I'm requesting advice for main wave 30. I'm a human paladin with the holy shield and arcane magic so I have good uptime on the shield with units in range.... I just can't beat wave 30. I can last awhile but the huge numbers of high health monsters takes me over. My units end up scattering and I can't shield them. What are your unit progressions for wave 30?
Since starting over, my Human was only level 32 and hadn't done wave 30, so your question sounded like fun, and maybe this will help... I leveled him quickly to 33, giving me enough spare points to grab Holy Shield (which I then forgot to to use!) and after starting Wave 30 to remind myself what was there, I tried again, giving him the gear you see pictured below, instead of the blunderbuss gunmage mode I'd had him in for kicks. So he has knightly first strike stun, Magi-Blood & Silence, and unit healing at 5hp/sec... I never used Retribution, Heal or Holy Shield when I easily beat Wave 30, though those might be helpful in a pinch. My research queue was +200cp, Human boost, Elf boost, wizard boost (because those are all solid, and I didn't want to overthink it). I started with my typical torch bearer(s) out the gate and then concentrated on bannermen & captains. My hero has several key jobs, which result in me always having tons of CP to spend at a moments notice when I realize what I need... 1. help repulse the first wave of attackers; the running mummies are easy to neutralize with decent armor and Silence, the goal being to let the Captains get the kills 2. outright kill most wraiths and mad docs ASAP, since they will result in needless field troop deaths 3. Silence the heavies (catapults and Siege Trolls) to buy time for units to kill them (and when huge numbers of catapults spawn, occasionally to just finish it off myself) Since everything went well on that front, my visiting the field troops a bit to heal 5hp/sec probably didn't matter. When I'm rich enough to want to not pay much attention to the castle, I usually toss out 2 or 3 elven healers (they heal each other--a single is often just toast). In this case I forgot to build my Pathfinder until well after that. I had a Knight, 2 dwarven miners, and a max load of Dryads out in the field. I was under no pressure, so I maxed out bannermen and Captains, and noticed 2 Captains died by time I hit 999CP. So having put Greybeard & an Ice Wizard on the wall early, I later filled out the wall with Elven Snipers and put 3 Fire Wizards on the ground (Elven boost, and human boost + wizard boost researched by then). All in all, the greatest panics were the initial mummy rush, and that multi-catapult spawn, but the rest was routine (yes, by time the multiple Siege trolls show up, I just pity them as they're Silenced and crushed). Frankly my hero doesn't have the mobility to be rushing around to "save" troops by nearby Holy Shield, and I'm too lazy to want to feel obliged! So the key is a good mix of troops with me looking around (after interpreting the Radar!) to see what I need to strategically shoot, or what it has become time to spend CP on... note that *only* the Captains & Dryads need well-in-advance deployment (to travel "to battle!"), since Wall units and Elven Healers and Knights and Miners and even Fire Wizards are all in-action very quickly after you build them. For builds without ranged Silence, the technique is about neutralizing the threats, not about the Silence skill in particular... Many threats can be negated just by buying a little time: an aggro and a "kite", a stun, a slow (of some sort), a confusion (in this game, the Knight often is a master at confusing an enemy AI), a bait (torch bearers, Dryads, etc). There are some situations where it feels weird to put Elven Archers on your wall instead of studly Elven Snipers, but sometimes Archers work wonders (enemy stun and death by other means) and the other tragic failure (your wall destroyed and snipers obliterated). "Crowd Control" is definitely worthwhile in this game!
