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Orcs Must Die! Unchained FAQ/Walkthrough

by Damthiel Updated to v1.00 on Aug 10, 2018

Introduction (please read)

Hello, and welcome to my guide for Orcs Must Die! Unchained for the Playstation 4.

Orcs Must Die! Unchained is a castle defense/survival hybrid game, where the player is defending his/her base (which is a "Rift"), against multiple waves of enemies.

The game itself is presented in third-person shooter style, but does have a variety of characters that attack at either melee or ranged. The player also has access to various "traps" that do a variety of things, which mostly includes extra damage to enemies, but also includes slows and physics traps that will launch certain enemies in multiple directions.

This game is also free-to-play and can be downloaded from the Playstation Store at no charge.

Patch Information

Since this game is free-to-play, this usually means that patches will come out for various reasons. These reasons include bug fixing, as well as balance changes.

I downloaded the game in July of 2017, and of this writing in November of 2017, there have been a number of patches already (I would say around 6 or so), which have almost always balanced numerous aspects of the game.

Due to this, it is always important to be up to date with the patch notes. If you're wondering, the "Update History" on the PS4 app menu (found by pressing the Options button while having the app highlighted), usually does not give you all the information. To find the most recent patch notes, please visit the official Orcs Must Die! Unchained website, which is located here:

https://forums.orcsmustdie.com/

This guide is written for Patch 2.6, which coincides with the PC patch releases. This means that the version you see in the "Version History" on your PS4 will say something different. If you're unsure which patch you are working with, just check the forums linked above.

So remember - Patches may change how well this guide works!

It's impossible for me to constantly update the guide with each new patch, but happily Robot does tend to make more positive changes rather than negative ones. Not only that, but my guide for each map is fairly minimalist, which means I go in with fairly low damage, which in turn means you should be able to do better than I do because you'll probably go in with stronger traps and characters.

This in turn will hopefully compensate for any new adjustments, provided there are not major overhauls of Heroes or traps.

About this Guide

The walkthrough of this guide is constructed on an entirely new playthrough. I make an attempt to 5 Star each map with minimal gear, because it's difficult to determine what each reader has access to. By completing the maps with common traps, and at lower levels, I have an increased chance that someone will be able to successfully complete the map with my guide.

I have decided to convert this guide from originally being a trophy guide to a full FAQ and Walkthrough. The table of contents is as follows:

5 Star Walkthrough - For those wishing to fully complete each stage (of at least the base game), I will cover this in video and text. I will cover the Wu Xing maps introduced in patch 2.5, but I may not be able to cover any new maps in future patches. This is due to the nature of progression; in order to finish the guide currently with minimal equipment, I need to level and go through all over again. I may be able to add in guides to maps added in the future, but unfortunately to do it in the same "minimalist" style, I would have to start all over again for a 3rd time (which, sorry, is not going to happen).
- This guide will not fully cover Endless - Mostly because there's no real point in completing all of it; you don't need to earn 5 Stars on Endless for any trophies, nor for any reason at all but completion's sake and a single in-game achievement (well, it's a meta-achievement I suppose). In addition, some of the maps are incredibly freaking difficult. As of patch 2.6, Endless on the PS4 has a time limit, so even though a select few (according to the Leaderboards) have completed 5 Stars on them, I cannot fathom how they've managed on a couple of the maps.
Weekly Challenges - This will be an odd section to update, as the Challenges change from week to week. I have seen them post the same Challenge more than once, so hopefully I can get a decently large list of them for readers to refer to.
Trophy Guide - This will detail what it's like to earn the platinum trophy for this game, as well as a description on how to earn each trophy.
Heroes - There shall be a section for each Hero, detailing their abilities, their upgrades, and how I personally feel they perform.

What isn't covered in this guide?

Traps:

This is a section I was considering adding, but after I thought about it more, it would be kind of sloppy if I completed it.

The reason is mostly twofold:

I have not actually used all of the traps - This is obviously a problem in an attempt to write a section trying to explain the best usage of them. There does seem to be an overabundance of traps, most of which are not required to complete the game. Although I could go into detail about the traps I have used (which is a little less than 50% of the total traps), the other 50% would have barely any information in them, which isn't helpful.
Out of the traps I have used, some are incredibly simple to understand - Floor Spikes for example, is incredibly easy to understand and utilize. There may be some nuances of some traps (such as understanding how you can place Ceiling Ballistas in places you may not realize) but it still may not be a lot of information to write. My concern is that even if I do have knowledge of the trap, the information I detail about it may only consist of a small paragraph or two, which is still not too helpful.

Instead, I did put together some information about some of the traps that I regularly use (such as how to utilize Tar and whatnot) in the General Advice and Strategies section.

Parts:

Similar to the reasons I gave about not having a Traps section, I have not used all of the Parts to really give good advice about them. Most of the Parts are even easier to understand than the Traps, and simply by reading their descriptions, you can get a decent idea of how they work. There are a few instances of utilizing Parts more strategically, such as:

Revenge Rune vs Reflective Armor:
- Revenge Rune - When the Trap is destroyed, the minion that destroyed it will take 75% of their max HP in damage.
- Reflective Armor - Reflects 200% of damage dealt to the Trap in a radius.
If one is to think about this in more depth, obviously putting a Revenge Rune on say, a Barricade, is going to do absolutely nothing if the map exclusively features Kamikaze Kobolds (because they die instantly when they try to blow something up). So this means that Revenge Rune is suited more for decoy Barricades, which get targeted by things that don't instantly die (and ideally, minions with higher HP), such as the boss minion Orfum.

For this reason, I may just not know the nuances of how to utilize some of the Parts properly. Thus, a section dedicated to Parts would not be that helpful.

Traits:

Again, the Traits have the exact same problem as the Parts - they are either very easy to understand, or have nuances that I may not fully understand myself. I do feel like I understand the nuances of the Traits better than I do the Parts, but most of them don't really require much of an understanding; if I were to write a description for each of them, most of the descriptions would be fairly short.

One example is with Bear Hugs, because the description doesn't tell you what "near the hero" really means. As it turns out, it's not exclusively in "melee range" and you can actually be somewhat at ranged (sort of "mid-range") to get it to activate. So this means that mid-ranged Heroes, like Max and Brass, can see benefit from this Trait.

The only other thing that you may wonder about is the usage of "crowd control" on some of the descriptions. Crowd control is anything that affects control or movement (either yours or the minion's); these are things like Freeze, Stun, movement Slows, and attack speed Slows.

Gear:

I can potentially add a section for Gear, because it would probably be the most helpful.

The reason why is because it might be useful to know how each Gear actually functions before you end up using them on a map. However, because the Gear list only consists of 12 items, again, it would be a short section with not much in it.

Furthermore, I run into the same problem - about 1/4 of the Gear is easy enough to understand with its given description. The Gear that might be helpful to understand further are:

All of the Gear that deals damage (Arcane Bubble Blower, Fire Wall Bracers, etc.) - Detailing these might be helpful because it's not so easy to see how the Gear actually performs in practice. One example is Ice Amulet, as it changes your reticle momentarily as you use it, allowing you to aim with it.
There are some nuances to the recovery Gear - For example, Mending Root will stop its healing if you get attacked. Similarly, if you use Mage's Clover, and then use Mana as it is active, it will stop it's regeneration. I could also point out that Mage's Picnic is more intended for co-op, as it gives less Mana for a single individual, but it provides Mana in a radius (thus it allows you to restore your ally's Mana, as well as your own).

So for now, I'm not going to have a section for Gear, but I may add it later.

Guardians:

I will not cover Guardians because I do not feel it's necessary. Although the majority of the Guardians do something different with their attacks (i.e. add poison to minions, slow, stun, etc.), it'll mostly boil down to which Guardians you have, and what Guardians have a "home" on each map. It's generally ideal to get the "home" bonus for Guardians, as the bonus damage/HP they get from will usually do you more good than whatever unique attribute they have.

Once you do get multiples of the same type of Guardian, then it just comes down to personal preference. The buffs that Guardians give almost always have the condition of "the Guardian being in combat", and you have to be near the Guardian. This becomes decently difficult to manage most of the time, as chances are you won't be near your Guardians for the majority of the maps. In turn, the buffs you receive are mostly a moot point.

General FAQ

This is a brief FAQ section of a couple of things I managed to think of that other people may be curious about.

I originally wrote these questions specifically with the platinum trophy in mind, as trophy hunters are probably more curious about what it is like earning the platinum.

Do I need to pay to enjoy this game (or earn the platinum)?

The short is answer is no but it does need some explanation:

As with most free-to-play games (that I've played at least), a lot of the draw to spend money is to speed up the process of completing the game. However, in OMD!U, I would argue that the developers wanted the player to spend money to unlock characters rather than give a particular edge to the player.

So how does buying a new character speed up the process? Well, the most sought after currency are Skulls, which can be used to buy almost everything important (and to upgrade the traps, which is necessary to advance in difficulty). Happily, characters can be unlocked with Skulls as well which is great news, but they do cost a significant amount.

Every time you finish a map with a new character, you awarded a "chest" which contains Skulls (the amount varies depending on the difficulty). So what is possible to do, is utilize your Skulls to buy new characters, which will then facilitate earning even more Skulls (from completing the maps again with that new character) and just repeat the cycle until you have every character unlocked.

Here's some basic math:

Everyone starts out with 3 characters to play (Max, Blackpaw, and Gabriella), and start out only with Apprentice difficulty unlocked. In Apprentice, each "New Hero Victory Chest" will award you with 50 skulls. Currently, there are a total of 9 maps in Apprentice.

3 Heroes x 9 maps = 27 chests

27 chests x 50 Skulls per chest = 1350 Skulls total

This does not seem like much, but keep in mind that this is only on Apprentice, and the Skulls awarded in the New Hero Victory Chests will increase by 50 per difficulty (War Mage awards 100, Master 150, and Rift Lord 200). Also keep in mind there are also New Hero Victory Chests for completing Endless maps, and the Weekly Challenges as well.

There are also other ways to earn Skulls:

There is a single daily quest that rewards 500 Skulls (this generally consists of using a specific skill for a character, which is usually easy to complete).
Skulls can be awarded from the Daily Login Bonus.
Skulls are awarded at the completion of every match in every mode, even for a loss (only if you officially "lose", you can't abort the game and earn Skulls).
Skulls are awarded for Stars on each map, but can only be earned once for that specific map. Stars are awarded depending on how well you do (you will be awarded 5 if you manage to complete the map within the Par Time and lose no Rift Points).
200 Skulls are awarded for each Account Level earned - you will start out at Account Level 1, and the maximum Account Level is 100.
Each new "tier" completed in a Chaos Trial awards an increasing amount of Skulls, depending on difficulty.
Once you upgrade a trap to Tier 7, it can still be a potential reward in chests, but it will convert to a different type of a currency called "Gibs". Gibs are used to buy thing in the Premium Shoppe section of the Store. In the Premium Shoppe, it is possible to buy a Trap Chest and/or a Part Chest, each of which contain 1000 Skulls.
If there is a Community Event going on, it's possible one of the chests for completing the goal will contain Skulls (they have given out up to 2500 Skulls for meeting a single goal).

Ultimately, it all adds up over time. So the question is - How fast do you want to unlock characters, which will ultimately provide you with the Skull acquisition to afford everything else?

Actually, if you're seriously interested in earning the platinum, that may have already answered it for you - you are in for a very long grind if you want to earn the platinum.

How long does it take to earn the platinum?

Roughly 250 hours at a minimum. However, expect to realistically spend 300-500 hours to earn the platinum.

There is a single trophy, Empty Pockets, which expects you to spend 200,000,000 Coin. The "Coin" it is referring to is the Coin generated during any match, which is spent to place traps. Unfortunately, the average amount of Coin you'll spend on maps can range anywhere from 30,000 to maybe 150,000. This can be increased further with specific Traits, Consumables, Traps, and using the character Dobbin, but unfortunately it's not very practical while going through Survival for the first time (as the harder maps can be difficult if you go in with a loadout that isn't optimal).

So, just to get a rough basic idea:

Hypothetically speaking, let's say the best Survival map allows you to generate 200,000 Coin to spend within 20 minutes. 200,000 is 1/10 of 2 million (which is 1% of the trophy progress). That means that 1% of the trophy progress will be earned every 3 hours and 20 minutes. For 100%, that is over 300 hours of playtime, playing a single map.

In practice, it doesn't work out that way though, as the only time I ever saw 200,000 Coin on a single Survival map was when I was using a specific consumable (Luck Potions). However, since Coin is earned in any match, this means that you can earn progress towards this trophy while working on everything else that is needed for the platinum. This means, that the reality is you won't ever have to play a single map for 300 hours, but you won't be anywhere near being done with Empty Pockets when every other trophy is finished.

I did find a method where I could earn 500,000 for a 35-40 minute match. This translates to at least 1 million Coin for a little over an hour of playtime. Since 1 million is 0.5% of the progress towards the trophy, that means you'll probably see about 1% progress for about 2.5 hours. This is why I pointed out the 250 hour minimum completion time. Realistically, this doesn't really work though, as to earn that much Coin per match you need to optimize things (having the best traps, maximum Account Level, etc.), which will take 50-100 hours of playing normally to get to that point.

Are the characters worth playing?

I would say yes, most are, as I believe they are probably the best aspect of this game.

Everything else felt incredibly average; the maps, the minions, the traps, didn't feel like they were bad, but they didn't really stand out either. It felt that they were just typical average game components that I've seen in so many other games.

The characters on the other hand, really grabbed my interest. I do think that for the most part, they've done a great job in balancing most characters, as there are only a few that really stand out, and only a few that don't do that well in comparison to others. The majority of the characters hit a decent blend - they do some things well, and other things not so well.

At the same time, because most of them don't outperform the others, the player can begin to notice how the characters are different. Although a lot of character abilities may be things you have seen before (i.e. stealth mechanics, a turret, pet damage), the developers managed to present it in a unique enough way (for me at least) to make them feel different.

What's the difference between "Battle Level" and "Account Level"?

"Battle Level" is level that your Hero is at during the match you are currently in. Every Hero starts the match at Battle Level 1, and the maximum Battle Level is 20. Levels work as they normally do in games with RPG mechanics - every minion you kill, whether it is by a trap or by your Hero, grants experience. After enough experience is earned (indicated by the yellow bar near your Hero's portrait in the corner of the screen), you are granted a level.

Increases in your Battle Level increases your Hero's damage in all regards, from their Primary, to their abilities, to their Gear (if it deals damage). It also increase your Hero's HP.

Battle Levels are lost upon the match finishing, whether you win or lose, they do not carry over under any circumstances. The only way to increase your Battle Level upon the start of the match, is with an appropriate Trait, or using a consumable bought in the Store.

"Account Level" is exactly that - The level of your Account. Account experience is earned by completing matches, but you don't need to win in order to earn experience. In fact, you can even quit the match and still earn experience (even though it'll be an extremely low amount).

From my own observations, Account experience seems to be tied to how many minions are killed during the match. There could be another factor involved, such as a multiplier if the game is won, and a lower multiplier when the game is lost.

When you start the game, your Account Level is at 1. The maximum Account Level is 100 (currently, I'm not sure if the developers will ever increase it). Unlike Battle Levels, your Account Level will never decrease. You will also be rewarded with 200 Skulls every time you gain an Account Level.

Your Account Level affects how much damage your Hero deals, as well as how much base HP they have. This increased damage stacks with the increased damage gained from Battle Levels during matches.

I've read on the official Orcs Must Die! forums that the difference in damage and HP between Account Level 1 and Account Level 100 is about a 4x damage increase, and (I think) a 2x HP increase.

Who are the best Heroes?

Everyone will have different opinions about which Heroes are the best. I will list who my favorites are, as well as my least favorite.

I will mention that Maximilian is one of my favorite Heroes. However, since he's a starter Hero, that doesn't really help anyone looking to buy a new Hero from the Store. If you wish to know more about why I selected these Heroes, or just need a general review of a Hero, refer to the Hero section of this guide.

My favorite Heroes, in order:

Midnight (with the Enjoys Pain Trait)
Yi-Lin
Deadeye

Honorable mentions (in no particular order):

Temper
Cygnus
Zoey
Oziel

My least favorite Heroes, in order:

Bionka
Hogarth/Smolder (tied for second place)
Brass

Realize that this list does not necessarily indicate their performance, but rather my opinion about these Heroes. In the current patch, I truly only severely dislike Bionka. Hogarth, Smolder, and Brass, are still playable, I just feel that their design has odd things to it, and they don't really make a lot of sense when put together, which affects their performance.

What are the best Traps?

This is more of a difficult question to answer, due to the random nature of receiving traps. It's difficult to say something like "Haymakers are the best trap" because I realize that it can be rare to find in chests, due to its "Epic" rarity.

Therefore, I personally find the better traps are the ones that are easier to find, thus, it's easier to get them upgraded to higher tiers.

Also keep in mind you may understand how to utilize a trap better than I do. So I think it might be better to tell you what traps I regularly use, rather than tell you what I think is best. Different traps can also be utilized in different situations, so sometimes it also depends on the map.

For the majority of the videos found in this guide, I use:

Arrow Wall
Tar
Barricade/Great Wall Barricade
- Great Wall can be found in Master, but it doesn't necessarily replace Barricade when you get it. Since Great Wall is literally 2 Barricades placed side by side, it can help with Trap Limits and save you Coin. However, it is still sometimes better to bring in a regular Barricade, depending on the map (sometimes you can place them more creatively than a Great Wall). Sometimes, it's actually ideal to bring both Barricade and Great Wall Barricade into the same map.
Brimstone
Floor Scorcher (found in War Mage)
Grinder (found in War Mage)
Swinging Mace/Ceiling Ballista
- Ceiling Ballistas are found in Rift Lord, and I do find them helpful, but they can be difficult to place unless you know you can generate a lot of Coin. I do end up using Swinging Maces for the majority of Rift Lord regardless.

There are still a few maps where I use different things. This is a list of secondary traps that you will see me use in some of my videos:

Floor Spikes
Push Trap
Haymakers
Viscous Tar
Dragon's Lance
Big Game Hunting Ballista

In that list, Floor Spikes is the only one that I get to tier 6, and Viscous Tar I get to tier 5 (for a single map on Rift Lord), but the rest I get to a maximum of tier 2, if you want to try to upgrade with minimal Skull usage. However, remember that upgrading things higher than what I have will make things easier for you, if you're interested in getting 5 Stars on each map.

What are the best Traits?

Again, kind of a difficult question to answer, as getting a Trait you want may take a significantly long time due to the randomness of receiving them in chests.

Generally speaking, I would say that the lifesteal Traits (Enjoys Pain for physical damage, Practices Witchcraft for magical damage) are probably the biggest staple in my normal loadouts. Of course, you won't see me use these in my videos (with the exception of 1 map), but they are normally what I use when I'm not trying to record minimalist runs.

Anything that increases damage is obviously helpful. I would argue that the Traits that can be considered "automatic" (as in, they're not quite as conditional), are probably ideal:

Feeling Fierce is one of the best damage Traits, particularly when paired with either a ranged character, or any character with one of the lifesteal Traits. Although it does have the condition of having to be "above 50% HP", this is usually fairly manageable for any ranged character, or if you're melee, having the Enjoys Pain Trait.
Has Ultimate Set of Tools is also one of the better ones, as it is a flat increase to trap damage, with no conditions. Although 6% doesn't seem like much, it does add up when you have multiple traps in a single area. Since you cannot be at each individual gate dealing damage to clear the wave, having any extra damage on your traps means that it will have a better chance clearing the wave (without any minions getting through), and/or clearing the wave sooner, to help with Par Times.
Killer Buzz isn't too bad, but it's more conditional. Since it activates on a kill, this is mostly fairly easy to manage. However, if you get a wave of large minions, it becomes less helpful, because it will take longer to get a single kill, therefore it won't be activated nearly as much. It does not activate when a trap gets a kill, so keep that in mind.
Bear Hugs is more suited for melee characters, but some ranged characters can also benefit from it. Mid-range characters like Max and Gabriella can benefit from this as well (as you don't need to be within melee range to activate it), but chances are they won't benefit from it all of the time.
Any of the "cost-reduction" Traits (Smashing Deals, Fire Sale, etc.) are very beneficial. This depends on the type of traps you regularly use of course, and you may need to readjust if you decide to use different traps.
- Smashing Deals does not reduce the cost of Barricades. None of these Traits reduce Barricade cost, if you're curious.
Wall Building PhD is extremely helpful, particularly on a few Rift Lord maps and Endless. The Trait does seem to be fairly hard to find though, so chances are you won't receive it for quite some time.

In my opinion, every other Trait is more situational. Traits are almost entirely optional (I only use a single one regularly in Rift Lord, which is Sister Eaten By An Ogre), and having a higher Account Level, with higher tier traps with Parts, can compensate for any missed damage that come from Traits.

For the specific +damage Traits (Sister Eaten By An Ogre, Cat Eaten By Gnoll, etc.), it helps to know how frequent that minion will be during the map. Obviously it is kind of useless to bring in that specific Trait, if only 1 or 2 of that minion is ever going to show up. Although, they do still give a slot bonus, so if you don't have anything else to use, you might as well put it in your loadout.

Some Traits are better utilized with different characters. For example, I would argue that Ivy gets more out of Overachiever (which lets you start the map at level 2) than most other characters. Since Ivy has such low damage, starting her at level 2 will boost her damage slightly, but you'll also have the chance to select her first upgrade (Precision) to get her Primary attack 15% more damage, helping her further.

What are the best Parts?

Ideally you'll want to use whatever you have, and most Parts are fairly easy to understand. The "Trigger" Parts are a bit of a double-edged sword though, because having them activate within certain conditions (i.e. "only light minions") can potentially help with some waves, but be detrimental during other waves.

Here's a list of the things I regularly use:

Fire Resonators - I use Fire traps a lot, so this is the most ideal Resonator for my loadout.
Heat Activated Trigger - Again, because of my Fire traps, this is probably the best trigger. It is probably one of the more rare ones though.
Combo Generator - They added extra damage to the majority of the Triggers in a recent patch, including the Combo Generator. However, all of the other Triggers have an activation condition, which can be a problem. The Combo Generator on the other hand, does not, and so it will give your trap the extra 10% damage without you having to worry about the trap activating with certain conditions.
XP Siphon - I think this is the best Siphon for Survival, because more experience means more battle levels during a match, which means higher damage output. Do realize that the battle level cap is 20 though, so you may want to think twice about bringing it into Endless. As soon as you hit battle level 20, you will see no use in this Part, so it may be better to bring Mana Siphon or Bounty Generators instead.
Subsidized Parts/Stamped Parts - This is more dependent on which of these you have, but I think overall Subsidized Parts is a better choice, unless you have Stamped Parts on Barricade/Great Wall and know you're going to be using a lot of them. Having the extra Coin provided by Subsidized Parts can really make a big difference.

What is the best Gear to use?

Once more, this is dependent on what you have and what characters you use.

However, I would argue that Fire Wall Bracers is probably the best, as it acts like a constant fire trap, which makes it fantastic for runners like Kobolds. Its Mana usage isn't too high (I think it consumes around 15 Mana), and the best thing about it is that its cooldown Coincides with how long it lasts. This means when you use it, by the time it fades, you can use it immediately again (providing you have the Mana).

Ring of Storms is similar to Fire Wall Bracers, but I don't think it's quite as good. Instead of putting down a line of fire, which damages anything that crosses it, Ring of Storms puts a thundercloud in the area, and it will zap things periodically as it passes by. Unfortunately it does not last nearly as long as Fire Wall Bracers, but it is an alternative if you don't have the Fire Wall Bracers yet.

Mending Root is what you start off with, and it can suit your healing needs throughout the entire game.

Mage's Clover is the mana equivalent of Mending Root, and works just as well.

Mage's Picnic is more oriented to co-op play, because it restores mana in a radius, but it actually restores less mana overall (for a single character) than Mage's Clover.

What is the highest Account Level I need to level to, in order to earn 5 Stars?

For Survival - The recommended level range of the very last Survival map (Eventide Fortress) is 66-75. In my video, I was able to complete this map with 5 Stars at Account Level 72.

Completing the last Survival map at 72 is slightly unrealistic though, as I am really familiar with the map, which counts for a great deal. I think I was around Account Level 80 when I got 5 Stars on all the maps the first time, so I can say with confidence you don't need to be Account Level 100 to 5 Star all the Survival maps.

Endless...is a different story. I actually have not earned 5 Stars on all of the Endless maps, despite how I have tried at Account Level 100. Part of this is due to the fact that the PS4's current patch sets Endless matches to a limit of 40 minutes.

As a result, it's difficult to determine if the strategies I use for the harder maps (such as Highlands and Avalanche) actually work up until 26. I've managed to get to about wave 20 in Highlands before my time was up, and I think wave 16 in Avalanche.

It is important to point out, that Endless is almost entirely optional. The "5 Star all maps" trophy, as well as the Star-related in-game Achievements, are all based off of Survival.

What is Matchmaking like?

I personally don't like it.

Since the game has a strategy element to it, it doesn't really work when playing with randoms. It's not to say that you won't find any decent groups, but you can see that with any given group you may run into people just "doing their own thing" which may not be helpful in terms of trying to complete the map.

Further, there are different strategies people utilize, and just because a strategy is different from what you may be used to, that doesn't mean it won't work. There have been a number of times where I've had others spam the communication function saying "Sell traps here!" over and over and over because they can't comprehend of a different strategy working.

For this same reason, it is also understandable, because sometimes people just do stupid things. In Sabotage, I had one individual put down a Coin Forge (which takes up a huge amount of space) back to back on a single lane, on the first gate that was opening. Since it was in an area where very little ceiling and wall traps could be placed, it basically meant we had no damage output whatsoever near the gate. Sadly, this individual didn't even use the trap (they didn't bother to ever kill anything on it), and never removed it. We lost the match fairly quickly.

Ultimately, in my opinion, matchmaking in a strategy game does not work. Matchmaking in any game never has the greatest amount of cohesion or communication, which are two things that are really necessary to develop a successful strategy.

However, this doesn't mean that you won't find it enjoyable. The only real way to find out what Matchmaking is really like, is to jump in and find out.

Closing Remarks

That should give you an idea about the basic foundation of the game. For the platinum, it is an extremely long grind, one that is also incredibly repetitive.

On a positive note, if you do decide to commit to the platinum, this more-or-less allows you to unlock all of the characters (which are probably the best part of the game) without spending any money. However, if this is what you intend, I would recommend taking your time with this platinum, as you may run out of things to do while first starting out.

I will point out that if you do wish to spend money on this game, I would keep it to a minimum if you're only interested in the characters. I personally did spend some money to afford a few characters (with a mixture of Coin and Skulls), and it seemed to be more than enough. I was able to unlock the majority of the characters exclusively with Skulls, due to how many Skulls I was earning doing various things while working on Empty Pockets.

You might say to yourself - "Sweet! I don't have to spend any money on this game to buy all the characters, since I don't mind the grind." This is true, but don't be a jackass; if you enjoy the game enough to want to play it that much, give the developers some money for it. Even if it's a minimal amount, I'm sure they would appreciate it. The reality is, if you try to take advantage of the situation, it just hurts everyone.

The developers obviously want to get paid for their work, but if they have no funds, it hurts the customers as well, because they won't have the manpower or resources to continue to patch things for the people that play. This means maybe they'll just stop fixing bugs; stop releasing new characters; stop releasing new maps for free. Although I certainly understand the desire to not spend any money on a stupid video game, unfortunately it's not as simple as it seems on the surface.

5 Star Walkthrough Introduction

I wanted to put some information about my videos; the first time you view them, you may feel like I go too fast, or things aren't necessarily too clear. So I wanted to put together a section for things I should probably mention.

Here's a few things I would like to point out about my videos:

You don't necessarily need to trap exactly as I do - If you're watching it and say "whoa wait I didn't catch that" when I put something down, realize it's not really not necessary to follow it exactly. I myself don't even really trap with an exact framework in mind - sometimes I just put stuff down. Just as long as you're placing your traps appropriately (like not putting a long row of Brimstones), chances are it'll work just fine.
I need to go fast because of how underleveled I go in - To tie in with the point above, I can't really stop to show you exact placements because I need to use every second to ensure that I get Par Times. Although you may see that I beat the Par Time with plenty to spare, I attempt to get 5 Stars with my first completion, thus I may rush things because I'm not sure how well I'm doing.
It takes practice to know the map - You should also realize that you're going to need to spend extra time to learn the map, and this is partly why I wouldn't recommend trying to 5 Star on your initial attempt, even if you watch/read my guide. I just know the map really well and that only comes with a ton of practice. It may look like I just know exactly how each map works, and I do, but you may not know how it works by simply watching a video.
You are NOT supposed to complete the matches with minimal equipment (minimal Parts, minimal Traits, etc.)! - I will say again: My videos are NOT the way the game is supposed to be played! The only reason I go in with minimal equipment is to show others that it's possible to do with basic equipment. I cannot account for everyone's various loadouts, so I need to go in with basic gear that should be (I assume) fairly available for everyone. I want to be able to show that you don't need to be immensely powerful in order to 5 Star a map.
Almost every winning strategy is almost ENTIRELY about Barricade placements! - Specifically the Barricade placements that you use to defend the Rift. If you see me place Barricades in attempt to "snake" minions around them (which I'll mention later), realize this is usually NOT necessary unless you are undergeared like I am. It is entirely possible to not use snaking at all on most maps, but it does help if you're at the recommended level of the map or going in lower.

With all of that said, I will scream this again at you:

You do NOT need to immediately 5 Star ANY MAP at ANY TIME. It is ENTIRELY possible to come back at a higher level and overpower most maps in damage, as long as you know where to place Barricades.

I do realize there are those that want to get it done earlier for whatever reason. Maybe you just want the 5 Star achievement and get your background for example. Obviously, getting to Account Level 100 takes a significant amount of time, but realize that the highest recommended level seen in Rift Lord is 75. So that means that you really should shoot for being at least 75 in order to even start thinking about getting 5 Stars on the higher Rift Lord maps. I do manage to get the 5 Star on the last map at Account Level 72, but it needs to be noted that I'm extremely familiar with the map, which counts for a lot more than my damage.

So to sum up - Just be patient with earning 5 Stars! I know, I've been there, stressing out about doing my best and getting it done early, but it's really not necessary. The rewards for the Stars are nice, but they're something to simply work towards - the New Hero Victory Chests are the real goal, which just means completing the map.

General Advice and Strategies

General Advice - Trap Placement

You may be wondering what a general strategy is to place traps down. Some questions arise, such as - how are Tar traps properly utilized? Fire damage doesn't apparently stack, so how do I use multiple traps?

You'll notice in my videos that I tend to place floor traps in the exact same way, even when I use different traps. It generally looks like this:

Starting at the gate, I almost always put two of the same trap side-by-side, then alternate traps as I go down the lane. What you see here is Tar, Brimstone, then Floor Spikes. Afterwards, I just repeat the process, so that next Tar would be followed by Brimstone, then Floor Spikes again (if that Guardian spot wasn't there that is).

You don't necessarily need to alternate floor traps like this, but the exception are the Fire traps. Since I almost always run with Fire traps, you need to make sure you don't put the same Fire trap back to back. This is because the fire damage from the same type of trap does not stack. However, if you have a different Fire trap, that works just fine. Another set up I like to use is just like above, but instead with these traps:

Floor Scorcher --> Brimstone --> Tar --> Repeat

When you repeat this set up, you may want to give a slight amount of space before putting the next Floor Scorcher, just because it has such a large activation range. I usually like to put my next Floor Scorcher at the end of the first Floor Scorcher's range.

Another option is:

Floor Scorcher --> Brimstone --> Tar --> Tar --> Repeat

However, if you're using Viscous Tar, do NOT set it up with 2 Viscous Tar back-to-back, as it is pointless (due to how the slow stays on the minion for a duration).

Here's another thing to consider about Grinders and Arrow Walls:

If you take a look there, you may wonder: Why don't I use Grinders in the corner instead?

Arrow Walls are optimal in corners like this (if you're funneling them with Barricades) because minions will cut corners. This means they will stick to the corner of the Barricade, instead of moving closer to the wall (where the Arrow Walls are in the picture).

So think about what both Arrow Walls will do here - Since the Arrow Walls have such a long activation range, that means one of them will be shooting down that line where the Tar is; this is the most efficient, because it allows the maximum amount of time for a minion to be standing in the Arrow Wall's activation range.

The same goes for the other Arrow Wall - Since it is placed at the beginning of the pathway (where the minions will turn), this means that minions that survive its initial damage have the potential to be shot again, as it reaches the end of its activation range.

How is Tar utilized?

This depends on how you set things up.

If you're referring to the above screenshot, I place Tar first because it helps (not always) group up minions so hopefully you'll get more to walk into the next trap, which are the Floor Spikes. Although I do just repeat this pattern, it's good to point out that every other Tar placement will help prevent minions walking into the next Brimstone trap while on fire (from the last trap). You don't want this to happen, because the damage doesn't stack, and if the minions do hit the next Brimstone before the fire effect is gone, you've wasted the Brimstone charge.

For my Floor Scorcher set up, I put Tar last for this same exact reason. Truthfully it doesn't matter that much in real practice, just as Tar is mixed in there somewhere to help slow them down while they're on fire.

Here's another way to think about using Tar, although it's a bit more obvious:

Clearly, this is trying to utilize Tar so I can get the minions grouped up as much as possible, while trying to keep them within the activation range for each trap for as long as I can.

How is Viscous Tar utilized?

I believe the idea behind Viscous Tar is similar to using Great Wall Barricade versus Barricade, but it's not quite as obvious.

To start, let's look at the Barricades:

The reason why Great Wall Barricade is potentially better, is because it is 2 Barricades placed side-by-side. Barricade has the initial cost of 1,000, whereas Great Wall has the initial cost of 1750. This means if you want to place 2 Barricades side-by-side, Great Wall is the better choice (assuming they're at the same tier), because not only will you save 250 coin, but remember that placing 2 separate Barricades will increase the trap limit by 2; using a Great Wall on the other hand, will only increase it by 1.

So with that in mind, let's take a look at Viscous Tar versus Tar:

They have the exact same slow reduction, but the cost of Viscous Tar is 1,500, versus Tar's 500, what gives?

I think what they were trying to say with Viscous Tar, is that it's meant to be an "end-game" trap, when you know the coin generation of the map is generous (which generally happens in Rift Lord), and/or when you're using cost-reduction Parts such as Stamped or Subsidized Parts.

In other words, I do not think Viscous Tar is meant to be used until you have it at a fairly high tier. I would say tier 5 would probably suffice, as that is when you can potentially equip Stamped or Subsidized Parts, but truthfully, tier 7 is obviously when it's best.

This brings us to the original question - How is Viscous Tar helpful? Let's take a look at this screenshot:

My line here (the minions will enter from the right here, and move left) is Floor Scorcher --> Brimstone --> Viscous Tar --> Floor Spikes.

This makes it a little easier to see how Viscous Tar can be useful. Normally, if I was using regular Tar, this isn't optimal for Grinders. It would be best to replace the Floor Spikes with another Tar, so the Grinder can maximize the damage.

However, with Viscous Tar, it's possible to do both. Since the Viscous Tar will add a slow debuff, this means once the minions leave Viscous Tar, it will still be slowed, allowing that second Grinder to still get maximum damage (although this is very dependent on what tier the Viscous Tar is). In turn, it allows me to place the Floor Spikes, thereby making one more damage source, which obviously means more damage output.

So Viscous Tar may be more expensive, but it allows you to increase your overall damage in two different ways; not only will you potentially place less traps down (to keep the Trap Limit lower), but that Tar you may have used before can potentially be replaced by a different floor trap that does damage.

However, I want to emphasize again, that this is highly dependent on how high of a tier your Viscous Tar is; since each tier upgrade increases the slow and the duration of the slow debuff, Viscous Tar may not be all that useful if you're using it at a lower tier.

What is the "Charge" attribute that certain Fire traps have (when viewed in the Workshop)?

Some Fire traps, such as Brimstone, have a certain amount of Charges. The number of Charges can be seen by viewing the trap in the Workshop.

What this means is that when you initially place down the trap, it'll be at the maximum amount of Charges. When a minion activates the trap, it consumes 1 Charge and it plays out its animation. When it's done, if another minion is in activation range, it continues to activate until there are no more Charges remaining.

The "Charge Regen / Sec" attribute is indicating how long it takes to refresh a single Charge. So for Brimstone, if the "Charge Regen / Sec" is 0.21, that means it takes a little over 5 seconds to gain a single Charge. If Brimstone has 5 Charges, this means it takes roughly 25 seconds to go from 0 Charges, to maximum Charges.

Truthfully, it's just a different form of a cooldown. For Floor Spikes, it doesn't have Charges, but a single Re-fire rate of 7 seconds. To think about Charges another way, it's the same thing if instead, Floor Spikes activated 5 times in a row, and had a 35 second cooldown.

Why 2 traps side-by-side? Won't 1 work fine?

Sometimes 1 actually does work, but not usually, and I wouldn't recommend it regardless.

The reason why you usually want to use 2 is because of how the minions branch out as they enter the map. I think this is partially due to their pathing behavior, as the developers probably didn't want to make it that easy to kill large groups of minions.

Minions should stay more or less in a straight path after they initially branch. I believe the only other times you will see minions branch again is whenever they need to turn, whether it's for a corner or because of a Barricade. They do have a slight amount of variance, and you will see, on occasion, minions moving outside of your traps. However, even though it may look like minions are moving at the edge of your traps, chances are they still will get hit most of the time. This is due to how the clip detection of the traps work with the size of the minions hit box.

Where should I place my traps?

I would say there are two optimal places:

As close to the opening gate as possible - What you'll find out is that getting the Par Times in harder matches requires you to kill things immediately as they spawn from the gates. If you don't, minions will have to travel further to get to whatever area you put your traps, which will make the match take longer. From the gate, you generally want to just continue to trap as far down the pathway as you can, but do keep in mind you should usually trap the other gates that open before that.
In the area where multiple minion pathways merge - This takes an understanding of the various minion pathways, which you're going to need to watch the blue "ghosts" that appear during breaks in order to see. You'll want to try to trap the initial spot where multiple pathways merge, then trap further down that pathway as much as possible. This is the most efficient trap placement, if only because harder maps won't allow you to freely trap each pathway individually (due to the trap limit).

Ugh! These stupid Archers are annoying!

Yes they are.

If you watch my videos, you might see me do a few things while dealing with Archers:

Run right into their melee range - They're designed to stop firing when you get into their melee range, at which point they will start to move along their pathway just like any other minion. This is a very helpful way of getting them to stop firing at you, but it is important to note that they will not cancel their current attack if you get into melee range. This means that if they are firing as you approach, you can still get hit up until the point they stop their firing animation.
Break line-of-sight - This means if they can't see you, they can't hit you. Hiding behind a wall, a pillar, or whatever else, will force them to stop shooting at you, and they'll continue to move down their path until they can see you again.
Move out of their maximum range - This is fairly obvious, but if you move far enough away, they won't be able to shoot you.

It is good to realize that Cyclops Mages, Order Mages, and Fire Fiend Warlocks are considered "Archers" by design, as they behave in the exact same manner, only with different firing speeds (and they hit really hard).

Sometimes I see you use your Gear while moving. How do you do that?

This is something that isn't shown, but I found it out randomly playing one day:

Your Gear is actually mapped to the D-pad on the controller. Whatever Gear is in the first slot can be used by pressing the "Up" button. Whatever Gear is in the second slot can be used by pressing the "Down" button.

Be very careful doing this though, because you have to remember that Battle Level upgrades are also mapped to the D-pad. So that means if you happen to press Up/Down to use your Gear, at the very same time you level up, you run the risk that you'll select an upgrade for your Hero that you don't want. You would probably be surprised how many times that's happened to me.

Prologue

I'm not going to put any videos of how to complete the Prologue maps, because I don't think it's necessary. Although I placed this section in the 5 Star part of the guide, it actually does not have any stars to earn, so you don't need to worry about being perfect.

The Prologue is entirely optional. I've only added it because of a single trophy, Victory Nap Earned, which is awarded once these 5 maps are complete.

Grand Foyer

A basic, one lane map.

Nothing much to say here, as they only give you 2 traps to work with - Floor Spikes, and Tar.

You should be able to manage with alternating the two: Put 2 Tar (side by side) then put down 2 Floor Spikes (side by side) so you can cover the entire lane. The reason why you put Tar first is to group up as many minions as you can before they hit the Floor Spikes, which allows the Floor Spikes to maximize its damage.

If you look at the ceiling, you can find a few chandeliers that can be shot to drop down on the minions. There's only a few, but you can use them to get a few kills towards the Chandelier Shatterer trophy.

Archmage Library

You'll have two different gates here, one on the west and one on the east. The only time you'll see them both open is the last wave. On the last wave, you may want to prioritize the west gate, as Kobolds will come out it.

Since you don't get Barricades, just put down as many Arrow Walls as you can, while alternating Tar and Floor Traps.

Overall it's not too difficult, but I even had a couple get to the rift. Not a big deal though, as these maps aren't worth any stars. Just make sure you have 1 rift point left at the end.

Order Academy Dungeon

Similar to the Archmage Library, you'll have 2 gates, but they will both be active only on the last wave.

This match puts stronger minions in the waves, and reduces the amount of traps you can use by taking away a lot of the floor spots. As the game tells you, place your Concussive Pounder on the ceilings to get some stuns. You can put down a number of Arrow Walls, and try to put down Tar (on the places that you can) where the Arrow Wall range is; this allows the Arrow Wall to maximize its damage, by having minions spend more time in its effective range.

If you look towards the ceiling at the east gate, you should see a big "cauldron" of sorts, with a fire lit underneath it. This is an environmental trap (like the chandelier on Grand Foyer) which you can shoot to have it deal damage to minions. You can use it once per wave, and by doing so you can earn some progress towards the Improvised Weapons trophy.

The Canals

Another 2 gate map, but this time, it will alternate at first; you'll get the west side on the first wave, then east, then west again, then you'll get both for the last 2 waves.

I did it by alternating Tar and Floor Spikes on both bridges (the west bridge first since it opens first, then trap the east bridge on the wave it opens). The west side is a bit easier to put down ceiling traps, but just put down what you can, wherever you can.

As of patch 2.6 (version 1.12 in the Update History), you can put down two Guardians here, even if you only have 1 equipped. The second will cost you 250 coin. Make sure to place down both to make this easier.

When both gates are open, you may want to start out clearing whichever gate has minions first, then adjust to whichever side is making the most progress towards the rift. You can also stay closer to the rift, and pick off whichever minions manage to get closer.

Riftmaker's Temple

The last map, with again 2 gates. I believe both gates are open for the last 3 waves.

Since you are able to use Barricades here, put two down where the game shows you to (the yellow square markers). Put down 2 Guardians, and try to trap the narrow corridor where the western Guardian is.

Further, you can start to think about Barricade strategies. One that is helpful here, is to try to "snake" the minions through the area where the eastern Guardian is. Refer to this screenshot:

And then if you put another 3 Barricades on the south end of that area, it should look like this:

This way you can path the minions to not only take a longer route, but forcing them all into the same area.

In a similar manner, consider the north gate (although they won't spawn there at first), and the fact that minions can branch and take two separate pathways. You can place down 2 Barricades like so:

Placing them like this shows how you can force minions into a single lane, thereby allowing you to concentrate your damage into one area. This also shows that you can place Barricades in irregular ways, and they don't always need to be in nicely symmetrical spots.

Continue to place what you can, where you can. I don't normally use Concussive Pounders, so I ended up using Swinging Maces for the ceilings.

After all 5 of these Prologue matches have been completed, you should earn the Victory Nap Earned trophy.

Apprentice

The first couple of maps on Apprentice shouldn't have you struggle much, but by the time you hit the 3rd map, you can tell that the difficulty is increasing.

As you will see in the videos, it is entirely possible to earn 5 Stars on each map without having to upgrade anything at all. The only thing that is semi-random to acquire is the Brimstone, but it is a fairly common trap to find, so you should be able to attain it within a few chests.

I keep my Account Level at a pretty extreme minimum, and most of the videos in this section were done sequentially, where I didn't level up between maps. In other words, my level only increased from my first time completions (I didn't grind anything at all). I did do the Weekly Challenge once or twice, so I may have leveled up once from that.

Remember to always finish your Daily Quests, and I would recommend at least trying to attempt the Weekly Challenge each week.

I will say again - My videos show that I know the maps very well, and that's where most of the expertise comes from (it has little to do with actual skill). This just comes with practice. Also, don't feel as though you need to earn 5 Stars immediately, as you can always come back and try again at any time.

The Baths

Account Level: 1

Hero used: Max

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Arrow Wall
Floor Spikes
Tar
Swinging Mace
Concussive Pounder
Barricade

Easy enough map to start off with.

The middle of the map splits into two different "lanes" so you will want to use Barricades to block off one of the lanes. By doing this, it forces all minions to go down a single lane, which makes it easier to kill any minions that manage to get by you. If you don't, you run the risk of the minions splitting up, which puts your rift at risk.

Focus on placing traps down in the area at the gate (2 floor traps side-by-side down the middle, alternating different traps). If you look above the gate, you'll see the wall is slanted, you can put an Arrow Wall there to shoot diagonally downwards.

Make sure you place your Guardian at the spot near the gate. If you want, you can also put down a Guardian at the opposite end of where you used your Barricades (if you barricaded the west, place the Guardian at the east spot); this isn't necessary though, as I don't do it in the video.

On the last wave you'll get a boss minion. With Max, the best single-target combo is Absolutely Stunning Bolt (L2) with In Your Faces (Square). Absolutely Stunning Bolt keeps the boss in place, then you can aim quickly at him with In Your Faces, and you should do a significant amount of damage.

Eventide Ramparts

Account Level: 2

Hero used: Max

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Arrow Wall
Floor Spikes
Tar
Swinging Mace
Concussive Pounder
Barricade

The first map with 2 separate gates. What you'll see me do is barricade off the north pathway (funneling the minions from the north gate eastwards), and then later barricade the south pathways that are closest to the east gate.

This forces all the minions to loop down into the forge area, but I still focus on trapping both gate areas. You may want to start thinking about where the minions converge (which will be hallway between the east and north gates) so you can trap that if you feel that it's necessary. Pay attention to where the ghosts are during the breaks to ensure that they're not squeezing past your Barricades.

If you're going in with lower level traps, you may want to utilize the environmental traps located around the north area (the things with the targets). Once shot, they'll release an exploding barrel which will roll forward from its location. You can either shoot this as it rolls, or it will blow up on its own after a few seconds. They do really good damage, but each one has a limited amount of uses.

This is the first map with more than 2 Guardian locations, but 2 should be enough. As of patch 2.6, you can spend more coin to put another Guardian in the forge area if you wish.

Banquet Hall

Account Level: 3

Hero used: Max

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Arrow Wall
Floor Spikes
Tar
Swinging Mace
Concussive Pounder
Barricade

The way that is shown in the video is not the most commonly trapped version, as it's potentially very risky. The way I see people in matchmaking barricade this map is like this:

So use that video above if you want to go the safer route. That first wave might get a little risky, but you should be okay with the two Guardians placed, just make sure to prioritize the Kobolds when you see them. In the video, after the first wave, you see me extend the Barricades in that room, so you can even force the minions to path further (guiding them along the southern wall, which you can trap). I wouldn't recommend doing this until you have extra coin though, which is why you see me sell the Barricades afterwards.

The strategy I use in my 5 Star video (shown below) is done with the Par Time in mind. If you go the safer route mentioned above, the minions take a long time getting to your traps, which means you may not make the Par Time. This can be compensated with a higher Account Level and better traps though, if you wish to just come back and use the safer route when you're stronger.

The Barricade strategy in the 5 Star video entails blocking off the entrance just north of the Rift, then using Barricades further to force the NE minions into the "Kitchen" area.

At the end of the first wave, put 2 more Barricades down just SW of the "Kitchen" Guardian spot, at that SW entrance to the Kitchen. This will force the minions to go into the NW entrance to the Kitchen, which will force them into combat with the Guardian. I then spend my remaining coin putting traps at one of the NW gates, where the minions will enter.

Once all of that is done, just continue to places traps along the gates where the minions enter, and the Kitchen area.

In the 5 Star video, you see me use only a single Guardian. If you're new to the map, I would recommend using a second, placing it on the spot near the Rift, just in case any get by you.

Cliffside Clash

Account Level: 4

Hero used: Max

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Arrow Wall
Floor Spikes
Tar
Swinging Mace
Concussive Pounder
Barricade

This is the first map that might give newcomers problems. This is due to how there is no way to converge the 2 gates, which forces players to protect only one side, while the other side needs to be appropriately trapped to clear the minions for you.

Not only that, but you'll see Kobolds mixed in with both gates, so there's a good chance they may rush past all of your traps. For both of these reasons, this is the first map I would recommend you try to "snake" minions with Barricade placements. By doing this, you force minions to take a longer route, which will allow you more time to jump between each gate to help clear the waves.

Once minions are spawning at both gates during the same wave, you'll want to start to watch the map and hop between both of them accordingly.

With patch 2.6, you can utilize every Guardian spot, if you have the coin to spend. For new players, I would recommend this, if only while you get accustomed to the map. The extra Guardians should help immensely as you learn how to set your traps up to clear waves without your involvement.

There are a number of environmental traps in this map, so look around for them (they can be around the ceilings, like the chandeliers), although some are easier to use than others. The west gate features some slanted walls to put Arrow Walls on if you wish to use them.

Throne Room

Account Level: 4

Hero used: Max

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Arrow Wall
Floor Spikes
Tar
Swinging Mace
Brimstone (new addition)
Barricade

Here we are with another map that might give newcomers issues. The map is not necessarily difficult to trap or protect, but this is the first map that features Order minions which take increased damage when they're near death. This buff that they get activates when they're around 10% HP, and they reduce ALL damage, no matter how much it is, down to about 20-25 (it has about a 75% activation rate I think, which means it doesn't always happen). This means that you'll probably need to hit each one 2 to 3 times more than any other minion, even regardless of your Account Level or traps.

This means that this is may be the first map you'll have problems getting the Par Time on. At this point, I have changed my loadout to include the Brimstone trap due to the fire damage. Fire damage is nice for Order minions, because it's a damage-over-time effect that lasts a few seconds. This means it has a better chance of finishing off Order minions in comparison to other traps that only do high damage in a single hit.

You will also see the Grizzly minions for the first time, and you will also notice that some have Shields. The Grizzly minions get a set amount of HP restored when they're near an ally that dies (I think it restores 25% of their total HP), and it has no cooldown, which means they can potentially get back to full HP in a matter of seconds. Although you'll see waves of nothing but Grizzly minions, try to focus on them individually (rather than spreading your damage around), to reduce the occurrence of the HP restoration.

Shield minions block everything from the front, and from what I've seen, the block extends more than what is directly in front. In other words, they can partially block from the side as well. Since these minions are almost always spawned before everything else, this means they'll run right into some of your traps, block all of the damage, allowing the rest of the wave to pass by without any damage until your trap resets. Some traps do go through regardless (like most ceiling traps) but some don't, it just take some experimenting. You'll need to practice some to get used to what areas you can damage with them.

As for the map, I put down Tar traps on the north and south bridges to allow the minions to group up to be damaged by the gigantic swinging mace you can activate. This environmental trap is really nice because it will push smaller minions into the acid, killing them instantly. It also has a fairly short cooldown on its use, and you can use it as much as you want.

Again, I only use 1 Guardian here, but feel free to put down one in the kitchen area in the northeast, just in case things manage to get by.

Water Garden

Account Level: 5

Hero used: Blackpaw

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Arrow Wall
Floor Spikes
Tar
Swinging Mace
Brimstone
Barricade

This is one of the new maps that was included in patch 2.5, which introduces a few new minions. As it turns out, out of all the Apprentice maps, this is probably the most difficult to get 5 Stars on with a basic loadout.

The Wu Xing minions that are in this map have an innate elemental resistance, which means any character that does elemental damage (like Maximilian and Gabriella) will have their damage reduced (this is why I use Blackpaw). Not only heroes, but traps that do elemental damage, like Brimstone will do decreased damage as well.

You may still want to bring Brimstone, because this is also the first map that introduces Earth Elementals. Earth elementals are particularly dangerous, because they move at roughly the same speed as Kobolds, but they cannot be slowed down nor hit with any crowd control effects, such as stuns or freezes. They have no elemental resistances though, so fire damage is a great way to get rid of them.

My strategy barricades the north bridge, which forces minions from the north gate eastwards. After the first wave, I barricade the southeast lane, forcing them to move back north, into the pathway of the Guardian spot, then down towards the southwest. This allows the maximum amount of travel time from the north gate, while still forcing the east gate (which will open at wave 5) through a longer path.

This means that you want to prioritize killing things at the west gate because not only will they have the shortest path to the Rift, but the west gate is the one that spawns Earth Elementals. There will not be many that come from the west gate per wave (maybe at most 6), but all it takes is 1 to screw up that 5 Star. So make sure you're looking for them; it might be a good idea to kill things away from the gate, rather than at them, as sometimes they can get overlapped with the other minions, and you might not see them. By killing things away from the gate, you can almost always see them filter through due to their speed.

While killing things at the west gate, try not to get distracted by the Hunters (the blue dragon things) as you may see them hop over the barricades and head towards your Rift. If they enter the Rift, it won't cost you, so don't ignore the west gate for the sole purpose to kill these things (unless you're confident with what you're doing).

Try to have your Unchained up for wave 6, as you'll have 3 bosses during that wave. The east gate spawns first, and I would recommend using Unchained at that point for Bulgod, as you don't want him disabling your traps. The north gate will then spawn, but prioritize killing Vitality when you see him, as if you don't he can just revive what you've killed. Move to the west gate the second minions appear there due to how short their path is to the Rift.

All that said, this is a great map to utilize the change in patch 2.6 with the Guardians. By using my barricade strategy, you can force the north gate minions into encounters with all 3 Guardians. Chances are you'll have the north Guardian die, so feel free to replace him when he does. Although you can use all 3 Guardian spots, I would say that the southwest one is probably the second most important, as it can help with Earth Elementals if they get by.

Unchained Fortress

Account Level: 6

Hero used: Max

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Arrow Wall
Floor Spikes
Tar
Swinging Mace
Brimstone
Barricade

This map is very similar to Cliffside Clash, because you have 2 different gates that can't be merged into a single lane. However, this map features the Order minions and Grizzlies.

This is another good map to try to "snake" minions on, particularly at hallway near the east gate. The west gate is a little more difficult to do that with (and I wouldn't recommend it) because of how large the area is; I just don't think it's really worth the coin spent on it.

Again, once both gates are open at the same time, you'll just need to pick one side to focus on, then readjust as the other gate makes further progress towards the Rift.

Once more, feel free to utilize all Guardian spots if you want to, although it shouldn't be necessary.

Highlands

Account Level: 6

Hero used: Max

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Arrow Wall
Floor Spikes
Tar
Swinging Mace
Brimstone
Barricade

This map can be considered a harder version of Cliffside Clash/Unchained Fortress, as you have to now deal with 3 separate gates that cannot be merged into one lane.

The positive side thing to this is the fact that the minions have to walk a long way from the gate to the initial area where all the traps are, giving you some time to adjust as they first spawn.

For this map, each gate spawns a predictable set of minions. The north (first to open) will have the usual mixture of regular minions with a few larger ones. The east (opens on wave 3) will primarily consist of Ogres and Orc Archers. The west (opens on wave 5) will be almost exclusively Kobolds. For this reason, I would recommend fighting at each gate as it opens - so when the east gate opens, fight there until it's cleared, then move back to the north. When the west gate opens, fight there until it's cleared, then make sure you go back to it for the last wave.

I would highly recommend killing the Kobolds from the west gate yourself as there are much more than what you're used to seeing. For this reason, I overuse the Tar trap - this allows you to slow them down and pick them off yourself, instead of having to rely on traps.

In the video, you see me snake the minions on the north and east gates, although there's not a lot of room for it. I also use Guardians for the north and east gates, but you can use more if you wish.

Training Grounds

Account Level: 7

Hero used: Max

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Arrow Wall
Floor Spikes
Tar
Swinging Mace
Brimstone
Barricade

Training Grounds isn't particularly interesting in my opinion, but the layout of it is slightly different, as you can path the minions in different ways with Barricades.

You'll be facing more Order and Grizzly minions here, but you should at least be familiar with them at this point. The Barricade strategy I use is fairly simple here, as I force them into the "barracks" area (the west Guardian spot) so the Guardian can assist. You can place Barricades in the barracks area to snake them, but it's not really necessary on Apprentice.

The Barricades in the southern "middle" part you may have questions about - You can place a single Barricade at a diagonal with the corner of the south gate, and the tree, to block that first opening. Moving north, although you can place them in the areas in between the "medians", I move them one square to the east so I can funnel them all into a single lane near the eastern wall. This is kind of optional here, as it doesn't matter with Arrow Walls, but this becomes much more helpful in the harder difficulties of this map, once you have Grinders.

The east gate will open on the last wave, but strangely, the south gate will also close. This means that you can sell all the traps at the south gate at the break before the last wave, in case you need the coin (or have reached the trap limit).

War Mage

What changes in War Mage?

There are a few different additions in War Mage, but here are some of the more important additions:

Mercenaries - Mercenaries get added to specific waves on each map, and they basically act as different Boss minions. The difference is that they are randomly selected from a pool of 6. Couple of things to note:
- You will usually see only 1 spawn at it's specific wave, but sometimes you'll get more. 2 spawns are a little more common on harder maps (although you'll see it on the first map of War Mage), but 3 only happens on a few maps. I do recall seeing 4 on certain Endless maps.
- They do not count for Rift points and won't even enter the Rift. Their entire purpose is to cause problems for the player, and if a wave is cleared with the Mercenary still alive, it'll continue to harass the player in every subsequent wave.
- You can have multiples of the same Mercenary - You won't ever see 2 of the same Mercenary spawn on the same wave, but it's entirely possible to have a Mercenary spawn on....say wave 3, then have the same one spawn on wave 6 or whatever. This means you can have multiples of the same Mercenary on the map if you never bother to kill them.
- Mercenaries will ignore Guardians - Guardians will still attack them when they're in range, but Mercenaries will not pick fights with Guardians, unlike Bosses.
- As of patch 2.6, some of them are buggy - I'm convinced Bouncer Bear is bugged, because he didn't charge around at full speed in previous patches. I do know Human Image is bugged, because sometimes his "clone" won't despawn correctly when the "real" Human Image is killed. Due to this, these two can really mess up your match.
Minions that destroy Barricades - These are denoted by yellow dots (versus the usual red) on your mini-map. Here are a few of the different Barricade-destroying minions on War Mage:
- Kamikaze Kobolds - Kobolds that will run straight for your Barricades in an attempt to destroy them. They are dangerous because of their speed, and it makes it difficult to prevent them destroying your Barricades unless you know where they come from.
- Gnome Destroyers - They're not as fast as the Kamikaze Kobolds, but they get a shield that makes them take no damage for 2 seconds. The shield has a 20 second cooldown though.
- Orfum - This is a boss minion. He's a really large troll that will generally prioritize your Barricades. He does have a tendency to want to kill you instead though, if you get close enough to him.
- Bouncer Bear - As mentioned above, he is a Mercenary. He does damage Barricades if he's moving during his "charge" animation.
Satyrs - They're a more sturdy version of Kobolds. Like the Gnome Destroyers, they get a shield that lasts 2 seconds as well, making them more difficult to kill than Kobolds.

That's about it for the important new additions. You'll notice immediately that you'll be visiting some of the same maps you saw on Apprentice, but the wave numbers have changed, as well as the minions that appear. You'll also see some new Bosses, but I'll mention any important ones on their specific map.

Preparing for War Mage

You should be at least level 8 if you have War Mage unlocked, but chances are you'll be higher.

If you haven't upgraded your traps at all, I would highly recommend getting everything you use to Tier 2 or higher.

I did manage to earn 5 Stars on half of the War Mage maps with Tier 1 traps, and with a lower account level, so it still is possible, but I don't recommend it. I think I got the first map done at Account Level 9 or 10, and the last map I managed before upgrading was Training Grounds, where I was Account Level 13.

I finally decided to give in at Thuricvod Village, because I knew it was getting to the point I needed to upgrade. I may have been able to do it at the Recommended Level (which is 17-20), but I knew Crogon Keep was coming up, which can be difficult. Since Thuricvold Village is the halfway point through War Mage, I figured I should finally just upgrade a few things.

So here's the list of what I upgraded, and how my loadout has changed for War Mage:

Barricade (Tier 2)
Tar (Tier 3)
Brimstone (Tier 3)
Floor Spikes (Tier 2)
Arrow Wall (Tier 3)
Swinging Mace (Tier 1) - Due to this trap having the rarity of "rare", some players may not have seen enough of it yet to upgrade it, which is why I'm keeping it at Tier 1 for now. It's a bit of a toss up if you have enough; it still is expensive, so it's hard to afford it if you're not playing as Max. In addition, it's so large it's hard to place it. So either way, upgrade it or not, it's your choice.
(New) Grinder (Tier 2) - The Grinder trap can only be found in War Mage and higher chests, so you're not going to have it at the beginning. For this reason, you won't see it until my video of Thuricvod Village. It is an "uncommon" rarity trap though, but you should be able to find it fairly quickly as you clear in War Mage. I would recommend upgrading it when you can though, as it is a great trap that will help you through the rest of the game.
(New) Floor Scorcher (Tier 1) - I didn't earn this until after I finished Thuricvod Village, but I do start using it from Crogon Keep onward. It replaces Floor Spikes.

So I have 3 traps at tier 2, and 3 traps at tier 3, (which should cost you 5250 Skulls in total) at the point of starting Thuricvod Village, as well as the addition of the Grinder to the loadout. This should be reasonablefor all players, as you will more than likely be better off by the time you get to Thuricvod Village.

Remember: Don't try to finish 5 Stars with minimum gear like I do! Upgrade the traps you usually use, when you can.

Chances are, you also have some Traits by now. Due to the randomness of receiving them, I personally do not use any Traits during War Mage. This is good for you though, as you'll have a distinct advantage over my videos. You should certainly put them in your loadout as soon as you can, until you get more useful ones. Some of them are certainly better than others, but let's talk about some of them:

Use what you have - Bit of a no-brainer, but obviously you should equip what you have, if only to have something equipped. Chances are you'll probably have a lot of "pentagon" traits, so make sure you slot it appropriately in your loadout (in the "pentagon" slot) so you can get its passive bonus.
Pay attention to the slot bonus - You can check this by looking at the Trait in the Workshop. The "5% primary attack damage" is the one I personally prefer, but realize it also depends on your character. At a lower Account Level, Max gets very little from 5% primary attack (if he's hitting for 25, it means he'll be hitting for 26....yay.), but Blackpaw and Gabriella obviously get a bigger boost from it.
You should pay attention to what types of minions are on the map - This is useful in general terms, but by doing so, you can get the most out of the "damage increased to x minion" Traits (such as Cat Eaten by Gnoll, Brother Mauled by Grizzlies, etc.). Since they only increase damage to certain types, it's clearly a bit useless (besides the slot bonus) if the minion isn't on the map. You can check the minion info on each map by pressing Square (the "Expand Info" button) before you start the match. Remember you can always edit what you bring in before you start the map, so you can look at what minions appear and adjust accordingly before the match starts.
- Damage Traits I would stay away from - It's fine to use these if you don't have anything else, but "Cat Eaten by Gnoll" and "Dog Killed by Pride Hunters" are actually kind of useless. Since these are "hunter" minions, they don't count for any Rift points, and sometimes if you're not in aggro range, they will just walk straight to the Rift.
If you manage to pick up the Feeling Fierce Trait in War Mage, slot it as soon as you can - It's probably the best damage Trait in the game, and you'll probably be using it the majority of the time. The slot bonus is cooldown reduction, which I normally don't care for, so I would still take the 5% primary attack over this one (you can slot Feeling Fierce in the only non-specific Trait slot in your loadout).
- Enjoys Pain and Practices Witchcraft are also very useful - Again, these are both found in War Mage, so you may get one of them. They're "diamond" slots, so they don't have much competition with other good Traits. Enjoys Pain is a lifesteal on physical attacks, and Practices Witchcraft is a lifesteal on magical attacks, so you need to slot depending on what type of damage your character deals.

As a final note, if you need Skulls or want to gain more levels, you can always go back and continue to clear all of Apprentice and whatever you can in War Mage with your starter characters. If you have the Skulls (depending on how long you've been playing, and how much you've upgraded) you may want to consider buying a new character. This way you can continue to earn Skulls and experience, while at least getting some variety. You can always jump into Sabotage or do some co-op if you want to.

If you are interested in buying a new character, you can check out the Hero section of this guide for my personal review of each current Hero.

Eventide Ramparts

Account Level: 8

Hero used: Max

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Arrow Wall
Floor Spikes
Tar
Swinging Mace
Brimstone
Barricade

Here, you'll see not only the new Kamikaze Kobolds, but Mercenaries as well. They make it even more difficult, since you will see 2 Mercenaries on wave 7.

The same Barricade strategy I used in Apprentice can be used here, but you do see me place an extra Barricade at the north to try to attract the Kamikaze Kobolds (so they blow it up instead). You'll also see me put down 3 more Barricades to the south of the NW ones, just in case they manage to get destroyed.

Due to how most things come from the north, I would protect it over the east gate more often than not. I would also recommend trying to save your Unchained for the Mercenaries, as well as Orfum (waves 3, 7, and 10).

Other than that it's basically the same placement of damage traps as I did in my Apprentice video. I do try to put down more where the two pathways merge, which is in that hallway between them.

Temple Graveyard

Account Level: 10

Hero used: Blackpaw

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Arrow Wall
Floor Spikes
Tar
Swinging Mace
Brimstone
Barricade

This can be quite difficult if you come in with low damage as I did.

The main problem is you get Mercenaries back-to-back, which can really cause some problems. Normally it's easy enough to deal with each Mercenary by activating Unchained to quickly take them out, but if you do this on this map, you'll find you won't have Unchained available for the next one in the next wave. Due to this reason, you may want to see who the first Mercenary is (appears at wave 3) before using Unchained - if he can be dealt with easily, save Unchained for the next Mercenary (appears at wave 4).

My Barricade strategy forces minions up to the north, into the west Guardian area, then they'll move east and back down, towards the second Guardian area. You can partially barricade the Guardian area off to snake them through it, which I think is optimal.

I also place an extra Barricade in the SW for the Kamikaze Kobolds - the video shows me blocking off the small SE corridor (the corridor just south of the Rift), so you don't want them blowing that up.

Once you have some coin, try to divide the NE area (where the gate is) in half by using Barricades, thus forcing them to take a longer route.

There are a few groups of Kobolds in here too (I believe they all come from the NW gate), so none of them slip by.

Banquet Hall

Account Level: 10

Hero used: Max

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Barricade
Tar
Brimstone
Floor Spikes
Arrow Wall
Swinging Mace

The video uses a different strategy for Barricades in comparison to the Apprentice version - the strategy I use is the same as the "alternative barricade strategy" I mentioned in the Apprentice version.

The Barricade strategy from the Apprentice video doesn't really work here, because the NW gate opens first, and not only that, but the NE gate immediately opens on wave 2 (there's no break before it opens, which happens on a few maps).

So instead you want to funnel them to the SE area, so they are forced to go south into the "Kitchen" area, where the Guardian is located. You'll see me extend the Barricades in the SE area (forcing them to go to the...SE corner of the SE area) and funnel them all into a single lane.

Starting on wave 3, you'll get Kamikaze Kobolds from the NW - make sure you at least put 1 Barricade down somewhere in the NW area so they'll run to that one instead of the ones blocking off your Rift. You'll see me block off 1/2 of the NW gate, but this isn't necessary; I just wanted to show it for those that may not know you can do that. I would also recommend replacing the Barricade they destroy, as you'll get Orfum, the boss minion that targets Barricades, on wave 6.

Kamikaze Kobolds also show up on wave 7, but from the NE gate, and they should go immediately south. If you blocked off one of the two "lanes" like I did, this shouldn't be a problem. They can destroy those if they want to, as it just hurts your damage output that much. I would recommend replacing them when you can though.

Other than that just trap appropriately.

Gates of Thuricvod

Account Level: 11

Hero used: Blackpaw

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Barricade
Tar
Brimstone
Floor Spikes
Arrow Wall
Swinging Mace
Push Trap (new, used only for this map)

Make sure to bring Push Traps! They make a huge difference here. Even if it's just tier 1, that's fine, as that's what I used.

It's a simple layout, and there's not many Barricades to place here. You do want to focus primarily on trapping the center lane, but you will have to put Push Traps all the way down the east and west lanes (as I show). Push Traps should take care of everything from the NW/NE gates by themselves, although you might see the minions get pushed into the center lane, at that point you'll need to kill them.

The gates open pretty quick though, so don't place too many traps in the center lane until you have the Push Traps put down. You'll also want to be careful getting to the east/west lanes, because if you botch the jump, you might end up falling in the lava.

For the southern part, I usually place Barricades at the SE, as the SE gate will initially have a ton of Kobolds (I put Brimstones down at the SE gate for this reason). I then trap the SW corridor as best I can, with the Guardian at the SW spot.

Gaeadin, the Earth Elemental boss, shows up on wave 7. When killed, he splits into 2 medium sized Elementals, which, when killed, will split into 2 more small runner Elementals. I didn't have a problem with him here, as the Elementals should keep in combat with the Guardian; so make sure you a Guardian at that north spot.

On the last wave you get all 5 gates - I would prioritize the southern part until there's only a few larger minions left, then move up to cover the center lane.

The Wall

Account Level: 11

Hero used: Blackpaw

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Barricade
Tar
Brimstone
Floor Spikes
Arrow Wall
Swinging Mace

A fairly large map, and you will see a lot of minions here. Happily they all come from the same general direction though. If you're new to this map, I would recommend exploring it some so you can get a feel for where the teleports are (the shiny mirror things) so you can easily get between the three gates.

My Barricade strategy starts off by blocking one of the two lanes that are north of the Rift, as you don't want the minions to split. Afterwards I don't use Barricades in the middle lane at all, since you'll get a large group of Kamikaze Kobolds on wave 5.

For the NW/NE gates, I force them down that long staircase towards the middle area. Some (not all) of the minions might wander in the wrong direction (towards the Guardians) so you can place Guardians down on both of their NE/NW spots to deal extra damage.

You'll see me place Barricades at the end of the long staircases....and mess it up completely. So there's kind of a "speed bump" looking thing in the area that I put down Barricades, which I don't remember being there. Due to this, you can't place Barricades at a diagonal (like I did) because the minions will just move around it. So what you should do is instead make a "L" shape with your Barricades, to ensure they're all connected and things can't get by.

The reason why I do this is to funnel all of them into a single lane, and thus I only have to place one set of floor traps.

The Par Time was pretty close (made it by 15 seconds) but it probably would have helped if I didn't mess up those Barricades. Regardless though, I was surprised I was able to pull it off at Account Level 11 with tier 1 traps.

Midnight Market

Account Level: 12

Hero used: Blackpaw

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Barricade
Tar
Brimstone
Floor Spikes
Arrow Wall
Swinging Mace

This map can be pretty tough if you're going in with lower damage like I did. A big problem of it is your initial starting coin; for whatever reason, you only start with 6,000.

For my Barricade strategy, I completely block off the Rift so they only have 1 entrance - the SE corner (although you probably won't have the coin for this at first). You can also try blocking off everything but the SW instead, as it shouldn't really make a difference. The only difference is the fact that the east gate minions probably won't bother with that eastern Guardian, but that may not matter to you.

You don't need to Barricade anything at first, but you'll need a lot of coin within the first few waves to appropriately block off the Rift by the time the north gate opens. Earth Elementals will show up at the north gate, so you don't want them splitting into two different directions, so make sure it's blocked off before then.

Another thing to point out, since I don't do it in the video, is place a few traps at the east gate. You can place Tar right at the gate, then put a couple of wall traps down as well (Grinder is great if you have it). For the first wave, this may work better than trying to trap the east lane, like I did in the video. Once the east gate closes, you can sell whatever traps just to ensure that you have enough to block off the Rift (I did this, but it wasn't necessary as it turns out).

It starts out with the east gate opening first, but be aware that minions may path to the west since you more than likely won't have the Rift fully blocked off. I use Blackpaw for this reason - he can keep the minions grouped up a little better, ensuring that things don't get by him.

Once you have the Rift blocked off though, the match should be fairly easy. You just need to make sure you kill those Earth Elementals that show up. Although you may struggle at the end there if you come in as low as me; I nearly messed this up at that last wave, as the boss minion almost killed me. I wish I had Unchained for it, but I guess it's what I get for trying to do this at such a low level.

Training Grounds

Account Level: 13

Hero used: Max

Traps used (all at tier 1):

Barricade
Tar
Brimstone
Floor Spikes
Arrow Wall
Swinging Mace

This uses the same Barricade strategy as the Apprentice version, and it mostly plays out the same way.

The only difference here is that you'll see me extend the Barricades around the "Barracks" area, where the Guardian is. The reason why I do this is because of the runners - you'll get Earth Elementals and Satyrs on this map. Extra Barricades forces them to take a longer path, which allows you to kill them in time.

I would highly recommend not relying on your traps to kill Satyrs and Earth Elementals. Unless you've put down a lot (or have high damage output), you will generally get a handful of them that will survive.

On the last wave, you'll have the east and north gates open. Try to have Unchained available for this wave, to use at the east gate. If you clear the east gate quick enough, you'll have time to get back over to the southwest - this is what you want, because Satyrs will be the first thing out of the north gate when the minions show up there.

Thuricvod Village

Account Level: 18

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 2)
Tar (tier 3)
Brimstone (tier 3)
Floor Spikes (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 3)
Swinging Mace
Grinder (new addition, tier 2)

Despite how small the map is, I think the problem is twofold - coin generation isn't really good, and they send a lot of large minions at you. Since you don't earn that much coin before the gates open, it's difficult to trap each side appropriately. I go in with Max for this reason, but he unfortunately doesn't do as well against large minions. Although I did try with Blackpaw, I had the opposite problem, and I didn't have enough coin to trap each lane.

What you'll see me do is mostly force minions against walls on the east side, and make an attempt to snake them on the west side. On wave 3, the east side spawns nothing but Kobolds, but on the west side you get a lot of medium sized minions. Staying at the west side is more important, as you won't have enough damage output from your traps to deal with all of them.

The traps on the east side can take care of the Kobolds by themselves (with the help of the Guardian) but you do have to make sure you trap it correctly; combining Tar and Grinder really helps with this, along with Brimstones.

Even though I upgraded my traps and earned a few levels, I still struggled with this map. You'll see in the video that I had a couple of Trolls nearly make it to the Rift, so be aware that this map is not as easy as it looks.

Throne Room

Account Level: 18

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 2)
Tar (tier 3)
Brimstone (tier 3)
Floor Spikes (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 3)
Swinging Mace
Grinder (tier 2)

The exact same strategy I used in Apprentice Throne Room can be used. There's really not much difference here at all than what you see in the Apprentice version - I just use more traps here. Just like Apprentice though, you can try to use the Swinging Mace trap by hitting the activation button, as it really does help. I did have a minion that went through the wall though (which I thought they fixed).

The only thing you may not have seen yet if you're new to this map is the addition of the Gnome Destroyers. These have shields like the Satyrs do (which also appear on this map), so it's recommended you just kill them yourself. The ones that spawn at the SW gate are obviously more of a threat.

For this reason, if you want to, you can put 2 more Barricades down to protect the 2 southern Barricades. You can place 2 more just to the west of the southern barricades (which is shown late, at wave 9), which will draw the Gnome Destroyers to them instead, in case you can't kill them in time.

This is also the first video I used the Guardian changes that came with patch 2.6 - I replaced my northern Guardian when he died. This was actually an accident, and it shouldn't be necessary if you don't want to. Still though, you should have plenty of coin to spend on this map.

