Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
* CW-EX-8 is a rematch with Kristen, but so much worse than the relatively easy first meeting. First of all, the map now contains 4 Planetary Debris of 3, squarely located in every corner of the stage to make placement near them unsafe once Kristen turns them into Star Rings, and they have short paths which make them less useful for hitting enemies; there are also now four blue boxes which are each near one of the Debris instead of one easily defensible chokepoint. Second, she also comes with rather tanky backup all at once in contrast to how it was in CW-10, with an escort of Arc Screenguard Captains along with a steady stream of Arc Frontliner Leaders. But the kicker of this stage is that at the end - when you'll most likely be busy with bursting her down - a ZergRush of Offender Prototypes will roll up, which need 3 block to be held back and can easily flatten operators with the move speed buffs from Kristen or the Gravity. This leads to the extremely common case of being able to weather or kill the boss but one of these leaking nonetheless. Kristen's first phase can still be dealt with by bursting it down, but the real fun starts after that, with Kristen notably becoming a walking StoneWall with the titanic damage reduction gained from instantly locking the four Star Rings, just as the bulk of her forces start to roll in and she starts walking around the middle of the map to harass your units from afar. On top of this, the Star Rings themselves do way more self-destruct damage, putting heavy pressure on your lineup as you try to destroy them and weaken Kristen's defense, while brute-forcing Kristen without a Silence while Rings are still active will just lead her to blow up all the Star Rings for a potential TotalPartyWipe that lets the rest of the enemies swoop in unopposed. And if one manages to kill the boss while having gravity shifted, the player better haul ass before the last wave casually struts in using the new beeline you've just created with the orbs that were previously blocking that path not doing that anymore. Challenge Mode gives the enemies a hefty 35% HP and 25% ATK buff [[note]]This is greater than the usual passive 20% Challenge Mode buff[[/note]] (notably making the Star Rings hit even harder on destruction) while tripling the cost of Guards and Defenders, removing some of your more reliable options for halting the enemies or surviving the Star Rings.
to:
* CW-EX-8 is a rematch with Kristen, but so much worse than the relatively easy first meeting. First of all, the map now contains 4 Planetary Debris of 3, squarely located in every corner of the stage to make placement near them unsafe once Kristen turns them into Star Rings, and they have short paths which make them less useful for hitting enemies; there are also now four blue boxes which are each near one of the Debris instead of one easily defensible chokepoint. Second, she also comes with rather tanky backup all at once in contrast to how it was in CW-10, with an escort of Arc Screenguard Captains along with a steady stream of Arc Frontliner Leaders. But the kicker of this stage is that at the end - when you'll most likely be busy with bursting her down - a ZergRush of Offender Prototypes will roll up, which need 3 block to be held back and can easily flatten operators with the move speed buffs from Kristen or the Gravity. This leads to the extremely common case of being able to weather or kill the boss but one of these leaking nonetheless. Kristen's first phase can still be dealt with by bursting it down, means like Ebenholz or a buffed Surtr, but the real fun starts after that, with Kristen notably becoming a walking StoneWall with the titanic damage reduction gained from instantly locking the four Star Rings, just as the bulk of her forces start to roll in and she starts walking around the middle of the map to harass your units from afar. On top of this, the Star Rings themselves do way more self-destruct damage, putting heavy pressure on your lineup as you try to destroy them and weaken Kristen's defense, while brute-forcing Kristen without a Silence while Rings are still active will just lead her to blow up all the Star Rings for a potential TotalPartyWipe that lets the rest of the enemies swoop in unopposed. And if one manages to kill the boss while having gravity shifted, the player better haul ass before the last wave casually struts in using the new beeline you've just created with the orbs that were previously blocking that path not doing that anymore. Challenge Mode gives the enemies a hefty 35% HP and 25% ATK buff [[note]]This is greater than the usual passive 20% Challenge Mode buff[[/note]] (notably making the Star Rings hit even harder on destruction) while tripling the cost of Guards and Defenders, removing some of your more reliable options for halting the enemies or surviving the Star Rings.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 33 (click to see context) from:
* H13-4 is the culmination of all the H stages in Episode 13, and the game won't hold anything back. It boasts 3 defensible lanes with extremely cramped tiles and not a lot of safe space for melee and ranged units alike, with a Bloodcalling Altar at the top protected by pre-spawned immortal Fluxcaster Captains, and the Sanguinarch's Throne of Blood at the bottom protected by a parade of Boneguard Captains. The enemy pressure is ferocious on all fronts: the top lanes will be attacked by Heirbearer Scourgers with massive stats and an [=AoE=] stun if you try to block them for too long, along with several Boneguard Torturers that will take advantage of their proximity to the Altar to feed off of the respawning Spawn, while the bottom lane faces a constant stream of Heirbearer Annihilators that can obliterate groups of units at a time with their grenades; naturally, all of the lanes will be sieged by practical deluges of of Bloodborn Spawn, with the Altar at the top being able to reach most of the map with its pulse. The Sanguinarch appears for the last time on this stage, with a new ability that lets his Moon-Devouring Bloodmist target two units at once, which sounds deceptively simple until he decides to cover roughly your entire defensive line with mist, crippling them and potentially instantly overwhelming them with the hordes of Spawn that will now instantly resurrect when you kill them. You're required to deliver a bomb to the altar at the top to unlock it as a new deployment point, then direct a second one to the Throne at the bottom, but between the blood mist everywhere and the hordes of ranged threats, you'd be hard pressed to deliver the bombs while there are still active threats on screen. The second wave of enemies is no less tough: more Spawn will start flooding in as Boneguard Captains, Torturers, and Fluxcasters rush the top lanes, and a veritable horde of Annihilators spawns at the bottom to flatten everything in the area. The Sanguinarch's second phase isn't too bad in a direct fight despite his monstrous stats and damage reduction that can only be reduced for a shorter time by the bomb, but his Crimson Edict now spawns ''over twice'' the number of Blood Ambers while producing a prolonged blood mist that lasts for ''a minute'' (compared to the move's 30 second cooldown), which when combined can result in him instantly overrunning your blockers with as little as a single use of the move, with the only real solution being to bomb him and then try to deplete his enormous bulk within the 10 second window where his damage reduction is down. The silver lining is that if you wipe out all the enemies and Ambers, it's possible to trigger the second wave of enemies before forcing the Sanguinarch into his second phase, letting you handle them in relative peace without the Sanguinarch swarming you.
to:
* H13-4 is the culmination of all the H stages in Episode 13, and the game won't hold anything back. It boasts 3 defensible lanes with extremely cramped tiles and not a lot of safe space for melee and ranged units alike, with a Bloodcalling Altar at the top protected by pre-spawned immortal Fluxcaster Captains, and the Sanguinarch's Throne of Blood at the bottom protected by a parade of Boneguard Captains. The enemy pressure is ferocious on all fronts: the top lanes will be attacked by Heirbearer Scourgers with massive stats and an [=AoE=] stun if you try to block them for too long, along with several Boneguard Torturers that will take advantage of their proximity to the Altar to feed off of the respawning Spawn, while the bottom lane faces a constant stream of Heirbearer Annihilators that can obliterate groups of units at a time with their grenades; naturally, all of the lanes will be sieged by practical deluges of of Bloodborn Spawn, with the Altar at the top being able to reach most of the map with its pulse. The Sanguinarch appears for the last time on this stage, with a new ability that lets his Moon-Devouring Bloodmist target two units at once, which sounds deceptively simple until he decides to cover roughly your entire defensive line with mist, crippling them and potentially instantly overwhelming them with the hordes of Spawn that will now instantly resurrect when you kill them. You're required to deliver a bomb to the altar at the top to unlock it as a new deployment point, then direct a second one to the Throne at the bottom, but between the blood mist everywhere and the hordes of ranged threats, you'd be hard pressed to deliver the bombs while there are still active threats on screen. The second wave of enemies is no less tough: more Spawn will start flooding in as Boneguard Captains, Torturers, and Fluxcasters rush the top lanes, and a veritable horde of Annihilators spawns at the bottom to flatten everything in the area. The Sanguinarch's second phase isn't too bad in a direct fight despite his monstrous stats and damage reduction that can only be reduced for a shorter time by the bomb, but his Crimson Edict now spawns ''over twice'' the number of Blood Ambers while producing a prolonged blood mist that lasts for ''a minute'' (compared to the move's 30 second cooldown), which when combined can result in him instantly overrunning your blockers with as little as a single use of the move, with the only real solution being to bomb him and then try to deplete his enormous bulk within the 10 second window where his damage reduction is down. The hardest part is that all of the above is happening at the same time and at different parts of the map, making it incredibly easy to miss a spot and have your formation pulverized for your mistake, or just fail the level because you weren't paying attention and a single Spawn leaked past your blockers. The silver lining is that if you wipe out all the enemies and Ambers, it's possible to trigger the second wave of enemies before forcing the Sanguinarch into his second phase, letting you handle them in relative peace without the Sanguinarch swarming you.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 31 (click to see context) from:
to:
* 13-15 will likely throw a wrench into your campaign. Unlike the other stages in the chapter which had one or two Bloodcalling Altars, there are three (''four'' on Adverse) spread out across the map with the only bomb deployer being on the other side of the map, and they'll be initially protected by Sarkaz Boneguard Captains and Torturers that require you clear them out before delivering the payload. The Captains will release their Blood Ambers when defeated to siege your lines with Bloodborn Spawn, and the Torturers will steadily gain power from the slain Captains and Spawn to undo any damage you tried to do to them, before one-shotting your units left and right once they get moving. There are also three lanes to defend, with the top one only dealing with a steady stream of Spawn, the middle having to deal with more Torturers, and the isolated bottom lane facing a trickle of Boneguard Fluxcasters that will endlessly resurrect themselves until you bomb out the last two Altars, which are the furthest from the bombs even with the checkpoint you get from breaking the first ones.