One might criticize my other (detailed) reply as too reliant on Silence, so I grabbed a level 13 Dwarf with no skills, gave him good gear, and beat Wave 30 almost as easily. Of course my units are all maxed out, and the 4 ballista towers are helpful. If you're at Wave 30, these don't seem unlikely. The dwarf is pictured below (he gained a level and a half by doing Wave 30!) The research was: +200cp, Elf, Human, Wizard. I did the usual Torch Bearer and Bannerman emphasis early and also remembered to get my Pathfinder out really soon this time. With good armor and 111 ranged magic staff damage (+Crits) I pretty much had 400cp+ before I ran into my real first problem: Mummy Pharoahs, immune to my magic and hammering me hard... I built a Priest to keep me going, and 1 knight and 2 miners. I failed my hero job and lost one miner to a wraith so I knee jerk built a Greybeard and 1 Rifleman to maybe help. Then I started working on Elven Snipers. When the mass of Catapults hit, I probably took out 2+ of them myself. I throw out another Knight and one group of Dryads. I built my trio of Elven Healers at some point. I had to kill a bunch of Mad Docs myself, as the Snipers were too busy. By time the Siege Trolls showed up in force, I had CP for Fire Wizards to finish my units max-out, but I think the Snipers would have been good enough (I picked off the Mad Docs, so the Trolls are all alone, and too likely distracted to make it to my Castle before they're toast). So this build out required that I kill all the initial running mummies, and most of the wraiths and mad docs for the whole Wave, plus a couple of catapults out of paranoia. Other than those demands, I had to deal with getting battered and stunned by Pharoahs, and would've died if I hadn't the CP to respond properly. The rest was routine. I think this means the useful answer to your Wave 30 problem is a three parter: 1. figure out how to stop the wraiths from killing your units 2. figure out how to stop the Mad Docs from shielding their friends 3. at the end, have tons of Sniper or Fire Wizard power to take down the distracted Trolls [working toward #3 with Snipers first means the Catapult surge is a non-problem] In my opinion, any answer to #1 & 2 is better when ASAP, which means doing it yourself works well... but requires your hero to have a way to defeat Wraith/Mad Doc Defense, perhaps needing a skill or equipment tweak from what you're presently doing. So YMMV!
Thanks so much for the advice. I incorporated some of your ideas and I beat, actually straight up dominated, wave 30. Dominated so bad that my army was just waiting around in the field for the next enemy troops to spawn. Thanks.
Bug? Just noticed that the runesmith's ice/fire/lightning runes are doing nill to wraiths and other high defense units... I'm pretty sure these are meant to be magic based attacks and not physical considering the other races have similar abilities? At this point dwarves have no other alternative to engaging ghosts/wraiths besides using magic weapons and imbuement research, which sucks.
Either Imbue or summon Elves. But yeah, that sounds like a bug. I dont have a runesmith focused dwarf to confirm, but you may be on to something here.
Balance tweak suggestion to Foursaken I believe that even if those skills were working magically (if that is as-intended), still the low and unpredictable damage would be unlikely to be Foursaken's intended effective game-balance path for Dwarf vs Wraith (etc: any high DEF enemy). But I also doubt they would insist on mandatory magic-weapon or research (or forced elf unit dependency). My suggestion to Foursaken is simple, based on precedent, and a minor non-nerfing non-OP uniform skill tweak... As it stands now: Dwarf gets Charge (in Berserker, prerequisite only 5pts) Human gets Charge (in Knight, prerequisite 15 pts) Elf gets Charge Attack (in Grandmaster, prerequisite 15 pts) If those skills are simply enhanced with a Cleave effect (Elf GM skill, 50% chance of ignore enemy ARM/DEF) then the "Bonzai!" run at a Wraith every few seconds, needing planning, stamina (and "run-away!" when they're not dead) likely offers a fun, balanced way to cope with the ("please don't force me to exclusively use magic weapons") problem that Mjolnir is pointing out. Conveniently the Dwarf race, suffering this particular problem much more than the other Races, already has the least prerequisite for a Charge skill solution. [Magi-Blood and Cleave are just *some* of the many methods for Human & Elf here] I get that this affects PvP potentially, but Charge doesn't seem to be an OP skill, and I love the Lancelot storms-the-Castle scene in MP& The Holy Grail, so this buff seems highly storyline++ to me, YMMV. So, despite my professional status, this suggestion is offered completely free of "Charge!" as always... Great game!
Unofficial list of known (or not) bugs/issues pending: (already been mailing those to FM) - When using Heightened Senses, a block/dodge might trigger one of those 3 sec matrix mode, cancelling HS effect while it's still active. - Battery warning will result in a sync error on coop. As well as checking notifications dropping menu does. - A new forged item could be sold when selling multiple items if not equipped. Lets say we forge Legendary stats + Rare visuals = Legendary item, but the game still 'thinks' it is a Rare item when it comes to multi selling. Be aware of this. - Red guard still have issues. When having a large group, some of them will still fight for their position. Also, if Red guard are close to a unit (say bannerman) will stutter too. - Sometimes, launching coop game will fail and end up loading a regular Endless match.