His replacement may have helped my Par Time, but I still manage 30 seconds under it despite dying 2 times, so I certainly didn't do this perfectly.

Crogon Keep

Account Level: 19

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 2)
Tar (tier 3)
Brimstone (tier 3)
Floor Spikes (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 3)
Swinging Mace
Grinder (tier 2)

This map can be difficult to get used to, as I think it has the worst layout. It's not really easy to traverse the various lanes; there's no quick connection between the SE and NW gates. Do notice where the NW and SE gates connect though - they come to a crossing right to the east of the Rift. This functions as a decent guarding point (or at least, guard that general area), since you may have problems with both of those gates.

I do add in the Floor Scorcher trap at this point, but I keep it at tier 1. The Floor Scorcher is a very useful trap, which I will end up using for pretty much the rest of the game. It can be found in War Mage (and higher) chests, but if you don't have one, you may want to either clear the previous maps with other characters, or just wait to come back to this one.

For the Barricade strategy, there isn't much of one. I block off the west entry to the Rift, but I only use two more to block off the stairway directly north of the Rift area. The reason why I do this is to direct the minions from the north gate to go west, thereby merging the two lanes in the hallway that is just north of the Guardian spot. This way it's possible to trap that area to deal with both lanes, and it allows them to group better for the Guardian.

You really have to keep an eye on the minions from the NE gate. Realize that blocking off the west entry of the Rift forces the north and NW to path a very long way, so you don't really have to worry about them quite as much. The minions from the NE not only include waves of Kobolds, but they can be deceptively strong as well - I've felt fully confident in my traps many times, and yet I always manage to see one or two regular minions just walk through all of them for some reason.

For this reason, I would prioritize the NE gate minions over everything else, until the SE gate opens. Since the minions from the NE have to go through that long winding pathway first, I would recommend dealing with the north gate until they start to reach the end of that winding path - use the teleport to quickly jump over to that area and start clearing it.

Once the SE gate opens though, you need to prioritize that because of how short their pathway is to the Rift. Once it's cleared (or mostly cleared, depending on how confident you are), start clearing the NE minions.

Shark Island

Account Level: 21

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 2)
Tar (tier 3)
Brimstone (tier 3)
Floor Spikes (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 3)
Swinging Mace
Grinder (tier 2)

This map isn't too bad to defend, but there a lot of minions to deal with. You'll also notice this map has a similar traversal issue as Crogon Keep, as you may need some practice to get used to it. Although there are more ways to get to the multiple ways compared to Crogon Keep, they do get some getting used to.

The Barricade strategy is fairly simple, as only a handful are used to block off the Rift. The NW gate is blocked off on the eastern lane - for some reason the minions try to go down there first, which means they'll walk eastward first, towards the Barricades, then walk back. This allows you to take advantage of their pathing, because they'll take a lot longer to get to the Rift.

The only lanes you can merge are the ones from the east gate and the SW gate, which you see me do by placing Barricades at the eastern entry to the Rift. This forces the east gate to go into the "Forge" area, where you can place a Guardian if you wish. The SW gate can be merged into the Forge area as well, if you block off the SW entry to Rift, at the stairs (you don't have to do that until it opens though).

As for the north gate, the Barricades are placed in between the posts/columns or whatever they are, which are around the Guardian area. The Barricade placements look kind of weird, but just as long as you get 2 between those two posts, and then place 1 more to the south, you should be okay (you can reference the "ghosts" during the break to make sure they can't get through). This forces them to go eastward (although they'll go south towards the Barricades first), and through that "Kitchen" area, where you can place another Guardian if you wish.

Stables of Eventide

Account Level: 21

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 2)
Tar (tier 3)
Brimstone (tier 3)
Floor Spikes (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 3)
Swinging Mace
Grinder (tier 2)

This is another map that may give you some problems. The biggest issue is the last wave - you will get nothing but Earth Elementals, which means you can't slow them with Tar or use any other crowd-control on them.

The Barricade strategy is mostly simple - I do an alternating diagonal of 3 at the SW gate (I call it the "Mickey Mouse"), which forces them around the outer edge of that area they start out in. Once the north gate opens, you want to Barricade in a way that blocks off the "Temple" area (the opening just west of the Guardian spot), while also blocking off the area just south of it. I place them kind of poorly, but what you want to do is force them into the NW corner, then have them move westward along the outer wall, instead of just straight south.

By doing this, you force them to move along the wall, which sets them up great for Grinders. After that's done, I go back to the SW area, place a couple of Barricades in the lane on one side, then place two more on the other side. This is to force the Earth Elementals to zigzag down the lane on the last wave.

I will admit I do make some mistakes here - you'll see me place 2 Barricades just south of the southern Guardian. I was going to attempt to show how you can Barricade the southern path off, forcing them into only one of the western entrances to the Rift area. I didn't realize I didn't have the coin to do it, and just continued normally. This actually made it somewhat problematic for me, as you see a couple of Earth Elementals enter the Rift area from the south.

I also put a ton of Tar traps with Grinders up in the northern area, which in retrospect I probably shouldn't have done (I should have used more Brimstone/Floor Scorchers).

Ultimately, just prepare yourself for that last wave. On that last wave, you may want to try killing minions at the SW gate first, rather than the north like I did. It is a tough map though, solely because of those Earth Elementals.

Highlands

Account Level: 21

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 2)
Tar (tier 3)
Brimstone (tier 3)
Floor Spikes (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 3)
Swinging Mace
Grinder (tier 2)

This map kind of plays out in a similar manner as the Apprentice version, but with stronger minions. Fortunately, you don't really see any large groups of Kobolds here though.

Unlike Apprentice though, you can only snake the minions from the north, as the NE/NW gates will spawn Kamikaze Kobolds, so personally I don't think it's worth potentially replacing Barricades. Other than the Barricades I place to snake the north minions, I don't use Barricades at all here.

Not much to say about the strategy here - just place your traps appropriately. The NW minions start off in that fairly large room, so you may want to place some traps further down the lane (closer to the Rift), since the corridors there are more narrow.

Although I only place 2 Guardians, placing more should help significantly here.

Restricted Section

Account Level: 22

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 2)
Tar (tier 3)
Brimstone (tier 3)
Floor Spikes (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 3)
Swinging Mace
Grinder (tier 2)

Max is really good here, because he can afford placing all of these Barricades before the first wave. If you go in with another character, you'll have to make do with what you can place, assuming you don't come in with extra coin from other sources (like Parts/Traits).

I initially hated this map until I found out how to use Barricades correctly. This isn't the only Barricade strategy I've seen - I've seen a number of different ways people have set it up in matchmaking. It's a little hard to describe how I place them in text, but the idea is to force them all down a single lane, into the SE corner, then have them loop back up.

Make sure you block off the southernmost entry to the Rift! Once you do, the minions will path back upwards, to the single entry that's directly east of the Rift. Other than that, make sure you have 2 Barricades near the north gate somewhere by wave 6, to distract the Kamikaze Kobolds on that wave (you really don't want them reaching any of the other Barricades). I replace the decoys once they get destroyed, but I'm pretty sure you don't see any more after wave 6.

Two things you'll notice about this strategy - it's highly dependent on Grinders, and the southern gate has the shortest route to the Rift. Despite that, if you look at it, I feel this is the optimal way to do it, because all you have to do is be at the south gate; all the other minions from the other gates are forced to merge into the same lane where the south gate is.

Master

What changes in Master?

Not as much as you might think. The primary addition are Unstable Rifts:

Unstable Rifts spawn at certain locations on the map, but there are two things static about them:
- They will always appear on the same wave, for that given map.
- They will always spawn the same minions.
Their locations somewhat vary. It depends on the map, but they have a set of static locations for the given wave that they spawn on. So let's say an Unstable Rift spawns on wave 3 - the location that appears at, may be one of 2 or 3 different locations it could potentially be. To clarify, they can't spawn anywhere but their spawn locations are randomized between a set of maybe 2-4 specific locations.
Sometimes it's better to ignore them completely - However, this takes an understanding of the map. You usually want to prioritize Unstable Rifts before all else, but there are certain maps it's sometimes better to either let it open, or kill of whatever minion is currently spawning. A great example is the very first Master map of Cliffside Clash - on wave 3, you'll get a Rift, that could potentially be south of the current gate. However, at the very same time, you get a large group of Kobolds from the gate that is open. I would generally recommend getting the Kobolds first, because if you let the Unstable Rift open, it should be a pack of Orc TNT Archers, which may just head up to the Guardian instead of the Rift (unless you didn't put a Guardian down).

Other than that, you do get a number of different new minions that will appear, including minions that are strong to certain elements, but weak to the opposite element (Frost Orcs, Fire Elementals, etc.). Here are some of the more notable minion additions:

Orc TNT Archers - They are just like regular Orc Archers, only they fire rockets at you. They are flagged as "yellow" minions, but they don't prioritize attacking Barricades (like Kamikaze Kobolds do); they will still prioritize killing you and Guardians. However, they are still EXTREMELY dangerous to Barricades, because their rockets produce an explosion, which has a HUGE blast radius. It can clip through walls as well, so you want to make sure you don't kill them near Barricades. They also deal extremely high damage, so you need to be really careful killing them regardless of where you are, especially as a melee character. My recommended way of dealing with them is having your traps deal with them, and leave them alone. In addition, you'll need to start being mindful about how close your Guardians are to Barricades, due to the rockets blast radius.
Hobgoblin Shamans - These minions do nothing but heal other minions, but they also take less damage from traps. Due to this they can cause some problems with waves that they're mixed into, but I only find they're a problem when I leave my traps alone to try to clear the wave by itself. It is also important to note that they have no attacks which means they will walk right by Guardians.
Stilt Orc - These aren't too common, but there are a couple of maps where they are prevalent. These minions are mostly unaffected by floor traps (I think there might be a couple of floor traps that do work, but I'm not 100% sure), so you have to rely on wall/ceiling traps for them, if you're not killing them with your character.
Frost minions - By which I mean Northmun, and Frost Clan Orcs. The Northmun are the "frost" version of Order minions, which means they're strong to frost damage, but fire damage will do more. The Frost Clan Orcs are the same thing, only they are well....Orcs. Both of these types of minions (as well as any frost-type minion) will not only do frost damage, but you get a debuff whenever they attack you. At 4 stacks of this debuff (it looks like a snowflake, it'll be above your HP bar), you'll be frozen for a few seconds. It can be kind of annoying, but usually it's not too dangerous unless you're playing a character with low HP.
Fire Elementals - They have the same graphic as Earth Elementals, but they're more of a danger to you and your Barricades, rather than your Rift. Similar to Earth Elementals, the larger ones will "split", but this time, they will split into a single "Fireling" which basically acts as a Kamikaze Kobold - it will prioritize your Barricades and attempt to destroy it. The Firelings are particularly dangerous to melee characters, as it is quite easy to sit and spam your primary attack, killing multiples of them in succession as they spawn, and have them explode, dealing damage to you.
Swiftyhooves - This is the only boss minion worth mentioning, as he is probably the most dangerous in the game. Swiftyhooves is a gigantic satyr, and not only will he ignore the player and Guardians and bolt straight for your Rift, but he also hops over Barricades which means you don't have much time to kill him. When he spawns, he is ALWAYS the priority to kill (he takes the Rift down 6 points, so it's not necessary if you don't care to 5 Star). However, if you haven't noticed yet, boss spawns are static, so you can learn and predict which wave he spawns on, as well as the gate, and just be prepared to kill him immediately as he spawns.

These are not the only new minions that have been added, I just thought they were the most important. You can always check the "expand info" to see any information about any minions you don't recognize on each map.

Preparing for Master

I was able to earn 5 Stars on the first 2 maps at Account Level 24, with the exact same loadout I was using in the last half of War Mage.

However, Frostbite is where it gets tough, as the Northmun minions are quite the damage sponges. At that point I felt like I needed to upgrade. I will be using the same traps, but do be on the lookout for Great Wall Barricades and Haymakers because they will be used in the near future (particularly the Great Wall Barricade).

My loadout as of Frostbite:

Barricade (Tier 3)
Tar (Tier 3)
Brimstone (Tier 4)
Floor Scorcher (Tier 2)
Arrow Wall (Tier 4)
Swinging Mace (Tier 2)
Grinder (Tier 3)

The upgrades to these traps (from my previous loadout at War Mage) came to a total of 4500. If you've been following my guide exactly, you should have significantly more than this, so you really should think about buying another character, because you're going to see a huge slowdown in leveling. Although experience will be greater than previous difficulties, you have probably noticed it takes quite a few matches now to get to the next level. Check the Heroes section of the guide if you want to see some information about the characters.

As of right now, I am still not using Traits or Parts so that should certainly give you an extra advantage over my videos. If you are following this guide exactly, you have 5 traps to put some parts in, so I would really recommend doing that.

Cliffside Clash

Account Level: 24

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 2)
Tar (tier 3)
Brimstone (tier 3)
Floor Spikes (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 3)
Swinging Mace (tier 1)
Grinder (tier 2)

I don't feel that this one was as much of a jump in difficulty in comparison from going from Apprentice to War Mage, but it still can be difficult.

The very first thing I need to point out here is the first Unstable Rift spawn on wave 3 - I got lucky, period lol it can spawn much further south, and if it does, you'll need to head down there to destroy it. Although the Kobolds are going to get through your traps, you can place another Guardian on the west side to help you clear them. Depending on how fast the Unstable Rift gets destroyed, you can either head back north (if the majority of the Kobolds managed to get killed) or wait near the western entrance to the Rift to make sure you get any of the Kobolds that get through.

The other option is to let the Unstable Rift open, but that's a little dependent on where it spawns. The Unstable Rift will always spawn Orc TNT Archers, and they may end up prioritizing your Guardian over moving into the Rift (if there's a Guardian nearby). So if you'd prefer to kill the Kobolds, you can place a Guardian at the spot closest to the Unstable Rift, and they should attack the Guardian instead, allowing you to kill the Kobolds. This is probably the most risky if you get a SW Rift spawn, because if the Archers manage to kill your Guardian, they have a fairly short path to your Rift. However, chances are the Kobolds will be cleaned up by the time the Guardian dies, so it kind of depends on your damage output, as well as your movement speed.

Other than that you just see me place down a lot of damage traps. I don't use Barricades here, as I wasn't sure how viable it was; truthfully, I couldn't remember how many barricade-destroying minions there were. In retrospect, I could have snaked the minions at the NW, and probably the NE as well (since Orc TNT Archers don't directly attack Barricades) but it still worked out.

This is also another map that would benefit highly from placing more Guardians down, but I don't do it just to show it can be done with only 2.

The Falling Folly

Account Level: 24

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 2)
Tar (tier 3)
Brimstone (tier 3)
Floor Spikes (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 3)
Swinging Mace (tier 1)
Grinder (tier 2)

Make sure to bring Push Traps! Like Gates of Thuricvod, they make a big difference here, even at tier 1.

It's kind of an intimidating map, as they open both gates on the first wave, and the east gate starts off with a single boss minion. Someone needs to confirm this for me, but it could be that Mr. Moneybags (the boss minion you only see on this map) does not count for Rift points. I know I've seen him go into the Rift in Sabotage, and not lose any points, but this was in previous patches.

Only 3 Barricades placed in total here. Initially, I only put down 2 - one goes on the NE corner of that square structure to block off one side, than the second ones goes on the opposite corner to force them into a single lane. I eventually put a third one down on the SE corner just to funnel them a little better, and to force them into another Grinder.

You want to place the Push Traps so they push minions towards the Guardian area. 95% of the time they'll get pushed off the edge, while the other 5% of the time (always at the NW) they'll get pushed back to the Guardian. This really cleans up the first wave, and it allows you to defend with minimal coin spent.

Stilt Orcs make their appearance here, and they're not affected by most floor traps (if not all), but I never found them to be a threat. Other than them, you'll get a lot of Earth Elementals on that first wave, and you'll see them in subsequent waves as well.

For the first wave, prioritize the south gate first, as it opens first and has the Earth Elementals. As soon as you hear the other "They've broken through a gate!" message, head back up to get Moneybags. Your Push Traps and Guardian should be able to handle the rest of the south gate, but I would still keep an eye on the mini-map. Moneybags can be tough to kill, but it should be much more manageable if you come in at a higher level than myself. Killing Moneybags is ideal, as he'll drop a bunch of large coin bags; if you don't kill him, you're going to have problems putting more traps down.

One thing to point out - If you're ranged, you can stand at the edge of the wall at the east gate (next to that SW Barricade) and shoot the minions at the south gate from above. I don't do this because 1) Viewers may be playing a melee character and 2) I'm a terrible shot. I wanted to show that you do have time to get up there if you trap correctly, and time it right.

I would recommend making use of the Rolling Boulder traps that are found in the western part of the area (north and south of the Guardian). Melee can't hit the activation switch south of the Guardian (I think), but they can hit the north one.

Frostbite

Account Level: 27

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 3)
Tar (tier 3)
Brimstone (tier 4)
Floor Scorcher (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 4)
Swinging Mace (tier 2)
Grinder (tier 3)

This is VERY TOUGH to do at this Account Level. I do NOT recommend attempting it while being this undergeared, but it is still possible. Even at a higher level, this map can be hard, because the minions take a lot of damage, and there's just a ton of them.

This map takes a lot of explanation, as there is a lot going on here. First off, the Barricade strategy:

First - If you have Great Wall Barricades, use them here! It will save you a LOT of coin, and you can place almost all of them the exact same way as I do with regular Barricades (as I set all but the ones in the NE in pairs).

How I placed the Barricades is very difficult to describe in text. What happens at the north is that I start off at that one corner, place two, then place a Tar (just because it's all I can afford). After the first wave, I place a Grinder at the Tar, and I will start to block the "Kitchen" area off, with 4 Barricades in a straight line, right above the Guardian spot.

I then place 2 more Barricades at the corner of the wall where that Grinder is. I then place 2 more, connecting them to the previous 2, to the east. I then go over to the eastern side, and place 3 Barricades directly to the far south of the NE gate, to block off that path. Then, I go back to the previous Barricades, and place 3 more, extending the "line" to the south, until it hits the stairs. It forms a shape that looks like a "n".

The idea behind this is to traffic all of these minions into a single lane, where you can set up Grinders to do the damage. As you can see in the video, I actually mess up the Tar placements after I set the last 3 Barricades, because they're supposed to line up with the Barricades evenly. If they're even, you can either place another Brimstone at the northernmost square, or put another Grinder.

Once I gain more coin, I further extend the lane beyond the stairs. To do this, you want one "square" of floor space, so the first Barricade is placed that lines up right next to the "pillar" that slightly juts out of the eastern wall (it's where the torch is). You then just go in a "L" shaped line with the rest of the Barricades, so again, you can force them into a single lane against the western wall.

Okay so that's the north. For the SE, I place Barricades later (not when it first opens) because I don't have the coin for it. Once I did have the coin, you can make a diagonal with 2 Barricades, connecting with the "island" in the middle of that room (where the tree is). This will force them to path north, around that island.

For the SW, it's fairly simple - just place 2 Barricades in between each each column. This will force them to loop through the entire room, instead of just heading directly north.

The SW is the only thing to mention about the traps, and that's because I go pretty fast. You can open up the gate in the SW and place some traps in that area, where the minions initially start, which is what I do.

As I watch this video, I realize I should have put more traps in the SE. At the time, I was really worried about making the Par Time, so I was going a lot faster than I should have been.

I got semi-lucky with the Unstable Rift on wave 4, but it shouldn't really matter regardless. The Rift can spawn in 1 of 3 places (I believe) which is just north of the Kitchen area (which is where mine was); it can be just the NE of the NW Guardian spot (in the Forge area, so just below those stairs); or it can be on the floor ABOVE the Forge area.

That last spot may give you problems if you're new to the map, or if you're playing melee. If it spawns up there, if you're ranged, you can angle your shot in such a way to hit it from below (that takes getting used to, but Max can 1 shot it with In Your Faces). However, the other option is just to let it go and have it open. The reason why is because it takes the minions a while to get to the Rift, and you really need to focus on getting the northern minions cleared.

The second Unstable Rift (wave 8) can be safely ignored - it always spawns Pride Hunters, which don't hurt your Rift.

Other than that, try to get the Gnome Destroyers (wave 5) as best you can. I would recommend Unchained at wave 3 (Mercenary), wave 7 (Mercenaries) and if you have it again, wave 10 (Boss). I used mine at wave 8 because I had a minion get REALLY close to getting to the Rift (the stupid Dwarf Shamans shield minions).

As a final note about the Guardians - If you have a Jailer and/or a Priest, bring them, it will help more with the southern areas. If you can manage it, put down a Guardian at the spot just south of the Rift, and one at the NE (just south of the gate) would also be helpful, if you have the coin.

Orcatraz

Account Level: 29

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 3)
Tar (tier 3)
Brimstone (tier 4)
Floor Scorcher (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 4)
Swinging Mace (tier 2)
Grinder (tier 3)

It's getting to the point where it is becoming extremely difficult to do this without any Parts and Traits, so you may see me add some in, or possibly upgrade my traps further if I continue to struggle. I can defend the Rift here fine, but I manage the Par Time by ONE SECOND. So I really hope you have better damage output than I do.

Barricade strategy - I start out with the "Mickey Mouse" placement on the west side, starting on the corner of the southern wall. This forces them along the northern wall, where I put a couple of Grinders. After wave 1, I go into the gate, and place a diagonal of 2 Barricades, to again, force them near the wall for another Grinder.

After wave 2, I proceed to block off both northern entrances that lead to the Guardian areas. I completely forego trapping the northern gate, and instead I make a diagonal of Barricades right to the NE of the "Anchor" Guardian. This funnels all of the minions back up to the middle area, which really helps extend their path.

Truthfully, this is the second time I've ever used this Barricade strategy, because I realized my previous strategy wasn't working with how low my damage was. In order to make this strategy work, you REALLY have to protect your Barricades, as you get a constant flood of Barricade-destroying minions from the north gate, starting at wave 5.

For this reason, I would always recommend being at the north gate, and you can put a decoy Barricade somewhere around there (as I did) just in case one manages to get by you.

On wave 7, things get worrisome because not only do you get Kamikaze Kobolds from the north, but you get Fire Elementals from the east. This can be decently problematic, because the Firelings may get to your Barricades in the SE. To deal with this, you can either make sure it's decently trapped, or you can put a decoy Barricade somewhere either in the east hallway, or near the SE corner.

After you deal with the Kamikaze Kobolds, you need to make sure you deal with the Fire Elementals yourself, to ensure that you kill the Firelings that spawn after each Fire Elemental dies. Since Max's fire rate is so fast, he can kill the Firelings as soon as they spawn.

On wave 8, Swiftyhooves appears to the east. If you're using Max, try not to miss with Absolutely Stunning as I did, because it might be a problem if In Your Faces misses.

On wave 9, you can see something very strange that happens - the Dwarf Priest actually moves around the Barricades. I was really confused by this, because nothing else moves like that, so it's interesting how he doesn't obey the regular minion path. You may want to use Unchained on wave 9 instead of 10, because 2 Mercenaries are on wave 9. If you get Bouncer Bear, he can REALLY mess things up, so if he spawns, you need to either kill him quickly when he's on the map (he sometimes likes to camp in gates) but you also need to make sure no Earth Elementals are getting to the Rift.

This is a tough map just due to the extreme variety of minions you see. If you've picked up a Haymaker, try to use it here. I've used it on this map before, and it seems to help a lot (the more upgraded the better, as I'll recommend Haymakers later). You can place it on the ceiling in the north gate, which will help with crowd controlling the various minions there. You can even place them inside the gate area in the north (there should be 2 spots for it), as well as in the west/east hallways, such as where I placed my Swinging Maces.

Unchained Fortress

Account Level: 32

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 3)
Tar (tier 3)
Brimstone (tier 4)
Floor Scorcher (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 4)
Swinging Mace (tier 2)
Grinder (tier 3)

This map is tough for only one reason - you get very large groups of Satyrs from both gates at wave 8, 9, and 12. Happily they don't appear at the same time, and the groups kind of alternate in appearance, so you do get some time to react to it.

You also get Swiftyhooves on the last wave, who appears at the gate on the right. If you're playing as Max, try not to miss with Absolutely Stunning like I did (again).

Barricade strategy - In the east, I begin to place Barricades to snake them initially, then I start to form a long line of Barricades to funnel them all into a single lane. In the west, I block it off the same was as I do in Apprentice, but this time I snake them through that western hallway. By doing this, it forces the Satyrs to loop around things, and if you place down a decent amount of Tar, it allows you time to go to catch up to them to kill them.

With this strategy, you really have to be careful about the Dwarf Grenadiers that start to appear at wave 9. You can either try to kill them at the gate, or just wait until they get to the Guardian area. By killing them near the Barricades, the Grenadiers might blow them up. The only thing to point out about that is that if you kill them at the Guardian area, realize it'll hurt your time a little. However, chances are you are doing more damage than I am anyway (as I don't run with Traits or Parts), so it may not be a big deal, as I still have a minute left on the Par Time.

The map shouldn't be that difficult outside of the Satyrs though, so it's really about getting past wave 7 and 8 without losing any Rift points. By the time you reach the last wave, you should have enough coin to be able to handle the rest of the Satyrs with less issue.

This was actually a recapture of this map (hence why you see I already had the 5 Star), as my previous capture had me running down Satyrs, some of which got close to the Rift. I didn't really like how that happened, so I tried to use more Barricades, and it worked out a lot better. The only time I had to run down a few Satyrs was on the last wave, when I kind of messed up killing Swiftyhooves.

Water Garden

Account Level: 32

Hero used: Blackpaw

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 3)
Tar (tier 4)
Brimstone (tier 4)
Floor Spikes (tier 4)
Arrow Wall (tier 4)
Swinging Mace (tier 2)
Grinder (tier 3)

I used Floor Spikes here (it's also upgraded to tier 4) because of the elemental resistance the Wu Xing minions get. Just like in Apprentice, I also used Blackpaw instead of Max, for the same reason.

Barricade strategy - This is different than the Apprentice version. I block off the SW lane, which will be helpful when the west gate opens. Right before the west gate opens, I block off the northern part of that western area, to force them down into a single lane, along a wall of Grinders.

I then place a row of 3 Barricades above the Guardian (starting at the corner), to funnel them into a single lane once more. I then place 2 Barricades at the SE entry, so the eastern gate is forced to move northward. Finally, I place 2 more Barricades behind the Guardian to try to snake the minions around the Barricades some, to extend their path.

Since the Wu Xing are strong to element attacks, I don't use a lot of Brimstone here, and you see me put down a lot of Floor Spikes. Brimstone is still useful however, as you get Earth Elementals from the west gate.

You also get Fire Elementals/Firelings from the east gate, so I would prioritize killing minions on that gate when it opens. You do get Kamikaze Kobolds from the west on the last wave, but it hardly matters, as they should run to the Barricades that are blocking the northern lane (which is not an issue at the last wave).

You also get a Mercenary on the last wave as well, but as you can see in the video, I don't even bother with him. The map will still complete even if he's still alive, so you can focus on the minions if you get a Mercenary that isn't much of a threat to you.

I make the Par Time by 15 seconds, but I also died, so that probably made a difference.

Training Grounds

Account Level: 34

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 3)
Tar (tier 4)
Brimstone (tier 4)
Floor Scorcher (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 4)
Great Wall Barricade (tier 2)
Grinder (tier 3)

The Great Wall Barricade is very useful here, because I'll be using a lot of Barricades to snake the minions. You can still snake them using regular Barricades, but be aware that this will cost you more coin, and since you'll have to place more regular Barricades, the trap limit may cause you problems. However, if your damage is higher than mine, you may be able to get away with it; if things are dying fast enough, obviously there is little need to extend their pathway.

The same Barricade strategy I used in previous difficulties is used here, but it starts out different because the south gate opens first. When the north gate opens, make sure to block off that area just north of the Guardian (as I have forgot to a number of times).

In addition, you see me snake the north and south gates as follows - Starting at the west corner of the stairs that are just north of the Guardian, place Barricades moving south until you can't go any further. Then start to extend them eastward, all the way down to the first "pillar". This significantly extends the minions path, allowing you more time to react.

For the east gate - I do the same thing as before as well, blocking off the north lane with a single Barricade, then block off the north lane just west of the Guardian. Afterwards, try to make a line of Barricades (3 Great Walls preferably) at the SW corner of the open lane, then extend it northward, so you can extend the pathway, if only slightly.

The reason why I snake them here is because of all the runners. You get a lot of Earth Elementals and Satyrs on this map, so trying to delay them this way (particularly when multiple gates open) can be helpful.

Swiftyhooves appears from the north gate at wave 6, so be prepared for him.

Just so you're aware, the east gate, when it's open, will always spawn minions first. There is also usually a slight delay in when the waves appear when multiple gates are open, which allows you some time to clear before moving to a different gate.

On wave 9, make sure to wait for the Unstable Rift! This is the reason why you see me wait around in the western area at the start of wave 9. It may be less important with better traps, but having to backtrack runs the risk that you won't be there in time for the Satyrs that come out of the east gate. An option is to have it open (if you've trapped sufficiently), but be aware I believe it spawns a group of Earth Elementals.

I barely make the Par Time by about 5 seconds, so this can be a tough map. I knew from my previous attempts that the Par Time was going to be close, so I almost always immediately started the next wave on Go breaks.

Storm Drain

Account Level: 35

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 2)
Tar (tier 4)
Brimstone (tier 4)
Floor Scorcher (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 4)
Swinging Mace (tier 2)
Grinder (tier 3)

This is probably one of the easiest maps in the game, as you can set up Barricades to force the minions into an extremely long pathway. You just have to place Barricades at the NE, N, W, and S to force them all to take the eastern entry to the Rift, which takes them a very long time to do.

The only real threat here is Swiftyhooves, who appears at wave 6 from the north gate. He's got a really short distance to get to the Rift, so I would really recommend saving Unchained specifically for him. He will go down that middle "ramp" just south of the gate, so you can put a line of Tar down to help slow him down.

Other than that, this map shouldn't really give you any problems. Although normally I would trap the western hallway (because all lanes merge there), and you see me do it a little, try to trap the gates more. The reason why is because the eastern gate has to take a very long time to get to the western area, which means you should try to set up traps to clear them out near their respective gate. By having them travel to the western area, it just takes longer to clear, which may cost you time.

Par Time seems to be fairly forgiving though, as I beat it with over 2 and half minutes to spare, even with my lower damage. For this reason, this would be my vote to get the "Un-Unchained" Trophy/Achievement (which is to 5 Star a map without using Unchained). It should be more than reasonable, considering I managed Par Time by that much without Traits or Parts, let alone a couple of tier 2 traps.

Of course, this means you really need to be confident in killing Swiftyhooves, so you may not want to do it as Max (unless you know you can hit him with In Your Faces). Blackpaw is an option, especially if you take the upgrade that gives Wound the Prey a 2s slow (Thin The Herd at level 4). Hitting Swiftyhooves with Wound the Prey then Go For The Throat might just kill him outright, depending on your Account Level.

Stables At Eventide

Account Level: 37

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 4)
Tar (tier 4) - XP Siphon Part
Brimstone (tier 4)
Floor Scorcher (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 4)
Great Wall Barricade (tier 2)
Grinder (tier 4)

This was a tough map, as it forced me to not only upgrade some, but use my first Part as well (it's just an XP Siphon, but still). Similar to Thuricvod Village (on War Mage), you get a lot of large minions, but not a lot of coin in the beginning waves. You do get a ton of Trolls, so bringing in the "Grandmother was Eaten by a Troll" Trait, if you have it, can help here.

It's the same Barricade strategy that I used on War Mage, with a slight variation - in the SW, place the Barricades in a Mickey Mouse shape to snake them at first. In the SW hall, I then place a Barricade to force minions into a Grinder, and I eventually do that 2 more times when I have the coin. For the north, I block off the western exit of the "Temple" area, and then connect another Barricade to force the minions to go around the wall.

It will probably take some practice to get a feel for how much you need to trap each area for each wave; it's difficult to only trap one area well, since you get a lot of strong minions from both gates. I do try to get that long line of Grinders at the north first, but it does take a lot of coin, and you don't want to sacrifice too much damage in the SW.

Try to use the Cauldron and the Boulder traps in the SW, as they will really help. The Cauldron can be used once per wave, but the Boulder has a limited use on it (I think 5) so try not to use it all on one wave, unless you feel it's absolutely necessary. Not all melee Heroes can hit the Cauldron, but some can. Also keep in mind that you can shoot at the Cauldron from that wall that has all the Grinders on it, which helps trying to cover both areas.

You see me use Unchained on wave 3, and that's entirely because I try to protect my Guardian (using a "Stable" Guardian at that north spot for the HP/Damage increase would help). Having Unchained available at wave 8 should also help for Urza, as you don't want him to die among the Barricades, since he will release Firelings on his death.

Swiftyhooves makes yet another appearance, who comes form the north on the last wave. He's the first thing that spawns on the last wave, so just as long as you're there when the wave starts, you should be able to kill him in time.

Happily the last wave hardly has any minions in it, so keep that in mind if you're worried you're not going to make the Par Time.

Also, don't be an idiot like me and close the gate on yourself.

The Wall

Account Level: 38

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 2)
Tar (tier 4)
Brimstone (tier 4)
Floor Scorcher (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 4)
Swinging Mace (tier 4)
Grinder (tier 4)

This map plays out almost the exact same way as it did on War Mage, but the only major difference is you'll see significantly more large minions. Since all you really get are minions with a ton of HP, this basically means that if you're having trouble with it, you just need to increase your damage. You do see a lot of Ogres here, so the Trait that increases damage towards them may help.

The only other thing to point out is the Unstable Rifts - this is the first time you'll see more than one in a single wave. You get a single one on wave 6, then you get 2 on wave 9, and finally another 2 on wave 11. Not only that, but they spawn in 6 different locations - the NW/NE corners, the larger rooms on the E and W, and in the NE/NW corners of the area where the Cauldrons are (above the north gate).

This means you really need to be comfortable with traversing the map. You'll see me go really fast getting to certain areas, but this just takes practice with using the teleports. I do let one Unstable Rift open (on wave 9) but that was only because I was more worried about the minions that were getting close to the Rift. Happily since each Unstable Rift generally is located so far away, if it does open, you have some time to react (unless it's in the E/W, prioritize those), but having to kill the extra minions will cost you time.

I do come in with fairly low damage (still no Traits, and I removed the Part from Tar), so there were a couple of minions that got close to the Rift. Not only that, but I barely make the Par Time by 5 seconds.

I still only use 2 Guardians here though, and chances are you'll have the coin to place more, so by all means do so.

Avalanche

Account Level: 39

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 4)
Tar (tier 4)
Brimstone (tier 4)
Floor Scorcher (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 4)
Swinging Mace (tier 4)
Grinder (tier 4)

This is actually one of my favorite maps, as it's not too difficult. Minion spawns aren't too bad; Par Time is fairly forgiving; and the coin generation is a lot better than most maps.

Barricade strategy - Start off by blocking off the middle, which forces them all into the NE corner (into the "Barracks") where you can then put a line of Barricades to force them into Grinders. It works out really well because the Guardian (particularly if you set the appropriate one) can attack all the minions as they move through all the Grinders.

I try to get them all the way into the corner of that room, but if you go in with higher damage, it might be overkill. You'll also kind of see me get kind of confused while placing the Swinging Mace; it was actually the first time I've brought the Swinging Mace here (I usually have used Pounders or Ceiling Ballistas), so I was struggling finding a place to put it. I'm thinking the graphic was clipping into the "torches" that are on the wall, so it wouldn't let me place it.

For the east gate, just place 2 Barricades at the top of the stairway, so you can force them all down into the SE corner. Then, you can do the same thing - make a line of Barricades (start at the corner of the stairs, then make a diagonal, then a line south) to force them into Grinders. You can then connect that line into the first pillar, and that really helps extend their path.

For the west gate, just place Barricades at the top of the stairs to force them into more Grinders. I would recommend putting a Guardian down in the "Kitchen" area (as I do), just in case.

You do want to trap the area that blocks off the NW gate and forces them east; you see me put down my various traps there. By doing that, the Kamikaze Kobolds that appear in wave 5 shouldn't be an issue.

I also let the Unstable Rift open on wave 7. I didn't want it to open, but since I had little traps down at the east side, I decided to just let it open. That specific one should always be 2 Mountain Trolls, which wasn't too much of a threat, given where the Unstable Rift spawned.

Just to point out - You can use Great Wall Barricades here instead if you wish, but trying to put Great Wall Barricades in the Barracks area as I did makes it look really strange, and you can't extend the line quite as far in that area (there's not enough room). Everything else works out the same though, so if you're confident with your damage at the north, it should work fine. Another option is to bring in both the regular Barricade and the Great Wall, so you can still Barricade it like that, while saving coin in all the other areas.

Castle Gates

Account Level: 39

Hero used: Blackpaw

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 2)
Tar (tier 4)
Brimstone (tier 4)
Floor Scorcher (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 4)
Swinging Mace (tier 4)
Grinder (tier 4)

I bring Blackpaw here because Max will have lower damage with the Wu Xing's elemental resistance. Blackpaw is also kind of nice here for his "Thin The Herd" upgrade at level 4; you get a new minion here that randomly buffs other minions with increased movement speed, so the slow can help things.

Personally I didn't find this map to be too bad, but it's mostly because I understood that it doesn't give good coin at first (hence the Great Walls), and I knew to be expecting the Firelings. If you know to prepare decoys for the Firelings, you should be fine.

Barricade strategy - Pretty simple to follow, as I funnel them into the north, where the Guardian is. I put one Great Wall down just west of the Guardian to force them into a single lane, and you can place a few more Great Walls just west of that (you'll see me do it starting at wave 8) in a straight line to extend their path.

For the Firelings - You need to have a decoy Barricade at the east before wave 4. If you don't, you might have some serious problems. Firelings also appear in the last wave from the south gate (and the east gate), so you at least have some time to put down another decoy down there before they show up. You also should be careful about killing any Fire Elementals (Urza too) around Barricades...and try not to die as I did while doing so.

The only other thing to mention is the Unstable Rift at wave 3 - mine was really convenient. It can also spawn just south of the east gate, as well as the corner that is located just east of the southernmost Barricade. You can consider putting down more traps at the north (maybe just a couple of Tar) for this reason, but I personally didn't need it on previous attempts. On a previous attempt (with Max) no less, I had it spawn south of the east gate, and then I even missed In Your Faces, and I still managed to keep things out of the Rift after I destroyed it (it was kind of close though).

Docks At Eventide

Account Level: 40

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 4)
Tar (tier 4)
Brimstone (tier 4)
Floor Scorcher (tier 2)
Arrow Wall (tier 4)
Dragon's Lance (tier 1, new, for this map)
Grinder (tier 4)

I really hate this map. I get the Par Time by one second, but it can be frustrating to earn, regardless of what your damage output is. I do think that this is a map that wasn't really tested, as the waves spawn in odd manners; they don't immediately spawn (which is a problem) on waves 4, then 6-10. On each of these waves, you're waiting around for around 10 seconds, which costs you almost a minute in total. I would highly recommend coming back to this map when your damage output is really high.

You'll notice I'm generally killing things at the gate entrances. In just about every other map, if you're killing things regularly at the gate, you should be fine in terms of Par Time. In other words, if minions are dying at the gate, they literally can't be dying any sooner than that.

Obviously I do have lower damage than what is probably expected, but it shouldn't be this close, as even the unguarded gate (which is generally the south one) normally doesn't even get to my line of Grinders. I also clearly recall having issues with the Par Time here on my first account - I remember coming back at around level 60 or 70, and still struggled making it in time.

Anyway, I bring in Dragon's Lance because I need more damage output, and there's not really a lot of viable options for ceiling traps. Since Rift Lord gets unlocked at 40, you may just have some Ceiling Ballistas to use; you can use them instead, as I will be using Ceiling Ballistas in Rift Lord.

If it wasn't for the Par Time, this would be an easy map. Barricade off the eastern section of the map, then I just put 2 Barricades near the Guardian to force them into that single spot with 2 Grinders, then I just force them along the wall with even more Grinders.

Orc TNT Archers will come out of the south gate, so you need to be careful of them. If they start shooting at you while you're standing next to the Barricades (the ones just north of the south gate), they run the risk of being destroyed. So you may want to just let them path beyond the Barricades before you pick a fight with them.

Not really much else to say, as it is fairly simple to trap this map. The Unstable Rifts may cause you some grief - you can get one around the SE corner. I wouldn't really recommend letting it open as you do not want any more minions than you already have, but maybe you'll be doing better in time than I am. If you do get one in the SE, I would loop back north to the Rift and meet the minions where the Grinders are, because that's where they'll end up being after the Unstable Rift is destroyed.

Crogon Keep

Account Level: 44

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 4)
Brimstone (tier 5) - XP Siphon Part
Floor Scorcher (tier 3)
Arrow Wall (tier 5)
Swinging Mace (tier 4)
Floor Spikes (tier 4)

This is probably the most challenging map of Master, as there are a ton of minions with high HP, large groups of Kobolds, and the Par Time is pretty tough to manage. If you go in with roughly what I have, you will need to bring your A game. Although I make the Par Time by just under a minute, this was because I was going extremely fast and putting down traps during waves, which not only takes practice, but you need to be comfortable with the map. Do not expect this 5 Star to be done easily.

I bring in Floor Spikes as I needed the extra damage, and there are hardly any places to set up Grinders. My usual line is Floor Scorcher, then Brimstone, then Floor Spikes, then Tar.

Barricade strategy - Doesn't change much from Crogon Keep on War Mage, as I still block off the western entry to the Rift (which is done at the end of wave 3). I place 2 more Barricades (as wave 4 is starting) between two posts of the makeshift bridge in the NW, which manipulates the minion's path to go south at first, then head back up north. I do this because I need the extra time and you can place a line of floor traps on the boat (which I do at a later wave), allowing them to potentially run by the same trap twice. My last 2 Barricades are placed on wave 8, to funnel the north gate minions to the SW.

Unstable Rifts - It seems like there is only one Unstable Rift location; it always spawns at the exact same spot, in the middle of the western area, just north of the Guardian spot. For the first one, you can stay there as the wave starts just to finish it off quickly with no need of backtracking. Wave 7 has the second Unstable Rift, and you should be able to destroy it since I would recommend covering the north gate at first (since it spawns a Mercenary); try to get the Mercenary first. The last is at wave 10, which can be safely ignored, as it always spawns Gnoll Grenadiers.

Mercenaries - They appear at wave 7 (north gate) and wave 11 (NE gate). Although I didn't get him, I know from previous experience that Chaotic Kobold can really mess things up here if he spawns. Given how he's so fast, he can run the entire map in a matter of seconds. For this reason, I would really recommend using Unchained on him, and you may want to break off from the SE to kill him if he spawns on wave 11 (only if you feel you can spare the time). He doesn't always do it, but he can place a crystal down on the floor traps I have that are east of the teleport, so you need to make sure you break it if he does (if you have traps there). If you can handle the Mercenary at wave 7 without Unchained, save it until wave 8, as you get a ton of large minions during wave 8.

Guardians - I think the one in the SE corner is more or less required, but I would recommend placing the other at the West, SW, or South (or all 3 if you have the coin). The West will get the most combat, and the South will get the least. I choose the SW because it's a bit in-between for the majority of the waves; he won't get much at first, but later he'll see a lot of combat. Obviously if you want to put it here, bringing in the Cook/Bartender would help if you have either of them.

In terms of combat, you'll see me do two things - First, I utilize the teleport in the middle of the map. Try to get to the point where you're comfortable with how the waves appear, and use the teleport to jump between the minions on both the NW and NE; start with the NW gate, then as the NE gate gets closer to the teleport, start heading over there to jump over. Afterwards, the NW gate you started with will more than likely be coming close to the teleport, so you can jump back over again, so you don't have to move very far in order to clear the minions. I hop back-and-forth on occasion, trying to clear each side evenly, which reduces the amount of time wasted by having to hunt them down further along the path.

The other thing you see me do is backpedal while shooting. This allows me to cover some distance while still doing damage. It really helps a lot here, because you have to cover so much ground when the last gate opens. If you're playing Max, watch your cross-hairs though, as you'll be really inaccurate from longer distances if you hold your button down.

What you don't see me do (as you can't) is that I am constantly glancing at the mini-map, particularly the NE minions. They are the biggest threat until the SE gate opens, and you should not underestimate how much damage some of the minions can take. This is especially true when the Hobgoblin Shamans appear, as they can keep them healed, making your traps nearly useless.

Once the SE gate opens, they become less of an issue, as I would recommend covering gates in the order of SE, then NE (because of the crossroads between them), then north, then NW. By the time you get the SE and NE cleared though, chances are the minions from the north/NW will be further south, so you may just want to head down the south entry to the Rift, and meet them along their path.

Orcri-La

Account Level: 44

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 3)
Tar (tier 4)
Brimstone (tier 5)
Floor Scorcher (tier 3)
Arrow Wall (tier 5)
Swinging Mace (tier 4)
Grinder (tier 4)

This was done at Account Level 44, with a mixture of tier 3, tier 4, and tier 5 traps. Brimstone and Arrow Wall are at tier 5; Swinging Mace and Grinder are at tier 4; Floor Scorcher and Great Wall Barricade are at tier 3.

If you managed to get the 5 Star on Crogon Keep, this should be significantly easier. The only thing I noticed here is I was taking a ton of damage (the Archers killed me twice). I decided to keep the capture through, as I think it's good to see I'm not perfect.

Barricade strategy - I block off the eastern entrance to the Rift. I then block off the middle in a way that forces them all to move eastward around the wall, and then they'll loop back west. This is nice because they will move right along the wall, making it easy to set up Grinders. Another Barricade will need to be placed that is near the east gate (eventually), to force the minions from the east gate into the wall of Grinders.

The westernmost Barricade is quite important, as you'll get Gnome Destroyers from the west gate on wave 7. This means you'll need to set up a decoy so they don't destroy it. It also needs to be replaced, as they'll reappear on wave 10.

Gnome Destroyers also appear from the east (and NE) gate at wave 9, so I have a decoy at the east gate, and having the NE trapped will help clear them out.

The only other Barricade-destroying minions here are Dwarf Grenadiers, but I didn't have a problem with them. I think they only show up from the NE gate, which is all the more reason to add some traps there. For some reason they didn't really pay attention to my Guardian as much, so my Barricade near the Guardian was never destroyed. It still runs that risk though, which can really affect your damage towards the rest of the minions. You may want to consider trapping the west area (the area right at the end of the staircase) in case this happens.

Swiftyhooves appears on wave 4, so I would recommend saving Unchained for him. Other than that there's just a lot of Satyrs on this map.

Shark Island

Account Level: 44

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 3)
Tar (tier 4)
Brimstone (tier 5)
Floor Scorcher (tier 3)
Arrow Wall (tier 5)
Swinging Mace (tier 4)
Grinder (tier 4)

This should be a relaxing map to finish off Master. If you use the same Barricade strategy as I used in the War Mage video, you shouldn't really have much problems. If anything you'll just need to put down more damage traps, but this map gives a ton of coin, so there should be no issue with that.

Barricade strategy - The same as my War Mage video; block off the eastern entry to the Rift, then block off the easternmost lane of the NW corner. Then, use Barricades in the NW to force them into Grinders. At the north gate, block off the western lane (just south of the "Anchor" Guardian spot), forcing them east towards the "Kitchen" area. Finally, when the last gate opens, block off the SW entry to the Rift.

The only thing to mention here is that you do get a ton of large minions from the NW gate, so you may want to prioritize covering that one. Large minions do get mixed in with the other gates though, and the order that the gates spawn kind of varies a little, so use your best judgement about where you should be.

The last wave will have 3 of the 4 gates will spawn large minions. Start in the SW, then go to the north, then the NW. Chances are the large minions will survive the majority of your traps on this last wave.

As I mentioned, you do get a ton of coin, so feel free to put down more Guardians as you see fit. I wouldn't put one down in the NW, because it may pull the minions away from their pathway. I don't think they'll continue south if he does pull threat, but it's probably better just to get them to path eastward into the traps. I also wouldn't put one down at the north "Anchor" spot, as I believe Orc TNT Archers spawn at the north gate, which will put your Barricades at risk if a Guardian is there.

Rift Lord

What changes in Rift Lord?

There are only a few new minions that appear in Rift Lord:

Lyzander - A boss minion, who revives dead minions (the boss minion Vitality does this too, so this shouldn't be new to you).
Tubifore - Another boss minion, who destroys Barricades (again, not new, as Orfum does this too).
Fire Giants - A regular minion that shows up on a few maps. The Fire Giants have an "aura" that you can't see, which damages Barricades. So trying to funnel these minions with Barricades is a very dangerous thing to do. Due to this, you generally want to make killing them a priority. You do actually see two of these in Master Water Garden, but they're much more of a threat to your Barricades on some of the Rift Lord maps.

That's about it though. Realize that this is pretty much end-game content, and everything is accessible to you now (it's just a matter of randomness at this point). Since you do have access to everything, and the maximum recommended level for Rift Lord is 75, there is a little bit of expectation that you have some familiarity with the game. Hopefully you understand most of the game by now, as you'll need to be on point for a number of maps (not all, but a good amount of them).

So nothing really new to be found, but expect very difficult mixtures of minions (as well as a lot of them) with high HP and damage.

Par Times will be the toughest to acquire in Rift Lord, so do keep that in mind. If you're having problem with the Par Time, you just may need to level up more to deal more damage. Traits, Parts, and upgrading traps to tier 7 is less of a luxury now, as it's nearly a requirement.

Preparing for Rift Lord

I will still try to do the maps in a "minimalist" fashion, and try my best not to use Traits or Parts, and keep my Account Level within the recommended range of the map. I will also attempt to keep my traps to a maximum of tier 6.

I will point out though that this is very difficult to do, as the game should have given you something decent to work with by now. Granted, that is still based off of RNG, but you can always buy more Heroes to get another Victory Chest for more chances of whatever it is you're looking for.

If you did not notice, I bought 2 Heroes (Brass and Midnight) about halfway through Master. My current Skull count as of the completion of Rift Lord Baths is 39,253. I have not purchased any currency from the Store, but I have been pretty stingy on upgrading traps.

You should have bought at least 1 Hero by now, and I would be very surprised if you haven't. I mostly bought my Heroes because I had to level significantly to get through Master, and I had pretty much completed everything with the 3 starter Heroes. By buying a new Hero, it is the most efficient, because it gives you more chances at Traits, Parts, and Traps, while still giving you Skulls.

I haven't done any Endless maps, nor have I done a single Chaos Trial, nor have I played a single Sabotage match. So if you somehow have less than I do, that means you either bought more Heroes than I did (which is fine), or you upgraded more traps than I did (which is fine too, as long as you're not upgrading things you never use).

I would recommend always having a reserve of about 12,000 Skulls, assuming you have more than that at the moment. This way you can always buy one of the Heroes if you run out of maps to clear. Heroes are important here, because the grind to the maximum recommended level (75) is going to be a long one. In reality though, you'll want to try to get above 75, as it will make things easier to 5 Star.

It does get boring, but the most efficient way to play is still taking every new Hero through every map, from Apprentice to Rift Lord. By now, the experience from Apprentice and War Mage is fairly useless, but it's still better than nothing. War Mage still has some decent Traits available in it, as well as some Traps that start showing up there (like Floor Scorcher and Grinder) so it's not entirely useless.

A couple of final points:

Start thinking about upgrading what you use regularly to tier 7 - This is only when you have a comfortable amount of Skulls to spend, and again, I would recommend making sure you're never going to be below 12,000 Skulls, unless you have a ton of Heroes to clear maps with.
After tier 7, Gibs will be earned - If you have a tier 7 trap, and a chest rewards you with that same trap, you will receive Gibs instead. Gibs are a special currency used only in the Premium Shoppe section of the Store. The "Trap Chest" and "Part Chest" are very good here (although they cost 4,000 Gibs), as they will each reward 1,000 Skulls, plus some rare Traps/Parts.
- With Gibs in mind, you may want to upgrade your secondary traps to tier 7 as well - Again, this is only when you feel you can spare the Skulls for it. For me, the Floor Spikes is a good example of what I mean; I don't normally use it that much, but I do use it on occasion. It's also a trap that shows up on Apprentice (meaning I can find it on any difficulty) and it's common. This means that getting it to tier 7 will provide a good chance that a chest will reward me with Gibs instead, which I can then save up for more Skulls via the Premium Shoppe chests.
- However, keep in mind the amount you see in chests is tied to how many Gibs you receive - The number amount you are awarded in chests ("x44" or whatever) is the amount of Gibs you will receive, but there is a multiplier depending on the Rarity of the trap. In other words, for a "Common" trap, like Floor Spikes, the Gibs reward is 1:1 - if you receive 44 Floor Spikes, you will receive 44 Gibs instead. It increases more with a rarer trap, so you may see the game give you a couple of hundred Gibs for an Epic trap.
I recommend to start using the Ceiling Ballista - This means that you should try to get it upgraded to whatever level the rest of your traps are when you can spare the Skulls. The Swinging Mace is still viable for the rest of the game though (although I use Ceiling Ballistas for Throne Room), so if you don't feel like giving it up quite yet, that's fine. I do think that the Ceiling Ballista does trump it eventually though, because of its fantastic range.
Getting Par Times becomes about utilizing every second you have - This means you need to be comfortable enough with the map to be placing traps and Barricades before the gate opens which means you'll need to start to placing traps during other waves. This also means that having good traps is ideal - it will allow you to ignore whatever minions are currently on the map, giving you time to go to another gate to start setting it up.
- Do not waste time with Go breaks - Immediately starting every wave is ideal. However, this again, means you need to get comfortable and familiar with the waves. I sometimes don't start it immediately, because I know I need a little extra time just to get to the gate, or to place a few traps/Barricades down.

The Baths

Account Level: 49

Hero used: Blackpaw

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 3)
Tar (tier 4) - XP Siphon Part
Brimstone (tier 5)
Floor Spikes (tier 5)
Arrow Wall (tier 5)
Floor Scorcher (tier 3)
Dragon's Lance (tier 2, used only for this map)

This can probably be done at a lower level than this, as it's all about damage here. Since I'm not using Traits and Parts (well, besides the XP Siphon), I obviously have to compensate somehow, so I had to level up a bit from Master Shark Island.

You also don't necessarily need Dragon's Lance, as you may have picked up a Ceiling Ballista. I don't use Ceiling Ballista here because it is the first map of Rift Lord, and I can't assume viewers have it yet (even if it is "Common" rarity).

The only specific thing to mention in terms of trap placement is the small overhangs that are next to the pillars in the northern part of the map - Use these for Dragon Lances or Ceiling Ballistas. Placing them at these overhangs means that they'll cover the entire northern room, and then you can continue to place them at the ceiling of the chokepoint. Other than potentially placing Arrow Wall above the gate, just place all your floor traps appropriately.

Personally, I don't think they really wanted you to 5 Star this map right as you enter Rift Lord, as the Par Time is REALLY hard to get at this Account Level. It's much easier just to come back later. I barely get it by about 5 seconds, and believe me, it was work. I had to be really aggressive, and sometimes that's tough to do with how much damage the minions are dishing out (especially those Orc TNT Archers, who killed me once).

For those that actually want to try at a lower level - I use Unchained on wave 8, 11, and 14. If you're mostly killing things right out of the gate, you should be in good shape. You still want to trap south of the Guardian though, as it's better to continue the damage at the gate and let your traps take care of what gets by (and hopefully your traps do more damage than mine). There will also be a wave of Earth Elementals at wave 8, and you need to make sure those runners die.

Maximum Security

Account Level: 51

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 3)
Tar (tier 4)
Brimstone (tier 5)
Floor Scorcher (tier 3)
Arrow Wall (tier 5)
Swinging Mace (tier 4)
Grinder (tier 4)

This map isn't too bad if you know how to place the Barricades, but you do have to make sure you protect them, otherwise you'll end up failing it pretty fast.

Barricade strategy - Block off the north entrance to the Rift. After the first wave, place Barricades in a straight line just east of the western Guardian (it starts at the corner of the "U" bend). This allows you to funnel all the NW minions into a wall of Grinders, while also extending the path of the minions from the other gates (which in turn allows you to force them into 2 walls of Grinders). You do have to be careful on that first wave though, as you get a fairly large group of Kobolds in it.

In order to protect your north Barricades, place a decoy in that corridor just next to the north gate. This should force all of the Kamikaze Kobolds from the north gate (as well as the Firelings) to go for it instead. Make sure to replace it as it gets destroyed.

On wave 7, you'll get a group of Orc TNT Archers from the north gate. Do NOT engage them at the north gate, or your Barricades might be destroyed. You also want to make sure you do NOT put a Guardian down at the northern spot for this same reason.

From wave 8 all the way to the end, you get groups of 3 Kamikaze Kobolds from the north and/or east gate. On wave 8, they'll be from both north and east; on wave 9 and 10, they'll be from the north; from wave 11 to 13, they'll come from the north, then east.

On wave 8, there does seem to be a couple of Orc TNT Archers mixed in with the Kamikaze Kobolds (from the north) so stick around towards the east gate just to make sure you don't get shot at.

You'll also get a group of Firelings (after the Kobolds) so try to be there to destroy them if you don't feel confident in your traps/decoy. You don't see me go up there to kill them, because honestly I thought they were Orc TNT Archers, hence why I looped around the bend instead. I also start off wave 8 trying to trap the western area a bit more....you may not want to do that if you don't feel confident in your traps.

On waves 9-14, the rest of the Kamikaze Kobolds shouldn't be too much of a threat (if you've trapped enough) since they only come in groups of 3. The ones that come from the east gate are a bit more of a threat, as you can't put a lot of floor traps down in that area. Just be mindful of them and try to be around when they spawn.

On the last wave, you get Firelings, Fire Elementals, and Urza from the north. You can use Unchained here (if you have it) for Urza, but as you can see in the video, it's not required. Just make sure you're killing those Firelings and try to fight the Elementals away from your Barricades as best you can.

Tubifore will also show up on the last wave, at the east gate. For whatever reason he decided to go south and loop all the way around instead of going for my north Barricades, so hopefully he'll do that for you too. I would certainly use Unchained (if available) if he decided to go for the north Barricades instead.

A Jailer Guardian at the western spot will work wonders, and I would highly recommend it if you have one. You can certainly replace the Guardians as they die here, as you should have a ton of coin to spare.

If you're having trouble, consider bringing in an upgraded Haymaker (if you have one) with the Stunning Accumulator Part equipped. That is what I normally use on this map instead of the Swinging Mace (you can place it in the exact same spots). It really does wonders in terms of crowd control, as it will help your western Guardian survive more, and the minions will be constantly pushed around in the eastern corridor with all of the Grinders.

Throne Room

Account Level: 54

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Barricade (tier 6) - Reflective Armor and Subsidized Parts
Floor Scorcher (tier 4)
Brimstone (tier 6) - XP Siphon
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Floor Spikes (tier 6)
Arrow Wall (tier 6) - Burning Resonator
Ceiling Ballista (tier 2)

Traits used:

Uncle Killed By Giant
Soldiers Took My Horse

So clearly, you can't mess around here, given how much I had to use. I must have attempted this map without the Traits and Parts about 2 dozen times, and I could not get the Par Time no matter how I set it up or what traps I used. Do realize though, that if you don't have the Traits or Parts, it can be compensated by simply having a higher Account Level, and/or higher tier traps.

This map is absolutely ridiculous to say the least. It is a significant jump in difficulty, and personally I find the next maps (until Confluence) to be no where near as idiotic as this one. I would HIGHLY recommend coming back at a higher level here, as it's VERY hard to get the Par Time, and there are a huge amount of things that destroy your Barricades, which can really mess things up.

If you did manage to get lucky and pick up the "Wall Building PHD" Trait, it'll be very helpful here. Having your Barricade (whichever one you decide to use) up to tier 7 and having the "Double Struts" Part equipped will go a long way in keeping them up.

The first question you may ask is - Why regular Barricades instead of Great Wall? For one, I didn't have enough to get Great Wall to tier 6. Two, I will be using decoys, and being able to place a single one is much easier (since it's smaller) and it will cost me less to replace the decoy.

Barricade strategy - Still the same one I use in other difficulties, which forces all the minions to go into the NE corner. Since you will see a ton of Firelings and Gnome Destroyers, you will most likely need decoy Barricades covering the southernmost Barricades (try to place them just northwest of them, at the bend). I would always recommend replacing these as soon as they get destroyed. You can also try to put down an extra one somewhere in that corridor where the SW gate is. The easternmost Barricades don't normally get threatened for some reason, but do realize the Fireling/Gnome Destroyer behavior is really odd on this map.

Floor traps are put in backwards - I start with Tar, then Floor Spikes, then Brimstone, then Floor Scorcher. It helps in the SW because the Floor Scorchers will flip them into the acid. For the north, I was doing it my regular way, and for some reason the minions would have trouble standing back up, which I thought was costing me time.

Other than that, it's difficult to say what I do exactly because I do a lot of it on the fly. Put down as many Arrow Walls and Ceiling Ballistas as you can; make sure you're putting down Arrow Walls at the north "island" and try to get a good amount of Ballistas at the SW gate as well as the NE corridor where they will all funnel.

I put down 2 Brimstone on both bridges (eventually), and I put down 2 Floor Scorchers just south of the south bridge, which allows them to get flipped into the acid. I would also recommend trying to trap the western lane of the north "island" because they will wander down there on occasion, but I wouldn't prioritize it, just do it when you think you can.

The activated Swinging Mace trap that is above the bridges can be helpful here, but realize it is BUGGED as of this patch. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes the mace will hit a minion into the east wall (where the mace comes from), and the minion will stay alive, and be placed on the other side of that wall, near NE Guardian. You really have to watch the mini-map for this, as it can lead to lost Rift points. They actually fixed this in a previous patch, but it has apparently made a reappearance in 2.6.

As for waves - On wave 3, I would recommend using Unchained if you get Dwarf Priest or Chaotic Kobold, as they'll make things more difficult and cost you time. If you don't get either of those, you can use Unchained on wave 4, because it's a very large wave that you probably won't have the traps for yet.

Wave 6 has your first group of Gnome Destroyers from the SW gate, and you should be there to try to take them out as best you can. You will get a group of Satyrs before they show up though, but hopefully you've put down enough traps to let them go. If not, your option is to try to clear the Satyrs first, and hopefully the Gnome Destroyers will go after your decoy instead without harming your real Barricades.

I use Unchained again at wave 7, for the large group of giants. This is more optional depending on your damage output though, so if you feel like you can clear them quicker, save it for the next wave. Be really careful of the Order Mages here, as there are a couple of them mixed in with the giant group. I've died there before because I couldn't see them (or the fireball they'll shoot at you) through all of the giants.

Wave 9 is the hardest wave in my opinion. The entire wave consists of nothing but Fire Elementals, but the big trolling thing is how they mixed in Firelings with them at the SW, which makes it very difficult to target the Firelings before they go for your Barricades.

Also on wave 9, you'll get an Unstable Rift. This can be ignored if it spawns in the middle area, but you CANNOT let it open if it spawns in the south, or just north of the eastern Guardian. It spawns a group of Earth Elementals, and if you're around my level, you may not have the damage output to kill them before they get to the Rift. This leaves it to be fairly based on luck; you just have to hope that the Firelings won't get to your real Barricades while you destroy the Unstable Rift if it spawns in either of those two places. The Fireling behavior is a bit strange at times, and I've seen them completely ignore the southern Barricades before.

You can use Unchained at wave 9, but just realize that it may come with a price - since Firelings spawn on each Fire Elemental death, you run the risk of spawning more, which puts your Barricades at risk. If you think you can handle it, then go for it. I would wait to use it until you see where the Unstable Rift is though, as you don't want to use it then be forced to immediately move.

I use Unchained at wave 10 because I knew I needed to use it one more time before the last wave to help with my time. I wanted to use it on wave 9, but I was also worried about any extra Firelings.

Try to have Unchained up again for the last wave, and use it as soon as the SW gate spawns, as you won't need it for the north. The north gate spawns incredibly slowly on the last wave, so try to utilize that time you get before they show up to clear the SW gate. The last bit of trolling occurs at the north gate on the last wave; you get a very small group that comes in after Lyzander, which seems to do nothing but intentionally waste your time.

Restricted Section

Account Level: 55

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 6)
Floor Scorcher (tier 4)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Ceiling Ballista (tier 2)
Grinder (tier 5)

This map isn't very difficult if you know how to place the Barricades, and know that you're going to get a lot of Kamikaze Kobolds. The Kamikaze Kobolds are very deadly here, because if they destroy a single Barricade, it can be nearly impossible to recover from it.

The map simply has a gigantic amount of minions to kill. Thus, the 5 Star is very close, even if you're doing more damage than I am (which you should be). There are a decent amount of Ogres here, so the "Sister Eaten by an Ogre" Trait will help a bit, if you don't have any other damage Traits.

Barricade strategy - Same one as War Mage, and the rest of the traps are set up almost exactly the same. Forcing all of them to go into the SE corner still seems ideal, as it allows you to protect a single area (the SW corner) once all gates are opened. By doing this, it makes it very simple to start an extremely long line of Grinders along the bookshelves, which can be combined with Tar to really slow them down. I would highly recommend bringing the XP Siphon Part on Tar for this reason, because you'll get a huge amount of extra experience due to how many minions there are.

The more vital traps are obviously the Tar and Grinders, followed by the Brimstone and Floor Scorchers. The other traps you see me place in other areas (the Arrow Walls at the eastern Guardian area, and in the NW) are more optional, as it's not really necessary if you have high enough damage. The Arrow Walls near the Guardian will help him survive though, which can be helpful for the Kamikaze Kobolds.

Kamikaze Kobolds - On wave 2, 4, and 7, they'll appear at the SE. On wave 3 and 12, they'll appear from the NE. They will also appear from the north gate on the final wave. I put up the decoy Barricade up north as soon as the gate opens, so I don't need to think about it for the final wave. One decoy will not be enough for all 6 of the Kamikaze Kobolds that will appear though, so you can either place another somewhere, or do as I did and break off to kill the rest once they show up.

On wave 12, you'll see me stay at the south gate instead of going to the NE to take care of the Kamikaze Kobolds. ONLY do this if you're confident, as normally I would go over there to destroy them (honestly I may have spaced out there). If you do go over to kill them, make sure not to get distracted by the minions there, and just immediately go back when they're dead, because the south gate needs to be covered.

On wave 6, Orc TNT Archers will come out of the north gate. Do NOT engage them whatsoever here, and you'll see me just go and hide in the SE corner, allowing them to just get killed by the traps instead. If they do manage to get to the SE they'll be fine to kill there though, but it's ideal if you have enough traps put down to take care of them while they're in the middle.

Wave 10 is the probably the most problematic wave (in a way), as you may get the urgency to destroy the Unstable Rift instead of protecting the south gate. For this reason, you may want to ignore placing down the Ceiling Ballistas until you feel satisfied with all of the Grinder/Tar/Brimstone placements. I knew I didn't have enough damage to leave the south gate alone, so I let the Unstable Rift open. It does just spawn a pack of Kobolds, which will just go in the direction of where you are anyway, but as you can see in the video I could have saved maybe 5 seconds or so if I destroyed it.

I used Unchained on wave 4 (for Bulgod), wave 7 (for clearing purposes) and wave 13 (for Lyzander). In retrospect, I probably should have used it on wave 8 instead of 7, because wave 8 has a Mercenary spawn.

Midnight Market

Account Level: 55

Hero used: Blackpaw

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 6)
Floor Spikes (tier 6)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Ceiling Ballista (tier 2)
Grinder (tier 5)

Bringing in a tier 5 or higher Great Wall Barricade with the "Subsidized Part" Part equipped will allow you to afford all 4 Great Walls to block off the Rift for the first wave, so I would really recommend that, depending on your damage output. It's really easy for minions to get away from you on that first wave if your damage is low, so be aware of that.

This is another map that seems to be more about just dealing enough damage. I would say Blackpaw is really good here, as he can keep things in place a little better than some other Heroes; he's melee, which means minions will group up to him more; his Thin The Herd upgrade can keep things slowed down; his summoned Gnolls can help keep things in place as well.

Barricade strategy - I do the same thing as War Mage, and force them all into the eastern lane. There are no Barricade-destroying minions here, with the exception of the Fire Giants. The Fire Giants are not an issue at all though, unless you're using Barricades to force minions into other traps.

As for the traps, if you bring in what I use, you can't use the same line that I do in most other maps. The Brimstone has to be spread out a decent amount because the damage won't stack with other Brimstones that are placed. I would certainly put 2 down at the north gate though, because that's where all the Earth Elementals will come from.

In the video, you see that I do get a little overwhelmed by the minions at times. In clears of this map with other characters, I've noticed that I think the main problem is I rely pretty heavily on Ceiling Ballistas, which may be a mistake. What I have done in other clears is place down a long line of Tar (2 side by side) starting at the east gate, all the way down west until the small set of stairs. This won't do anything for the Earth Elementals, but the biggest issue on this map are the small Earth Elementals getting away as you try to clear everything else. By having the other minions cluster at one point of the map, this allows you to cover the spot just south of the "Kitchen" Guardian, allowing you to pick off the Earth Elementals that manage to get by everything.

You can still use Ceiling Ballistas of course, I would just recommend not using as many as you see me put down. If your Ceiling Ballistas (or your damage overall) is better than mine though, it might be a moot point.

A breakdown of the waves isn't really necessary here, as it's pretty straight forward if you have enough damage. I will mention the Unstable Rifts though:

Unstable Rifts - The first one is at wave 3, which I let open because I knew I didn't have enough damage to leave the eastern lane alone. Do be careful here if you do let it open on wave 3, as it does spawn a group of Firelings. This may not be an issue if you can clear the wave in time though, as you see me get there right as it opens, thus making it irrelevant. Even if they do manage to spawn and destroy a Barricade, my guess is that you'll have enough time to replace it.

The second is at wave 7, and it spawns later in the wave, allowing you to clear most (if not all) of the minions before having to destroy it.

The last one is at wave 11, which can be safely ignored if you wish, because it just spawns 2 Water Dragons, which are not worth Rift points.

On a final note, obviously bringing in the Cook/Bartender will really help you clear the minions.

Par Time is very forgiving here, which is a nice change, so you don't need to feel as rushed. I cleared this with about a minute and a half to spare.

Banquet Hall

Account Level: 56

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 6)
Floor Scorcher (tier 4)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Barricade (tier 6)
Grinder (tier 5)

Traits used:

Sister Eaten By An Ogre

This can be tough, as the Par Time can be difficult to earn without really high damage. For this reason, my Barricade strategy changes a bit, which does help, but being familiar with the waves helps significantly as well. There is a little more strategy involved here, as wave 6 throws a lot at you at once, and being prepared for it can really help.

Barricade strategy - It looks a little strange at first, but I forego placing Barricades that the spot just NE of the Rift. This seems a little dangerous, but for some reason, it's irrelevant on the first wave. What I do instead is block off the western lane that enters the SE corner, and instead force all the minions into a line along the easternmost wall.

You will want to block off that NE entrance to the Rift as soon as wave 2 stars though, and it's blocked off in a specific manner - Place a Great Wall on both sides of the "island/wall" just NE of the Rift. Then place another Great Wall that blocks the staircase that is located just to the east of that island/wall.

The reason why you do this is because of the Par Time. This forces the minions to take a shorter pathway to the east (they'll only go about halfway down this western area with this placement), which will save you some time. After that, just continue to build your Great Wall line along the easternmost wall, and just have it go all the way up as much as you can (ideally all the way up to the NE gate).

This does take a lot of coin management though, so Parts such as Subsidized Parts, or any of the cost-reduction Traits will help here. As for the floor traps on the easternmost lane, I do that specifically too - 2 Tar (with Grinders) then a Brimstone, then a Floor Scorcher, then just repeat it over and over.

As I said, being familiar with the map and the waves will help tremendously here. So here's a breakdown of the most problematic waves, and what to do:

Wave 3 - First set of Kamikaze Kobolds from the NW. This is one reason why I bring a single Barricade, as you can place one right at the NW gate (right where they come in on that western lane) so they can blow that up instead. I have put a single Barricade down before just in the western area, but be warned I have seen them completely ignore it and go straight south.

Wave 5 - First set of Orc TNT Archers from the NW. Do NOT engage these things up close, as it will really screw up your line of eastern Barricades. What you see me do is just sit in the SE corner, and I kill them from the longest distance that I can manage. Watch your cross-hairs though, as Max cannot handle sustained fire from a distance. Release the primary attack as your cross-hairs grow so you can get better accuracy.

Wave 6 - This is the real test, and you really should have Unchained saved for it. As wave 5 ends, IMMEDIATELY head up and place 2 single Barricades, in a diagonal, at the NW gate (again, at the start at the western lane). This is to preoccupy Orfum, and this is the second reason why I bring in single Barricades; by placing 2 singles, you can keep him away from your other Barricades while you deal with everything else.

Wave 6 will also spawn a Mercenary (from the NE) and an Unstable Rift. There's a RNG factor here, as a Dwarf Priest spawn is very problematic. If you get a Dwarf Priest, I would immediately use Unchained and try to kill him. This can be extremely difficult sometimes because he will cluster himself within all the other minions. If you're Max, it is okay if you miss In Your Faces, just try to kill him as soon as possible. I get Chaotic Kobold, and this can be a problem too, but I did manage to get him without using Unchained. You can use Unchained for the Chaotic Kobold too, but if he gets away, you have to make the decision whether or not you want to hunt him down. He will more than likely head toward the Rift first, so he may not be much of a threat for a while.

Any other Mercenary you can probably ignore (Bouncer Bear could cause problems though), and you can immediately go destroy the Unstable Rift. So the order is Mercenary (if dangerous), then Unstable Rift, then clear out what minions you can at the eastern lane, then Orfum. Depending on what Mercenary you get, you can either kill it after the Unstable Rift, or after you clear the minions (somewhat) in the NE. You need to keep an eye on Orfum, as because you need to go kill him as soon as he's done with the NW decoys.

Wave 7 - The rest of the map is not nearly as bad, but on wave 7, you do get Kamikaze Kobolds from the NE. These are not a big deal, because they should just destroy one of your "funnel" Barricades, which won't do anything but cost you a little bit of damage output. Make sure to replace them though once the wave ends.

Wave 7 also spawns another set of Orc TNT Archers from the NW though, so you need to do the same thing as before and try to pick them off from the SE corner. You should have a decent amount of traps along the easternmost wall at this point though, so they shouldn't be as difficult to get rid of.

Between wave 7 and 11, try to get some traps down in that area in the middle (that spot just north of the Guardian area) where the NW minions pass through, as it will help with the Par Time.

Before wave 11 stars, try to get a couple of Brimstone on both of the entrances at the NW gate, as you'll get a really annoying line of Kobolds on wave 11.

Wave 11 - This is the last wave to really mention, because you'll get more Orc TNT Archers from the NE gate, but you'll also get this extremely drawn out trickle of Kobolds from the NW. In order to do this efficiently, I cover the NW gate instead of the NE, so I can help clear out the Kobolds while not putting my Barricades at risk. Although, as you can see, I should have left the NW gate earlier than I did, because a handful of minions managed to get through my eastern line of traps. It still worked out though, as they were mostly pretty damaged at that point.

Wave 12 - Not a very long wave, but again you'll get Kamikaze Kobolds from the NE, and eventually some Orc TNT Archers from the NW. It's fine if the Kobolds destroy your Barricades, and you can be aggressive with the Orc TNT Archers if you're short on time (just don't die) because they trail in near the end, meaning your Barricades won't make much difference at that point.

Although this map is difficult, realize that it's only difficult with what I come in with. By coming in at a higher Account Level, with tier 7 traps, and decent Parts/Traits, you significantly reduce the difficulty of this map.