* H13-2 has four entry points to defend against terrifying amounts of Bloodborn Spawn and the Sanguinarch worms from Episode 10, with the two Bloodcalling Altars protected by an entourage of ''six'' Sarkaz Boneguard Torturers that will easily stop any bomb sent their way. The Torturers can withstand an extreme amount of punishment when combining their innate bulk with the fact that killing any one of them will heal and buff the others, and pretty much all ranged tiles that can hit them are in range of their whips, forcing you to use a decoy or one of the comparatively rarer melee units that can dispatch them from further away. Failure to kill them will result in them walking to the top entrance in pairs, where they'll absorb the aforementioned massive swarms of enemies before plowing through everything in their path, if the endlessly respawning hordes didn't overwhelm your blockers before then. On top of that, the stage is pretty stingy with ranged tiles that can reach where they need to be, so you best hope you can deliver support to all four lanes at the same time. As the cherry on top, later in the level, Boneguard Captains and Fluxcaster Captains will siege both the lanes along of Gifts of Magnanimity, which can easily wall and kill units meant only to kill the swarms of weaker enemies.
* H13-4 is the culmination of all the H stages in Episode 13, and the game won't hold anything back. It boasts 3 defensible lanes with extremely cramped tiles and not a lot of safe space for melee and ranged units alike, with a Bloodcalling Altar at the top protected by pre-spawned immortal Fluxcaster Captains, and the Sanguinarch's Throne of Blood at the bottom protected by a parade of Boneguard Captains. The enemy pressure is ferocious on all fronts: the top lanes will be attacked by Heirbearer Scourgers with massive stats and an [=AoE=] stun if you try to block them for too long, along with several Boneguard Torturers that will take advantage of their proximity to the Altar to feed off of the respawning Spawn, while the bottom lane faces a constant stream of Heirbearer Annihilators that can obliterate groups of units at a time with their grenades; naturally, all of the lanes will be sieged by practical deluges of of Bloodborn Spawn, with the Altar at the top being able to reach most of the map with its pulse. The Sanguinarch appears for the last time on this stage, with a new ability that lets his Moon-Devouring Bloodmist target two units at once, which sounds deceptively simple until he decides to cover roughly your entire defensive line with mist, crippling them and potentially instantly overwhelming them with the hordes of Spawn that will now instantly resurrect when you kill them. You're required to deliver a bomb to the altar at the top to unlock it as a new deployment point, then direct a second one to the Throne at the bottom, but between the blood mist everywhere and the hordes of ranged threats, you'd be hard pressed to deliver the bombs while there are still active threats on screen. The second wave of enemies is no less tough: more Spawn will start flooding in as Boneguard Captains, Torturers, and Fluxcasters rush the top lanes, and a veritable horde of Annihilators spawns at the bottom to flatten everything in the area. The Sanguinarch's second phase isn't too bad in a direct fight despite his monstrous stats and damage reduction that can only be reduced for a shorter time by the bomb, but his Crimson Edict now spawns ''over twice'' the number of Blood Ambers while producing a prolonged blood mist that lasts for ''a minute'' (compared to the move's 30 second cooldown), which when combined can result in him instantly overrunning your blockers with as little as a single use of the move, with the only real solution being to bomb him and then try to deplete his enormous bulk within the 10 second window where his damage reduction is down. The silver lining is that if you wipe out all the enemies and Ambers, it's possible to trigger the second wave of enemies before forcing the Sanguinarch into his second phase, letting you handle them in relative peace without the Sanguinarch swarming you.
* H13-2 has four entry points to defend against terrifying amounts of Bloodborn Spawn and the Sanguinarch worms from Episode 10, with the two Bloodcalling Altars protected by an entourage of ''six'' Sarkaz Boneguard Torturers that will easily stop any bomb sent their way. The Torturers can withstand an extreme amount of punishment when combining their innate bulk with the fact that killing any one of them will heal and buff the others, and pretty much all ranged tiles that can hit them are in range of their whips, forcing you to use a decoy or one of the comparatively rarer melee units that can dispatch them from further away. Failure to kill them will result in them walking to the top entrance in pairs, where they'll absorb the aforementioned massive swarms of enemies before plowing through everything in their path, if the endlessly respawning hordes didn't overwhelm your blockers before then. On top of that, the stage is pretty stingy with ranged tiles that can reach where they need to be, so you best hope you can deliver support to all four lanes at the same time. As the cherry on top, later in the level, Boneguard Captains and Fluxcaster Captains will siege both the lanes along of Gifts of Magnanimity, which can easily wall and kill units meant only to kill the swarms of weaker enemies.
* H13-4 is the culmination of all the H stages in Episode 13, and the game won't hold anything back. It boasts 3 defensible lanes with extremely cramped tiles and not a lot of safe space for melee and ranged units alike, with a Bloodcalling Altar at the top protected by pre-spawned immortal Fluxcaster Captains, and the Sanguinarch's Throne of Blood at the bottom protected by a parade of Boneguard Captains. The enemy pressure is ferocious on all fronts: the top lanes will be attacked by Heirbearer Scourgers with massive stats and an [=AoE=] stun if you try to block them for too long, along with several Boneguard Torturers that will take advantage of their proximity to the Altar to feed off of the respawning Spawn, while the bottom lane faces a constant stream of Heirbearer Annihilators that can obliterate groups of units at a time with their grenades; naturally, all of the lanes will be sieged by practical deluges of of Bloodborn Spawn, with the Altar at the top being able to reach most of the map with its pulse. The Sanguinarch appears for the last time on this stage, with a new ability that lets his Moon-Devouring Bloodmist target two units at once, which sounds deceptively simple until he decides to cover roughly your entire defensive line with mist, crippling them and potentially instantly overwhelming them with the hordes of Spawn that will now instantly resurrect when you kill them. You're required to deliver a bomb to the altar at the top to unlock it as a new deployment point, then direct a second one to the Throne at the bottom, but between the blood mist everywhere and the hordes of ranged threats, you'd be hard pressed to deliver the bombs while there are still active threats on screen. The second wave of enemies is no less tough: more Spawn will start flooding in as Boneguard Captains, Torturers, and Fluxcasters rush the top lanes, and a veritable horde of Annihilators spawns at the bottom to flatten everything in the area. The Sanguinarch's second phase isn't too bad in a direct fight despite his monstrous stats and damage reduction that can only be reduced for a shorter time by the bomb, but his Crimson Edict now spawns ''over twice'' the number of Blood Ambers while producing a prolonged blood mist that lasts for ''a minute'' (compared to the move's 30 second cooldown), which when combined can result in him instantly overrunning your blockers with as little as a single use of the move, with the only real solution being to bomb him and then try to deplete his enormous bulk within the 10 second window where his damage reduction is down. The silver lining is that if you wipe out all the enemies and Ambers, it's possible to trigger the second wave of enemies before forcing the Sanguinarch into his second phase, letting you handle them in relative peace without the Sanguinarch swarming you.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 138 (click to see context) from:
* Don't Turn Around, Sluggies on the second floor is also extremely demanding for such an early stage. You have Infused Originium Slugs that can do huge area damage, Tainted Carcasses that abuse the wide-open map to run straight for the exit, and Distorted Casters that purposely take the longest side path possible so they can spend more time harrassing your units. Furthermore, the ranged tiles on the map are extremely restrictive, making it hard to support the main force with healing or damage, especially since all of them are in range of the Casters. This map can become easier if you know to place your strongest blocker on the right tile to intercept enemies so that you only have to defend one lane instead of two[[note]]The fourth tile to the right of the upper blue box - this intercepts both the slugs and the Tainted Carcasses while also making them the first target for the casters[[/note]] but even then, the damage from the exploding slugs and the Casters can prove to be overwhelming. On Emergency, not only are things even tankier and harder hitting, the level will also send in buffed Wraith Leaders which can cause almost unavoidable leaks if your ranged damage is lacking.
