Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - The Lost Empire Campaign

I apologize for the unexpected hiatus my YouTube channel and this blog have been on.  Life hit pretty hard with the beginning of the new year and I had to take a break, and then of course any time you get out of the habit of doing something it takes a lot of work to get that momentum back, but at last here we are again.

The good news is that I have a fresh enthusiasm for Kingdom Rush, because if you haven't heard already the fifth Kingdom Rush game - Kingdom Rush Alliances - has been announced.  Apparently it will return to the engine the first three games ran on, as opposed to the Vengeance engine which nobody liked as much.  Here's hoping it also returns to the spirit of the first three games as well.

While no release date has been announced, I've still got a lot to do to get ready.  I feel like I've been playing catch-up with the Kingdom Rush series for the last several years, but here I have a chance to dive into and produce content for a game at release.  First I have to finish the new Hammerhold DLC.  That shouldn't be a problem, as on my current schedule I should be publishing the final video for it on April 9th.  I also have to finish my Isfet videos to add to the Impossible Hero Challenge, but those are pretty easy to crank out.  Once I finish the DLC I should be able to publish one new map every day, which would finish that series in just a few more weeks.  I also need to do the new DLC map-specific achievements, but again that's really easy to do.

The big challenge is I need to play Legends of Kingdom Rush to make sure I'm caught up on the lore (such as it is for the Kingdom Rush series).  It's a tactics RPG, which has never exactly been a popular genre for me, but at this point I feel so committed to the Kingdom Rush series I would be remiss not to do that game.  I will do video content for it, but if I can't get it finished before KR5 launches I'm not going to let that stop me from getting into that.

But back to where we are right now, I'll admit right now that it's been nearly a month since I completed this map, so I'm a little foggy remembering some of the finer details, but I did enjoy yet again another worthwhile challenge.  This is yet another tale of two maps.  I always start a new map with the bottom tier heroes (Veruk, Asra, and Oloch), and I found this one quite challenging.  I couldn't insta-call new waves but had to manage them carefully.  Then as I got into the bottom row heroes things were much easier.  I was able to insta-call every wave, and with the additional experience I now had with the map I wondered if I couldn't redo the lesser heroes with insta-calls.  So I went back and redid the top row of heroes, and with the lone exception of Oloch I was able by and large to insta-call every wave (there are some waves where I end up waiting a second or two because reinforcements are about to come off cooldown, but I still largely consider it an insta-call).

I must say I really liked this map design.  I like the mechanic of the pyramids adding a little confusion to where you think enemies will come out.  I especially liked the boss fight with Sha'tra.  I much preferred that he was using special abilities against us as opposed to us going toe to toe with him in an actual fight, and the tower destruction ability was a nice callback to the final boss fight from Frontiers (although it's not random here and much easier to plan for thankfully).

Impressions

The grades are pretty standard and unsurprising here after the shakeup we had with the previous map.  Jun'pai and Grosh did earn 'B's among the bottom row heroes unfortunately, but then this is a pretty challenging map.  We're still waiting to see if they can throw a map at us that can challenge our true heavy hitters though.

Final Grades

• Veruk - C
• Asra - C
• Oloch - C
• Margosa - B
• Mortemis - C
• Tramin - B
• Jigou - B
• Beresad - A
• Doom Tank SG-11 - A
• Jun'pai - B
• Eiskalt - A
• Murglun - A
• Dianyun - A
• Jack O'Lantern - A
• Grosh - B

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - The Lost Empire Campaign

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Sape Oasis Iron

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

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Sape Oasis Iron

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Sape Oasis Heroic

This is a tale of two maps.  I initially started working on this map right before Christmas.  I got through the first four or so heroes and everything was looking good.  It was looking to be another of those maps where the low end heroes got 'B's and everyone else got an easy 'A'.

Then 12/27 came.

If you're not aware, a minor update for Vengeance came out on 12/27.  The patch notes are pretty short, but there was definitely something that got changed that didn't make it into them, and that's Genie behavior.  Before 12/27 on Sape Oasis, when a Genie would appear at the bottom middle it would immediately use its power to turn towers into sand, then walk up to join the path.  This was fine, as it only would catch the tower just to the left with this power.  However, post update, the Genie now waits until it gets on the path to use that power, at which point it catches all three nearby towers.

This was a problem.

Before there was plenty of time for the tower to the left to turn back from sand and, along with the other two nearby towers, take down the Genie.  But with this alteration the game has changed, at least on heroic mode.  Now there's just not enough time for the towers to take down the Genie before he makes it to the exit, even if you build a supporting tower right next to the lower exit.  And all of this is to say nothing about the other enemies that are coming from the right constantly.