Confluence

Account Level: 59

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 6)
Floor Scorcher (tier 4)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Swinging Mace (tier 5)
Grinder (tier 6)

Traits used:

Grandmother Eaten By Troll

I think this map was built for Max. The biggest issue with this map is the coin generation, as it is extremely low, and it can be difficult to trap both areas decently. Bringing in Max can really help because of this, but also bringing in Subsidized Parts, or any of the cost-reduction Traits will help.

There will also be a huge group of Kobolds on a couple of different waves, which again, Max is great for. Since he attacks so fast, he clears them out very quickly (particularly with the "Persistent" upgrade at level 10).

Barricade strategy - I block off the NW entry to the Rift, then block the hall just NW of that, so they will get manipulated to walk down the lane where the Guardian is, then walk back. When the NE gate opens (wave 5) I block off the SE entry to the Rift, and then I place a couple of Barricades just north of the NE Guardian spot to force them into Grinders.

The first thing you'll see is that I don't trap the NW lane very much. The reason for this is because I'm trying to preserve my coin; having more damage in the NE is better, because the minion's path gets a little strange over there. The NW gate also doesn't need it quite as much, particularly if you bring one of the "Anchor" Guardians, which will help the damage.

I put down a lot of Tar for a few reasons - It has a low cost; it slows down the Kobolds; and I get the extra experience from the XP Siphon. You will eventually want to trap more than what I have, but what I have down should be enough for the first 4 waves, as the NW gate closes upon wave 5. I would recommend using Unchained for wave 4 though, just due to how long it is.

Having over 9,000 (!) coin for wave 5 I think is ideal, because putting up a couple of Grinders and Arrow Walls can go a long way when the NE gate initially opens. What you'll see is that around 1/3 of the minions will decide down the SE lane...but they'll get to the corner and realize they can't go that way, and come back up. This is primarily what affects the Par Time using this strategy, as having them walk back there, and come back up, does waste some time. However, if you can put enough traps down, you can reduce the time you're wasting having to hunt them down.

For the most part, you don't want to actually hunt them down as they move to the SE, but proactively try to prevent them moving down there in the first place. For the ones that get by, just let them go and come back up, because you need to pay attention to the minions going towards the Guardian, especially if there are not a lot of traps down. Whenever you see the "next wave" countdown, you know you're okay to let them path back up, as they're not really wasting much time at that point.

After wave 5, I put down a couple of Floor Scorchers at the NE bridge, then a Brimstone (put down another if you have the coin) to help with the damage at the gate. At the end of wave 6, you'll see me put down a Grinder just north of the "Forge" Guardian spot that's in the SE; this is a good place for it, because it will not only catch the minions from the NE gate going down, but the minions from the SE gate that will go up.

On wave 7, the NW gate opens again, and I would say this is a good place for your next Unchained, as it also spawns a Mercenary. By clearing the NE gate faster, it allows you some time to catch up to the minions in the NW, which you may need if your damage is as low as mine is. The traps that I have in the NW aren't enough for the 4-5 Trolls that survive at the end of the wave, so I would recommend watching that gate as best you can to make sure they don't make a lot of progress toward the Rift. You may get tempted to trap the NW further for this reason, but realize that not only does the NW close again on wave 8, but it's the only gate open on wave 10, so you can trap it then.

Wave 8 and 9 has the entry of a very large group of Kobolds, which should be easy to take care of as long as you're covering the NE area.

As stated, wave 10 has just the NW gate open again, so use this time to put more traps down. I only put a couple of Brimstone down, as it should suffice for now. I stay away from putting traps on the bridge because of the Hobgoblin Shamans, as they will most likely just heal the minions through the damage. The gate closes again at the end of wave 10.

I use Unchained at wave 11 because I think it's best; it's a decently long wave, and you don't really need it much for later waves, although saving it for wave 13 is an option as well. By using it at wave 11, I could have managed to get Unchained one more time at the last wave if I killed more near my traps, but chances are you won't get that option if you use it at wave 13.

Wave 12 is very simple, and you don't want to waste Unchained for Urza, as he spawns near the end of the wave. Just as long as you kill the Fire Elementals near the SE gate, you'll be fine.

For wave 13 and 14, start off in the NW, but keep an eye on the minions from the NE gate. You'll want to try to clear as much as you can, but move over to the NE as soon as the minions there start to get close to the Guardian. These last 2 waves should be fairly simple as long as you watch the NE.

Frostbite

Account Level: 61

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 6)
Floor Scorcher (tier 4)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Swinging Mace (tier 5)
Grinder (tier 6)

Traits used:

Soldiers Took My Horse

This map is difficult, because the Par Time kind of requires you to place traps before the gates open. On the positive side, this map hasn't changed pretty much at all from Master, so the exact same set-up from Master can be used.

I do leave room for others to improve on my time; coming in with tier 7 traps and more Traits/Parts will obviously help things. Different Guardians would help too, as a Temple/Jailer Guardian would help clear the SW and SE gates better. Although the Priest Guardian might do frost damage (I'm not sure) he can still freeze minions, which is helpful.

Barricade strategy - The same as Master, and as I said there, it's a bit difficult to describe in text. The idea is to force the minions in the north down the middle, and then use Barricades to force them into a single lane along the walls, where you can use Grinders. In the SE, I use a single Great Wall to force them to path north around the "island", and in the SW I just place Barricades in between the columns/walls to force them to take a longer path out of the area, which also forces them to along the walls, which is good for Grinder placements.

This map gives an extremely generous amount of coin, so use it to try to trap the north area really well before you move onto the other gates, as the north area will have a ton of minions, and you're not going to be able to cover them as the southern gates open. What I do is place an extra pair of Floor Scorchers and Brimstones on the NW bridge, as it should help reduce their numbers.

Breakdown of waves:

Wave 3 - Two Mercenaries at the same time from the NW, which you should save Unchained for. You see me use Unchained late, because I knew I didn't need it for Pride Assassin, but Bouncer Bear can be a huge annoyance. Unfortunately Bouncer Bear decided to camp the gate, so I ended up using it later just to take care of him.

Wave 4 - First Unstable Rift will spawn, and mine was really convenient. This should play out the exact same way as Master though, so you should consider just letting it open if you know you can't get it with ease. The minions from the NE are much more important to get rid of, but if your traps are decent, you may be able to go after the Unstable Rift instead with less concern.

Wave 6 - I use almost all of this wave to start setting up traps in the SE, as I felt that I had enough down in the north for the majority of the minions. I go back when I use the majority of my coin. It may be smarter (if you have the coin) to place the floor traps at the SE gate first, rather than do it as I did and trap the Guardian area first. This way you can start wave 7 sooner than I did, because I used the Go break to trap the gate.

Wave 7 - Two Mercenaries at the same time again, from the SE. Again, I highly recommend Unchained to clear them, as they can be a potential problem. Not much else to say about this wave, as I just cleared the SE and the nothing in the north managed to survive.

Wave 8 - I use the beginning of this wave to start placing traps and Barricades in the SW. There will be another Unstable Rift, which was convenient once more for me. I believe it is just another group of Pride Hunters though, so you may not necessarily need to hunt it down. If it does spawn in the north, you can destroy it if you want (as I go north after I put a few traps down in the SW), but do be mindful of where you're standing, because of the Dwarf Grenadiers.

Wave 9 - I use Unchained to help clear the SW, because I didn't feel like it was trapped very well, and I felt confident that Unchained would be back up for the last wave. If you start to see the minions in the SE move around the Barricade, that's the cue to head over there to make sure nothing gets by, as they have the shortest route to the Rift.

Wave 10 - I start by covering the SW again, but be aware that TNT Archers will show up at the end of the group. You do not want to engage them near the Guardian, as you will run the risk of destroying the Barricades. Instead, just back up to where the minions will path, and once you've cleared a good portion of the group, just move on to the SE, then move to the north, then pick off whatever was left from the SW.

Wave 11 - What I should have probably done was replaced the Guardian, but for whatever reason I decided not to. No minions to really note in this wave, but I do the exact same thing as wave 10; clear the majority of the SW, then go to the SE, then go to the north.

Wave 12 - Having Unchained up for this is very beneficial. This time I would recommend being in the northern area for 2 reasons: One, an Unstable Rift will spawn, and it'll more than likely be in the northern area. Two, Iceberg, the boss minion, will show up in the NE, and he's quite the damage sponge, so I wanted to try to get some damage done to him.

Wave 12 does get a little stressful at the end, as I get a few minions that manage to get close to the Rift. Realize though that having better traps (and better damage overall) will help prevent that, as I would imagine having my Tar at tier 6 could have potentially helped with that, given how much of it I use.

As a brief comical note - You see me pause the game for a split second at the end. I do this because I glanced at my time, and I thought I was going to miss the Par Time by 1 second, so I was thinking I had to restart. The match ends the second I pause it though, hence why it looks kind of ridiculous. I do get the Par Time at exactly 13:45, so this is pretty tough with this minimalist set-up.

Gates of Thuricvod

Account Level: 61

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 6)
Floor Spikes (tier 6)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Swinging Mace (tier 5)
Grinder (tier 6)

Floor Spikes replace my Floor Scorchers here, because of all the Fire Fiends. Floor Scorchers are probably still viable if they are higher than mine (mine are still tier 4), but I felt like mine weren't upgraded enough to do any real damage.

Yet another map that isn't too bad (overall) to defend, but getting that Par Time forces you to use just about every second you can. Push Traps unfortunately aren't very viable here, as the NW/NE gates will spawn large minions at the front of their groups. I will point out being comfortable with jumping onto the pillars in the lava (to get to the NE/NW gates) does help a lot.

Barricade strategy - The same as War Mage, but with a few additions. I still block off the SE entry to the Rift (at the beginning of wave 5), but you will need to put another one down further south (near the SE gate) as a decoy (which I do in wave 10). You do get Firelings on the last wave, so you need to plan for them. I also place 2 more Barricades to slightly extend the minion's path; again, this is for the last wave, as the Fire Fiend Warlocks, for some reason, will sometimes immediately go for the Rift, ignoring the Guardian.

Breakdown of waves:

Wave 1 - At the end of this wave, you should have enough to place down exactly 6 Tar traps in a line at the NW gate. Once the Tar has been placed, go back to clearing the middle.

Wave 2 - At the end of this wave, you should have enough to place down 2 Swinging Maces at the NW gate. You'll see me jump up the pillars to do so here, but it's not really necessary to place the Swinging Maces (just aim at the ceiling) although moving up to the NW can ensure you're placing them above the Tar correctly.

Wave 3 - At the end of this wave, I repeat the same thing in the NE that is in the NW; 6 Tar traps and 2 Swinging Maces. I have enough for 3 more Tar traps, so I place them as well. At the start of wave 4 I wait around for a little to get some coin, and I place one more Swinging Mace above that 3 Tar.

Wave 4 - The north gate spawns first, then the NW, then the NE. There is a bit of a delay between the arrival of each group, so you can use that to put down 3 more Tar (plus another Swinging Mace) in the NW.

Wave 5 - I decided to use Unchained at the start of this wave to save time. By immediately starting the wave, you can use the time before they break down the gate to place the SE Barricade and put down a couple of the traps in the SW corridor. Once the minions break through, use Unchained to quickly clear them. The north gate group takes a while to arrive, so by clearing the SW group fast, you can use that time to place more traps down in the SW corridor.

Wave 6 - Try to clear as much as you can in the SW before heading to the north. In the video, a couple of Fire Elementals get pretty close to the Rift, but I realized I should have just left the SW sooner than I did. In the SW, I basically clear everything but 1 minion, which was probably more than needed.

Wave 8 - Similar to wave 6, clear the majority of the minions in the south before heading north. Minions come from the north first in wave 9, so use that time to place a few more traps in the middle lane.

Wave 9 - Urza spawn in the north, but don't use Unchained for him, as you'll need it for wave 10. Once the north is mostly cleared, head back down south. At the end of this wave, you should have the coin to place 2 more Barricades near the Guardian/Rift to extend the minions path a little.

Wave 10 - The NE/NW gates open again, but if you trapped it like I did they shouldn't be an issue at all. Focus on clearing the south, and when they're gone put down the decoy Barricade near the SE gate. Earth Elementals will spawn from the north gate, as well as Gaeadin. As soon as you hear/see "Gaeadin has entered the battlefield" use Unchained to help clear all of them.

Wave 11 - This is a dangerous wave because there's a bit of randomness involved. Orc TNT Archers will spawn from the SE, and obviously you don't want to pick a fight with them near the Barricades. However, because the corridor doesn't give you a lot of room to move, even fighting them away from the Barricades can result in a quick death. If you have better traps than I do, they may just be able to take care of the majority of the southern minions, but what you see me do is just try to assist clearing until the TNT Archers get closer to the corridor. For whatever reason, the TNT Archers didn't really pick a fight with my Guardian, so that's a bit random. You may need to replace the Barricade next to the Guardian if it gets destroyed.

Wave 12 - At the beginning of this wave you get some free time, so I use it to place more traps in the middle. This turned out to be useless, and what I should have done is use that time to place more Tar in the NE/NW lanes. You do want to cover the middle, to kill the Fire Imps (as they can get away from the Guardian) until Tubifore comes out. I then go to the NW to help clear that lane, then the NE, then I go south as soon as I see them moving through the SW corridor. I use Unchained once I head south just so I can quickly help clear the minions, in order to protect the Rift from the NW minions that managed to survive.

Par Time is managed with almost 45 seconds to spare, and this is with no Traits, so I can imagine it can be improved upon.

Temple Graveyard

Account Level: 65

Hero used: Midnight

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 7)
Floor Scorcher (tier 5)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Barricade (tier 6)
Grinder (tier 6)

Traits used:

Grandmother Eaten By Troll
Enjoys Pain

I do use Midnight for this map instead of Max, because I firmly believe it cannot be done at this Account Level without Midnight. It may be possible if everything is at tier 7, with decent Parts/Traits.

So I was really irritated with this map. As you can see in the beginning, I had cleared it with Max. I came in with Max, had 3 damage Traits (Sister Eaten By An Ogre, Killer Buzz, and Bear Hugs) and the Overachiever Trait (which starts you at level 2, and the slot bonus is movement speed); I was using a Grinder with Burning Resonator, Viscous Tar with Subsidized Parts and XP Siphon, and a Brimstone with XP Siphon. I missed the Par Time by 2 seconds. To say the least, I was pretty pissed off.

In turn, I removed all of that nonsense, kept Sister Eaten By An Ogre (and used my Tar with XP Siphon), added Enjoys Pain, and proceeded to rock the hell out of the map with Midnight. I beat the Par Time by almost 10 seconds. That is ridiculous.

My thought is that this is either not a 56-65 map (minions might be stronger than this) or the minions enter the map is such a delayed fashion that it affects the Par Time (like with Docks at Eventide).

The short of it is, you have two options - Either use Midnight at a lower Account Level, or use Max at a higher Account Level. It can be done with Max, but you will need to be above the suggested level range, period. Believe me, I've attempted this enough times with Max to know. I even tried with Blackpaw, and I was still completing it with 15+ seconds over Par Time.

I will make another video showing a different method with Max, but I will more than likely come back at Account Level 70, and possibly with one or two more tier 7 traps. It'll just take me a while to experiment with what the minimum is to complete it with Max.

Anyway, the Barricade strategy is exactly the same as War Mage, only that I don't snake them in the NE corner (although I still snake them into the Guardian area). The reason for this is the Kamikaze Kobolds that will appear on wave 8 and 11. Instead, I just put down Tar at the NE gate to slow things down.

Wave 2 - At the end of this wave, start to trap the NW corner. I place a Great Wall to block the southern lane, forcing them all against the column, where I put up a Grinder.

Wave 5 - Stay at the SW gate for Tubifore, then clear the minions there until the NW minions show up. Ensure that you place a couple of Tar/Grinders at the entryway to the NE corner, because there will be Kobolds at some point. At the end of this wave, you'll see me put Grinders and a Tar at the NE gate, this is actually a bit of a mistake, as I should have used that coin to put up Barricades to snake minions into the Guardian area (as I do at the start of wave 7).

Wave 8 - Kamikaze Kobolds from the NE, dispose of them quickly and try not to die while doing it. Use Unchained after the Mercenary shows up (either kill the Mercenary with it and/or clear the wave with it).

Wave 9 - You'll see me do a jump, then Dash and Slash, to get to the second Unstable Rift that appeared in the corner. If the Unstable Rift does show up there....don't do that, unless you feel confident in it, as you can walk to it and be fine. I was actually just experimenting to see if it would work.

Wave 10 - Start at the south gate, as the minions appear there first. When they're mostly cleared, head to the NE. I hide around the column where the Guardian is because of the stupid archers.

Wave 11 - Kamikaze Kobolds will appear again from the NE. This time though, there will be more than 3, and there's a Mercenary from the same gate. I use Unchained here, mostly because I don't want to potentially kill myself on the Kobolds. The final wave countdown begins at 12:31, so that's a good time to be around. If the final wave starts at 13:00 or over, chances are you won't make the time.

Wave 12 - Start at the west gate, then clear the majority of it and work on the NW. The NE will spawn last, and it is a fairly smaller group than the rest of the wave.

Since this is the first time I have a video of Midnight, a few pointers:

Prowl increases movement speed by a slight amount. Use it to traverse long distances on the map.
Use Prowl, then Dash and Slash, to stun everything hit by Dash and Slash. Midnight gets bonus damage against stunned target, so melee as much as you can afterwards.
Vital Strikes takes practice to be accurate with, but it's worth it. For some reason it's hard to hit the Unstable Rifts with it here (as you see on wave 3). Vital Strikes also gets bonus damage if used with Prowl.
My upgrades are Killer Instinct (level 2), Sa-Meow-Rai Armor (level 4), Slash-N-Dash (level 7), and Thrill of the Kill (level 10).

You may be curious about how to do this with Max, if you don't have Midnight quite yet. It is possible to complete this as Max, but I would highly recommend coming back at a higher Account Level. If this is how you'd prefer to 5 Star this, I have a set-up for it too:

Account Level: 72

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Viscous Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon and Subsidized Parts
Brimstone (tier 7) - XP Siphon
Floor Scorcher (tier 5)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Swinging Mace (tier 5)
Grinder (tier 6)

Traits used:

Killer Buzz
Sister Eaten By An Ogre

The difference here between my Midnight video is how I place my Great Walls. In the southern part of the map, the Great Walls are placed in a manner that forces the minions from the SW to walk into the "cemetery" area, where the weird purple mist is. These areas actually do damage (which is stated in the map description, if you read it), which helps deal additional damage. The damage is not really that significant, but it does allow you to deal extra damage without any additions besides the Great Walls.

In the NE corner, the Great Wall placements are also different. At the start of wave 6, I start by placing 2 Great Walls next to each other, starting at the western wall (just next to the stairs) and forcing the minions into a single lane to enter the eastern Guardian area. It's completed by the start of wave 7, by then placing one at a diagonal, then placing another horizontally at the top. That last one serves two purposes - It not only forces minions into a single lane along the wall, but it also becomes fodder for the Kamikaze Kobolds in case they manage to get by. If that Great Wall is destroyed, it means little, as they are still forced into a single lane via the other Barricades.

Wave 5 - Stay at the SW gate for Tubifore. Once he's dead, move up to the NW to place more traps before they start to show up.

Wave 6 - As stated, I begin to place my Great Walls in the NE. There is another Mercenary during this wave; if you get Chaotic Kobold, consider leaving him alive (if you can't kill him quick) until the NW minions are cleared. If a problem, try not to use Unchained, but it is potentially an option. Unchained will be much more useful at wave 8 though.

Wave 7 - As stated, the Great Walls in the NE are placed. NE gate opens, but there are not many minions that come out of it, so it's not entirely necessary to place many traps in the NE yet.

Wave 8 - First set of 3 Kamikaze Kobolds from the NE. They are the first to appear, so make sure you pick them off as they show up. If your Great Walls get damaged, I would recommend replacing them at the end of the wave. A Mercenary will appear after the Kamikaze Kobolds, and you'll also get a lot of minions that will want to kill you here (Gnolls and Cyclops Mages), so I would recommend using Unchained to kill the Mercenary or help to clear the wave (ideally both). You will see me use the column that's next to the entry the minions have to take to enter the Guardian area, which is helpful to break line-of-sight for any potential Cyclops Mages coming by.

Wave 9 - West gate opens. I get a couple of Brimstone down at the entrance to the gate, plus a Fire Scorcher, plus an Arrow Wall. After those are down, try to place traps in the western Guardian area. Once most of the Ogres are down, destroy the 2 Unstable Rifts.

Wave 10 - Stay at the SW gate, as they appear first. Try to clear the SW minions before the NE minions appear, and then head up to the NE. There are a ton of Archers that will come at the end of the NE group. Again, try to use that column where the minions are forced to go, so you can potentially hide behind it to break line-of-sight if they start shooting.

Wave 11 - 2 different sets of Kamikaze Kobolds, having 3 in each set. The issue is that they also come in as a Mercenary appears, plus a lot of other minions, which makes them difficult to kill before they get to the Barricades. I use Unchained for this purpose; to try to clear everything I can in hopes I will get the Kobolds in the crossfire. Try to kill the Mercenary while Unchained, but again, don't chase it down if it gets away from the NE. Replace any Great Walls that get destroyed.

Wave 12 - Start with the west gate, and you can mostly leave the southern minions alone. NW gate will spawn next, then finally the NE. I had Unchained up again towards the end, but I didn't use it just to show it wasn't required at that point.

Highlands

Account Level: 66

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Haymaker (tier 2, new for this map)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 7)
Floor Scorcher (tier 5)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Ceiling Ballista (tier 4)
Grinder (tier 6)

Traits used:

Sister Eaten By An Ogre

One word: Haymakers. Seriously, they make this map so much easier. The reason why is because of their fantastic crowd control, and you really need it for the NW gate minions in particular. I know Haymakers have an "Epic" rarity, but that's why I used a tier 2 (as it was also all I had). It is possible to do this without Haymakers, but chances are you are going to need to come back with better damage if you don't bring them. If you do have a better Haymaker than I do, consider using the "Stunning Accumulator" Part, as it will help with your damage output.

Highlands is interesting, because you can see that specific minions come from specific gates. The north gate generally consists of Ogres (including Fire Giants) and Hobgoblin Shamans; the NE generally consists of Kobolds (including Kamikaze Kobolds); the NW generally consists of Fire and Earth Elementals.

So as you can see, Barricades are more or less worthless here, hence why I don't use them. Haymakers are great for 2 reasons: In the north, they'll keep Hobgoblins from healing. In the NW, they are the only crowd control (that I know of) that works against both Earth and Fire Elementals.

In the north: I make a "L" shape with the Haymakers (total of 5) so it covers both the entry and exit of that small room. Once I have the floor traps and Haymakers down, I add a couple of Ballistas. Try not to spend all your coin at the start of wave 3, as you'll need a little to trap the NE gate.

In the NE: I put down 2 Floor Scorchers where the minions enter, then I put down 3 Tar at the exit so it lines up with the wall, with the addition of Arrow Walls. Afterwards, place down Brimstone on the bridge. When you have the coin, place down a Ballista and a line of Tar over the bridge to help slow Kobolds down. Eventually you will want 2 more Brimstone (right before the Guardian) and utilize the 2 ceilings for Ballistas (the one above the 3 Tar, and the one above the Guardian).

In the NW: It starts off the same way as the north, with a line of 3 Haymakers covering the exit. I start the "L" shape again, but only use 1 Haymaker, as I can't afford any more. Try to get a line of Tar underneath the Haymakers as well. Add a few Ballistas when you can. Eventually you'll want to add more Haymakers (I do this at the start of wave 11).

After that basic set-up is complete, I basically just try to evenly distribute Ballistas among each lane, while adding in Tar and Arrow Walls here and there.

Unstable Rifts - They appear at wave 3, 6, and 12. You will need to go get them immediately as they spawn, especially if they are at the other side of the map. If you don't, chances are it'll open before you get there.

Unchained - I use my first at 8, as I don't have enough in the NW to take care of the Fire Elementals (and I'm nearly dead). I only use Unchained a second time, during the last wave so I can kill Bulgod and the north gate minions quickly.

On wave 1 - Don't try to kill anything with your Primary unless you're shooting a Hobgoblin. If you try to kill any of the Ogres or Orcs with your Primary, the Hobgoblins will probably just heal it immediately. What I do is try to use In Your Faces a couple of times against the Ogres to thin them a bit.

On wave 7/8 - In the NW, I also use the Boulder Chute trap that's at the top of the stairs. I only do this because I know my damage sucks, and it does help slightly just to keep the Fire Elementals preoccupied for a second. Another option is to just put a Guardian down to keep them slowed down.

I always cover the NE gate first when it's open, then move to the north gate, then finally the NW. This is due to the Haymakers being able to keep things at bay while I cover the other gates. The NE is priority because of how many Kobolds there are, and chances are your traps won't be enough to catch all of them.

On wave 9, you get a second group of Kobolds in the NE that follows the first group. If you've trapped the NE enough, you should be able to leave them alone.

For the first time with Max, I take the "Endorsements" upgrade at level 2. This is mostly because the extra coin really helps, but if you're using any of the cost-reduction Traits (Smashing Deals would help tremendously here), you should be fine without it.

I also take "Bad at Self-Reflection" at level 7 because I thought it might help more with the Fire Elementals. Although it didn't seem to work quite as well as I hoped, it's still helpful if you use Can't Touch This a lot like I do.

If you're not aware, the Firelings do not count for Rift points, so you can let them get into the Rift if they're close. They are worth some coin though, so it's optimal to just kill them.

Avalanche

Account Level: 66

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 7)
Floor Scorcher (tier 5)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Barricade (tier 6)
Grinder (tier 6)

Not too bad of a map, as it can be trapped in the exact same way as the Master version. What is different is that the gates will open up in a different order; it'll be east gate first, then west, then north, then NW. The composition of most minion groups is fairly similar to what is found on Master though.

First thing you'll notice - Mercenary on the first wave. This can be a problem depending on who you get, as you'll see me struggle immensely with Human Image (can you believe his clone walked into my shot?). Realize that Boulder Chute trap can work wonders to slow down the minions as you deal with the Mercenary. There's a good chance that Unchained will be up as well at some point during the first wave, so you should use it if things get problematic (Unchained isn't too necessary for the rest of this map).

The west gate opens on wave 4, but there is no Go break for it, so you need to prepare the east gate with traps so you can leave it alone for the most part. There isn't much that spawns from the west on wave 4 (it has like a dozen or so Grizzlies) but it does also spawn a Mercenary. At the end of wave 3, I only manage to place down a Brimstone, Great Wall, and a Tar (I get the Grinder in during the wave), and it seems to work out. Ideally though, it's better to try to get 2 Floor Scorchers and Brimstone down at the bridge where they enter (which I do once the Grizzlies are dead).

Wave 5 will spawn Kamikaze Kobolds, which is why the Fire traps are nice on that bridge. TNT Archers will spawn first though, so what you see me do is try to get their attention from the wall. By doing this, not only can you keep them in place to potentially kill them, but as a result the Kobolds will be the first to activate your traps (instead of the TNT Archers) and they should be less of an issue. You do have to be careful about their shots though, as you obviously don't want them to hit your Great Wall. When the Kobolds are dead, feel free to back up closer to the Guardian so you don't risk your Great Wall.

On wave 6, I start to block off the northern area just like I do in Master. You can start to Barricade the "Barracks" area if you want as well, but wave 6 does spawn a very large amount of regular Kobolds in both gates. If you feel less confident in your traps, keep an eye on the mini-map and cover one of the gates.

Wave 7 will open the north gate, but realize that again, it doesn't spawn many minions, so you don't need to trap the Barracks area very much, particularly if you place a Guardian and pay attention to make sure they're not getting close to the Rift.

There's really not much else to say about this map. The only other trap addition, versus my Master video, is the Great Wall just east of the "Kitchen" Guardian. I do this to force all of the minions south, where they will walk along the wall (if they get that far), where I set up a Tar/Grinder combo.

I also still trap the NW corner some, close to where the minions path near the Great Wall Barricade. Everything else is just extra; try to find spots where you think will help (I trap the boat in the NW a little, and I put a couple of Brimstone down where the N/NW gates merge). I could have probably used a few more traps in the west, but it still worked out.

The only other time I use Unchained is wave 11, to help clear the NW. The group of minions is quite large there, and I figured it would help my time.

Par Time is great here, as I have about 30 seconds to spare, and I could have used Unchained one more time to cut it down even further.

Castle Gates

Account Level: 68

Hero used: Blackpaw

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 7)
Swinging Mace (tier 5)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Big Game Hunting Ballista (tier 1, new for this map)
Grinder (tier 6)

As you can see, I use Big Game Hunting Ballista for the first time here, because you will get a ton of Mercenaries, and it really helps (even at tier 1) to get the extra damage against them. For this reason, this map can be a little random at this level, because you will get Mercenaries in pairs, which really could mess things up, depending on which pair you get.

I used Blackpaw again here because I felt he had better damage than Max. His Thin The Herd upgrade at level 4 will certainly help things if you manage to get the Chaotic Kobold, as well for Swiftyhooves that appears on wave 10.

Wave 1 - Barricaded like Master, forcing minions to go into the NE area with the Guardian. The Brimstone placement is fairly deliberate; I place it on the corner of the doorway, as that is where they path (watch the ghosts). Other than that there's not much coin to place anything else besides the 2 Tar at the gate. The minions enter the map at the 32 second mark, if you're wondering how I timed my summoned Gnolls.

Wave 2 - Place 2 Big Game Hunting Ballistas to cover the eastern gate. This should help with the Mercenary, but just realize you do not want to get too distracted by whichever Mercenary shows up (particularly the Chaotic Kobold); you more than likely will not have a lot of traps down, which means you need to focus on the minions (it also means the Chaotic Kobold won't affect much). If it is a Mercenary that is actively trying to kill you, try to kill it in range of the Ballistas.

Wave 3 - I try to trap the southern gate some, but do try to get at least a Brimstone down, as you'll eventually get Earth Elementals out of this gate. I use Unchained here because it will significantly help with the pair of Mercenaries that spawn. Try to be right at the gate for the Fire Fiend Warlocks, because they work like Archers and won't attack you in melee range.

Wave 4 - I do something kind of slick here, but you can do it differently. I stay at the eastern gate to deal with the Firelings, and then quickly move to the area west of the Guardian to place down more Great Walls to extend the minions pathway. It is just possible to place the Great Walls during the time that you have before wave 4 (in retrospect, that's what I should have done, instead of placing the Tar/Arrow Walls) or you can even just place a decoy Great Wall at the eastern gate (although realize you'll be wasting the little coin you have with it).

Wave 5 - As the wave starts, I place 2 more Great Wall at the entrance to the Guardian area, to extend the pathway of the minions that come from the north (as they have the shortest route to the Rift). This also serves another function, which is to get the Firelings that will spawn to destroy these instead of the more important Barricades that are to the west.

Wave 6 - Mercenary and Lyzander will show up, and you can use Unchained if things get out of hand. Do realize that you will get Gaeadin and Urza on wave 8 though.

Wave 7 - At the start, I place a decoy Barricade at the eastern gate (for the final wave). Earth Elementals from the south, Fire Elementals from the north. Get the Barricades replaced once the wave is finished.

Wave 8 - Urza and Fire Elementals from the north, Gaeadin and Earth Elementals from the south. If you didn't use Unchained at wave 6 (or it's up again) you can use it here, but realize that you get 2 Mercenaries on the next wave.

Wave 9 - At the start, I place another decoy Barricade, but this time at the southern gate (for the final wave). 2 Mercenaries, but the rest of the wave is fairly normal.

Wave 10 - Swiftyhooves from the east, and he'll show up once the wave starts. This shouldn't be an issue with Blackpaw if you took the Thin The Herd upgrade, in combination with the Ballistas. The rest of the wave comprises of Earth Elementals though, so make sure none get by you.

Wave 11 - First (and only) Unstable Rift spawn, and there is plenty of time to destroy it. If you've saved Unchained like I have, this is a good wave to use it on, as wave 12 isn't nearly as large.

Wave 12 - One Mercenary, and the rest of the wave mostly comprises of the Terracotta minions. It's possible to ignore the Mercenary here (probably not Dwarf Priest) as you don't need to kill it to complete the map.

As a final note, be very careful of the Fire Fiend Warlocks. Try to get out of line of sight (by hiding behind a pillar or something) if you start to see them cast their fireball, as it just might kill you in a single hit.

Par Time is really forgiving, as I had a minute and a half to spare, so you don't need to rush as much as I did.

Academy Sewers

Account Level: 68

Hero used: Max

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 7)
Floor Scorcher (tier 5)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Swinging Mace (tier 5)
Grinder (tier 6)

Not really that bad of a map, but you do get a tremendous amount of Satyrs (I think even more than Master Unchained Fortress) for a few of the waves. Order minions, Grizzlies, and Giants are also present here, if you wish to bring their respective +damage Traits.

Extremely simple for Barricades, as all it needs is one Great Wall to block off the northern entrance to the Rift. In the south, you will see me place a single Great Wall in the flat area between the stairs, to force them into Grinders.

Tar is your friend here, and you'll want to try to get a lot of it down (particularly in the north) for wave 8, as that is when the first wave of Satyrs shows up. The south side should be a little easier to defend if you force them into a single lane with a Great Wall like I did, but Tar is obviously still helpful.

For the Satyrs, don't ever trust your Guardian to kill them, so you do want to be careful of letting them go (even a single one). On occasion, you'll see me just hit the Satyr running past me a single time, and this is to try to activate their shield, so hopefully the Guardian can kill it. Regardless though, I still wouldn't trust the Guardian to do his only job.

So in total, Satyrs are on wave 8 (north), wave 10 (north), wave 12 (south) and wave 14 (both north and south).

For wave 14, Satyrs will be at the south first, but it's a smaller group than usual, then when the minions appear in the north, Swiftyhooves will be among them, but he comes in towards the end. Hopefully you have enough damage output to clear the Satyrs as they show up, so you aren't forced to let anything go just to target Swiftyhooves.

Unchained - I use mine at wave 4 just to clear faster (wave 5 is also an option, as the group is decently large). I use it again on wave 11 and 13, simply because the wave is fairly large and again, I just wanted to clear faster.

Par Time is pretty close for me here (15 seconds), but I felt like I didn't need to work nearly as hard to get it in comparison to other maps.

Crogon Keep

Account Level: 68

Hero used: Max

Upgrades (that I use specifically for this map): Endorsements (Level 2) and Bad At Self-Reflection (Level 7)

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 7)
Floor Scorcher (tier 5)
Arrow Wall (tier 6)
Swinging Mace (tier 5)
Floor Spikes (tier 6)

Traits used:

Sister Eaten By An Ogre

The good news: This plays out in a very similar manner as the Master version of Crogon Keep.

The bad news: This plays out in a very similar manner as the Master version of Crogon Keep.

Having the 5 Star for the Master version is good practice for this map. In my opinion, the biggest key is just to know the map; how to traverse it, what the trouble waves are, and how to deal with them.

Barricade strategy - Fairly simple, as it's almost identical to my Master video. North gate opens first, so I block off the western entrance to the Rift. Eventually, I put down 3 more Great Walls, one in the middle of the staircase just south of the north gate (which is done at the start of wave 3). The second is placed in the NW, between 2 posts just south of the boat (this is done at the start of wave 6). The last is put down to force the north/NE minions into a single lane in the "Kitchen" area (this is placed at the beginning of wave 10).

Wave 2 - I use the coin from wave 1 to place down traps in the north lane, right next to the teleport.

Wave 3 - I place down a Great Wall in the middle of the staircase that is to the south. I then start to trap the NE gate, as it will open on wave 4. In the video, I place traps in the NE as wave 3 begins, but this is a bit risky, as there is a Mercenary that shows up, as well as an Unstable Rift. An alternative is to destroy the Unstable Rift, and kill the Mercenary, then leave the minions momentarily to trap the NE gate. I also mess up the placement of the floor traps at the NE gate, as I actually wanted to put Floor Scorcher, Brimstone, Floor Spikes, then Tar (and you can see I messed up the alignment as well).

Wave 4 - At the start of the wave, I place another line of floor traps in the NE lane, right before the hallway. I then hop over to the north gate, clearing the majority of the minions, but keeping an eye on the NE minions. I would recommend hopping over to kill the NE minions as the Fire Giants appear from the north, as there are Kobolds from the NE.

Wave 5 - I continue to place down traps in the NE lane, this time in the hallway. Kamikaze Kobolds from the north gate will appear in this wave, so I would recommend to drop what you're doing when they spawn (listen for their sound) and go to the north gate to ensure they die. Afterwards, try to clear the majority of the northern minions before hopping back over to deal with the NE.

Wave 6 - NW gate will open on wave 7, but I do get worried about the NE gate minions. I add a couple of Tar in the hallway, and I also add two Swinging Maces before I start to trap the NW. In the NW, I start off by placing the Great Wall in between the two posts just south of the boat (just like in my Master video), and then leave to clear the minions in the north. There is a Mercenary that comes from the NE on this wave, and again, Chaotic Kobold can potentially cause problems. If he shows up, you may want to break off from the north gate to try to kill him quickly.

Wave 7 - I use the Go break a little to start to trap the NW gate, by placing a line of floor traps. I then try to start the line again on the boat, but only manage the Floor Scorcher and the Brimstone. There will be an Unstable Rift on this wave, destroy it when it shows up. There will also be a Mercenary, which you can deal with as you see fit. I get Chaotic Kobold, and you may wonder why I let him be; it's because I didn't have many traps down in the NW, so I knew he wouldn't cause too many problems. The Chaotic Kobold never puts down crystals right as he enters the map (or it's possibly extremely rare) so I was confident he may just skip over everything I had placed there, which is what happened. I start killing the north minions, then hop over when the NE gets close to the teleport, then I clean up the rest.

Wave 8 - At the start of the wave, I start to trap the corridor that's NE of the western Guardian. During this wave, you'll get Kamikaze Kobolds from the NW gate, but I ignore them. I allow them to blow up the Great Wall near the boat, as that is what I intended to have happen. Instead, I focus on doing what I do in previous waves; clearing the north minions first, hopping over to the NE as they exit the "winding" pathway, then clearing the rest. Also, try not to get owned by the Cyclops Mages like I did. As you clean up the rest of the minions, head towards the end of their pathway by going south first, as you don't want to risk the Rift. I also use Unchained to clean up the large minions, just to speed up the process.

Wave 9 - I use the Go break a little to get to the SE gate (I start the wave right before I reach the Guardian). I place more floor traps in the SE, and add two Swinging Maces as well. Although this area will need to be trapped more, I primarily keep this gate covered, so it's not entirely necessary to place down a ton. Once the SE is cleared, I go to the NE, then clean up the rest. The Trolls get a little far, but if you're worried, consider putting another Guardian at the south spot. If you can start this wave under 12:00, you should be in line for the Par Time.

Wave 10 - I place my last Great Wall to block off the eastern lane of the "Kitchen" area, which forces them to the west instead. This also forces them against the wall, which I use to place down a combination of 3 Tar below a Swinging Mace; I also add a Floor Scorcher that aims down the Tar. I then head to the SE to start clearing. What is very important here, is to ignore the Unstable Rift as the SE takes priority. The Unstable Rift should spawn a group of Gnoll Grenadiers, which means they can freely enter the Rift. Otherwise, it's the same as before; SE gets cleared, NE gets cleared, clean the rest of it up. I would highly recommend using Unchained here, as chances are there will be a ton moving along the south. Try your best to pick off the Shamans, as they will just make it worse if they stay alive.

Wave 11 - This is a bit of a test wave. Two Mercenary spawns (one from north, one from NW), as well as two groups (of 3) of Kamikaze Kobolds from the NW. If you have placed at least as many floor traps as I have in the NW lane (at the NW gate, at the boat, and at the corridor NE of the Guardian), they should die. I would certainly recommend keeping an eye on them of course, and immediately break off from the SE if they start moving towards the western Guardian. It's not a big deal if they blow up the Great Wall in the middle of the stairs, but you will need to replace that one if they get to it. The Mercenaries are a problem, but you're going to have to use your best judgement. If you get Chaotic Kobold, I would consider letting him go until the SE and NE minions were dead. Afterwards, you'll need to backtrack where you think he ran, to ensure there are no crystals placed on your traps.

Wave 12 - I place a line of floor traps and a couple of Arrow Walls at the entrance to the "Kitchen" area. Afterwards I just go back to the same covering rotation: SE, NE, clean up. When I start to clean up the north/NW minions, you'll see me go west, over the Great Walls, instead of going south. I do this because I know there are Shamans in that group, and it's better to get them early, before they start healing the damage from the traps. Don't risk your Rift though, if you see any minions to the south, make sure to get them first instead.

Wave 13 - The Trap Limit is nearly reached, and I don't put down any more traps for the rest of the match. Chances are you'll have a ton of coin, so what you can do (and what I do not do) is put down more Guardians, particularly at the western (if your previous one died), SW, and southern spots. The only thing I would make sure is there is the Great Wall in the middle of the staircase in the north; this is fairly important to have for the last wave. Not much to mention about the minions in wave 13 though, so continue to clear as usual.

Wave 14 - If you have at least 2 minutes for this wave, and have Unchained up, you should be fine. Initially, ignore Tubifore as this is the reason that Great Wall in the north is there. You need to be at the SE gate because if you're not, it will get overrun. I use Unchained to clear the SE minions quickly, which allows me some time to head up to the NE minions and clear the majority of them. I am not confident at all in my traps in the NE, so I try to gauge where Tubifore is and see if I have time to clear almost all of the NE minions before hopping over to kill Tubifore. You should have plenty of time to clear the NE minions (if you used Unchained in the SE) as it will take a while for Tubifore to get to your Great Walls blocking the Rift. Once the NE minions and Tubifore are dead, go meet the minions in the south and clean up the rest.

I finished with almost 45 seconds quicker than the Par Time, so I would say this is more forgiving in time than the Master version.

Eventide Fortress

Account Level: 72

Hero used: Max

Upgrades (that I use specifically for this map): Endorsements (Level 2) and Bad At Self-Reflection (Level 7)

Traps used:

Great Wall Barricade (tier 5)
Tar (tier 5) - XP Siphon
Brimstone (tier 7)
Floor Scorcher (tier 5)
Swinging Mace (tier 5)
Barricade (tier 6)
Grinder (tier 6)

Traits used:

Grandmother Eaten By Troll
Sister Eaten By An Ogre

I brought in both the normal Barricade and the Great Wall Barricade because it's the most efficient in terms of coin usage. The first few waves can be kind of rough, because you get a lot of tough minions, but the coin generation is fairly mediocre. It is extremely important to have the western side blocked off before wave 4, because that's when a huge wave of Kobolds will show up. At the same time, it's also important to have some traps down in the northern area, because if you don't, it'll really hurt your time.

Barricade strategy - First Great Wall is placed at the top of the small staircase that leads to the "Forge" area. Next, place 2 Great Walls and 1 regular Barricade to block off the pathway directly south of the eastern gate.

Wave 1 - I start off placing my Barricades to force the northern minions westward. My first line of traps (at the north gate) is Floor Scorcher (x2) then Tar (x4). I do this mostly because it's all I can afford, but the extra experience from XP Siphons will help as well. Place a Guardian down at that spot just south of the northern gate, as he'll be helpful.

Wave 2 - Line of floor traps in that first western corridor, just west of the Guardian. I had enough for Floor Scorcher (x2), Brimstone (x2), and Tar (x2). Unstable Rift will spawn on this wave, and it's your choice whether you want to immediately leave or not. I don't leave immediately because I felt I had enough time, but this may depend on where it spawns. Regardless, you don't want it opening, so just make sure you go and destroy it.

Wave 3 - At the start, I place a single Barricade near the NE guardian spot (it doesn't matter where, just as long as it's in that general area). This is a decoy, and it'll be very important soon, so make sure it gets placed down. I then add Floor Scorchers (x2) and Tar (x2) in the eastern corridor. There is a very large wave of minions here, so I use Unchained (right as my Guardian dies) to speed up the clearing.

Wave 4 - Before the wave starts, I add 2 Swinging Maces in the western corridor, plus 2 more Tar. This is a good time to block off the western entry to the Rift, and hopefully you have the coin for it. If not, just block off what you can, and complete it as soon as you get enough coin. The placements start at the stairs (that lead down to a locked door), placing a single Barricade to ensure they don't maneuver down those stairs. Then, at a diagonal from the first Barricade, place a Great Wall. Then place 2 more Great Walls going south (you'll have to adjust slightly for the Guardian spot), then place the last single Barricade at the diagonal from the last Great Wall, so it lines up with the northern single Barricade. An Unstable Rift will also spawn here, but I will admit I got lucky with the placement. Regardless though, it shouldn't matter, as the northern minions will have a significantly long route once you complete the western Barricades.

Wave 5 - Use the Go break to move over to the eastern gate that is now opening. Place two single Barricades, at both corner of the gates, for decoy purposes. This is VERY important, because of Kamikaze Kobolds that will come from the eastern gate. I place 2 because in previous practice runs, for some reason, I had one attempt where a single Barricade wasn't enough. After they are placed, head to the NE for the Kamikaze Kobolds. If you can protect your decoy Barricade in the NE, that's ideal, but it's not entirely necessary (as that's why we placed one down). If it does get destroyed, you'll want to replace it. After, start to head to the western corridor so you can meet the minions along their path. While I'm there, I place Tar (x2) and Grinders (x2) to add some more damage.

Wave 6 - Before the wave starts, I go to the eastern corridor and place Tar (x4) and Swinging Maces (x2). I then put down another Guardian in the same spot as the first (the northern spot). After, immediately start heading south, and you'll want to get to that area in the SW, where that Guardian spot is. Place a Great Wall to block off the lane just east of that Guardian spot, which will force the minions to the south, along that small wall. At this time, you'll more than likely get the Unstable Rift, which you want to destroy. Ideally, try to get 3 Tar down along that southern wall (for the Trolls) before heading to the Unstable Rift. Once the Unstable Rift is destroyed, head back to clear that large group of Trolls. I would recommend using Unchained here, but I save mine until I get to battle level 10 (so I can get Persistent first), but use your best judgment.

Kamikaze Kobolds come from the eastern gate on this wave, but they should just destroy your decoy Barricades instead.

Wave 7 - Before the wave starts, I head back down to that SW spot, so I can add Grinders to the Tar I just placed down. I then place a Brimstone down before the Tar, then add a Floor Scorcher (pointing towards the Tar) just to the west of the Brimstone. Just north of that nearby Guardian spot, I place a Tar under the archway, followed by 2 Grinders. After, I head up to the "Temple" area to start trapping it. In the spots of where the room gets more narrow, place Tar in combination with Grinders (I didn't have much coin to work with at first).

At the end of this wave, I had enough to trap the area with 4 Grinders (total), 4 Tar, 2 Brimstone, and 1 Floor Scorcher. Place the Floor Scorcher so it covers the Brimstone (you don't want to place it so it can potentially flip minions into the teleport). Then I place 2 more Tar at the entrance to the Temple area, as this will become important to slow the Fire Giants down.

Wave 8 - First wave of Fire Giants from the NW, and they'll be accompanied by Lyzander. Ideally the Shamans and Lyzander should die first, but this can be difficult to manage amidst the Fire Giants. So if you need to clear some Fire Giants, do so. The only real goal is to ensure that the Fire Giants do not get to your western Barricades, otherwise that's a problem.

Wave 9 - I add 4 more Tar just southeast of the "Stable" Guardian spot (line them up with the square brick columns) to further slow down the Fire Giants. Stay at the NW gate, because this time you'll get Fire Giants, Shamans, and Orc TNT Archers. Again, try to single-out the Shamans first, then start clearing the Fire Giants. It's ideal to try to get the Orc TNT Archers here as well, but don't risk dying. The Fire Giants still take priority, as the Orc TNT Archers will more than likely die to the traps in the Temple area if you don't bother with them.

After, go back south and start working on clearing the Trolls. Again, I would recommend using Unchained here to speed up the process, as they take forever to kill otherwise. Use your own judgement about when to use Unchained, as I probably should have used mine sooner than I did in the video.

Wave 10 - Before the wave starts, I place down my last 2 Great Walls. They are placed directly north of the southern gate, and they begin at the wall where there are 3 "burlap sacks"; place the first one, horizontally, right that those sacks. Then place the second Great Wall just to the west of the first, which forces all minions to head into the SE corner, where the boat is.

The Unstable Rift spawn is a little tricky here, but realize it is an option to let it open because it only spawns a single Cyclops Mage. However, be mindful of its location because it can spawn in the east, where there are no traps. The priority is the Fire Giants in the NW, so get them first, then if you can, destroy the Unstable Rift, depending on where it is. If it's going to simply merge with the rest of the minions (like how mine did in the SW), simply let it open and kill the Cyclops Mage as you clear everything else. If it spawned in the east, first try to destroy it, but if you can't, simply kill the Cyclops Mage there, and then go back to clearing the rest of the wave.

I didn't have Unchained up for the Trolls this time, but fortunately they have a significantly long pathway to take to get to the Rift, so there shouldn't be much worry about them.

Wave 11 - Immediately get to the south gate, and place a line of floor traps. I place mine at the first spot that they enter the map, but be aware it's very dangerous to do this once the gate opens due to the Ballista. Realize though, it's not necessary to place them right at the gate, and you should be able to place the floor traps slightly north of the gate without getting shot at.

I then place 2 more lines of floor traps; one on the boat just north of the Guardian spot, and one more on the dock just east of the boat (which I mess up in the video). Go back and clear what you can of the southern minions (particularly the boss), before heading to the Unstable Rift. Again, you may need to use your own judgement with the Unstable Rift here; if it spawns further away, and you feel comfortable with the traps you placed down in the SE, you can probably go and destroy it, as the southern minions will take quite a while to get to the Rift (and there's not that many of them). Just make sure to get Scurvy before going to the Unstable Rift.

Afterwards, head back up north to clear the rest. If there is not a single Barricade in the NE area, make sure to go place one down while you're up there.

Wave 12 - Start off by heading to the southern gate to clear up all of the minions there. Once they are cleared (or mostly cleared) start to head up to the NE gate, as Tubifore will show up soon if he hasn't already. If there's a decoy Barricade up there, he should go to that first, making him an easy target. This shouldn't be too worrisome regardless, if you managed to get to the NE gate quick enough. Just make sure he doesn't destroy that Great Wall that leads to the Forge area.

Wave 13 - Before this wave starts, take a second to head to the east gate while you're up in this area to place down 2 more decoy Barricades. On the last wave, Kamikaze Kobolds will appear at the eastern gate, so it's important to have decoys there. Once the decoys are placed, head to the north gate, as you'll get a Mercenary from that gate. Try to kill him as soon as possible, then you'll want to start heading south to clear the southern gate or clear the Trolls. There's a chance a few minions from the south gate survived, so be watchful of the Rift area during this wave if you decide to clear the Trolls instead of the minions from the southern gate.

Wave 14 - I start in the NW, because there are two Fire Giants from that gate. Prioritize the Shamans, then the Fire Giants, then the Armored Ogres. Kamikaze Kobolds should have appeared at the eastern gate, and should have destroyed your decoys. After the NW gate minions are cleared, immediately head to the southern gate (or SE corner, depending on where the minions are) to clear them up. Afterwards, just move in a clockwise fashion, clearing up the rest of the minions - South, SW, W, NW, N.

Endless

Introduction

I need to point out a few things for this section. First, I have not actually earned all 5 Stars on all Endless maps; it is actually extremely difficult (primarily due to the current time restraint) to earn 5 Stars on some maps. Some maps, such as Crogon Keep and Frostbite, are doable, but you really have to know what you're doing (and have the best equipment) to manage it in less than 40 minutes. Other maps, such as Avalanche, I have yet to complete because I cannot fathom a way to get to wave 25 in 40 minutes, given how strong the minions are.

Second, I'll say it again - Endless is almost entirely optional. There are only a few practical things that it gives for completing it (which, in this case is getting the 5 Star):

There is a single Trophy associated with Endless - It is Toughing It Out, which requires you to complete 15 waves (meaning, you need to get to the beginning of wave 16). This should be very manageable to get on the first Endless map, even going in blind, by the time you start earning 5 Stars for Rift Lord Survival.
There are other various in-game Achievements associated with it - Toughing It Out is actually part of an in-game "meta-achievement" for clearing 45 Waves, which is really tough. You get a title for your avatar for completing this, but that's about it.
The 5 Star Chests are equivalent to the Survival Chests - This means that earning the respective 3 and 5 Star Chests will grant you the appropriate Chest for its difficulty; for example, The Baths is classified as Apprentice difficulty, thus, getting the Star Chests will reward Apprentice Chests.
- To reiterate, this means that, for the maps classified under Master and Rift Lord, it is a significantly larger challenge to get the same reward you would get in Survival.
New Hero Victory Chests will be earned at the end of wave 5 - At the end of wave 5, you earn your first Star, so if you're just looking for the Victory Chest, you can stop there if you wish.

That is pretty much it. You may wonder:

Is Endless a good mode to earn Skulls in? - Yes and no. Although you can potentially earn upwards of 200 Skulls per match (and this is on the harder maps generally), keep in mind the time spent in order to do so. In order to earn this much, you pretty much need to make it past wave 25, which takes a significant amount of time to do. Even though you might earn...let's say 250 Skulls for a match, if it takes you 40 minutes to do so, that equates to a little over 60 Skulls per 10 minutes.

This is the reason that all of my videos will be done on my main account, at Account Level 100, with tier 7 traps (with all Parts).

As a result, this section mostly will be a guideline, showing others what to expect, and what are some decent ways to potentially set things up (if only to get some ideas). Hopefully, I want people to read it and say to themselves "Okay, so if he's at maximum, and he got to wave 35, then I should be able to get to..." and go from there.

One last thing to point out is that the Hero that I use is not required - on most maps, you should be able to perform fairly similar with each Hero. There are a few maps that I think Cygnus really shines with, which I will point out.

I do really think Endless is kind of your "practice mode" since it allows you to test out your traps in various ways to try to experiment with them.

The Baths

Hero used: Ivy

Loadout:

Gear - Mending Root, Fire Wall Bracers
Guardian - Shield Guardian (x2)
Traps -
- T7 Great Wall Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T7 Arrow Wall (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Brimstone (Bounty Generator, Fire Resonator, Charging Spring)
- T7 Floor Scorcher (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Viscous Tar (Bounty Generator, Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Ceiling Ballista (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T6 Web Spinner (Subsidized Parts, XP Siphon)
Traits -
- Feeling Fierce
- Has Ultimate Set of Tools
- Enjoys Pain (or Practices Witchcraft, depending on your Hero)
- Smashing Deals

I set this up almost identically to how I do it in Rift Lord, as it's really difficult to use any real Barricade strategy (you get a ton of Fire Elementals). You should use 1 Great Wall as usual though, to block off one of the southern lanes.

In the north area, you should see some pillars at the edge of the areas with acid. These pillars kind of have very small overhangs where you can place a single Ballista (either Ceiling Ballista or Dragon's Lance) and I think that's really key to get further with this map.

I start out with the floor traps though, starting with my usual line of Floor Scorchers, Brimstone, and Viscous Tar. Remember that there's a slanted wall right above the gate, and you can use Boom Barrel Rollers, Arrow Walls, or Web Spinners there to help with the wave.

After a few floor traps (probably up until the Guardian spot), I start working on the Ballistas next to the pillars. Once those are done, I usually trap the floor south of the Guardian spot, then start working on placing a ton of Ballistas on the ceiling of that small corridor. You can place a lot of Ballistas here, and you'll probably spend the majority of your coin trying to fill out the entire ceiling.

If you do manage to get it filled out, then the rest is kind of up to you. You can either trap the floor/wall of that small corridor, or the lane that is open in the south. I always have the eastern lane open in the south, because I have a tendency to place even more Ballistas at the ceiling there (there are no ceilings in the west).

For minions, you'll get a pretty good variety at first, but eventually (pretty much post wave 20) you will see a significant amount of Trolls, and frequently, entire waves of them. You do get a couple of waves of Earth Elementals, a couple of waves of Fire Elementals, but Kobolds are not too frequent (they come in small groups on occasion).

Banquet Hall

Hero used: Bloodspike

Loadout:

Gear - Mending Root, Fire Wall Bracers
Guardian - Cook Guardian, Shield Guardian
Traps -
- T7 Great Wall Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T7 Arrow Wall (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Brimstone (Bounty Generator, Fire Resonator, Charging Spring)
- T7 Floor Scorcher (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Viscous Tar (Bounty Generator, Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Ceiling Ballista (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Grinder (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Subsidized Parts)
Traits -
- Feeling Fierce
- Has Ultimate Set of Tools
- Enjoys Pain (or Practices Witchcraft, depending on your Hero)
- Smashing Deals

Another map that is set up almost exactly the same as I have it in my Rift Lord video.

The idea is to make a very long vertical long of Great Wall Barricades in the eastern room, to force them along the easternmost wall, in a single lane. This allows you to put down a long line of floor traps and Grinders, while at the same time, mostly keeping your most vital Barricades safe.

You do get Barricade-destroying minions here, but the only ones that are mostly dangerous here (if using this strategy) are:

Kamikaze Kobolds on wave 3 (NW gate).
Orfum on wave 6 (NW gate).

This is entirely due to the fact that they come from the NW, which puts the Barricades just NE of the Rift at risk, so you do want to make sure you either put a decoy down or kill them as they appear.

Fortunately, after Orfum, you won't see anything dangerous from the NW gate, but there will be Orc TNT Archers on occasion. Kamikaze Kobolds will start to appear from the NE gate, but they should just immediately go to your "line" of Great Walls, and not destroy anything that can't be replaced. To prevent the NE Kamikaze Kobolds from destroying your line of Great Walls, you can also just place decoys near the NE gate.

The Orc TNT Archers are the most frequent (from both gates), but they are fairly easy to manipulate; you simply have to ensure you don't engage them near any Barricades, and let the traps do the work. If they do manage to get all the way to the SE corner, you can even allow them to move all the way down to the southern Guardian spot, to further reduce the chance they'll destroy something important.

It should go without saying, but make sure to replace any destroyed Great Walls (obviously, including your line), or try to replace the partially destroyed ones while you can.

You should also be somewhat mindful of the regular Archers as well, because if you're killing minions as they walk down the eastern wall, there will be some that shoot at you from the west, which puts your Barricades at risk. If you see this happening, either hop over your Barricades and get into melee range of them, or just back down to the SE corner.

The Gnoll Grenadiers are also worth mentioning, because obviously you don't want to be fighting near your Barricades when they're up as well. Due to how they run towards the Rift though, if you have a Guardian there, you run the risk of them tossing a grenade near the Barricades. From my experience, this doesn't normally happen, but you may want to play it safe and try to kill them in the Rift room, before they reach the Guardian.

This isn't the only strategy for this map though, and you can set up your Barricades in a number of different ways. One way I've done it is to loop them all the way around the Rift room (they enter at the south, move east, then north, then back west). It's also possible to force the minions into the walls all the way through the "Kitchen" area. This can be problematic though, because if there is a Guardian there, the Orc TNT Archers will shoot at it, destroying your Barricades.

Shark Island

Hero used: Dobbin

Loadout:

Gear - Teleportation Ring (Optional), Ring of Storms (Optional)
Guardian - Cook Guardian, Weaponwright Guardian
Traps -
- T7 Great Wall Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T7 Viscous Tar (Bounty Generator, Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Brimstone (Bounty Generator, Fire Resonator, Charging Spring)
- T7 Floor Scorcher (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Power Generator (Bounty Generator, Stamped Parts, Bounty Generator)
  - Can be replaced with Grinder (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Subsidized Parts)
- T7 Ceiling Ballista (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Coin Forge (Bounty Generator x3)
  - Can be replaced with anything
Traits -
- Feeling Fierce
- Has Ultimate Set of Tools
- Enjoys Pain (or Practices Witchcraft, depending on your Hero)
- Making It Rain (Optional, can replace with Smashing Deals or anything else)

For this map, I'm just going to post my video that I use for my coin farming method for Empty Pockets. It doesn't really make a lot of sense to make a whole new video, because even without Dobbin, the Power Generators, and the Coin Forge, I place traps the exact same way.

The only obvious difference is the Power Generators; just simply replace these with Grinders, and you'll have an easier time getting to wave 25. If you're not using Power Generators though, I wouldn't put Grinders at all near the west gate (as it's pointless), and I wouldn't put Grinders at the entrance to the Forge (as they won't be optimal). Instead, just add extra Ballistas wherever you feel they are more necessary.

That said, this is set-up almost exactly as it is in my Survival videos of Shark Island. The main differences are:

I use a lot of Ceiling Ballistas. They are very helpful here, due to the nature of the minion's pathway. Minions have a tendency to walk back-and-forth on this map, and given the Ballistas long range, this allows them to be within range for an extended amount of time.
I trap the Forge area. You do get a gigantic amount of Trolls from the east gate, as well as the west gate. The main reason why you don't want to bother trapping the west gate is because you're not going to be able to put down enough to overcome the Troll's HP in later waves. In turn, this means by the time they get to the Forge area, they're automatic self-healing will more than likely allow them to be healed to almost full HP. Thus, the traps around the west gate mostly get wasted. Therefore, it's much more efficient to trap where the lanes merge, and that way you're not wasting the trap limit.

You may wonder how many Ceiling Ballistas I have in each area:

12 near the NW gate.
20 near the north gate.
10 near the east gate.
16 in the Forge.

The west gate is probably the only thing to especially note - Around wave 18, you'll start to see a large amount of Trolls that come from this gate. You do need to keep an eye on those minions at pretty much all times, because the Forge Guardian (and the traps) will not be able to kill them by themselves. So as soon as you see them enter the Forge area, I would head down there and assist in killing them.

If you're reading this for advice on Empty Pockets, I use my Luck Potions on:

Wave 1 - This is ideal because you want the passive buff granted by the Luck Potion for as long as possible.
Wave 4 - I use it again when the east gate opens, because it combines well with the Coin Forge. Do remember that coin generation from kills decreases with each wave, and there are enough minions from the east gate on this wave that should last the entire duration of the Luck Potion.
Wave 6 - Same reason as above, since there are a decent amount of minions that come from the east gate.

As for the last 2 Luck Potions, it's really up to you. You can either try to continue to use them for kills on the Coin Forge, but realize that the Luck Potions do stack with Dobbin's "Rich Vein" upgrade, which means that they are worth 600 coin per bag, with the Luck Potion active.

So ideally, it's best to use the Luck Potions (actually, this includes all of them, except the first) when you have a lot of bags around you. There are a couple of issues with this though, as not only as it's completely random when you get one, but they also disappear rather fast.

This means that you have to make your own judgement call - Do you run the risk and save them for when you see a lot of bags? What if you never see a good amount? Or do you use them early, but run the risk of losing out on a lot of high-coin bags later? It's difficult to say, but I usually err towards the side of using them instead of saving them.

Throne Room

Hero used: Oziel

Loadout:

Gear - Mending Root, Fire Wall Bracers
Guardian - Cook Guardian, Shield Guardian
Traps -
- T7 Great Wall Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T7 Arrow Wall (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Brimstone (Bounty Generator, Fire Resonator, Charging Spring)
- T7 Floor Scorcher (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Viscous Tar (Bounty Generator, Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Ceiling Ballista (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Wall Charger (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
  - Optional, as it doesn't get much use.
Traits -
- Feeling Fierce
- Has Ultimate Set of Tools
- Enjoys Pain (or Practices Witchcraft, depending on your Hero)
- Wall Building PHD

So like an idiot I used Oziel with Enjoys Pain, which doesn't work for Oziel (since he uses Arcane magic). Although, it ultimately didn't make a difference, but I could have been more intelligent with my Traits. Practices Witchcraft doesn't really do much for Oziel (because he can get HP back naturally), but I could have instead replaced Enjoys Pain with Wall Building PHD, getting the slot bonus, and taking either Smashing Deals or Fire Sale.

If you do use Oziel, you do have to be very careful not to fall into the acid around the level though (as you see me do on accident), otherwise you lose all of your Soul stacks.

This Endless map plays out almost identical to the Rift Lord version of Throne Room, and you'll see almost the exact same minions throughout the entire thing (just more of them).

The biggest threat here are the Firelings, as they are the immediate threat to your Barricades. However, unlike my Rift Lord video, they seemed to completely ignore my Barricades here. I truly have no idea what triggers this, and it could in fact be a bug. So the reality is, you may not even need Wall Building PHD, but it does offer some support if they do in fact decide to go after your Barricades.

If you are seeing that they are attacking them, you can also consider placing decoy Barricades (you can even replace Wall Charger with a regular Barricade in your loadout).

As for my set up, it's basically identical to my Rift Lord video. I block off the southern entrances so they're all forced to go into the corridor just west of the Kitchen Guardian. I then place my usual line of floor traps at the north gate; for the SW gate, I place it in the opposite direction, because that way I can get the Floor Scorcher to flip them into the acid.

I get Brimstone on both bridges at some point, and place two more Floor Scorchers just south of the southern bridge, again, to try to flip them into the acid while still doing damage. For the corridor, I use the same line of floor traps, placing Floor Scorchers first, because they will also get flipped into acid if they're placed just outside of the corridor.

For the rest of the traps, I just appropriately place Arrow Walls, Ceiling Ballistas (which I use a ton of), and Wall Chargers.

You do get a lot of Mercenaries here, and I would really recommend backing up to a safe spot if you get Bouncer Bear. Ideally, you want to always have your back to tangible ground if he comes after you, but sometimes he'll bounce you in really strange ways, tossing you into acid.

A lot of Fire Elementals, Earth Elementals, and Giants will show up as well, along with random small groups of Satyrs. Towards higher waves, you do get this odd addition of some random Ogres/Trolls here and there, but you barely see them. The "Uncle Killed By Giant" might be kind of useful here for the extra damage (if you can manage it in your loadout), because the Giants eventually will have 10k+ HP, which is pretty ridiculous.

Swiftyhooves does appear at wave 13, which I wasn't ready for in the video, as I forgot he even showed up. I do manage to get a really lucky kill on him, and he is really hard to kill if you're not right there at the SW gate when he shows up, since he has a ton of HP. It's not a gigantic deal if he gets to the Rift (as this isn't Survival), but obviously it does help to keep your Rift up if you don't come in with the same gear as I do.

Thuricvod Village

Recommended Hero: Cygnus

Loadout:

Gear - Mending Root, Fire Wall Bracers
Guardian - Shield Guardian (x2)
Traps -
- T7 Great Wall Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T6 Shock Zapper (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring)
- T7 Web Spinner (Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Floor Scorcher (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Viscous Tar (Bounty Generator, Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Ceiling Ballista (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Grinder (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Subsidized Parts)
Traits -
- Feeling Fierce
- Has Ultimate Set of Tools
- Wall Building PHD (highly recommended)
- Smashing Deals

This map will more than likely throw you off the first time you make a serious attempt at it. It is VERY difficult to get the 5 Star on this, and it's mostly because the design for the waves do not work well with the design of the map.

The very first problem is that Coin generation is extremely low. Compound this with two more problems; the first wave is extremely short, and offers virtually no Coin gain, and the second gate opens upon wave 3.

This makes it very difficult to try to trap both gates, which you may not be accustomed to, particularly if you're coming in from Survival. So what I ended up doing is foregoing traps at the gates completely, and instead focus on trapping around the Rift, because you can shrink the area, and thus, save some coin by putting down less traps.

However, this is complicated by one gigantic problem - This map will throw a lot of varying Barricade-destroying minions at you. You will get Kamikaze Kobolds from both gates (only on 1 wave that I know of though); you will get Fire Giants on multiple waves; you will get Orc TNT Archers on multiple waves; and you will get large groups of Fire Elementals on multiple waves.

So you may wonder - What about using a no-Barricade strategy like in The Baths? Well, it's difficult because unlike The Baths, the minions have a lot of room to move when they get near the Rift. The reason why it works better on The Baths, is because all minions were coming from a single gate, which you could trap accordingly. Here, since you have two gates (because of the Coin generation) it is extremely difficult to appropriately trap both sides.

But wait, there's more. What you'll also see in later waves is that the composition of minions is pretty brutal; you will get large groups of Shield Trolls, regular Trolls, Armored Ogres, and even Earth Elementals, all while still dealing with Barricade-destroying minions, and regular minions. There are about two waves entirely consisting of Earth Elementals, which makes a no-Barricade strategy very hard to manage.

Trap Strategy:

The idea is to start off by blocking off the Rift area, by initially placing a Great Wall so minions can't cut corners through the pillars. The other Great Wall (closest to the Rift) is placed in a manner that will ultimately allow you to place 1 floor trap between it and the next Great Wall (just place the next Great Wall and readjust accordingly). Then you want 1 more Great Wall blocking off the path through the pillars on the other side.

This works out really neatly because you end up making a "T" shaped lane, which allows you to place a row of floor traps, Grinders, and Shock Zappers along it. Put the Web Spinners, on both sides, so they're aiming down both lanes.

I would start with the side that has the opened gate first, but by the time wave 3 comes along, you want to make sure you have at least the Barricades up on the other side, and I would recommend at least 1 Viscous Tar.

At that point, you can prioritize whichever damage trap you want, but I usually start with adding the Floor Scorchers first (again, same as Web Spinner, point them down the lane), then add a few Grinders on each side, then put a couple of Shock Zappers on each side. After that, I try to evenly distribute the traps as best I can, but I would recommend trying to get the Shock Zappers and Grinders done first before putting up the Ballistas, because the Ballistas are so expensive.

You will also see me put 2 Web Spinners down, on each side of the map, just to try to slow minions down so I can attack them from the Rift. Web Spinners are decently cheap, so you can make the decision on when (if) you want to do that.

Once you are satisfied with your floor traps, Shock Zappers, Grinders, and Web Spinners, proceed to spend all your remaining Coin on Ballistas. It doesn't really matter much where they are placed, as long as they're in the area where the Shock Zappers are.

Combat Strategy:

Although it's pretty easy to see in the video, all you basically want to do with Cygnus is camp the Rift as much as possible. It is possible to hit minions at their respective gates from the Rift area, and you should try to do that as much as you can. You will have to readjust accordingly for the Shield Trolls though, as they can be really hard to hit in the back from the Rift area.

Since you should never really be using your Rift Shard, here are the upgrades that I take:

Silver Streak (Level 2)
Mana Miser (Level 4)
Ornery Oldtimer (Level 7)
Get Off His Lawn (Level 10)

Other than that just prioritize your targets accordingly (not necessarily in this order) - Shield Trolls, Barricade-destroying minions, and Mercenaries.

Problematic Waves:

Wave 15 - This is potentially going to end your match if you're not dealing enough damage, as it is an entire wave of Earth Elementals from both gates. Do keep in mind that it is okay if a few get through (as it usually happens to me), so don't feel like you need to quit if they manage to take you down to say, 15 Rift points or something.

Wave 18 - Here's a wave that has a decently large group of Earth Elementals that is mixed in towards the end. It's not nearly as much of a threat as wave 15, but it's important to mention because it may surprise you due to how late they come into the wave.

Wave 19 - This is a threatening wave, because you get all sort of Barricade-destroying minions, along with a lot of Trolls. The wave itself is also very long, so it takes a while to end. Orfum will come first out of the SE, but then you'll get a mixture of Fire Giants and Orc TNT Archers from the SW, who will trickle in separately.

Wave 20 - This is potentially even worse than the last wave, because it has a Mercenary (from the SE). I've had the Dwarf Priest show up on this wave, which is extremely dangerous because you also get a lot of Shield Trolls and regular Trolls. He's not only a gigantic problem in general, but he's even more dangerous because you're not going to be able to kill him by camping the Rift. It is possible to try to kill what you can as he makes his way up to the Rift. Once he gets to the Rift, immediately use Unchained and attack him while you're in his bubble, then very quickly try to take out all the nearby minions.

Wave 21 - Another large group of Earth Elementals show up here, but fortunately it's only from the SW. Unfortunately, the wave also adds the Earth Elemental boss, Gaeadin. I would recommend trying to focus on the SW gate as much as possible first, and try to ignore the SE until the majority of the Earth Elementals (and the boss) are gone.

Wave 25 - Whoo boy, this is the roughest out of all the waves. You get a serious mix of the worst things it's thrown at you; you get a Mercenary, Shield Trolls, regular Trolls, Earth Elementals, Fire Elementals, Fire Giants, and Orc TNT Archers. Make sure to have Unchained ready for this wave, as it's very difficult to get through it without it.

There's a good chance that minions will overrun you on this wave. However, the next wave does start as this wave is still occurring, so your main goal is just to survive until you see the "Wave 26" notification show up. Once you see that, the minions can overrun you, and you'll still have 5 Stars.

Note: While watching the video, try to ignore the fact that I ended up falling into the lava at the start of wave 6 >_>

Frostbite

Recommended Hero: Smolder

Loadout:

Gear - Mending Root, Fire Wall Bracers
Guardian - Jailer Guardian, Friar Guardian
Traps -
- T7 Great Wall Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T7 Brimstone (Bounty Generator, Fire Resonator, Charging Spring)
- T7 Web Spinner (Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator, Crowd Control Trigger)
- T7 Floor Scorcher (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Viscous Tar (Bounty Generator, Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Big Game Hunting Ballista (Unchained Resonator, Double Spring, Stamped Parts)
- T7 Grinder (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Subsidized Parts)
Traits -
- Feeling Fierce
- Has Ultimate Set of Tools
- Wall Building PHD
- Smashing Deals

This map is pretty tough, but the fact that you can replace the Guardians makes it much easier than it used to be. Smolder I think is ideal here, because she gets the increased damage to almost all of the minions you'll see on the map.

You do get a TON of Mercenaries here - expect a couple of waves where there are 4 or 5 (yes, 5). This is the reason behind bringing in the Big Game Hunting Ballistas.

Trap Strategy:

Although the match plays out to the Survival version of Frostbite, I set up the Barricades differently. What I do is force all the NW gate minions to loop around into the Forge area, then to the NE, then try to snake them some in the room east of the Rift.

In the north, I only use one set of floor traps in the NW; this is mostly because the minions will take a ton of time to get to the Rift. In the NE, I use more floor traps for two reasons - One, there will be Satyrs from the NE, and both the NW and NE lanes merge in the NE. Therefore, it's best to try to put more traps where they merge to be more efficient.

I would also recommend trying to put a few floor traps in the "snaking" area just east of the Rift. There will inevitably be minions that get by, so at the very least, you want to try to slow them down.

In the south, I do what I usually do in Survival; I force the SW minions to take the long route through their first room (around the columns) and in the SE I place a singe Barricade to just west of the Guardian to force them around the little "island", extending their pathway.

In terms of damage traps, it's also set up the same in Survival - Floor traps in appropriate places, and Grinders along walls and pillars.

As for the Big Game Hunting Ballistas, just be wary of placing them on the ceilings that are right in front of the gates. The reason for that is that they will begin to aim at the Mercenaries before they have officially entered the map, which means that their shots are going to hit the "purple wall", wasting the shot. You'll see me place some like that in the NW, but it's just because there's not really any other place in the NW to place them.

Combat Strategy:

Once the NE gate opens, prioritize that gate first because the NW minions have such a long path. You may want to switch over to the NW gate for any Gnome Destroyers though.

Once the southern gates open, I find it generally best to do a loop of:

Clear SE minions
Clear NE minions (only NE, you can semi-ignore NW)
Clear SW minions
Clear up the rest

Of course, this kind of depends on Mercenaries, Gnome Destroyers, and just the overall size of each minion group (there are times when the SE only consists of 2-3 large minions). Ultimately, clearing the southern gates is generally the higher priority, because the SE has a very short route to the Rift, and the SW probably doesn't have much in terms of traps.

This is why the Guardians are so important in the SW and SE, and when you reach the Trap Limit, make sure to always place down a new Guardian when one falls. Coin generation is pretty good here, so you should be able to replace them 2 or 3 times.