to:
* Don't Turn Around, Sluggies on the second floor is also extremely demanding for such an early stage. You have Infused Originium Slugs that can do huge area damage, Tainted Carcasses that abuse the wide-open map to run straight for the exit, and Distorted Casters that purposely take the longest side path possible so they can spend more time harrassing your units. Furthermore, the ranged tiles on the map are extremely restrictive, making it hard to support the main force with healing or damage, especially since all of them are in range of the Casters. This map can become easier if you know to place your strongest blocker on in the right tile center rather than close to intercept enemies the blue boxes so that you only have to defend one lane instead of two[[note]]The fourth tile to the right of the upper blue box - two, but this intercepts both the slugs isn't immediately obvious and the Tainted Carcasses while also making them the first target for the casters[[/note]] but even then, the damage from the exploding slugs and the Casters can prove to be overwhelming. On Emergency, not only are things even tankier and harder hitting, the level will also send in buffed Wraith Leaders which can cause almost unavoidable leaks if your ranged damage is lacking.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 138 (click to see context) from:
* Don't Turn Around, Sluggies on the second floor is also extremely demanding for such an early stage. You have Infused Originium Slugs that can do huge area damage, Tainted Carcasses that abuse the wide-open map to run straight for the exit, and Distorted Casters that purposely take the longest side path possible so they can spend more time harrassing your units. Furthermore, the ranged tiles on the map are extremely restrictive, making it hard to support the main force with healing or damage, especially since all of them are in range of the Casters. On Emergency, not only are things even tankier and harder hitting, the level will also send in buffed Wraith Leaders which can cause almost unavoidable leaks if your ranged damage is lacking.
to:
* Don't Turn Around, Sluggies on the second floor is also extremely demanding for such an early stage. You have Infused Originium Slugs that can do huge area damage, Tainted Carcasses that abuse the wide-open map to run straight for the exit, and Distorted Casters that purposely take the longest side path possible so they can spend more time harrassing your units. Furthermore, the ranged tiles on the map are extremely restrictive, making it hard to support the main force with healing or damage, especially since all of them are in range of the Casters. This map can become easier if you know to place your strongest blocker on the right tile to intercept enemies so that you only have to defend one lane instead of two[[note]]The fourth tile to the right of the upper blue box - this intercepts both the slugs and the Tainted Carcasses while also making them the first target for the casters[[/note]] but even then, the damage from the exploding slugs and the Casters can prove to be overwhelming. On Emergency, not only are things even tankier and harder hitting, the level will also send in buffed Wraith Leaders which can cause almost unavoidable leaks if your ranged damage is lacking.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 147,148 (click to see context) from:
* Nameless Hero is the iteration's equivalent to the Elite Four stages, and may prove to be the most difficult of them all despite no elite or boss-tier enemies at all but instead [[BossInMookClothing six regular mooks with stats buffed to absurd levels]]. What makes this version so difficult compared to its predecessors is that there is practically no safe position to set up a line of defense anywhere on the map, as two of the featured enemies are a [[LongRangeFighter Sniper and a Mortar Gunner Leader]] who are positioned so that their combined ranges cover almost the entirety of the stage, while the small area they do not cover is instead guarded by an Invisible Caster ''standing on an undeployable tile'', giving you no way to attack them unless you have an operator with TrueSight. This makes the number of operators able to handle this map extremely limited as they will be harassed by ranged attacks coming from tremendously buffed units, with most ranged units being unusable without immediately deploying a tank afterwards to draw aggro away from them - and said tank will have to watch out for the incoming [[LightningBruiser Dual Swordsman]] and [[MagicKnight Agent Leader]] who will circle around the area before heading towards your base. Without a squad suited for handling the stage, you are very likely to leak at least a couple of the enemies, which you will feel since each enemy also depletes ''two'' Life Points instead of one. While the individual enemies may be less powerful than the Elite Four enemies from previous maps, the fact that ranged from being extremely difficult to nigh impossible to set up depending on the difficulty makes this a very likely run ender, making it a wiser decision to refuse the battle instead at a high difficulty unless you have a specific counter or a lot of Life Points to spare.
to:
* Nameless Hero is the iteration's equivalent to the Elite Four stages, and may prove to be the most difficult of them all despite no elite or boss-tier enemies at all but instead [[BossInMookClothing six regular mooks with stats buffed to absurd levels]]. What makes this version so difficult compared to its predecessors is that there is practically no safe position to set up a line of defense anywhere on the map, as two of the featured enemies are a [[LongRangeFighter Sniper and a Mortar Gunner Leader]] who are positioned so that their combined ranges cover almost the entirety of the stage, while the small area they do not cover is instead guarded by an Invisible Caster ''standing on an undeployable tile'', giving you no way to attack them unless you have an operator with TrueSight. This makes the number of operators able to handle this map extremely limited as they will be harassed by ranged attacks coming from tremendously buffed units, with most ranged units being unusable without immediately deploying a tank afterwards to draw aggro away from them - and said tank will have to watch out for the incoming [[LightningBruiser Dual Swordsman]] and [[MagicKnight Agent Leader]] who will circle around the area before heading towards your base. Without a squad suited for handling the stage, you are very likely to leak at least a couple of the enemies, which you will feel since each enemy also depletes ''two'' Life Points instead of one. While the individual enemies may be less powerful than the Elite Four enemies from previous maps, the fact that ranged it ranges from being extremely difficult to nigh impossible to set up depending on the difficulty makes this a very likely run ender, making it a wiser decision to refuse the battle instead at a high difficulty unless you have a specific counter or a lot of Life Points to spare.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 147 (click to see context) from:
to:
* Nameless Hero is the iteration's equivalent to the Elite Four stages, and may prove to be the most difficult of them all despite no elite or boss-tier enemies at all but instead [[BossInMookClothing six regular mooks with stats buffed to absurd levels]]. What makes this version so difficult compared to its predecessors is that there is practically no safe position to set up a line of defense anywhere on the map, as two of the featured enemies are a [[LongRangeFighter Sniper and a Mortar Gunner Leader]] who are positioned so that their combined ranges cover almost the entirety of the stage, while the small area they do not cover is instead guarded by an Invisible Caster ''standing on an undeployable tile'', giving you no way to attack them unless you have an operator with TrueSight. This makes the number of operators able to handle this map extremely limited as they will be harassed by ranged attacks coming from tremendously buffed units, with most ranged units being unusable without immediately deploying a tank afterwards to draw aggro away from them - and said tank will have to watch out for the incoming [[LightningBruiser Dual Swordsman]] and [[MagicKnight Agent Leader]] who will circle around the area before heading towards your base. Without a squad suited for handling the stage, you are very likely to leak at least a couple of the enemies, which you will feel since each enemy also depletes ''two'' Life Points instead of one. While the individual enemies may be less powerful than the Elite Four enemies from previous maps, the fact that ranged from being extremely difficult to nigh impossible to set up depending on the difficulty makes this a very likely run ender, making it a wiser decision to refuse the battle instead at a high difficulty unless you have a specific counter or a lot of Life Points to spare.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* Even for the standards of the notoriously difficult ''Design of Strife'', the final stage of the event, Home in the Flames, was deemed to be on a completely different level than the others, comparable to the upper-difficulty runs of ''Contingency Contract'' or ''Integrated Strategies''. To preface things, the level passively applies a whopping ''60% HP buff and 30% ATK buff'' to all enemies, ''doubles'' the redeployment time of all units, has two central lanes that only have a few deployable tiles, and has almost all of the ranged tiles in range of Lava Fissures that'll deal massive damage and quickly kill them without immense healing support, putting players at a huge disadvantage from the get-go. The boss Sverdsmeltr is at his strongest in this level, with all of the already-destructive abilities from his previous battle, an enhanced rage mode that can summon more Condensed Heats and protect himself with a shield in his last phase, and even higher stats that let him bulldoze unprepared defenses in a snap. However, he pales in comparison to the army of EliteMooks that force their way through the middle two lanes, each of which is buffed to such a ridiculous degree that, combined with the passive enemy buffs, ''every single one of them'' can qualify as a BossInMooksClothing.[[note]]Pretty much every enemy on the stage has close to ''100,000 HP'', and some have even more than that, while the boss himself has 320,000 effective HP along with his massive defenses and healing another 64000 in the second phase.