This is the final party composition for this challenge. Based on what came before, I had a good feeling that we wouldn't end this challenge on a sour note, and indeed, the combination of a solid melee character in Bravebark, an S tier controller like the Zapper, and a magic user who turns out to be better than I initially thought gets work done as well as any of the other parties.
I wouldn't rank Bravebark as the best melee character, but he is still a solid tank who can also put out some solid damage. One of his best attributes is that most of his abilities are not full actions. As I've said before, melee characters need a lot more mobility than what they get, and saddling them with a bunch of full action abilities is just pouring salt in the wound. Now the flip side to that is that Bravebark's shtick is supposed to be rooting himself, which enables several epic abilities. I can see the idea the devs had was that Bravebark would wade into the thick of battle, root himself, then deal epic damage to enemies that swarm him while his regeneration ability kept him alive, allowing other party members to do their thing while he tanks. However, it simply does not work out that way. Having more than two enemies wailing on you in melee is a death sentence for most any character in this game, and his +2 regeneration (only below 6 health!) isn't going to keep him alive for squat. He still gets good work done though ignoring the rooting mechanic.
As for the Zapper, I would honestly rate him as the best character in the whole game. He is the king of control, and controlling enemies is largely what this game is about. With two stunning abilities and an absolutely ludicrous rooting ability in Magnetic Trap he controls the battlefield completely. Couple that with a basic attack that does 4 magic damage with a range of 4 and he is clutch beyond belief. I raved about the Bombardier in the last entry, but she's honestly a little rough at level 1. The Zapper has no such problems, being able to take down all lesser enemies at good range right from the get-go when starting an adventure. When he is in the party I pretty much always promote him to rank 3 before any other character. Magnetic Trap is just flat out unfair.
And on the reverse side of things, we have the Witch Doctor. Now my experience with this challenge is that he's not as bad as I initially believed. He's largely a heal bot, but in-battle healing is rarely needed in this game and out-of-battle healing sources are usually abundant, so his usefulness is limited. He's especially rough at level 1. With a range of 3 he can't attack 2 movement enemies with impunity like the Zapper, and if he moves he loses a point of damage. However, he does get good damage and range bonuses as he ranks up, and at rank 3 he can do some pretty good work, sniping casters on the back line with ease. But are you really going to make getting him to rank 3 a priority over other characters? His abilities at ranks 2 and 3 are very underwhelming, so you're largely ranking him up just to get him a good basic attack. In this playthrough I often did, just because rank 3 doesn't do much for Bravebark and can be skipped if necessary. Still, while I'm still debating his final ranking, he's definitely near the bottom overall.
Legends of Kingdom Rush Hero Challenge - Bravebark, Zapper, Witch Doctor
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