In later waves (about 15-25) the gates become more difficult to juggle. SE still takes priority, but the NE will start to become extremely strong, and walk through a lot of the traps. The SW has a similar problem, and the path length is relatively the same for the SW and NE minions. This is also a reason why I choose to clear NE (generally) before the SW; the teleport allows quick travel to the NE when you're done in the SE.

With Smolder, I take these Upgrades:

Flame Thrower (Level 2)
Red-Headed (Level 4)
Passionate (Level 7)
Spontaneous Combustion (Level 10)

Wave Strategy:

Mostly, the problematic waves are the ones that either have Gnome Destroyers and Mercenaries. Outside of them, you're mainly just dealing with a lot of minions with high HP.

Wave 5 - Gnome Destroyers from the NW, which you may want to prioritize. If your traps are strong enough they may be able to take of them, and even if they don't, the Barricades that they'll target aren't vital, as if they are destroyed, it just means the minions get a shorter pathway. It's still something you want to protect though, and it's probably best to get practice in taking them out, because later it'll become more important to do so.

Wave 8 - You get Dwarf Grenadiers from the NW, so you can effectively ignore them if you wish. The Unstable Rift can be ignored as well if you remember to pick them off once it opens.

Wave 10 - Orc TNT Archers in the SW. I would recommend being at the SW to take care of them, otherwise they will pretty much destroy your Guardian there, which you don't want.

Wave 14 - Gnome Destroys from the NW. I would really recommend taking care of them, because they have large enough HP pools to potentially get by your traps.

Wave 15 - First wave of multiple Mercenaries (4 total); 3 will be from the NW, and the other from the NE. Prioritize Dwarf Priest, and Bouncer Bear before anything else. Chaotic Kobold is 3rd on priority, and all others can be killed in any order. I would recommend following that prioritization through the rest of the map.

Wave 19 - Wave of 3 Mercenaries, 2 from the NE and one from the SE.

Wave 21 - More Gnome Destroyers from the NW.

Wave 22 - Gnome Destroyers from the NE. These are very important to destroy, because you don't want them getting to the Barricades near the Kitchen Guardian spot.

Wave 23 - Single Mercenary from the SE.

Wave 24 - 5 different Mercenaries, and I believe they all may come from the SW. This is a very very difficult wave due to the Mercenaries, and truthfully I found Wave 25 to be not as bad. I would highly recommend using Unchained here if it's available.

Highlands

Recommended Hero: Cygnus

Loadout:

Gear - Mending Root, Fire Wall Bracers
Guardian - Any 2 "Shield" Guardians
Traps -
- T7 Great Wall Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T7 Shock Zapper (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Combo Generator)
- T7 Floor Scorcher (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Viscous Tar (Bounty Generator, Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T7 Brimstone (Bounty Generator, Fire Resonator, Charging Spring)
- T7 Wall Charger (Fire Resonator, Heat Activated Trigger); I would use a Charging Spring here if I had one.
Traits -
- Feeling Fierce
- Has Ultimate Set of Tools
- Wall Building PHD
- Lightning Deals

This is the first map I am not able to 5 Star due to the 40 minute Time Limit. I do think it's possible with this strategy though, as I have gotten to about Wave 22 with it.

Credit goes to Varthftw of the OMD!U forums for showing this method (link is found in the Legal Information and Copyright section). My set-up is almost identical, but I do change a few things slightly.

It's not a difficult map in terms of minion make-up, but they do throw a lot of really strong minions at you, which can be hard to deal with. The only actual complicated thing about the waves is that they kind of alternate - Generally, one side will spawn Order minions, the other will spawn Orcs, and another will spawn Ogres/Trolls, or some sort of mixture of these. However, they change with almost every wave, so you can't set each pathway up with specific traps. Instead, they have to be distributed somewhat equally.

There are only a couple of problematic waves (that I've seen at least), one of which is actually Wave 3.

During Wave 3, the NE gate opens, and you get a gigantic group of Kobolds. Not only that, but you get an Unstable Rift, which can spawn in really terrible places (like at the winding area in the SW). This makes it very difficult to try to cover both, and for this reason, you want to try to at least have some traps down in the NE before Wave 3.

Towards the end of Wave 3, you also get a small group of Satyrs from the north. In the video, I actually got decently lucky with the Unstable Rift spawn, and it opened just to merge into the NE lane regardless, so I didn't have an issue. I normally do lose a few Rift points during this wave though, so don't worry too much if the same thing happens to you. It's just important that you don't lose too many, but a few should be fine.

At around wave 15 you'll start to see a lot of Giants, but if you have enough traps down (which you should) and if you're strong enough, they shouldn't pose that much of a threat. You do get a couple of waves of Trolls, and they'll throw an increasingly large amount of larger minions at you around Wave 20 and beyond.

Trap strategy:

As you can see in the video, the primary idea is to force the minions along all the various walls. This done by using Great Wall Barricades, and then couple with appropriately placed wall, ceiling, and floor traps.

The most important Barricades are probably the ones closest to the Rift, because you can't really set them up any other way. The Barricades that are located in between the 2 teleports (which I place on Wave 4), are also important, because it forces the minions from the north to path back and forth. However, all the other ones are very flexible, and you can set up different Barricade sets as you see fit.

The Barricades just north of the Rift (which I place during Wave 8) are questionable. The problem with them is that although it's great to snake the minions into the Guardian area like that, the Barricades are at risk. This is due to the Archers - they will sit back and shoot at the Guardian, missing him, but hitting the Barricades instead. It's really your call if you want to use Barricades at that location like I did.

Truthfully, I didn't really have much of a priority system in mind when I was placing traps - I just kind of placed them as I thought was necessary. The only thing I can recommend is trying to Barricade off the areas to the east and west of the Rift first, along with at least 1 Viscous Tar. At the very least this should help delay the minions, allowing you time to kill them yourself.

Other than that, you don't necessarily need to trap areas in the exact order that I do, just try to keep them equally distributed as much as possible. When you feel confident that you have enough down near the Rift, begin to move outwards and place traps further away, but again, equally distribute things.

Combat Strategy:

I recommend Cygnus to keep this very simple. Obviously your primary goal is to camp the Rift, but realize the Barricade placement is going to make shooting minions a little bit of a hassle. It's possible to shoot over the Barricades if you're standing right at the elevated platform where the Rift is, but it does take some getting used to.

You'll see in the video that the Rift Lord buff range is quite large, and you can get to certain spots to shoot at minions in the hallway. Do keep in mind this is risky though, because if Archers are along the path, they will start shooting you, and inevitably damage your Barricades, which you really don't want.

You may want to prioritize clearing the minions from the north first, as they should be the first to spawn the vast majority of the time. This is beneficial, because they will also probably have the least amount of traps to deal with. Just play as you normally would with Cygnus - Place a mini-Rift down and zap them accordingly, but start to retreat to the Rift as soon as you see the other gates getting further south.

Upgrades that I take are:

Silver Streak (Level 2)
Mana Miser (Level 4)
Ornery Oldtimer (Level 7)
Get Off His Lawn (Level 10)

Castle Gates

Hero used: Yi-Lin

Loadout:

Gear - Mending Root, Fire Wall Bracers
Guardian - Jailer Guardian, you can bring in whatever you want for the second
Traps -
- T7 Great Wall Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T7 Viscous Tar (Bounty Generator, Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Brimstone (Bounty Generator, Fire Resonator, Charging Spring)
- T7 Floor Scorcher (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Power Generator (Bounty Generator, Stamped Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Big Game Hunting Ballista (Unchained Resonator, Double Spring, Stamped Parts)
- T7 Ceiling Ballista (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
Traits -
- Feeling Fierce
- Has Ultimate Set of Tools
- Enjoys Pain/Practices Witchcraft
  - Consider bringing in Wall Building PHD (in any slot) for this map if you have it
- Smashing Deals

Sigh, so once more, like an idiot, I forgot to switch Practices Witchcraft for Enjoys Pain. It probably would have saved me a death, but my capture of this map was actually my best performance (I managed #4 on the leaderboard with it).

I opted to not bring in Wall Building PHD because I wanted to show it wasn't necessary if you were willing to replace your Barricades. It would help save you some Coin, but realize that there are a ton of Firelings here, and sometimes they'll manage to destroy your Barricades regardless if you have the Trait or not.

Big Game Hunting Ballistas are also very helpful, as you'll get a ton of Mercenaries; there are more here than there are in Frostbite, although you'll never see 5 at once (but you will see 4 at the same time).

This map is actually kind of interesting in terms of difficulty, and it seems like the developers actually gave it some thought in comparison to the other Endless maps. In the other maps, usually you just see the gates open and stay open, while increasing the size and strength of the minions that appear in each wave. On this map, you actually see gates open and close, while the minions kind of alternate in the types that show up.

This is also probably the fastest map to get to Wave 25 in, as I got there in roughly 20 minutes. This is really awesome, but minions do get significantly more difficult beyond Wave 20, and they can dish out some serious damage (you'll see me die a couple of times in the video).

Trap Strategy:

Pretty simple to understand, as it's basically the same as my video of the Rift Lord version of this map. I use Great Walls to block off the south and east, forcing all the minions to go the NE, forcing them into combat with the Jailer Guardian.

There are a couple of additions, mostly for decoy purposes:

An extra Great Wall is placed in the south, for Firelings
An extra Great Wall is placed in front of the east Great Wall Barricade. You want to place it slightly into the room (giving some space between it and the first Great Wall). If the decoy is right next to the important Great Wall, the Fireling's area-of-effect may still clip the Great Wall you're trying to protect.
All of the other Great Walls are mostly used to extend the minion's pathway. The Great Walls just east of the Jailer Guardian (at the top of the stairs) also serve as decoys though, as it's not dreadfully important if they get destroyed.

I place a couple of Power Generators at the south, and one at the east gate. I do this because the Coin generation isn't too great on this map, and there will be a lot of Barricades to replace.

I would recommend at least 4 Big Game Hunting Ballistas at the east and south gates, for the Mercenaries. You should only see a maximum of 3 Mercenaries at the east gate, but the reason you want 4 on the south is because for whatever reason, they have a tendency to move down there a lot.

You don't really need many at the north (I only use 2), because there's never more than 1 Mercenary up there at any given time.

For the rest of the traps, get down some floor traps first in the area with the Jailer, then just fill out as much of the ceiling there with Ceiling Ballistas.

Combat Strategy:

Fairly easy to follow, as you just want to treat it like any other map. Stick around the Jailer as much as possible, because he's got a great lifesteal buff.

North gate minions should take priority, as they have the shortest route to the map. This works out well, because there are a ton of Earth Elementals during a few waves, but they mostly come from the north gate.

This map also has a lot of the mage minions, so you want to be careful if you see them up. Try to break line-of-sight as best as you can if you notice them firing at you.

Other than that, not a whole lot to mention. You don't necessarily need to track down the Mercenaries much if you have enough Big Game Hunting Ballistas put down. In the video, I do prioritize the Dwarf Priest a lot, but that's mostly because he showed up nearly all of the time. Don't let the Mercenaries distract you too much from the rest of the minions, as trying to hunt down a Mercenary may cost you Rift points if you ignore the minions at the NE.

Obviously you'll want to try to replace any damaged or destroyed Barricades as much as possible.

Crogon Keep

Recommended Hero: Midnight

Loadout:

Gear - Mending Root, Fire Wall Bracers
Guardian - Cook Guardian, any "Shield" Guardian
Traps -
- T7 Great Wall Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T7 Floor Scorcher (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Brimstone (Bounty Generator, Fire Resonator, Charging Spring)
- T7 Viscous Tar (Bounty Generator, Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Flip Trap (Double Tank Accumulator, Double Spring, Light Pressure Plate)
- T7 Web Spinner (Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator, Crowd Control Trigger)
- T7 Big Game Hunting Ballista (Unchained Resonator, Double Spring, Stamped Parts)
  - May want to try a T7 Swinging Mace (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Subsidized Parts)
Traits -
- Feeling Fierce
- Has Ultimate Set of Tools
- Enjoys Pain
- Fire Sale or Bear Hugs

This map is kind of a mess, and as a result I think it's probably the second most difficult Endless map to 5 Star. Avalanche and The Wall are more difficult in terms of minion strength, but Crogon Keep has just a ton of little things that combine to make it a gigantic headache.

Originally, at some point in OMD!U's patch history, it was possible to use Barricades in such a manner that blocked off the southern and eastern entrances to the Rift. This forced all of the minions to enter from the west, and made this map much more manageable. At least, I assume it was easier, because I never played that version of Crogon Keep.

After they patched the ability to do that, my guess is that the developers didn't really bother to play this map, assuming it was still possible to get the 5 Star in a somewhat manageable way without blocking off the Rift. In turn, I'm guessing they never bothered to look at the minion strength, nor the minion make-up that appears from each gate.

Simply put, there is just no way to adequately trap all of the gates. The "heavy" Orcs (the ones with a bunch of armor) are the main issue; they begin to literally have thousands of HP, and they consist of probably at least 50% of each wave. Then they also throw in a lot of other issues, from all directions - Massive groups of Ogres will come from the SE; Kamikaze Kobolds from the NW and north; Mercenaries (up to 3 or 4 at once) will come from varying gates.

In addition, the Coin generation is absolutely terrible. You'll see that by the time you get to Wave 15, even Ogres will only start to be worth 30-40 coin, which is extremely low. Then to top it all off, the Trap Limit is only 100, despite the fact that this map is relatively the size of Frostbite.

Rant aside, it is still possible to earn the 5 Star (the Time Limit is the only real problem), but it takes a pretty extreme amount of work. You'll probably find that Eventide Fortress, and possibly even The Wall, is easier to 5 Star in terms of strategy and actual effort.

Trap Strategy:

So first off, I don't really know how helpful the Big Game Hunting Ballistas are. This was actually my second run with Midnight, and I brought in Swinging Maces in the previous run. I was able to do better with the Swinging Maces (I missed finishing Wave 25 by about 2 minutes), but having Big Game Hunting Ballistas can help with a lot of annoyances, particularly Chaotic Kobold.

As you can see in the video though, I would have still made the 5 Star if I just had some more time, so consider using something else instead of the Big Game Hunting Ballistas. I wouldn't really recommend Ceiling Ballistas, because their cost is way too high for this map, and you won't be able to place many for them to be really effective.

My trap placement mostly mirrors my videos for Crogon Keep in Survival. Great Walls are placed west of the Rift (although not until Wave 4, since there's no point initially). Another Great Wall is placed at the makeshift bridge just south of the ship in the NW, to force the NW minions to path back and forth.

Two Great Walls are placed at the stairs that are just SW of the teleport. Two are used here, one as a decoy, and the other to try to merge the north and NW lanes. Although one of these Great Walls is meant as a decoy, realize that the second isn't exactly vital, and can be potentially destroyed.

The last Great Wall is placed near the Kitchen Guardian spot, to force the minions into a single lane. I generally choose to force them into the western lane, so I can potentially use a ceiling trap.

The main difference between this map and my Survival videos is the addition of the Flip Traps. These are really nice for all the Heavy Orcs, and I place them in front of the NE and NW gates. I start off with Viscous Tar first, to gather minions, then place 2 rows of Flip Traps, then place another set of Viscous Tar.

Flip Traps can be used in various places, but just keep in mind where the minions are going to be launched. Obviously you want to ensure that they'll be launched off the map, and not into a pillar or something similar. I place a few Flip Traps around the ship in the NW, and eventually some just north of the westernmost Guardian spot. I also eventually place some along the southern path, just west of the southernmost Guardian spot.

The rest of the traps are just placed in appropriate places, but eventually you may want to opt to using more Web Spinners and Viscous Tar over the Fire traps. More damage is probably the most useful for the NE gate minions, but eventually they all become so strong to the point where I think it's better to just try to slow the minions down. If you can manage that, you can just try to take care of the minions yourself.

Combat Strategy:

It's difficult to develop a strategy here, but the general idea is the same as Crogon Keep in Survival - Once all gates are open, the SE takes priority because it has the shortest route to the gate. Once cleared, you can work counter-clockwise, clearing the NE, then either going north, or meeting the rest of the minions at the southern part of the map.

The problem is this is difficult to do, because you constantly have to adapt to what is currently up. Kamikaze Kobolds, and Tubifore (for a single wave) will show up to potentially destroy your Barricades, so you have to make the decision to either clear the majority of the SE first, then try to protect your Barricades, or vice-versa.

I put Guardians at the SE, south, and the Kitchen in the SW. Guardians are very helpful here, so try to replace them if you feel you can spare the Coin. I think the SE Guardian is the most important one to try to replace.

The Mercenaries are also clearly a problem, but of particular note is Bouncer Bear. Since his behavior has changed, he will sometimes just charge towards another group of minions, and you cannot tell which one he'll move to. It's entirely possible he'll end up running over all of your Barricades, which is obviously a huge problem.

So Mercenary priority should probably be:

Bouncer Bear
Dwarf Priest
Chaotic Kobold
The rest

Dwarf Priest can be left alone most of the time, but this also depends on where he spawns. If he spawns in the SE, this is a potential problem, but sometimes he'll just camp the gate, making him mostly irrelevant. If he's in other gates, it's less problematic, because of the minion's longer pathway.

Chaotic Kobold is also a potential problem, but it's extremely unwise to try to chase him down if you can't kill him quickly. Although him messing up your traps is an obvious issue, you can't prioritize him over the minions approaching the Rift. Keep in mind that if you leave him up after a while, try your best to pay attention to which gate he spawns in, and keep an eye on the map to determine where he runs to. You're going to need to quickly check the area he was running in to potentially destroy any crystals he put down.

The rest are just an annoyance, but can certainly mess you up by how much damage they deal. You can try to pull the Human iMage towards a Guardian to hopefully have it attack instead, and the Gnoll Breeder (or rather, the Gnolls he spawns) generally ignores you unless you're close to him, so try to stay away from him until you're ready to kill him.

Wave Strategy:

Wave 3 - First Unstable Rift spawn, and it'll be in the western area. This is the only one you should probably go get, as you probably don't have anything placed in the western area yet. For all intents and purposes, the rest of the Unstable Rifts can be ignored, as they will all spawn in the exact same spot. Since you'll eventually have the western entry to the Rift blocked off, the minions they spawn are mostly irrelevant.

Wave 4 - NW gate opens, and although you don't necessarily need to trap it very well, or prioritize it, keep in mind there is a pack of Kobolds that appear from it towards the end of the group.

Wave 7 - North gate opens. It may be tough to really trap this at the moment, because of the Coin generation. You will want to place some traps here though, because there will be a decent amount of Kamikaze Kobolds that come from this gate in future waves. At the very least, try to have one Great Wall at the stairs to the south, forcing them to move westward. If you have some Flip Traps down in the area just north of that westernmost Guardian, they can at least get hit by those somewhat.

Wave 8 - Kamikaze Kobolds (3) from the north gate. I would recommend staying at the north gate initially to take care of them, then move over to the NE. Try to save your Coin from this wave for the SE gate.

Wave 9 - SE gate opens. You'll want to trap this decently, because at first it'll be helpful. Later it becomes much less useful, because the minions will not only be really strong, but some Hobgoblin Shamans get mixed in with a few waves as well. Consider using Viscous Tar and Web Spinners more here to slow them down.

Wave 11 - Kamikaze Kobolds, 2 sets of 3, come from the north gate. I would recommend being there to take care of them as quickly as you can, then immediately leave for the SE. Ignore the Mercenaries as much as possible until the majority of the SE is cleared. Try to get another Great Wall at the staircase near the teleport before Wave 14.

Wave 14 - This can be rough. Tubifore appears at the north with 3 Kamikaze Kobolds, which is extremely dangerous if there are not 2 Great Walls at the staircase. If you don't have 2 Great Walls down there, I would recommend being at the north gate first, to try to take care of them quickly. The problem is by the time you do, the SE minions will be at the Guardian in the SE.

Wave 19 - First wave of 4 Mercenaries. Again, try your best to prioritize the SE, and you're just going to have to gamble with things if Bouncer Bear and Chaotic Kobold are running around causing problems. Once you feel the SE and NE are mostly taken care of, consider taking out the Mercenaries.

Wave 21 - Another really rough wave, because you get another 2 sets of 3 Kamikaze Kobolds from the north. You should have replaced any destroyed Barricades at the staircase, but if you haven't, consider being at the north gate initially, take care of the Kamikaze Kobolds, then immediately run down to the SE and use Unchained to clear the minions there.

Wave 23 - This will potentially cause a problem as well, because you get 2 more sets of 3 Kamikaze Kobolds, but from the NW this time. You can't really be there to clear them because the second group takes a little while to spawn, and it'll be too far to get back to the SE gate. In the video, you see me use Unchained because I noticed how the first set of Kobolds destroyed the Barricade on the bridge, and then I noticed that the second set of Kobolds spawned. I realized that the second set was going to go after my Barricades west of the Rift, so I wanted to use Unchained to clear most of the minions in the SE, then head over to my Barricades to protect them. Unfortunately this was a waste, because the Kobolds were killed by my Flip Traps instead.

Wave 24 - A very tough wave, because chances are there are still minions up from Wave 23 when it starts. It becomes very difficult to juggle the minions from the south as well as the SE minions, so I would really recommend using Unchained to clear the SE as much as possible (if available). Although my video ends here (due to the time), from what I saw of Wave 25 in my prior run, I think it's probably easier than Wave 24.

Eventide Fortress

Hero used: Deadeye

Loadout:

Gear - Mending Root, Fire Wall Bracers
Guardian - Any "Shield" Guardian, Rumrudder Guardian (optional)
Traps -
- T7 Great Wall Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T7 Brimstone (Bounty Generator, Fire Resonator, Charging Spring)
- T7 Floor Scorcher (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Viscous Tar (Bounty Generator, Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Grinder (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Subsidized Parts)
- T7 Ceiling Ballista (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Power Generator (Bounty Generator, Stamped Parts, Bounty Generator)
Traits -
- Feeling Fierce
- Has Ultimate Set of Tools
- Enjoys Pain/Practices Witchcraft
- Smashing Deals

This actually is not too bad of a map, but it's still tough to 5 Star just due to the Time Limit. I think I have managed it once within 40 minutes, but you have to dish out really good damage to make it.

It's almost exactly the same as the Survival version of Eventide Fortress, but the minions get incredibly strong (particularly the Trolls). Happily though, since the map is so gigantic, it's possible to loop the minions in all sorts of ways to extend their pathway.

You will still see some Kamikaze Kobolds, and of course some Fire Giants, on a few waves. Overall though, the Barricade-destroying minions are not as frequent as they are in other Endless maps.

Trap Strategy:

Just like in the Survival version, the minions are forced all the way into the SE corner. This is done by placing Great Walls to block off the path south of the easternmost gate, and a Great Wall that blocks off the entrance to the "Forge" area.

Eventually, you want to block off the western entrances to the Rift room (it's done in kind of a backwards "C" shape, surrounding the Guardian spot), and then the last two Great Walls block off the path directly north of the southernmost gate (it blocks off the bottom of the small set of stairs, look for the "burlap sacks" along the wall to place them).

There are many more ways to extend the minions pathway at that point, but the only one I use is a Great Wall near the SW Guardian spot, to force them along the southern edge of the area.

The rest of the Great Walls function as decoys. I would recommend keeping at least 1 Great Wall at the NE gate, and at least 1 at the easternmost gate. At the east gate, I utilize the decoy further by placing a Viscous Tar next to it, then a Power Generator at the wall next to that. This at least helps with additional Coin generation, but it's mostly optional. I do this with a second Great Wall further on, and that's just in case I can't manage to replace the first one, if it gets destroyed.

If the time limit wasn't there, I would recommend further extending their pathway by placing Great Walls just west of the "Temple" Guardian spot. By doing that, it would be possible to loop the minions into the NE corner, and if you block off the south path, you can even loop them around the NW edge, and even put in a long line of floor traps, as well as wall traps.

The only traps to mention (in my opinion) are the Power Generators and the Ceiling Ballistas. Although I don't use many of them, the Power Generators were placed in that small corridor just west of the northernmost Guardian spot. This helps to afford all of the Great Walls, and I would recommend keeping them until you get closer to the Trap Limit. When you feel you have plenty of Coin, feel free to get rid of them if you wish.

The Ceiling Ballistas are almost entirely used in the southern area, primarily around the southernmost gate. There are a ton of ceilings that you can place Ballistas on in this area, so feel free to use them as much as possible.

The rest of the floor and wall traps are just in areas that seem to make sense. You may need to understand how the minion's path, to identify proper places to use floor and wall traps. You don't necessarily need to follow my exact placement, because there are a ton of different areas that would work just as well.

I would still recommend setting up the "Temple" area with Grinders and Viscous Tars though, because you'll want to try to damage and slow down the Fire Giants that will occasionally come out of the NW gate.

Combat Strategy:

Not much to mention, as it will depend on who you are playing as. Again, as the Endless version is just a slight variation of the Survival map, you'll want to approach it the same way.

Kamikaze Kobolds come from the NE and east gates, so you want to make sure you place (and replace) decoys in those areas. Fire Giants will appear from the NW, so you want to prioritize those if you see them show up.

Trolls come from the west gate (and Orfum during a single wave), but usually they shouldn't too much of a concern if you've placed enough Viscous Tar down.

Since all gates are funneling into the SE, the gate with the shortest path is the southern gate. Fortunately, the southern gate minions generally consist of weaker minions, so usually they're not much of a concern, but you still want to keep an eye on them just in case.

Wave Strategy:

Wave 5 - East gate opens, so try to have the western entry to the Rift room blocked off before this wave. Kobolds will appear from the east gate, just like in Survival, so that's why it's so important to have those western Barricades up prior to this wave. Kamikaze Kobolds also appear from the NE at the start of this wave, so you also want to have a decoy up in the NE before this wave (you can also just be there to kill them if you want).

Wave 6 - First Unstable Rift, so you may want to hover the Rift room so you have quick access to wherever it spawns. Chances are you don't have a lot of traps up, so depending on where it spawns, you probably don't want to let it open.

Wave 10 - Second Unstable Rift, and I would really recommend blocking off the southern area (forcing minions to path SE) because the southern gate will open on the next wave.

Wave 11 - Southern gate opens, and you also get another Unstable Rift. Depending on the location, you may just want to let it open, but if you have enough Viscous Tar down in the south, you should be able to leave the southern gate momentarily if you want to go destroy it.

Wave 12 - Tubifore will appear in the NE, but it's not until about midway through the wave, so you should have enough time to kill the south gate minions, which should appear first. I would still recommend having a decoy up in the NE prior to this wave though, just to be safe.

Wave 14 - First with Fire Giants from the NW, so make sure to take them out first before they get to your western Barricades.

Wave 15 - Not as threatening, but 2 more Fire Giants from the NW again.

Wave 16 - Orc TNT Archers from the south, so be very careful about where your positioning yourself when (if) you decide to engage them. Try to engage them from the ship in the SE so they're aiming in that direction, and not aiming at your southern Barricades.

Wave 18 - Orfum from the west gate. You may want to use Unchained (if available) for him, because he will very quickly reach your western Barricades. The additional Trolls along with him are a problem, because he'll be difficult to single-out within that small corridor at the west gate.

Wave 19 - Another Unstable Rift, and Orc TNT Archers from the south.

Wave 20 - Fire Giants from the NW.

Wave 21 - Kamikaze Kobolds from the east (1 pack of 3) and another Unstable Rift.

Wave 22 - Two Fire Giants from the NW, but realize that the southern gate minions are becoming strong enough to get through more traps down in the south, so you do have to watch the mini-map and adjust appropriately.

Wave 23 - Another Unstable Rift, with Orc TNT Archers from the south again.

Wave 24 - A very large group of Fire Giants that come from the NW.

I can't quite remember what Wave 25 consists of, but as long as you have decoys up at the eastern and NE gate, you should be able to manage it, if you have enough time.

The Wall

Hero used: Zoey

Loadout:

Gear - Mending Root, Fire Wall Bracers
Guardian - Quartermaster Guardian, any "Shield" Guardian
Traps -
- T7 Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T7 Flip Trap (Double Tank Accumulator, Double Spring, Light Pressure Plate)
- T7 Viscous Tar (Bounty Generator, Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Brimstone (Bounty Generator, Fire Resonator, Charging Spring)
- T7 Big Game Hunting Ballista (Unchained Resonator, Double Spring, Stamped Parts)
- T7 Ceiling Ballista (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Power Generator (Bounty Generator, Stamped Parts, Bounty Generator)
Traits -
- Feeling Fierce
- Has Ultimate Set of Tools
- Wall Building PHD (highly recommended)
- Smashing Deals

First and foremost, this Barricade strategy is not my original creation. This is a variant of a strategy of a video posted on Youtube by terry song (the link to his video is in the Legal Information and Copyright section).

I truly have no idea how anyone can manage wave 25 on this map in 40 minutes. The issue is that the map will send you gigantic waves of Ogres (and Trolls in later waves), and they will all have literally thousands of HP to deal with. This makes clearing waves extremely time consuming. The highest I normally get is around Wave 19 or 20.

It is possible to get an interesting set up with Barricades though, and if it wasn't for the minion's gigantic amount of HP, it actually makes it somewhat easy to complete (once you get some practice with it). The biggest issues are the Kamikaze Kobolds, which you desperately need to make sure you use decoys to prevent them from destroying your vital Barricades. However, if you just make sure to always replace the decoy Barricades, they become much less of an issue.

The second problem are the Unstable Rifts. They almost always come in pairs, and what is worse is that they usually spawn at about the same time. Depending on where they spawn, it might be easy to destroy the first Unstable Rift, but it may be very difficult to traverse the entire map to get to the second one before it opens.

You may think to yourself - So why not just them open? You certainly can, and I let it happen myself in my video (on a couple of waves). Problem is, it can be a little problematic because they will always spawn either a boss (which is usually Urza or Gaeadin) or another group of Ogres. You really don't want to have to deal with even more large minions with tons of HP than the waves already give you.

If you watch my video, you may wonder - Why aren't I using Cygnus? Despite the fact that you're going to be around the Rift a lot with this strategy, Cygnus is not as optimal as you may think. The major issue is that, when you get around Wave 15+, the minions will be entirely too strong and chances are you won't be able to kill them before they path away from the Rift area. The pillars that surround the Rift also make it somewhat difficult to target them appropriately. Once they leave the immediate vicinity of the Rift, Cygnus certainly starts to lack in his damage output, which makes him fairly equivalent to any other Hero.

I like Zoey here because Feebee's Wrath does a great job in dealing damage to large groups of Trolls and Ogres. No matter who you bring in, you do have to be extremely careful about taking damage, because even the normal minions will hit you extremely hard.

Trap Strategy:

So for the first few waves (until Wave 4) you have to build up some Coin, which is what the Power Generators are for. The way to do this is to place a few Barricades blocking off the north gate, forcing the minions along the wall, where you should have some Power Generators. Place some Viscous Tar as well to keep them all slowed down, as I personally don't use any damage traps.

Continue to extend the Barricade as much as you can, all the way to the Guardian spot, coupled with Power Generators. At Wave 4, you get a Go break, at which point you want to sell all of your traps. Keep in mind that Power Generators will refund you 0 Coin if they're not at full "HP" when you sell them. Ideally you want around 35,000 Coin at Wave 4.

It is extremely difficult to describe the exact placements of the Barricades in text. But here's the idea - you want to try to force all of the minions around the Rift area, into the SW corner. Simple enough for the north gate, but the NW gate is tricky:

You have to make a diagonal line of Barricades at the end of the long hallway just NW of the Rift. You can't block off the western side though, because that will block off the minion path completely (which you can't do).
The westernmost room needs to be blocked off as well (at the bottom of the northern staircase), because you need to be able to force the NW minions into that aforementioned long hallway.

The set up will force the NW minions to merge with the north minions in the area directly east of the "Shield" Guardian spot (which is directly north of the Rift). The NE minions will also merge around this area, with no extra set up.

This is very beneficial because it extends all of the minion's pathway by a pretty extreme amount, allowing you to have some time to deal with all of them. This also means that any destroyed Barricade is absolutely disastrous though, and chances are if you lose one, you're going to lose the match soon after.

The first wave of Kamikaze Kobolds comes from the north on Wave 5, and it's a gigantic amount of them. I would highly recommend at least 6 decoys placed in the northern area before Wave 5. Also keep in mind that they need to be decently spread out. What I do is I think of each area as a "square" shape, and try to put my decoys in the corners. I do put a couple near the teleport, simply because there's not many other places to put them.

You will also want to place decoys in the NE/NW sections, because Kamikaze Kobolds will come from the NE/NW gates as well. Again, notice the NE/NW are kind of square shape - Try to put a decoy in each corner.

You may want to place some Barricades between the wooden pillars around the Quartermaster at some point, because if you don't, all of the minions will just walk right by him.

To afford all of this, you still want to use Power Generators, which can be placed along the pillars that surround the Rift. Couple them with Viscous Tar to help gather minions next to them.

The extra floor spaces, in between the pillars that surround the Rift, are used for Flip Traps. Flip Traps are extremely useful here, because you do get entire waves of normal sized minions, and they really help to clear those waves quickly. Of course, they still won't do anything to the Ogres and Trolls, so I think it's very important to have the "Light Pressure Plate" Part equipped to the Flip Trap for this.

Big Game Hunting Ballistas are helpful for the Unstable Rifts. Two places for Unstable Rifts to spawn are in the western area (just north of the Quartermaster, in the big open area), and in the eastern area. In the west, the only real place to put Ballistas is just at the exit of the Quartermaster area, but they should be able to reach the potential Rift there. In the east, there's plenty of ceiling room to place them, just try to keep them close to middle, as the Rift spawns more towards the middle of the room.

Combat Strategy:

Not much to say here, as the wave make-up isn't really complicated. The Barricade-destroying minions are the only ones worth mentioning, as the rest of the waves consist of just a ton of minions with a ton of HP.

The only thing to really point out is how the Ogres do a "Rift Rush"; they get an increase in movement speed whenever they're near the Rift. So this is a little odd here, because you'll see them do this, but only occasionally, and this is just due to how the Barricades are placed. You do have to be mindful of the Ogres for this reason, because sometimes they'll just rush right through the Quartermaster area and it may cost you some Rift points if you're not paying attention.

As for the Barricade-destroyers, the Kamikaze Kobolds should always be taken care of with preemptively placed decoys. You also get three others - Gnoll Grenadiers, Fire Giants, and Fire Elementals.

Gnoll Grenadiers just need to be ignored, but you need to make sure you stay away from them. Given how every Barricade is vital, and they're all fairly close to each other, you cannot run the risk of having them toss a grenade your way. Due to this, try to keep to the southern part of the map when you see them, so they'll just run into the Rift instead of engaging with you.

Fire Elementals are really strange here. They're not too frequent, but you do see Urza a few times. The Firelings are also a bit of a risk, but I've never had any problems with them personally; they should follow the usual line of minions here, and not stray towards your Barricades. I think you need to make sure you have that extra space for the Barricades in between the pillars - If you line them up exactly with the pillars, I think you might run the risk of the Firelings going after them.

Fire Giants are also frequent here, but if you have Wall Building PHD, they're mostly not an issue. With Wall Building PHD, they shouldn't be able to chip away too much at the northern Barricades; in the south, just as long as you made sure to give that extra space while placing them in between the pillars, their aura shouldn't reach them as they walk along the outside of the pillars.

Wave Strategy:

Wave 1 - Place a Guardian just south of the north gate, and start building a line of Barricades to force the minions into one of the walls (where you should also place Power Generators). You're only going to be afford 3 or 4 Power Generators, so just use enough Barricades in accordance to that. This wave is somewhat tough to start out with, but try your best to ensure minions are getting to the Power Generators (in other words, let them progress a bit before you start killing them).

Wave 2 - Continue to build your line of Barricades, and hopefully, it's pretty much completed with their respective pairing of Power Generators. This is a much more difficult wave, so feel free to start clearing minions earlier in comparison to the first wave.

Wave 3 - If your Barricade line stretches down to the Guardian (more or less), either use some more Viscous Tar or just put down some Ceiling Ballistas. You could also put down 2-3 Big Game Hunting Ballistas instead, because it'll be useful for later waves. This wave is mostly like the first, and shouldn't be too bad to get through.

Wave 4 - Sell everything (minus the Big Game Ballistas if you put them down), and start placing all of those Barricades to block off the Rift. You should have enough for all the Barricades, plus 1 or 2 more traps. I would recommend putting down at least 1 Power Generator along the eastern/southern pillars just to start generating some coin again. MAKE SURE you have at least 4, ideally 6, decoy Barricades spread out around the central area, by the time this wave ends.

Wave 5 - A lot of Kamikaze Kobolds from the north gate, I think there's around 12-15 total, and you get about 3/4 at first, then the last 1/4 right after. The decoys are extremely important here, and you may want to cover the central area just to try to defend those decoys as best you can, to ensure they're not going to blow up anything else. If you haven't already, at the end of this wave, start putting down Flip Traps in the south (aiming south to flip them off the map). If you have the Coin, try to put down more Power Generators and/or Viscous Tar as well.

Wave 6 - First Unstable Rift, which you should have time to go destroy. Tubifore will also be from the north, so get him afterwards. You may want to try to replace a couple of the decoys at the north once he's down. You should have a decent amount of Coin after this wave, so try to get some decoys in the NW section; again, notice the area is kind of like a square, and try to get 1 in each corner.

Wave 7 - Not much to say as the only thing that spawns is a ton of large minions.

Wave 8 - 3 Kamikaze Kobolds from the NW, which is not a big deal as long as you had decoys down.

Wave 9 - 2 Unstable Rifts spawns. If they spawn in the eastern/western sections, and if you have the Big Game Ballistas placed on the nearby ceilings, they should be able to take care of them. My Unstable Rift spawns (in the video) were in the NW/NE corners, and I was more worried about the wave, so I let them open. Either try to get them or let them open, it's up to you.

Wave 11 - 2 Unstable Rifts again, but nothing else really worth mentioning. At this point, you really should have 4 decoys in the NE section, and ideally 4 in the central area, as well as the NW section.

After that (from what I've seen), the map doesn't really throw anything at you that you haven't seen. You just need to keep your priorities in how you spend your Coin:

Always replace destroyed decoy Barricades.
Add Flip Traps, Viscous Tar, and/or Power Generators in the south.
- If that is done, add Ceiling Ballistas/Viscous Tar/Brimstone in the SW corner, where the Quartermaster is.

That's pretty much it. I certainly would recommend keeping your Trap Limit at 118 or 119, just in case you want to place another decoy Barricade. You'll find that the large minions will start to get a ridiculous amount of HP though, so that's really the main issue in seeing some progress before the 40 minutes run out.

If I got to see what was beyond Wave 20, I can foresee myself potentially getting rid of the Power Generators (and possibly the Viscous Tar) down towards the south. This would allow me to place more traps in the SW corner, because the extra damage would more than likely be very necessary for the last few waves. But for now, for me at least, Wave 19/20 is the best I can do.

Avalanche

Recommended Hero: Oziel

Loadout:

Gear - Mage's Clover, Fire Wall Bracers
Guardian - Jailer Guardian, any other Guardian you wish
Traps -
- T7 Barricade (Reflective Armor, Subsidized Parts, Double Struts)
- T7 Viscous Tar (Bounty Generator, Subsidized Parts, Bounty Generator)
- T7 Floor Scorcher (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Wall Charger (Fire Resonator, Charging Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T6 Boom Barrel Roller (Braided Coil, Stamped Parts)
- T7 Ceiling Ballista (Fire Resonator, Double Spring, Heat Activated Trigger)
- T7 Big Game Hunting Ballista (Unchained Resonator, Double Spring, Stamped Parts)
Traits -
- Feeling Fierce
- Has Ultimate Set of Tools
- Wall Building PHD
  - May want to replace this with Enjoys Pain/Practices Witchcraft if you are not using Oziel
- Lightning Deals
  - May want to replace this with Wall Building PHD if you bring in Enjoys Pain/Practices Witchcraft

Again, much like The Wall, this is very rough. Even without the 40 minute Time Limit, this is very difficult to do, as there really isn't a lot of good ways to manipulate the multiple gates (that I know of at least).

I like Oziel here for a few reasons - His natural lifesteal makes it possible to bring in different Traits. His abilities are useful as well; Desecrated Ground is very efficient because the trap strategy forces minions into a really small path, making Desecrated Ground very easy to use successfully. And of course, Ectoplasmic Explosion really goes a long way in dealing damage to groups.

Regardless though, realize this is going to be tough no matter which Hero you decide to bring in. Cygnus is an option, because for a good portion you'll be camping the Rift area; Ivy is another option because Warden's Wrath is very beneficial here. Personally I feel melee Heroes get shafted here, due to how hard minions hit and the fact that they'll apply the Chill effect, which means that they'll potentially Freeze you, increasing the likelihood of you dying.

If you want to make a really serious attempt at this, bringing in Consumables will help. In my video I do not use any, and I managed to get up to Wave 19 before the time ran out. The video is actually my best attempt on this map though, as I normally get around Wave 16.

What is important to note is that I don't feel nearly as confident in my trap strategy as I do in The Wall. In other words, I can see potentially getting to Wave 25 without the Time Limit on The Wall (with that given set-up), but here, I don't know if the strategy will work for Wave 25. There are a few waves that are very difficult to get through (Wave 10 comes to mind), and this is entirely due to how many minions that are thrown at you, and given how much HP they have.

Trap Strategy:

First and foremost this trap strategy is nearly identical to one proposed by Varthftw of the official OMD!U forums. If you wish to see his video, check out the link in the Legal Information and Copyright section.

East gate opens first, and the ultimate goal in the east is to slow the minions down. To do this, it's possible to set up a "Mickey Mouse" Barricade formation to force them along the walls, coupled with appropriate Viscous Tars, Floor Scorchers, and Wall Chargers. Boom Barrel Rollers can be placed above the Wall Chargers for much needed extra damage.

You will also want to place 2 Barricades at the top of the east stairs, forcing the minions to go into the SE room, where the Guardian is. This is ideally done at the end of Wave 1, but it can potentially wait until the end of Wave 2. I would also recommend 1 Big Game Hunting Ballista at the square overhang right at the gate, before Wave 3, since you'll be getting a boss at that wave.

The north gate opens on Wave 4, and you'll want to block off the NE corner (the entrance to the Barracks). However, extra Barricades need to be placed here, because you will get Kamikaze Kobolds on Wave 11. This forces the minions to enter the Rift room via the west entrances.

2 more Barricades will need to be placed in the Rift room, on the east side. This is required to get the minions into a single lane on the west side.

The majority of the damage traps will be placed on the west side of the Rift room. Place Wall Chargers, Boom Barrel Rollers, Viscous Tar, and Floor Scorchers in appropriate places. Be careful of the Boom Barrel Rollers though; ensure that the barrels are appropriately landing along the pathway, and not into the gigantic hole in the floor.

I would recommend 4 Big Game Hunting Ballistas on the ceiling where the minions first enter the Rift room, to deal with bosses and Mercenaries. The rest of the ceiling can be filled out with regular Ceiling Ballistas.

Although the Rift room is your primary focus of traps, realize that there are other places to put down things. For example, I place a couple of Viscous Tar and a Floor Scorcher outside of the Rift room, just below the stairs, where the northern and western minions merge. The nearby western ceiling can be used for even more Ballistas if you wish.

The east gate actually closes upon the end of Wave 5, so you don't need to focus on it much initially. However, it does open up again at the start of Wave 11. For this reason you need to be mindful about the Coin you spend, because you will need to place more traps down in the east at some point prior to the start of Wave 11.

What is done further in the east is extend their pathway by forcing them along the wall in the SE room, then blocking off the south so they are forced into combat near the Guardian. Place damage traps appropriately here, but you shouldn't place too much; remember that the east only has to deal with a single gate, and the Rift room has to deal with 3 different ones.

The last thing you'll see me do is place some odd Barricades near the Rift. There is a single one that might make you think "what is that for"; the single one that's placed kind of in the corner. This is placed here to try to force the minions to the right slightly. What is an option here is to use all of the ceiling space available for the Ceiling Ballistas; if I had Ceiling Ballistas directly east of that single Barricade, they would aim appropriately. Without it, the minions (from what I remember) are just barely out of range. As it turns out, that single Barricade was in fact useless with how the map played out, but it really just depends on how you set things up.

The rest of the Barricades around the Rift are simply to force the minions into a single lane for control purposes. Without them, you'll see it's very difficult to get control over the minions as they approach the Rift.

Combat Strategy:

The primary idea is to clear the east gate first (when it's open) before moving back into the Rift room to clear the rest.

You do have to be very mindful of the map though, and I would recommend leaving the east area as soon as you see the western minions get close to entering the Rift room. Wave 4 is incredibly important to be mindful of, because the north minions will also consist of Kobolds, so it's important to leave the east gate earlier to clear them out.

Fire Wall Bracers are great here, due to the extra damage to the Frost minions, so I would recommend using them as much as possible. With Oziel, I was considering bringing in the Ring of Storms as well, since he can manage it with his Mana, but even with Oziel, you'll be kind of Mana starved. Therefore, the Mage's Clover helps keeping your Mana up (just remember it cancels if you use Mana while its active).

Unstable Rifts are important to destroy here, as they do mix in Earth Elementals, which you certainly do not want. The only positive thing about the Rifts is that they're generally fairly easy to get to, and in the waves that I've seen, there's never more than a single one.

The only other thing to mention is to not underestimate the minion's damage. Archers in particular can potentially kill you in only 2-3 hits, which means you have to be very comfortable breaking line-of-sight whenever you start to get shot. If you're ranged, you get a little bit of reprieve from the Chill effect, but you do have to keep it in mind whenever you start to engage things at a closer range.

Wave Strategy:

Wave 1 - Start out with the "Mickey Mouse" Barricade placement right in front of the east gate. Place at least 1 Wall Charger, and 1 Viscous Tar; you can use whatever Coin is left for anything else you want.

Wave 2 - Place 2 Barricades at the top of the east stairs. Place 1 Big Game Hunting Ballista on the overhang near the east gate, use the rest of the Coin however you want. Make sure you have your Jailer down in the SE room.

Wave 3 - The boss Snowflake appears, who will throw large snowballs at you, so remember to hide around corners and walls. When the wave ends, don't spend any more Coin in the east area, as the north gate will open next.

Wave 4 - North gate opens, so you need to place 2 Barricades to block off the Barracks, then place another 2 Barricades a little further west (slightly separated) as decoys. Remember that the north gate has two different paths that the minions can enter from - There will be 1 Kamikaze Kobold from the left path, and 2 from the right, so try to place your decoys accordingly. Also remember to place 2 Barricades on the eastern side of the Rift room, to force them all onto the west side. Afterwards, you want at least 1 Viscous Tar on the west side of the big hole in the floor, and whatever else you can afford.

Start out on the east side clearing minions, then move over to the Rift room as soon as you start seeing the north gate minions move southward. It starts out with a group of Kobolds, so you should move over there fairly quickly in order to catch them. At that point just clear whatever is in the Rift room, but keep an eye on the minions from the east.

Wave 5 - Continue to build up the west side of the Rift room. This wave is rough because you'll get an Unstable Rift (which you want to destroy), and 3 Kamikaze Kobolds will appear at the east gate, which will destroy your first Barricade. It's not vital, but it does make things hectic - The east gate minions will thereby bypass the majority of your traps. You're going to want to try to clear them as best you can, but you can't leave the Rift room alone for too long either, because the north gate minions will need your attention as well.

Wave 6 - North and east gate both close, and the NW gate opens. Not much to say about it, as it's pretty normal outside of some Satyrs. Continue to build up the Rift room. I highly recommend having 4 Big Game Hunting Ballistas up in the Rift room, at the ceiling where the minions enter, by the time you're done with this wave.

Wave 7 - Iceberg is in this wave, and from now on you'll see Ice Elementals more often. Iceberg is very tough if you don't have those 4 Big Game Hunting Ballistas down. Just remember that the Elementals split like any other, so be prepared to take care of those runners when you see them.

Wave 8 - West gate opens, and you get 1 Unstable Rift. Nothing new to see here, just more tough minions.

Wave 9 - Almost identical to the last wave, with the addition of a Mercenary. Remember to fight them near your Big Game Ballistas.

Wave 10 - Extremely difficult wave due to the immense amount of minions you get. Consider using Unchained here, as it's one of the toughest waves you'll face.

Wave 11 - East gate will open back up, so try to get some more traps down and begin to extend the minion's pathway as best you can in the SE room (force them along the walls and into combat with the Jailer). One Unstable Rift will appear, as well as 3 Kamikaze Kobolds from the north gate, so I hope you have some decoys down.

Wave 12 - One Mercenary from the east, and 2 TNT Archers will come from the north, so just be careful about standing next to Barricades.

Wave 13 - Not much to mention about the minions, but you can start to block off the Rift as best you can (to force the minions into a single lane) at the end of this wave.

Wave 14 - Just a repeat of the last wave, but try to have your northern decoy Barricades replaced by the end of this wave, as well as having at least 1 (probably 2) Big Game Hunting Ballistas at the ceiling near the decoys, as it'll help with the next wave.

Wave 15 - Tubifore will come from the north, so hopefully you have at least 1 decoy to distract him. Big Game Hunting Ballistas will certainly help get him killed quickly, and if you didn't place them before you can try to quickly put them nearby as he's destroying your decoys.

Wave 16 - Unstable Rift will spawn, along with a Mercenary. If you haven't been struggling with the minions yet, chances are you'll start to on this wave.

Wave 17 and 18 - Not much happens on these waves beside the groups of minions you've already seen.

Wave 19 - One Unstable Rift and one Mercenary on this wave. You will also get a few TNT Archers from the NW later on. This is the furthest I've been, as I got overrun near the end on this wave.

Trophy Guideline

This section will go into the usual information of how long it'll take to earn the platinum; the difficulty; etc.

I will also go into the suggested pathway I would recommend to earn the trophies in the most efficient way possible.

Estimated Time to Earn the Platinum:

250-500+ hours

Difficulty Rating:

Medium to Hard.

Why? - Well, it is a strategy RPG type of game, and because of this, it's not only possible to mimic someone else's strategy to finish a level (and get 5 Stars on it), but you also get the possibility to simply overpower a lot of the difficulty by leveling up your traps and account level. Besides that, mastering each map is a matter of practice - since each map doesn't change every time you load it, even if you are going in blind, once you learn how the map plays out, you just need to adjust to any problems it throws at you.
- Earning 5 stars on each map can be kind of irritating - It depends on the map, but I would say there are a few that can be really annoying to get, even when you're damage output is at maximum. Sometimes, it's just the Par Time - there are a few that you might complete with only seconds to spare. Mostly though, it's the Kobolds, because for whatever reason, sometimes just 1 or 2 manage to run through just about everything and manage to get to your Rift (even when you feel really confident in how you've trapped it).
- The Combo Quest trophy can be difficult to earn - This is mostly due to its semi-randomness, and the fact that the game doesn't really explain how the Combo system works. Although I have read it's possible to do solo, I would HIGHLY recommend doing it with the assistance of 1 other person (doing it solo would be incredibly difficult). For these reasons, Combo Quest is probably the most "complex" trophy to earn, and you may find yourself making multiple attempts to earn it. Check the trophy description for information to see how set things up to earn this trophy.
Is the time to platinum a factor? - In my difficulty rating, no. Trophy guides for other games I've read do factor in the sheer length of time you need to devote to it into their proposed difficulty rating (Star Ocean 4 would be one example), but mine does not. My rating is entirely based on the gameplay itself.

Multiplayer Trophies?

There are three - Amateur Saboteur, Fearless Leader, and Combo Quest.

Amateur Saboteur - This trophy is for winning 5 Sabotage matches. Sabotage is OMD!U's version of competitive multiplayer. If you're like me, you might hate PvP, but don't be too discouraged by Sabotage. In Sabotage, it's basically the same as Survival, but you're "competing" against another team to finish the map with more rift points. In the match, you get to use Sabotage-specific consumables to interfere with the opposite team's map. It's only 5 matches though, and Sabotage can get pretty random, but in terms of a PvP trophy, this isn't bad.
Fearless Leader - This trophy might only be earned with someone you personally invite; originally, when the game was first released on the PS4, Matchmaking did not give progress towards this trophy. Matchmaking has changed a few times in patches though, but I haven't been able to find out if it now gives proper progress. However, even if it doesn't, this isn't a big deal, because the game is free-to-play. Just keep in mind you may need to borrow a friend and have him/her download the game to help you with this, or find someone online to help.
Combo Quest - This trophy is earned by getting a 15x Combo. Combos are earned every time you kill an enemy, but you have to hit the enemy with multiple sources of damage and crowd-control effects (such as slows) in order to add to the combo. I have read that is in fact possible to do solo (with Zoey apparently) but it is EXTREMELY hard to do by yourself. This is because you have a limited amount of traps to work with; since you can only bring in 7 traps on your loadout, you would have to rely on your character, Gear, and Guardians for the 8 other combo sources. Getting them to work simultaneously within a small window of time, is incredibly difficult to do on your own. This is why it's considered a multiplayer trophy - by adding in at least 1 other person, you can bring in more traps (thus more combo sources) while at the same time adding in any bonuses from the character they are controlling. Getting a third person is ideal, but realize it's entirely possible to earn a 15 combo with only 2 people.

Missable Trophies

There are none.

Minimum Amount of Playthroughs

One.

Trophy Guideline

You can check the FAQ section of this guide to view more information about what earning the platinum is like.

Step 1: Play the game normally.

Your first goal is to complete all maps with all characters. Starting with whichever ones you have available. Why? Because it's the most efficient. By doing this, it allows you to generate the most consistent amount of Skulls (to afford all of the characters and upgrade traps) and at the same time, giving you the maximum amount of chances of finding the better traps in chests, as well as the Guardians and Traits you will need to have an easier time getting 5 Stars on all the maps later. If you're anything like me, you'll find the game really repetitive, and I find it even more repetitive if I play the same maps with the exact same characters, so by getting more characters, you can at least get some variety with what you're doing.

You will only have 3 characters at first, which means that you might get through them all quickly, depending on how much you play. For this reason, I would recommend trying to take your time with the game - give yourself more opportunities to do the daily quest for Skulls and get your Daily Login Bonus.

Ultimately, you do have 2 options on your approach:

Continue to advance through the game as much as possible to buy your next character with Skulls - Try to work on other things; play some Sabotage; work on the other in-game Achievements; try to 5 Star what maps you have on your own; try to get as far as you can in Endless. It can get a little monotonous because there is a lack of content in the lower levels. This is mostly ideal for those that wish to play other games while working on this platinum, and those who wish to not spend any money on the game.
Purchase Coin to buy a few new characters - I wouldn't really recommend buying more than 3 or 4 Heroes, perhaps 5 at most. The reason for this is that it should give you enough to do, but still giving you an opportunity to purchase further characters with Skulls. If you buy more characters than that, the reality is, although you'll have an increased amount of Skulls (from clearing maps with those new characters), you'll get to that point where you have nothing to spend on Skulls faster, thus you may feel like you wasted your money.
1. In my opinion - There is currently an "Ultimate Bundle" you can buy from the PS Store. If you're a PS+ member, it's discounted as well, which actually makes it a pretty good deal, if you're interested in spending money. It not only grants you plenty of extra characters that should keep you going for a while, but it gives you about half of the characters you're going to need to purchase for their respective trophies.

If you're wondering what character you should buy, you can check out my personal review of each character (as of patch 2.6) found in this guide.

Depending on which character you decide to unlock first, you can focus on their potential trophies as you continue to play through normally. There are a few of the trophies that are good to progress towards while you're clearing maps, and they are:

Power Pick-Me-Ups
Chandelier Shatterer
Touched by Can't Touch This
Home Sweet Home
Shoot Them Down
Un-Unchained
Air-Blackpaw
Hazard Play
Forever Unchained
Improvised Weapons
Amateur Saboteur
Fearless Leader

While playing through the game, there are a few things to keep in mind:

Don't worry about getting 5 stars! - Really, it's not necessary. Realize the 5th Star only gives you a chest that contains traps/traits/guardians (they don't give Skulls) so you're not really missing much. You have to remember that Empty Pockets will take a significant amount of time to complete, and you will be at Account Level 100 with (almost) all tier 7 traps; at that point, getting 5 Stars on all maps, including Rift Lord, is made much easier.
You don't need to upgrade all of your traps - Don't feel as if you need to upgrade everything the second you get your first chance to. If you do wait to upgrade, and you manage to find another "card" of that same trap, it doesn't go to waste (it will just progress past the upgrade total, which will convert accordingly when you do decide to upgrade).
Remember to always do your Daily Quests, and try to complete the Weekly Challenge with all available heroes each week - For the Weekly Challenges, you get a predetermined loadout, and the difficulty of the map is unaffected by your account level. This kind of sucks if you're a higher account level, but this does mean that they are designed in a certain way that allows anyone to complete them. I wouldn't worry about getting 5 Stars on the Weekly Challenges (as some of them can be quite difficult) but the New Hero Victory Chests are always helpful. What's more, since they do not have a predetermined difficulty to them, the New Hero Victory Chests will adjust according to what you have unlocked - if you have Rift Lord unlocked, the Skull reward from these chests will be 200. There are usually individuals on Youtube posting guides showing how to complete the Weekly Challenges, so if I don't have them, go try to search for them if you want help.
You only need to survive the waves successfully to complete a map - By simply surviving all of the waves, you will earn 1 Star, which is all that is necessary to get a New Hero Victory Chest. If you don't like the character you're trying to clear the map with, don't worry about it! Just finish it as best you can, and don't worry about anything else. On a related note, for the "5 Star every map" trophy, you only need to do it on a single character so don't stress out if you're not doing well with a certain character; as long as you have 1 rift point, that's all that matters.
Try to stay away from Matchmaking - You're free to find groups if you wish, but you do NOT need a group to get 5 Stars on any map; they are all possible to solo. The reason why I would stay away from it (unless you want to break up the monotony), is because of the coin gain; you will find you earn/spend significantly less in groups, which means less progress towards Empty Pockets in the long run.

Step 2: Work on earning 5 Stars

When you clear all the Rift Lord maps at least once, you might find yourself wanting to start on working towards the 5 Star trophies. I would recommend starting with Apprentice, and working your way up. You should be able to clear everything in Apprentice and War Mage, but you may struggle with a couple in Master, and probably about half of them (or so) in Rift Lord.

A lot of the maps can be 5 starred at the recommended level, so this can be done earlier, but I wouldn't recommend it. If you're having problems, you can either check out my 5 Star Walkthrough found in this guide, or just continue to level up and practice the maps on your own.

I am unsure if the 5 Star on the new maps (or any future maps) need to be earned for this trophy - At the moment, the only newly added maps are the Wu Xing battle maps. It's impossible for me to tell, because I earned my trophy before the Wu Xing release, and in my second playthrough, I earned all of my 5 Stars in order. If they are, it's not incredibly worrisome, as I'll cover how to earn 5 Stars on the Wu Xing map regardless.

Endless maps do not count - So don't worry about earning 5 Stars on any of the Endless maps, only worry about getting 5 Stars on the Survival maps.

After you have earned all 5 Stars on all Survival maps, the game is basically complete, but you still have a long way to that platinum.

Step 3: Clean Up

Once you've 5 Starred all the maps, you then have to focus on getting the rest of the trophies, and buying the characters you haven't bought yet for their respective trophies. Along with any of the character trophies you haven't finished yet, chances are you'll be left with:

Hazard Play
Improvised Weapons
Challenge Challenger
Coin Collector
Slots Machine
Toughing It Out
Un-Unchained
Forever Unchained
Combo Quest
Top Tier
Empty Pockets

Most of these are mostly just a grind, so you basically just want to continue to focus on them as you continue to earn coin for Empty Pockets. Top Tier will most likely be the second to last trophy you earn, or possibly Combo Quest.

Step 4: Farm for Empty Pockets

Quite possibly the worst step, as spending 200,000,000 coin is going to take a very long time to complete. Chances are, you may not even be halfway done with it by the time you get everything else done.

My method of earning coin to spend can be found in the trophy description for Empty Pockets, utilizing the Endless version of Shark Island. Although you can potentially earn about 500,000 for a little over 30 minutes in this method, I would recommend trying to break up the repetition of it by doing other things; I personally went through all of the maps all over again, trying to earn 5 Stars on every map with every character.

I will also point out here that my method is not necessarily the best method. I've seen other videos of other people using different maps, so you should check those out and find a method you want to use (if you don't like mine). Hopefully, at the least, my video can provide another map to play on, so you can get a little more variety when you begin to farm.

I would stay away from Sabotage as not only does it give you very little coin to spend per match, but I'm not actually entirely sure if any coin spent gives progression towards Empty Pockets. The reason why I think this, is that at the "summary" screen after the match, where you see how many minions you killed during the match and whatnot, there is no "coin spent" information displayed. In every other game mode, the "coin spent" information is displayed, so it does make me wonder if it's accurately getting calculated towards Empty Pockets.

After Empty Pockets is finally done, you should more than likely have all the other trophies already completed, thus earning your platinum.

Trophy List and Walkthrough

This is the list of the trophies for Orcs Must Die! Unchained, in the order that it appears on Playstation Network.

If you weren't already aware, the trophies are specifically tied to the in-game Achievements. Progression towards these trophies can be found in the game, under the Achievement tab of your Profile.

For any of the character specific trophies, realize it is possible to earn progression if the characters are ever available in the Weekly Challenge. I wouldn't really recommend this though for the ones that require multiple matches (Bloodspike, Dobbin, etc.) unless you really want to play the Weekly Challenge multiple times.

REMEMBER: You need to finish the match! I'm not 100% sure if you get progression if you lose the match, but I do know you get ZERO progression if you quit the match.

Master of Murder Sprinkles

Earn every trophy to become the most elite war mage of all time.

This is the platinum trophy. As with all other platinum trophies, it will unlock once all of the other trophies have been earned.

Trapping Talent

Place 10,000 traps.

Simple enough trophy - just do exactly what the description states.

It'll come naturally over the course of the game, as the game would be seriously difficult without putting down any traps.

Do expect this to take a while though, as you'll notice that maps have a limit to how many traps you can put down; most maps have a limit of about 100.

Power Pick-Me-Ups

Collect 100 Unchained drops.

Another simple trophy. The Unchained drops that it is referring to are the drops from minions that look like your Unchained bar - they are yellow lightning icons. Obviously, when you pick one up, your Unchained meter fills. Unfortunately, the game won't allow you to pick up any other Unchained drops with a full Unchained meter, so if you want to try to get through this in the quickest way possible, you have to be using your Unchained every time it's full.

You can also pick up the Unchained drops while you are Unchained which allows you to stay Unchained for a longer duration.

In my experience, it seems the Unchained drops tend to drop less as the waves increase. In other words, you'll probably see more in the first few waves, and you'll slowly see less and less as the waves continue.

Truthfully though, this will come naturally over the course of the game.

Fearless Leader

Win 5 games as a party leader.

Multiplayer only.

You may not be able to earn this trophy in Matchmaking, which is unfortunate. However, I'm currently unsure if this is the case. When the game originally released on the PS4, it was not possible to earn credit towards this trophy in Matchmaking. The Matchmaking system has changed somewhat since then, so it may be possible now. The reason why I haven't been able to test it, is that I haven't been able to get anyone to join my games on my new account.

What this means is you might have to get someone else to participate with you in order to earn this trophy.

However, this isn't a gigantic problem, as the game is free-to-play. Just coerce someone you know to download it, invite them to your group, and play 5 games with them.

Remember you have to be leader, and it's always indicated who is leader by the little "crown" icon by your avatar on the dashboard. To invite someone to the game, you can use the radial menu (Triangle on the dashboard) or you can use your touchpad as a mouse (just swipe) to bring up a cursor, then select the "plus" signs under your avatar to invite someone.

It's easiest to play The Baths on Apprentice, as it should only take 5 or so minutes to complete.

500 Helpings

Eat 500 Delicious Meals as Bloodspike.

As you may have guessed, this can only be done as the character Bloodspike, who isn't initially available to play. To play as him, you must purchase him with either Coin or Skulls.

Simple enough trophy though, and it's yet another that should come naturally as you clear maps with Bloodspike.

It's not necessarily required to farm for this if you play Bloodspike regularly, as they do have a decent drop rate. However, he does get a battle level upgrade at level 2 that increases their drop rate by 50% (Finer Dining), which can help things along if you don't like playing as him.

Rift Buster

Destroy or help to destroy 100 unstable rifts.

Another trophy that should come naturally as you progress through the rest of the trophies.

Unstable Rifts start to appear during the Master level difficulty maps in Survival. They spawn at certain points on each map, and it's almost always a wise idea to try to destroy them, as they will spawn minions if the Rift is allowed to open.

They're only somewhat random - The locations they appear at are from a set of specific locations, specific to the map (it only changes if you're playing the same map on a different difficulty). They always appear on the same wave, as well as spawn the same minions, every time the map is loaded.

On Rift Lord (Survival) expect to see them even more frequently.

Endless on the other hand, they spawn regardless of difficulty (so that means even on the first Endless map). It does follow the same rule set though (the Rifts are not completely random), and you will generally see more of them on the higher level difficulties.

Freeloader

Win 1 match with all 3 free starter heroes.

Yet another simple trophy.

Just do exactly what the description states, which means winning a game with Maximilian, Blackpaw, and Gabriella.

Chandelier Shatterer

Kill 100 enemies with chandeliers.

It's fairly simple when you know what you're looking for.

Chandeliers can be found on a few different maps, you'll probably end up seeing your first few on Banquet Hall.

It's important to note they are single use environmental traps, which means that you get 1 chance per chandelier to kill something with it.

This can be somewhat difficult to set up correctly, as they don't do a lot of damage, and because they are attached to ceilings, it's difficult to determine the exact spot that minions need to be under in order to get hit by it.

Melee characters generally can't hit chandeliers so you're going to mostly need to do this with a ranged character, such as Maximilian. It is possible to set up some barricade/tar traps to direct minions underneath them, but I never found it necessary.

Chances are, your best bet to get chandelier kills is Banquet Hall (Apprentice). This is due to the fact that not only do you have an opportunity for minions to funnel into the appropriate range right after they spawn on the map, but this map consists of mostly weaker minions, making them easier to kill.

Here's a video montage of some of the various chandelier locations:

Very Blessed

Pick up 250 mana orbs as Stinkeye.

As the trophy states, this can only be done as Stinkeye, which is another character that first needs to be purchased in the Store.

Happily, it's not too bad to earn, and it should come naturally as you clear maps with Stinkeye (assuming you remember to pick them up as you see them). The Wrath of Oasis totem that Stinkeye uses (which is his primary mode of attacking) leave behind a mana orb every time it expires, which makes this manageable. Between the mana orb the totem leaves, and the orbs that drop from minions, it shouldn't take you too long to get this trophy.

Unlike Bloodspike's Delicious Meals, you do in fact need to be missing mana in order to pick up a mana orb. Personally, I think Stinkeye is supposed to be played primarily using his totems, which do cost mana, but unfortunately if you're using them simply to expend mana, you may have problems clearing minions. I would recommend either using Gear that consumes mana (Ring of Storms, Fire Wall Bracers, etc.) or just using Stinkeye's Arcane Anomaly in order to use mana whenever you see one on the ground.

I'm not 100% sure about this, but you may want to stay away from Godly Grief from Stinkeye's second battle level upgrade (acquired at level 4 in a match). By taking the aforementioned upgrade, the mana orbs that appear after the Wrath of Oasis totem expires transforms into a pick-up that grants HP, mana, and Unchained, therefore I'm not entirely sure if those pick-ups still count toward this trophy (I personally never used that upgrade).

Amateur Saboteur

Win 5 Sabotage matches.

Multiplayer only.

Sabotage is OMD!U's competitive game mode. It is actually very similar to Survival - you're still simply trying to defend your rift from the oncoming waves of minions.

The difference is that you're "competing" with the other team, who is trying to defend their own rift on their own map. Each team is given a set of consumables to choose from (which are specific to Sabotage) in attempt to mess up the other team so they potentially lose their rift points. Whichever team has the most rift points at the end is the winner. In an event of a tie, the game goes into "Sudden Death" and the game basically turns into an Endless wave. Whoever loses their single rift point during Sudden Death loses the match.

Although this is a PvP trophy, it's not something to worry about much if you're new or don't like competitive modes in general. There are some randomness factors at play, and sometimes it's just a matter of getting on the right team.

First, Account Level does come into play during Sabotage. From what I can tell, if you're at a higher account level, the minions you summon will appropriately scale to your level. Thus, if someone at a lower level tries to attack your minions, they'll see they're doing virtually no damage. If that does happen, sometimes you'll either end up steamrolling the other team (winning in 1 wave) or it can happen to you. However, you can't see anyone's account level but your own, so you have no idea whether your facing lower level individuals, or they're grouped up with you. That's the first bit of randomness, and you really don't have much control over it.

Second, the map can make a difference. Most of the time, Barricade strategies that work in Survival will work similarly in Sabotage, but not always. If you're new to the map, let your team members place the Barricades if you're not sure how to do it, because most of the time you should end up with people that have know how to do it. If that's not the case, and everyone is unsure, try to cooperate with them accordingly.

Third, your selection of consumables are random for you, and everyone else. Being able to summon Swiftyhooves (if you have him) pretty much guarantees the opposite team is going to lose 6 rift points, but in my experience, he never shows up in the consumable selection. Not only do you not know what your enemy has for consumables, but you don't know what your team has either (until they select it, but even then the graphic icon is tough to see). In addition, even if they have good consumables (from winning various maps), there's no telling whether it's going to get rolled into their selection. Sometimes you just manage to get a lot of good consumables to select from, sometimes you don't.

With all that said, it's only 5 matches. Reality dictates you probably won't win 5 in the first 10 matches, but I would expect most people can get their first 5 wins within 20 matches or so. This isn't that bad, because some of those matches can literally only last a single wave, so sometimes a match only lasts 5 minutes.

Moneymaker

Pick up 1,000 coin bags as Dobbin.

As you can imagine, this trophy can only be earned as you play as Dobbin. Dobbin is not one of the initial characters, so you will need to purchase him in the Store with Coin or Skulls.

Like the other character-specific drops, the coin bags drop decently often, although unlike other characters, you specifically have to use Dobbin's abilities, Dust Devil and Spare Dynamite, in order to get the coin bags to appear.

This should come naturally as you clear maps with Dobbin, and chances are you'll want to focus on picking up the coin bags anyway, so you can earn more coin to spend not only on traps, but to further work towards the Empty Pockets trophy. His second battle level upgrade (available when he reaches level 4 in a match), Strike It Rich, allows coin bags to appear more often.

Out of Sight

Stay in Prowl during battle for a total of 30min as Midnight.

This trophy can only be earned while playing as Midnight, who needs to be bought in the Store with Coin or Skulls.

Prowl is Midnight's special ability, which allows her to stealth, as long as she has mana. 30 minutes can feel like a long time, particularly because Midnight's Prowl is supposed to be utilized very briefly in combat; using Prowl, then using an attack (particularly Dash and Slash), allows Midnight to do extra damage coming out of stealth, as well as inflict a brief stun.

However, Midnight does get a slight speed increase while she's in Prowl. For this reason, she becomes even more useful to hop from gate to gate, so she can quickly clear minions (this is partially why she's so good at getting Par Times).

So in other words, always be in Prowl when you have to move around the map as Midnight, and this should actually progress a lot faster than you might think.

She does get some battle level upgrades that improve Prowl, but most aren't that useful. I would never pick Prolonged Prowl (level 2) over Hardened Killer, because she really needs the HP regen; I would never pick Nimble As The Night (level 4) over Sa-Meow-Rai Armor or Catpurse; at level 6 on the other hand, Poison Paw is an option. The slow of Poison Paw isn't that significant, nor is the damage-over-time effect, but it can help you utilize Prowl even more than usual, helping this trophy along.

Kill-netic

Kill 30 enemies within 1s of using Gabriella's Kinetic Pulse.

As the trophy states, you need to be playing as Gabriella to earn this trophy.

For this, I personally find the map "The Wall" (on War Mage) the easiest to earn this on. Basically you want to utilize the very first wave, by keeping the gate closed so they are allowed to accumulate. If you use Barricades and a Tar trap, you can direct them all into the same small space, which allows you to hit the maximum amount with Kinetic Pulse.

Here's a video on how I set it up:

Note: You don't need Great Wall Barricades or Viscous Tar for this. Regular Barricades and regular Tar should work just as well.

Ring of Fire

Catch 75 minions on fire at the same time as Smolder.

Yet another trophy that needs to be earned with a Store-bought character, this time it's Smolder.

This might end up happening the first time you play as Smolder, without you even knowing it (or at least, that's how it happened with me).

Smolder's "Heart of Flame" ability easily lights things on fire, as you only have to walk close to a minion to set it ablaze. This means all this trophy really requires is a large amount of minions. 75 minions should be easy enough to find, particularly on Eventide Fortress, and most of the Endless maps (Banquet Hall would be good).

Like I said though, I got this without even trying. It shouldn't be that hard, because fire damage lasts a little while, giving you a few seconds to light as much as you can on fire.

I do wonder if the fire traps count for this as well. If they do, it would be even easier, but honestly I have no idea.

Good CATCH!

Dead 2,000 damage to an enemy with a single CATCH! by Hogarth.

Another character-specific trophy, and this is one of the easier, faster ones to achieve. Hogarth is another character that needs to be purchased in the Store.

CATCH! increases in damage the further you are away from whatever target it hits. Getting a 2,000 damage hit isn't too bad, as I've been able to hit for over 10,000 at the maximum account level. It should be decently manageable to get 2,000 when you're around account level 30 or so.

You can more than likely get it earlier, as you can always get the damage boost from Unchained.

As for a map to get it on, Banquet Hall is a good bet. The long hallway in front of the gates allows you to get some distance, and it should be decently easy to hit one of the many minions when they spawn. An alternative might be one of the Unstable Rifts; since they stay stationary, all you have to do is back up and ensure that your cross-hairs are targeting it, and it should work. I'm not 100% sure if it can be unlocked while hitting an Unstable Rift, as I got mine on a minion, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Ultimately, it's easy to get, and even if you're having troubles, simply increasing your Account Level will increase your damage, so come back to it at a higher level if need be.

Pardon My Reach

Kill 250 minions rooted by Reach of Roots as Ivy.

This trophy must be earned with Ivy, who must be purchased in the Store.

Reach of Roots not only immobilizes enemies, but you deal increased damage to anything that is rooted. Thus, it's beneficial to continually use this ability, allowing you to get progress towards this trophy as you clear maps with Ivy.

Reach of Roots does get 3 different battle level upgrades, all of which I would normally suggest, because her battle level 10 upgrade (Warden's Wrath) makes Reach of Roots particularly amazing. By taking all of the Reach of Roots upgrades (Nature's Grasp, Natural Knack, and Warden's Wrath), you can turn Ivy into quite the powerhouse, which is something she desperately needs.

If you decide to take the battle level 10 upgrade (Warden's Wrath), the damage effect it grants does indeed count towards the progress of this trophy (if the damage effect kills the minion during the root), making this trophy doable in a single match, particularly during Endless.

Touched by Can't Touch This

Deal 20,000 in damage to minions with Maximilian's Can't Touch This.

Max is one of the starter characters, so you can start working towards this trophy as soon as you start playing.

Can't Touch This is Max's ability that allows him to reflect damage. It's a really useful ability to get accustomed to using, as it will mitigate all damage, giving you temporary invincibility.

The best way to earn progress towards this trophy is to activate the ability, and jump into the middle of a large group of minions. This way you can draw the maximum amount of threat towards you character, reflect what you can, and then run right back out when you see the shield disappear. You can always utilize this when you actually need to as well (while you're being shot at, or fighting a larger minion/mercenary), but the short of it is to just keep using it.

Max does get a potential upgrade to Can't Touch This with every battle level upgrade, but I would argue the only one ever worth taking is Bad At Self-Reflection (at level 7). Even with the upgrade, expect this to take a while to earn.