[[/note]] The level ''opens'' with two absurdly buffed Hateful Avengers, one of which will walk straight to the blue box ''seconds'' after the level starts, often requiring the likes of Mlynar buffed by damage amp or slows to even survive the ''opener'' as they can shrug off and instantly kill the majority of units by themselves. The pressure only ramps up from there, with a Heartbillow that'll snipe your ranged units and turn into an army of Paperweights on death to end you if you didn't bring area damage, a Bloodboil Elite who will gain massive stats from the slain Paperweights to bulldoze any and all melee units, and two Sarkaz Wither Maws with immense bulk and the ability to OneHitKill any blocker irrespective of bulk - all within the first ''minute and a half'' of the level. Once Sverdsmeltr loses his first health bar, the enemies arrive in full force, with a Bladehelm Elite who sits at the back of the map and constantly spams his ability to turn your heavy-hitters' attacks into wet noodles, leaving you helpless against the upcoming assault - a Tiacauh Champion with immense bulk, two Sarkaz Heirbearer Chain Caster Captains who can obliterate an entire lineup with [=AoE=] Arts and seal skills with Necrosis, and a final Trilby Asher who can one-shot anything less than a dedicated tank, while also being able to dash past blockers and cause an instant loss if you try to block them. All of the enemies come at such a relentless frequency that most of the level can qualify as a gruelling BossRush, and to make matters worse, Sverdsmeltr takes an isolated side path instead of going around the main one, which means you'll have to prepare separate defenses just for him, or try and burst him down fast enough that he dies before the bulk of his backup starts rolling in. This is especially since the Reforged Retinue he spawns in phase 2 are just as strong as the other enemies and can plow through nearly any defense if you can't lower his health fast enough so he consumes them instead; if he's alive while other enemies are threatening you, his Suppression can also ''really'' ruin your day if he chains a key unit at a bad time. The only saving grace of the level is that you can obtain all of the event rewards (except for the relatively small final LMD rewards) just by beating A-3 and then doing the Trauma Intervention maps, putting S-3 squarely in BrutalBonusLevel territory.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* Shadows with Ghosts is yet another operation that will almost guarantee a leak. It has an awkward pathing that there are only 2 ground spots that can block the incoming horde. But when the operation starts, the first enemy that will spawn is a Redmark Infiltrator, the one who spawns a hologram decoy on first damage and will become unblockable until the decoy dies. Putting a melee operator to try and stop it is futile as it ''will'' spawn a decoy and slip past the operator, leaving ranged operator as the ideal option. But the Infiltrator also has ranged attack, so you need to be careful with aggro control or he will shoot and kill your ranged operator, leaving you with no operator in place while at lower DP stock. The operation actually isn't too hard if you have accumulated a few operators, but the problem as usual is how it can be encountered as early as the 2nd floor.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 137 (click to see context) from:
* ''Altar of Craving'', especially the Emergency version will almost guarantee a leak. It begins with 2 paths towards the protection objectives, and 4 Originium altars on the left side, where the only deployable ground spot for the upper path is right next to an altar, ensuring a constant pummeling by Originium blasts. Then a single lone Collapsal will spawn, who will then get hit by the blast and inevitably make a mad dash towards the bottom path; and since it spawns so early, you better pray your deployed Operator can take it out solo. And then comes the Collapsal caster towards the upper path, and given the layout, that single safe ranged spot in the middle likely won't cover it; you either pray whoever you deploy to block the upper path can kill it while tanking the massive Arts damage from both caster and altar, or deploy a dedicated ranged support to help deal with it. And now comes the main course: a ZergRush of Collapsals as usual, circling the altars before rushing to the protection objective, with a few Sarkaz arts users in the mix for extra pain. Dealing with this stage requires 1.) 2 strong blockers who can take a beating from the heavy Arts damage 2.) strong DPS to deal with the mob, 3.) strong healer to keep everyone alive. That's 4 strong operators needed, and just for a 3rd-floor operation. And for the Emergency mode, there's an extra altar between the paths, ensuring ''everyone'' will get pummeled by Arts damage.
to:
* ''Altar Altar of Craving'', Craving, especially the Emergency version will almost guarantee a leak. It begins with 2 paths towards the protection objectives, and 4 Originium altars on the left side, where the only deployable ground spot for the upper path is right next to an altar, ensuring a constant pummeling by Originium blasts. Then a single lone Collapsal Tainted Carcass will spawn, who will then get hit by the blast and inevitably make a mad dash towards the bottom path; and since it spawns so early, you better pray your deployed Operator can take it out solo. And then comes the Collapsal caster a Distorted Caster towards the upper path, and given the layout, that single safe ranged spot in the middle likely won't cover it; you either pray whoever you deploy to block the upper path can kill it while tanking the massive Arts damage from both caster the casters and altar, altars, or deploy a dedicated ranged support to help deal with it. And now comes the main course: a ZergRush of Collapsals Tainted Carcasses as usual, circling the altars before rushing to the protection objective, with a few Sarkaz arts users in the mix for extra pain. Dealing with this stage requires 1.) 2 strong blockers who can take a beating from the heavy Arts Arts/True damage 2.) strong DPS to deal with the mob, 3.) strong healer to keep everyone alive. That's 4 strong operators needed, and just for a 3rd-floor operation. And for the Emergency mode, there's an extra altar between the paths, ensuring ''everyone'' will get pummeled by Arts True damage.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ''Altar of Craving'', especially the Emergency version will almost guarantee a leak. It begins with 2 paths towards the protection objectives, and 4 Originium altars on the left side, where the only deployable ground spot for the upper path is right next to an altar, ensuring a constant pummeling by Originium blasts. Then a single lone Collapsal will spawn, who will then get hit by the blast and inevitably make a mad dash towards the bottom path; and since it spawns so early, you better pray your deployed Operator can take it out solo. And then comes the Collapsal caster towards the upper path, and given the layout, that single safe ranged spot in the middle likely won't cover it; you either pray whoever you deploy to block the upper path can kill it while tanking the massive Arts damage from both caster and altar, or deploy a dedicated ranged support to help deal with it. And now comes the main course: a ZergRush of Collapsals as usual, circling the altars before rushing to the protection objective, with a few Sarkaz arts users in the mix for extra pain. Dealing with this stage requires 1.) 2 strong blockers who can take a beating from the heavy Arts damage 2.) strong DPS to deal with the mob, 3.) strong healer to keep everyone alive. That's 4 strong operators needed, and just for a 3rd-floor operation. And for the Emergency mode, there's an extra altar between the paths, ensuring ''everyone'' will get pummeled by Arts damage.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 132,134 (click to see context) from:
%%!!Expeditioner's Jǫklumarkar
to:
* Prisoners' Night, unusually for a Floor 1 stage, can range from trivial to nigh-impossible depending solely on whether or not you managed to draft a powerful source of area damage beforehand. The level is a rapid ZergRush of Prisoners from ''Mansfield Break'' swarming two Rubbles, along with Pugilist Prisoners that will be able to punch right through the Rubble once they free themselves. Although heavy area damage can easily wipe out the Prisoners and deal with the Pugilists after, you're out of luck if you weren't able to get any, and this can potentially show up as early as the first node, greatly limiting your choices. On higher difficulties, being forced into this map without a powerful area damage dealer can potentially just end the run right there.
* Beasts Awaiting Slaughter is a similarly demanding early stage, except instead of checking for area damage, it demands strong blocking power. The Hornbeasts initially come at a managable pace, but will all move at once later in the level, instantly overrunning you if you don't have multiple melee units or a damage dealer strong enough to kill them during their sprint; on the other hand, trying to kill them early may also lead to them alerting the pack and running it down early, causing the same result. There's also a Basorobeast that will show up later to wall or even kill your blockers if you can't gun it down from behind, potentially letting enemies through by taking up block count, and Tainted Carcasses that hit surprisingly hard and can really ruin your day if you lack healing. The Emergency version is particularly infamous, as not only does it buff everything's stats, it spawns ''more'' Hornbeasts in a bigger horde, making it ever more likely you'll get overrun.
* Unwell on the second floor is a potential run ender if you lack Defenders, as you'll be faced with an onslaught of Norport Civilians and disguised spies, which not demand not just a huge amount of blocking power to make sure you can block them alongside the actual enemies running in, but also ranged units that can get a head start on identifying them. Even with both, it's alarmingly easy to get overwhelmed from the sheer number of Civilians along with the Norport Agents hitting surprisingly hard due to their doubled damage on first attack, and you won't even be able to field your most expensive units thanks to the Civilians capping your DP; you can destroy the supplies on the map to fix this, but this also opens up the lanes from one to ''three'', making it easier for the spies to slip by. The level will also complicate things later with a Sarkaz Absurdist Tyrant that can shrug off most damage and either walk through your lines or blow up your blockers, and if you're on Emergency, it'll also send a Rebellion Instigator that'll make the Civilians ''unblockable''.
* Don't Turn Around, Sluggies on the second floor is also extremely demanding for such an early stage. You have Infused Originium Slugs that can do huge area damage, Tainted Carcasses that abuse the wide-open map to run straight for the exit, and Distorted Casters that purposely take the longest side path possible so they can spend more time harrassing your units. Furthermore, the ranged tiles on the map are extremely restrictive, making it hard to support the main force with healing or damage, especially since all of them are in range of the Casters. On Emergency, not only are things even tankier and harder hitting, the level will also send in buffed Wraith Leaders which can cause almost unavoidable leaks if your ranged damage is lacking.