On average how long are you guys able to play co-op endless before crashing? I'm losing connection/crashing/de-synching right around the 4-5 minute mark apparently because too many units are on screen at once (both friendly and enemy), or if I use too many buffs/active abilities too quickly against too many units (holy shield/retribution are big fps droppers here...). The longest I've ever been able to play is when I simply didn't purchase any units and kept the map clean with my elf by spamming heightened senses. I'm having similar issues on even an iPhone and iPod 6... Albeit not as bad as my ipad 2, I'm still not getting the coop experience that I had in Heroes and castles 1. I recall Me (md80jet) and Cobras reaching just under an hour before finally being defeated by the onslaught of trolls and catapults. Now I'm lucky to even make it past 6-7 mins, and that's if I manage to keep most of the enemies from clogging up the map... Versus has a similar issue, summoning 49 foot men from both sides crashes the match almost guaranteed. So unless you can convince the dude to fight you 1 on 1, or kill him rather quickly, the winner will usually be the one who can maintain connection... Foursaken, Since you have no power over game center's servers or whatever's causing the online instability, might I suggest that when designing this new "arena" mode you make the game map(s) smaller, with not as many limiting factors like rain, fog, mist, or whatever else seems to slow the game down. At this point I wouldn't mind a "ghastly low" graphics setting if it meant I could actually play long online matches with others. Am I the only one experiencing this? Please tell me I'm not the only one dealing with this infuriation
Not alone, my old friend. Just got auto matched with you, but the game wouldn't start. It starts an Endless instead. Sometimes, restarting the app fixes anything you may have bugged.
Any info on particular weapon Combos? And Heavy attack? Obviously it varies by weapon type whether you get a UI button for a "heavy attack" and what that does clearly varies by weapon too (eg piercing, block smash, knock back, wide area, etc etc). The Human Knight (tier35) skill Power Swipe references "final hit of a combo"... this seems to be an "event" in general, which also varies a lot by weapon type. [amusing trivia: "final hit of a combo" for Human Paladin Smite actually refers to the attack event--you don't have to actually hit anything, so you can spam out short ranged shockwaves by mace/hammer whiffing, and +ranged gives them damage... but those shockwaves don't get the benefit of your AP, nor do they smash block] For example, the combo cycle for Double Sword appears to be 5 attacks, and the final attack actually has slightly longer range (melee "reach", if you prefer). Many weapons seem to have slight improvements to damage on the final combo sequence hit. I suspect the when-hit & anim-frames of each attack in a combo sequences results in some variation in attack rhythms and "DPS" in practice. Has Foursaken ever mentioned any details for this? I know they did a great post back in HC1 days giving unit attack cool-downs, which was very nice of them, as some stuff like that is not easy or even possible to test accurately. Range/reach for melee weapons is hard to nail down... Spear, Scythe, Staff seem pretty long, but are they the same? [eg 2H Maces don't subjectively seem to have better reach than 1H Maces ] Inquiring minds want to know!