Victory Nap Earned

Complete the prologue.

The "prologue" is actually kind of the tutorial, but this trophy is a bit misleading to earn.

Initially the game will walk you through a tutorial stage. However, once you complete it, you won't earn this trophy afterwards. You need to go back into the Prologue, and complete the 5 other maps (Grand Foyer, Archmage Library, Order Academy Dungeon, The Canals, and Riftmaker's Temple). This may look odd, because all of the maps have a "check" on them, and you actually have all of the rewards they give.

However, you do need to complete all of these to earn the trophy. Most of them aren't too bad, as they try to give you a feel for what you're going to face later on. You don't need to be perfect with them, but if you want some assistance, I do have a section for the Prologue. I believe you do not need to complete the "basic tutorial" and the "advanced tutorial"; if anything, you may need to go through the "basic tutorial" as the "advanced tutorial" is the tutorial you completed when you first started the game.

To get to the Prologue section of the game, go under "Play" then select Survival. You need to then select the option to change the difficulty (indicated by the green box thing), and then scroll to the left of Apprentice, to see the Prologue section.

If you're looking for help in clearing the Prologue, check the Prologue section of this guide.

Challenge Challenger

Win a weekly challenge.

Remember, you just need to win it, you don't need to earn a specific amount of Stars.

The Weekly Challenge is a map that has specific conditions in order for you to win it. These conditions generally vary from what characters you can use, what traps you can use, as well as what minions appear in the waves.

Since they change from week to week (they change on Tuesdays), it's difficult to write an appropriate guide for them. I have seen a few of them repeat since release, but there are a decent amount of them.

If you're going in blind, some Challenges may be quite difficult, as not only do you have to use a predetermined loadout, with all traps at level 1, but your Account Level has no affect on the damage you deal, making it even more difficult. In addition, the game even tells you that Weekly Challenges are meant to be more "trial and error" which can lead to some frustration, since you have to continually experiment to figure out what actually works for the given map.

On a positive note, there are people out there who post videos of Weekly Challenges, which are helpful. I will post what I can, but to try to update this guide for the Weekly Challenge every week might be a little unrealistic. Hopefully I can capture them all, but if the developers do in fact make new Challenges, it may be harder for me to keep up with them.

Check out the Weekly Challenge section for some guides of some of the Weekly Challenges.

War Mage Warm-Up

Unlock war mage battlegrounds.

This trophy will unlock naturally with progression.

It will unlock once your Account Level is 8.

Master Motivation

Unlock master battlegrounds.

This trophy will unlock naturally with progression.

It will unlock once your Account Level is 20.

Home Sweet Home

Place 100 guardians at their home locations.

This is another trophy that should come naturally as you play the game, although you do need to be actively thinking about it.

The "home" it refers to is indicated by the symbol on each map - the "shield" symbol, the "anchor" symbol, the "anvil" symbol, etc. These correspond to the symbols that are on specific Guardians, and if you match the Guardian with their appropriate home, they get an HP and damage increase (so you should be aiming for it regardless).

Just ensure that you bring in a Guardian that has a "home" on each map (The Sun/Lion/Dragon/Moon/Serpent Guardians almost always do) and make sure to place it down on the appropriate location.

Shoot Them Down

Kill 50 minions while they are in the air.

Not too bad of a trophy, and there's a good chance you'll get it as you progress through the game.

Truthfully, when I restarted on a fresh account, I managed to get this without even trying for it. At the time, I was only using Push Traps, so it might be entirely possible that you may not need to personally earn the kill (with your character) but rather kills from the trap (i.e. being pushed off a ledge) might count for progression.

There's a few ways to set it up if you want help:

Use Flip Traps/Floor Scorchers - Pretty much the obvious method. Set up some Flip Traps or Floor Scorchers, and try to kill them as they get flipped into the air. You can do this as either ranged or melee, but I would say it's easier as melee, since all you have to do is spam your Primary attack while standing next to your Flip Trap/Floor Scorcher, and you'll inevitably hit flipped minions as they get hit by the trap.
Use Haymakers - Haymakers are pretty good for a few maps, and they can keep things twirling in the air for quite a while. You can put a Stunning Accumulator on it (if you have one) at tier 3, which will allow you to deal 100% more damage while they're in the air. This adds up in combination with the extra damage they take when they're airborne, allowing you to deal significantly more damage.
Use Ivy - Her Penetrating Arrow knocks back enemies, and if you practice, you can slightly adjust your aim right after using it, and shoot them while they're in the air. It's actually a decent way to deal damage as Ivy, as her damage output is usually is a bit lower normally.

It's only 50 kills though, so it's not too bad to complete even if you somehow manage to not get many as you play through the game.

Second Tier

Upgrade a trap to tier 2.

Another one that will happen naturally as you progress, and will more than likely be one of your first trophies.

In order to upgrade a trap, you need to find a "duplicate" of one you already have in a chest (New Hero Victory Chest, chest for earning Stars, etc.). If you get a duplicate, the number/amount that is shown on the "card" is how much you've gained towards the progress to the next tier.

Once you have enough, you should get a dashboard notification that the trap is ready to be upgraded. Head into your Workshop on the dashboard, and select the trap to open up the menu to upgrade it. It does require Skulls to upgrade the trap to the next tier, and the Skull amount it requires will increase with every tier level (it takes 2500 Skulls to upgrade a trap to tier 7).

Coin Collector

Earn 150,000 coin in 1 match.

Surprisingly, there are very few Survival maps that allow you to earn this amount of coin.

The only ones that I remember getting around this amount are Avalanche (Rift Lord) and Frostbite (Rift Lord), although playing with Dobbin on the various maps can help you achieve this regardless of the map you're on.

Endless on the other hand, is a much more appropriate place to earn this. You can potentially do this on any Endless map if you manage to get to a high enough wave, but I don't think I've ever earned near this much on The Baths.

However, if you follow my method for Empty Pockets, you'll earn this easily. In fact, getting to wave 25 on Shark Island Endless should net you around 250,000, regardless of your character, and regardless of your loadout that you bring in.

Rift Lord Ready

Unlock rift lord battlegrounds.

This trophy will unlock naturally with progression.

It will unlock once your Account Level is 40.

Part Party

Slot 1 part into 5 different traps.

This should come naturally as you clear the game.

A trap's first slot becomes available at tier 3, which basically means you need to have 5 different traps at tier 3.

Once you do, you'll then need to put the appropriate part in the available slot, which can be done at the "Upgrade" tab when you select a trap to view in the Workshop.

Once you have 1 part in 5 different traps, this trophy should be earned.

Slots Machine

Slot 3 trap parts into 1 trap.

Another one that will come naturally, but it will probably be a while before you earn it.

You just need to do exactly what the trophy description states, which is slot 3 parts into a single trap.

The third part slot will be available when the trap is upgraded to tier 7.

Some traps are easier to get parts for than others; Springs and Coils (which are generally used for the second part slot) are usually pretty hard to come by. So even if you manage to get a trap to tier 7, you may not necessarily see the needed parts for a while.

My first tier 7 trap with 3 parts was my Barricade; the parts needed for all 3 slots seem to be a little less rare.

Star Search

Earn 3 or more stars on every rift lord battleground.

Please refer to Starkiller for more information about this trophy, as you'll earn this one in the process.

Beauty and Beast

Deal 200,000 damage in a single match as Bionka.

Bionka is yet another character you'll need to purchase from the Store in order to earn this trophy.

It's a very simple trophy, and you should be able to deal 200,000 easily within a match with Bionka.

If you are having problems with it, you can always go into Endless to get it instead. The "summary" screen at the end of each match does have the information of the damage you dealt, in case you are ever curious about how much you're dealing.

Shoot for Stars

Earn 3 or more stars on every war mage battleground.

Please refer to Starkiller for more information about this trophy, as you'll earn this one in the process.

Starstruck

Earn 3 or more stars on every master battleground.

Please refer to Starkiller for more information about this trophy, as you'll earn this one in the process.

Toughing It Out

Defeat 15 consecutive waves in Endless.

The only Endless trophy, and getting to wave 16 on the first map (which is what I would recommend) shouldn't be that bad, particularly if you go in at a high Account Level.

The first map, The Baths, is the best to do this in terms of simplicity. However, don't expect the difficulty in Endless to adequately equate to how it is in Survival - in Endless, minions get stronger with every wave completed, so by the time you hit wave 15, they'll probably have the relative strength of what you see on Master or Rift Lord.

However, if you end up following what I did for coin farming for Empty Pockets, you'll get this regardless, as I get beyond wave 25 utilizing that method (assuming you're relatively close to my Account Level).

Minion Overkill

Kill 100,000 minions.

This will come naturally as you earn the other trophies.

Chances are it will take a while, but it's something that's done in all matches, regardless of what you're doing.

Just don't think about it - it'll be earned at some point.

Un-Unchained

Five star a master or rift lord battleground without any players going Unchained.

This may seem like a challenge at first, but as you level up, you'll notice it's actually not that bad to achieve.

First, although the description says "players", it's entirely possible to do this solo. In fact, I would recommend you solo it so you don't have to worry about other players going Unchained.

Truthfully, it's not something you should worry about until you're at a really high account level with good traps. At that point, earning 5 Stars on a Master map without using Unchained should be entirely manageable.

I managed to get this without even thinking about it, on my first 5 Star clear on Falling Folly (Master), when I think I was around account level 40 or so.

Another potential map that I think is really easy to complete with 5 Stars is Storm Drain (Master), just as long as you make sure you bring in a character that can kill Swiftyhooves when he appears on wave 6. Outside of him, the map can be barricaded in a manner that forces all of the minions to take a very long route to get to the rift, making it easy to defend.

Check out the 5 Star Walkthrough for Master or Rift Lord for more information about how to 5 Star the maps.

Air-Blackpaw

Kill a minion in midair with Blackpaw's Pounce.

Blackpaw is one of the starter characters, so you can attempt this without having to buy anything at the Store.

This one is a bit awkward to earn though.

First, Pounce is considered to be Blackpaw's "Passive" and it basically just upgrades his regular jump into a double-jump, which propels him forward at a speed that's slightly faster than his regular moving speed.

That said, I'm unsure of what exactly is necessary to earn this trophy. The "a minion in midair" could me two different things:

Blackpaw and the minion need to be in midair.
Only Blackpaw needs to be in midair.

The reason why I'm not really sure, is because with both of my accounts, I earned this trophy without even trying to earn it. If only Blackpaw needs to be in midair, then it's simple enough, as you can attack while using Pounce. So all you really need to do (if you haven't gotten it), is attempt it on Apprentice, and possibly come back at a higher Account Level.

If Blackpaw and the minion need to be in midair, it's a little more tricky, and you'll need to use some sort of Physics trap to get to work. Flip Traps and Push Traps are available in Apprentice, but this may be the easiest once you get a Haymaker. If you can use multiple Haymakers in a small corridor, it's possible to continually push minions around in midair (until the Haymakers stop at least).

Hazard Play

Kill 1,000 minions by knocking them into battleground hazards.

This one may require some farming, as chances are you won't get very many kills like this, as they are harder to set up.

Battleground hazards are the various areas that minions (and yourself) can fall into - water, cliffs, acid pools, etc.

The trophy description is a bit misleading - traps that knock minions into hazards do not count but rather you have to do this personally with your own character.

Not every character gets a knockback, which means that there are only a handful of characters that can earn progress towards this trophy. The characters, and their respective abilities that have a knockback are:

Ivy - Penetrating Arrow
Zoey - Book Club
Bionka - Beat Dem Back
Gabriella - Kinetic Pulse
Temper - Exploding Hammer and Bull Rush

I got mine entirely with Ivy. Zoey can be good as well, as Book Club is fairly easy to control, and you can even upgrade the effect of the knockback at battle level 2 (Finding Inner Strength), but it's not necessary, as the knockback is fairly good as is.

Bionka I wouldn't recommend because she does so much damage, which means that chances are most minions will die instead of getting knocked back. Gabriella has a similar issue, since Kinetic Pulse is decently strong.

Temper on the other hand, is a little more questionable. Since his Bull Rush propels him forward in a straight line, you need to be very careful on ensuring that you're not going to rush right off a ledge, killing yourself. This can be difficult, because usually if there is something stopping you from falling off (such as a wall), this means that it's also going to prevent minions from being knocked out-of-bounds. Another thing to be aware of is just because Bull Rush seemingly propels minions off the map, doesn't mean they're necessarily dead; The Wall is a perfect example of this, because if you use Bull Rush on that map, you'll see that (at least some) of the minions will eventually make their way back to you. So Bull Rush is an option to get these kills, but realize that it takes a little more effort to use correctly.

Temper's Exploding Hammer isn't very useful to get these kills with, as the knockback isn't very good with that ability. It is possible to get these kills with it, but I wouldn't ever recommend using it as your main method.

Brass also does a knockback with her Primary. However, I didn't put her in the list above, because the knockback is extremely marginal. It's very difficult to appropriately set up a minion near an edge to effectively push them off with her Primary, so I would not recommend using Brass to try to farm for this trophy.

There are plenty of maps you can do this on, you just have to be thinking about it. Try to direct minions appropriately using Barricades, and slow them down with Tar in attempt to line them up (for Ivy) and/or group them up (for Zoey) when they're near an edge.

Forever Unchained

Be Unchained for a total of 1 hour.

Just another trophy that will take a while, assuming that you're using Unchained regularly (which you should be).

The duration of Unchained only lasts about 10 seconds, but Gabriella's passive allows her to be Unchained for 50% longer, and Bionka gets a battle level upgrade at level 4 (Unchained Momma) to increase the duration by 25%.

You can increase the duration of Unchained for any character if there is a nearby Unchained drop. If you pick one up while Unchained, the duration will be increased by a couple of seconds.

All in all, it'll just take a while, but it certainly isn't difficult.

Empty Pockets

Spend 200,000,000 coin.

This is the trophy that will take the longest to earn. Earning 5 Stars on all Survival maps will probably take 50 hours or so, but earning this trophy will add on at least another 150-200 hours. To be clear, if there is confusion - You have to spend 200 million Coin that is found in matches, which is earned by killing minions and picking up drops (and spent on placing traps).

At the time that I earned this, there wasn't any videos up showing how to potentially farm for this trophy. For this reason, my method is not the optimal method, but it does provide a decent amount of coin generation.

My method for Shark Island Endless should net you around 500,000 (depending on your equipment and Account Level), in about 30-40 minutes. I have since heard of other methods such as Banquet Hall Endless (which apparently can earn you around 800,000 in the same amount of time), and Frostbite on Rift Lord (which can earn around 250,000 in 10-15 minutes), but I haven't tested them.

So if there is another method you wish to try, I would recommend simply trying to search for a video or a guide of it. I don't really want to post another person's work, so I'm only going to show the method I personally used when I was farming for this trophy.

At the very least, maybe it can be utilized for simply more variety, as playing a single map with the same Hero over and over can potentially drive you insane.

Some notes about the video:

I would recommend taking the upgrades "Rich Vein" (level 2), "Strike it Rich" (level 4), "Gold Rush" (level 7), and "Kick'em in the Knees" (level 10).
Consider spending your surplus coin around wave 25 (by jumping into the water and buying the respawn). Obviously you will need to adjust this depending on your own personal progression; if you don't get to wave 25, you'll need to do it sooner. Also keep the time in mind, as there is still a 40 minute time limit of this writing (you really don't want to have the clock run past 30 minutes without spending your coin).
You don't specifically need the Teleport Ring, or the Guardians that I use. I don't use the Ring at all (it can help though), but I do think that the "Cook" and "Weaponwright" Guardians are optimal.
My video can be improved upon - It is possible to make more than what I manage, because if you know the map really well (and you will, if you practice it), it's possible to utilize the Coin Forges on almost every wave, as well as keep the passive buff from the Luck Potion on even longer than I did. Do keep in mind that ideally, you want that passive buff for as long as possible, but you'll lose it as soon as you die. So you can run the risk of not spending your coin to keep it on for longer, but you have to be confident that you'll get an opportunity to spend your coin before the match ends.

I do have some extra information (how many Ballistas I use for example) in the Endless section of this guide. Since I do get to wave 29 in the video, I reuse the video in my Endless section. I decided not to put it here simply to reduce the amount of clutter under this trophy description.

Chances are, you'll get severely burnt out by doing this, or any other map, multiple times with Dobbin. It does still work decently with any other Hero (assuming you do well with them), if you want to break up the monotony. With the same set-up, and getting to a similar wave, it's possible to earn around 450,000.

What I ended up doing was I tried to finish Shark Island Endless at least twice (once with Dobbin) per day, then I would switch to trying to earn all 5 Stars with all Heroes, using 5 Luck Potions on every map. It's still a huge grind, but at least it gave me a little variety.

Improvised Weapons

Kill 5,000 minions with environmental traps.

Environmental traps are the static traps that are specific to the map. These traps include the Boulder Chutes, the Boom Barrels, the Swinging Mace (which is only in Throne Room), the Cauldrons, among others.

It's difficult to say if there is a "best" map to earn these kills on, as it depends on how well you can direct minions into the trap area. My personal choice is Throne Room, because the Swinging Mace at the north bridge (and the south bridge too, but it's tough to cover both areas) doesn't have a limit on how many times you can use it, although it does have a cooldown of about 10 seconds.

Mostly, you want to just keep this trophy in mind every time you start a map, and try to keep on the lookout for potential kills with these traps, as this will take quite a while to earn.

I did make a video on some areas and maps I thought were a little easier to get some kills with.

So Bossy

Kill 500 boss minions.

This trophy should be earned as you work on the other trophies.

The boss minions are fairly obvious when they show up, as they get their own personal notification graphic, a unique graphic model, are usually much larger, and have much more HP than a regular minion.

Although killing 500 does seem like quite a grind, it's not as bad as some of the others. You might get this before the 100,000 minions kills.

If you do want to grind this for whatever reason, Falling Folly (Master) has about 6 or 7 boss minions in it, and the map generally only takes 10 minutes or so.

Combo Quest

Score a 15x or higher combo.

Multiplayer HIGHLY recommended!

This is probably the most difficult (non-grindy) trophy to earn. Keep in mind, at all times, getting this high of a Combo is very random, even when set up properly.

The first issue is that the game doesn't explain the Combo System all that clearly. It does point out that in order to earn a Combo, you need to damage a minion from multiple sources. What it doesn't tell you, is that not all of the stack accurately, particularly the sources from your Hero (it kind of varies, depending on which Hero you use).

One, of many examples, is Oziel. His Desecrated Ground ability throws bottle on the ground, which does Arcane damage in a radius, and it also slows. Since you're getting two different effects with this ability, initially you may think that it will be 2 different sources for the Combo, but this isn't true. It actually only grants one, making it difficult to determine which effect is adding to the Combo.

Another example is Bloodspike. His Primary, and his Secondary, both do physical damage, but they are technically two different sources (as they are two different abilities). Since other Heroes have different sources, and count appropriately (such as Max and his Primary/Secondary), one would think that it should work, but it's difficult to tell.

Zoey's another great one to wonder about - When she changes elemental schools, does it add another Combo point? Well, it's possible that it does, because the element is different, however, the ability itself is solely from her Primary, so it may not.

Midnight is also one to throw into question. Despite having different sources, she doesn't seem to Combo as well as you might think.

So a pretty good rule of thumb is - If it's different, count it as 1, even if it has multiple effects. This does take some experimenting to see what your Hero is capable of though.

If each different source counts for 1 point in the Combo, that means this is ultimately easier to do with at least 2 people. Each person can potentially contribute 7 different traps (although the reality is, chances are someone will need to bring a Barricade). So to do the math, assuming we have 1 person using a Barricade, in total we can potentially have:

13 different traps
4 different Gear
Each Player can contribute at least 1 point per their Hero
1 Guardian (obviously you can bring in more, but it's pretty rare to find a spot with 2 Guardians next to each other to contribute).

This is clearly more than 15, but it doesn't quite work out that way. I wouldn't really count on the Gear to contribute, because they can be a bit difficult to utilize correctly; the Fire Wall Bracers is probably ideal, followed by Ring of Storms, simply because they are automatic when placed down.

The Guardian cannot be relied on at all, and this is entirely because it pulls threat. Unfortunately, due to map design, you can't really place traps near the Guardian, so it's incredibly difficult to try to work in their potential Combo point (it is still possible though).

So I would recommend focusing primarily on your own Hero's abilities, as well as your traps. You don't necessarily need to use the method that I use in my video, as there are plenty of places to potentially set this up. To get started, take a look at this screenshot of The Baths:

As you can see, finding a similar place to this is ideal, because it's a compacted area where you can place floor traps, ceiling traps, and wall traps. This is how I basically set it up in my video (the video is using different traps, since it's with someone different).

We start out with a Great Wall Barricade within the small corridor, which forces the minions into a single lane, next to the wall. The other Great Wall Barricade is placed outside of the corridor, because we want the minions to get hit by more floor traps. This gives the minions a pathway to potentially walk into 4 different floor traps.

At the same time, this allows us to utilize all wall and ceiling spots. Arrow Wall can pierce through the Barricade, so this allows it to contribute to the Combo. A different ceiling trap is placed above each different floor trap. So in total, that's 4 different floor traps, 4 different ceiling traps, and 4 different wall traps.

Now, all we need are 3 more sources, which Stinkeye and Gabriella can manage on their own:

Both Heroes can contribute their Primary, which will count for 1 point each.
Stinkeye is important, because his Zephyr of Oasis Totem slows minions, which counts for the Combo.

Unfortunately, it's not this simple. Do keep in mind the small window we have to get all of these things to activate, and kill the minion. This is very hard to get all of these conditions lined up perfectly, but there are a couple of things we can add:

As you can see, the Floor Scorcher is pointing down towards the lane, but is placed on the other side of the Barricade. This works fine, as it can go through the Barricade.
The very first floor trap (as they enter) is an Ice Shard, but what matters is that it has a Combo Generator, which adds 1 to the Combo, but only if the minion is stunned, frozen, or in the air.
- You don't necessarily need to use Ice Shard, or even put a Combo Generator on whichever floor trap, but it can be used with any trap (that can equip it) you wish. Just make sure it is set up correctly; mine does not try to utilize the "frozen" status potentially given from Ice Shard, but rather, it's relying on the Concussive Pounder's stun that is placed above the Ice Shard.
There are other things you can do: In the video, I instead have an Arcane Bowling Ball shooting down the lane. If you have a 3rd person, this means you can potentially use the Arcane Bowling Ball this way, while still keeping all of the wall traps (as shown in the screenshot).
- Use Ballistas - In the video, we try using Ballistas instead. Again, due to their small placement, you can have a 3rd person place them above the first Barricade, so you can additionally have 2 more traps, in conjunction with your ceiling traps above the floor traps.
- Use Summoner traps - This is something I haven't tried, but it may work. It may be possible to place a Summoner trap outside of the corridor (I'm thinking next to the Floor Scorcher), and hopefully the "guardian" will run over the Barricade and fight minions in the middle of their path. I didn't try this though, as the Summoner trap has the same issue as the Guardian (needlessly pulling threat). However, it is another option to try out if you can manage a 3rd person to help you.

Finally, Gabriella is also important, because Kinetic Pulse activates all traps in range of it. Due to the area being so small, this is quite useful in this small corridor, and it's very easy to hit the majority of the traps with it. By trying to use Kinetic Pulse as much as possible (I would only recommend NOT using it at the beginning of the wave, as everything should activate), you increase the likelihood that multiple sources will activate at the same time.

You may wonder - Is upgrading my traps making this more difficult? I personally wondered this, because I wanted to ensure the minions weren't dying before all the various sources had a chance to activate. In my experience with it, it is actually better to get your traps upgraded. Not only do you have to consider the potential for faster firing times, and addition of parts, but because the window is so small (and you have to kill the minion to get the Combo), you get a better opportunity (in Endless at least) if your traps are better.

Let me clarify further - If you come in with low traps, that means that (probably) within the first 10 waves, you'll ultimately lose your window of opportunity, because minions will be taking too long to die. If you come in with better damage traps, chances are you'll need to get to a further wave, but you get a larger window to potentially get this to work. This is due to the fact that larger minions will spawn (but after a few waves, they'll be too strong), but the normal minions will continue to spawn as well, with higher HP, giving you more opportunities.

Here's a list of the traps I'm using in the video (not the screenshot), but I can only list my used Parts, as I have no idea what my partner was using (if anything):

Wall traps - Arrow Wall, Web Spinner, Grinder, Wall Blades, Arcane Bowling Ball
Floor traps - Ice Shard (Combo Generator), Viscous Tar, Floor Scorcher (Controlled Resonator, although not necessary), Floor Spikes, Tar.
Ceiling trap - Dragon's Lance, Ceiling Ballista, and Concussive Pounder (Self Improving Coil)
Barricade - Great Wall Barricade

Heroes used: Stinkeye and Gabriella

Top Tier

Upgrade 20 traps to tier 7.

This trophy is fairly time consuming, but not too difficult.

Getting a trap from tier 1 to tier 7 costs a total of 7,650 Skulls. This means that getting 20 traps to tier 7 will cost 153,000 Skulls. This is obviously a lot, but I would recommend focusing on the traps you regularly use in your loadouts first, then just forget about trying to get the rest of the 20 until you have no use for Skulls.

I would argue it's better to try to buy all the Heroes before upgrading traps you normally don't use, as getting more Heroes means more Skull generation.

As I point out numerous times, as you get closer to being done with Empty Pockets, you'll have an overabundance of Skulls to use, and not much to use it on. By the time I was done with Empty Pockets, I had all but 6 or 7 traps at tier 7, which is way more than 20.

Starkiller

Earn 5 stars on every map.

I would consider this to be either the hardest or second hardest trophy for the platinum, depending on how you feel about Combo Quest in comparison.

The description is a bit misleading, as it requires you to earn 5 Stars on every Survival map. Endless does not count towards this, so do not worry about getting 5 Stars there. Weekly Challenges are also not counted, as the game doesn't keep track of which ones you have earned 5 Stars on (except the one currently available).

A few things to keep in mind:

You only need to earn 5 Stars with a single Hero to get credit for progress, so don't worry about getting them with all Heroes if you don't want to.
Personally, I think earning 5 Stars is more difficult in co-op. The only exception is if you manage to play a map with someone that is at a higher Account Level than you, that really knows the map.
- This is due to how the game scales with multiplayer, as you'll notice you will be doing reduced damage in a group.
- Also keep in mind that the Trap Limit is shared, which means the people you are playing with may potentially be wasteful in their traps.
- Although you do earn Coin with another person's kill (I think you may need to contribute to the damage though), you get a decreased amount of it. You also need to earn the kill (either by yourself or by one of your traps) to earn experience to level your Hero.
Realistically, expect to be at least around Account Level 75-80 to be able to 5 Star the last Rift Lord maps.

All that said, the 5 Star Walkthrough found in this guide should be able to help you to earn this trophy.

Weekly Challenges

Warning: This may be a very useless section for readers, it just kind of depends.

The Weekly Challenge resets every Tuesday.

This means that any given video for the Weekly Challenge might only be helpful for a week, and I have no way to control that. My list is not comprehensive quite yet, but I think it's close, since I've seen a couple of Challenges repeat since I started writing this guide. Of course, this also assumes the developers are not going to continually make new Challenges at some point; if they do, it's going to be incredibly difficult to keep this section updated.

That said, I will try to keep these updated as best I can, but don't expect me to update the guide every week for the rest of my life. You also have to consider that I would have to resubmit this guide on GameFAQs every week in order to do so, which the administrators may not really appreciate.

If you don't see a guide for the Weekly Challenge here, just search for it on the internet. For one, I might add Weekly Challenges to my Youtube channel but not to this guide. If I don't have a video of them, there's a good chance someone else will.

The difficulty of Weekly Challenges vary. If all else fails, you can always figure them out yourself, but realize some are certainly more difficult than others. If you're just looking to complete one for trophy purposes, just be patient to find one that is manageable.

As stated in my Trophy Guide section, you do not need to 5 Star these for any reason other than to get the 5 Star chest. The trophy can be earned with only 1 Star.

Note: Since this section is a lot longer than I initially thought it would be, I would recommend using the Search function (Ctrl+F or Command+F) if you're looking for a specific Challenge.

Inferiority Complex

The challenge is to complete the map with a melee hero (Bionka, Hogarth, or Bloodspike) while only having 1 HP.

This is a challenge because when you die, the minions nearby get a speed boost. If you die too much they'll just floor it straight to your Rift. In addition, you don't get a lot of damage traps, but rather you get mostly physics traps to defend yourself with.

I used Bloodspike because I thought he was the best choice. Stunning Execution allows an instant kill, and Maiming Blow hits quite hard and has decent range. He's the most balanced out of the 3 heroes available - he hits harder than Hogarth, but weaker than Bionka. Bionka however, is significantly slower with less overall range.

You'll find you'll mostly want to be reliant on Maiming Blow and Ring of Storms, while using Stunning Execution on the larger minions (there are not many large minions here). There are a few Kobolds, so you may want to consider using Homicidal Rage when they appear. You can try to use your Primary attack to melee as best you can, but you need to make sure you're getting maximum range (I would only do this with the smaller minions) before attacking. You also want to try to move around while you're using your Primary, to get your best chances at not getting hit.

For traps, I utilize mostly Push Traps and Spike Walls, and you'll want to trap the south pathway more than the east (you'll usually want to clear the east gate first when it opens).

Your Own Devices

I didn't have many issues earning 5 Stars with Midnight.

Initially the north gate opens for the first 4 waves, then the NW and NE will open (north will close) for wave 5. You'll get all 3 gates for the last wave.

For the first wave, you'll see me watch the minions from above, then hit both cauldrons to increase some damage. You may not necessarily need to do this, but it's there if people want to do it. Open the gate when you drop back down, and don't put it back up until the last wave.

The only wave worth mentioning is wave 4: You'll get a large group of Kobolds, so make sure to prioritize them and use Ring of Storms every time it's up to help clear them.

On wave 6 - Kill Tubifore as you'll see him enter the map first. After he's dead, rush back to the gate to close it, then run back up to use the cauldrons once more to dish out some more damage. This way you can deal damage to minions from that gate and keep them preoccupied for a bit.

The Barricade strategy is simple enough - Try to block off the Rift so they can only enter from the southernmost part (I actually forgot to place 2 more Barricades in the video). As you head north, past the Guardian spot, the lane splits into 2 - block off one side when you have the coin. When the NW and NE gates open, Barricade the side that is closest to the north gate (so you can force all the minions into battling the Guardians that you should place down when the gates open).

I think this map was made with the new Guardian change in mind, as it would be extremely difficult to 5 Star without them.

Par Time can get pretty close though if you wait during breaks, so you'll see me rush through it.

One And Done

This Weekly Challenge wasn't too bad for me, although knowing how to place the Barricades obviously helps significantly. Max is great here because he can afford most of the Barricades on the first wave.

You do get a very large amount of minions per wave though, particularly on the first wave. For this reason, you see me place 2 more Barricades during wave 1, just to the north of the southernmost Guardian. This forces them to go down towards the Guardian, which can help with things.

This capture was actually a blind run, so I didn't know what to expect in terms of minions. You see me place 2 more Barricades up by north gate, as I usually do in Restricted Section (which is what this map is); this is to distract any Kamikaze Kobolds that come out of the north gate, which is what I was expecting to happen.

Unfortunately this does not happen, as you only see Kamikaze Kobolds come from the SE gate for 1 wave (the other yellow dots are Gnoll Grenadiers, which will just head to the Rift if you stay away from them). Of course, that Unstable Rift on the last wave was fairly unexpected, as I asked myself "I wonder if Kamikaze Kobolds will come out of that if I leave it"....lo and behold, that's exactly what happened.

I do wonder if I got kind of lucky - I was expecting them to immediately head to the south to blow up those Barricades below, but instead, they head to the east to blow up my decoy Barricades. For any viewers, simply move the decoy Barricades that I placed to the east of the north gate, to the west of the north gate, and there shouldn't be an issue.

If the Unstable Rift on wave 8 spawns somewhere else (in the middle, or over at the east) you may have some problems. If it spawns in the middle, you should be able to safely destroy it. Placing a Barricade in the east prior to wave 8 may help with the RNG if the Rift gets placed there, but you may just want to let it open otherwise, as I would continue to make sure the Kobolds from the south don't get to your Rift.

Do The Trap Shuffle

This is actually fairly difficult to do the 5 Star on, because of the Par Time. I barely manage it with less than 10 seconds, playing as Blackpaw. Personally I think getting the 5 Star is more trouble than it's worth here, as defending the Rift is fairly doable if you snake the minions in the NE area by splitting the room in half with Barricades. You won't see me do this though, because in order to get the Par Time, I have to use the coin for traps instead of Barricades.

The challenge description is a bit misleading - some abilities do in fact do damage. For Blackpaw, Go For The Throat does actually do damage, which you'll see me use here. The gnoll minions you can summon do damage as well, but that may be a little more obvious, since it's a little more "indirect". If you decide to try this as Tundra, realize his Avalanche ability does damage, but I'm pretty sure none of Cygnus's abilities do any damage (unless you take the Battle Level upgrade that makes your mini-Rift do damage).

I block the Rift off in a similar way as I do normally in Temple Graveyards, by forcing them all into the NE. I then place Barricades around the NE Guardian area to snake them through that area. The other Barricades (in the NW and SW) are just there to force the minions into a single lane, so I don't have to double-up on traps.

As for the damage traps, I mostly try to get a Brimstone down in front of most gates. You can place Boom Barrel Rollers above the SW and W gates, and then I place a number of traps (mostly Floor Spikes) in the area where the NW Guardian is.

The Guardian placement isn't really random here, as you'll want to put the "Shield" Guardian in the NW; this Guardian will see a lot of combat, so you'll want to utilize the extra HP/Damage he'll get for placing him at home. Although you can use another Shield Guardian in the NE, I opt to use the Priest instead, because having him freeze minions when they're that close to the Rift is helpful.

In terms of combat - I mostly rely on the Gear you're given, but you'll be pretty mana starved with using them and your abilities, so keep an eye out for those mana orbs. You can also just retreat to the Shield Guardian to regain some mana (assuming he's not in combat), but you'll more often see me just go to the Rift for its mana regen (I think it gives you slightly more than the Guardian one as well).

Other than that, a couple of tactics you'll see - I summon my gnolls at one gate, then just leave the gate so I can go kill things at another. You can also take advantage of pulling threat, and pull whatever minion is hitting you into a damage source (such as the Flame Wall Bracers, if it got placed in a weird spot).

Trying to get a feel for how many minions spawn at each gate helps a bit as well. Understanding that you don't necessarily need to clear every minion at whichever gate you are at can help with the Par Time - allow the Guardians and traps to do some work, by just going to a different gate when there are only a few minions left at your current area. From what I saw, I think you get more minions from the W/SW in comparison to the NW/NE, so you might want to prioritize the W/SW when you feel confident that your Rift will be safe.

Memory Lanes

The title and description of this Challenge makes no sense. The mini-map works fine, and there is virtually nothing to "remember" as each group from each gate is almost always comprised of the same minions. Note: I guess this was an unintended bug, or at least, that was my impression from reading other people's comments.

It is my personal opinion, a title such as "YOLO: Troll Your Customers" would be a better suited name for this Challenge, because it sucks. It is extremely hard to pull off the 5 Star (it can be difficult simply to complete), and I don't know how anyone can even do it with Max or Ivy, as I struggled immensely with both of them. If you can manage a 5 Star with Max or Ivy, you have my props.

Anyway, I spend all my starting coin with traps on the north gate. The reason for this is because they will split down the middle, and it's a gigantic problem.

While using Zoey, you want to use Chaos Blast (Triangle) to be your major source of damage. You can either try to clear out the soldiers with it (as I do with the second group) and then pick off the Shield Trolls, or try to get behind the Shield Trolls to hit them with it. It won't kill the Shield Trolls, but they are the bigger threat because they will ignore you and go for the Rift.

You have to be very fast putting down more traps, as they give you almost zero time between groups. I try to get 1 Brimstone down for the west and east gate (try to put them in a place where you feel confident they'll path, like the entry to the middle area). Other than that, I just try to spam Floor Spikes as much as possible, and I do it really sloppy because I'm just trying to place them fast.

The large group from the east gate (at 2:40) is the biggest threat in my opinion. I used Unchained for them, but if it's not up, you can try to use Chaos Blast + Feebee's Wrath to clear them. If you use Feebee's Wrath, be mindful that it won't slow anything down, so make sure to use it in a manner that allows maximum damage. In other words, you want to use it further down into their path (closer to the Rift) to ensure they're going to walk through as much of the area-of-effect as you can manage.

Also with Zoey, try to keep the attack speed buff up as much as possible; use Book Club and Trial and Error to ensure it stays up as long as you can (I would prioritize Book Club, since the potential of getting stunned with Trial and Error would be really bad).

For Zoey's upgrades, I take "Chapter 3: Mastering the Schools" (down) at level 2, and "Chapter 5: Training Familiars" (right) at level 4.

Good luck, as it is certainly involved here. Once complete, you can sit back and enjoy that ~15 experience they give you (it's totally worth the stress).

Grand Finale

I personally found this easiest as Max, as he can place Decoys with no cost. I think it's a Challenge that might be tough at first, but with a little practice it becomes fairly easy.

On the first wave, you should have enough coin to block off all but one side of the Rift. When I normally do Midnight Market, I always force them down into the SE, so I just do that here as well. I place down a Coin Forge in the middle, just for a chance at extra coin, but I ultimately don't use it much. I place down 4 Decoys, which will slow the minions down somewhat.

My general strategy is to use Boom Barrels in conjunction with the Decoys. By placing Barrels near the Decoys, you can group a few of the minions, allowing you to kill multiples with a single explosion.

Not only that, but it allows you to take advantage of how the Decoys gain threat. There is a limit to how many minions will attack the Decoy, and you will notice that once that limit is reached, all the other minions will simply ignore it and continue their path. However, by placing a Barrel down and killing the minions that are actively attacking the Decoy, the other minions (that are ignoring it) will actually go back and attack it, allowing you to slow them down.

Truthfully, I don't think you need Decoys to finish this Challenge, but they do help. I do two different things with the Barrels: I place them next to Decoys, and I try to replace each Barrel once I destroy it (a good example of doing this well is at 4:54). Trying to replace Barrels actively does take a little bit of practice, but it's well worth it, as it can make this Challenge much easier. If you're playing on the PS4, I tried to get into kind of a rhythm with it; press R1 to switch to the Barrel, R2 to place, L1 to switch to Primary, R2 to shoot (R1, R2, L1, R2) and just repeat that. Do keep in mind you may have to get a bit closer to it because the minions may end up blocking your shots.

The Terracotta minions aren't affected much by the Barrels, so try to use In Your Faces for them, but be aware of your mana usage. The Water Dragons are kind of optional, and it may be just better to try to get them to ignore you so they can just enter the Rift. On the last wave, you get Firelings (from the north gate), which will should go to your Decoys if you have some nearby. I try to destroy them right out of the gate though, as I'd prefer just to kill them myself just to make sure they don't cause unnecessary problems.

Also be warned that Boom Barrels can detonate with other Boom Barrels. This is good or bad depending on what you want to do, but I personally don't want that to happen, so I try to keep them spread out as best I can.

For Max's upgrades, I take Endorsements at level 2, Lucky Shot at level 4, Bad at Self Reflection at level 7, and Persistent at level 10.

I'm The Boss Now

This isn't too bad as Midnight, but it does help to be comfortable with accurately hitting with her Vital Strike.

Not much strategy is needed here, as you don't get a lot of traps to work with. I start off by putting 2 Big Game Hunting Ballistas on the ceiling in the small corridor in the middle of the map. I then place the other 4 Hunting Ballistas I can afford using the...overhangs I guess, located next to the pillars, in the northern part of the room (starting with the ones closest to the gate).

As Midnight, I use the combination of Prowl and Vital Strike for the extra damage, while trying to melee the stunned target as best I can while I wait for the Vital Strike cooldown to refresh. Since Midnight has low HP, I try to swerve back and forth in an attempt to avoid their melee hits (and I fail at it during that first wave).

As you get more coin, just keep placing down Hunting Ballistas where you can.

During wave 2, you'll get 2 Urzas, so be careful and watch their HP; an accidental attack to the Firelings that spawn when they die could potentially mean your death. The Firelings aren't worth any Rift points though, so once they show up you may want to just hit Prowl and let them head to it. I kill a couple of the Fireling stragglers since they weren't heading southward.

During wave 4, there are 2 Swiftyhooves, but he isn't much of a threat if you have enough Ballistas down. Just try not to get too distracted by placing down extra traps, as you should still help the Ballistas with killing him, just in case.

During the last wave, you get a Mercenary. If you get the Dwarf Priest, that could really risk the Par Time, so I would use Unchained (if available) if he showed up. Otherwise, I would say it's optimal to just ignore the Mercenary if you can, as you don't have to kill him to complete the Challenge. Try to focus on killing Lyzander first, as he will just revive the two Bulgods if you don't.

Par Time is pretty close here, so try to be quick. I don't use Unchained, but it would be really useful to use it on that last wave, regardless of what Mercenary spawns.

Keep Your Distance

I think it's fairly manageable to earn the 5 Star as Max. Deadeye is probably just as good, but Ivy might struggle a little more due to her lower damage output.

The restriction to this Challenge is obviously the healing aura that is constantly surrounding your character. It does heal minions a tremendous amount, and you'll see that you really can't damage them at all if they're in the aura. To combat this, Max has his Absolutely Stunning Bolt; Deadeye has Outta The Way (R3), and Ivy has Reach of Roots/Penetrating Arrow.

Barricade strategy - I place my Barricades the way I always do in Training Grounds; I block off the exit from the room just north of the "Barracks" Guardian, then at the north gate I place a single Barricade to force them into a single lane. After the first wave, I begin to place down Barricades to the east of the "islands" in the south, to not only force them all down into a single lane, but force them into Grinders as well.

I would say the first big hurdle is wave 3 - it's much larger than the first two waves, and you get a decent amount of large minions, as well as Shamans mixed in. For this reason, I would recommend using your first Unchained on this wave. Afterwards you should have plenty of coin to use on traps, so feel free to spend as much as you want (the eastern gate opens on the final wave).

Wave 4 - Kamikaze Kobolds come from the south gate, so you may want to be there as the wave starts; in retrospect that is what I should have done instead of putting down more traps (you can go back to placing traps after they're cleared). Placing down extra Barricades to snake them before they get to the Barracks Guardian (as shown in the video) is really helpful I think, because it'll buy you a little more time to clear things.

Wave 5 - Orfum shows up from the south gate, but it's not immediate. I start out at the north, but you can always just wait at the south until he shows up. If you're worried, you can use Unchained to clear him, as it shouldn't be too necessary to use Unchained for the last wave.

Wave 6 - I actually completely overdid it with the traps at the eastern side. There are only 3 boss minions that show up in this wave: Commander Tower, Grenwalde the Nature Lord, and Bulgod. Chances are you may just need to place that single Barricade to force them into a single lane, but other than that they shouldn't really get very far, particularly with a Guardian placed down. You could probably get away with just using a lot of Tar if you want to make it simplistic.

Vanishing Act

I earned the 5 Star with Zoey, and I think she's the best Hero of the 3 to do it with. First, she has access to Fire spells, which will help deal damage (since they're all Ice minions). Second, she has a good assortment of abilities that hit in a radius; the goal here is trying to reveal the minions, and so if you can hit a larger area, there's a better chance you'll deal damage to get them to break their invisibility.

My trap strategy is fairly basic - I put Tar and a single Spitfire Wall near the gate, then just place a lot of Floor Spikes down in hopes that they'll catch the minions as they walk over them. The long line of Floor Spikes along the bridge should be enough to catch everything on the first wave, assuming you're aggressive enough with your attacks.

After the first wave, I put down more Tar (once south of the bridge, I start using 3 floor traps) in conjunction with another Spitfire. I then place 2 rows of Floor Spikes. On wave 2, you see me sort of randomly start spamming abilities, and that's because I thought something was around that got through the traps (which I was a little confused by).

In the NW, it's the same exact set-up, so just repeat the process. The way the waves play out is that you'll have the NW for wave 3, 4, and 5, but you'll get another Go break at the end of wave 4. At the end of wave 5, the NW will close, and the NE will open again, but unfortunately you don't get a Go break for this, which is a little stressful.

On wave 3, you get an Unstable Rift, and chances are you're going to have to let it open. I would say it's feasible to destroy it if it spawns just north of the "Kitchen" Guardian spot (although I've never gotten it to appear there, so I'm not 100% sure), but otherwise, the minions from the gate really need to be focused on.

The Giants that spawn from the Unstable Rift can be tricky to get though, but try to utilize everything that you have to break their invisibility.

On wave 5, Iceberg will spawn (and he'll be one of the first out of the gate), so I would recommend using Unchained in order to kill him quickly. Make sure you destroy all the Ice Elementals when he dies, including the Runners.

As wave 6 starts, you see me try to frantically put some more Spitfire and Tar down in the NE. I also add 4 Dragon's Lances, but the Tar and Spitfire are probably more important. The reason is because you do get Kobolds from the NE on this wave, and they really need to be slowed down in order for the Spitfire to hit them.

As Zoey, I try to use Feebee's Wrath when I can right at the start of the gate, since that is when the minions will be grouped up the most. I take the upgrades Chapter 3: Mastering The Schools for the attack speed duration increase (Level 2); Chapter 5: Training Familiars (Level 4); and Chapter 9: Death and Chaos (Level 7). In retrospect, it may have been smarter to take Chapter 4: Refreshing the Spirit at Level 4, because I was struggling with Mana a few times during the match.

Purple Maze

I used Gabriella for this, but Stinkeye or Oziel should perform fairly similar.

This Challenge is kind of like a regular Survival map, in the sense of when you know what to expect (and how to Barricade it), it's not too bad. This is Barricaded in a very similar way as I do in the normal version of Eventide Fortress, by trying to loop all of the minions towards the SE corner. It does have a few additions to extend their pathway further (like the Barricades just SW of the Temple Guardian), as the Par Time shouldn't be much of an issue.

It does throw a lot of Barricade-destroying minions at you though (at least one type each wave), so being prepared for that is vital. Here's a list:

Wave 1 - Kamikaze Kobolds from the only open gate, not a huge deal.

Wave 2 - Kamikaze Kobolds from the NE gate.

Wave 3 - Orfum from the west gate, Kamikaze Kobolds from the east gate.

Wave 4 - Kamikaze Kobolds from the south gate, Fire Giants from the NE gate. You'll also get an Unstable Rift on this wave.

Wave 5 - Kamikaze Kobolds from the west gate, Fire Giants from the NE gate.

Wave 6 - Kamikaze Kobolds and Fire Giants from the NW gate, Tubifore from the north gate.

These are the reasons why you see me place multiple single Barricades around these gates; since you don't get any Go breaks between waves, it's important to plan ahead for them instead of trying to react to them.

As for the trap placement, you don't necessarily need to trap exactly as I do, but just keep in mind that you have Viscous Tar, not regular Tar, so you're going to want to alternate floor traps. Ideally, you'll want Cursed Ground after Viscous Tar, since it does more damage if the minion stays on the trap longer (and it will, since it will have the slow debuff from Viscous Tar), then you can use Viscous again, or Brimstone.

I would also recommend keeping the trap limit at 118 or 119 at most, just in case you want to place an extra Barricade or two down. Since minions are pretty much everywhere, it's really difficult to try to sell and replace a decoy.

Other than that just make sure you're always keeping an eye on the SE corner, and try to head down there (if you have a second) if minions are getting through your traps there.

Playing With Fire

This is a decently tough Challenge, but I think it's easiest with Zoey, due to her damage output.

I would be very impressed to anyone who manages to 5 Star this on the first try, without using a guide. This is entirely due to the fact that you almost need to have played it once to know where the Unstable Rifts are. You can place the Big Game Hunting Ballistas at their location to destroy them (with the exception of the west one, since I couldn't find a ceiling nearby).

Besides the Ballistas, I would recommend at least placing a Power-Up trap, but the Shield trap may be a little more optional (it depends on how well you can avoid damage).

Try to pick up the Power-Up every time it's up, and for the first 3 waves (up until wave 4), you'll want to always start with the westernmost Unstable Rift to get it out of the way. After it's destroyed, just head over and clear up the rest. Try to prioritize the Armored Grizzlies first, because they have a tendency to ignore you more and go straight for the Rift.

You also want to be very careful of the Order Mages though, as chances are a single Fireball will kill you. You can try to use the pillars in the Rift room to get out of line-of-sight, but sometimes their animation gets kind of strange, and they don't shoot in the direction they are facing (which is a bit disorienting).

On wave 4, instead of starting with the Unstable Rift, I would recommend starting with the gate. The reason why is because you should try to take out the Kamikaze Kobolds first, then work on clearing the rest of the wave. The Unstable Rift should just spawn a couple of Order Mages, but hopefully the majority of the wave is cleared anyway, so you shouldn't have problems getting rid of them once they spawn.

Wave 5 is the tough wave, because not only do you get even more Kamikaze Kobolds, but the Unstable Rift can potentially spawn Kamikaze Kobolds as well. I use Feebee's Wrath on the minions as they enter on this wave, then try to clear them as quickly as I can. I'm unsure if all the Unstable Rifts are like this, but on wave 5, I know what it spawns is random; I have gotten Kamikaze Kobolds on one attempt, and Dwarf Grenadiers on a different attempt.

The reason why I prioritize the Kamikaze Kobolds, is because I kind of recall (when this Challenge was offered previously) the Kobolds count towards Rift points. I can't remember if this is actually the case, but I didn't want to risk it. You can experiment though if you wish.

What I do know for sure, is that the Dwarf Grenadiers do NOT count towards Rift points, so you don't even have to worry about them getting to the Rift.

For upgrades, I take "Chapter 3: Mastering The Schools" (attack speed buff duration), and "Chapter 5: Training Familiars" (Feebee attack speed).

Gotta Go Fast!

This is the one I can't 5 Star no matter what I do. The entire issue is the Par Time; my best time has been just under 4:30 with Cygnus (the Par is 4:00). I've tried with all 3 Heroes, and I think Cygnus performs the best, Dobbin the second best, and Temper the worst. The problem with Dobbin is that he doesn't have the damage output to deal with all the minions, and unfortunately Temper's damage (in this particular Challenge, not in general) seems a bit sporadic, due to his design. Temper will also struggle to survive the most, as he only does slightly more damage than Dobbin, but he is also taking threat from the large minions.

The match consists of 5 waves. So that means you have to clear each wave at a minimum of 48 seconds per wave. However, also keep in mind that the 10 second countdown at the end of each wave, which means that you have 40 total seconds of being idle between waves.

What you will also notice, is that minion pathing behavior is incredibly bizarre; you may see minions from the north gate, instead of going straight south, go to the west or the east instead. I have seen minions from the west gate also move all the way to the east hallway, then start moving south. This doesn't happen with a lot of minions (maybe 1 or 2 per wave), but it's enough to affect your Par Time.

Also keep in mind that Dragon's Lance has changed since this Challenge was initially available. In prior patches, it had a shorter cooldown, so currently with its longer cooldown (although it does more damage), it may not be as helpful. Do keep in mind that if you decide to use Dragon's Lance, there's a good possibility that the minions will move out of its range before it has a chance to fire.

Anyway, all weirdness aside, Cygnus at least makes this Challenge somewhat easy to complete. Due to his Rift Lord passive, it is possible to mostly just camp at the Rift, which is what you'll primarily see me do in my video.

Trap Placement:

I start out by placing Tar (x4) and Arrow Walls (x4) at the north gate. I go back to the Rift area and use the rest of my coin to place more Tar down at the bridge.

At the end of the first wave, the western gate will open first. I try to just continue the process of placing Tar in conjunction with Arrow Walls, as I think it's the most effective. Ideally, it's best to try to place it around the gate (due to how some minions will take different paths), but you'll find out you can't really place too much at each gate.

At the end of the second wave the eastern gate will open, so try to head over there immediately with the 10 seconds it gives you to place what you can.

If you wish to place down more traps at a gate, I would recommend clearing that gate when the wave starts (that is, once the gate has opened). In other words, if you want to place more traps at the eastern gate (and they've already broken it down), just stay there and clear the minions; don't place traps at the eastern gate then move to the north once the wave starts.

Strategy:

The idea is to try to pick a gate to start with (which is generally whatever one is currently open), clear it as much as you can, while keeping an eye on the mini-map. As soon as you see a minion get away from you, immediately retreat to the Rift.

Cygnus can get his Rift Lord buff while standing at the "peak" of the bridge, but do realize, at this spot, you do not get the HP/Mana restoration the Rift gives. This means you have to be very careful of not running out of Mana as you spam your Primary/Chain Lightning.

Once all 3 gates are open, it's also just an option to sit at the Rift and let them come to you (this is if you don't want to worry as much about eyeing the mini-map). Ideally though, I think it's best to continue to stay at a gate once a wave opens to help clear it, then retreat to the Rift as soon as you see the minions (from the other gates) approach the middle area.

You may want to save Unchained for the last wave, as it will include Bulgod (from the north gate). I would recommend being at the north gate as the last wave starts, so you can take him out as quickly as possible. You don't necessarily need to kill him at the north gate, but rather just soften him up, so he's not at full HP as he approaches the south; killing him amidst all the other minions, while he's at full HP and moving fast, is pretty risky.

Another very simplistic way to complete this map (with Cygnus) is simply to overuse Tar. You can start placing Tar at the Rift, then work your way north, placing it in all spots that the minions will path. It's a little awkward to place it around the Guardian spot, but it is possible to surround the Guardian spot, and just continue to place Tar, branching it to the north, east, and west. This allows you to camp the Rift even better, as the minions will start to get slowed from an earlier spot, allowing you to pick them off as they approach.

Upgrades:

I take Silver Streak (level 2) and Mana Miser (level 4). Chain Lightning is very beneficial here, and although I normally take Experienced at level 2, taking it is pointless if you camp near the Rift.

Mana Miser will help keep your Mana up since the spot you'll be camping the Rift from won't give you its Mana restoration.

Library-Rinth

I used Oziel for this, and that's mostly because you get Swiftyhooves on the last wave. He has to be taken care of very quickly here, and Oziel does the best single-target damage out of all 3 given Heroes. Cygnus can perform probably second best, and Smolder is probably the worst choice here (although you might be able to manage her trophy on this Challenge).

Oziel is also really good for this map because I think the Challenge is easier if you try to rely on your Gear to deal damage. This does come at quite the expense to your Mana, and Oziel's ability to siphon his own HP for Mana (using L3) is a great advantage.

The one thing that I think is key to this map is seeing that you can block off the Rift with Barricades, forcing the minions to loop all the way around it before they can enter. You don't necessarily need to follow my exact placement in order to do that, but I would recommend trying to keep enough space so you can put down Tar later.

Although it is possible to use Barricades near the gates in order to funnel them into a single lane, or extend their pathway, it's not really necessary. If you're going to do that, it's best to do it once you feel satisfied with the Barricades and Tar that are around the Rift area.

Wave 1 - This can be a somewhat stressful wave, as chances are you only have a minimal amount of Barricades (and probably no Tar) around the Rift. The first thing you get from the gate is a large group of Kobolds, and they come from two different sides. To deal with this, go to the first place they merge and place down at least Fire Wall Bracers, but Ring of Storms will help guarantee that they won't get by. With Oziel, Desecrated Ground helps this process even further.

Wave 2 - You should start this wave by completing your Barricade "loop" around the Rift, and if you have the Coin, one Tar at the place where it begins. You can use this spot with the Tar as the chokepoint, and do the exact same thing as you did with wave 1 to deal with all the minions, but especially the Runners (combine Ring of Storms and Fire Wall Bracers).

After Wave 2, just continue to place down as much Tar as you can manage, then keep repeating the process of using Ring of Storms, Fire Wall Bracers, and your Hero's abilities to clear waves.

Wave 4 - At the end of this wave I would recommend placing a lot of Tar at the west gate, before you end the Go break. This almost entirely for Swiftyhooves, as you really need to slow him down to make an attempt to kill him.

Wave 6 - Swiftyhooves appears at the west gate, but hopefully you have enough Tar down to slow him down amongst all of the other Satyrs. I would highly recommend using Unchained for this wave, for the sole purpose of killing Swiftyhooves. Afterwards, just bolt down to the Rift and find a spot to continue to clear the rest of the Runners (which is the entire wave) with your usual combination of Gear that you have been using.

Fun With Physics

This is a pretty tough Challenge, as you only get access to physics traps. The main issue isn't using physics traps, but rather, they throw minions at you that won't be affected by them (Ogres and Kobolds).

I did manage a 5 Star with Zoey, but with some practice. I think Gabriella would be the tough to do this with, and with Ivy it might be difficult as well. Zoey is kind of the "happy medium" between the two; she can have a fast attack speed like Ivy (for the Kobolds), but she also deals more damage than Ivy.

I would recommend focusing on the west gate, as it has the shorter path to the Rift, and it mostly gets the tougher groups of minions. I set up 2 Spike Walls near the west gate (make sure they point the right way), then put 3 Flip Traps past the Guardian area. On the east gate, I spend the rest of the coin placing down Push Traps; try to ensure that the lower Push Traps are pushing minions into the lava (and not the pillars).

Wave 1 - Stay at the west gate, as it'll be broken down first. Try to clear as much as you can, but keep an eye on the minions from the east; as soon as they start approaching the Guardian, head over there to help him out.

Wave 2 - I start by placing as many Flip Traps as I can at the east gate, (don't point them towards the teleport, they can be flipped into it). Once the wave starts, just repeat what you did on the first wave. You will get Kobolds on this wave, but there are not too many of them.

Wave 3 - I add a Spike Wall and a Haymaker near the bend at the east gate. This wave is much more like the first two, and there's not really any minions to note. Just go back to clearing the west first, then clean up the east.

Wave 4 - I add my first Haymaker to the ceiling near the Rift (on the west side), to hopefully catch any minions that get close to the Rift. The east gate should mostly be okay with what it has, so I would recommend focusing on putting traps on the west side as much as possible from now on. There's a good amount of Ogres on the west side during this wave, so if you're playing Zoey, feel free to use Feebee's Wrath if you want (it's pretty good to use it near the Guardian, as they'll cluster more). I add 2 more Haymakers near the one I placed around the Rift earlier.

Wave 5 - Toughest wave to get through, and it will more than likely cost you Rift points. The group from the west gate consists entirely of Kobolds, and to make matters worse, they trickle through only a few at a time. Do not assume that any of your traps will work on them, because they more than likely won't. In the video, I use Unchained and Feebee's Wrath just in some attempt to try to clear them (with mixed results). Unfortunately, the minions from the east will also survive the majority of your traps, so you will more than likely need to retreat to the Rift and try to pick them all off as the two lanes merge right before the Rift. This is very hard to do, and I will admit I was stressing quite a bit in the video during this wave.

Wave 6 - If you managed to get through wave 5 with your Rift points intact, this wave should give you less problems. It's kind of like a repeat of wave 4 (Ogres from the west), just with more minions. You may need to fall back to the Rift though, as chances are more minions will get past the Guardian in the east.

Upgrades: Chapter 3: Mastering The Schools (Level 2), Chapter 5: Training Familiars (Level 4), Chapter 9: Death and Chaos (Level 7).

Doublets!

The Challenge is pretty simple to understand, as the description says it all - groups of enemies will double in size with every wave. It's not too bad with Zoey, but I can imagine that the other Heroes can do fairly well if you want to use them instead.

I remember doing this Challenge in previous patches, and it was significantly more difficult. The fact that they patched the game to allow you to place down more Guardians make this Challenge much more manageable.

So prioritize that first - Place down as many Guardians as you can with your initial Coin, then you can use the rest of what you have left to set up a long line of Tar in front of the Rift, on that makeshift bridge (similar to what I did in the Gotta Go Fast! Weekly Challenge).

As you gain more Coin, continue to prioritize placing new Guardians until all of the spots are filled. At that point, you can use whatever traps you wish, but I opted to simply use more Tar and place a bunch of Arrow Walls in various places.

It may be important to note the makeup of each gate though; the west gate will have Fire Fiends, the north gate will have Gnoll Grenadiers, and the east gate will have Armored Ogres. With this in mind, obviously you don't want to use Flip Traps in the east, but anything else should be fine, as the Guardians will do the majority of the work.

In terms of strategy, I personally went after the north first, since the Gnoll Grenadiers are probably the biggest threat to your Guardians, and are fairly easy to kill. At that point, you can make your own judgement call about which of the other gates you want to go for; there are more Fire Fiends than Ogres, and they move faster, but Ogres have more HP and deal more damage to your Guardians. So you just have to make a decision about what to clear first.

The first few waves shouldn't really give you any problems, but the 4th is when the numbers become decently significant. If your worried about things getting to close to the Rift, back up and retreat to that line of Tar on the bridge, and begin to pick off what gets through.

I would highly recommend saving Unchained for the last wave, as you'll see a ton of minions, and there's a good chance a few of your Guardians have taken a lot of damage, meaning they won't survive long. Again, just retreat to the Rift, wait until all of the lanes merge somewhat, and use Unchained to try to clear as much as you can.

I did find the Par Time to be fairly forgiving, as I managed it with Zoey on the first attempt, with just over a minute to spare.

Upgrades: The usual of Chapter 3: Mastering The Schools (Level 2); Chapter 5: Training Familiars (Level 4); and Chapter 9: Death and Chaos (Level 7).

We Can Rebuild It

This one can be pretty tough. You'll see me struggle with Midnight some (with her HP), but unfortunately it's not much different with the other Heroes. I managed a 5 Star with Stinkeye as well, but he can get a little overwhelmed with how many minions there are. I think Gabriella is probably the toughest, because she probably would do the worst against all the Earth Elementals.

The Challenge is only tough because there are just a ton of minions to deal with, and you don't really get anything helpful in terms of traps.

I set up my Barricades in the same way as I did in Docks at Eventide: block off the east side and try to extend their pathway as much as possible in the west.

I do try to put some Flip Traps down, but they have some questionable use. Since you do get an entire wave of Kobolds (Wave 2), and the next wave has a lot of Earth Elementals, most traps are not going to get much use on these toughest waves.

For this reason, you can probably just use whatever traps you wish, but putting down some Viscous Tar is certainly helpful. Do keep in mind though it does nothing to the Earth Elementals.

I ended up being mostly reliant on my Hero (and Guardians) to kill things. The only thing I would really recommend is putting up a decoy Barricade before Wave 2 (for Tubifore) and Wave 4 (for Orfum).

Gaeadin does show up in Wave 3, so you may want to use Unchained for him. If you can manage it, using Unchained again in Wave 4 would also be really helpful for all of the Trolls.

Dodge City

It's a decently tough challenge, but I did manage the 5 Star with Zoey.

I was struggling immensely until I realized how well the Floor Spikes worked here. I wouldn't really recommend using the Push Traps along the east/west walls like in normal Gates of Thuricvod, as they were pushing the Archers into the middle lane.

I end up only using Shock Zappers, Floor Spikes, and Wall Blades. For the middle lane, I start off by using 4 Shock Zappers right above the gate, then use two Floor Spikes with the Coin I have left.

Both NW and NE gates will open on Wave 2, and so I evenly distribute Floor Spikes along their respective lanes (6 for each side). I had enough Coin for 1 more Floor Spikes on the east, so I added one more on that side.

After Wave 2, you should have enough Coin to finish using Floor Spikes all the way down the east and west lanes. When you're done, you can then start to work on a long line of Floor Spikes in the middle, or you can try put some Wall Blades/Shock Zappers in the east and/or the west.

After Wave 3, it starts to get difficult, so make sure you spend all of the Coin you've been earning.

Wave 4 starts out with Swiftyhooves in the middle, and I do think it's just about completely necessary to use Unchained for him. He should show up shortly after the first few Orc TNT Archers. Urza will also spawn from the NW gate, so be prepared for him as well. No boss minions will appear from the NE on this wave.

Wave 5 has Lyzander from the middle, and Gaeadin from the NE. If the east lane is appropriately trapped (at least 4 Shock Zappers, a few Walls Blades, and a row of Floor Spikes), it should be enough to at least kill Gaeadin but it may not kill the Earth Elementals that spawn afterward. I personally try to go after Lyzander first, but I do keep an eye on Gaeadin.

In terms of combat, just try to quickly run in and use Chaos Blast (when you're Zoey at least), ideally when they're grouped up, and immediately run away from all of the minions. The Archers are certainly deadly, so don't underestimate how much damage they deal. Try to hide behind pillars and walls as best as you can. Also consider retreating back to the Rift if you're taking too much damage, as the Archers seem a little slower than normal minions.

Also keep in mind Gnoll Grenadiers should not take away Rift points, but Orc TNT Archers do.

Upgrades I take: Chapter 1: Wellness From Chaos (level 2); Chapter 5: Training Familiars (level 4); and Chapter 9: Death and Chaos (level 7)

Rolling In It

I managed the 5 Star with Dobbin, but my assumption is that Cygnus and Smolder shouldn't have too many problems either.

The first, and maybe only thing to really know about this map are the Unstable Rifts - Although there may be a desire to destroy them, my personal recommendation is to let them all open. Mr. Moneybags does appear from the Unstable Rifts, but it's not randomized; he'll appear on all odd numbered waves (1, 3, 5). In terms of Coin, it is nice to have him appear so you can afford more traps.

The reason why you might want to let the others open is also because of Coin generation. The Unstable Rifts on the even numbered waves (2 and 4) consist of a mixture of normal and large minions, along with Dread. Although these minions aren't worth as much as Mr. Moneybags, they still are worth a decent amount.

The extra Coin is important because the last wave will throw a ton of minions at you from both gates. If you're not adequately prepared, you may get overrun. The waves that spawn the Unstable Rifts with Dread (waves 2 and 4) I would argue are a little more optional, because they will cost you more time. However, even with letting all of the Unstable Rifts open, you should be able to manage the Par Time with 10-30 seconds to spare. If you do want to destroy the Unstable Rifts, I would recommend doing it when you're more comfortable with the map.

Other than that there's really not much to say about this map. Obviously just place a Great Wall just north of the Rift to funnel the NW gate minions into the NE, but you can also place another one in the south, right at the bend, to force the SE minions closer to the wall (which allows them to group up for Shock Zappers).

It's all pretty optional though, as the first 5 waves have so little minions, there's really not much reason to develop a strategy. The last wave does have significantly more minions from each gate, but personally I think it's more of a question of "do you have enough put down" more than anything else.

I use Shock Zappers on the more "square" ceiling parts, and I try to put in some Ballistas on the thinner ceiling areas, since they fit. You only get 2 floor traps, Brimstone and Viscous Tar, so there's little reason to put them back-to-back. Spike Walls are a little more suited in the southern area since there's more places to put them (just make sure they're pointing the way you want them to).

Alms For The Poor

It's not too bad to complete this as Blackpaw, but I would say that the 5 Star requires you to be really active and aggressive. Smolder may seem like a good choice here, but I really struggled with her because she doesn't really have good damage output towards the bosses. Hogarth I haven't tried, but my guess is that he's probably on par with Smolder.

This can be set up the exact same way as regular Storm Drain - put Great Walls to block the paths north, NE, south, and west of the Rift. This forces them all to make a really big loop around, giving their only entrance to the Rift room at the east side.

Given how the Great Walls will take up a lot of your starting Coin, you're not going to have a lot to work with for the first wave. I put down 2 Tar and 2 Arrow Walls in the southern pathway, but you can use your remaining Coin however you think will be helpful for that first wave.

I start placing traps in the south because eventually I'll make a really long line of Tar, completely covering that southern path. I think the southern path is ideal to trap here, because it's a little more narrow than the west side, which allows them to cluster a little better for the damage traps. When you have the Coin, try to distribute an even amount of Tar, Arrow Walls, and Lightning Rods along the southern path.

The Coin drops are really random, but mostly they're pretty frequent. You do get Mr. Moneybags on a couple of waves, but I think I had a couple of attempts where he barely dropped anything, so you may struggle as a result of that, if it happens.

During each wave, it's really beneficial if you try to actively pick up Coin while fighting minions as best you can. The Coins actually stay around for quite a while, but each wave is decently long, so it's better to try to pick them up when you see them (just because it's really pivotal to be successful). Keeping an eye on your Coin is also a good idea, because it's a really good idea to try to actively place down traps in the first few waves. To do this, it's good to try to start killing at the gate, then after you've gained some Coin, run ahead of the minions to place as much as you can down.

For Blackpaw, I rely heavily on Wound The Prey (L2) and the Ring of Storms. Wound The Prey is obviously really awesome to kill the boss minions, and Ring of Storms is really good for groups. Pepper in Go For The Throat as necessary to heal yourself. If you're not aware, your Gear is actually mapped to the D-pad; "Up" uses the first slot (Ring of Storms here), and "Down" uses the second slot (Mana Clover). This is really helpful for using Mana Clover on the fly, but just be careful not to use any abilities during it's regeneration, or it'll stop working.

Wave 2 will have Satyrs, and they will continue to appear in each subsequent wave until the end. The Satyrs are easily the biggest threat in this Challenge, particularly on Wave 2 and 3, because you probably won't have many traps down. What I found is that saving Call To The Beyond (Triangle) specifically for the Satyrs seems to work really well. For all of the waves with Satyrs in them, they seem to trail in towards the end of the wave, so you might be able to get away with being able to use Call To The Beyond earlier in the wave, but you should use it at your own risk.

After Wave 3, you should have enough Coin to trap the southern path really well, so it should become a bit easier. Once you're done in the south, I would try to trap the western area; I do this by just placing a lot of Lightning Rods in the west, but you can set it up the way you want to.

Unchained is certainly best for the last wave, so try to have it available at that time.

Upgrades I take - Sharper Claws (Level 2), Thin The Herd (Level 4), Kindred Souls (Level 7), Vengeful Vigor (Level 10).

Off The Chain!

I didn't have any issues earning the 5 Star with Oziel. I would imagine that Bloodspike and Cygnus are fairly equivalent in performance, because the challenge is fairly easy overall.

Not really much to say here, because this challenge is pretty doable no matter what the set-up. This is primarily due to the conditions of the map - It's entirely about being Unchained, and just as long as you do what the description says (pick up Unchained drops to stay Unchained), you should be able to manage this without too much effort.

Just like in usual Maximum Security, block off the north entrance to the Rift, which forces the north and east gates to loop all the way around. All gates will open here, but only 1 of them is open on each wave, so it shouldn't be too hard to manage.

As for traps, just put down what you feel comfortable with, as the primary source of your damage is going to be from your Hero, during Unchained. The Overload traps have a pretty gigantic radius to them, but remember that they'll prevent your floor traps from working as well.

Unstable Rifts do show up on Wave 4 and 5; on Wave 4, I always saw the Unstable Rift down south, which makes it a little harder for Bloodspike to get to, but Oziel and Cygnus can simply shoot at it from the Rift area. On Wave 5, I've seen it in multiple places, but it should only spawn 2 Armored Ogres, which shouldn't pose too much of a threat.

There really shouldn't be too much worry about running out of Unchained drops, because they are frequent. You should be fairly free to keep Unchained up as long as possible per wave, and it's ideal to keep it going for multiple waves. Try not to let it drop in between waves, because like usual, it'll take more drops to get that bar filled for subsequent activations.

Upgrades I take (for Oziel) - Dark Urges (Level 2) and Jagged Shards (Level 4).

Rift Instability

I would say Blackpaw is best here for the 5 Star; Pounce allows him to be a little faster than the other heroes, and Wound The Prey really helps in getting the Unstable Rifts down quickly.

That said, this challenge is a little bizarre, because you need to forego your Score in order to get the 5 Star. Ideally, for the 5 Star, you should manage to destroy most of the Unstable Rifts, which means you'll be getting virtually nothing in terms of Score. This also means you won't be earning any Coin, nor will your Hero level up, if you don't let anything open.

First thing to know - Ceiling Ballistas are worthless for destroying Unstable Rifts. In a previous attempt, I put 5 down (the maximum you can initially afford) at the same spot, right where I knew an Unstable Rift would show up. The 5 Ballistas could not destroy it before it opened.

What you will see me do, right at the beginning, is put down some traps in the long hallway that leads to the SW gate. I put down 3 Ballistas (at the small overhang in the middle, right in front of the gate); 1 Viscous Tar below the Ballistas, then another Viscous Tar further down the hallway (to spread them out), then I just put a Floor Spike in between them.

This is done entirely for the last wave - These traps will more or less get zero use otherwise. The reason why is because on the last wave, you're going to have 2 Unstable Rifts open. There will be a Rift that spawns directly in front of the SW gate, which will spawn 2 Mountain Trolls. By placing traps down near it (preemptively), it allows you to buy some time to deal with other things first.

For all the other waves, you simply need to be comfortable with the map and where the Unstable Rifts are. You can either practice it yourself, or reference the video to see where the Unstable Rift spawn in each wave (they are always in the same spots). I'll break it down very simply though:

Wave 1 - 3 initially at the SW gate, followed by 1 near the south Guardian spot.

Wave 2 - Only 2 Rifts, one up north, one down south.

Wave 3 - All 4 will be in the southern part of the Rift room.

Wave 4 - First is in the Temple area, the rest are spawned in a counter-clockwise fashion (directly north of the temple, then the NW corner, then the western wall, then north of the south Guardian).

Wave 5 is the only wave worth describing - 2 Rifts at first, both in the southern area. Ignore the one at the SW gate, assuming you put traps there. Instead, destroy the Rift directly south of the southern Guardian spot. Next, head north and destroy the Rift at the western wall, then the one in the NW corner, and let the NE corner one open (which will only spawn Tubifore).

Once the NW corner Rift is destroyed, immediately head back to the Rift area, and go to the southern part of it. One last Unstable Rift will spawn, and you should destroy it before focusing on the minions. By the time it's destroyed, the Mountain Trolls in the SW will probably just be exiting that long hallway, and if you trapped like I did, they should be nearly dead.

Tubifore will have full HP though, so immediately hunt him down as soon as the Trolls are dead. In retrospect, I probably should have saved my Call To The Beyond for Tubifore, instead of using it on the Trolls, but it still worked out.

Freezed To Meet You

I would recommend Zoey for the 5 Star, given how she's the only one of the 3 that gets access to something other than Frost attacks.

Start out by blocking the west entrance to the Rift, and start to place the Barricades near the NE Guardian spot to snake them through (3 Barricades north of the Guardian, to have them enter at 1 side, then 3 Barricades south of the Guardian, to have them exit on 1 side). You won't have enough to finish it, but it can wait.

For the minions, they are decently dangerous, and there's just a lot of them to deal with. The Archers here will particularly annoy you, so try to hide behind corners when appropriate. Utilize the HP/Mana regeneration that the Rift and Guardians give, but don't give the minions too much slack, given the lack of damage the traps will be dealing.

The biggest concern is Wave 5, because it throws a ton of Kobolds at you, and this is pretty rough given how you don't really have any way to slow them down.

Wave 1 - Kill a few of the starting minions so you can afford the Guardian for the NW spot.

Wave 2 - Finish off the Barricades at the NE Guardian area. If you want, you can begin to place Barricades to snake the minions in the NE room. Place the first Barricade to block off half of the stairs in the NE, then place another at a diagonal, to force them towards the northern part of the room, then just extend as much as you can.

Wave 3 - Start placing down some damage traps; I use Saw of Arctos and some Ice Shards, but use whatever you think will be useful.

Wave 4 - Continue placing traps at your leisure. Although you don't see me do it in the video, you may want to consider placing a Mana Well down somewhere (if you're Zoey), and place a Guardian at the NW (assuming the last one died) before the next wave.

Wave 5 - About 80% of the wave is Kobolds, which will trickle in. The other minions are mostly large minions, which are mostly there to simply get in your way as you try to kill the Kobolds. In the video, I struggle a little bit because I ran out of Mana, and completely forgot about the Mage's Clover.