* Shady Frozen Sea, specifically its Emergency version. It's a huge map where most of the deployable tiles are covered in Corrosive Ground that halves the DEF of your units, causing the already hard-hitting Dockworkers, Delinquents, and Explosive Boats to hit even harder, with the latter particularly destroying you if you can't shoot them down in time. Tidal Casters and their Speedboat variants will also start showing up later, with annoying long range and the ability to dismantle an entire lineup from the rapid splash damage and Corrosion, with the Speedboats also taking a separate from everything else. However, the Emergency battle makes things infinitely worse by providing a 30% buff to HP and ATK...and a ''70%'' buff to DEF and speed, turning every single enemy into a LightningBruiser and making it nearly impossible to stop them before they speed into your lines and blow up everything. Just to add insult to injury, there are Competition Transport Vessels that will deduct Life Points if killed, which the Tidal Casters will gleefully rain fire upon if you can't kill them fast.
* Musical Disaster opens up with the halved SP regeneration from ''Lingering Echoes'' and the map filled with Enhanced Mass-Produced Colossi who start advancing one by one, packing extreme defenses while not in Realigned Flux along with 2 block to let them walk past units if you don't kill one by the time the next one shows up. There is a spot in the top left where you can place a unit to create a spiral with the Flux that covers the entire map, but there are three Spire Casters right beneath it that'll start moving up in short order, blowing up the unit maintaining the beam and causing DisasterDominoes as the Colossi become too tanky to kill and your skills are gimped. Trying to assassinate the Casters will potentially just lead to an instant death from the three simultaneous attacks due to their very high ATK, and letting them advance will cause trouble in your frontline, especially since they'll do splash damage if nobody is maintaining the beam. Even if you manage the beam, the Remnant Principal Violinists can throw a wrench into the plan, as they'll deal simultaneous damage to all allies in Flux instead of being weakened by it.
* Where be No Mounts and Seas features the most dangerous of the Shanhaizhong from ''Where Vernal Winds Will Never Blow'', including Secret-Keepers who are invisible and can nuke the first operator that blocks them, Oracles that can rip apart all of your units from out of range, and two pre-placed Cipher Machines that will massively buff the ASPD and speed of all the enemies if you can't chew through their significant bulk fast enough. There are also three lanes to defend without any real chokepoint, with the two right lanes in particular facing the most ferocious of the resistance, including Shattered Champions that will run with the Oracles and Secret-Keepers partway through the level. Furthermore, the right lane becomes undeployable about halfway through, so if you can't block the enemies early or get overwhelmed up front (which is ''incredibly'' easy thanks to the Secret-Keepers potentially one-tapping units), your only hope is to pray you can shoot them down in time or have a single melee unit finish them at the end, neither of which are likely (and may be outright impossible if an invisible Secret-Keeper is running it down). Emergency buffs all the enemy stats (including an abnormally high 50% HP buff) while improving the damage on the Oracles and Secret-Keepers' special abilities, which can result in units being completely obliterated before they have a chance to even attack back.
* March of the Dead has two top lanes that will face ferocious opposition from elite Dublinn Flamechaser Soldiers and Guards, along with Enraged Tombkeeper Grotesques, while the bottom lane will periodically send in Dublinn Cannoneer Captains to pelt units from anywhere on the map, along with Distorted Casters to back them up. The hard part is that the map has virtually no good ranged tiles - only ''one'' ranged tile can feasibly deliver damage or healing support to the frontlines on the top lane, with the other potentially useful one being in range of bombardment by Casters, meaning that if you don't have a very self-sufficient melee force, the top lane can easily overrun you. This is especially the case with the Tombkeepers, as if they live long enough to take flight, very few low-ground units will be able to stop them before they either kill everything or just slip by. The bottom lane is also no slouch despite having more ranged tiles, as without a strong melee unit to take the hits, the ranged threats will demolish everything there. As for the Emergency version, not only does it give everything the usual hefty stat buff, but it also causes two extra ''Mudrock Colossi'' to spawn on the top lane.
* Instinct Contamination quickly gained a reputation for being one of the hardest maps you can get on Floor 5, especially on higher Braving Nature levels. It's a two-lane map with only one lane having deployable tiles, forcing you to block enemies up front where there are limited ranged tiles to support them, or build a single-blocker chokepoint at the blue box and risk being overwhelmed. The enemies themselves are also ferocious - Tainted Carcasses buffed by Active Originium will rush down your lines seconds after the level starts, and once enough time passes, you'll face a continous onslaught of [[DemonicSpiders Shattered Champions]], half of which will walk over the Active Originium before blitzing you. Considering the already high stats on the Champions and the Originium giving them a 50% ATK/ASPD buff, even heavily buffed Protectors will find themselves melted in seconds, while the speed and bulk of the Champions also make it incredibly hard to shoot them down before they run straight into the blue box, barring sources of wide-area slows. Just to screw with you, the level also sends in Distorted Casters and Collapsed Constructs to pelt you from afar, further reducing your ability to hold the line. Woe betide you if you get its ''Emergency'' version, which not only further inflates the stats on the enemies (including a massive ''+70%'' DEF), but restricts the one tile in front of the objective, forcing you to deal with the ridiculously powerful Champions with little to no ranged support.
* Terminus of Life on Floor 6+ has elite Yeti Squad members, like Yeti Caster and Icecleaver Leaders backed up by hard-hitting Sarkaz Lancers and Wither Tanks, with Casters and Tanks pre-placed to make the beginning of the level extremely restrictive if you can't kill them fast. Unfortunately, they're also supported by a [[ThatOneBoss Frozen Monstrosity]], of all things. The Monstrosity doesn't have Ice Crystals anymore, but it will circle around the map and pelt everything with its highly damaging Arts attacks that Freeze targets, synergizing with the Yeti Squad like on its boss level, and its passive doubling redeployment time of Frozen units can cause the level to spiral into a loss if you lose the initial defense and can't get it back up in time. The level also has Jetstreams which, while potentially giving you an ATK buff if you line them up right, can also ''reduce'' ATK since a lot of the key ranged positions in the center of the map have Jetstreams facing the opposite way as one would usually want to aim. Fortunately, the Frozen Monstrosity no longer causes a OneHitKill if it leaks, but it'll still take a hefty 5 Life Points, which is ''not'' a loss you want to take right before facing the FinalBoss of the third or fourth endings. If you get its Emergency variant, it's even worse as in addition to the stat inflation (which includes a rare RES buff), the enemies and boss have their attack range ''doubled''.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 81 (click to see context) from:
* SL-S-5 is similar to S-3 due to being another rematch with Dolly, but is made considerably worse by both the stage layout and his new backup. The 20% enemy buff is back in full force, and the map is split into two isolated lanes and a middle section that will be completely covered in Carmine Steam most of the time due to the Wandering Sliders patrolling around. The right lane will face constant pressure from the average sheep and Sliders, with occasional pairs of Tornado Trendsetters that will nuke the chokepoint and douse everything in Carmine Steam unless you quickly wrangle the tiles back upder control, while the right lane instead faces a steady stream of Big Men who necessitate a powerful ranged unit under a Decorative Geyser to take down in time. Dolly spawns early on and takes his sweet time traveling around the middle, which not only limits the positions you have to safely launch attacks against him, but sets you up for the true horror of the level - pairs of Supernova Casters, which will use the Carmine Steam in the middle to trigger their multi-targeting, allowing them to blast pretty much anything on the map and potentally instantly kill anything that Dolly placed Carmine Steam on. Also because of the massive amounts of Carmine Steam everywhere, Dolly's [[HerdHittingAttack Unintentional Explosion]] has the potential to cause a TotalPartyWipe if you aren't smart with your dedicated steam-spreaders or Soda Bottles, the latter which will be under huge demand since they're needed to both crack Dolly's shield and manage the Carmine Steam on every front. Challenge Mode further increases enemy stats and strengthens Dolly by giving his Wool Shield 200 HP instead of 150 (effectively meaning 25 more hits or one more Soda Bottle to break), putting more strain on your Soda supplies and turning the fight into a race against time to disable the shield and burst him before he causes too much trouble or escapes.