So this map took me quite some time before I came up with a solid strategy.  In the end, the solution was to build a Shadow Archer with Blade of Demise to insta-kill the Genies.  The problem then becomes you have to build a complete prevent defense up the path to the right, making sure that no enemies pass your chokepoint and accidentally use up the insta-kill right before it's needed for a Genie.  This is pretty hard to do considering there's not much gold left over after setting up the insta-kill. 

Impressions

So all in all this map turned into a pretty fun challenge that actually made me think and work hard for once.  I mean, in the end it's once again only the low-end heroes who struggle, but I appreciate a heroic mode that's not a braindead repeat of campaign mode.  The only other subtlety to the heroes on this one is that only high-end heroes can instantly call wave 3.  The sudden onrush from the wave will overrun your chokepoint with a weaker hero, and I docked Margosa, Mortemis, Tramin, and Jigou down to 'B's because they couldn't do this, even though their performance on the rest of the map was quite satisfactory.

Final Grades

• Veruk - C
• Asra - C
• Oloch - C
• Margosa - B
• Mortemis - B
• Tramin - B
• Jigou - B
• Beresad - A
• Doom Tank SG-11 - A
• Jun'pai - A
• Eiskalt - A
• Murglun - A
• Dianyun - A
• Jack O'Lantern - A
• Grosh - A

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Sape Oasis Heroic

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Update

Just a quick update, but I wanted to say how I've decided to do the release schedule for the new Vengeance DLC.  Ideally I would release a new map every day for my Impossible Hero Challenge series and thus get through all the new maps in only three weeks.  However, I'm finding that's a pace I just am not going to be able to keep up with.  Therefore for the next several weeks I'll be releasing Impossible Hero Challenge content on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I'll start putting out the Isfet videos, taking him through the Impossible Hero Challenge process.  Getting three videos done with a new hero on maps I've already mastered is infinitely easier than getting fifteen videos done on a brand new map, so this will give me the margin I need to keep content coming at a daily pace.  Thanks to everyone who follows this blog and keeps up with my content!

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Sape Oasis Campaign

I'm happy to say map #2 of the DLC turns out to be my favorite map in quite a while.  We get a pretty decent challenge here - at least figuring out the right build was challenging.  My first time recording I got all the way to Eiskalt before I realized the optimal strategy was to just overload the map (and Mirage) with Skeleton Warriors coming out of Bone Flinger towers.  Before that I was using another Melting Furnace and trying to boost towers with Abrasive Heat.

The Genies and Flying Carpets are well-designed enemies - dangerous, but with weaknesses that can be exploited.  Both can be effectively stalled in a kill zone by making sure a steady stream of fodder (reinforcements plus Skeleton Warriors in this case) keeps approaching them.  The Nomads are a little cheap but only dangerous in large numbers.

Impressions

Grades are pretty good here, with the usual suspects plus Margosa and Jigou taking the only 'B's.  The top end heroes are powerful enough that you can forgo the Got Milk? upgrade on the second and third Bone Flingers, meaning you can get Skeleton Warriors up that much faster.

I've said before I decided not to do a Best Choice award in this series since it would always be Eiskalt, but I need to do a special shout-out to Dianyun for this map.  Dianyun dominated this map so hard he completely broke it.  His gold generation ability helps get Skeleton Warriors going that much faster, so much so that by the end of the map he had enemies completely stopped up at the map entrance in the upper right, killing them as fast as they appeared.  Then when the Mirage fight started I managed to have four Dragon Totems already in place around her, which took her down terrifyingly fast.

Final Grades

• Veruk - B
• Asra - B
• Oloch - B
• Margosa - B
• Mortemis - A
• Tramin - A
• Jigou - B
• Beresad - A
• Doom Tank SG-11 - A
• Jun'pai - A
• Eiskalt - A
• Murglun - A
• Dianyun - A
• Grosh - A
• Jack O'Lantern - A

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Sape Oasis Campaign

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Wizard's Landing Iron

This one at least took a hot minute to figure out the right build for, but once I figured out going for stacked Twilight Harassers was the right play it was all downhill from there.  The map is largely self-working from that point regardless of hero, so we disappointingly have our second all-'A' map of this new DLC.

If you're wondering about the choice of which towers to destroy with the cannon, I decided to destroy the first barracks that send out troops.  This keeps your defense from getting overwhelmed early on and paves the way for the easy win. 

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Wizard's Landing Iron

Kingdom Rush Vengeance (Steam) Impossible Hero Challenge - Wizard's Landing Heroic

We have another campaign mode redux with heroic, and since I'm switching out Sandworm Hollows for Melting Furnaces, things are much simpler.  As such we have a thoroughly boring map with no challenge, and all heroes get 'A's for this one.  I'm very disappointed, considering they even bothered to put a message on the map saying that this mini-campaign is supposed to be significantly harder than others.  So far I'm not getting that at all, but I'll hold out hope for the other four maps.

Kingdom Rush Vengeance Impossible Hero Challenge - Wizard's Landing Heroic