Wave 6 - Iceberg, the boss Ice Elemental, will appear here from the SW. He shouldn't be too much of a threat though, particularly if you have a Guardian down at the NW spot. Rest of it is mostly a repeat of what you've seen already, but happily no Kobolds.

Upgrades I take for Zoey - Chapter 3: Mastering The Schools (Level 2), Chapter 5: Training Familiars (Level 4), and Chapter 9: Death and Chaos (Level 7)

Heroes

This is a section dedicated to information about the various Heroes (characters) that you can purchase from the store. I will review each Hero in what I think their strengths and weaknesses are, as well as go into their abilities.

Any information I write is my personal opinion and thus, my opinions about each character may differ from yours, especially if you play the character in a different way than I do. So although I can make objective statements such as "Bionka has one of the slowest movement speeds in the game", I personally find that terrible (which is an opinion). This may not be the case for each person who plays as her (other people may not mind her speed).

Although I did mention my favorite and least favorite characters in the FAQ section, if you missed that, here they are again:

Favorites, in order:

Midnight (only with the Enjoys Pain Trait)
Yi-Lin
Deadeye

Honorable mentions to:

Temper
Cygnus
Zoey
Oziel

Least favorites, in order:

Bionka
Hogarth/Smolder (tied for second place)
Brass

Note about Hogarth, Smolder, and Brass - With the current patch, the only Hero I severely dislike is Bionka. I'm sure there are those that will disagree with me about Hogarth, Smolder, and Brass, but their lower position on my list doesn't necessarily mean they're "unplayable" by any means. Someone has to be in those second and third spots, and I feel those 3 are appropriate, because they have some extremely odd quirks in their design. Instead of reading that as potentially offensive or bizarre, simply head over to their appropriate sections so you can read my analysis of them.

As you will read, I do give a lot of the Heroes a "7/10" which takes some thought to consider in-depth. What I mean by a "7" is that the Hero can perform decently well, but what they excel at may be considered more situational.

In an example for analysis, let's take Ivy and Bloodspike: There is an obvious difference in damage output (at the very least, initially) between the two Heroes, so why rate them both a 7? Because it depends on how well they are utilized. For example, if you can get Ivy to battle level 10, and take her "Warden's Wrath" upgrade, that allows Reach of Roots to deal damage, it becomes easily one of the best abilities in the game. However, up until level 10, you may struggle with Ivy a bit, particularly if you have trouble utilizing the knockback of Penetrating Arrow, and if you overuse her healing ability.

Bloodspike on the other hand, deals more initial damage, and does indeed get quite stronger as well if you take all the upgrades into Stunning Execution (but an upgraded Reach of Roots still trumps it in my opinion). However, if you're on a map with a lot of boss minions, Unstable Rifts, and Mercenaries, you'll see that Bloodspike begins to struggle as well, and this is regardless of his level.

Ivy's lack of damage can be compensated by simply gaining more Account Levels, and utilizing different Traits (and she doesn't really need a healing Trait, allowing slightly more flexibility). Bloodspike's major issue is not really compensated for regardless of how you approach it; he will always do subpar damage to single targets (ones that he can't use Stunning Execution on, that is). Although one could make the argument that bringing in a Big Game Hunter trap can help compensate for Bloodspike (which is true), that's more difficult to manage. For one, Big Game Hunter traps can be more difficult to place, and two, it would mean replacing a trap that you probably normally use.

The Heroes are listed in alphabetical order, which is the same order as you view them in the Workshop or Store.

Bionka

Overview

My Personal Rating: 3/10

Bionka is a melee Hero that deals very high damage with her Primary attack. She does have a couple of abilities with a slight amount of crowd-control; one ability does a knockback, and the other lifts minions into the air briefly.

Abilities:

Slam It Down (L2) - Bionka slams her mace down in front of her. The damage from this ability is a bit higher than her Primary, but the area-of-effect is fairly small.

Mana cost: 35
Cooldown: 10 seconds.

Bionka Bounce (Triangle) - Bionka will jump up into the air, and when she lands, minions around her will be knocked up.

Mana cost: 30
Cooldown: 11 seconds.

Beat Dem Back (Square) - Bionka throws her mace in a straight line in front of her, which will deal damage to any minion that it hits, and knock them back.

Mana cost: 50
Cooldown: 40 seconds.

Passive: Queen Of The Unchained - Bionka gains Unchained energy from killing large minions. This can be helpful, but it kind of depends on what map you're playing on. As you can imagine, the energy gained is not very significant, but can add up over time.

Pros

Her damage output from her Primary attack I believe is the highest in the game, but you also have to consider her attack speed. It is slightly slower than other Heroes, which needs to be factored in to understand her overall damage-per-second. For comparison, I believe Midnight does attack slightly faster than Bionka, but Midnight also does less damage.

If Bionka is used with the Enjoys Pain Trait, she does become extremely resilient, due to how the life steal from Enjoys pain works only with Primary attacks. She does have a fairly large HP pool (it should be around twice as much as Blackpaw), so combining this with the life steal allows her to stay alive decently well.

Cons

I give her a 3/10 almost entirely due to her movement speed. Bionka is a character that I saw perform fairly averagely in lower difficulty levels, such as Apprentice, but her usefulness seemed to drop severely upon hitting Rift Lord.

The primary problem with her low speed is the fact that Rift Lord maps are generally the largest in the game. In addition, the amount of Unstable Rifts that spawn can cause a gigantic problem for Bionka; if the Unstable Rift happens to appear across the map, you will not only have to leave immediately to destroy it (which leaves the currently opened gate a potential problem), but even then, if the Unstable Rift is far enough away, she may not be able to destroy it by the time she gets to it.

Another glaring issue is her Mana pool. She only gets 130 Mana in total, but unfortunately, every one of her abilities costs a large amount (30 Mana is the lowest ability cost). This means that you can only use about 4 or 5 abilities before she completely runs out of Mana.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Love My Mace or Love Da Unchained (Level 2)
Unchained Momma (Level 4)
Make Dem Stop (Level 7)
Queen of Hurt (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Love My Armor: Although 50% damage reduction is quite nice, the entire problem with it is that it is specific to damage from Orcs only. Once you become familiar with the game, you'll realize that Orcs are probably not the biggest threat; Trolls, Ogres, Cyclops Mages, Order Mages, Fire Fiend Warlocks, are all much more threatening in terms of damage. I will admit that it is rather nice to get the damage reduction for Orc TNT Archers, but other than that, it's kind of a useless upgrade. It is especially useless if you go in with the Enjoys Pain Trait, as that should account for a significant amount of healing due to how much damage Bionka's Primary does.
- Love My Mace: Beat Dem Back has a decently long cooldown (it's 40 seconds), so having your Secondary ability reduce its cooldown can be helpful. However, there is a gigantic downside to this; you may find yourself having Mana issues if you fully utilize this upgrade (in other words, if you constantly use Beat Dem Back and Slam it Down).
- Love Da Unchained: If you don't find Love My Mace too attractive, this is an alternative, but once more, there's a downside to it. First, it's obviously dependent on Unchained drops, which can be a problem. If no Unchained drops occur, obviously this upgrade goes to waste. Second, the Unchained Energy from the Unchained drops still suffer from diminishing returns (which means each time you use Unchained, the energy from these drops will give you less and less). Although this upgrade lessens that, it's still not significant enough to be all that useful once you've use Unchained 3 or 4 times.
Level 4:
- Unchained Momma: Having a longer Unchained duration is always useful, and thus I think this is one of Bionka's better upgrades. Unchained lasts a little over 15 seconds normally, so taking this upgrade will push it to about 20 seconds or so. Of course, if you normally don't use Unchained, this may be less useful for you.
- Bouncy Momma: I will admit, I don't fully understand this upgrade. The best I can figure, is that it gives Bionka Bounce slightly more crowd control, due to the longer time in the air. It is rather amusing to see how far minions get launched into the air with this upgrade, but truthfully, I think it's immensely useless.
- Mean Momma: It can be a decent upgrade if you use Beat Dem Back a lot (I personally don't), but 35% Mana reduction for it...still doesn't help much with her low Mana pool. Beat Dem Back's base Mana cost is 50, so a 35% reduction takes it down to about 32, so ultimately you may end up being able to use only 1 or 2 more abilities in the long run.
Level 7:
- Make Dem Work: If the upgrade was "100% chance to trigger traps in the area" I would find this much more attractive. I'm not really a fan of upgrades that give a "chance" to work, because it's completely random; I can't rely it on to work when I want it to.
- Make Dem Stop: Personally I think this is one of the better upgrades, because Bionka really needs things slowed down due to her slow movement speed. By slowing minions down, you keep them nearby to get a better window to hit them with Bionka's powerful Primary.
- Make Dem Dead: Although I am always a fan of adding damage to abilities that normally don't have it, this one is not as good as some other Heroes. If I remember correctly, the damage component is only a fraction of Bionka's Primary damage (I think it might be 1/3, or something around there). Initially, I thought this wasn't a big deal, but then I started to realize the animation tied with Bionka Bounce; since you cannot attack and use Bionka Bounce at the same time, it basically means you're trading her really high damage of her Primary for significantly less damage, with a little bit of crowd control. Personally, I think dealing the higher damage is better, because if the minion is dead, there's no reason for crowd control.
Level 10:
- Queen of Speed: So here we have Bionka's only upgrade that helps her movement speed...and it sucks. Although having a movement speed increase whatsoever can be a godsend, having it tied to Unchained only, is absolutely useless. The only possible scenario I see this being useful for is for those individuals (which includes me on occasion) that do not normally use Unchained during the match. If you don't use Unchained to clear minions, having this upgrade can be extremely useful, because you can save Unchained for those moments that you need the extra speed. Otherwise, it makes zero sense. When anyone uses Unchained, it is to clear larger groups of difficult enemies, which are generally standing right next to you (since Bionka is melee). In turn, you'll rarely find yourself needing to move very far, which makes the extra movement speed absolutely useless.
- Queen of Hurt: This is the level 10 upgrade I usually use, because again, I'll take any upgrade with Bionka that slows things down. Unfortunately, this upgrade is still pretty pathetic, because you'll notice fairly quickly that the crater left by Slam It Down is extremely small (it's about the size of a regular minion), which means that it's not going to catch many minions to slow them down.
- Queen of Heals: One of the single most bizarre (and worthless) upgrades she has, because it's conditional, and has a cooldown. It activates below 10% HP, which is actually an extremely low threshold. Since it only lasts 5 seconds, if you are taking that much damage to be brought down to 10%, that means chances are you're going to need to escape very quickly (which, remember, you're Bionka) in order to not die before it drops the shield. Despite what the upgrade's name is, it does not heal you which means you'll revert back to your extremely low HP after the shield fades. Combine that with the fact that it's a 3 minute cooldown, there is something else to consider - If this was an upgrade at level 2, that would be one thing, but this is a level 10 upgrade. That means that even with the longest Survival maps (which take 20 minutes) you have to consider that you'll be spending about half of the map getting the experience to get to level 10 in the first place. So that means, in reality, you'll only have this upgrade for maybe 10-15 minutes, which means that at maximum, you'll see it activate 5 times in a Survival match.

Synopsis

I am convinced that Bionka is currently the worst Hero in the game. Although she probably has the best Primary attack damage, it's as if the developers thought this was the only thing in the game that matters. Considering her attack speed is not the fastest, chances are you'll notice within the first large group of Kobolds you encounter, some of them will inevitably get by you. Once they do, you better have some traps laid down before your Rift, because otherwise, there is absolutely no catching up to them with Bionka, unless you run with Consumables (and even then, you need to chase them down immediately).

In Survival, as I stated above, you'll probably won't notice any of her glaring problems on the Apprentice and War Mage difficulty. However, once you hit Master, and Unstable Rifts start spawning, you'll start to realize how much I hate playing as Bionka. Having to completely drop what you're doing to ensure that you make it to the Unstable Rift is incredibly irritating. Not only that, but when you do destroy it, you then have to trek back to the minions that are currently up. Time is of the essence for a good portion of the Master and Rift Lord maps, and 1 second you're not dealing damage to minions that are up, is 1 second that could cost you your Par Time.

In Endless, Bionka at least gets slightly more use. Since her Passive gives her Unchained with each large minion kill, this is much more useful in Endless (where there are a ton of large minions) than it is on Survival. Since there are no Par Times in Endless, this is obviously much more beneficial for Bionka, since you don't have to worry about moving to various gates to quickly clear minions.

Her upgrades also make little sense, and I would argue are some of the worst in the game as well. I think the developers struggled to balance her correctly; they wanted a Hero with an extremely high Primary, but I think they began to realize that players just spamming her Primary the entire time would make her feel extremely uninteresting, particularly in comparison to the other Heroes. In turn, they give her a very odd array of abilities...

Slam It Down is probably her most useful ability, as it does actually hit harder than her Primary. Of course, just like all of her other abilities, it has one glaring problem - its range. The range is so small one can tell it's meant to be used against single targets (although it can hit multiples). Yet another problem is its high Mana cost - it's about 35. Although this isn't as bad as Beat Dem Back, it also has a shorter cooldown (about 10 seconds) which means if you're only using Slam it Down, you're going to be out of Mana in 4 uses.

Beat Dem Back grants a decent knockback, but unfortunately its damage is lower than Bionka's Primary. Although the knockback does affect large minions, normal minions might be killed by the damage outright, which makes it kind of a strange design choice. In addition, it's given a Mana cost that consumes over 1/3 of her total Mana and then also given a 40 second cooldown. Since the damage isn't as high as her Primary...why not just use her Primary? In the end, Beat Dem Back basically turns into an extremely Mana-heavy knockback, with a long cooldown.

Bionka Bounce is Bionka's crowd-control ability, which can be upgraded to do various things. Although it's the best in terms of Mana efficiency (30 Mana, 11 second cooldown), it doesn't really do anything at all (without upgrades) besides knock minions up a moderate amount. I originally thought "Oh okay, maybe I'm supposed to knock them up and get the 'in-air' damage bonus, because Bionka's Primary hits for a ton", but as it turns out, it doesn't work. Bionka's Primary is so slow (in conjunction with the animation of Bionka Bounce), it's not possible to manage this without the "Bouncy Momma" upgrade. Even with that upgrade, you still have to time it very well to get the "in-air" damage bonus.

In the end, Bionka turns out to be a gigantic mess that doesn't make much sense. I can tell that they wanted to give her more than just a really powerful Primary, but they began to realize that by giving her abilities that are useful might make her too unbalanced. The reason why other Heroes have useful abilities is because they don't really deal that much damage; their abilities give them the extra edge when their Primary attacks are lacking. Since Bionka doesn't have this problem with her Primary, her abilities become almost totally useless, and are only meant to be peppered in so the player doesn't go completely brain-dead while spamming her Primary attack.

It's unfortunate that Bionka has a trophy associated with her. For those that do not care about trophies, I would avoid buying Bionka at all costs, unless she's the last Hero you need to buy.

Blackpaw

Overview

My Personal Rating: 7.25/10

Blackpaw is one of the three starter Heroes (along with Gabriella and Maximilian). He is also the only melee character you start out with. I would argue he is mostly balanced, but he does seem to have a focus on dealing damage to single targets rather than groups.

Abilities:

Wound The Prey (L2) - This ability will place a debuff on the minions that it hits (I think it has a maximum target limit of about 5 or so), and minions affected by the debuff will be colored bright red. The debuff increases any damage source by 250%, and lasts about 5 seconds.

Mana cost: 15
Cooldown: 4 seconds.

Call To The Beyond (Triangle) - This ability summons 2 Gnolls to help deal damage. Although it is difficult to determine how much damage they deal, a good thing is that they cannot be damaged. The Gnolls last a little over 10 seconds, and will prioritize any target that is affected by Wound The Prey.

Mana cost: 70
Cooldown: 50 seconds.

Go For The Throat (Square) - This ability can hit multiple enemies at once, but the range of it isn't that large (it's about the same as Wound The Prey). Go For The Throat is a great source of damage (it hits harder than Blackpaw's Primary) and also a great source of healing. It's a little difficult to determine how the healing works exactly (it might be based somewhat off of damage dealt), as I've seen it heal anywhere from 15% HP to about 30% HP with a single use. This ability costs 15 Mana, and a cooldown of 5 seconds.

Mana cost: 15
Cooldown: 5 seconds.

Passive: Pounce - This passive is a little strange. This gives Blackpaw the ability to do a double-jump, which in turn propels Blackpaw forward as he glides through the air. Since Blackpaw is propelled forward, this does give him a slight movement increase, so using Pounce will always be faster than simply moving normally. Pounce can also be useful in traversing maps of varying elevation; he can make jumps significantly easier, which can help if you are going to potentially fall to your death. The downside is that Pounce does have a Mana cost of 13 Mana, which means you can't just simply jump around as much as you want.

Pros

Blackpaw probably does the best single-target damage out of the 3 starter Heroes. Although he doesn't have an ability that hits as hard as Max's In Your Faces, Blackpaw's damage is more consistent; he can dish out fairly high damage in quick succession, and his direct-damage abilities have short cooldowns.

He is the only melee Hero initially available, but what you'll find once buying other melee Heroes, is that they have a tendency to take significantly more damage than ranged Heroes. In comparison to others melee Heroes, Blackpaw has an easier time surviving with Go For The Throat, as it heals while dealing damage. Since Go For The Throat has about a 5 second cooldown, it should be enough to keep Blackpaw up in many situations where he is taking a lot of damage.

Call To The Beyond has some negative sides to it, but one thing that is fantastic about it is that your summoned Gnolls can gain threat on Shield minions (such as Shield Trolls). This is very unique, because only a small amount of features in the game can do that; Guardians, as well as Summoner and Decoy traps. Being able to do that with just your Hero can really help slow them down and keep them from activating your traps.

Cons

The first problem with Blackpaw you'll probably notice is his Mana; if you are to use all of his abilities as much as you are able to, you'll find that Blackpaw will be out of Mana very quickly.

The primary issue with his Mana is Call To The Beyond, as it takes a significant amount of Mana to use. This means that it can be utilized as much as the player may want, and in turn, hurts Blackpaw's overall damage output.

Call To The Beyond also has a few quirks to it as well that makes it an ability of questionable use:

The Gnolls will prioritize targets afflicted by Wound The Prey - This is actually a bit of a problem in a couple of different ways.
- For myself at least, anytime I use Wound The Prey is because I personally want to kill whatever I'm attacking; in other words, as soon as I use Wound The Prey, I start to melee that target myself. This in turn means that target will die the fastest, and in terms of optimizing damage output, it would make more sense if the Gnolls would target everything else because the wounded target is going to die from my own hits.
- Since Wound The Prey forces the Gnolls to target, they take a second to "readjust" which means that they need to cancel their current attacks to change targets. In combination with the statement above, once the target dies, obviously they need to readjust again to a new target. So if the wounded target dies fast enough, you may see a window of around 2 seconds where the Gnolls won't even do anything; the behavior would be "Readjust target > start attack again (target dies immediately) > readjust target > start attacking again.
- Since Wound The Prey deals damage, the targeting system is lost on high priority targets like Kamikaze Kobolds; if you use Wound The Prey on a Kamikaze Kobold, you'll just kill it outright. The Gnolls have no priority system outside of Wound The Prey, which means that if you're hoping that they'll kill the more important things first, you'll be disappointed.
The Gnolls behave somewhat irregularly - I have had moments where I've summoned my Gnolls, only to see them go off in a direction where there are no minions. If you summon them, then clear the area of minions, if the Gnolls are still up, they won't proactively head to another area with minions (sometimes they do, sometimes they don't).

With the high Mana cost and long cooldown of Call To The Beyond, this makes it difficult to justify the usage of the ability. Truthfully, I've played many maps with Blackpaw without using the ability at all, and I've hardly noticed a difference in his performance.

With the problems with Call To The Beyond in mind, as a result, Blackpaw feels incredibly uninteresting to play. His simplicity can be beneficial (as he'll be easy to master), but once he is mastered, he doesn't have anything that makes him feel really unique; primarily what you'll see him do is simply melee minions a lot. Call To The Beyond is the one ability I think makes Blackpaw feel unique, but unfortunately with its problems, I don't use the ability very much, and thus Blackpaw becomes sort of dull to play.

The final (somewhat minor) problem is that you may notice that he'll start to take more damage in higher difficulties. Although Go For The Throat works great in Apprentice and War Mage, when the game begins to throw more (and stronger) minions at you, you may find yourself needing to retreat more and more. As a result, he kind of hits this strange middle ground with the Enjoys Pain Trait - he's almost to the point to where he doesn't need it. It would be better if he didn't need it at all, as that would free up a Trait slot for something else.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Sharper Claws (Level 2)
Thin The Herd (Level 4)
Kindred Souls or Heal, Boy, Heal (Level 7)
Call Of The Wild or Vengeful Vigor (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Cutting Deep: I never found this upgrade to be necessary, so I've never bothered with it. Wound The Prey's duration coincides with its cooldown almost perfectly, so what this upgrade means is you won't have to use Wound The Prey as much (over the course of the entire map). In turn, this will save you some Mana, but in a very indirect way.
- Feral Fitness: The HP regeneration is really not meant to keep you alive, but rather just keep you topped off. Go For The Throat will still be your main source of healing, and personally I found that it does keep me alive just fine without this upgrade.
- Sharper Claws: Personally I think this the best upgrade at level 2, because it's the least conditional. It provides a 15% damage increase to large minions, so as long as there are large minions on the map (and most of the time there are), you'll see use out of this upgrade. I believe this upgrade also increases damage to boss minions and Mercenaries as well, making it all the more attractive.
Level 4:
- Hungry Wolf: The reduced cooldown for Go For The Throat is actually not too bad of a choice, as GFTT does more damage than your regular Primary attack. A reduced cooldown would mean better damage output, and even a better healing source, but it will also mean you'll be consuming more Mana.
- Thin The Herd: I usually choose this at level 4, because the slow added onto Wound The Prey seems decently significant; I think it's a 50% or 60% movement speed reduction. This is absolutely amazing for some boss minions (Swiftyhooves) and Mercenaries (Chaotic Kobold, Bouncer Bear), but usually it's not too helpful for regular minions. It is slightly helpful for large minions, because chances are those are the ones who are going to survive after being hit with Wound The Prey; normal minions will generally die after a single hit (once hit with Wound The Prey). Thus, it does help slow large minions down, to ensure they're not progressing towards the Rift.
- Spirit Animal: Personally I never choose this upgrade, as I never found that 40 extra Mana would really make that much of a difference. Although it is true that more Mana would mean more opportunities to use Call To The Beyond, the summoned Gnolls behavior is still not that great, so for me I don't have any problems using the ability sparingly.
Level 7:
- Kindred Souls: Although I do use this upgrade on occasion, it does have some questionable use. I love any kind of flat damage increase, but the damage increase may be lost, because of how stupid the Gnolls can be sometimes. Since the level 10 upgrade of "Call Of The Wild" does grant an additional Gnoll, that's potentially even more damage output. That is the catch though, it's just a potential, so I would say that if you feel confident in your Gnolls, take this upgrade.
- Heal, Boy, Heal: I think this the alternative if you don't really like your Gnolls too much, although it also has questionable use. If you're running with the Enjoys Pain Trait, you will probably never see any real use out of this. However, planning for this upgrade, and simply not bringing in Enjoys Pain (allowing yourself a different Trait), would allow you to get full potential out of this upgrade. Although, you need to be confident in surviving until level 7 if you're not bringing in Enjoys Pain.
- Jumpy Wolf: I think the Mana removal of Pounce is pretty worthless. I never use Pounce more than 2 or 3 times in a row, because if you need to do more than that, I'm guessing there are 2 reasons - There's a Runner that got by you (and ideally this should never happen) or you're struggling to effectively traverse the map (which just takes practice). For both reasons, some better planning will reduce your reliance on Pounce, and thus, the Mana cost is a bit of a moot point.
Level 10:
- Vengeful Vigor: It's difficult for me to say how useful this upgrade really is. Although it tells you that the maximum damage increase you can receive is 35%, it doesn't say when it's activated, nor how it scales. Is the maximum damage activated at a 65% HP (which means it would be 1% per 1% HP lost), or is the maximum activated at 1% HP? If it's activated at a lower threshold, do I get it in equal proportions? In other words, if the maximum is at 10% HP, is a 17.5% damage increase at 55% HP? As you can see, there are way too many questions associated with this upgrade, so it has questionable use. Also keep in mind, if you're regularly using Go For The Throat, how long that damage increase lasts will only be a few seconds (potentially only long enough for 1 hit); if you're running with the Enjoys Pain Trait, you may also see even less use in this upgrade, as chances are you'll rarely be below 90% HP. However, a damage increase is still a damage increase even if it's only brief. Over the course of a match, the extra damage can add up.
- Take What Is Owed: This is a very bizarre upgrade, because who is going to need THAT much healing in a match? 2% HP healing per Primary hit is a TON of health back, but it's entirely too much considering that Go For The Throat heals you as is. Again, if one is to bring in Enjoys Pain anyway, it completely negates the usefulness of this upgrade.
- Call Of The Wild: Similar to "Kindred Souls" at level 7, this upgrade is more dependent on your confidence of your summoned Gnolls. If you feel they are useful, then I would recommend this, as an additional Gnoll is simply more damage that you don't even need to think about.

Synopsis

Blackpaw is a fairly balanced Hero, who deals consistently high damage to single targets. Although he doesn't really get any abilities that hit large groups of enemies, it's not really required for him. Since Blackpaw can deal fairly high damage to a single target, he can kill it faster, thus he can change targets faster. This indirectly gets the same result as dealing damage in an area (as area-of-effect damage generally does less overall damage).

Blackpaw can have some Mana issues, but this can be resolved by taking consideration in using his abilities (rather than just mindlessly spamming them). If Call To The Beyond is used sparingly, you'll find that Mana generally isn't much of an issue (although it still can be on occasion).

For Blackpaw's HP, you'll find that Go For The Throat is usually enough to keep Blackpaw alive, but it becomes less useful as the minions get stronger. However, this can be easily compensated by either upgrades or Traits, so Blackpaw shouldn't have many issues in staying alive overall.

Blackpaw's upgrades also show a continual theme you will see in other Heroes - some upgrades have questionable use. The vast majority of the Heroes in the game have this exact same problem; sometimes it is difficult to determine what upgrades are useful. Sometimes it's difficult to determine because the description isn't very detailed, and sometimes because it's difficult to understand how the upgrade can be used.

Ultimately, it's just unfortunate that Call To The Beyond isn't that great of an ability. Although it is great that it summons Gnolls to deal some extra damage, they may not behave the way you want them to, so you may lose some interest in the ability altogether. This boils Blackpaw down to a Hero that is incredibly basic, simply dealing melee damage, despite the fact that he does it fairly well.

Bloodspike

Overview

My Personal Rating: 7/10

Bloodspike is a melee Hero that has a couple of unique things that only a couple of other Heroes get: Bloodspike gets a specific item drop, called Delicious Meals, that heal Bloodspike and reduce the cooldowns of his abilities. His damage output is also fairly dependent on the buff granted by Bloodbath (his Secondary attack), which increases his damage.

Abilities:

Bloodbath (L2) - Bloodspike uses his axes in a sweeping motion. If a minion is hit, Bloodspike will get 1 stack of a buff (each minion hit increases the stack by 1), which increases his damage by 8% for each stack.

Mana cost: 8
Cooldown: 3 seconds.

Stunning Execution (Triangle) - This ability will instantly kill any minion that is hit by it, although it does not work on boss minions or Mercenaries. If the execution is successful, surrounding minions will be stunned.

Mana cost: 50
Cooldown: 24 seconds.

Maiming Blow (Square) - Bloodspike throws his axes in a straight line in front of him, dealing damage to any minion caught in his axe's path.

Mana cost: 40
Cooldown: 11 seconds.

Homicidal Frenzy (L3) - Bloodspike gets a buff that lasts 6 seconds, which increases his attack speed and movement speed by 50%.

Mana cost: 30
Cooldown: 33 seconds.

Passive: Bloodhungry - Bloodspike's passive just grants the ability for Delicious Meals to drop from any minion. Their appearance frequency is decent (you should see one probably every 15 seconds or so), which really helps in keeping Bloodspike alive. The cooldown reduction can be fairly useful as well, as each Meal will reduce current ability cooldowns by 1 second.

Pros

Personally, I think Bloodspike is most suited to dealing damage to large groups of enemies. Maiming Blow deals a significant amount of damage, and it does have a fairly high maximum target limit; you'll see you can hit many minions with it, if you can line the minions up appropriately.

Stunning Execution is fairly unique, because it instantly kills any minion (but not boss minions or Mercenaries). This is actually a fantastic ability for some single targets (particularly Armored Ogres, who have physical damage resistance), but it's particularly useful for Shield minions, because it will still instantly kill the minion, even if you attack the shield directly. This means you don't need to sweep behind the Shield minion in order to instantly kill it, which is extremely useful.

Bloodspike's survivability is fairly high as well, due to the healing factor of the Delicious Meals. The healing of Delicious Meals isn't immediate; its healing happens over a few seconds. What is awesome about this is that the healing is considered a buff, and it can stack up to 3 times. So this means that if you pick up 3 Delicious Meals in quick succession, you'll see a massive amount of healing.

Cons

Bloodspike has one massive problem - His damage against boss minions, Mercenaries, and Unstable Rifts is pretty terrible.

This is mostly due to a design problem. Bloodspike's damage is highly dependent on the buff that Bloodbath gives; his initial damage is actually a bit lower than the average melee Hero, because of how much of a damage increase the buff gives (it gives 8% more damage per stack). The Bloodbath buff is given for each minion hit (1 minion hit = 1 application of the buff), but the duration of the buff is fairly short, so you have to continually use Bloodbath in order to keep at least 1 stack up.

So how is this a problem with boss minions and the like? Well, it's mostly due to their high HP; everything around the boss/Mercenary will die first, which means as soon as they do, you lose your source for the Bloodbath buff. At that point, Bloodspike is dealing subpar Primary damage to a minion with really high HP, which is a big problem when that minion needs to die (like Orfum). This is also a problem for Unstable Rifts, because they normally spawn in a separate area than the minions.

Stunning Execution also has a couple of problems. First, you have to be very careful about aiming it; since minions have a tendency to overlap each other, it's very easy to hit the wrong minion with it, which more or less can waste it (trying to target a large minion in a group of smaller minions can be quite hard). Second, Stunning Execution has absolutely no use against bosses, Mercenaries, and Unstable Rifts. If you try to use it against one of these enemies, it will literally do nothing. Also realize, that you'll run into situations where you get both of those problems occurring at the same time; a Mercenary is amidst a bunch of other minions, you accidentally hit the Mercenary with Stunning Execution, and it's quite frustrating.

Homicidal Frenzy is a bit questionable as well, as the cooldown doesn't really make sense with how long it lasts. It has a cooldown of about 33 seconds, but the buff only lasts about 6 seconds. For me, this makes it a gigantic waste of Mana, so I don't end up using it very much.

Lastly, although it's not too significant, Bloodspike can suffer from Mana issues on occasion. This is mostly due to how Bloodbath has a Mana cost; despite its low cost, you'll be using Bloodbath continuously. Then factor in the reduced cooldowns gained from Delicious Meals, and you may see that you're using Maiming Blow and Stunning Execution fairly frequently as well. It's not too bad most of the time (but you should keep an eye out for Mana Orbs), but I would compare it to playing as Blackpaw, and using Call To The Beyond every time it's up.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Buzz Kill (Level 2)
Sea of Blood (Level 4)
Extreme Execution (Level 7)
Shock Value (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Buzz Kill: This is the upgrade I normally choose, as I think Maiming Blow is Bloodspike's single best ability. Increasing the range of Maiming Blow just allows it to potentially hit more targets, and given its higher damage, there's a good chance it'll equate to more things dying.
- Finer Dining: If you want to try to get Bloodspike's respective trophy out of the way as fast as possible, you may want to consider this upgrade. I would argue that it's not really useful for any other reason though, because Delicious Meals have a decent drop-rate as is.
- Blood In Their Eyes: Increasing the stun of Stunning Execution is kind of useless in my opinion. The stun isn't very long to begin with, which means that a 40% increase isn't going to amount to much; if it's a 2 second stun, the increase will be slightly less than a second. Also keep in mind that the stun only happens to those that are surrounding the executed target; if nothing is in that range, no stun will happen.
Level 4:
- Sea of Blood: I do think that this is the best upgrade for this level, but it is slightly open for debate. My reasoning for this upgrade is that the Bloodbath buff is so pivotal to Bloodspike's damage, so keeping the buff up as long as possible is extremely beneficial. However, it's not that black-and-white, because the buff disappears in a very odd way; if you pay attention to the buff (which is above your HP bar) as you gain more stacks, you lose stacks in a semi-random way. Sometimes the buff will decrease by multiple stacks (like I've seen up to 6 disappear at once). Not only that, but the duration of the buff is a little difficult to understand as well, and you can see the "timer" decrease at different speeds. It's really difficult to describe what really happens, so I would recommend to anyone to look at it yourself to try to get an idea of what I mean. For these reasons, one could argue that this upgrade may not be that useful.
- Fortified Meals: A very odd upgrade, as each Delicious Meal will increase Bloodspike's maximum HP by 0.7%. The issue is, it's not really necessary, as Bloodspike's survivability is decent as it is (thanks to the Delicious Meals healing him). He also has a decent amount of HP to work with, so trying to push it further is kind of pointless.
- Sustained Frenzy: It's not a bad upgrade, but a 50% increased duration to Homicidal Frenzy isn't as helpful as I want it to be. This increases the duration from 6 seconds to 9, which means that you're still going to be waiting about 20+ seconds for it to be back up. For me, that's not worth it.
Level 7:
- Cheap Shot: The Mana cost reduction is pretty good, and I would recommend this upgrade if you want to take the "Devastating Assault" upgrade at level 10. This is where you need to make the decision to either upgrade into Maiming Blow, or Stunning Execution. I personally always choose to upgrade into Stunning Execution (as it is not all that great normally), so I never take this upgrade.
- Energy Snack: I don't think this is a very good upgrade, because you have to remember that Delicious Meals are dropped upon minion kills. So whenever you're in an area with minions, that usually means you're not going to need to move around very much. Thus, the movement speed increase is kind of pointless.
- Extreme Execution: I personally take this upgrade for Stunning Execution, as level 10 offers the "Shock Value" upgrade, which I think is Bloodspike's best upgrade. With Shock Value, Stunning Execution becomes much more attractive to use, so having a lower cooldown is very useful.
Level 10:
- Shock Value: As I said above, I think this is Bloodspike's best upgrade, as you get a damage component to Stunning Execution, which makes Stunning Execution an extremely useful ability. With this upgrade, this means that Stunning Execution will instantly kill a minion, stun the surrounding minions, and deal Lightning damage to minions. If anything is killed by the Lightning effect, they will then deal damage in a small radius around them (which is what all Lightning damage does). Also keep in mind that since the damage is a Lightning effect, it should also help with the Combo Meter. That's is a ton of different effects for a single ability, which is fantastic.
- Serrated Edges: Unfortunately this upgrade really isn't that attractive (in my opinion) because the bleed effect only works while under the duration of Homicidal Frenzy. This means you only have a window of 8 seconds (12 if you took Sustained Frenzy at level 4) to get the effect, and then you have to wait another 20 seconds to get the effect again.
- Devastating Assault: This is actually kind of an amusing upgrade, as if you get a group with multiple large minions in it, you can just spam Maiming Blow like crazy. This really needs to be taken in conjunction with "Cheap Shot" at level 7 though, because if you don't, in the best case scenario (when you're constantly killing large minions), your Mana is going to deplete within seconds. Regardless of the Mana cost, it still is kind of questionable though, because it's conditional upon two different things - a large minion, and killing it. So if you don't kill the minion (or there isn't any to kill) this upgrade then has zero use.

Synopsis

Oh Bloodspike, I just don't know how to feel about you. I personally really like Bloodspike, but I can understand if someone else thinks he sucks.

I would say that Bloodspike is probably one of the very few Heroes that takes more effort to play. You have to be really active and aggressive with him to see him perform his best, because otherwise he has a tendency to deal subpar damage.

The reason why he takes so much effort is because you have to constantly be using Bloodbath in order to keep the damage-increase buff up as much as possible. If you can do that, you can really see some great damage with Bloodspike. However, this can be a bit awkward to manage, because Bloodbath has a 3 second cooldown, so you have to get used to it in order to ensure that you're hitting with it every time it's available.

The way that the buff works is also kind of awkward as well; as I noted in my comments about the "Sea of Blood" upgrade, the duration and the stacks diminish in a really strange way. Sometimes you'll lose a significant amount of stacks at once, and sometimes you'll only lose a couple. For the duration, it seems to decrease the slowest on your first initial stack, but once that first stack is lost, the duration of it decreases (it's really odd to explain).

All this really means is that the buff can be extremely difficult to get to its maximum (I'm not even sure if it's possible in Survival). Although it is important to point out this kind of makes sense; the maximum of 50 stacks would equate to a 400% damage increase, which is crazy. The reality is that, chances are, you'll probably be around 8-15 stacks at any given point in Survival, which really isn't much of a damage increase (although, I'll personally take anything).

Further, also realize that Bloodspike is built to be a tank; since the Bloodbath buff gives a stack for each minion hit, he does his best when you jump right into the middle of groups and just start hacking away. He does have a decent HP pool (it's slightly lower than Bionka's) and if you're on the lookout for Delicious Meals, you shouldn't really be struggling to survive much (although the Enjoys Pain Trait does help quite a bit).

You'll probably realize that Bloodspikes main fault is with targets with a lot of HP, such as boss minions, Mercenaries, and Unstable Rifts. Their larger HP means that they'll more than likely outlast everything around them (thus you can't keep gaining your buff from Bloodbath) and that they'll more than likely outlast the duration of any current Bloodbath stack (it'll fade before the target is dead).

One thing you can try to do, is keep Homicidal Frenzy up specifically for these targets. Since this grants increased attack speed, it can at least help slightly when trying to kill these tougher minions as quickly as possible.

As a final, personal note - I really enjoy Bloodspike's lines. I think he has some of the funniest lines in the game ("You're suffering, will be unimaginable!...but strangely, I can imagine it."), but not only that, I think his voice actor did a perfect job capturing Bloodspike's unique version of crazy.

Brass

Overview

My Personal Rating: 6/10

Brass is a mid-ranged Hero who deals physical damage. She has a few different things at her disposal; a sentry turret, mines, and she collects her own resource known as "Scrap" in order to place her mines and upgrade her turret.

Abilities:

Cannonball Shot (L2) - Brass shoots a Cannonball in an arc, which will explode in a radius when it lands.

Cooldown: 6 seconds.

Swiss Army Wrench (Triangle) - Brass swings her Wrench, which can be used to damage enemies, or upgrade the Dwarven Turret.

Brass Bombs (Square) - Brass places a bomb on the ground, which functions like a proximity mine. Minions do have to step on the bomb directly to activate it, but it does have a large explosion radius. A maximum of 15 Brass Bombs can be placed at once.

Scrap Cost: 15

Dwarven Turret (L3) - Brass places a Turret at the location you choose. The Turret functions somewhat like a mini-Guardian; it has HP and deals (ranged) damage. The Turret can be upgraded twice (with Scrap), via the Swiss Army Wrench. The first upgrade grants the Turret more damage, and gives it a shield that works like a weak version of Max's "Can't Touch This". The second upgrade grants the Turret more damage, and I believe its damage is also granted an area-of-effect.

Upgrade "per Hit" Scrap Cost: 10
- Total Scrap Cost (to tier 2): 40
- Total Scrap Cost (to tier 3): 70
Scrap Cost to Heal: 5 (Each heal restores about 20% HP I think).

Passive: Short Stack and Scrap - Just like Dobbin, since she's so short, large minions will never attack her (which also includes bosses, but not Mercenaries). The other part of her passive isn't really an ability, as Scrap is just the resource she uses instead of Mana.

Note: Since Brass doesn't use Mana, realize this changes her ability to use Gear. Scrap starts out at 0, which means that you need to find some Scrap first in order to use Gear that has a resource cost (like Fire Wall Bracers).

Pros

Brass's Primary attack has the potential to deal a lot of damage, and she does get a decent amount of variety in her abilities.

Her Primary works just like a Shotgun, as it hits multiple times in a spread. This allows Brass to deal a lot of damage at once (if each hit manages to hit the same target). Since her Primary attacks multiple times, this also means she does fairly well against Order minions; hitting multiple times means she can overcome the Order's "Steady" buff easier than other Heroes.

Brass Bombs deal fairly good damage, and the radius is decent as well. They don't have a cooldown at all, and their Scrap cost isn't very high. The 15 limit is generally not an issue, because if you're trying to actively place them (as in, placing them as minions path), you probably won't ever have the Scrap cost to get 15 up at once.

Cannonball Shot is kind of a weaker version of Brass Bombs (with a smaller radius), but it has a 6 second cooldown. One very amusing (and very effective) thing to do with Brass is take the upgrade "Cannonball Coming!" at level 10, and then use Unchained. This makes the cooldown instant, which allows Brass to bombard any area with Cannonball Shots.

Her Dwarven Turret can be quite helpful, as it nearly functions as a Guardian that can be placed anywhere. It can also be upgraded to do more damage, and grant it a reflective shield (like Max's Can't Touch This).

Cons

Brass's Primary attack, although does high damage, has a decent spread to it; this means that each hit has the chance to simply not hit anything at all, so her Primary damage becomes extremely random. It is compounded by her slow attack speed; she has about 2 seconds between each Primary attack, which is really a problem if her shots are missing.

Cannonball Shot does fairly good damage, but I find the radius of the explosion is somewhat disorienting; it seems to be much smaller than you would expect it to be. This means that you may need to readjust somewhat to ensure you are hitting what you want to hit.

Swiss Army Wrench has absolutely zero use, outside of upgrading your turret. Swiss Army Wrench does in fact deal damage, and the minion will drop Scrap if it is killed with it (guaranteed). However, I would argue you would be a fool to use this over her other abilities. It does least amount of damage than any other of her abilities, and it forces her into melee range (which you don't want, given her low HP).

Brass Bombs has one gigantic problem - Although when placed, you'll see a green ring (which indicates its blast radius), in order for the bomb to activate, the minion has to be stepping directly onto it. Although the graphic does seem to be much larger in 2.61 than it did in the past, it still runs the risk that a minion will simply walk by it.

Dwarven Turret is decent, but it comes with some problems. The main problem has to do with it's upgrading system - once you have some Scrap, you have to be next to it (fairly close too, in melee range of it) and hold Swiss Army Wrench down. Each "hit" with Swiss Army Wrench will then reduce your Scrap (a set amount) and fill an "upgrade bar", and once that is filled, the turret will upgrade. This becomes an immense waste of time during Master and Rift Lord.

This is further exacerbated by the fact that the Turret pulls threat (although this is understandable); although the Turret has a decent amount of HP, if it gets destroyed, not only do you have to replace it, but you have to upgrade it all over again, which is incredibly inefficient if you're crunched for time.

Current technical problem with Scrap - I would guess this only affects PS4 users, but unfortunately, someone thought it would be brilliant to animate the Scrap drops (they spin). The issue with this, is that you may end up seeing the frame-rate drop more often when using Brass. This is partially because of two reasons: First, Scrap is generally never in short supply, as it drops quite often. Second, Scrap stays on the map for a significant amount of time, which is good when you need it, but not so good if it's slowing down the game.

Patch 2.61 note - They patched the Scrap drop rate, which means that it's not quite as frequent (there's still plenty of it, so it doesn't really affect Brass's capabilities), so this may be resolved to some degree. However, I haven't tested this enough to see if it's completely resolved; it's possible that this can still occur (particularly in Endless), but you may see it a lot less frequently. Just keep in mind if you do experience some slowdown with Brass, the Scrap is probably to blame.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Mrs. Boom or Turret Feature V.1 (Level 2)
Stunning Cannonball (level 4)
Brass Bomb Cache or Turret Feature V.3 (level 7)
Cannonball Coming! (level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Mrs. Boom: If you like to use Brass Bombs, this is a no-brainer, as it simply gives a 25% damage increase to the bombs.
- Scrap Pile: Personally I don't think this one competes very well with the other two upgrades available. Personally, I would end up using this upgrade to place down more Brass Bombs, but Mrs. Boom is a much more attractive upgrade for Brass Bombs.
- Turret Feature V.1: If you plan on using the Dwarven Turret, I would really recommend this upgrade. It has a decent amount of HP as is, but if it's pulling a lot of threat in the higher difficulties, you may want to take this so you don't have to worry about placing/upgrading it again quite as much.
Level 4:
- Stunning Cannonball: This is actually a pretty good upgrade, because it adds a stun to an area-of-effect ability, and if you take the cooldown reduction at level 10 (which I recommend), this adds up to be some pretty good crowd-control. There is one thing to point out with this upgrade, but it entails taking the level 10 upgrade "Cannonball Coming!", and I'll talk about it with my commentary about that upgrade instead, so make sure you read it if you take both upgrades.
- Scrapuum: Scrap-uum, like Vacuum? Yep that's hilarious. Anyway, I never saw much use for this, because it just makes it easier to gain Scrap. If you're never really running out of Scrap, it's not really useful to be able to pick it up easier.
- Turret Feature V.2: I personally think this is a worthless upgrade. When you upgrade the Turret (via Scrap) for the first time, it grants a shield that works in a similar way as Max's "Can't Touch This"; Can't Touch This reflects all damage, but the Turret's shield will only reflect a percentage. Unfortunately, the percentage reflected is incredibly small (I think it's like 10%), and if you've ever noticed how much damage minions deal, it's also not very much (Hunters only hit for like 20ish damage) so this equates to the shield being virtually useless on its own. This upgrade just means that the damage reflected will happen in an area-of-effect (which it doesn't tell you how large that effect is), but regardless, the damage itself is still going to be insignificant.
Level 7:
- Brass Bomb Cache: Brass Bombs are probably Brass's best ability, so reducing their Scrap cost obviously means you're going to be able to place more of them before you run out of Scrap, which means more damage. If you don't use Brass Bombs much, you may want to consider taking Turret Feature V.3 instead.
- Thrifty Scrapper: Scrap not only has a decent drop rate, but it also stays on the map for quite a while. As a result, I never really had much of a shortage of Scrap, so I've never taken this upgrade.
- Turret Feature V.3: If you like to use the Dwarven Turret, this is obviously an attractive upgrade. The Dwarven Turret's damage is pretty good normally, so a 50% increase makes it even better.
Level 10:
- Cannonball Coming!: This reduces the cooldown of Cannonball Shot to 2 seconds. There is one thing interesting about taking this upgrade (as I noted above in the "Pros" section), and that is if you take it, and use Unchained, you can constantly use Cannonball Shot (just hold down L2) and Brass will continually spam the ability. The reason why this happens is because using Unchained reduces the cooldown of all abilities. This not only looks hilarious, but it's extremely effective in terms of damage; Brass can literally destroy groups of minions in a matter of seconds. One potential drawback is if you took the "Stunning Cannonball" upgrade at level 4; if you wipe out the enemy wave, chances are you'll start shooting at the gate (to try to damage whatever is entering). You don't want to do this with the additional stun effect, because the minions won't be damaged, but will get stunned. Thus, you'll keep them crowd-controlled before they enter the map, which does nothing but waste your time.
- Junk Yard: Just like the other Scrap-oriented upgrades, there's really not much use to this upgrade if you have no issues gaining Scrap.
- Turret Feature V.4: I don't think this a good upgrade, because you have to be standing next to it in order to get the HP and Mana regeneration. In effect, this just does what you can get in 2 different ways anyway (standing next to the Rift or a "Shield" Guardian). Also keep in mind it makes little sense, as you'll inevitably have to leave the area the Turret is in to deal damage to another gate, so it'll be going to waste at that point.

Synopsis

I actually had to almost completely rewrite my original Synopsis. With the release of 2.61, Brass saw a significant amount of improvements; my rating was originally 3.5/10, but I bumped that up to 6 after patch 2.61, which is pretty significant. I do feel that she has still has some issues with her design, but as of this current patch, she does perform much more "on average" than she did prior.

First, the issue of her Primary is that it is not reliable in terms of damage, which can be a problem on occasion. Due to the spread, slow attack speed, and range, this becomes particularly problematic with Runners such as Kobolds. Add in Kamikaze Kobolds to the mix, and she runs the risk of only having 1 opportunity to hit a Kamikaze Kobold before it potentially runs out of range to your Barricade. In other words, you really need to make sure your shots count when it comes to Runners.

The plus side is that she does in fact deal a significant amount of damage if the shot is accurate; she can do significant damage to even large minions (she even rivals Bionka's damage), if all the hits manage to connect. As I stated above, since it hits multiple times at once, she is arguably the second-best Hero for Order minions; the multiple hits can ensure you can bypass their "Steady" buff, as their buff has only a chance to activate per hit.

Personally, I think it's unfortunate that Swiss Army Wrench takes up an ability slot, as it is almost entirely used to only upgrade your Turret. In terms of Brass's performance, this is not really that big of a deal, I just think it's too bad that they couldn't simply handle the upgrades differently, as an extra functional ability would make Brass more interesting.

The most effective way I've managed to play as Brass is:

Use a rotation with her Primary and Secondary - Open with Cannonball Shot, then use your Primary 5 times, then use Cannonball Shot again. Five Primary uses coincides almost perfectly with the cooldown of Cannonball Shot, and allows you to weave it in for consistent damage. If you take the "Cannonball Coming!" upgrade, you do have to readjust (I believe you can use Primary 3 times before the cooldown is back up).
Place Brass Bombs in the middle of large groups of minions, as they are moving. The reason for this is because it increases your chances that a minion in the group will walk over it. The blast radius of the Brass Bombs are fairly large, so all you really need is one of them to walk over it. I would also recommend placing multiple Bombs (in fact, as many as you can afford) down at once; doing so will ensure maximum damage.
The Dwarven Turret should be able to function in Apprentice and War Mage just fine, but keep in mind the increased damage that comes in Master and Rift Lord. In these higher difficulties, I would never place the Turret by itself and expect it to handle the wave, as chances are it will just get destroyed.
If you do want to use the Dwarven Turret, consider placing it next to a Guardian. This will allow the Turret to survive a little longer, as the Guardian will pull some of threat from the minions.

Cygnus

Overview

My Personal Rating: 7/10

This is entirely based on usage in Survival. In Endless, Cygnus is actually probably one of the best Heroes to use.

Cygnus is a ranged Hero that uses Lightning magic damage. He has a slow-firing (but hard hitting) Primary, a Secondary that chains to multiple targets, and can summon a mini-Rift to help keep himself topped off with HP and Mana. His primary feature is his Rift Lord Passive, which increases his damage whenever he's nearby a Rift (which includes the mini-Rift he can summon).

Abilities:

Cygnus's Primary attack is unique, as it costs 6 Mana to use.

Chain Lightning (L2) - Cygnus zaps a minion, and the damage will chain to nearby minions (I believe it hits 3 total targets).

Mana cost: 25
Cooldown: 3 seconds

Phylactery Pylon (Triangle) - Cygnus summons a pylon that will increase the damage of traps nearby by 15%. The Pylon lasts about 15 seconds before it disappears. It can also be removed early by pressing Circle (while you are aiming at it).

Mana cost: 50
Cooldown: 9 seconds

Rift Shard (Square, Hold) - Cygnus summons a small Rift, which grants everything that a regular Rift grants; if you stand nearby, it will activate Cygnus's Rift Lord Passive, and will constantly restore HP and Mana.

Mana cost: 0
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Cast time: 4 seconds
Duration: 15 seconds

Passive: Rift Lord - Cygnus's damage is increased if he is ever standing near a Rift or his own Rift Shard.

Pros

Cygnus is incredibly one-dimensional in what he does well: He can do a serious amount of damage.

I would argue that he just might have the best balanced damaged in the game. It's powerful, but each individual hit is not as hard as Bionka's or Midnight's. Rather, you can almost think of him as a more simplistic version of Yi-Lin; once all his abilities are combined with each other, Cygnus becomes a Hero that can dish out high damage to multiple targets.

Chain Lightning is easily his best damage ability, and not only is the group damage automatic (as in, you don't have to worry about aiming it), Cygnus's level 10 upgrades make it downright phenomenal.

Rift Shard allows a portable buff-station, which is good for both co-op and solo purposes. As long as you're nearby your Rift Shard, or the map's Rift itself, not only do you get the damage increase from Cygnus's Passive, but since you're gaining constant HP/Mana restoration, you pretty much never have to worry about keeping yourself alive or running out of Mana.

He's pretty simple to understand what he's good at, but his performance is extremely dependent on his Rift Lord Passive, which is a problem. Please read the next section as to why this is.

Cons

Although Cygnus can perform extremely well, it doesn't always work out that way in practice.

The main issue is the maintenance of his Passive, as ideally, you want this up as much as possible. Cygnus's damage output is only mediocre at best without his Passive, but the design intentionally forces you to always be around Rifts regardless. So in other words, you can't just simply deal with the lower damage, and not being around a Rift, because if you do, Cygnus will turn into one of the worst Heroes in the game.

The design forces you to be around Rifts due to his Primary attack, which consumes a significant amount of Mana. This is unique to Cygnus, as no other Hero in the game consumes their respective resource to use their Primary.

This means that unlike every other Hero in the game, Cygnus can't simply sit back and use his Primary if he runs into Mana problems; he constantly needs a Mana source in order to perform. This is where Rift Shard comes in, and due to the nature of Survival (and constantly moving around maps), this means you will be extremely dependent on always having it around.

There are a few problems with Rift Shard as is, but this is mostly to keep it balanced:

It takes a long time to summon (about 4 seconds, but can be reduced via upgrades).
It doesn't last that long (about 15 seconds, but can be increased via upgrades).
It has a long cooldown (about 300 seconds).

This means that by design, you're forced to at least have a 10 second window (although upgrades can improve this) of not having it around.

Phylactery Pylon, I would argue, is mostly useless. Its "aura" that it has to increase trap damage isn't actually very large, so it's only ideally utilized in small corridors. This is unfortunate, but not a huge issue. The bigger issue is that it only lasts about 10 seconds, but the shorter cooldown does ensure that you can continually replace it (in fact, you can have multiples up). However, I find it to be a huge hassle to continually put one down, and do realize that taking the time to put one down is taking you away from dealing damage.

Cygnus also suffers from one of the lower movement speeds in the game. In terms of rank, if Bionka is the slowest, I think Cygnus is either the third or fourth slowest. This is a bit problematic for Survival, particularly when you consider that he needs a slight amount of time to set things up before he starts to deal damage.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Experienced or Silver Streak (Level 2)
Paternal Instinct or Mana Miser (Level 4)
Ornery Oldtimer (Level 7)
Get Off His Lawn or Maniacal Master (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Experienced: This should be the upgrade you almost always want to get during Survival maps, although it depends on how well you can camp at the Rift. Since most of the time in Survival, you're reliant on Rift Shard, the initial casting time of it is pretty terrible (mostly because if you get attacked, it interrupts). Taking this upgrade almost makes the cast instantaneous, which makes it significantly better.
- Buff, Old Man: I don't normally use the Pylon that much in comparison to Rift Shard or Chain Lightning, so it's very difficult to justify this upgrade over the other two.
- Silver Streak: You should certainly take this upgrade instead if you plan on staying near the Rift for the majority of the match. Since the Rift can grant the exact same things as a Rift Shard, if you stick by the Rift, there is absolutely no reason to use the Rift Shard. Thus, there's no point in taking Experienced. Having the Chain Lightning cooldown is much more attractive, particularly when used in combination with his upgrades at level 10.
Level 4:
- Paternal Instinct: Another almost required upgrade if you're constantly using Rift Shard. Although an extra 20% isn't much (it's only a few seconds), it is actually beneficial in two different ways. It not only means that you get to keep the Passive buff longer, but it also reduces the time you have to wait between each active Rift Shard.
- Mana Miser: You do need to get some experience with Cygnus to see how this is a useful upgrade. Generally speaking, you'll probably think "well this sucks, I keep plenty of Mana when Rift Lord is active anyway", and you'd be right. When you play as Cygnus, you'll notice that the activation range for his Passive is quite large; you don't need to stand right next to either the Rift Shard or the Rift to get the Passive damage buff. However, this is not the case in order to be granted the HP/Mana restoration, as you have to be relatively close to it, fairly close to melee range, in order to start the restoration. What you'll also find is that on some maps, particularly if you're camping the Rift, it's optimal to try to get the maximum possible distance from the Rift (while still keeping the Passive buff). The issue is that by doing so, you won't get any Mana restored, hence, your Primary is going to drain your Mana incredibly fast. This is what the upgrade is for; by taking this, this means you can be at maximum possible distance from either your Rift Shard or Rift, and not worry about your Mana. This takes some knowledge of the map to understand where it's potentially utilized.
- Mini-Master: I would certainly never pick this over Paternal Instinct, but if you're camping the Rift, I suppose it is a viable option. Extra damage that you don't necessarily have to think about isn't exactly a poor idea, and at the very least, it gets you to actually use the Rift Shard; if you're just sitting at the Rift, obviously there's no need to summon the Rift Shard otherwise. Personally I never use it though, as I never feel I need the extra damage. If I'm camping the Rift, I'd prefer to have a little more flexibility in my range and take Mana Miser.
Level 7:
- Pylon Patriarch: Once more, because I don't really prefer to use the Pylon, I never really take this upgrade. From what I read of the description, I assume the Pylon will activate the traps once, upon its summon. This is potentially useless, because it's possible that they're already activated, or you place down the Pylon first (before minions get to it) so you don't have to worry about placing it mid-combat (which is what this upgrade is encouraging you to do).
- Tough Old Geezer: You can almost look at this as the HP equivalent to "Mana Miser" at level 4. By taking this upgrade, you almost guarantee you'll be invincible if you're getting the HP restoration from the Rift/Rift Shard. However, it seems like it is a bit unnecessary, as I find the regular HP restoration from the Rift/Rift Shard is more than enough.
- Ornery Oldtimer: This is one of the most attractive upgrades Cygnus has, because a 15% damage increase to the minions with the largest HP pools is fantastic. Normal minions will generally die within 1-3 uses of your Primary or Chain Lightning, but not necessarily large minions, bosses, or Mercenaries. 15% more damage to Trolls? Yes please.
Level 10:
- Enlightening Education: Okay, this takes a bit of thought (and math) to understand. I could be wrong, as I am no Math major, but let's say you're hitting for 100 per Chain Lightning hit. With this upgrade, that means the second will take 110, and the third should take 121 (add 10% of 110). So you have a total of 331 damage. Keep this in mind, and read my notes about "Get Off My Lawn".
- Get Off My Lawn: Okay, here's some more math. Let's use the same numbers as Enlightening Education; your Chain Lightning is hitting for 100. This means, assuming Chain Lightning hits 3 total targets (without this upgrade), you're doing 300 damage total. If you add 3 more targets, all for 100 damage a piece, that means you're dealing 600 damage total. So unless I'm not understanding it fully (or I'm missing something about it), Get Off My Lawn will always outperform Enlightening Education. I suppose the only true exception is if there are only 3 targets total (as in, there are no more targets in range for Chain Lightning to go to); if that is the case, then this upgrade is wasted. However, you'll see when you take this upgrade, that the "extension" effect is actually gigantic, and it seems longer than the initial chaining of the ability. This upgrade makes Chain Lightning one of the most amazing abilities in the game.
  - One thing to note is that Get Off My Lawn is only active while you have Cygnus's Passive active. So in a way, Enlightening Education is much more consistent (as it's always active). Still though, I think Get Off My Lawn outperforms Enlightening Education regardless.
- Manaical Master: Initially I never really chose this upgrade (and I still normally don't choose it over Get Off My Lawn) but it is in fact extremely good crowd control, particularly if you decided to take "Silver Streak" at level 2, because Chain Lightning will be roughly a 2 second cooldown, and hey look, a 2 second stun. Now this doesn't mean you can have infinite crowd control, because inevitably a new minion will walk in front of the stunned ones, and they'll just alternate getting stunned as they progress. However, I do think it's a very amusing upgrade to take, and if you feel fairly confident in your damage output, you may want to take this instead. I personally prefer Get Off My Lawn simply because of it's incredible damage increase.

Synopsis

Cygnus has the potential to be one of the best damage dealers in the game, but unfortunately it is almost entirely dependent on whether he's near a Rift or one of his Rift Shards.

In Endless, you really see Cygnus shine the most, because you can happily set up all your traps and Barricades near the Rift, and just sit there zapping minions as they move through all your traps. However, this isn't possible to do on some Endless maps (Crogon Keep and Frostbite for example) so you do have to be somewhat knowledgable about how to set things up in order to excel with Cygnus.

In Survival, he's not quite as good, but it's really how you feel about having to constantly put down your Rift Shards in order to properly deal damage. If you don't really mind doing that, I feel confident in saying that you'll enjoy playing as Cygnus. His slower movement speed does affect things on occasion, most notably on the larger maps, but it's not quite as bad as other Heroes, so it's not too problematic for him.

He's really quite simple to understand; put Rift Shard down (and the Pylon if you want to), constantly zap with Primary, and use Chain Lightning every times it's up. That's pretty much all there is to Cygnus.

Deadeye

Overview

My Personal Rating: 8.5/10

Deadeye is a ranged Hero that deals physical damage. She also has a few various tricks and gadgets at her disposal, which allows her to deal extra damage, slow enemies, and roll out of danger.

Abilities:

Bouncing Bomb (L2) - Deadeye tosses a bomb in front of her, which (surprise) bounces along the ground for a few steps. If it hits an enemy, it will explode, dealing damage.

Mana cost: 30
Cooldown: 8 seconds

Elven Razorweed (Triangle) - Deadeye places the Razorweed a few steps in front of her (which is about the width of a regular floor trap). If minions cross the Razorweed, they will not only take damage, but will also be slowed for a few seconds.

Mana cost: 20
Cooldown: 12 seconds
Duration: 6 seconds

Ready, Steady, Fire (Square) - Deadeye remains stationary, and unleashes a barrage of arrows in a straight line in front of her for 5 seconds. Deadeye can only be rotated slightly while she uses this ability (with the right analog), and if she moves regularly (using the left analog) it will stop the ability.

Mana cost: 50
Cooldown: 60 seconds

Outta The Way (L3) - Deadeye will roll in the direction that is pressed while using this ability. As she rolls, Deadeye is completely invincible from damage, and she also gets a buff that increases her Primary damage by 50%, which lasts 5 seconds.

Mana cost: 10
Cooldown: 2 seconds
Buff duration: 7 seconds

Passive: Infamous - Deadeye gains a stack of Infamy for every kill. Infamy does nothing in a single stack, but once Deadeye reaches 12 stacks of Infamy, her Primary attack changes to give it a slight area-of-effect. All Infamy stacks are lost after 10 seconds (note: it doesn't really work out that way, see the Synopsis for more details).

Pros

Deadeye gets a decent amount of variety, and unlike a lot of Heroes, they are mostly damage-focused. This means that her abilities tend to be less situation-oriented, which encourages you to use them regularly.

For her Primary attack, you may notice something about it - the cross-hairs never in fact get larger. This means that she stays accurate no matter what range she is, and no matter how long you hold the Primary button down (which is very much unlike Max and Gabriella).

The second great thing about her Primary is how it changes with Infamy stacks. At 12 Infamy, although Primary damage is reduced, most of the time it is worth the trade-off, because the added area-of-effect is large enough to hit at least 2-3 minions, depending on how close they are together. Given Deadeye's fast attack speed, this also allows her to excel in clearing groups of Runners; the Primary damage reduction makes little difference when killing Runners, and the explosion ensures that you're killing them without having to be perfectly accurate.

Bouncing Bomb is her main burst-damage attack, as it is much stronger than her Primary, and it doesn't have too long of a cooldown. I would argue it's mostly supposed to be utilized against larger minions with more HP, but it's equally as viable to use at any point, due to its large explosion radius. Although a good ability by itself, it can be further upgraded to either stun or place a Fire damage-over-time effect on minions, making it even more useful.

Elven Razorweed's slow and damage isn't exactly anything to note, but I think it's benefit is with how simple it is to use. All you really have to do is throw it down and then you never need to even think about it. It really becomes significantly more useful if you upgrade it to take the bleed effect, because at that point it does even more damage. Given its short cooldown (which allows only 6 seconds between placements) it can provide a constant source of damage, all the while slowing minions, without ever putting any real effort beyond just remembering to place it.

Ready, Steady, Fire might currently be the most powerful ability in the game. The damage output is so fast, it's difficult to tell the exact amount of damage it does, but it is quite enormous. Again, Deadeye gets a significant upgrade for it at level 10, which allows it to pierce targets. This means if you can line all the minions up in more or less a straight line, you can clear almost entire waves in a single use.

Cons

Deadeye actually doesn't really have a lot of problems with her. She does have a couple of problems with her ability design, but overall it's really nothing that glaring.

The main problem I have with her is that I feel she's a little slow to start. Although she does good damage, I feel that starting off, every single one of her abilities (except Ready, Steady, Fire) is just slightly below average. Due to this, if you're not actively using all of her abilities, you may find that she gets a little overwhelmed.

There are a few (albeit minor) functional issues with some of her abilities:

Bouncing Bomb's "bounce" animation is quite bizarre at times. Sometimes it really seems like the thing is made out of rubber, and it'll bounce in really odd ways. You also have to be careful about aiming it near environmental hazards, as if you miss, it'll go right off the ledge, wasting the ability. Due to these reasons, I always find it's better to use it when you're basically in melee range of whatever you want to hit.
Elven Razorweed is a bit odd in getting it to work. I'm not sure why, but for whatever reason, you need to completely stop shooting at times for it to be properly placed, as if the ability doesn't properly attack-cancel. In other words, if you're holding down Primary, sometimes Elven Razorweed will properly overwrite it (and be placed down seamlessly), other times, you have to stop shooting entirely in order to place it.
- Similar to this, I also notice this when placing down traps with Deadeye. Sometimes you have to wait for her entire "placement animation" to complete in order to place the next trap. It's a mild annoyance, but it's something you should pay attention to.

Outta The Way is mostly not that useful. The extra 50% damage to Primary is indeed nice, but you'll find that Outta The Way is at best, only used sparingly. The reason why is because her abilities are on short cooldowns, and they should be used when they're up. This means that you won't really have time to find chances to use Outta The Way, because you'll be too busy either placing down Razorweed or firing off Bouncing Bomb. You then have to consider that the roll animation is fairly long as well, which means it's not really optimal for your damage to continually use it (as you're wasting time doing nothing, rather than firing). I think this is intentional in design though, as it's really meant to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one.

Ready, Steady, Fire, is a fantastic ability, but does have two problems in design (although this seems intentional):

You can aim (somewhat) with it, but not move with it - So obviously the closer minions are, the worse the ability gets. You normally never want to start firing if something is in melee range, because you run the risk of just sitting there and taking damage. Second, if you take the battle level 10 upgrade which allows it to pierce (and you always should), a minion in melee range may force you to readjust your aim, and thus you run the risk of losing all of the piercing damage.
It can't pierce shields - This goes at all times, including when you take the level 10 upgrade. Since you can't move after you fire, you do have to be really mindful that you're not going to hit a Shield minion. If the Shield minion is out in front of the group, it's obvious enough, but if they're mixed into the middle, it's entirely possible to kill the minions in front first, then end up wasting the rest of the ability on those Shield minions in the middle of the group.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Spring-Loaded (Level 2)
Razorweed Rend (Level 4)
Burnin' Hate (Level 7)
Clear 'Em Out (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Spring-Loaded: I always choose this upgrade, because it's a simple damage-per-second increase for your Primary, which you constantly use. It's automatic, so you don't have to even think about, which makes it easy to see how it benefits your main source of damage.
- Deadlier-Eye: I've never chosen this upgrade, but I assume the increase is 50%...of the 50% increase. So this means that the Outta The Way buff goes from a 50% increase to Primary damage to a 75% increase. Even it does increase it to a 100% damage buff, I still wouldn't choose it, because Outta The Way is probably the least utilized ability in Deadeye's arsenal.
- Hold'em Back: This suffers a similar problem as Deadlier-Eye, but it's even more difficult to see. Since it's not designated how much of a movement Slow Elven Razorweed does, it's even further difficult to tell what the addition of "15%" is; if the initial Slow is 50% (which, I don't think it's that high), is it 15% of 50%? Or is it 15% + 50%? You can test to see if you wish, but personally I never have.
Level 4:
- Razorweed Rend: This is a really nice upgrade, and the one I constantly choose. It basically turns Razorweed into its own Fire trap (only that it deals physical damage obviously); all you need to do is place it down and you can see the damage roll out. This in turn means that it is absolutely fantastic for Runners; just as long as you have your Razorweed down, they'll be killed without having to put any real effort into it. The damage is actually decent as well, and thus, if you're using it constantly (and you should be) it's a good damage increase.
- Goin' Down In Infamy: A completely worthless upgrade in my opinion. Infamy stacks are not hard to get, which means that you shouldn't have any real issue triggering Infamous. To take an upgrade that makes it easier, is pretty pointless.
- Spurred Boots: Another upgrade for Outta The Way, but it still kind of sucks even if you use it regularly. Being able to damage with Outta The Way makes little sense, because it should always be used defensively. Hence, you should always be rolling away from enemies, not into them. Being reliant on Outta The Way indirectly indicates that you're staying in mid or close range, which is really bizarre given Deadeye's superb accuracy.
Level 7:
- Burnin' Hate: This is the upgrade I generally choose, as it performs better than it looks in the description (which is unusual). The nice thing about this upgrade is that it will produce a "cloud" effect in the form (and size) of the Bouncing Bomb explosion. This actually is much larger than you might realize; it's roughly the same size of Razorweed Rend, but it's floating in midair, giving it a circular shape. It's difficult to describe, but in terms of function, it basically turns into a Razorweed that deals Fire damage (without the movement Slow). Of course, it stacks with all other damage-over-time effects, which means it's a fantastic damage increase.
- Hard Knocks: I've never actually chosen this upgrade, but this is one that may actually be somewhat useful. It does give Deadeye some crowd control, which she is really lacking, so I suppose it boils down to personal preference. I generally like to take things that increase damage over crowd control.
- Fistful of Brambles: The last Outta The Way upgrade, and as you can imagine, I never take it. A "bramble drop" means Deadeye drops Elven Razorweed when she uses Outta The Way. Although this seems kind of interesting at first, it's again, added to a defensive ability. That means that, in order to get its full use, the best place to be is near the front of the group of minions (close to mid range), and I would argue that is completely unnecessary for Deadeye.
Level 10:
- Clear'Em Out: This is a fantastic upgrade, and I would highly recommend it. Giving Ready, Steady, Fire the ability to pierce is a GIGANTIC damage increase, and you'll be surprised how great it is when you test it out. A good place to see what it can do is Banquet Hall Endless; if you can set things up so all of the minions walk in a straight line, line them all up and use Ready, Steady, Fire with this upgrade. You'll see that Deadeye completely tears through all of them.
- More Misdeeds: When I first used Deadeye, this was the upgrade I normally chose. It's not a bad upgrade by any means, because my thinking at the time was "oh that's good, it's a piercing ability on my Primary, which I am constantly using". This was more attractive at the time, because I'd rather have the pierce ability (albeit it doesn't hit as many targets) on something I'm constantly using, rather than something that has a long cooldown. In practice though, it just pales in comparison to what Clear'Em Out is capable of; once I actually tested Clear'Em Out, I never went back to this upgrade. You can certainly test it though to see if you have a preference for this over Clear'Em Out.
- Bramble Barricade: Although having a damage reflection shield up while you use Ready, Steady, Fire would certainly be nice, in reality, even a 400% damage increase isn't all that much. If you pay attention to how much damage you take (by looking at your Hero's portrait while being attacked) most minions don't deal that much damage. For reference, Gnoll Hunters hit for about 20 or so, and Trolls hit for about 80 (I think). Given how much HP minions have (particularly the Trolls), 320 damage per hit doesn't really flinch their HP much. So unfortunately, this doesn't really compete with Clear'Em Out or More Misdeeds.

Synopsis

Deadeye is probably one of the best ranged Heroes in the game, and it's mostly because of how consistent she is.

She is unique in the sense that her abilities are basic and not dependent on pretty much anything - she doesn't need any kind of Mana management (like Blackpaw); she's not reliant on specific abilities to ensure she's doing damage (like Cygnus); she doesn't have situational or crowd control abilities (mostly), as almost all of her abilities are focused on dealing damage.

From her basic foundation, she gets consistent improvements via her upgrades; all of her upgrades (that I recommend at least) push her damage even further. By the time she's level 10, she gets quite the synergistic effect, because all of those basic abilities were upgraded into something above average, and using them all combines them to some stellar damage output.

Outside of some design issues (which I feel are mostly intentional), her simplicity is also a little bit of a crutch at first. Unlike most Heroes, because she is so focused on damage, she doesn't get much variety in terms of utility. While other Heroes can do nifty things to help increase their damage output, crowd control, or survivability, Deadeye gets little in that regard. This in turn means any single ability Deadeye has can't be too effective, otherwise she's dealing too much damage (thus, this is why each ability is below average at first).

The consequence of this is that you have to be very active in playing Deadeye; making sure you are constantly placing Razorweed down, using Bouncing Bomb with stronger enemies, and using Ready, Steady, Fire on the largest threats. Although this takes more effort at first, by the time Deadeye hits level 10, you'll be so accustomed to playing actively, that it becomes second nature, and as a result you'll be able to maximize your damage with all of your chosen upgrades.

Dobbin

Overview

My Personal Rating: 7/10

Dobbin is probably the best "offensive" support Hero currently in the game. His abilities revolve around stat reductions and utility, rather than direct damage or crowd control. He is also kind of a different version of Max; Max reduces trap cost, which allows him to place traps faster than other Heroes to support his damage. Dobbin instead gains more Coin, but this effectively allows him to do the same thing Max does, which is put traps down faster.

Abilities:

Dust Devil (L2) - Dobbin creates a stationary dust storm that will slow minions that cross it, as well as reduce their physical armor. Enemies that die in the cloud have a 20% chance to drop a Coin Bag. Note: This ability is either bugged, or it was patched without the description being updated. The Coin Bags can actually spawn upon hitting a minion while they are in the Dust Devil, in addition to being killed while in it.

Mana cost: 40
Cooldown: 14 seconds
Duration: 8 seconds

Mineshaft Shortcut (Triangle, Hold) - Dobbin creates a mineshaft at the position he is standing in. In order to use this ability correctly, 2 shafts need to be created; once 2 have been placed, any Hero can use them to travel between them. You may wonder how they can be destroyed; I personally have never seen it happen in all the times that I've played as Dobbin, but I believe they can be destroyed by explosive damage (such as damage from Orc TNT Archers).

Mana cost: 80
Cooldown: 5 seconds. If Destroyed - 90 seconds.
Duration: Forever (unless destroyed)

Spare Dynamite (Square) - Dobbin throws a stick of dynamite, which will explode in a radius once it lands. Enemies hit by the dynamite have a 25% chance to drop a Coin Bag.

Mana cost: 30
Cooldown: 5 seconds

Passive: Short Stack - Large minions will always ignore Dobbin. This does not affect Mercenaries, but does affect bosses.

Pros

I would say Dobbin's biggest factor is the fact that he's the one that makes getting the Empty Pockets trophy somewhat manageable. He does this by generating more Coin than any other Hero; the Coin Bags that drop while you use his abilities are worth 200 Coin a piece.

As I stated above, this in turn becomes similar to Max, because the increased Coin generation equates to putting down traps faster. This can be particularly helpful for certain maps that don't generate much coin (Confluence is an example), which can really help clearing waves initially.

The Coin Bags that are unique to Dobbin are not only helpful to solo players, but they're also helpful in co-op. What you may not realize, is that unlike all the other Hero-specific drops (such as Bloodspike's Delicious Meals), other players can not only see them, but pick them up as well. This is a little bit of a double-edged sword, but I would say it's a benefit overall, because sometimes it's hard to be quick enough to pick them all up on your own. I'd much more prefer someone else to pick up some and help their own Coin generation, which (ideally) will help the entire team.

