Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 14. Corruption Valley Campaign

This is one of those maps where I waited too long between recording the videos and writing up this blog post. I did write the opening paragraph of the Impressions session at the time, and I've learned to record grades as I go now, but other than that everything is a bit fuzzy being a few weeks old.  Still, this was a fun and certainly challenging campaign mode.  I'm not going to deny I'm really starting to sweat as we get close to the end of the campaign.

Impressions

This one was really hard to grade, as the micro needed for this map is very intense.  You absolutely need to know how to maximize your heroes' strengths and minimize their weaknesses, whether through slightly changing the build order, knowing when and where to use reinforcements, or in timing their hero spell.  It feels a lot harder to assign grades when how well I play is such a big factor in their overall performance.  Still, the grades are okay all around.  Raelyn and Grimson are 'C' tier for the usual reasons, and otherwise the grades aren't terribly surprising.

Final Grades

• Vesper - B
• Raelyn - C-
• Nyru - A
• Torres - B+
• Anya - B+
• Grimson - C+
• Broden - A+
• Therien - A
• Onagro - B
• Warhead - B
• Lumenir - A
• Kosmyr - A

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 14. Corruption Valley Campaign

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 13. Desecrated Temple Iron

We finish out this map with a rather fun iron mode.  It's still challenging, don't get me wrong, but it definitely has that indefinable quality that makes it a fun challenge instead of a frustrating one.

Part of what makes it interesting is that it's just constant chaos.  There's no hope of building a conventional choke point here, so it's very much a catch-as-catch-can experience.  This breaks up the monotony of normal maps where there's generally a consistent flow of the map from hero to hero.

Besides not having choke points, you're relying hard on the Darkray Towers to do the vast majority of the work.  But due to the chaotic nature of the map there's so much RNG in using them - do you get lucky when they do their final big laser attack that wipes out a whole lane of enemies, or does it get wasted on a single Glareling?

Impressions

The grades are fairly good here, with everyone getting 'A's and 'B's with the lone exception of Onagro.  Onagro's kit is decent, but his lack of mobility coupled with an inability to block is just a crippling flaw that keeps dragging down his grades.  I haven't done any calculations yet, but I'm certain he will finish in the bottom half at this point, and possibly uncomfortably close to last place.  Here's hoping that maybe he finds some redemption in some of the elite campaigns.

Final Grades

• Vesper - B-
• Raelyn - B-
• Nyru - B
• Torres - B-
• Anya - B-
• Grimson - A-
• Broden - A+
• Therien - A
• Onagro - C+
• Warhead - B
• Lumenir - A-
• Kosmyr - A-

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 13. Desecrated Temple Iron

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 13. Desecrated Temple Heroic

Once again I'm thankful for a heroic mode that actually increases the difficulty compared to campaign.  This one is tricky, and wave 6 is an absolute nightmare, with all the worst threats thrown at you at once.

You'll notice right off the bat that we begin by repairing the Darkray Tower, whereas in campaign mode we waited until late in the map to do so, mostly as insurance for getting the win.  It's the most effective way to deal with the Void Blinkers early on, as there's just not enough gold for a tower defense that can handle the big units on the bottom path, all the Mindless Husks, as well as the Blinkers.  And honestly it needs to stay repaired constantly throughout the map, as it's just not possible to build a leak-proof defense that doesn't require it.  This adds a huge element of stress to the gameplay, as you want it to be used as little possible so you can spend money on upgrading towers instead of constantly repairing it.

This is another of those maps where some of the micro strategy might not be completely obvious from the videos.  For instance, in wave 2 you absolutely must keep any Husks or Glarelings from moving from the top path down to the bottom path.  If they do, they might be the target of the Eldritch Channeler's Mutation Hex instead of the second Bladeclaw Horror.  If that happens it's a loss, as the bottom lane is relying on Mutation Hex to take care of all the Abominations and Horrors as there just aren't enough resources to take them down conventionally.

Impressions

The grades are a little bit lower than campaign mode, befitting the increased difficulty.  Raelyn takes a 'D' as clearing this map with her was an absolute nightmare.  I think it took 15 attempts to get the win, and that's 'D' territory for certain.  The challenging maps just continue to put a spotlight on her weaknesses.

Most of the rest of the grades are unsurprising, but Onagro's GPA sadly keeps sliding downward, and I don't expect things to improve as we go on.  This final act just prioritizes movement a lot - the Vile Spawner that appears when your attention is already fixed on a different lane, for example, and you need to get to it ASAP before things get out of hand.  While his DPS and abilities are fine, his movement speed is simply unreasonably slow.  Since he can't block he's basically like a flying hero, and when has there ever been a slow flying hero?  Okay, well there was Dianyun in Vengeance, but he made up for it by having a ludicrously large and powerful attack range.

Final Grades

• Vesper - B+
• Raelyn - D
• Nyru - B+
• Torres - B
• Anya - B
• Grimson - B+
• Broden - A+
• Therien - B-
• Onagro - C+
• Warhead - B
• Lumenir - A-
• Kosmyr - A

Kingdom Rush Alliance Impossible Hero Challenge - 13. Desecrated Temple Heroic