The fun ramps up a bit with this second level of the DLC thankfully. I'm always happy with any map that lets me go hard on Tricannons. This one has just the right amount of chaos to it, where I manage to get two Tricannons with Bombardment going, spraying absurd amounts of damage onto the field, but which are needed given the number of mobs thrown at you. To me it's a callback to the feel of the original Kingdom Rush game. In that game the ceiling on both the power of your build and the power of enemy waves thrown at you was much higher. Ironhide has since backed off of that in subsequent games, and I think that's a shame.
There's not much to say about the waves themselves. They're largely a standard tank and spank, with a decent bit of challenge in correctly allocating resources to various hotspots on the field. I like the Mad Tinkerers - they're surprisingly difficult to kill (high magic resistance is part of that), and their ability to create those annoyance drones is perfectly designed. The drones barely have any hit points, but they do distract your Arcane Wizards for a single firing cycle from hitting more priority targets, which has a surprisingly big impact.
And of course we have a boss fight at the end of all things! I guess Ironhide took inspiration from Vengeance's pirate DLC and realized you don't just have to save boss fights for the final level. It's not the hardest by any means - largely strategy just consists of trying to block or stall units coming from the left so your towers can focus fire on him. Originally when I started with the more powerful heroes I left my Tricannons up, but it ends up being better strategy to replace them with Arcane Wizards when the fight begins.
Impressions
No single hero solution for this map, nor am I expecting any for the rest of the DLC. The grades are pretty standard, with Raelyn once more earning the dunce hat being the lone hero in the 'C' tier. Everything else is by the book, with perhaps the exception of Warhead earning a very rare 'A'. His tankiness, physical damage to deal with the Tinkerers, and hero spell - which works very well on this map - all make him shine in a rare way.
Final Grades
- Vesper - B-
- Raelyn - C
- Nyru - B
- Torres - B-
- Anya - B
- Grimson - B
- Broden - A+
- Therien - B
- Onagro - B+
- Warhead - A
- Lumenir - A+
- Kosmyr - A+
- Stregi - B-
- Bonehart - A+
- Sylvara - A+
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