Dust Devil is probably one of the best utility abilities in the game, because it's simple to use, has a decent duration, and does two different status effects: a Slow, and physical Armor reduction. Again, realize that the Armor reduction not only helps you, but any co-op players as well.

Mineshaft Shortcut can also make a marked difference in your performance on some maps (particularly something like Crogon Keep) as it functions better than a Teleportation Ring. Unlike the Teleportation Ring, you can pick the two spots you want to traverse between, which can make it very useful for traversing larger maps.

Dobbin's Passive can be really useful, as being able to wail on minions without them bothering you is obvious boon to your own survivability. However, it does have it's own weird set of issues that need to be considered, which I'll address in the next section.

Cons

Dobbin actually doesn't have a lot of problems. He does have one major drawback though, but it's understandable - Dobbin does not deal a lot of damage.

This obviously makes sense, because he should parallel Max's damage output (since they're supposed to be better supported by traps). However, I would argue he's slightly below Max's damage, because he doesn't get any really hard hitting attack like In Your Faces.

The main problem in my opinion, is that Spare Dynamite is pretty lackluster. It has a decent cooldown, the radius is pretty good, but it really doesn't do that much more damage than his Primary. This means that Dobbin's damage is extremely consistent (while being somewhat low), which is more tailored for groups of weaker enemies, rather than stronger ones.

His Passive is worthy to point out. Although one initially may think having large minions ignore you is a good thing, realize it can be somewhat problematic too. The reason being that sometimes you want enemies to attack you, because that diverts their attention away from the Rift. Large minions are generally the biggest threat to the Rift, due to their larger HP pools. Sometimes you do want to grab their attention so you can take the extra time needed to kill them.

Combine that with the fact that Dobbin doesn't really do great damage against stronger minions, this can be a problem. Generally speaking, I don't think it's overall glaring issue that devastates Dobbin, but it's more confusing in terms of a design choice.

I will also point out something else Dobbin has that normally is a positive thing - Dobbin has a gigantic HP pool; he actually rivals Bionka's HP. What's the point of such a large HP pool when the majority of the damage dealers are ignoring you? I mean yeah, it's still helpful, but it just seems completely unnecessary, and again, an odd design choice.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Rich Vein or Iron Shovel (Level 2)
Devilish Digger or Strike It Rich (Level 4)
Gold Rush (Level 7)
Kick'Em In The Knees (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Stockpile: Reducing the Mana cost of Spare Dynamite isn't really all that useful. Dobbin doesn't have much Mana issues, because Dust Devil persists a decent while, and Spare Dynamite is still fairly comparable in damage to Dobbin's Primary. If you do like to use Spare Dynamite every time it's up, you may want to consider this, but I think this is the worst out of Dobbin's first upgrades.
- Rich Vein: This is particularly useful when going for Empty Pockets, because not only does it increase the Coin Bag value from 200 to 300, but it also works on the regular Coin drops (increasing it to 150). What's even better about this upgrade, is that it also stacks with Luck Potions! This means that while the Luck Potion 30 second buff is active (which doubles the value of all Coin gained), those Coin Bags are worth a whopping 600 Coin a piece.
- Iron Shovel: This is probably Dobbin's single most attractive upgrade, as it is a 12% damage increase, period. This is exactly what he needs due to his lower damage output. If you're not farming for Empty Pockets, definitely take this upgrade.
Level 4:
- Devilish Digger: I'm not really sure how much the movement Slow of Dust Devil is initially, and it's also difficult to determine if the upgrade gives a multiplicative addition, or a flat addition. In other words, if the Slow is 50%, I can't tell if it would increase the Slow to 75%, or it would increase to whatever 25% of 50% is (which is like, 16% or something, for a total of 66%). Either way though, the extra Slow can still be helpful, because it helps them stay in the Dust Devil, which means a longer duration of the Armor reduction, which means more damage.
- Short Fuse: Again, I'm not a huge advocate of Spare Dynamite, so I've never really taken this upgrade. I wouldn't recommend taking this if you didn't take Stockpile though, because Spare Dynamite is going to have a really short cooldown with this upgrade. This means it will start to really drain your Mana.
- Strike It Rich: Another upgrade that helps the Empty Pockets trophy along, and combines really well with the "Rich Vein" upgrade at level 2. 10% isn't that much though, but when you're farming for Coin, anything helps.
Level 7:
- Diamond Armor: I've never actually taken this upgrade, as it doesn't seem very helpful. I cannot say if Dobbin gains the shield as well, because the description designates it as "Allies who use Mineshaft", but on the hopeful assumption that it does work while playing Dobbin, it's still not really useful. Dobbin doesn't normally have too many issues surviving already, due to his high HP and Passive.
- Gold Rush: I normally take this upgrade because it's simply a lot of Coin. Yes, it does in fact count for your total Coin generated, which means it also contributes to the Empty Pockets trophy. It's still helpful regardless, because 8,000 Coin can go a long way in placing down traps.
- Extra Powder: Yet another upgrade for Spare Dynamite, and once more, I find it pretty lackluster. Spare Dynamite's radius is already pretty large, so adding another 20% to it seems a bit unnecessary to me.
Level 10:
- Jury Rigged: This is a lot of HP regeneration, but similar to Diamond Armor, I just don't feel Dobbin really needs much help in terms of survivability. If you do feel like you're struggling to stay alive, this is an option, as it should really help things along.
- Shrapnel Storm: From what I've seen of it, the added damage to Dust Devil from this upgrade really isn't that much. Even though I'm generally a fan of anything that adds damage, I feel this is pretty insignificant in the long run. If you're curious about it, you may want to try it out just to see what it's like, and maybe you'll like it more than I do.
- Kick'Em In The Knees: This is the level 10 upgrade I like, because 30% damage is a huge amount, despite only being to large minions. The truth is though, the large minions are the ones with higher HP anyway, so it's not a huge deal that it doesn't affect smaller minions.

Synopsis

I really think that Dobbin is a co-op Hero, because he brings some offensive utility that will ultimately help other players.

This is the reason why I decided to give him a 7/10, because like Ivy, he has some unique niches that allows him to shine (generating extra Coin for Empty Pockets, co-op utility), but you may struggle with him somewhat if you're on your own just clearing maps normally.

There's really not much else to say about Dobbin, because he feels overwhelmingly average. He does some interesting things, but they are certainly not difficult to figure out, and he's very easy to play as a result: Put down Dust Devil, throw Spare Dynamite if you wish, then proceed to thwack everything with his shovel. That's it, and it never really gets more complicated than that.

Love him or hate him, if you're looking to achieve that elusive Empty Pockets trophy, Dobbin will more than likely be one of your most played Heroes, due to his Coin generation.

Gabriella

Overview

My Personal Rating: 6.5/10

Gabriella is one of the 3 starter Heroes available to everyone when they first start the game. Out of the 3 starter Heroes, Gabriella probably has the most utility, primarily in the form of crowd control. Gabriella also uses Arcane magic, which applies a debuff on minions that are hit. The Arcane debuff allows subsequent Arcane hits to deal more damage, and stacks up to 3 times.

Abilities:

Kinetic Pulse (L2) - Gabriella will cast an Arcane wave, that projects outward in a cone shape. This ability will cause a knockback to minions, and it will also activate any traps within its range.

Mana cost: 65
Cooldown: 15 seconds

Blink (Triangle) - Gabriella will teleport a set distance away from her current position, remove any crowd control effects (such as Freeze) and will also restore 65% of her HP. This ability can be used while moving, and using it in conjunction with the analog stick will teleport you in that direction; in other words, holding left and using Blink will teleport you to the left. By default, if Gabriella is standing still, Blink will teleport her backwards.

Mana cost: 50
Cooldown: 10 seconds

Devious Allure (Square) - Gabriella will mesmerize minions in a radius around her for a short duration. The mesmerize works similar to stun, but if you hit a mesmerized minion, it will break. If the mesmerize is broken, a movement Slow will be applied for a short duration.

Mana cost: 50
Cooldown: 12
Mesmerize duration: 4 seconds

Passive: Limitless Magic - Gabriella's Unchained duration lasts 50% longer. This equates to roughly a 25 second Unchained duration.

Pros

Out of the 3 starter Heroes, Gabriella probably does the most consistent single-target damage. She is also probably the most straightforward to play, because her damage output is heavily dependent on using her Primary.

She has great survivability due to how Blink was given HP restoration in one of the patches. Since she's a ranged Hero, if she gets into trouble, she can simply Blink away, restore any lost HP (or remove any stuns or anything like), then go back to dealing damage very quickly.

Kinetic Pulse hits really hard, and its range is fantastic, allowing you hit a ton of minions at the same time. The knockback and the "trap refresh" are just added bonuses that makes it a really awesome ability.

Devious Allure can be quite helpful when things need to be slowed down, and can make a big difference with Runners. The range is so large, that if a Runner manages to get by you, you can catch them with it before they get too far away. Do keep in mind it doesn't work on Earth Elementals though.

Gabriella's Passive is also really helpful, because a 25 second Unchained is a lot of time. Remember that during Unchained, you get increased damage, increased HP, and all cooldowns are also reduced.

Cons

The first thing you'll probably notice with Gabriella is that her Primary attack speed is decently slow. This is to balance out the damage, but it does take some getting used to. It can also be a problem with Runners, because a slow attack speed means you have to be accurate with each shot.

Although Gabriella gets a lot of various crowd control, I found that crowd control in this game is not really necessary. With enough damage, minions are dying quickly, and hence, there's no real reason to slow them down.

Combine that with the fact Blink and Devious Allure have a decent Mana cost. So if you're using all of her abilities constantly, you'll be starving for Mana pretty quickly.

As a result, you may not really use Devious Allure much, and since Blink is somewhat situational (no real reason to use it if you don't need to travel, or don't need to escape), that boils Gabriella down to mostly using her Primary and Kinetic Pulse. Then combine the fact that Kinetic Pulse has a decently long cooldown, and you may find yourself simply constantly using her Primary.

For me, this makes Gabriella very uninteresting to play. Since she only has access to a single damaging ability, I do think this hurts her overall damage output somewhat. She does get some upgrades that help the damage of Kinetic Pulse and her Primary, so she does kind of even out, but her performance still drags behind a little due to her crowd control abilities having questionable use.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Wand Polish (Level 2)
Power From Control or Old Habits (Level 4)
Power Word or Extra Commandments (Level 7)
Enthralled or Retaliate (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Scared Stiff: The immobilization granted to Blink makes this upgrade interesting to consider, but personally, I don't like using Blink as an offensive ability. Consider how this would work - If you're standing in front of the group of minions, and want to use Blink to immobilize them, you either have to get in front of the group and teleport in (putting you right in front of a bunch of minions), or jump into the group initially and teleport out. The latter might be preferable, but personally I find it awkward to try to reorient my aim after teleporting.
- Concussive Strike: A 2 second stun to Kinetic Pulse is actually pretty good, but Gabriella really doesn't need any more crowd control than she already has. If you take this upgrade, you may feel even less inclined to use Devious Allure, potentially making Gabriella more dull to play.
- Wand Polish: This is the upgrade I normally choose, because Gabriella's damage is so focused on using her Primary, and since her Primary attack speed is fairly slow, this upgrade improves two things at once. The 15% increase really helps when you need to kill something quickly (such as Runners). Note: Watch your aiming reticle! Normally, without the upgrade, Gabriella's attack speed allows you to not be concerned with her aiming reticle expanding. With this upgrade, if you hold the Primary down, you will see a severe drop in accuracy, which will force you to miss shots. I would recommend paying attention to the reticle, and briefly allow it to reset after you see it expand to a large degree.
Level 4:
- Loving Glow: This upgrade is more meant for co-op play, as Gabriella certainly doesn't really need any more HP restoration outside of Blink. Since I've never actually taken this upgrade, I'm unsure if the heal is 9% per minion, or it's just 9% per Devious Allure use (assuming it mesmerizes at least 1 minion). Even if you're in co-op, the "nearby heroes" might be something to concerned about, because that doesn't really indicate the range, and so it may not even be reaching your allies, depending on what's going on.
- Power From Control: Although I sometimes take this upgrade, it's unfortunately not as good as it sounds. The reason is that the buff only lasts as long as minions are mesmerized; which is only about 4 seconds. Given Gabriella's slower attack speed, this means she may only get 2 Primary uses out of this buff. Although it's possible it's really meant to be used in conjunction with Kinetic Pulse, but personally I don't think it needs the damage increase that much.
- Old Habits: Still kind of a "meh" upgrade, but that's primarily because I use a lot of Fire traps, which breaks mesmerize. Still, two extra seconds of stun can be pretty useful at times, but it doesn't change the fact that if you're dealing enough damage, you won't really be relying on Devious Allure.
Level 7:
- Power Word: This does increase the damage of Kinetic Pulse by a lot, which is great, but it really takes some consideration when comparing it to the "Extra Commandments" that is also offered at this level. For me, I think this upgrade makes Kinetic Pulse do too much damage, because it'll only really affect larger minions. If Kinetic Pulse is killing (or nearly killing) smaller minions normally, which there are generally more of, all of that extra damage is lost. Also consider that it stacks with Unchained's extra damage, which gives it even more damage, and thus, a lot of that damage is just overkill. It can still be good though, and on paper at least, it does translate to higher damage-per-second in comparison to Extra Commandments.
- Mana Drain: If you're using all of Gabriella's abilities constantly, this is actually a pretty good upgrade, as it should keep her Mana topped off. For me though, I don't use her abilities much (besides Kinetic Pulse), and so I generally don't have Mana issues.
- Extra Commandments: To compare this to "Power Word", a 3 second cooldown increase equates to a 25% increase to damage-per-second to Kinetic Pulse (I think), so in terms of damage, Power Word is better. However, the shorter cooldown can help make Gabriella a little more interesting to play (because it'll equate to less Primary use), but it has other factors to consider as well. Since you have a shorter cooldown, this also allows you to reactivate traps more, which can be helpful in certain situations. Also consider that in Unchained, taking this upgrade will put Kinetic Pulse to an extremely short cooldown, allowing you to frequently use it during Unchained, which can be extremely helpful.
Level 10:
- Slippery Witch: It's kind of interesting, but I'm not sure how practical this upgrade is. It is actually pretty nice to traverse maps with, but other than that, I don't see the point. You generally don't ever need to Blink twice in a row in combat for any reason. This is potentially helpful for catching up with Runners, but ideally, you don't want to be chasing them down in the first place. Not only that, but it may not be able to close the distance quick enough, because Blink only moves in a straight line, and most maps have twists and turns. So if a Runner turns a corner, another Blink won't help much.
- Enthralled: I think this is the most useful if you decided to take the "Old Habits" upgrade at level 4. It is important to note though, that if you did take that upgrade, Enthralled pretty much negates it; the 6 second duration will be reduced down to its original 4 seconds. Without the Old Habits upgrade, it's not a gigantic deal (as it equates to about a 1 second loss), but still, I'd rather keep them mesmerized for as long as possible. This upgrade works really well if you use a lot of Fire traps like I do, because it'll allow you to rotate Devious Allure in more, if you wish to.
- Retaliate: Kind of an interesting upgrade, but like other upgrades for Gabriella, it looks better on paper. The problem is you clearly don't get to choose which minion this activates on. In normal situations, you're going to be attacking the closest minion to you. The closest minion to you is generally the one who will be attacking you first. So this means that chances are the minion (if it has higher HP) will already be reduced down to a lower amount (say 50% or less) before this skill activates, and hence, it doesn't really ever see its full effect. It's still kind of helpful for larger minions though, such as Trolls, because on higher difficulties they can have a tremendous amounts of HP to whittle through. There are other situations that might trigger its use though, such as Archers shooting at you, or Gnolls breaking through to attack you, which (in my opinion) wastes the activation. It also should be noted this does not work on bosses or Mercenaries.

Synopsis

Gabriella does have one vital thing to note - She can be very useful to earning the Combo Quest trophy/achievement. This is due to how Kinetic Pulse reactivates traps in its range. While trying to getting a 15x Combo, the window that the combo needs to occur is fairly small, so traps need to be activated in a fairly quick succession. If the traps are on cooldown, obviously it makes it difficult for them to add to the combo, and thus, a reactivation can potentially help with things.

Other than that, Gabriella is actually extremely easy to understand since her damage focuses almost entirely upon her Primary. Out of the 3 starter Heroes, Max probably takes the most thought to play as, and with Blackpaw, you have to understand how his abilities combine with each other. Gabriella doesn't have any of these issues, and you don't really need to strategically use Blink or Devious Allure at all (you don't even necessarily need to use them period).

In turn, Gabriella becomes really basic, which can be good and bad. It can be good because it doesn't really require much thought or skill to do well with her. It can be bad, because as a result she doesn't really feel unique and she also doesn't get any opportunity to combine abilities for greater effects.

Hogarth

Overview

My Personal Rating: 5/10

Hogarth is one of the only two Heroes that uses Frost damage. In addition to being able to deal more damage to Fire-themed minions, each Frost hit applies the "Chilled" debuff. After 2 or 3 (it's difficult to tell) applications of the Chilled debuff, the minion will become Frozen, stunning them for a short duration.

Abilities:

Catch! (L2) - Hogarth throws his axe directly in front of him, which will do Frost damage to the first minion it hits. Damage is increased when it is thrown from a further distance.

Mana cost: 30 Mana
Cooldown: 7 seconds

Shield! (Triangle) - Hogarth puts up his shield, reducing the damage he takes, and slowing any minions nearby.

Mana cost: 30 Mana
Cooldown: 24 seconds
Duration: 5 seconds

Ambush! (Square) - Hogarth jumps forward, dealing Frost damage in a radius once he lands. This also applies an extra stack of the Chilled debuff to any minion hit.

Mana cost: 30 Mana
Cooldown: 9 seconds

Passive: Angry! - Whenever Hogarth deals damage, he gains a buff that increases his damage by 1%. This buff lasts 8 seconds, and stacks up to 50.

Pros

Hogarth is kind of built like a "tank" class. He has a large amount of HP (I think it's the highest in the game), and his abilities almost entirely revolve around crowd control.

Due to this, Hogarth has quite a large amount of survivability, and his ability to keep things around him (due to the Frozen effect) also helps control groups of minions to keep them from advancing along their path.

Catch! is kind of an interesting ability, and can hit quite hard. It's initially designed to be for bosses and Mercenaries, but if you take all his upgrades into it, you'll see it's actually pretty useful to use every time it's available.

His Passive is quite easy to stack, which is really helpful, as the extra damage is always good thing. It works similarly to Bloodspike's damage buff, but it's much easier to get to higher stacks with it, due to how it activates on any hit.

Cons

Since Hogarth is kind of built like a tank with crowd control, unfortunately, he is severely lacking in his damage output.

Although his Passive is supposed to assist with this, the buff duration functions exactly like Bloodspike's - The first stack lasts the longest, but as soon as it fades, the subsequent stacks will decrease at a faster pace. Not only that, but just like Bloodspike, the stacks will be lost at a somewhat random amount; sometimes you lose 2 or 3, other times you'll lose more.

Frost is unfortunately probably the worst elemental debuff. Having a constant stun up is nice, but it doesn't really help much if you can't dish out damage at the same time.

Ambush!, although is decent in terms of group damage, is designed in kind of a strange manner. Due to how Hogarth jumps forward as soon as it is activated, I found it felt really awkward to properly aim with it. Since Hogarth jumps forward, if you begin by jumping into the front of the group, you may run out of room to continue to jump forward (say if you're fighting close to a gate). This means that you have to readjust again to use it properly, which I personally don't like the idea of. Not only that, but the jump is more of a "hop" and it can't really be readjusted in mid-air to pick a more optimal spot to land.

Shield! is...mostly useless. Hogarth only really needs the damage reduction if he doesn't use Practices Witchcraft (since Frost damage is considered magical). Even then, the duration of it (it's only about 5 seconds) means you don't have a large window to reduce damage. The slow effect is fairly nice, but again, due to how short the duration is, it's not incredibly effective.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Snow Now! (Level 2)
Surprises! or Stay! (Level 4)
Throw Hard! (Level 7)
More Axe! or Hims Put On Few Pounds! (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Snow Now!: Out of the level 2 upgrades, I think this one is the most useful, as the Slow effect from Shield! is something that is almost always beneficial. This can be even more useful for Runners, which are always nice to slow down.
- Flash Freeze!: Not very useful in my opinion. First, it's a little too conditional because Shield! doesn't last very long, and in that small window when it's active, not every minion is going to be attacking you. Even out of those maybe 3-5 minions that are attacking you, all the upgrade is allowing you to do is apply another Chilled stack, which expedites the minion being Frozen. Since the Frozen effect only stuns the minion for about a second, that seems like a really conditional upgrade for such a meager result.
- Help Hims!: Out of the level 2 upgrades, it's not too horrible, but it's dependent on how you feel your own survivability is. If you come in with Practices Witchcraft, you may feel like the Shield! damage reduction is fine as is. Also note that it doesn't say that damage reduction of Shield! is increased to 100%, but increased by 100%. This means if the damage reduction is say 20%, it increases to 40%. I haven't tested what the actual damage reduction is, but again, at a certain point, you may not feel it's worth it.
Level 4:
- Surprises!: It's not a bad upgrade if you like to use Ambush!. Ambush! is Hogarth's best (and really only) group-damage ability, so having a shorter cooldown certainly helps.
- Muscles!: It's an interesting upgrade, but I don't think it's useful. Realize it's not a HP restoration upgrade, but it actually increases your total HP. This is kind of an odd way to increase your survivability, but the +2 increase is not much; 50 minions kills equates to 100 HP. I do recall from this upgrade that you have to personally kill the minion (traps won't work), but even then, Hogarth having that much HP is...kind of ridiculous. At Account Level 100, he has over 2,000 HP as is, which should be plenty for most occasions.
- Stay!: I would say to take this upgrade if you don't like using Ambush! that much. Of course, it is important to point out I don't think it really does much, but it's still a passive effect that will just work regardless of what you're doing. The "crowd control spell duration" I believe is specifically referring to Frozen durations, which means that ~1 second stun duration is only being increased to about ~1.2 seconds, which is negligible. Again though, it is an upgrade that happens automatically.
Level 7:
- Throw Hard!: This isn't too bad, particularly when it's taken with the "More Axe!" upgrade at level 10. It does exactly what it says, and I'm pretty sure it will continue through the first enemy, until it hits something (a minion or a wall). In other words, it won't ever disappear mid-air. I'm also pretty sure the damage increase (due to distance) is also still active during the pierce; if the second/third minion hit is further away, it should get increased damage.
- Hims Not Afraid!: I don't like this upgrade because it's difficult to tell how the threat works exactly. From what I could tell with this upgrade, it doesn't change how many minions can be attacking you at once (it should still be around 5 minions), but rather, I think the minions will draw to you more quickly. Again though, this only during the duration of Shield!, which is only about 5 seconds anyway, so even if I knew exactly how the threat worked, the duration of the ability makes it difficult to justify this upgrade.
- Good Catch!: Although taking this upgrade and making Catch! have a 4 second cooldown seems nice, personally I don't think it would be really helpful until level 10, and taking "More Axe!" with it. Catch!, without the "Throw Hard!" upgrade (also at level 7) is still just a single-target ability, which means you're not going to be using it that much anyway. Hence, there's not really much of a reason to have it on a shorter cooldown. When used in conjunction with "More Axe!" I personally prefer "Throw Hard!" because that upgrade gives it more group damage. Also consider that with a shorter cooldown, your Mana consumption is going to be higher.
Level 10:
- More Axe!: This upgrade gives Catch! two more projectiles, meaning Hogarth will throw 3 axes instead of 1. If "Throw Hard!" was taken at level 7, each of these axes also get the piercing ability, giving the ability to potentially hit 9 targets with Catch!, which is pretty nice. What's even more interesting is that the projectiles will move in a cone shape, meaning that they spread out as they go further. If you use Catch! when a minion is right in front of you, all 3 axes can hit the same target, which effectively can triple its total damage against a single target.
- Hims Put On Few Pounds!: Kind of a strange description, because Ambush! only does damage when Hogarth lands. Again, if you like using Ambush!, this is a good upgrade, particularly if you took the "Surprises!" upgrade at level 4.
- Feel Good!: Although 4% HP restoration is pretty significant, it only activates out of combat, which is only really helpful when you're in between waves, or traversing between gates. As with other HP restoration upgrades for other Heroes, the Practices Witchcraft Trait makes this upgrade a bit irrelevant.

Synopsis

Unfortunately, Hogarth is another Hero that doesn't really make a lot of sense in his design.

Unlike Smolder and Bionka, it's not the fact that what he has available doesn't really make sense, it's more of the fact that the foundation of his design simply does not work with the game design. In other words, it makes no sense to have a crowd controlling tank, because the minions have no real threat table to take advantage of.

Heroes do draw threat from minions, that much should be obvious as you play, but the amount of minions that will focus on you has a specific limit; I believe only about 5 minions can be attacking you at once. Although Shield! can be upgraded to increase Hogarth's threat (when the ability is used), it would be much more effective if Hogarth had the ability to simply draw more minions to him naturally, in some other passive form.

In the game's current form, Hogarth's threat would work perfectly fine, if he actually was dealing damage. Being able to kill things quickly would mean that every time a minion attacking him dies, it would get replaced by a new minion, and thus all of his abilities would synchronize rather well.

Catch! and Ambush! are a bit awkward to use, and again, it's partially due to design. Having Catch! deal additional damage based off of larger distances, may indicate to the player that it's supposed to be used at long range, which is not necessarily true. Without it being upgraded at all, its actually somewhat useless, because it will ultimately just affect a single target. Again, if not upgraded, even if you want to try to single-out a larger minion with more HP (such as a boss) and hit it with Catch!, it's very simple for another minion (who you may have threat on) walk right in front of it, and completely waste the ability.

Ambush! is also fairly strange in real practice. Since Hogarth doesn't deal much damage as is, you'll find you'll want to deal damage to things closest to you, not the minions further down the path. So if you're fighting minions at the front of the wave, having Hogarth jump forward, hitting minions further down, means that none of that damage from the ability is going to hit anything where you initially jump. Hence, the ability is not helpful at all for damaging minions that are right next to you (who you are probably currently in combat with). Again, this means that you may not want to utilize it, hurting Hogarth's damage output even further.

Shield! will probably end up being the only ability that you may want to constantly use, as the effect of it is always beneficial, no matter what the situation. Still, if you feel you're not taking much damage, you may feel less inclined to use it. It is really good for Runners (not Earth Elementals though) because of the automatic slowing that it produces. I really just wish the ability lasted a lot longer, particularly with its longer cooldown.

It's not the fact that Hogarth doesn't work at all, he can perform well, but he does feel like he needs to have a lot of effort put in to play effectively. Overall, he seems quite underwhelming in comparison to almost every other Hero. I feel he is in desperate need of a damage increase, but this may be difficult to balance due to his Passive.

I'm guessing the developers understood the issues with Hogarth. I think that they didn't really want to rework Hogarth completely, so instead, they released Tundra. I would argue Tundra is much more of what Hogarth should be, because his Frost damage works in such a more efficient manner.

Ivy

Overview

My Personal Rating: 7/10

Ivy is the only "healer" in the game, as she is the only Hero with access to a direct healing ability. Ivy gets some decent crowd control abilities, which include a knockback, and the most consistent "root" ability in the game. She also deals damage from long ranges, but it's important to note that despite her green glowing arrows, she deals physical damage, not magical.

Abilities:

Penetrating Arrow (L2) - Ivy fires an arrow directly in front of her, which pierces through a total of 8 enemies. Each enemy hit by this ability is also affected by a slight knockback.

Mana cost: 25
Cooldown: 4 seconds

Life Current (Triangle) - Ivy casts a healing spell that surrounds Ivy for a few seconds. This ability will heal all Heroes (including Ivy) that are within range; the heal happens over the course a few seconds, not all at once. It may be important to note that this heal also affects friendly NPCs, such as Summoner Traps, and Blackpaw's Gnolls. However, I believe it does not affect Guardians.

Mana cost: 40
Cooldown: 19 seconds
Duration: 5 seconds

Reach of Roots (Square) - Ivy will summon roots out of the ground, which will immobilize all minions nearby for a short duration. The range of the spell is not shown, but it seems to work similar to Life Current (the range is a large radius around Ivy). Rooted enemies will also take increased damage.

Mana cost: 40
Cooldown: 13 seconds
Duration: Roughly 3 seconds

Passive: Elven Swiftboots - Ivy is granted a movement speed boost whenever she spawns (or respawns, when she dies).

Pros

Ivy is incredibly accurate, and she is easily one of the most accurate Heroes in the game. This is great because her accuracy allows her to keep her distance from minions, helping her survivability.

Life Current is a great healing ability. You'll find that as long as you don't get hit by any gigantic amount of damage (such as getting hit by an Order Mage), you can survive a huge barrage of minions hitting you.

Personally though, I think Ivy's real strong suit is her crowd control. Penetrating Arrow not only does more damage than her Primary, but it has a short cooldown and so the extra knockback it does is just an added benefit to interrupt the minion's pathing.

Reach of Roots is really the star of Ivy's repertoire, but at first, it seems kind of meager. Its cooldown coincides very nicely with its duration, meaning you don't have to wait very long before using it again. However, initially, it does no damage, but nonetheless it's extremely useful to keep minions immobilized, because it mostly will act as a group stun with a slightly longer duration than a normal stun. Minions can still hit you of course, but if you keep away from them, they obviously can't reach you, and hence in all practicality it can be considered a stun.

I would highly highly recommend fully upgrading Reach of Roots at every opportunity. If you take all of the Reach of Roots upgrades, Ivy becomes quite the powerhouse, and can deal some of the best group damage in the game. This is not only because the level 10 upgrade of "Warden's Wrath" adds a great damage-over-time effect to it, but Reach of Roots doesn't seem to have a target limit to it, unlike other abilities found on other Heroes. This means she can affect huge groups of minions at once; I've managed to kill 27-30 minions at once with it, which is extremely significant, given its short cooldown.

Cons

Ivy's slightly strange in her design. It should be fairly obvious that initially, the idea was her to be a Hero to be used in co-op, because she is supposed to support the rest of the team, keep them alive, so they can do all the grunt work.

The problem is, due her ability to play the support role so well, she has some extremely glaring flaws.

First off - Her initial damage output SUCKS. Like, it's extremely bad. I actually think she has the lowest initial damage output in the entire game. To give an idea, her damage is mostly pretty equivalent to Max's damage, but unlike Max, Ivy has nothing going for her. Max's Primary shots are extremely fast, whereas Ivy's are at a more steady pace. Max deals Lightning damage, which makes minions explode for slight damage, Ivy does not have that. Max gets a really hard hitting ability (In Your Faces), Ivy gets nothing like that.

Penetrating Arrow unfortunately does not deal that much more damage than her Primary, which makes it difficult to justify its use. Since it pierces, it's important to note that the overall damage can be much more significant if it hits multiple targets, but another problem is that the "line" it follows is fairly thin. This means it's somewhat difficult to get minions lined up correctly to maximize its damage. Regardless though, you may find that you really need the extra damage for larger minions, so there may be times where you're trying to use it every time its up, simply because Ivy gets no other damaging ability. Given how Penetrating Arrow is the only initial damaging ability Ivy gets, you'll find yourself really struggling with bosses and Mercenaries.

Reach of Roots is not really impressive on its own, but initially, it is meant to be strictly meant for crowd control (which is fine). There is one unfortunate thing about Reach of Roots, which is if you use Penetrating Arrow on an immobilized minion, it will knock the minion out of the immobilization, which can be a problem.

It's really odd that Life Current costs as much Mana as it does. During solo play, you almost have to get used to not using it; since Ivy has such low damage, you really have to focus on using the rest of her offensive abilities in order to be successful. This in turn means that you may have Mana issues, depending on what you're doing - If you're constantly using Penetrating Arrow and Reach of Roots, you're going to have some Mana problems, which is really problematic given how marginal Ivy's damage is.

Finally, Ivy more than likely has the biggest joke of a Passive in the entire game. Having a movement speed increase for just a few seconds after you spawn is...basically 99% useless. I can see what the idea was behind it; if Ivy dies, the team loses its support Hero, and thus it's really important for her to rush back into the fray to help protect the rest of the team. In all practical use though, the Passive is useless, because ironically, she's a healer, and she should never die in the first place. Of course, she's clearly not invincible (she has fairly low HP), but I just find it ridiculous that this Passive is attached to the only Hero in the game that can reliably keep herself alive.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Precision (Level 2)
Nature's Grasp or Nature's Ire (Level 4)
Arrow Affinity or Natural Knack (Level 7)
Warden's Wrath (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Precision: There is absolutely no reason to take any other upgrade at this level. Ivy's major drawback is her horrible damage, and this obviously increases it. Take this upgrade, because you'll need it.
- Celerity: An absolutely ridiculous upgrade, as Ivy does not need it, period. She already has a decent movement speed (I think she's a little faster than Max), so increasing it is not really necessary. Also consider how accurate Ivy is; if she can peg things from such a long range, obviously she doesn't really need the movement speed to close the gap.
- Forgiveness: I can see a slight amount of use here in co-op, but it really has little use in solo play. Given how Life Current has such a high Mana cost, using it more frequently is obviously just going to sap your Mana even further.
Level 4:
- Nature's Grasp: So at this level, you need to make the decision to either specialize into Reach of Roots or Penetrating Arrow. Above, you may have noticed that I do take "Nature's Ire" instead, and this is dependent on whether or not Ivy can reach level 10 on the map that I'm playing on. If she can, Nature's Grasp is the way to go, because she'll have access to Warden's Wrath at level 10. If she can't, you may want to consider taking Nature's Ire instead. The duration of Reach of Roots isn't that long as is, so with this upgrade, it's not going to last much longer. However, if you do get Warden's Wrath, it actually does equate to 1 more tick of that damage-over-time effect, which means more damage.
- Nature's Ire: If Ivy can't reach level 10 on the map, I generally go with this upgrade instead. There's not much reason to take Nature's Grasp without Warden's Wrath, so this is obviously more appealing to increase the damage of Penetrating Arrow.
- Nature's Swiftness: What is with all this movement speed nonsense? Again, it's just ridiculous in solo play, although it has...questionable use in co-op. I still don't think it's going to be useful in co-op though, because my guess is that the movement speed buff will only be applied if your allies are within the range of Life Current. Given how most people won't be used to moving faster when they're near someone else, it'll probably be disorienting for them, and you'll end up speeding right by them (since you'll get it guaranteed), and they'll lose the buff. So the only way I see it being useful is if you have some serious cohesion with the group you are with.
Level 7:
- Arrow Affinity: Same issue as level 4; I would recommend this upgrade if you feel you're not going to be able to get to level 10 on the map you're on. The cooldown is certainly nice, but it does reduce Penetrating Arrow to a really short cooldown, which means you have to be really cautious of your Mana usage.
- Natural Knack: Again, if you can get to level 10 on the map, and take Warden's Wrath, take this upgrade over Arrow Affinity. Although the 15% cooldown doesn't really seem like much, but consider that Reach of Roots also has a duration. This means that the time between active uses is shorter, which is actually kind of nice. What's even better, is the fact that it stacks with the cooldown reduction during Unchained. What this means is that with this upgrade (and "Nature's Grasp" at level 4), and during Unchained, the cooldown coincides perfectly with its duration, which means you can chain uses. This is absolutely fantastic when coupled with Warden's Wrath.
- Mana Mastery: This actually isn't too bad of an upgrade when taken in co-op, assuming that you like to heal your allies. When I would do Sabotage matches, I would use Ivy a lot for healing. As a result, you can imagine I was pretty Mana-starved trying to keep my allies alive with the constant Life Current uses. However, this upgrade does a really good job keeping your Mana up.
Level 10:
- Warden's Wrath: Much like Precision at level 2, this is the must-have upgrade. The other upgrades at this level do not even remotely compare to the damage output this upgrade does. Ivy desperately needs the damage, and this pushes her damage output from "significantly below average" to "rivaling the best".
- Warden's Tutelage: So this upgrade combines really well with "Arrow Affinity" (the shorter cooldown really needs a reduced Mana cost), but again, it still doesn't compete Warden's Wrath. So even if you did take Arrow Affinity at level 7, I would still take Warden's Wrath over this upgrade.
- Warden's Blessing: Kind of a weird upgrade. It's somewhat tempting to take given a 15% damage upgrade to all of Ivy abilities, but realize it's still more of a co-op ability. Just like as I pointed out with "Nature's Swiftness" at level 4, I believe allies need to be within range of Life Current for the buff to be active, which may not be occurring, depending on what's going on. Although it is a little easier to manipulate your own positioning to ensure your allies are receiving the buff, I still think Warden's Wrath is going to help significantly more, no matter what the situation is.

Synopsis

Chances are, you're really going to hate Ivy when you first play as her.

I think Ivy should be considered a Hero that meant to be used by people that are already really familiar with the game and the maps. I think this is the case because if you know what the map is like, it'll help Ivy's performance. Knowing when and where bosses and Mercenaries appear can help you plan for them better, and so you won't be caught quite as off-guard. If you're unprepared, Ivy is really hard to be successful with because she does not have the initial damage output to handle things when they get chaotic.

Further, it also helps to know what level you will generally get to on each map. If you're new to the game, and you're going through War Mage for the first time, you're going to feel Ivy is absolutely terrible because there aren't a lot of maps that get you to level 10. If you can't get to level 10 and take Warden's Wrath, you're not going to see Ivy shine whatsoever.

Another thing to consider is your Account Level. Since the majority of Ivy's initial damage is so focused on her Primary, and your Account Level increases Primary damage for all Heroes, this means that as you get to a higher Account Level (and move beyond the recommended level of the maps), you're going to see Ivy perform better. Once you get around the recommended level of the final map (which is 75-80), you'll notice that she becomes much more "average" on the lower maps.

Having a higher Account Level also indirectly means that you'll have more access to Traits, which will obviously help with Ivy's damage. One Trait to consider with Ivy is "Overachiever", which gives a single battle level at the beginning of a match. This bonus is not the "slot" bonus, which means you are free to put the Trait into any slot. Ironically the slot bonus of this Trait is...more movement speed, which Ivy does not need, so it's mostly irrelevant. Consider using this Trait in place of "Enjoys Pain", because you may not really need the lifesteal, given how Ivy can heal herself. Enjoys Pain is still a very useful Trait to use with Ivy, but it's not nearly as necessary as it is with other Heroes.

What is nice about the "Overachiever" Trait, is that with that one level that is given to you, it allows extra damage in two different ways. First, you get the extra damage from battle level (every Hero does more damage with all attacks when they level up), but not only that, you immediately get access to the "Precision" upgrade, which gives you the extra 15% more Primary damage. Consider even further, that since you're getting a level immediately, this means that you'll be one level closer to getting to Warden's Wrath, right as the match starts.

The Warden's Wrath upgrade at level 10 is really phenomenal, and I'm extremely confident that if you take just that upgrade (even without the other Reach of Roots upgrades), you'll really start to like Ivy. With all of the Reach of Roots upgrades, it becomes a nearly perfect ability:

It deals great damage to groups.
The immobilization grants increased damage, which means to single targets, you get the increased Primary damage while the damage-over-time deals damage, making it useful for single targets such as bosses and Mercenaries.
It has no target limit (that I can tell), which means you can affect large amounts of minions.
The cooldown coincides very well with the duration.
The immobilization almost works like a long stun.
Since it's such an awesome ability with all of its upgrades, there's very little reason to use any other ability, which means you'll probably stop using Penetrating Arrow (mostly), which will help conserve Mana as well.

In summary, personally I really like Ivy, but I would say she is certainly not a Hero to start out with. Come back with her when you're much more comfortable with the maps, and if you can get access to Warden's Wrath, I think you'll see she actually outperforms a lot of the other Heroes.

Maximilian

Overview

My Personal Rating: 8/10

Max is one of the three Heroes that are available to everyone. Max is a ranged Hero that uses Lighting (magic) damage, and gets a decent variety of abilities. He has access to a stun, a very powerful single-target attack, and even a shield ability that can be used offensively as well as defensively.

Abilities:

Absolutely Stunning Bolt (L2) - Max shoots a bolt straight in front of him, which will explode when it hits a minion or a solid object, such as wall. The explosion will stun nearby minions for a short duration.

Mana cost: 45
Cooldown: 10 seconds

Can't Touch This (Triangle) - Max creates a shield made of lightning, which will prevent all damage for a short duration. Any damage that Max takes will be reflected back onto his attacker.

Mana cost: 40
Cooldown: 16 seconds
Duration: 4 seconds

In Your Faces (Square) - Max winds up to fire a large bolt that travels directly in front of him. If the bolt hits an enemy, it will do massive damage, and everything behind the target hit will also be hit with lesser Lightning damage.

Mana cost: 45
Cooldown: 12 seconds

Passive: Close Enough - Max gets a 15% cost reduction to all traps.

Pros

Max is probably one of the best balanced Heroes in the game. With every aspect he seems to lack in, he has some other aspect that makes up for it.

His Primary doesn't hit very hard, but the attack speed of it is extremely fast. Since Max deals Lightning damage, anything he personally kills will explode in a small radius, which will hit nearby enemies for a small amount of damage. This means that Max gets a passive ability to deal group damage at all times.

His fast attack speed also makes him great for clearing out Runners. Since Runners don't normally have a lot of HP, Max can still usually kill them in 1 or 2 hits, and he doesn't have to worry nearly as much about missing shots.

Can't Touch This is great for offense as well as defense, because it reflects damage back to the attacker. Using this proactively, by activating it and trying to get minions to hit you, actually is a decent way increase your damage output. Since the ability reflects all damage, this also gives Max some great survivability, particularly against hard hitting minions such as Mages.

In Your Faces is probably the most impressive ability Max has, since eventually you'll be able to get to the point where it can instantly (or mostly) kill bosses and Mercenaries. It's even better that In Your Faces gets an upgrade that increases its damage by 50%, making it even better to take out single minions with high HP.

Max's Passive is also extremely helpful, because the cost reduction can really go a long way with getting an area trapped, particularly getting Barricades down quickly. His Passive also stacks with any of the cost reduction Traits (such as Smashing Deals), which makes it even better for costly traps.

Cons

Max actually doesn't have a whole lot of problems, but there are a couple of things you may not like about him.

First, his accuracy is something to take note of. Since he has such a fast attack speed, you'll notice his aiming reticle expands to a pretty ridiculous size. This means that he really does poorly over longer distances, so he's meant to be played as a "mid-range" Hero, just outside of melee range. This takes a little getting used to, since even though you shouldn't be in melee range, you're still close enough to be at risk of taking a lot of damage.

Second, you'll notice that he starts to struggle when there are a lot of larger minions; he doesn't do nearly as well with gigantic waves of Trolls, Ogres, and similar minions. Since Max only really has access to a single hard hitting attack, In Your Faces, and it has a decently long cooldown, he can get kind of overwhelmed if there numerous large minions clustered together.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Aim To Please or Endorsements (Level 2)
Lucky Shot or In The Kisser (Level 4)
So Beautiful It Hurts or Bad At Self-Reflection (Level 7)
Persistent (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Aim To Please: This upgrade makes Max's aiming reticule expand less and reset quicker (it resets once you stop using your Primary). This is actually pretty helpful because Max does have some accuracy issues, which means he doesn't really do well over longer ranges. By taking this upgrade, it doesn't solve the problem completely, but it does help. It's much easier to pinpoint certain minions over longer distances with this upgrade (such as Archers), just as long as you release the Primary attack button on occasion.
- Endorsement: As it turns out, +3 Coin per second is actually not much. Here's the math: 3 Coins per second is 180 Coins per minute. The longer Survival maps generally last about 15 minutes. That means within a 15 minute period, that's a total of 2700 Coin. It actually turns out to be less than this though, because you have to consider the time it takes to get to level 2 in the first place, and chances are, within the last minute or so of the last wave of a map, you won't bother putting down any traps. Regardless of this, it can be still helpful when you're really dying to get some traps down quickly (I take this upgrade in a few Rift Lord maps in my videos).
- Star-Struck: I don't think this is useful. The movement Slow is a lot, but personally, I think the duration of Can't Touch This doesn't really justify taking the upgrade.
Level 4:
- Greased Lightning: I think this kind of shows how the developers wanted you to use Can't Touch This, because I can see it being useful if you're jumping into the middle of a group of minions once you put your shield up. Once it fades, it would be sort of nice to get the extra movement speed to quickly make an exit, but still, Can't Touch This is probably the last utilized of Max's abilities, and the other upgrades for this level are much more appealing. You could use this as a general movement speed increase as well, for traversing the map, but I don't think it's necessary for Max, as he moves decently fast as it is.
- Lucky Shot: This can be really good for crowd control purposes, but it may kind of depend on your usage of In Your Faces. Consider taking this upgrade if there aren't a lot of larger minions with more HP; if you don't find yourself really using In Your Faces much on the map, it may be better to take this upgrade instead.
- In The Kisser: This is normally what I take at this level, because it's a 50% damage increase to In Your Faces, which really helps in killing bosses and Mercenaries in a single use. Do consider your damage relative to the minions you are facing though; if you're already nearly killing bosses and Mercenaries (on the map you're on), the majority of that extra damage from this upgrade will simply be overkill, and not very practical.
Level 7:
- Killing It: I've never really taken this upgrade, because I don't think it's really necessary. Max should have a decent amount of survivability on his own; his movement speed is decent, he's not usually directly in melee range, and Can't Touch This is great for emergency uses. The Practices Witchcraft Trait also makes this upgrade kind of moot, and the other upgrades offered at this level seem more useful.
- So Beautiful It Hurts: I like to take this because it's a very easy way to get some extra damage. You may feel encouraged to use Absolutely Stunning Bolt more often, so you may need to be cautious of your Mana usage.
- Bad At Self-Reflection: This can be a decent upgrade if you like to use Can't Touch This, or you are looking to complete Max's trophy. I take this a lot during my Rift Lord videos, because I think it gets the best use with the most difficult maps. The harder you get it by minions, obviously the more damage that is going to be reflected.
Level 10:
- Persistent: I think this is a great upgrade, and probably Max's best upgrade, because it's an automatic damage increase to his Primary, which really helps his damage output. This actually equates to some decent group-damage, because it kind of works like a mini "chain lightning", and it has a surprisingly good reach. It may be important to note that with this upgrade, always focus on larger minions first (you should do that regardless) because the chaining damage will barely even flinch a larger minion's HP. However, by focusing on the larger minion instead, the chaining damage can easily take out weaker minions (if there are any surrounding it).
- Overpowered: I don't think the upgrade is really all that useful. If you took the "In The Kisser" upgrade at level 4, this means that chances are you're going to be killing the initial target In Your Faces hits (making this upgrade worthless to that target). So my guess is that this is meant to affect all the targets "behind the target" that ability also hits. The problem is it's a little difficult to determine the range of that secondary effect, and personally I think this upgrade relies a little too heavily on the positioning of the other minions. To me, it's not something that you can control very well, so I think the upgrade gets questionable use, particularly in comparison to "Persistent" which works without thinking about it.
- Entourage: It's obviously a co-op ability, but I've read that it might work on friendly NPC units, such as Blackpaw's Gnolls and Summoner Traps (not Guardians though). Personally I don't think it's worth it, because it's a little conditional (allies have to be near you), and the reality is you're assuming that your allies are going to get hit a lot in that 4 second duration of Can't Touch This, which may not happen.

Synopsis

Max is one of my favorite Heroes, because he has an extremely good amount of flexibility. You may not feel the same way about him though, because I think Max might take a little bit of practice to understand how he's supposed to be played.

First, it really helps if you're active in combat; Max generally does not have a lot of Mana issues if you sparingly use his abilities. His abilities can be considered a little more situational; it's not absolutely necessary to use them at every given moment, so you have to get used to what are the most optimal times to use them.

Absolutely Stunning Bolt is not necessary to use, pretty much at all, unless you need the crowd control for whatever reason (generally emergency situations). It is however, extremely useful in conjunction with In Your Faces. You really don't want to miss with In Your Faces, because of its long cooldown. Bosses and Mercenaries do have a tendency to either move sporadically or really fast (such as Chaotic Kobold), so keeping them in place so you can get a good shot with In Your Faces is imperative. Not only that, but if you aim Absolutely Stunning Bolt at a tougher minion, who is mixed in with other minions, it means you reduce the risk that another minion is going to walk in front of your target that you're trying to hit.

Can't Touch This seems like a bizarre ability to use at first, because if you're playing correctly, you probably won't find it too necessary to reflect any damage. So instead, as I mentioned above, using it proactively can help your damage output. If you're in front of a large group of minions, I would recommend activating it, then just jumping directly in the middle of all of those minions so they cluster towards you, reflecting all of their attacks back at you. Of course, at that time, you still want to continue to spam your Primary attack, but this allows the Lightning damage effect (the explosion) to have a larger impact, because minions will be clustered better as they try to attack you.

The time to use In Your Faces is probably the most obvious - it's clearly not too optimal to use it on weak minions. It does have a long cooldown, so you should only really use it if you feel like you're not killing larger minions quick enough.

If you watch my videos in my 5 Star Walkthrough, you'll notice I earn the 5 Stars with Max through the vast majority of the maps. Out of all the Heroes, I think he has one of the easiest to 5 Star most maps with, due to his flexibility and his Passive. As I stated, he will struggle on the maps with larger amount of higher HP minions, as well as the Wu Xing maps (since they'll get innate resistance to his Lightning damage), but this can be potentially compensated for by having a higher Account Level and better traps.

Midnight

Overview

My Personal Rating: 9/10 (only with the Enjoys Pain Trait)

Without the Trait, she is about a 7/10

Midnight is a melee character that deals physical damage. She boasts the fastest movement speed in the game (she can be as fast as a Kobold), and she has some of the highest damage output in the game.

Abilities:

Vital Strike (L2) - Midnight hits an enemy for increased damage (I believe it is either 4x or 5x her Primary damage), and also places a damage-over-time effect on the target.

Mana cost: 0
Cooldown: 4 seconds

Dash And Slash (Triangle) - Midnight dashes in a straight line in front of her, damaging all minions that are in the way.

Mana cost: 0
Cooldown: 10 seconds

Prowl (Square) - Once activated, Midnight becomes invisible, completely dropping all threat on any minion (which means minions will stop attacking her). Prowl continually drains Mana, and Midnight will break Prowl if she runs out of Mana; gets attacked; hits a minion; or if Prowl is used again.

Mana cost: 15 (when activated); drains about 5 Mana per second while Prowl is in use (difficult to tell with natural Mana regeneration).
Cooldown: Once deactivated, 2 seconds

Passive: Sucker Punch - Midnight deals 50% more damage to stunned targets. Increased damage is always nice, but what you'll find is that the condition of the minion being stunned forces this to occur only sparingly. This Passive is meant to coincide with Prowl; when Midnight attacks a minion while Prowl is active, it will stun the minion for roughly 1 second or so. This allows you to create your own stuns to get the increased damage.

Pros

Midnight is great in terms of simplicity; she is extremely fast, and she does a great deal of damage. Due to this, a description of what she does well is incredibly easy to understand, and so this section won't be all that detailed. How she is played on the other hand, requires more explanation, so check the Synopsis at the end if you want more information on that.

Her Primary's attack speed is decently fast (I think it's 1 attack per second), so in combination with her fairly high damage, she can clear out minions incredibly quickly.

Vital Strike hits like a truck, and it even places a damage-over-time if the minion manages to survive it. This means that the ability is suited perfectly for anything with higher HP; large minions will mostly outright die from it (and if not, the damage-over-time will most likely kill it), and for boss minions/Mercenaries, you'll see that at minimum, it'll probably take around 50% of their HP in a single use. Combined with its lower cooldown, it is extremely easy to quickly take care of boss minions and Mercenaries within a couple of uses.

Prowl has a few different functions:

First, I believe it actually gives a slight movement speed increase. This makes it incredibly useful to traverse larger maps, such as Crogon Keep and Shark Island.
Prowl drops all threat, which is very useful when Midnight is taking a lot of damage. This becomes a little less useful once you use the Enjoys Pain Trait. If you don't have it yet, this becomes more of a defensive ability, as it becomes a very necessary tool for Midnight's survival.
When you have the Enjoys Pain Trait, then Prowl becomes an offensive ability; since any attack used in Prowl will stun, this means Midnight gets a damage bonus as a result of her Passive.

Unlike a lot of Heroes, Midnight has fairly easy to understand upgrades, as most are direct benefits that don't really require much experimentation to see how useful they are. Not only that, but she's one of the only Heroes that has a selection of upgrades that compensate her one weakness, which is her survivability.

Cons

The first glaring problem, and the entire reason why Enjoys Pain is so necessary: She has the lowest amount of HP in the game.

Her low HP effectively makes her a "glass cannon", as she can deal an extreme amount of damage, but she cannot take a lot of damage. If you do not use her with Enjoys Pain, you will find that she will need to constantly back away from combat in order to get her HP back up (via whatever means you have).

Vital Strikes has an extremely short range (I believe it is actually shorter than her Primary range), which means it takes practice to be good with it. Due to how awkward it can be to use it at first, it can potentially leave you a little frazzled if you are relying on it in high-pressure situations (such as trying to kill the Orfum beating on your Barricade).

Prowl, as a defensive tool, is far from perfect. In fact, it's very easily broken by any ranged minion (particularly Archers) because if you use Prowl while you're being shot at, chances are you will be hit by the arrow regardless, which will force you to immediately break Prowl.

She also does not earn Combo points very well, although I'm not sure why. The only thing I can think of is that she deals so much damage, and her abilities aren't really supportive of Combos - Dash And Slash propels her too far away from her first target; Prowl does not add any Combo points (the stun effect when you break Prowl should though); and Vital Strike hits so hard that it will most likely just outright kill the minion, meaning no opportunity for more damage sources.

This ultimately just means that you will see her gaining Unchained at a lower rate in comparison to other Heroes. Truthfully though, this is a bit of a moot point, because her damage output is so high, going Unchained just turns into overkill damage.

Believe it or not, those are the only problems I see with her. One could argue that her simplicity is a downside, because some may feel her boring to play as a result. Personally though, I feel that she because does so much damage, I don't even care how basic she is to play overall.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Hardened Killer (Level 2)
Sa-Meow-Rai Armor or Catpurse (Level 4)
Poison Paw or Slash-N-Dash (Level 7)
Thrill Of The Kill (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Prolonged Prowl: I never found removing the activation Mana cost of Prowl to be helpful. It can be potentially useful if you're using Prowl a lot (offensively) in combat, but personally I found using it sparingly within your offense works just fine.
- Hardened Killer: In my opinion, no contest at this level, this should be the upgrade you choose. Even with Enjoys Pain, you'll still see that Midnight needs some help with her survivability. If you take this upgrade with Enjoys Pain, you'll notice you almost completely negate melee damage from normal minions. If you don't have Enjoys Pain, this becomes almost a necessity in order to give Midnight any survivability; without it, it's going to be even more difficult to survive until level 10 (when Thrill of the Kill becomes available). Do realize that the HP regeneration is not much, given Midnight's low HP, so do NOT make the assumption that this is going to make-or-break your survival without Enjoys Pain; in fact, it does very little on its own, but without Enjoys Pain, I'll take whatever I can get.
- Feeling Frisky: I can see the use of a 1.5 second respawn time (which effectively almost makes it instant if you die), but the reality is, you don't want to die, period. It would be more attractive if the minion's did not get their movement speed buff when you die, but the fact that they get that buff really reinforces the idea of staying alive. Thus, if you're successful in that, this upgrade is useless.
Level 4:
- Nimble As The Night: 66% more movement speed during Prowl is a LOT of extra movement speed. Problem is, it's totally overkill, as Midnight should never need this much speed, given how fast she is in the first place.
- Sa-Meow-Rai Armor: It's difficult to determine how much damage mitigation 25 Armor actually is, but since it does help reduce how much damage is taking, it's still incredibly attractive. Do keep in mind, that I believe it only reduces physical damage, not magical due to how there is "magical armor" (which can be seen on some Trait descriptions). Still, the most prevalent damage is in fact physical, so this is nonetheless helpful.
- Catpurse: If you feel that your survivability is just fine, you may want to take this upgrade instead, as it helps with Midnight's coin generation. It's slightly difficult to understand based off its description, but what it means is that if you're actively attacking a minion (if you're dealing damage), you'll be gaining 4 coin per second. However, since Midnight's damage output is so high, this is a fairly balanced upgrade, and not as imbalanced as it first sounds; if you are killing things fast enough (and if minions are spread out enough), you're barely going to see any extra coin generation. Still though, extra coin is in fact extra coin.
Level 7:
- Poison Paw: This is kind of an interesting upgrade, and it does give a bit more versatility with Prowl. The damage-over-time is not significant at all (it's not horrible, but it's not great), but the slow is potentially nice. The issue is entirely with the fact that it only works while you have Prowl activated; this means that you have to stay in Prowl, and basically walk through the minions to get it to work. Since the slow and the damage-over-time does not last very long (a few seconds), you may be tempted to just weave through minions while in Prowl, which is NOT an effective way to use Midnight. However, it is still kind of interesting to use, and if you want Midnight's Out of Sight trophy, this at least gives you some motivation to use Prowl more (even though it's not necessary, and you'll still earn it if you're regularly using Prowl to traverse maps).
- Slash-N-Dash: A 50% damage increase to Dash and Slash is fairly attractive, even though Dash and Slash is Midnight's weakest ability (unless you manage to line up a lot of minions). The issue is Dash and Slash is probably the least utilized because of Midnight's high damage; there are not a lot of reasons to use it because you should be killing things so fast. I still take this upgrade most often though, as the damage increase is not conditional upon anything.
- Feline Fugitive: Kind of interesting upgrade, but it's mostly pretty situational. It's particularly useful on maps that feature Frost minions (Frostbite, etc.) as it will reduce the duration of Freeze. This is particularly helpful for Midnight, because even though Freeze doesn't last that long, it can still be detrimental due to her low HP. The "increases Midnight's control effects by 25%" I believe specifically points to her stun granted by Prowl; the issue with this is that the stun is so short as is, a 25% increase to it is virtually nothing.
Level 10:
- Thrill Of The Kill: Personally, I think is the best upgrade for this level. Although you may feel that with Enjoys Pain, Hardened Killer, and even Sa-Meow-Rai Armor, gives Midnight plenty of survivability, it does not account for a few specific minions, which are minions that explode. What you'll notice is that Kamikaze Kobolds, Gnome Destroyers, and Firelings (and to some degree, Orc TNT Archers) are devastating to Midnight; since she is killing things so fast, it's very easy to have her attack clip one of these, and thus they explode, taking a huge chunk of her HP away. With Thrill of The Kill, this allows her to help maintain her HP, as at the very least, she'll regain a slight amount of it back when the minion is killed (and ideally, she'll be able to quickly regain her loss by killing other nearby minions).
- Sharing The Shadow: This upgrade is obviously meant more for co-op, and thus, I've never actually used it. I can't see the practical use for it, other then potentially using it as a safety net for your allies that are in danger. I have read on the forums that it does in fact affect ally NPCs as well, which includes Summoner Traps and Blackpaw's summoned Gnolls. Again though, I'm not entirely sure how beneficial that is.
- Kitty Overkill: All this does is give a knockback to Vital Strike, which gives it a slight amount of crowd control. However, I don't think this is really all that helpful, because again, Midnight's damage is so high, there's no real reason to crowd control enemies any more than the stun she's already granted via Prowl.

Synopsis

In my opinion, Midnight is the best Hero in the game, but this is entirely contingent upon using the Enjoys Pain Trait. Due to her extremely high Primary damage-per-second, the Enjoys Pain Trait compliments her low HP almost perfectly. You should be doing enough damage to recover any HP loss while clearing minions.

Midnight is far from invincible though, and you do have to be careful about any minions that deal a lot of burst damage. Minions that are particularly dangerous are:

Fire Fiend Warlocks/Order Mages/Cyclops Mages - Functionally the Warlocks and Order Mages are the same, as their Fireballs perform identical to each other. Their Fireballs are incredibly devastating to Midnight, and there's a good chance that they will instantly kill you if you get hit by one. Even at a higher Account Level (Hero HP increases per Account Level), even if you manage to survive the initial hit, there's still a good chance that the damage-over-time effect that the Fireballs inflict will kill you a few seconds later. Cyclops Mages don't hit quite as hard, nor do they have the fire damage effect, but they still have a chance to instantly kill you, or deal enough damage so you get killed by a minion in melee range instead.
- To deal with these, you have to either make clever use of line-of-sight (moving behind a pillar or something), or be very attentive and use Prowl as you see them. Once in Prowl, you have to try to single them out amongst the crowd in an attempt to kill them, or simply back out to find a safe spot.
Kamikaze Kobolds/Gnome Destroyers/Firelings - In comparison to the "mage" minions, these are much more frequently seen, thus are probably the biggest threat to Midnight. Due to Midnight's low HP, making an attempt to kill any of these Barricade-destroying minions is extremely dangerous, because of how much damage they deal when they die. This turns out to be quite the problem, as obviously you generally want to kill these minions as they appear (unless you plan for them with decoy Barricades, or Decoy Traps). Some maps even throw multiples of you in quick succession, which increases the likelihood that Midnight will get killed if she proceeds to kill them.
- This is why the Thrill Of The Kill upgrade at level 10 is so attractive. With it, it's much easier to survive these minions exploding. If you're not level 10 yet, you just need to be very careful and not kill these minions in extremely quick succession; whenever you see one, you have to be mindful and warn yourself "okay, after I kill this one I need to back out for a second and possibly heal". With Enjoys Pain, try to refocus your attention, if only for a few hits, to other minions so you can leech some HP back, and then proceed to kill the next.

One thing you can try to do to increase Midnight's survivability further, is try to get a feel for each minion's melee speed, as well as its range. It is possible to almost "weave" back-and-forth while moving, carefully approaching the minion (as it is not hitting you), then quickly backing back outside of its range right as it begins to swing. This is obviously easier to see with the larger minions, but even with normal sized minions, I find it effective to be constantly sweeping back and forth as I attack minions with Midnight.

By keeping yourself at maximum melee range (the furthest point away from the minion, where your melee still connects), and constantly sweeping-back-and-forth (this increases the likelihood that minions will need to readjust), you can help reduce some damage.

One thing that you may notice, is that you get random damage increases on minions on occasion. What is actually happening, is that every minion has a certain HP threshold, at which point they will become stunned; the stun is shown by a "dizzy" animation, but unlike a normal stun, there is no "bubble" graphic above their heads. This specific "damage stun" can only happen once per minion, and lasts less than a second. If Midnight attacks the minion while this happens, she does get the extra damage from her Passive.

Ability Analysis:

Midnight does need a little bit of explanation in how her abilities function, as they are not initially obvious.

Vital Strikes - Due to the extremely small range that this ability has, I would recommend trying to get extremely close to any minion you're trying to kill with it. Not only that, but the cross-hairs on the screen may also come into play; I do think it is required for the target to be exactly in the middle of these cross-hairs. If they are even the slightest bit off, the attack will miss. This should further reinforce the idea that this ability is to be used against larger targets with more HP.
Prowl - Offensively, it's optimal to use Prowl in combination with Vital Strikes and Dash and Slash. With Vital Strikes, if it's used within Prowl, the damage increase (from the stun) happens immediately, and thus, you get a 50% damage boost on top of Vital Strikes already ridiculous damage. With Dash and Slash, utilizing Prowl beforehand allows you to potentially stun a long line of minions, making decent crowd control.
- Defensively, since ranged attacks are an issue, consider simply running away a decent distance before using Prowl if you're in danger. This can help increase some distance between any ranged attacks, while potentially throwing off their targeting.

For me, Midnight carried me through a lot of the tougher 5 Star maps on Rift Lord and Master on my first account. The reason why she performs so well is because of the Par Times; since she deals so much damage, she can clearly minions quickly. This allows her to then utilize her fantastic speed; she cover sections of the map quicker, which means you can get to another area to trap it faster, or get to another gate to clear minions faster.

Oziel

Overview

My Personal Rating: 7.25/10

Oziel is a ranged Hero that uses Arcane magic. Oziel also has two unique abilities: He gets a natural lifesteal with his Primary attack, and he has an ability to convert his own HP into Mana. By combining these two abilities, you can keep constantly keep Oziel at maximum HP and Mana.

Abilities:

Wraith Surge (L2) - Oziel fires a single, large Arcane bolt at the enemy. If the bolt hits an enemy, Oziel is granted a buff that will allow the next Wraith Surge cast to deal more damage, but at the cost of more Mana. This buff increases Wraith Surge damage by 50%, and stacks up to 3 times. The buff will continue to refresh itself if Wraith Surge connects (in other words, the buff does not get consumed upon using Wraith Surge).

Mana cost: 30
Cooldown: 2 seconds
Buff duration: 10 seconds

Descrated Ground (Triangle) - Oziel tosses a jar of souls on the ground, which will leave a "puddle" on the floor. This acts similar to a floor trap, since any minion that passes over it will be slowed, and will have an Arcane damage-over-time debuff placed onto them.

Mana cost: 50
Cooldown: 16 seconds
Duration: 8 seconds

Haunting Spirits (Square) - This ability costs 75 Souls to activate. When activated, spirits will swirl around Oziel, and haunt nearby minions. If a haunted minion is attacked, the haunted minion will explode, dealing extra damage to the minion, but the haunt effect will fade.

Mana cost: None
Cooldown: None
Duration: 18 seconds

Essence Siphon (L3, Hold) - Oziel drains his own HP to convert it to Mana. Although the conversion is about 1% HP to 2% Mana, this ability cannot kill Oziel (it won't work if his HP is too low).

Cooldown (once usage stops): 1 second

Passive: Soul Harvest - Oziel gains a 5% bonus to his maximum Mana every time he levels up during a match.

Note: Although it doesn't say it on the description, the Passive should also indicate that Oziel collects "Souls" if he's nearby when a minion dies; for some reason this is stated on the "Haunt" description. How many Souls Oziel has is indicated as a buff, so it's located right above his HP bar. The maximum amount of Souls Oziel can have is 300. Oziel needs to be within a certain range to collect Souls (it's about mid-range), and if Oziel dies, all Souls are lost. Souls serve no purpose beyond allowing Oziel to use Haunt.

Pros

Oziel is one of the best, possibly the best, Hero that deals single target damage. He has many things working for him that allow him to do this:

First, his accuracy is really high. Much like Deadeye, his reticle never really changes, allowing you to sit and spam his Primary attack as much as you want. His Primary is somewhat similar to Cygnus's, but feels a little better; it's not as slow as Cygnus's, and it does seem like its damage is relatively the same, if not harder (without considering Cygnus's Rift Lord buff).

Since Oziel is entirely Arcane damage, this is really helpful for almost every type of minion, with the exception of some of the Wu Xing minions (which get natural all elemental resistance). Even then, the debuff of Arcane allows Oziel to deal more damage with each successful hit, stacking up to 3 times. This means that every successful hit (including Primary) is going to hit harder, which reinforces his single target damage.

Obviously Wraith Surge is his boss/Mercenary killer, and it works great for that. The buff granted by connecting with Wraith Surge increases its damage by 50%, and it stacks up to 3 times, giving it a potential total increase of 150% (the base damage is multiplied, not the subsequent hits). With Wraith Surge's very short cooldown, it's really easy to eliminate bosses and Mercenaries only within a few short uses. The Mana cost balances it though, so if you try to spam it, you'll find yourself quickly out of Mana.

Desecrated Ground is Oziel's only initial area-of-effect ability, and although it's not as impressive as his other abilities in terms of damage, it's still pretty good. It's a great example of a "fire-and-forget" ability, because all you have to do is toss it in the middle of the minion's pathway, and it'll just do its thing. The slow is clearly really beneficial, and this ability is fantastic for clearing groups of Runners as a result.

Haunting Spirits again reinforces his single target damage, as hitting a haunted minion should deal more damage than a Wraith Surge. However, there's something even better about Haunting Spirits, which is its level 10 upgrade of "Ectoplasmic Explosion". With this upgrade, Haunting Spirits turns into one of the most damaging group abilities in the entire game.

Finally, it should be fairly obvious that Oziel has probably the best survival abilities in the game; his natural lifesteal on his Primary allows you to steal some HP back, and you never really have to worry about Mana. This doesn't make him invincible though, which I'll mention in the next section.

Cons

Reading his abilities, Oziel may sound like quite the powerhouse, but his single target damage is actually a crutch in a lot of ways.

It's pretty easy to determine that single target damage is not quite as beneficial as group damage; most maps will throw waves of smaller, weaker minions in large groups at you, rather than smaller groups of larger, stronger minions (although in Endless, that's not always the case).

Oziel's Primary attack and Wraith Surge have relatively the same projectile speed. This means that although each of those abilities hit decently hard, their overall damage-per-second is more focused to targets with more HP. It doesn't really matter if you're hitting for 1000 on a minion with 100 HP, all of that extra damage is overkill, and thus, the slower projectile speed (which is balancing it), is actually hindering you.

Oziel's damage output still functions just fine despite this, but as a result, you may feel he takes a little getting used to. Strangely, Oziel just may feel somewhat like Ivy; he starts out kind of slow, but as he levels, you get to see him do increasingly better. For this reason, you may feel he's a little clunky until you get him some levels.

For his abilities, Haunting Spirits is actually extremely lackluster until you get its respective upgrade at level 10. It does take a while to get 75 Souls to activate it in the first place, but when you do activate it, it just turns into more single target damage. I mean sure, it does hit the hardest, but it's nothing that can't be achieved within a few uses of Wraith Surge (if you hit the same target multiple times). I find myself never using Haunting Spirits, until I take Ectoplasmic Explosion at level 10.

Ectoplasmic Explosion is a fantastic upgrade, but it feels like it overcompensates. Without it, Oziel doesn't really get any ability that really stands out and clears groups of enemies well; without this upgrade, he stays a little too consistent (and arguably dull) in how he deals damage. In turn, this also means that when "things get chaotic", without this upgrade, he doesn't really have much to assist him.

If you do choose Ectoplasmic Explosion at level 10 (which I highly recommend), you then have to be very careful about not dying. If you die, you lose all of your Soul stacks, which means that you won't be able to use your single best ability. What makes matters worse is the fact that you have to regain your Soul stacks, and depending on what's going on, this may be difficult to do, as there may not be enough minions around to get the stacks back quickly.

A note about his survivability - Although Essence Siphon and his lifesteal are great, Oziel has a very low HP pool (it's pretty close to Midnight's), so you do have to be careful with him. Order Mages, Fire Fiend Warlocks, and Cyclops Mages are extremely dangerous, due to their high damaging attacks.

Finally, you'll notice Oziel is decently slow, and he seems to have a movement speed that's just slightly slower than Cygnus's. This isn't a large issue while in combat, because he can stay at such a long range, but it is an issue while traversing maps.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Dark Urges (Level 2)
Jagged Shards (Level 4)
Unholy Mire or Vexing Surge (Level 7)
Ectoplasmic Explosion (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Defiled Essence: What this upgrade does is reduce the amount of HP required to convert it to Mana. I don't really see the point to this, because getting HP back is very easy to do with Oziel's natural lifesteal. Even then, it's only 25%, which does not reduce the conversion by much.
- Consecration: This used to be a decent upgrade, but a couple of patches ago they increased the range of Soul collecting, allowing Oziel to be further away from a minion when it dies, and still get a Soul stack. The range is fairly forgiving now, and as a result, this upgrade loses most of its purpose. Before, this was helpful because it allowed Oziel to sit back at a safer distance.
- Dark Urges: I always pick this upgrade because Desecrated Ground is Oziel's only area-of-effect ability until level 10. A 25% reduction in cooldown takes it down to 12 seconds, which means there is only 4 seconds between its cooldown and it's total duration.
Level 4:
- Jagged Shards: Another upgrade I always choose, because again, it just makes Desecrated Ground even better. The damage actually isn't too bad, but it's not stellar either. Regardless, extra damage on a frequently used ability (and you should be using it frequently) is always a great thing.
- Spiritual Connection: Oziel really doesn't need any more Mana regeneration than Essence Siphon. To make matters worse, it's also attached to Haunting Spirits, which is something that you're not going to use very often anyway.
- Vampiric Soul: This really pushes Oziel's survivability to crazy limits, especially when you consider it even stacks with the lifesteal Trait of Practices Witchcraft. Truthfully though, I would recommend that you simply bring in Practices Witchcraft instead of taking this upgrade, if you feel like he needs to increase his lifesteal.
Level 7:
- Unholy Mire: I like to take this upgrade because I know I'll be using Haunting Spirits as much as I can when I get to level 10. More Slows are always great, but do keep in mind that Haunting Spirits is probably going to be your least used ability overall, and you do have to remember you lose all Soul stacks if you die. If you can't use Haunting Spirits, obviously this upgrade goes to waste.
- Vexing Surge: This is not a bad upgrade, because it rewards a Soul stack simply by hitting something with Wrath Surge. This can be really helpful, particularly when you're trying to build up Soul stacks. I personally don't take it, but that's just because I don't normally use Wrath Surge much.
- Profane Healing: I have never taken this upgrade, as it is clearly meant for co-op purposes. Similar to some other co-op upgrades, the "small radius" makes me wonder if the radius is too small to actually be effective. In terms of solo play, this is useless, as Oziel should never really need the healing.
Level 10:
- Ectoplasmic Explosion: One of THE best upgrades in the ENTIRE game. Hitting a haunted enemy will result in not only a fairly large explosion, hitting multiple enemies, but it also hits like a truck. The only real downside to it is that it takes a second for the haunt to "register" that it's active on the minion. Hence, you may find yourself hitting (what looks to be) a haunted minion, but it's not doing anything. Still though, it's entirely possible to clear huge amounts of minions at once with this upgrade. Also keep in mind that when it says "hitting a haunted minion" it means ANY direct-damage hit (not traps though). This means that if you took Jagged Shards at level 4, the direct damage when it first lands can activate the explosion! This means you can activate multiple explosions at once, which can do devastating damage.
- Diabolic Efficiency: Kind of a strange upgrade, because the Mana reduction allows you to use Wrath Surge more often (which in my opinion, is not necessary), but the duration of the buff is also doubled. If you're using it more...you don't need the buff duration doubled, because it'll be active more often regardless. This upgrade still pales in comparison to Ectoplasmic Explosion anyway.
- Reaper: It's very odd that this is at level 10. It would be extremely useful if Oziel got this at a different level (like 7) because then it would combine perfectly with Ectoplasmic Explosion. I suppose that would make EE much more frequently used though, which would might tip it into being very unbalanced. The sad reality of it is, if you don't take Ectoplasmic Explosion, there's really not a reason to get more Soul stacks, as you probably won't be using them that often.

Synopsis

Oziel is a bit strange in what he's capable of. He's extremely good with single target damage, but unfortunately, he only has one (initial) ability that does group damage, which is Desecrated Ground. Even when upgraded, although Descrated Ground is good, it doesn't really help Oziel that much overall in clearing groups, which is what the majority of the maps throw at you.

As a result, he runs a really odd parallel to Ivy; he starts out dealing much more damage than Ivy, but his overall performance still boils down to kind of "meh". As he levels, he gets just sightly better, until level 10, at which point (with Ectoplasmic Explosion) he becomes an absolute powerhouse. This is very similar to Ivy, because Ivy as well turns into a crazy beast at level 10 if you fully upgrade her into Reach of Roots.

What's kind of ironic is that this may be intentional when you consider that Ivy is the only healer in the game (thus she "gives life"), and Oziel is supposed to be a "Grim Reaper" of sorts. Interestingly, also consider that Ivy and Oziel have the only direct heals in the game; other Heroes can heal, but it's usually more indirect and dependent on other things, or gained via upgrades.