to:
* SL-S-5 is similar to S-3 due to being another rematch with Dolly, but is made considerably worse by both the stage layout and his new backup. The 20% enemy buff is back in full force, and the map is split into two isolated lanes and a middle section that will be completely covered in Carmine Steam most of the time due to the Wandering Sliders patrolling around. The right lane will face constant pressure from the average sheep and Sliders, with occasional pairs of Tornado Trendsetters that will nuke the chokepoint and douse everything in Carmine Steam unless you quickly wrangle the tiles back upder control, while the right lane instead faces a steady stream of Big Men who necessitate a powerful ranged unit under a Decorative Geyser to take down in time. Dolly spawns early on and takes his sweet time traveling around the middle, middle while bombarding your units, which not only limits the positions you have to safely launch attacks against him, but sets you up for the true horror of the level - pairs of Supernova Casters, which will use the Carmine Steam in the middle to trigger their multi-targeting, allowing them to blast pretty much anything on the map and potentally instantly kill anything that Dolly placed Carmine Steam on. Also because of the massive amounts of Carmine Steam everywhere, Dolly's [[HerdHittingAttack [[StuffBlowingUp Unintentional Explosion]] has the potential to cause a TotalPartyWipe if you aren't smart with your dedicated steam-spreaders or Soda Bottles, the latter which will be under huge demand since they're needed to both crack Dolly's shield and manage the Carmine Steam on every front. Challenge Mode further increases enemy stats and strengthens Dolly by giving his Wool Shield 200 HP instead of 150 (effectively meaning 25 more hits or one more Soda Bottle to break), putting more strain on your Soda supplies and turning the fight into a race against time to disable the shield and burst him before he causes too much trouble or escapes.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 80,81 (click to see context) from:
* SL-S-4, specifically its Challenge Mode. Although it [[SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity unusually doesn't have the universal 20% buff that is standard for S stages,]] the level instantly opens up with an Urban Tornado Trendsetter while you're out of DP, which can vaporize Vanguard if you don't use a cheap meat shield to block it beforehand, while also setting up a chunk of Carmine Steam to let the incoming sheep become walls of stats. There's an isolated top lane with only a single melee tile that can be deployed on to block it (albeit with some Fluffy Buddies you can use to set up Pure White Steam and bolster the lane), and any ranged units you use to support the lane will likely be shot down by the Supernova Casters that loiter around the bottom right and move to the top lane. The opening of the level in particular will put you under a severe DP crunch due to how early pressure starts rolling in along with the need to set up Soda Bottles so your units don't get obliterated under Carmine Steam, and if you can't bring things under control fast enough, the steady trickle of Big Men and Tornado Trendsetters will quickly bring your run to a halt. Challenge Mode, however, not only buffs up all enemy stats, but spawns in some more enemies in sadistic positions: the Fluffy Buddies at the top lane will instantly be set off by a Wandering Slider, forcing you to retake the top lane the hard way or suffer an instant death by Supernova Casters, and another Supernova Caster will show up in the middle of the map, letting it pressure the left lane during the aforementioned DP crunch and potentially even wipe a defense instantly if you can't bring the Carmine Steam under control again.
* SL-S-5 is similar to S-3 due to being another rematch with Dolly, but is made considerably worse by both the stage layout and his new backup. The 20% enemy buff is back in full force, and the map is split into two isolated lanes and a middle section that will be completely covered in Carmine Steam most of the time due to the Wandering Sliders patrolling around. The right lane will face constant pressure from the average sheep and Sliders, with occasional pairs of Tornado Trendsetters that will nuke the chokepoint and douse everything in Carmine Steam unless you quickly wrangle the tiles back upder control, while the right lane instead faces a steady stream of Big Men who necessitate a powerful ranged unit under a Decorative Geyser to take down in time. Dolly spawns early on and takes his sweet time traveling around the middle, which not only limits the positions you have to safely launch attacks against him, but sets you up for the true horror of the level - pairs of Supernova Casters, which will use the Carmine Steam in the middle to trigger their multi-targeting, allowing them to blast pretty much anything on the map and potentally instantly kill anything that Dolly placed Carmine Steam on. Also because of the massive amounts of Carmine Steam everywhere, Dolly's [[HerdHittingAttack Unintentional Explosion]] has the potential to cause a TotalPartyWipe if you aren't smart with your dedicated steam-spreaders or Soda Bottles, the latter which will be under huge demand since they're needed to both crack Dolly's shield and manage the Carmine Steam on every front. Challenge Mode further increases enemy stats and strengthens Dolly by giving his Wool Shield 200 HP instead of 150 (effectively meaning 25 more hits or one more Soda Bottle to break), turning the fight into a race against time to disable the shield and burst him before he causes too much trouble or escapes.
* SL-S-5 is similar to S-3 due to being another rematch with Dolly, but is made considerably worse by both the stage layout and his new backup. The 20% enemy buff is back in full force, and the map is split into two isolated lanes and a middle section that will be completely covered in Carmine Steam most of the time due to the Wandering Sliders patrolling around. The right lane will face constant pressure from the average sheep and Sliders, with occasional pairs of Tornado Trendsetters that will nuke the chokepoint and douse everything in Carmine Steam unless you quickly wrangle the tiles back upder control, while the right lane instead faces a steady stream of Big Men who necessitate a powerful ranged unit under a Decorative Geyser to take down in time. Dolly spawns early on and takes his sweet time traveling around the middle, which not only limits the positions you have to safely launch attacks against him, but sets you up for the true horror of the level - pairs of Supernova Casters, which will use the Carmine Steam in the middle to trigger their multi-targeting, allowing them to blast pretty much anything on the map and potentally instantly kill anything that Dolly placed Carmine Steam on. Also because of the massive amounts of Carmine Steam everywhere, Dolly's [[HerdHittingAttack Unintentional Explosion]] has the potential to cause a TotalPartyWipe if you aren't smart with your dedicated steam-spreaders or Soda Bottles, the latter which will be under huge demand since they're needed to both crack Dolly's shield and manage the Carmine Steam on every front. Challenge Mode further increases enemy stats and strengthens Dolly by giving his Wool Shield 200 HP instead of 150 (effectively meaning 25 more hits or one more Soda Bottle to break), turning the fight into a race against time to disable the shield and burst him before he causes too much trouble or escapes.
to:
* SL-S-4, specifically its Challenge Mode. Although it [[SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity unusually doesn't have the universal 20% buff that is standard for S stages,]] the level instantly opens up with an Urban Tornado Trendsetter while you're out of DP, which can vaporize Vanguard your Vanguards if you don't use a cheap meat shield to block it beforehand, while also setting up a chunk of Carmine Steam to let the incoming sheep become walls of stats. There's an isolated top lane with only a single melee tile that can be deployed on to block it (albeit with some Fluffy Buddies you can use to set up Pure White Steam and bolster the lane), and any ranged units you use to support the lane will likely be shot down by the Supernova Casters that loiter around the bottom right and move to the top lane. The opening of the level in particular will put you under a severe DP crunch due to how early pressure starts rolling in along with the need to set up Soda Bottles so your units don't get obliterated under Carmine Steam, and if you can't bring things under control fast enough, the steady trickle of Big Men and Tornado Trendsetters will quickly bring your run to a halt. Challenge Mode, however, not only buffs up all enemy stats, but spawns in some more enemies in sadistic positions: the Fluffy Buddies at the top lane will instantly be set off by a Wandering Slider, forcing you to retake the top lane the hard way or suffer an instant death by Supernova Casters, and another Supernova Caster will show up in the middle of the map, letting it pressure the left lane during the aforementioned DP crunch and potentially even wipe a defense instantly if you can't bring the Carmine Steam under control again.
* SL-S-5 is similar to S-3 due to being another rematch with Dolly, but is made considerably worse by both the stage layout and his new backup. The 20% enemy buff is back in full force, and the map is split into two isolated lanes and a middle section that will be completely covered in Carmine Steam most of the time due to the Wandering Sliders patrolling around. The right lane will face constant pressure from the average sheep and Sliders, with occasional pairs of Tornado Trendsetters that will nuke the chokepoint and douse everything in Carmine Steam unless you quickly wrangle the tiles back upder control, while the right lane instead faces a steady stream of Big Men who necessitate a powerful ranged unit under a Decorative Geyser to take down in time. Dolly spawns early on and takes his sweet time traveling around the middle, which not only limits the positions you have to safely launch attacks against him, but sets you up for the true horror of the level - pairs of Supernova Casters, which will use the Carmine Steam in the middle to trigger their multi-targeting, allowing them to blast pretty much anything on the map and potentally instantly kill anything that Dolly placed Carmine Steam on. Also because of the massive amounts of Carmine Steam everywhere, Dolly's [[HerdHittingAttack Unintentional Explosion]] has the potential to cause a TotalPartyWipe if you aren't smart with your dedicated steam-spreaders or Soda Bottles, the latter which will be under huge demand since they're needed to both crack Dolly's shield and manage the Carmine Steam on every front. Challenge Mode further increases enemy stats and strengthens Dolly by giving his Wool Shield 200 HP instead of 150 (effectively meaning 25 more hits or one more Soda Bottle to break), putting more strain on your Soda supplies and turning the fight into a race against time to disable the shield and burst him before he causes too much trouble or escapes.