If you'll be my bodyguard, I can be your long lost pal I found this amusing (v1.1 iOS)... Bannerman (sensibly) refuse to be pushed too close to the safety of the Castle (although I recommend repositioning them tactically, when it might help your strategy) by moving back to the default line... however you probably know you can push them way-out-yonder and they're perfectly happy to stay put (hey--take them with you for your next scenic siege!). But what's really amusing, is that you can do the same thing with Black Guards, pushing them out the Castle gate, into a "warmer" location. They'll (eventually) attract enemies to attack them, but they'll remain inert (unless a castle courtyard event occurs, then he'll spring into action, fighting locally, but eventually trekking back into your castle). To demonstrate how crazy this is, I played Memory of Wave 6 (wearing the gear to test Double Swords--it's not an endorsement!) and built: 2 bannermen, one Elf Priest, one repairman, and five Black Guards ("BG"). I did Human research, to make my BG studlier. I pushed a BG down the field, letting him take the arrow pain, then I destroyed the enemy wall and pushed him back by their inside-castle-tower... when they broke into *my* castle, my other BGs activated and so did my inert one, shown here, whacking quite strongly for ~143, destroying their Castle for me! (and we all thought they'd only defend ours, eh?) Great game! [BTW, he's glowing aura white due to that minor bug for Wind Spirit skill not removing the visual after your unit spawn-movefast effect wears off]
I can call you Betty and Betty when you call me, you can call me Al I knew you could push the Black Guards out of the castle, but I had no idea they would attack the enemy castle. Pretty cool! Though I still think it's not a viable strategy hah Pushing units is really useful in a lot of cases. As you mentioned, you can spread the bannermen to minimize enemy aoe attacks or you can even attempt to hide them. You can also push around enemy units to get them into clusters so your aoe is more effective. And you can also push slower units out into the battlefield faster, or even use them as body-shields.
So what is this arena mode suppose to be like? Hope it's like a sandbox mode cause that is a must for this game
You should call me A.I. That's a good list. And there is endless brain twisting fun to be had in coming up with more. For a few examples... It's helpful that Captains close to your walls buff ground archers, so last night, as my Captain--undesirably in mid-field--was catching up to an enemy headed to my wall, I got behind the enemy and pushed/helped a bit, so that the Captain wouldn't catch up before getting as close to the wall as I wanted. "Just a little touch of Harry in the night." Got some huge asshole pounding on your Bannerman but too close to the wall for your tower ballista/cannon to target? Push the Bannerman out and let AI follow him out to his doom (that's AI, eh-eye, for Aggressive Intentions, or, in nasty cases, Aggro Incarnate). Some slow firing enemy glass cannon dude about to take out a Bannerman before your Dwarf Miner does his job? Push the Bannerman sideways to duck, just as you would (of course, if you prefer to stand in front of him and take the bullet, you are a "hero" indeed; me, I'm just pushy). This one's boring, but important: if the slopes of the battlefield make your cannon a ground-shooting-idiot, push the damn thing to higher ground. You're a Dwarf? Use Steadfast Defense on your Captains and push them (and even when you don't push them, it's often useful to freeze them at your Castle), push them like a bomb to your desired victim. Dreadnaughts are another useful one for SD btw. Of course, the single most important need to "push"?... Hey, you're blocking my view! I'm serious! Where I decide to survey the battlefield from--often near my gate--is *my spot*, no visually blocking friendlies allowed!! [on occasion I've allowed the enemy to destroy a castle wall, because I detest my view being restricted by the narrow gate when I'm inside... if Foursaken offered an IAP to let me mount the gate for an unobstructed view I'd be eager to buy it] Edit: I should mention, not that I have anything against either creative cowardice or harrowed healing, that there are a number of really good reasons to be standing just outside or inside your gate. Here are a few that may not be well appreciated... 1. It's central. Both for your view and for shooting/walking range, that can be important. In Chess an old motto is: Control the Center! 2. From just outside the gate, if you get knocked back by a surprise hit, suddenly you find yourself safe, inside your castle gate, and healing. Similarly a quick tap on "Run" dashes you backwards, by default, which is handy. 3. From just inside the gate you might shoot from safety or duck & weave melee. 4. Ducking inside the gate (when the walls are intact) washes off (most) aggro, across the whole battlefield of things-that-hate-you-and-are-trying-to-do-something-about-it-to-you-personally-as-soon-as-possible(TM)... if you've never done the castle walls defense MO of cycling back and forth along the wall killing enemies from behind, while ducking just in passing in-out of the castle gate (to wash aggro of those approaching the castle from your blindside, which is nearly everything) then you really should try it, as it's quite educational and occasionally the best way to deal with a crisis 5. I'd also pay IAP for mirror-glass castle walls (I can see out from inside, but from outside you get a reflection of the walls and so can see behind you)... IAP to learn special effect research skills maybe? The hero into gate crow's nest view is another. So the next best thing to these is being in the sweet spot at the gate. YMMV.
