraded Goblirang on the right. This exists solely to eat up the Djinnis' towers-to-sand power so that it doesn't get used on our actual DPS towers.
Impressions
I appreciate maps like this that shake up the normal order. Shockingly I had to hand out a 'D' to Margosa, and as you know if you've been following this challenge, 'D's are very rare in Vengeance. The truth is though she just brings very little to this map. As a melee character she really can't DPS the Nomads - their dodge ability means they're constantly moving out of range. And if she can't hit them, she also can't heal, which means their ranged attack can take her down very quickly. Obviously there's nothing she can do against the Djinnis either, so she's stuck contributing extremely little, and it took a lot of luck to get the win with her.
Because of the melee problem Veruk earns a 'C' for this one as well. He can't hit the Nomads either, but his ability to put canon fodder on the field to stall the Nomads at least brings him up from 'D' level. Mortemis, despite being ranged, earns a 'C' also, as the Nomads can take down his zombies too quickly for them to be really useful, and the Rotten Bodyguard as a melee character can't do much either.
Asra takes a 'B' because she's Asra, but everyone else earns 'A's - and yes, that even means Oloch! For once Seal of Isolation actually comes in clutch as an ability. Since the Djinnis come in from the far right and move so slowly, he can actually stall them indefinitely at the entrance allowing the towers to take care of the Nomads first. The Djinnis are really the only thing making the Nomads very dangerous here - their ability to eliminate your blocking units, which are the only things keeping the Nomads from just running out the exits. I checked and this is only the second time Oloch has earned an 'A' on a non-trivial map, the first being Silveroak Outpost Heroic, which was our very first map with grades in this challenge.
Final Grades
- Veruk - C
- Asra - B
- Oloch - A
- Margosa - D
- Mortemis - C
- Tramin - A
- Jigou - A
- Beresad - A
- Doom Tank SG-11 - A
- Jun'pai - A
- Eiskalt - A
- Murglun - A
- Dianyun - A
- Jack O'Lantern - A
- Grosh - A
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