* SL-S-5 is similar to S-3 due to being another rematch with Dolly, but is made considerably worse by both the stage layout and his new backup. The 20% enemy buff is back in full force, and the map is split into two isolated lanes and a middle section that will be completely covered in Carmine Steam most of the time due to the Wandering Sliders patrolling around. The right lane will face constant pressure from the average sheep and Sliders, with occasional pairs of Tornado Trendsetters that will nuke the chokepoint and douse everything in Carmine Steam unless you quickly wrangle the tiles back upder control, while the right lane instead faces a steady stream of Big Men who necessitate a powerful ranged unit under a Decorative Geyser to take down in time. Dolly spawns early on and takes his sweet time traveling around the middle, which not only limits the positions you have to safely launch attacks against him, but sets you up for the true horror of the level - pairs of Supernova Casters, which will use the Carmine Steam in the middle to trigger their multi-targeting, allowing them to blast pretty much anything on the map and potentally instantly kill anything that Dolly placed Carmine Steam on. Also because of the massive amounts of Carmine Steam everywhere, Dolly's [[HerdHittingAttack Unintentional Explosion]] has the potential to cause a TotalPartyWipe if you aren't smart with your dedicated steam-spreaders or Soda Bottles, the latter which will be under huge demand since they're needed to both crack Dolly's shield and manage the Carmine Steam on every front. Challenge Mode further increases enemy stats and strengthens Dolly by giving his Wool Shield 200 HP instead of 150 (effectively meaning 25 more hits or one more Soda Bottle to break), putting more strain on your Soda supplies and turning the fight into a race against time to disable the shield and burst him before he causes too much trouble or escapes.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* SL-S-4, specifically its Challenge Mode. Although it [[SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity unusually doesn't have the universal 20% buff that is standard for S stages,]] the level instantly opens up with an Urban Tornado Trendsetter while you're out of DP, which can vaporize Vanguard if you don't use a cheap meat shield to block it beforehand, while also setting up a chunk of Carmine Steam to let the incoming sheep become walls of stats. There's an isolated top lane with only a single melee tile that can be deployed on to block it (albeit with some Fluffy Buddies you can use to set up Pure White Steam and bolster the lane), and any ranged units you use to support the lane will likely be shot down by the Supernova Casters that loiter around the bottom right and move to the top lane. The opening of the level in particular will put you under a severe DP crunch due to how early pressure starts rolling in along with the need to set up Soda Bottles so your units don't get obliterated under Carmine Steam, and if you can't bring things under control fast enough, the steady trickle of Big Men and Tornado Trendsetters will quickly bring your run to a halt. Challenge Mode, however, not only buffs up all enemy stats, but spawns in some more enemies in sadistic positions: the Fluffy Buddies at the top lane will instantly be set off by a Wandering Slider, forcing you to retake the top lane the hard way or suffer an instant death by Supernova Casters, and another Supernova Caster will show up in the middle of the map, letting it pressure the left lane during the aforementioned DP crunch and potentially even wipe a defense instantly if you can't bring the Carmine Steam under control again.
* SL-S-5 is similar to S-3 due to being another rematch with Dolly, but is made considerably worse by both the stage layout and his new backup. The 20% enemy buff is back in full force, and the map is split into two isolated lanes and a middle section that will be completely covered in Carmine Steam most of the time due to the Wandering Sliders patrolling around. The right lane will face constant pressure from the average sheep and Sliders, with occasional pairs of Tornado Trendsetters that will nuke the chokepoint and douse everything in Carmine Steam unless you quickly wrangle the tiles back upder control, while the right lane instead faces a steady stream of Big Men who necessitate a powerful ranged unit under a Decorative Geyser to take down in time. Dolly spawns early on and takes his sweet time traveling around the middle, which not only limits the positions you have to safely launch attacks against him, but sets you up for the true horror of the level - pairs of Supernova Casters, which will use the Carmine Steam in the middle to trigger their multi-targeting, allowing them to blast pretty much anything on the map and potentally instantly kill anything that Dolly placed Carmine Steam on. Also because of the massive amounts of Carmine Steam everywhere, Dolly's [[HerdHittingAttack Unintentional Explosion]] has the potential to cause a TotalPartyWipe if you aren't smart with your dedicated steam-spreaders or Soda Bottles, the latter which will be under huge demand since they're needed to both crack Dolly's shield and manage the Carmine Steam on every front. Challenge Mode further increases enemy stats and strengthens Dolly by giving his Wool Shield 200 HP instead of 150 (effectively meaning 25 more hits or one more Soda Bottle to break), turning the fight into a race against time to disable the shield and burst him before he causes too much trouble or escapes.
* SL-S-5 is similar to S-3 due to being another rematch with Dolly, but is made considerably worse by both the stage layout and his new backup. The 20% enemy buff is back in full force, and the map is split into two isolated lanes and a middle section that will be completely covered in Carmine Steam most of the time due to the Wandering Sliders patrolling around. The right lane will face constant pressure from the average sheep and Sliders, with occasional pairs of Tornado Trendsetters that will nuke the chokepoint and douse everything in Carmine Steam unless you quickly wrangle the tiles back upder control, while the right lane instead faces a steady stream of Big Men who necessitate a powerful ranged unit under a Decorative Geyser to take down in time. Dolly spawns early on and takes his sweet time traveling around the middle, which not only limits the positions you have to safely launch attacks against him, but sets you up for the true horror of the level - pairs of Supernova Casters, which will use the Carmine Steam in the middle to trigger their multi-targeting, allowing them to blast pretty much anything on the map and potentally instantly kill anything that Dolly placed Carmine Steam on. Also because of the massive amounts of Carmine Steam everywhere, Dolly's [[HerdHittingAttack Unintentional Explosion]] has the potential to cause a TotalPartyWipe if you aren't smart with your dedicated steam-spreaders or Soda Bottles, the latter which will be under huge demand since they're needed to both crack Dolly's shield and manage the Carmine Steam on every front. Challenge Mode further increases enemy stats and strengthens Dolly by giving his Wool Shield 200 HP instead of 150 (effectively meaning 25 more hits or one more Soda Bottle to break), turning the fight into a race against time to disable the shield and burst him before he causes too much trouble or escapes.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 37,39 (click to see context) from:
* OF-[=EX6=] from the Obsidian Festival event is particularly difficult, even for experienced players. The map is extremely open, with few chokepoints and multiple enemy spawnpoints allowing them to attack from all directions. There are also multiple lava fountains present, which limits the safe placement of operators and roadblocks since they cause heavy [=AoE=] damage every time they erupt and melt roadblocks in the vicinity. Finally, the map spawns consist of both Sniper Leaders and heavily DEF-buffed Ergate Leaders, which cause a difficult to counter combination where Sniper Leaders will effectively permastun your DPS operators while the Ergate Leaders run straight through your lines. Due to the way the spawn waves are structured, this is actually one of the few maps where [=SilverAsh=] cannot reliably carry by himself, since his Truesilver Slash does not last long enough and takes too long to recharge to deal with all of the threats coming his way. As a final proverbial punch to the gut, there's a near hidden spawn at the bottom right of the map that many players may miss if they haven't looked closely at the map's structure prior to entering the stage as it can be hidden by any operator portraits they haven't deployed - and woe betide you if you miss it, since it'll eventually start spawning Agent Leaders.
* CB-[=EX7=] from Code of Brawl. Unlike most stages, the initial trickle of enemies are already a bit tricky due to including Elite Brawlers that will quickly punch your squishy Vanguards to kingdom come and they will only keep spawning from here. Not only that, the map will also have the player handle all three different lanes of varying difficulty, and with the game limiting how many operators maybe deployed, it requires careful balancing as the Medics, Defenders, and powerful DPS can't be placed to watch every lane. When the Rat King enters the stage, things only get worse. Anyone familiar with Rat King knows that careful positioning of operators as well as bringing at least one squishy Fast-Redeploy operator comes a long way when fighting him. Another thing crops up when the enemies starts to spawn through the upper and lower lane, where the Bulldozer travels through back and forth, if this doesn't seem to be a problem, wait until he collides with your Defender and causing enemies to leak, even worse of it's Greytail Leaders, Elite Brawlers or Authorized Caster Leader who can quickly take care of the squishy DPS units behind the Defender or the humble Originium Slugs rushing and making for home base now that the Defender is preoccupied. All that on top of the Rat King constantly initiating his skill to check that the player deployments are on point lest they will get struck down fairly quickly.
* Code of Brawl's CB-[=EX8=] is a nasty one. This map has multiple open routes in which enemy units can find their way to the blue base. With an unpleasant combination of enemies including Greytails, Bullies/Bulldozer, Fanatics, and of course, Ergate Leaders, making it a hassle to succeed. To make matters worse, your deployment limit is initially capped at 5 before upgrading the Control Terminals, limiting your defensive lineup for quite a while. Its Challenge Mode version, takes the difficulty up a notch, doubling the amount of time needed for the Control Terminals to be activated, in which Bullies have already shown up to ruin your day. A particular saving grace is that the Brawler enemies are the key to an EasyLevelTrick by letting them hit Liskarm so that she can generate SP to an adjacent ally, ideally [=SilverAsh=] or Mudrock (Eyjafjalla or Angelina can work too, though the tile placements makes it difficult to place them next to Liskarm) so that they can spam Truesilver Slash and Crag Splitter more often than they normally could to solidly deal with the incoming waves. If you have at least one of Liskarm and [=SilverAsh=]/Mudrock (allowing the other to be borrowed from a friend, if needed), then good luck. If you have neither, then, good luck.