Regardless of the comparison, just realize that Oziel is a little slow to start. Once he hits level 10, and if you take Ectoplasmic Explosion, I do feel confident in saying you'll see how great he really can be.

Of course, the reason why I give him only slightly above the average score of 7, is because you may have some issues with him until level 10. Even at level 10, you have to be very careful not to die with Oziel, otherwise you lose your Soul stacks, and you no longer have access to Haunting Spirits until you gain 75 back, which can be difficult to do if you're getting close to the final wave of the map.

Smolder

Overview

My Personal Rating: 5/10

Smolder is currently the only Fire-based Hero in the game. Every one of her abilities deals Fire-elemental damage, but not all of them apply the Fire damage-over-time effect. She is one of the fastest Heroes in the game (possibly faster than Midnight in some cases), and she's the only Hero in the game that can revive herself if she dies.

Abilities:

Dragon's Breath (L2) - Smolder deals constant Fire damage to enemies in front of her, and this ability is channeled by holding the ability button down. The area affected is directly in front of Smolder, in a "cone" shape (think of a tornado spiraling outward). This ability will add a burning effect to enemies.

Mana cost (while active): ~10 per second
Cooldown: None

Heart of Flame (Triangle) - Smolder places a ring of fire around her in a radius. This ability is in continual effect, and will last until the ability is canceled or Smolder runs out of Mana. If enemies are caught in the ring, a burning effect is placed on them. Smolder's movement speed is also increased by 15% while this ability is active.

Mana cost (while active): ~5 per second
Cooldown (after deactivation): 2 seconds

Incinerate (Square) - Smolder creates an explosion around her (about the same radius as Heart of Flame), which damages enemies. The damage of this ability is increased more than usual when Smolder levels up.

Special note about this ability: The description of this ability might throw you off a bit; it will ONLY deal damage to enemies to burning enemies. That means if nothing is on fire, it will do absolutely nothing. This is particularly strange if you go in with Smolder without reading this. Ultimately though, I would recommend using this ability in conjunction with Heart of Flame. Since their radius is basically the same, and Heart of Flame always catches things on fire, it basically guarantees Incinerate will work if you only use it while Heart of Flame is active. Since the range of Incinerate coincides very closely with the range of Heart of Flame, it's best to think of it as "If they're in my Heart of Flame, I can use this ability".
Mana cost: 30
Cooldown: 9 seconds

Passive: From the Ashes - If Smolder dies, she will revive herself, and deal Fire damage to all enemies around her. Smolder revives with 40% HP and 50% Mana.

Cooldown: It's difficult to tell the cooldown of the Passive, as the only indicator you get is the icon above your HP bar, which appears after you use it. It's a debuff, which prevents you from activating the Passive again while it's up. From what I saw, it seemed to decrease 1/4 for every 30 seconds, so it's possible that this means it has a 2 minute cooldown between activations.

Pros

Smolder is arguably the best Hero for Runners in the game, and it is because of one ability: Heart of Flame.

I would further argue that Heart of Flame itself is one of the best abilities in the game, in terms of simplicity of use. All you have to do is activate it, and the damage is automatic. That's it, and that's why it does so well against Runners; since they'll be running right past you, they'll inevitably get caught in the ring, get caught on fire, and die shortly afterwards.

Incinerate is also a very good ability, although it is balanced because of the "burning" condition. If you decide to specialize into Heart of Flame, and take the Incinerate cooldown reduction, Smolder can be a huge powerhouse during Unchained; Incinerate will have no cooldown (during Unchained), which means you can consistently use it over and over. If you jump into the middle of a huge group of enemies, you'll probably see them all get destroyed within a few uses.

Smolder is also arguably the best Hero to use against Frost minions. Since all of her damage is Fire based, she gets an extra 50% damage on all Frost minions. This is particularly good against Frost Order minions (the Northmun), because the burning effect easily bypasses their "steady" buff.

Cons

Unfortunately Smolder has a lot of issues. It's almost if she's the worst "glass cannon" imaginable; she can't really take a hit, but she's not really that great at dealing damage either.

Despite the fact that she looks like a ranged Hero on the surface, as it turns out, she really isn't. With the exception of her Primary, all of her attacks force her into some strange range just outside of melee range. For reference, if you are relatively in "mid-range" with Max or Gabriella, Smolder generally has to be closer than those two to efficiently deal damage.

This forces her to take more damage as well, given that closer distance. Unfortunately, Smolder is still built like a ranged Hero; she has lower HP, she doesn't really get any crowd control, and she doesn't get anything to help her survivability.

Dragon's Breath, although seems like a far-reaching attack, actually isn't. Although the animation extends out fairly far in front of you, the actual hit-zone of it is almost in the middle of it (so cut the animation in half, and that's relatively its range).

Heart of Flame's and Incinerate's range seems a little more obvious (since they radiate out from Smoder). Her Primary, is also a little deceiving in her range; although obviously it travels a long distance, and her cross-hairs don't really move much, it is the fact that the projectile speed, and her attack speed, that forces her closer to minions. The projectile speed is slow enough that it's really easy to be inaccurate over long distances; the minion may simply move somewhere else by the time the projectile reaches the area. Combine this with her slower attack speed, this means you have to make every shot count, thus, you'll be motivated to move closer to ensure her Primary is connecting.

The biggest issue, in my opinion, is her Mana usage. She truly burns through it quicker than any other Hero, and that is because of all of her channeled abilities. You may be inclined to use Heart of Flame as much as possible (due to how nice it is), but if you do, you'll have to be constantly turning it on and off (until level 10, since an upgrade removes the cost).

Since she has issues managing her Mana, this obviously affects her damage output. Given lower damage output, and not much in survivability, this turns Smolder into a Hero that...just isn't very good overall.

You may wonder - well, Bionka has Mana issues too, so how about Smolder's Primary to rely on? Again, unfortunately, Smolder also has questionably the worst Primary in the game; the attack speed is only slightly faster than Cygnus's (in other words, how many she can fire in a given timeframe); the projectile speed is about the same as Cygnus's (how fast the projectile moves to its target); but unfortunately, her Primary hits no where near as hard as Cygnus's, so its overall performance is below average.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Flame Thrower (Level 2)
Endothermia (Level 4)
Belligerent or Passionate (Level 7)
Spontaneous Combustion (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Hot Foot: Heart of Flame already grants a good movement speed increase, and Smolder is already naturally kind of fast. Having even more movement speed, in my opinion, is completely unnecessary.
- Flame Thrower: This is the upgrade I always take, because I feel you really need to be reliant on her Primary until you can remove the Mana cost of Heart of Flame. It does grant two separate benefits as well, damage and projectile speed, which makes it even further attractive.
- Fuel Reserves: I've only chosen this upgrade once or twice, and I don't like it because it's just a simple increase to her Mana total. It doesn't change the fact that Smolder is continually guzzling Mana, all it does is give you a slight extended duration of her channeled abilities, which doesn't equate to much in my opinion. If this was something such as...Mana regeneration of some sort, this would be much more attractive to me.
Level 4:
- Phoenix Heart: It's really not the fact that her Passive isn't good; you really can't develop the "oh you shouldn't be dying anyway" argument with Smolder's Passive, because it is irrelevant due to how it functions. If you die, you stay in place, explode, and revive. So to a degree, there is some incentive to activate the Passive. However, her Passive is more of a simple added bonus more than anything else, because you do have to remember that for every second you're not actively attacking, you're hurting your damage output. Hence, there's not much reason to specialize into it.
- Endothermia: Smolder's main issue is Mana consumption, and this upgrade certainly helps with that. The only thing I'll say about it is you kind of have to "pick a playstyle" with her upgrades; if you never use Dragon's Breath, obviously you may want to pick Red-Headed instead.
- Red-Headed: It's not a bad choice if you don't like (or never use) Dragon's Breath. Unfortunately a 12% increase to her HP isn't actually much; for reference, at Account Level 100, Smolder has 690 HP. So increasing it by 12% is going to amount to around 775 HP or so.
Level 7:
- Resilient: Similar to Phoenix Heart, there's just not much reason to specialize further into Smolder's Passive. Do pay attention to the wording of this upgrade as well, as it indicates that the upgrade increases the HP/Mana returned by 100%, not to 100%. This means you'll come back with 100% Mana, but not 100% HP (it'll be 80% HP).
- Belligerent: Here you have to decide how you want to play as Smolder; you can either rely on Dragon's Breath, or rely more on Incinerate. This upgrade does directly increase the damage of Dragon's Breath, which is always great, but it really depends on how much you like to use Dragon's Breath.
- Passionate: I generally choose this upgrade because I like to use Incinerate more. If you like to use Incinerate, this still turns into a damage-per-second increase, because you're able to use Incinerate more often. Without the upgrade, it takes 90 seconds to use Incinerate 10 times, whereas with the upgrade, you can get 10 Incinerate uses in 60 seconds, which isn't bad. This particularly useful when going Unchained, because you won't even notice the cooldown anymore (due to Unchained's natural cooldown reduction), and thus you'll be able to constantly use it (assuming you have Heart of Flame active).
Level 10:
- Spontaneous Combustion: Personally I think there is no contest here, this is Smolder's best upgrade. The entire issue with Heart of Flame is its constant Mana drain, and this completely removes it. This means you can constantly have that damage shield up, while always moving at that increased movement speed. This also means you don't have to juggle using Incinerate anymore, as Heart of Flame should always be active (there's no reason to turn it off with the upgrade). The removal of the Mana cost also means indirectly that it increases your damage output, because now you'll have more Mana reserves to deal damage.
- Wildfire: I think this upgrade is completely useless in comparison to Spontaneous Combustion. Crowd control effects (for the player) mostly consist of Freeze and the occasional movement Slow. Also consider, if you don't take Spontaneous Combustion, this means that Heart of Flame will be turned off on occasion. If you get hit with a crowd control while it's off? Well, then the upgrade sees no use.
- Smoldering: It's not too terrible of an upgrade, but I still think Spontaneous Combustion outclasses it. Having Incinerate slow things down (especially if you took the lower cooldown upgrade of "Passionate") can be extremely helpful. The issue though is you're still seeing that constant Mana drain of Heart of Flame, which means that you can use Incinerate more if you take Spontaneous Combustion, which means an increase in damage. If you're killing things fast enough, there's no real point in slowing them down. Although, if your Mana management is decent (if you have Mana regeneration via enough means, such as Traits and Parts), you may want to consider this upgrade.

Synopsis

From what I understand of it (and have read on the official forums), people like to play Smolder. I can understand this from a certain angle, because she is kind of fun in her own way - With Heart of Flame she's super fast and zips around the map; she can light a ton of things on fire at the same time; her Dragon's Breath is like a flamethrower of sorts; Fire damage is fairly useful in some contexts; and, lack of clothing aside, she seems much more interesting in terms of animation (her hair, how her gloves on fire, and how she sways her hips, for example).

In terms of functionality though, Smolder doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

I think the issue is that they didn't really know how to balance Smolder (much like Bionka). It was almost as if they said "well, we gave her a self-revive, so it's okay if we give her low HP"....yeah no, it's not. Then, they may have said "well, we're giving her an ability that kind of works like a flamethrower...so let's work around that", and so they give her the rest of her abilities that force her more into melee range. The combination of these two aspects is really where Smolder starts to see problems.

It always seems, when I play Smolder, she takes significantly more damage than the average Hero. In fact, I would say that she's nearly as fragile as Midnight, but unfortunately Smolder sees almost zero use from the Practices Witchcraft Trait (since her Primary sucks). Coupled with her lack of overall survivability (only 1 upgrade that kind of does something), this leaves her very vulnerable considering you're going to be relatively close to melee range the majority of the time you play as her.

I also think they struggled to balance her damage. Fire damage is basically the only damage-over-time effect in the game (there are poisons and bleeds, but only a few things can do those), which makes it really nice to be able to have a consistent amount of damage without ever having to think about it. For this reason, it feels like they hit Smolder with restrictions in two ways: The fact that each ability doesn't do that much damage (Incinerate is the best in terms of damage though), but also having her abilities have a high Mana cost to them. Again, similar to the issue with her HP, it's the synergy of these two restrictions that make me think Smolder is doing subpar damage in comparison to other Heroes.

The damage-over-time effect is also something to consider more in-depth, because it really doesn't make any sense at all when you're playing as Smolder. Do recall that damage-over-time effects do not stack from the same source, which includes Heroes. This obviously includes Smolder, because everything but Incinerate places the burn effect on the target. In all practicality, you mostly just need to ignore this fact, and play the way you want to regardless (because it would be extremely difficult to micro-manage your burn effects). However, it does seem very strange that they would design Smolder like this, given that restriction.

The reason why I give her a 5/10 is because of this design that doesn't really coincide very well; Smolder's a little mixed up in terms of performance, and they didn't really do a very good job (in my opinion) of balancing her. I wouldn't push her into the "awful" category because she can still do well in certain scenarios, such as dealing with Frost minions, or dealing with maps with a lot of Runners. If you can get comfortable with how she plays, she does perform fairly close to the rest of the Heroes. The issue is that she can't do it nearly as consistently, and that's why I give her a lower rating than most others.

Stinkeye

Overview

My Personal Rating: 7/10

Stinkeye is an Arcane magic user, but he's unique in the sense that he doesn't do his best damage by shooting directly at his enemies. Instead, he has Totems to place down, which do different things, depending on which one he shoots at.

Abilities:

Arcane Anomaly (L2) - Creates an orb at your location, which will explode after a set amount of time (a few seconds), dealing Arcane damage in a radius.

Mana cost: 65
Cooldown: 7 seconds.

Wrath of Oasis Totem (Triangle) - A Totem that works somewhat like a sentry turret, which will automatically shoot a single bolt at a minion, at set intervals. When Stinkeye shoots at his Wrath of Oasis Totem, it will instead shoot 3 bolts at minions.

Mana cost: 25
Cooldown: 17 seconds.

Zephyr of Oasis (Square) - A Totem that emits an aura around itself, which slows minions down. It also emits an aura that gives a temporary movement speed buff to any Hero (including yourself). When Stinkeye shoots at his Zephyr of Oasis Totem, it will be destroyed, and it will stun nearby enemies for 3 seconds.

Mana cost: 25
Cooldown: 9 seconds.

Passive ability: Shaman's Blessing - Not much of a passive, but it is still nonetheless helpful. Totems that are summoned, once they expire, leave behind a Mana Orb. This in turn means that Stinkeye never really has any Mana issues.

Pros

Stinkeye is fantastic at clearing large groups of enemies. By placing a Wrath of Oasis Totem down and shooting at it, it allows Stinkeye to hit 3 minions at once, each time the Totem is shot at.

Since Stinkeye is an Arcane user, this means that he can also apply the debuff that Arcane magic gives; each time a minion is hit with Arcane, subsequent Arcane damage applied will do even more damage, stacking up to 3 times. Since he is hitting 3 minions at once, each minion is getting hit with the debuff, allowing Stinkeye to do additional damage, which allows him to clear minions even faster.

Zephyr of Oasis acts as a constant slow, and although only one can be placed down, the Totem lasts forever (unless it is shot, or replaced). The slow also stacks with any other slow effect, which can really help in keeping things at bay (which is very beneficial for Stinkeye). Since the Totem does stack with other effects, this also means that it gives a constant addition to the Combo Meter.

Cons

Stinkeye has one major drawback - He doesn't do well under pressure.

Since all of his damage is based off of his Wrath of Oasis Totem, you need to be very mindful about where you place it. It does have a cooldown of about 9 seconds, so a misplaced Totem can be detrimental to clearing waves. The Wrath of Oasis Totem also does not last forever (it lasts about 20 seconds), so you need to pay attention to when it disappears, otherwise you'll see your damage output plummet. This in turn is problematic in stressful scenarios, such as trying to kill Kamikaze Kobolds; frantically trying to place down your Totem while they rush to your Barricades can be quite the ordeal.

There are two additional points about the placement of Wrath of Oasis:

You can't shoot your Primary through minions - What you will find is that sometimes minions will block your shots to your Totem, which means you want to either place the Totem outside of their path (like to the side, rather than directly in it) or you want to try to aim for the very top of your Totem (although large minions like Trolls will still give you problems).
You don't want to stand in the minion's path - Similar to the point above, if you stand in the minion's path, they will inevitably come into your melee range, and start hitting you. This will force your Primary shots to hit whatever is in front of you, rather than hit your Totem.

Stinkeye also suffers a bit with single targets, most notably boss minions and Mercenaries. There is no way to control the Wrath of Oasis Totem's target, as it automatically targets whatever minion is further down the path. On a positive note, since the Totem deals so much damage, sometimes this isn't an issue, but do realize that you may need to readjust Totems simply to get it to target a problematic boss or Mercenary.

In addition to that, the bolts fired from Wrath of Oasis will only target the same target when there is nothing else in range. I believe only 2 of the 3 bolts will hit the same target, and the 3rd, if there is nothing else around, is lost. Ultimately this doesn't make Stinkeye's damage toward bosses or Mercenaries poor, but it is simply unfortunate that he's not dealing as much damage as he should be.

Stinkeye does struggle with Runners such as Kobolds as well, because Wrath of Oasis has a set range to it. If one manages to get by, it becomes quite the stressful rush to try to readjust a Totem to catch a Runner, as you need to not only place it within a proper range, while keeping in mind you'll need an extra second to shoot at the totem to get it to fire. On a positive note, Stinkeye's damage output does come into play here; Wrath of Oasis should be dealing enough damage to instantly kill most Runners. However, larger groups of Runners may be more of a threat, as the Totem will not be able to target all of them if there are numerous Runners clustered closely together.

There aren't a lot of downsides to Zephyr of Oasis, other than the size of the aura isn't very large. I don't think it's all that useful to destroy the Zephyr for the stun effect, as the Totem has a 17 second cooldown. So this means you get a 3 second stun, for the cost of not having things slowed for 14 seconds, which I don't think is worth it.

One other thing to point out is that Stinkeye has less use for Traits and Consumables that effect his Primary attack. So something like Practices Witchcraft, for example, will get little use, as you will rarely end up using your Primary directly. The Wrath of the Oasis is not his Primary attack, it is simply affected by it, so that bolts that come from it are not considered Stinkeye's Primary.

The only other drawback I found with Stinkeye was...he can be immensely boring to play.

Pretty much all you are doing is spamming your Primary attack at your Wrath of Oasis, then replacing it when it fades. That's it. Stinkeye does a tremendous amount of damage, so there's hardly a reason to use Arcane Anomaly (and it requires you to be roughly in melee range). Since there is such a lack of variety in his attacks, I did find he was the single most boring Hero to play as, despite how well he does damage.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Psalm of Speed (Level 2)
Divine Demotivation (Level 4)
Totem Testament (Level 7)
Angry Oasis (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Psalm of Speed: This is the level 2 upgrade I like the most, as giving the Zephyr a larger aura obviously means that more minions will be slowed by it. If you regularly destroy the Zephyr for its stun effect though, you may not want this upgrade.
- Acolyte Advantage: I've never actually picked this upgrade, as I never found myself to desperate for healing as Stinkeye. Stinkeye does get a fairly decent amount of HP for being a ranged character, and he can be further way to deal damage (he doesn't have to be in mid-range like Gabby or Max), so you generally shouldn't have too many issues with HP. Also keep in mind you should never really be close to your Totems anyway, because it's not really effective.
- Distant Doctrine: The "increased placement range" allows you to place Totems further away from you. This means that you can stay at a further distance away while you place a Totem. I find it kind of risky to do as is, because trying to precisely place your Totems while holding the corresponding button can be a little tricky (with the PS4, it might be easier on the PC), and it may lead you to misplace it. You can get the effect regardless of this upgrade anyway - just place the Totem down, and walk back to whatever distance you want to shoot it at.
Level 4:
- Godly Grief: It's not a bad upgrade overall, I just didn't find much use out of it. The Tears of Oasis act like 3 different drops rolled into 1; you get HP, Mana, and Unchained from it. Again, since I rarely had HP issues with Stinkeye, the HP gain I didn't care for; Totems already drop Mana regardless, so that didn't mean anything to me; the Unchained is the only useful thing here, but it still suffers from diminishing returns. Every time you use Unchained, energy from any source will give you a decreased amount of it. Thus, at a certain point, the Unchained energy given from this upgrade becomes somewhat useless.
- Anomaly Awe: Although the stun effect is decent for crowd-control, in practice, I don't think it's useful. I don't normally use Arcane Anomaly, because it's an attack that needs to be activated when minions are in melee range. In order to use Anomaly proactively, you would need to break off from shooting your Totem, specifically to use Anomaly, which would ultimately lead to a damage decrease. If you use Anomaly as a defensive ability (when things get close to you) this makes this more practical; but then again, if minions got into melee range, I would prefer to readjust myself and my Totems so I can proceed to deal damage again.
- Divine Demotivation: I think this is another good upgrade, as I use Zephyr as kind of a "fire-and-forget" ability. The upgrade is easy to understand, and although 10% isn't much, a slower minion is still a slower minion.
Level 7:
- Booming Benediction: I don't use Arcane Anomaly normally, so having a reduced cooldown on it has never really been that attractive.
- Skull Saviors: This one is a little more difficult to understand. When left alone, Wrath of Oasis fires a single shot automatically, so I believe with this upgrade, it should fire 30% faster. This a little useless, as ideally you'll want to be shooting the Wrath of Oasis instead. For the Zephyr, I'm actually not entirely sure if it effects anything. It is possible that the Zephyr may "pulse" the slow effect (in other words, it's not a constant, as I initially assumed), but it's very difficult to tell.
- Totem Testament: Truthfully, I think there's no contest here, this is probably Stinkeye's best upgrade. Adding one more projectile to Wrath of Oasis (when it's shot at), means more damage, period. Since this is how you should be primarily dealing damage, there should be no real question about taking this upgrade.
Level 10:
- Angry Oasis: Although this is the level 10 upgrade I normally choose, there's something important to realize - Wrath of Oasis has a 9 second cooldown between uses, which means that effectively, you get an extra Totem for only about 10 seconds (since the first one will disappear 10 seconds after you place the second). However, this does allow you to place an extra Totem for sentry purposes; you can place one at one gate, leave the gate, then place another at the gate you're covering, and thus you have extra damage, if only for 10 seconds. It can also be somewhat helpful if you need to readjust - if there is a Mercenary in your face, you can safely place a second Totem next to you to start killing it, and the other Totem will still be left to deal damage to the rest of the wave (albeit minimal).
- Arcane Apocalypse: It's an interesting upgrade, but unfortunately it's based off of what Arcane Anomaly manages to kill, which is a bit too conditional for my tastes. Anomaly doesn't do stellar damage (it's fairly average) which means that you may not really be seeing this activate much in the higher difficulties, unless you soften up minions quite a bit before using it.
- Sermon of Speed: It's not a bad upgrade if you like to destroy the Zephyrs. Getting the extra slow after the stun wears off is actually pretty decent in terms of crowd-control, but I'm personally not a fan of destroying my Zephyrs.

Synopsis

Stinkeye can deal a tremendous amount of damage, but playing him does take some getting used to.

One important thing to understand is that strategically placing his Totems is paramount to using Stinkeye effectively. Although he can shoot his Totems from a decent distance, the Totems are ideally placed in areas that surround the minion's pathway, rather than placed within it.

Where you stand as Stinkeye is equally as important - to ensure that minions are not getting into melee range, it is also ideal to try to be standing in a spot that is away from where the minions will path. Consider standing behind Barricades (be careful of Archers though) and walls, while ensuring that you have your Totem within line-of-sight to shoot at.

Once practiced with the basic placement, the next step is to be comfortable with readjusting Totems (and Stinkeye) as needed. Runners, boss minions, and Mercenaries may require you to adapt very quickly, so learning how to place your Wrath Totem further down the path (or retreating to the Rift) can help when things go haywire.

I believe Arcane Anomaly was meant as more of a defensive ability rather than an offensive one - using it when minions get close to you (although ideally, this shouldn't happen) can help deal some damage as you make a retreat to a safer spot to readjust.

Once you feel you've mastered Stinkeye , unfortunately, he may become fairly dull to play, but he can outperform many Heroes on a lot of maps.

Temper

Overview

My Personal Rating: 7/10

Temper is a melee Hero that deals physical damage. He is one of the few Heroes that has is own unique resource, which is Rage. Temper's Rage starts off at 0, but gains Rage every time he hits a minion with his Primary. When Temper's Rage is at full, he temporarily gets his Primary damage boosted, and also gains a slight area-of-effect mechanic.

Abilities:

Exploding Hammer (L2) - Temper throws his hammer, which will explode if it comes into contact with something (not just minions). What isn't in the description is that this ability does consume Rage if you have it (and will increase its damage), and also adds an (extremely minor) Fire damage-over-time effect.

Rage cost: 0 (when Rage is at 0), maximum Rage consumed is 35.
Cooldown: 7 seconds

Happy Place (Triangle) - Temper will heal himself at the cost of Rage, while increasing his movement speed. Any attack performed by Temper will cancel this ability.

Rage cost (guesstimate): 10 per second
Cooldown: 7 seconds
Healing done (guesstimate): 1% per second

Hammer Slam (Square) - Temper slams his weapons onto the ground, which will deal damage, and also place a Fire effect on the ground (briefly), which will place a Fire damage-over-time effect on enemies that cross it.

Rage cost: 30
Cooldown: 7 seconds

Bull Rush (L3) - Temper rushes forward in a straight line, dealing damage and knocking back enemies. All enemies are affected by the knockback, but normal minions are affected the most (it really launches them quite well).

Rage cost: 35
Cooldown: 12 seconds

Passive: Rage of the Forge - As noted above, his Passive is more-or-less the attack buff he gets to his Primary when his Rage is at full.

Pros

Temper is an interesting Hero because he has a lot of situational abilities. This means that he's kind of "Jack of all trades" of sorts, because he has different abilities to help him in different scenarios.

For this reason, I feel that Temper is relatively easy to learn. Although there are other Heroes who have varying abilities, for Temper, his abilities are much more specific in their use. His abilities don't get much use at all if the situation doesn't call for it, which means that most of the time you can sit back and happily just spam his Primary.

Although that may initially read as an issue, it really isn't, because his Primary attack seems to be the focus of his entire design; it is his best ability, and it's his most reliable source of damage.

Since his Primary attack gets improved at full Rage (and Rage is gained simply by using his Primary), this allows anyone to do deal good damage while using Temper. Since the buff is automatic, there is very little to learn outside of understanding when to use his other abilities.

Cons

The idea behind Temper (having a lot of situational abilities) can be beneficial, but I think it ultimately ends up to hurt him overall.

The issue is that the rest of his abilities have entirely too much questionable use:

Exploding Hammer is quite odd, and it actually has no Rage cost, but it also consumes Rage (weird right?). This means that when your Rage is at 0, you can still use it, but at any other time, you will consume Rage. The damage of the attack seems to increase if it consumes Rage, but even then, it doesn't really do a lot of damage. The knockback is also not significant, which really makes me question how useful this ability really is.
Happy Place doesn't heal for enough, which forces you to run away from combat when you want to heal. This disrupts a lot of flow in combat when using Temper. When the Enjoys Pain Traits is acquired, you'll notice that you have little use for Happy Place anymore, because of how good Temper's Primary is.
Hammer Slam, although does great damage, forces me to question it due to priority - Do I save my Rage so I can get the Primary attack buff faster? Or do I use Hammer Slam, get good damage now, but at the cost of having my Rage top off later? Although it is overall a minor issue, it does bring into question what the most ideal usage of Hammer Slam really is.
Bull Rush is severely under-utilized because it's entirely too situational. The knockback, although is nice, if you can't knock minions off the map, there's no real reason to use it (as all it does it reduce your damage, and push things back, wasting time). In order to knock minions off the map, the ability needs to be used when the minion has its back to a ledge of sorts. This is further complicated by the fact that you charge straight ahead, which means you risk falling off the same ledge.
- You also have to be somewhat careful about where you use this ability. On the map "The Wall" for example, using Bull Rush to knock minions off the map is actually a bad thing, because it doesn't kill them. Instead, they get propelled to a further point, off the map. This means that you'll be waiting around for them to come back to the map, which severely wastes time.

Temper's upgrades are also extremely questionable, and quite honestly, I think he gets one of the worst upgrade sets in the entire game. The reason why is because the majority of his upgrades are focused on his already too situational abilities; what's the point of upgrading something if it rarely gets used? Happy Place is a great example, because it gets 3 different upgrades, but the entire ability can be canceled out by the Enjoys Pain Trait.

Temper's final issue is that because he's so focused on his Primary attack, you might feel like he's doing subpar damage when he starts out. The only other Hero that I felt has this issue, is Deadeye, but she has other damaging abilities, but Temper doesn't (outside of Hammer Slam). As he levels, this problem goes a way a little bit, but just be aware you may be a little overwhelmed at times when starting with Temper.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Anger Loves Company (Level 2)
Rage Machine (Level 4)
Hammered or Set Off (Level 7)
Explosive Anger (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Anger Loves Company: It seems like a strange upgrade when you first read it, but it's actually really helpful. The condition of "during Rage of the Forge" is when Temper reaches maximum Rage. When Rage of the Forge starts, you want minions around you, because when it's finished, Temper hits everything around him. So by taking this upgrade, you force more minions into your attack range and thus, deal more damage.
- Seeing Red: A very bizarre upgrade, as I don't know why you would want to stun anything with Bull Rush. Since it doesn't really do that much damage, all you're doing is wasting more time by stunning minions while they get knocked back. I personally prefer to use Bull Rush to knock minions off the map, rather than crowd control, but if you do like it for crowd control, this is a viable upgrade.
- Moment of Zen: If you're not using Enjoys Pain, then this is decently viable. One of the drawbacks to Happy Place is the fact that you have to retreat in order to really get use out of its heal, so by taking this upgrade, it allows you to stay right in the thick of combat.
Level 4:
- Happy Hooves: Not a useful upgrade at all, as the extra movement speed isn't really that big of a deal. Temper has a fairly average movement speed, so the extra speed from Happy Place (without this upgrade) generally works just fine, if you want to move around the map with it.
- Blow His Top: This is one of two Rage conservation upgrades that are available at this level (the other one being Rage Machine), and truthfully, Rage Machine is the better one of the two. Mathematically speaking, Temper's maximum Rage is 250, and since Rage of the Forge consumes all of it, that means this upgrade decrease that consumption to 80%. That means you get to save 20% of your total Rage, which is 50 Rage.
- Rage Machine: I would argue that this is much better in comparison to "Blow His Top" because it'll allow you to save Rage at all times, rather than only when you maximize it. The reason why this is so much better, is because you have to consider all the moments that you are not actively attacking, such as moving to another gate, or waiting for minions to spawn. To compare it further, if you take "Blow His Top" instead, Rage will still decay. If you have moments where you're not attacking, that means you get less utilization of it, because you have to fill the Rage bar up all over again in order to see it activate. For "Rage Machine" this is not the case, as the conservation happens at all times.
Level 7:
- Hammered: Personally I'm not a huge fan of using Exploding Hammer, but 3x damage isn't that bad. As I said above, Exploding Hammer doesn't really do that great of damage, but taking this upgrade may get you motivated to use it more, as it will do decent (but still not that great) damage.
- Set Off: I do like using Hammer Slam, but this upgrade is really conditional. It sets off nearby floor traps, but only floor traps. So if you don't have any floor traps around well...it's useless.
- Kicking Mad: Increasing the knockback of Bull Rush makes it do some pretty crazy things; if you use it on a normal minion, you can potentially rocket them straight off the map, which looks rather amusing. It still requires you to set it up properly though (meaning, it won't push minions over a barrier), which in turn kind of makes it unnecessary overkill.
Level 10:
- Happier Place: Again, if you don't have Enjoys Pain, this upgrade can potentially be an option. Regularly using Happy Place really takes a hit to your overall damage output, due to the fact that its use is preventing you from reaching maximum Rage. By taking this upgrade, you reduce the Rage use, and thus, conserve your Rage for damage.
- Explosive Anger: I think this is Temper's best upgrade, although I will admit I don't exactly know what it means by "Rage of the Forge explosions". I'm guessing that it increases the damage of the final hit (where Temper hits everything around him), which usually does pretty good damage, so increasing that by 25% is actually a decent amount.
- Stompin' Mad: For me, an increase in Bull Rush's damage doesn't make it more attractive. As I said before, it's a long animation, it readjusts your position, and it knocks enemies back, which can potentially waste your time. Even then, consider that you may be motivated to use it more, and you may not be thinking about your own positioning; by using it more, you run the risk that you forget that it can potentially run you right off a ledge.

Synopsis

Although Temper is interesting, he's also very odd. His abilities being so situational although are unique, they unfortunately are so specifically used that you may not really end up using them that much. In turn, this really just boils down Temper to an incredibly basic Hero, constantly spamming his Primary attack.

Fortunately, his Primary attack is significantly better than most Heroes, so his lack of good abilities doesn't end up affecting him that much. Being able to deal more damage, in a radius, simply by constantly using his Primary attack, almost makes his Primary its own unique ability.

You may be wondering why I listed Temper in my "best Heroes" list; on paper, he certainly doesn't seem that interesting or good. The reason why I list him is because he can be viewed as a Hero that is "easy to learn, difficult to master". Temper is incredibly reliant on his Primary, but his Primary is also really good, which means he can be decent to start out with.

My thinking is he may be more of a Hero designed for newer players, completely due to how situational his abilities are. If you're new to the game, Temper's situational abilities are so specific that it forces you to start to think about the proper settings to use certain abilities. From that foundation, when the player moves on to a different Hero, they have this prior knowledge from using Temper, which hopefully allows them to play the other Heroes more efficiently.

Temper, in a way, is kind of a "utility" version of Tundra; Tundra's abilities have a decent variety as well, but they're much more regularly used due to how they all deal damage. Temper's abilities on the other hand, are focused on crowd control and survivability. Just like Tundra though, he really becomes something very "average" in terms of performance; he's not stellar, but he's not too bad either.

Tundra

Overview

My Personal Rating: 7/10

Tundra is a Hero that specializes in Frost damage. Although he is primarily melee, he has a couple of attacks that allow him to attack at range, and can create a wall of ice to redirect enemies for a few seconds. His most interesting ability is Avalanche, which can be used to damage minions, as well as quickly move short distances.

Abilities:

All of Tundra's abilities (including his Primary) apply the Frost debuff. Unlike Frost minions, Tundra's application of the Frost debuff is a bit faster, and minions should become Frozen after being hit either 2 or 3 times.

Icicle Burst (L2) - Tundra will shoot 3 icicles at whatever he is aiming at. When a minion is hit, a minor movement Slow is applied for a short duration.

Mana cost: 25
Cooldown: 3 seconds

Wall of Frost (Triangle) - Tundra places a wall of ice in front of him, which has about the length of two floor traps placed side-by-side. This can be used to either redirect minions (minions will be forced to move around it), or if there is no room to move, minions will attack it and potentially destroy it.

Mana cost: 45
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Duration: 5 seconds

Flash Freeze (Square) - Tundra instantly freezes a group of minions in front of him (the target limit is about 5 or 6). The range of this is projected down a path in front of Tundra, which allows it to hit minions outside of melee range.

Mana cost: 80
Cooldown: 24 seconds

Avalanche (L3) - Tundra rolls himself into a large snowball, and the player is allowed to control him using regular movement controls (i.e. the left analog stick). In this state, Tundra can collide with minions (essentially running them over) to deal damage. This ability will cancel if Tundra runs into a wall or any object that halts his movement. You can also cancel this ability by pressing L3 again when it's in use.

Mana cost (while ability is active): 5 per second
Cooldown (after ability ends): 25 seconds
Duration: 8 seconds

Passive: Permafrost - Tundra will deal extra damage to Frozen targets (100% more), and the duration of any Frozen effect is increased by 100%. Normally Frozen only lasts about 1-2 seconds, so this increases the duration to around 3 seconds.

Pros

Tundra has an interesting array of abilities, which allows him to be fairly flexible. He has access to natural crowd control (his Frost element); his melee is comparable to most other melee Heroes; he has access to a ranged attack that allows him to attack at a distance if it's desired.

Tundra is probably the most interesting in terms of his upgrades. Almost all of his abilities get upgrades, and get multiple upgrades as Tundra levels. So in other words, it's easy to "specialize" in one ability; you can specialize in Icicle Burst, reducing its Mana, giving it 1 more projectile, and then giving it some slight area-of-effect damage. You can also specialize into Avalanche as well, and the rest of his upgrades are focused more on his capability to freeze minions.

What this ultimately ends up doing, is that it allows you to pick a playstyle with him. Although specializing into an ability isn't unique to Tundra (Ivy and Bloodspike for example), it's unique for Tundra in the sense that each ability is fairly average when it starts - it's not great, but it's not bad.

So specializing into Icicle Burst allows you to play at range if you prefer that; if you prefer fighting in melee range, you may want to specialize in his Frozen effect; if you like to roll around with Avalanche, upgrades have you covered for that too.

What is actually the most interesting about this, is due to Tundra's abilities having an average performance (without upgrades), it also allows you to pick and choose, which means you can also mix upgrades up freely, depending on what you prefer. By taking 1 or 2 Icicle Burst upgrades, taking 1 or 2 Avalanche upgrades, and/or taking 1 or 2 Frozen debuff upgrades, you'll see that Tundra still performs fairly the same in comparison to specializing him into a single ability (which is not only very unique to Tundra, but it's surprising that he's that balanced).

In a sense, this means that Tundra probably has the single best selection of upgrades in the entire game (due to their balance). With most other Heroes, I would argue it's much easier to determine the good and bad upgrades; with Tundra, due to each upgrade not being stellar, but not being horrible, it allows you to freely utilize and experiment with every possible combination.

Cons

Tundra doesn't really have a lot of issues with his performance. However, the fact that he is so balanced (and his upgrades are equally as balanced), this also becomes his largest issue.

The balance comes at a cost, because in order to be that flexible in his performance, he has to sacrifice being great in one single ability. You can almost think of Tundra as a case of "a Jack-of-all-trades is a master of none", because not a single one of his abilities are really that amazing. If you compare him to say, Bloodspike, Bloodspike doesn't get the same amount of variety, but he can specialize into Stunning Execution. When all the Stunning Execution upgrades are taken, it becomes a fantastic ability; Tundra does not have access to any ability like that.

Tundra can be viewed as the poster child for the average performance - Each ability is not great, but it's not bad. Each upgrade is not great, but it's not bad either. Although this means that he doesn't really have any negative aspects to him that are that glaring, it also means there's really nothing amazing he does when he's played either. So you really have to pick a side about whether you like him or not.

There are only two things I don't really like about Tundra:

Wall of Frost is mostly useless - I'll admit I probably don't understand how to utilize this ability. Due to its short duration of 5 seconds, I don't really see the point in using it because all it really does is extend the minion's pathway for maybe a second or two. If it had no Mana cost, I may feel differently about it, but since it does, I don't think there's a point in using it.
- It does become much more useful with its respective upgrade, but it still has problems even if you take it (read the Upgrades section for more info).
Avalanche is a little awkward to use - Although this is probably partially due to the ability's design (and it makes sense), it is very difficult to turn with Avalanche. It's ideally used in very long hallways, and it takes some practice to try to readjust and move around with it further than a straight line. As I said, that's probably intentional, but in reality, most level design on the maps do not reinforce the usage of Avalanche, because there are not a lot of these big, long hallways. Thus, this ability can become very under-utilized on certain maps.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Note about my selection of upgrades - As I stated above, Tundra's upgrades are very flexible. So unlike some other Heroes I have written sections for, my selection of upgrades have little to do with performance (usually damage) optimization, but rather, my own personal preference in how I play Tundra.

Brittle Ice (Level 2)
Snowballing (Level 4)
Deep Freeze or Crushing Flow (Level 7)
Stay Frosty (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Avalanche Potential: This is a great upgrade if you like to use Avalanche, and you should certainly choose it if you plan on using it a lot. Reducing the cooldown is always nice, but the awesome aspect of this is to remove the time limit; this allows you to perpetually roll around the level as long as you want, provided you have Mana, and that you don't run into a wall. This means, if done correctly, you can continually run minions over with Avalanche to deal damage.
- Brittle Ice: I usually choose this upgrade because I personally don't like to rely on any ability, so I'd prefer to try to upgrade his Passive, which is always active. So remember that to get the increased damage from this upgrade, targets need to be Frozen. Frozen targets will only be frozen for a few seconds, so you don't really have a huge window to get that increased damage, but still, when you do, 25% is a decent boost.
- Iced Over: If you plan on using Icicle Burst a lot, this is a great upgrade. Due to its short cooldown, Icicle Burst is very easy to go overboard in using, which saps your Mana quite a bit.
Level 4:
- Frosty Aura: This is arguably Tundra's worst upgrade, because it actually makes no sense in practice. If you're being attacked, what is happening? The minion attacking you has stopped his movement, and decided to hit you instead. So that means that you are applying a Slow to something that is stationary. It's not entirely useless, but about 90% useless, because it's really intended as a ranged defensive mechanic; you're staying at ranged, minion comes up and hits you, the Slow applied will buy you some time to run away. Still though, Tundra has no problems taking a hit, so this upgrade would really get extremely little use regardless.
- Snowballing: Again, best used if you plan on using Avalanche a lot, but is still good even if it is used sparingly, because of the increased damage. The "speed and maneuverability" addition is quite odd for this upgrade, and I would argue it's more suited to be added to "Avalanche Potential". If you didn't take Avalanche Potential, you're going to be using Avalanche only in short bursts (or distances). Thus, having more speed an maneuverability is not that useful.
- Chilled Weapons: Wall of Frost's only upgrade, and it's actually quite interesting, but unfortunately, it's not as good as I would like it to be. To decrypt what this upgrade does, we need to do some math: If your Primary is doing 100 damage, this means that each Primary hit will do an additional 40 damage (which is 40% of 100). This is actually really good in terms of damage, and since it can be used in co-op, this means that other Heroes can apply the Frost debuff as well (the upgrade adds frost damage), although this means nothing for Tundra, as he does it naturally. The one gigantic issue with this upgrade, is that it only lasts about 5 seconds, which means you're only going to get a few hits with that extra damage. It may also be important to note that the upgrade says "pass through" Wall of Frost, but in practice, it really just means you have to touch it in order to get the buff. If Wall of Frost lasted longer, or the buff lasted longer, this would be a great upgrade.
Level 7:
- Deep Freeze: A 25% increase to the duration of Frozen is not much; at best, it only adds a second. However, that doesn't necessarily make it worthless, especially if you took the "Brittle Ice" upgrade at level 2. With it, this allows even more opportunities to get that damage bonus.
- Crushing Flow: If you took the "Avalanche Potential" at level 2, you have to be pretty mindful if you have to take this upgrade as well. For me, when I take Avalanche Potential, I have a tendency to keep using it until I run into a wall or something, which will cancel it. Therefore, this is not useful if you have a tendency to run into walls, because generally there will be no minions around, so no extra damage will occur when it gets cancelled. However, I would argue this is probably more useful if you didn't take Avalanche Potential, but if you did (and what this upgrade), just get into the habit of manually cancelling Avalanche by pressing L3, right when you get into the middle of a group of minions.
- Icicle Assault: Not too bad of an upgrade, as it equates to a damage increase. If 3 Icicles is 100% damage, then 1 more icicle is a 33% damage increase, assuming that they all manage to hit the same target. Icicle Burst can be viewed as Tundra's ability for bosses/Mercenaries (since it hits the hardest in total) so even if you don't take the other upgrades for Icicle Burst, this still can be helpful for those minions.
Level 10:
- Freezer Burn: Probably the second worst ability of Tundra's set. It's really an upgrade that focuses on Tundra's freezing capability, so it combines well with "Brittle Ice" and "Deep Freeze" because Flash Freeze only freezes minions. It is a bit odd that it's attached to Icicle Burst (and the cooldown is only 3%) because this means it's also ideal if you took the Icicle Burst upgrades...but that's not possible to take the Icicle Burst upgrades with Brittle Ice and Deep Freeze. This makes it kind of a strange upgrade overall.
- Shattering Icicles: It makes more sense to take this upgrade if you took the Icicle Burst upgrades, since it upgrades it even further. In my opinion, I don't like it because of two aspects - First, it's only a 50% chance. Second, it designates it as a "small radius" which I don't really like. If just one of these aspects weren't there (100% chance or a larger radius) I would probably prefer this upgrade.
- Stay Frosty: I like this one the most, as it adds a damage component to Flash Freeze. The damage-over-time effect doesn't "tick" many times, as the condition is the targets need to be Frozen. So in practice, you may see this damage tick once, maybe twice at the very most, every time you use Flash Freeze. The damage is decent, but even then, extra damage with no effort (other than just using the ability) makes it fairly attractive. This really doesn't combine well with Icicle Burst though (as it will drain your Mana like crazy), so I would take Shattering Icicles instead if you specialized into Icicle Burst.

Synopsis

This is going to be a short Synopsis, because I pretty much covered everything there is to Tundra in the "Pros" and "Cons" sections.

I truly think Tundra is the improved version of Hogarth. The main draw towards Hogarth is that he uses Frost to crowd control, but unfortunately Hogarth doesn't get the same Passive as Tundra. Tundra's Passive really allows him to fully utilize the Frozen debuff, which really helps in terms of crowd control, as well as extra damage.

Tundra is a pretty good Hero to start out with, because he's really flexible in what he can do. As I said before, he really defines the "average" because he balanced so incredibly well; every ability (with the exception of maybe Wall of Frost) is not great, but it's not horrible either.

Tundra doesn't really work "the best" in any sort of manner; you get to choose how you decide to play him, which is really unique. Unlike just about every other Hero, Tundra doesn't really have an optimal build, because they're all viable; you simply need to know how to use his abilities correctly (particularly Avalanche) and then try to pick one that you enjoy the most.

From there, you can either try to specialize him further into whatever you enjoy, or you can try to balance him out by taking upgrades that improve all of his abilities. By experimenting with him, I think you'll find that Tundra performs well no matter how you play him, just as long as you know how he works.

Yi-Lin

Overview

My Personal Rating: 8.5/10

Yi-Lin is a melee Hero that initially feels a bit like Midnight; she moves and attacks fast, but she has low HP in comparison to most Heroes. Yi-Lin has her own unique resource, called Energy, that is initially full, but gets depleted as she uses her abilities. Yi-Lin starts out with 40 total Energy, and it regenerates over time (5 per tick, but it's slow, like once every 5-10 seconds).

Abilities:

Imperial Reach (L2) - This ability projects in a straight line in front of Yi-Lin, which gives it slightly more range than her Primary. This attack scales with the minion's HP; it will deal more damage as their HP lowers. This ability has no cooldown.

Energy cost: 10
Cooldown: None

White Tiger Claw (Triangle) - Yi-Lin "wounds" the enemy, which places a bleed effect on the enemy. Any enemy affected by this ability takes an increased amount of damage from Yi-Lin's Primary. The range is similar to Blackpaw's Wound The Prey ability, and the duration is fairly similar as well (about 5 seconds).

Energy cost: 20
Cooldown: None

Tempest Strike (Square) - Yi-Lin spins around, damaging all minions in a radius around her for a duration of 2.2 seconds. Yi-Lin can move freely while this ability is active.

Energy cost: 20
Cooldown: 35 seconds

Jade Sentinel (Hold L3) - While this is active, Yi-Lin receives 50% less damage and moves 30% faster. Yi-Lin cannot attack while this is active, and energy does not regenerate in this form, but it also costs no energy to use.

Passive: Moon's Reflection - Yi-Lin will restore a small amount of HP and Energy when she uses different abilities in succession. This restores 10 Energy on activation, and I think restores 5% HP (it's difficult to tell).

Pros

Yi-Lin, in my opinion, is probably the most interesting Hero to play as (currently), because she is best when she uses an actual rotation in her abilities (I'll discuss what the rotation is in the Synopsis section at the end), rather than simply "use this ability in this situation or when it's available".

She doesn't really do that much damage with any one specific ability; her Primary, Imperial Reach, and White Tiger Claw don't hit very hard, but when they are combined, you see her damage can nearly rival Midnight's (which in turn, makes her probably 3 or 4th in top melee damage of all Heroes).

Yi-Lin is has a decently fast movement speed normally (it's roughly the same as Max), but this can be increased slightly with Jade Sentinel. I personally find this a huge boon, as being able to move fast to traverse the maps is extremely beneficial for getting Par Times.

Tempest Strike is the only ability Yi-Lin has that has a cooldown, and although it's fairly long, it can be upgraded to reduce that cooldown. Tempest Strike, again like her other abilities, isn't a gigantic powerhouse, but it does fantastic group damage due to its large radius, the fact that Yi-Lin can move while using it, and it doesn't seem to have a maximum target limit.

Her Passive ability is also important to note as well, because it gives Yi-Lin some survivability that Midnight doesn't have (due to the HP restoration). This means that she should be able to survive the lower difficulties just fine without the Enjoys Pain Trait, but she will start to struggle more as the difficulty increases.

Finally, again similar to Midnight, she has one of the best sets of battle level upgrades. Her upgrades are almost all greatly beneficial in some way, most of which directly increasing her damage output.

Cons

The first thing you'll probably notice with Yi-Lin is that she doesn't have a huge amount of HP. She's somewhat between Midnight and Blackpaw; her HP is not as low as Midnight, but not quite as high as Blackpaw.

Her biggest problem, in my opinion, is her range (and width for that matter). Her Primary attack has an extremely short range, and her graphical animation doesn't indicate her actual range very well (the animation makes it look much longer). Imperial Reach and White Tiger Claw have better range than her Primary, but this isn't saying much, as they are both still short. This mostly means is that it you may need to get used to how close you need to be to a minion in order to hit it.

However, this also adds into one other problem - Runners. Since they move so fast, you have to be paying attention closely to ensure that Yi-Lin is close enough to attack them. Since you have to get closer to hit them, this increases the risk that they're going to get by you.

This is more of a functional problem, but how Jade Sentinel is mapped to L3, and having to hold it, I find is extremely uncomfortable, particularly when you're moving long distances with it.

I would argue that Yi-Lin is similar to Blackpaw in how she dishes out damage; it's much more focused on single targets, rather than groups. This means you have to be killing smaller numbers really quickly, otherwise she may get a little overwhelmed.

Yi-Lin's overall design may also put you off at first. Since she is designed differently than most Heroes, if you don't understand how she is supposed to be played, you're probably not going to think she's very good.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Inspiring Moon (Level 2); Healing Moon is an option if you don't have Enjoys Pain
Element of Renewal (Level 4)
Aspect of the Lotus (Level 7)
Blessing of Power (Level 10)

Upgrade Analysis:

Level 2:
- Generous Moon: This upgrade makes her Passive trigger in a radius around Yi-Lin. Due to this, it seems like it's more of a co-op ability. Remember that the effect will only happen in a radius, which means that the HP restoration will only be given to your allies that are around you (which in turn, more than likely means other melee Heroes, at best). For this reason, I would question taking this ability, even in co-op.
- Inspiring Moon: I usually choose this upgrade, because restoring more Energy ensures that you're going to be able to continue to use her abilities. This upgrade allows you some forgiveness if you mess up with her rotation, because you'll have more Energy restored from a previous activation of her Passive.
- Healing Moon: This is a viable option if you find yourself needing healing. However, if you have the Enjoys Pain Trait, this upgrade should not be necessary at all.
Level 4:
- Element of Surprise: This upgrade effectively doubles the width and range of Imperial Reach. The width is really not much to note (as it is originally about the size of a normal minion), but the range can be helpful, as it will travel further, giving her some much needed distance in her attacks. However, do realize that her abilities are not designed to be spammed (besides her Primary) so trying to rely on this for that extra distance isn't always a good idea.
- Element of Speed: Although I do like extra movement speed, Yi-Lin doesn't really need any more. Her normal movement speed, along with the extra speed granted by Jade Sentinel normally, should be more than enough.
- Element of Renewal: I really like this upgrade, because it helps reduce the cooldown of her only ability that has a cooldown. The cooldown of the reduction is conditional (upon her Passive's activation), however, if you're playing Yi-Lin correctly, the Passive should be activating constantly (or at least, once every 2-3 abilities).
Level 7:
- Aspect of the Shadow: I do feel that Jade Sentinel, to be used properly in combat, is more of a "retreat" ability; it's supposed to be used to get out of the combat area if you're taking a lot of damage. This upgrade further supports that ability, but for myself, I think it's mostly useless, although I always run with Enjoys Pain. Without Enjoys Pain, this might be more useful.
- Aspect of the Lotus: This upgrade is worded a bit strangely (as her ability descriptions don't indicate that White Tiger Claw is a bleed). This means that White Tiger Claw will grant an extra 15% Primary damage, which is really helpful, considering that her rotation ensures that almost every minion hit should be affected by White Tiger Claw. Since the upgrade says "bleeding targets" my assumption is that it will also work if another Hero puts a bleed on a minion, such as Deadeye. This is an assumption though, as I don't play co-op much.
- Aspect of the Tiger: This upgrade gives a 10% chance to execute (instantly kill) minions that are above 75% HP. Sounds pretty awesome when you first read it huh? It's a bit of a two-edged sword though, mostly because of how conditional it is. In order to see the usefulness of this ability, you have to consider your own Account Level versus what you're fighting. For example, if you're utilizing your rotation properly, this means that most minions (at an appropriate difficulty) are going to pass that 75% HP threshold within the first 2-3 Primary hits, which ultimately gives you maybe 30% chance for this to activate. However, if you're simply spamming your Primary all the time, you get more activation chances, but I would argue this will be more detrimental to your damage output, as Yi-Lin is supposed to be used by rotating her abilities. Then again, consider being at a higher Account Level, and playing on a lower difficulty map. This is probably where the upgrade shines, as Yi-Lin's rotation can potentially hurt her in that occasion (read the Synopsis for more on this), which allows you to safely spam Primary. One thing to note is that this upgrade does work on boss minions, or at least it did when Yi-Lin was first released. I haven't seen it work on Mercenaries though, but I haven't tested it enough to be sure.
Level 10:
- Blessing of Skill: This upgrade adds a slow effect to White Tiger Claw, which isn't too bad, even though I don't normally choose this ability. It can be beneficial though, as slowing minions down can help with Yi-Lin's short range, and can be even more helpful for faster boss minions and Mercenaries.
- Blessing of Power: This is the upgrade I usually choose, because it's a damage increase to Yi-Lin's best multi-minion ability. If you did not take "Element of Renewal" at Level 4 though, this upgrade may not be as attractive.
- Blessing of Health: I don't think this is a very good upgrade, because like Bionka's "Queen of Heals", it's just a little too conditional. Ideally, you don't ever want to be below 20% HP, and with Enjoys Pain, this probably will not happen the vast majority of the time.

Synopsis

As stated above, Yi-Lin is unique in the sense that you see her shine when you understand her rotation. She's a Hero that really implies "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts", because each ability isn't that great on its own, but when they're all combined, you get a drastically improved effect.

Yi-Lin's design is revolved entirely around the activation of her Passive. Since she uses Energy, and doesn't have much of it, she is continually reliant on the Energy restored by her passive. This means that if you are using any ability in succession (except her Primary), you're going to deplete your Energy almost immediately, making her almost entirely ineffective.

So let's go over what I think her rotation is. I would recommend using her abilities in this order:

White Tiger Claw
Primary
Imperial Reach
Primary
Repeat

We need to discuss this a little more in-depth though. You don't necessarily need to use Primary as the second in the rotation, as it can be continually used as you use other abilities (in other words, you can just hold R2).

White Tiger Claw should always be prioritized before Imperial Reach though, as it puts a bleed on the target. This allows you to not only for you to do more Primary damage, but also remember that Imperial Reach does more damage as the minion's HP drops. This means that White Tiger Claw's bleed allows you to continually decrease the minions HP, allowing you more damage with Imperial Reach.

There are two reasons why you want to try to mix in the Primary attack after White Tiger Claw and Imperial Reach. First, since her Passive activates with 2 different ability uses, this means you can keep topped off with Energy (since Primary doesn't use Energy). If you use White Tiger Claw immediately followed by Imperial Reach, not only do you not get the increased damage effect from Imperial Reach (as the bleed from White Tiger may have only ticked 1 time), but also keep in mind you're using 2 abilities in a row that cost Energy. Thus, although you will get the Passive activation, you'll end up working on a deficit (in comparison to using Primary). To reiterate, let's say White Tiger Claw and Imperial Reach each cost 10 Energy, and her Passive restores 20 Energy. This means that if you use Claw and Reach back-to-back, you'll break even on Energy. However, if you use Claw, then Primary, you'll have 10 extra Energy instead.

Do keep in mind though, that continually using her Primary does have a slight drawback to it - since the attack speed of her Primary is faster, this disrupts the overall flow of the rotation on occasion, which affects her Passive activation. So instead of seeing a clean Passive activation once every 2 abilities, this means that it can be interrupted, and you may see a Passive activation once every 3 abilities (due to occasionally using the Primary twice in a row).

There are also some drawbacks to note about the rotation itself:

Each ability has to hit a minion in order for the Passive to activate. This means that it is not enough to simply use a different ability, but it does need to hit something.
In conjunction with that, keep this in mind if minions are dying quickly. This is important because of Yi-Lin's overall short range in her attacks; if there are only two minions in range, and both die within a single use of her Primary, you'll go to use White Tiger Claw, and hit nothing (thus, you'll spend Energy and get no restoration).

Tempest Strike is meant to be used much like the abilities of most other Heroes - use it when the situation allows (when there are a lot of minions grouped up) and when it is off cooldown. It doesn't do a huge amount each strike, so using it in smaller groups isn't optimal, nor I would ever recommend using it against a boss or Mercenary.

Tempest Strike is also useful for Runners, due to its larger range. The damage it deals is still plenty to wipe out Runners fairly quickly, and it is Yi-Lin's best ability to ensure that she's catching them as they try to sprint past you.

Overall, I really enjoy playing as Yi-Lin, because she feels so unique. She feels like an interesting blend of Blackpaw and Midnight; she is fast and can deal out good damage like Midnight, but her abilities mimic Blackpaw's fairly closely.

The reason why I don't rate her as high as Midnight, is because of the few quirks that she has - her Jade Sentinel is a bit awkward to use (and thus doesn't get utilized much); her range is very short and takes some getting used to; and her rotation, although unique, can be disrupted due to design, which affects her performance.

Zoey

Overview

My Personal Rating: 7.5/10

Zoey is a Hero that uses magic, but she is unique because she has access to all types of magic: Fire, Arcane, Frost, and Lightning. However, you don't have too much control about which one you get to use. She is fairly versatile for this reason, and also gets a melee attack that knocks minions back, and can buff herself.

Abilities:

Book Club (L2) - Zoey smacks minions with her book, which causes a knockback effect. It is important to note that the attack will always force minions to be pushed to the right, regardless of which way Zoey is facing.

Mana cost: 40
Cooldown: 7 seconds

Chaos Blast (Triangle) - Zoey blasts minions with whatever magic damage is currently active. After using this ability, Zoey's magic type will change. The blast seems to radiate around Zoey slightly, and is projected down a short path in front of her (the range seems to be somewhat like a cone).

Mana cost: 45
Cooldown: 9 seconds

Feebee's Wrath (Square) - Zoey's ultimate ability, where she disappears into her book, and deals quick, successive damage to any minion in a large radius around her. Zoey is invincible during this ability, and minions hit by this ability are affected by random magic types.

Mana cost: 90
Cooldown: 89 seconds

Trial And Error (L3) - Zoey grants a random buff to herself, but it can also potentially stun her. Her buffs include an Attack increase, a Defense increase, HP regeneration, Mana regeneration, and a movement speed increase. Each buff lasts about 5 seconds, and I believe if you get hit by the stun, it lasts 2 or 3 seconds.

Mana cost: 45
Cooldown: 14 seconds

Passive: Feebee The Firebat - Feebee is Zoey's pet, which flies around her and damages a single enemy (generally the closest to Zoey) at set intervals. Feebee's attacks also deal magical damage, and its magic type coincides with whichever one Zoey currently has active.

Zoey gets a "second" passive, which grants an attack speed buff (which affects only her Primary attack) every time her magic school changes. Functionally, I believe it is not a damage increase because I'm fairly sure it increases your Primary firing speed by 50%, but also decreases Primary damage by 50%, so it breaks even in terms of damage-per-second. This buff lasts about 4 seconds.

Pros

Zoey's variety is currently the best in the game. Although Temper does have a good amount of variety as well, his is much more situational; for Zoey, every ability can be potentially useful at any given time, and Book Club is probably the most situational, but still can be useful regardless of what is happening.

Due to this, she is arguably the best Hero to perform Combos with. If you're looking to get a high score, Zoey can certainly assist you with that.

Her Primary performs fairly well, but isn't particularly fantastic by any normal means; it competes fairly evenly with most other Heroes. However, the one great feature it has is that it utilizes Zoey's magic schools, and therefore Zoey can potentially do increased damage to certain minions (such as using Fire against Frost minions).

Due to the magic schools, she also gets the ability from each school; if she has Fire, her Primary will add a damage-over-time effect; if she has Frost, she can freeze enemies; if she has Lightning, enemies killed will explode to do area-of-effect damage; and if she has Arcane, her follow up attacks with Arcane will do increased damage.

Book Club's main aspect is that it does a great knockback. Due to how predictable the knockback occurs (minions are always forced to the right) it allows the player to manipulate the surroundings to potentially push minions off a ledge. Book Club was one of the ways I consistently earned my kills for the Hazard Play trophy.

I would say that Zoey's best constant feature is that of Feebee. Having a pet float around to deal extra damage (without having to even think about it) serves as a great, simple way to increase damage output.

Cons

Zoey's main problem is that she is a bit awkward to use. Most of her balance comes from the fact that all of her abilities have some sort of disadvantage to them.

The biggest issue that you will probably run into, is the maintenance of Zoey's attack speed buff. Although it does not increase your damage-per-second, it is still beneficial to have, because without it Zoey's attack speed is dreadfully slow.

Since the attack speed buff only lasts about 4 seconds, you have to get accustomed to how long it lasts, and ensure that you're using one of your other abilities to keep changing your magic school (thus, granting you the buff again). However, in practice, this can be really awkward to perform initially, because in order to do this, you have to understand how to utilize Zoey's cooldowns effectively, and not be tempted to simply use everything whenever it's available.

For Book Club, it's almost entirely used for crowd control, as its damage is so meager, it may as well not have any damage at all. The range of it also takes some getting used to, and since you do need to be in melee range to use it, which can be somewhat risky given Zoey's lower HP.

Trial and Error is completely randomized, and it seems that, for me at least, I get the less attractive buffs (Defense up, HP, and movement speed) more often than not. Considering the buff only lasts 5 seconds, it's difficult to justify its high Mana cost.

Feebee's Wrath unfortunately only (initially) hits minions in its radius, despite the radius being really large. If not placed correctly, minions will barely have any time within the radius, and thus, it's possible to have certain minions be barely affected by it. This is unfortunate due to its long cooldown.

Zoey also has some HP and Mana issues, but it's not as bad as it is with other Heroes. Zoey has fairly low HP, which isn't a huge deal considering that she attacks at range, but doesn't really get much in terms of survivability (she gets a single upgrade for it). Although Zoey has a great Mana pool (it's 285), as you can see above, all of her abilities cost a lot of Mana. If you don't quite understand how to manage her abilities (to keep the attack speed buff active), you may run into some Mana problems.

Upgrades

Upgrades I use:

Chapter 1: Wellness From Chaos or Chapter 3: Mastering The Schools (Level 2)
Chapter 4: Refreshing The Spirit or Chapter 5: Training Familiars (Level 4)
Chapter 9: Death and Chaos (Level 7)
Appendix: Pulling It All Together (Level 10)

Upgrades Analysis:

Level 2:
- Chapter 1: Wellness From Chaos: Zoey doesn't really have much when it comes to survivability (Trial and Error can heal, but it's too random to be relied on), so I would argue anything that heals is fairly beneficial. It is important to note, that this HP restoration happens over time, not all at once. This is unfortunate, because sometimes it doesn't heal fast enough to be truly effective.
- Chapter 2: Finding Inner Strength: Not really much use for the extra knockback, as Book Club already has one of the best knockback effects in the game. Increasing it further can actually have a detrimental effect, depending on where you use it; it increases so much, that sometimes you can knock minions over the environmental hazard.
- Chapter 3: Mastering The Schools: This is a decent upgrade, but loses most of its use if you end up taking "Chapter 9: Death and Chaos" at level 7. The reason being is that Zoey should have the buff up almost all the time with that upgrade. It still is useful up until level 7 though, as keeping that attack speed buff for a longer duration is quite beneficial.
Level 4:
- Chapter 4: Refreshing The Spirit: Zoey does have some Mana issues on occasion, so this is an option if you find yourself constantly starved for Mana. With it, you shouldn't have many Mana issues afterward, if at all.
- Chapter 5: Training Familiars: I usually choose this upgrade, because Feebee is extra damage that I never need to think about. Increasing Feebee's attack speed just equates to more damage that I don't need to think about.
- Chapter 6: Spell Improvisation: I think I've only used this once, and if I remember correctly, it doesn't effectively stun minions for 2 seconds, it's actually slightly less than that. I believe the stun is activated the second you connect with Book Club, which means that the minion is stunned in mid-air, which is useless, because they're not going to move anyway. It does add a little bit of crowd control, but in my opinion, Zoey doesn't need it, because she does plenty of damage.
Level 7:
- Chapter 7: Wielding The Power Of Relics: Even though a 500% damage increase to Book Club seems tremendous, if you ever pay attention to how much damage it deals initially, it's pretty laughable (at Account Level 100 it does maybe 50-75). This means that increasing it by 500% basically allows it to hit on par with Zoey's Primary. I find this useless, as I would rather just use my Primary to deal damage.
- Chapter 8: Getting More From Spells: A 60% increase to the buffs from Trial and Error equates to the buff lasting about 8 seconds. This does make the buff much more useful....but unfortunately, the upgrade does not justify the randomness, nor the Mana cost, of the ability.
- Chapter 9: Death And Chaos: I think this is probably Zoey's best upgrade. By taking this, you should be able to keep changing magic schools constantly, keeping that attack speed buff at nearly all times. Since you're not worried about the attack speed buff anymore, it allows you to conserve Mana as well. I'm not entirely sure how well this works with "Chapter 1: Wellness From Chaos" at level 2, because I can certainly tell you that you're not going to have infinite HP if you took that upgrade as well. It also may be important to note that although this does not activate when a trap gets a kill, it does when Feebee gets a kill.
Level 10:
- Chapter 10: Advanced Familiars: An automatic slow, especially given how strong it is, does seem fairly attractive. However, it needs to be considered a little further; Feebee has a tendency to attack whatever is closest to Zoey. This means that chances are, Feebee will be attacking whatever minion you are currently attacking as well. Therefore, that minion has a good chance of dying so quickly that you won't really see much use of this upgrade. It still has its benefits though, and obviously can perform much better against boss minions and Mercenaries. Consider taking this upgrade if you are going against Swiftyhooves, or if Chaotic Kobold is a potential problem. This upgrade is ideal with the "Chapter 5: Training Familiars" upgrade at level 4.
- Chapter 11: Vigor From Chaos: Truthfully? I have absolutely no idea what this upgrade does. Apparently, when you change magic schools, and use your Primary attack, the upgrade says there's a movement speed penalty. In all honesty, I've never actually noticed the movement speed penalty. Not only that, but after taking this upgrade a couple of times, I still never noticed a difference in Zoey's performance.
- Appendix: Putting It All Together: I think this is Zoey's best level 10 upgrade, because it fixes the main issue with Feebee's Wrath, and makes it even better. The issue with Feebee's Wrath is that minions won't spend a lot of time in it (since they'll just walk through it), which means it won't maximize its damage on a single target. This upgrade not only remedies this, but the "pull-in" effect actually pulls in from further than what the damage radius is. The pull only happens when you first use Feebee's Wrath (it is not in continual effect), but it is still helpful because you can catch the minions that managed to move out of your range as you first use the ability.

Synopsis

I think Zoey is a pretty interestingly designed Hero, as she does feel extremely unique in her performance. This turns out to be a slightly double-edged sword though, because although she's effective at what she does, she can be quite awkward to use. I do think that this is entirely intentional, because it does seem to fit the overall idea of her character.

I do think if she was a little less randomized, and easier to use consistently, I would increase my rating of her to at least an 8/10. Although the consistency aspect will come to you as you practice with her, even when mastered, you'll notice that she does struggle with certain things on occasion.

The first thing is keeping up her attack speed buff. Once it's gone, Zoey's attack speed is so incredibly slow, you'll be dying to get the buff back. Although this can be dealt with if you understand her abilities, it can still give you problems:

If for whatever reason, things are on cooldown, you're forced to go without the buff for a while.
If you're lacking Mana, you're stuck with using Primary until you can get some back.
I normally use Chaos Blast to change magic schools. If it's not up, Book Club is an option, but if you miss with it, you won't get the buff. You could instead use Trial and Error for it, but then it's mostly wasted Mana, and you can potentially stun yourself.

So it's really important to understand how to effectively use a rotation with Zoey, but this changes depending on how you want to play (or potentially with the situation):

I always start with Chaos Blast, as it does great damage and changes the magic school. I then use Primary until the attack speed buff is gone, but you'll still have about 5 seconds left on Chaos Blast at that point.
- The option then, is to either use Book Club (effectively making Zoey a mid-ranged Hero) or use Trial and Error (which allows you to keep at a distance) to get the attack speed again. Once it is regained, continue to use Primary until it is gone again.
- Use Chaos Blast when it's up, and repeat.

Even with the proper rotation though, you still have to worry about missing attacks and running out of Mana. The rotation becomes less important at level 7 though, if you take the "Chapter 9: Death And Chaos" upgrade. The reason being that even if you do manage to lose the buff, you can just zap things with your Primary until you get a kill to get it again.

The effect of the various magic schools is always helpful, but it is also a double-edged sword when you're facing minions weak to a certain element. Frost minions, for example, may get the extra damage from Fire attacks, but they also get less damage from Frost attacks. Since you can't choose what magic school is currently active, it's fairly random whether you are going to see the benefit from elemental weaknesses.

Legal Information and Copyright

References

A GIGANTIC thank you goes out to mostly VermillionPhoenix, who was my initial guide through earning the 5 Stars on all of the maps. As a result, you'll notice (if you watch his videos), that I use a lot of his methods, but slightly vary them a bit for my own personal preference.

Some of them are more of a direct copy of his strategies, like Shark Island, because it works really well; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

This is the link to his channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWQ3fmQXNs6KcoOEoXUiPoQ

He probably the biggest source of OMD!U videos on Youtube, so if you're looking for more videos of various things, I would suggest him first and foremost.

I do also use a strategy from XaXi PiRuLi, on the Frostbite map. You can see the original video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNqEswlMpJg

My strategy for Frostbite is again, a variation on this one.

Varthftw of the Orcs Must Die! Forums gets credit for the strategies found in Highlands Endless and Avalanche Endless, the link where I found his strategies can be found here:

https://forums.orcsmustdie.com/discussion/14276/highlands-and-avalanche-endless-5-stars-solo

Credit goes to terry song on Youtube for the Barricade strategy I use on The Wall (Endless). The link to his video is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPrWmCxVap4

A big thank you to the person that pointed out I was missing my Crogon Keep Endless video! When I added that section, I suppose I forgot to add the video at the end of the massive text wall >_>.

All other information found in this guide was tested and written by me.

Copyright

All images and video found within this guide were captured using my own Playstation 4 system; all imagery and logos are copyright of their respective owners.

This guide may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.

These is the current list of web sites that are allowed to host my guide:

GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com)

Neoseeker (www.neoseeker.com)

Version History and Contact Information

Contact Information

Questions, comments, concerns about this guide? Feel free to send me a message via GameFAQs messaging system - username is Damthiel.

I don't like errors in my guide! Broken links, links that go to the wrong places, continuity errors (giving something a name in one place and giving it a different name elsewhere), and things like that I can't stand. I'm sure there are typos I've missed, and I'm no English major so I'm sure I have fairly poor grammar in places; these things matter to me if readers are getting confused.

I cannot guarantee a reply at all times, but I will try my best to. I'm more than happy to hear anything about the guide or its contents, whether you liked it or hated it, just as long as you explain it so I can figure out what I'm doing right or doing wrong.

In my personal experience with reading other guides, sometimes how the author writes isn't always clear or descriptive. If that is the case for you, by all means let me know, maybe I can describe it better in a different way.

I mostly write guides as a hobby, but any feedback is always really appreciated to see what people think of my work. Usage of the recommendation system that GameFAQs has does help me get an idea of what I could potentially do differently.

To that end, if you do like my guide, it's always good to get a Like, a Share, or a new Subscriber on Youtube if you appreciate my work. Unlike a lot of other guide writers here on GameFAQs, I'm not going to try to panhandle you for donations, so getting the word out that I'm a halfway decent guide writer will hopefully help me in the future.

Version History

Version 1.00 - Guide is complete for now, pending an editorial sweep for typos and whatnot. I will of course, continue to add to my Weekly Challenge section if new Challenges appear that haven't been added yet. I doubt I will include any more sections, unless I get some feedback from readers requesting something.

Version 0.90 - Added sections for Dobbin, Gabriella, Hogarth, and Oziel. The Endless section of the guide is now only missing the last two Endless maps (The Wall and Avalanche). Next update should complete the guide.

Small update after this last one, as I was missing the video for Crogon Keep Endless. Big thanks goes to the reader who spotted it and told me!

Version 0.75 - Added sections for Temper and Smolder. I added this week's Weekly Challenge (Library-Rinth), and also added a section for the Thuricvod Village Endless map. In the Endless section, I forgot to write the list of my loadout for each map (to be consistent with Survival's format), so that has been added. I also forgot to link the Banquet Hall Endless video in that section, but it is there now.

Version 0.70 - Majority of the guide is complete. In a future update, I will add the rest of the Heroes, and the Endless section (which has 3/12 maps currently).

This document is copyright Damthiel and hosted by Neoseeker with permission.

(0.1193/d/www3)

Orcs Must Die! Unchained FAQ/Walkthrough

Table of Contents

Introduction (please read)

Patch Information

About this Guide

What isn't covered in this guide?

General FAQ

Do I need to pay to enjoy this game (or earn the platinum)?

How long does it take to earn the platinum?

Are the characters worth playing?

What's the difference between "Battle Level" and "Account Level"?

Who are the best Heroes?

What are the best Traps?

What are the best Traits?

What are the best Parts?

What is the best Gear to use?

What is the highest Account Level I need to level to, in order to earn 5 Stars?

What is Matchmaking like?

Closing Remarks

5 Star Walkthrough Introduction

General Advice and Strategies

General Advice - Trap Placement

How is Tar utilized?

How is Viscous Tar utilized?

What is the "Charge" attribute that certain Fire traps have (when viewed in the Workshop)?

Why 2 traps side-by-side? Won't 1 work fine?

Where should I place my traps?

Ugh! These stupid Archers are annoying!

Sometimes I see you use your Gear while moving. How do you do that?

Prologue

Grand Foyer

Archmage Library

Order Academy Dungeon

The Canals

Riftmaker's Temple

Apprentice

The Baths

Eventide Ramparts

Banquet Hall

Cliffside Clash

Throne Room

Water Garden

Unchained Fortress

Highlands

Training Grounds

War Mage

What changes in War Mage?

Preparing for War Mage

Eventide Ramparts

Temple Graveyard

Banquet Hall

Gates of Thuricvod

The Wall

Midnight Market

Training Grounds

Thuricvod Village

Throne Room

Crogon Keep

Shark Island

Stables of Eventide

Highlands

Restricted Section

Master

What changes in Master?

Preparing for Master

Cliffside Clash

The Falling Folly

Frostbite

Orcatraz

Unchained Fortress

Water Garden

Training Grounds

Storm Drain

Stables At Eventide

The Wall

Avalanche

Castle Gates

Docks At Eventide

Crogon Keep

Orcri-La