We finally again have a heroic mode where I feel they decently beefed up the difficulty from campaign mode, and I appreciate it, even if it makes this map quite the challenge. Everything is mostly manageable until the end, but then surviving the seemingly endless waves of Darksteel Fists and Brute Welders becomes quite difficulty.
I eschew the Cannoneers for this mode, going back to a more standard setup of a Tricannon to deal with large numbers and Arcane Wizards to finish off larger mobs. I did try to replicate my strategy from campaign mode originally, but was not happy with the results. I still feel like there is a better strategy that would keep the end of the map from being such a wild, chaotic mess, but I haven't found it yet.
Speaking of the end of the map, there's unfortunately a decent degree of RNG involved in the wins on these maps. Part of the strategy for this map is trying to manage to fist pounds, and the last one that occurs really needs to kill two Brute Wielders either on the top or the bottom path, or else it's probably a loss with anything but a top-tier hero. That's part of the reason for the barracks to the right - they do delay the mobs, helping prevent an overrun on the left side, but it also baits the fists into targeting them, trying to catch the Brutes with them. Besides that you also have RNG such as which tower gets disabled by a Brute when killed. If it hits your Tricannon that's a major loss and can cost the win. I hate relying on RNG, but I just don't know if there's a build that can sufficiently control for it.
Impressions
Despite the difficulty the grades aren't all that bad, with only Grimson ending up in 'C' tier. Unfortunately it's a function of the RNG - when it doesn't break your way, you just lose, but when it does, things feel...well not easy, but at least not so hard.
The one surprise in the grades is Stregi earning an 'A-' for her performance - especially when none of the other bottom-half heroes earned 'A's. The reason is that this map is perfect for her hero spell. It allows her to make one of the lanes at the end "safe" by constantly teleporting and sleeping the mobs on it, allowing you to devote all your resources to taking care of the other lane first, which is a huge plus.
Final Grades
- Vesper - B-
- Raelyn - B-
- Nyru - B
- Torres - B-
- Anya - B
- Grimson - C+
- Broden - A+
- Therien - B
- Onagro - B+
- Warhead - B
- Lumenir - A+
- Kosmyr - A+
- Stregi - A-
- Bonehart - A+
- Sylvara - A+
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