* CB-[=EX7=] from Code of Brawl. Unlike most stages, the initial trickle of enemies are already a bit tricky due to including Elite Brawlers that will quickly punch your squishy Vanguards to kingdom come and they will only keep spawning from here. Not only that, the map will also have the player handle all three different lanes of varying difficulty, and with the game limiting how many operators maybe deployed, it requires careful balancing as the Medics, Defenders, and powerful DPS can't be placed to watch every lane. When the Rat King enters the stage, things only get worse. Anyone familiar with Rat King knows that careful positioning of operators as well as bringing at least one squishy Fast-Redeploy operator comes a long way when fighting him. Another thing crops up when the enemies starts to spawn through the upper and lower lane, where the Bulldozer travels through back and forth, if this doesn't seem to be a problem, wait until he collides with your Defender and causing enemies to leak, even worse of it's Greytail Leaders, Elite Brawlers or Authorized Caster Leader who can quickly take care of the squishy DPS units behind the Defender or the humble Originium Slugs rushing and making for home base now that the Defender is preoccupied. All that on top of the Rat King constantly initiating his skill to check that the player deployments are on point lest they will get struck down fairly quickly.
* Code of Brawl's CB-[=EX8=] is a nasty one. This map has multiple open routes in which enemy units can find their way to the blue base. With an unpleasant combination of enemies including Greytails, Bullies/Bulldozer, Fanatics, and of course, Ergate Leaders, making it a hassle to succeed. To make matters worse, your deployment limit is initially capped at 5 before upgrading the Control Terminals, limiting your defensive lineup for quite a while. Its Challenge Mode version, takes the difficulty up a notch, doubling the amount of time needed for the Control Terminals to be activated, in which Bullies have already shown up to ruin your day. A particular saving grace is that the Brawler enemies are the key to an EasyLevelTrick by letting them hit Liskarm so that she can generate SP to an adjacent ally, ideally [=SilverAsh=] or Mudrock (Eyjafjalla or Angelina can work too, though the tile placements makes it difficult to place them next to Liskarm) so that they can spam Truesilver Slash and Crag Splitter more often than they normally could to solidly deal with the incoming waves. If you have at least one of Liskarm and [=SilverAsh=]/Mudrock (allowing the other to be borrowed from a friend, if needed), then good luck. If you have neither, then, good luck.
to:
* OF-[=EX6=] OF-EX-6 from the Obsidian Festival event is particularly difficult, even for experienced players. The map is extremely open, with few chokepoints and multiple enemy spawnpoints allowing them to attack from all directions. There are also multiple lava fountains present, which limits the safe placement of operators and roadblocks since they cause heavy [=AoE=] damage every time they erupt and melt roadblocks in the vicinity. Finally, the map spawns consist of both Sniper Leaders and heavily DEF-buffed Ergate Leaders, which cause a difficult to counter combination where Sniper Leaders will effectively permastun your DPS operators while the Ergate Leaders run straight through your lines. Due to the way the spawn waves are structured, this is actually one of the few maps where [=SilverAsh=] cannot reliably carry by himself, since his Truesilver Slash does not last long enough and takes too long to recharge to deal with all of the threats coming his way. As a final proverbial punch to the gut, there's a near hidden spawn at the bottom right of the map that many players may miss if they haven't looked closely at the map's structure prior to entering the stage as it can be hidden by any operator portraits they haven't deployed - and woe betide you if you miss it, since it'll eventually start spawning Agent Leaders.
*CB-[=EX7=] CB-EX-7 from Code of Brawl. Unlike most stages, the initial trickle of enemies are already a bit tricky due to including Elite Brawlers that will quickly punch your squishy Vanguards to kingdom come and they will only keep spawning from here. Not only that, the map will also have the player handle all three different lanes of varying difficulty, and with the game limiting how many operators maybe deployed, it requires careful balancing as the Medics, Defenders, and powerful DPS can't be placed to watch every lane. When the Rat King enters the stage, things only get worse. Anyone familiar with Rat King knows that careful positioning of operators as well as bringing at least one squishy Fast-Redeploy operator comes a long way when fighting him. Another thing crops up when the enemies starts to spawn through the upper and lower lane, where the Bulldozer travels through back and forth, if this doesn't seem to be a problem, wait until he collides with your Defender and causing enemies to leak, even worse of it's Greytail Leaders, Elite Brawlers or Authorized Caster Leader who can quickly take care of the squishy DPS units behind the Defender or the humble Originium Slugs rushing and making for home base now that the Defender is preoccupied. All that on top of the Rat King constantly initiating his skill to check that the player deployments are on point lest they will get struck down fairly quickly.
* Code of Brawl'sCB-[=EX8=] CB-EX-8 is a nasty one. This map has multiple open routes in which enemy units can find their way to the blue base. With an unpleasant combination of enemies including Greytails, Bullies/Bulldozer, Fanatics, and of course, Ergate Leaders, making it a hassle to succeed. To make matters worse, your deployment limit is initially capped at 5 before upgrading the Control Terminals, limiting your defensive lineup for quite a while. Its Challenge Mode version, takes the difficulty up a notch, doubling the amount of time needed for the Control Terminals to be activated, in which Bullies have already shown up to ruin your day. A particular saving grace is that the Brawler enemies are the key to an EasyLevelTrick by letting them hit Liskarm so that she can generate SP to an adjacent ally, ideally [=SilverAsh=] or Mudrock (Eyjafjalla or Angelina can work too, though the tile placements makes it difficult to place them next to Liskarm) so that they can spam Truesilver Slash and Crag Splitter more often than they normally could to solidly deal with the incoming waves. If you have at least one of Liskarm and [=SilverAsh=]/Mudrock (allowing the other to be borrowed from a friend, if needed), then good luck. If you have neither, then, good luck.
*
* Code of Brawl's
Changed line(s) 41 (click to see context) from:
* TW-[=EX8=] of ''Twilight of Wolumonde'' fame. The start of the stage up is pretty manageable. The enemy that trickles in are fairly weak, even the Colossi can be taken care of fairly quickly with some Gramophone help. This changes quickly when the first Winterwisp Blood Shaman enters the map and began rushing the player defenses, and they began to appear from time to time from then on, gradually changing into Winterwisp Blood Magistrates. Still sounds easy? Well, that is until Mudrock enters the scene, then the problem starts. Mudrock and the Winterwisp Blood Shamans/Magistrates will both bum-rush the player defenses and start to thoroughly dispatch their operators like hot knives through butter, not to mention potentially hijacking any Gramophone in sight with their skill usage/suicide explosion. Unless the players can burst down Mudrock quickly as soon as they appear and take out the Winterwisps without letting them explode near a gramophone, this stage is a fairly tough nut to crack that requires some timely deployment, redeployment, and skill usage.
to:
* TW-[=EX8=] TW-EX-8 of ''Twilight of Wolumonde'' fame. The start of the stage up is pretty manageable. The enemy that trickles in are fairly weak, even the Colossi can be taken care of fairly quickly with some Gramophone help. This changes quickly when the first Winterwisp Blood Shaman enters the map and began rushing the player defenses, and they began to appear from time to time from then on, gradually changing into Winterwisp Blood Magistrates. Still sounds easy? Well, that is until Mudrock enters the scene, then the problem starts. Mudrock and the Winterwisp Blood Shamans/Magistrates will both bum-rush the player defenses and start to thoroughly dispatch their operators like hot knives through butter, not to mention potentially hijacking any Gramophone in sight with their skill usage/suicide explosion. Unless the players can burst down Mudrock quickly as soon as they appear and take out the Winterwisps without letting them explode near a gramophone, this stage is a fairly tough nut to crack that requires some timely deployment, redeployment, and skill usage.
Added DiffLines:
* SL-EX-7. The level starts covered in Fluffy Buddies that you'd expect to be able to use to douse the map in Pure White Steam, but the level immediately throws out its first curveball by ''instantly'' sending out a Wandering Slider to do a drive-by on the first Fluffy Buddy, causing a chain reaction that covers most the map in Carmine Steam right away. This is immediately followed by four Supenova Casters that will park themselves on the tiles now covered in Carmine Steam, spread out enough that they can hit almost anything on the map with their multi-target Arts; the Casters will erase anything you send out if you thought you could stop the Wandering Slider before the chain reaction, and the fact that you start with ''0 DP'' means it's almost impossible to beat the Wandering Slider to the punch and detonate the Fluffy Buddies first without some extreme DP optimization. The Supernova Casters combined with the middle of the map likely being buried under Carmine Steam make it extremely difficult to retake it from the sheep, and their extreme range lets them easily pressure any defense you can muster, especially if you let the other enemies cover more of the map. Said enemies include loads of sheep that will spawn more Carmine Steam on death, more Sliders that will douse the entire map unless blocked or revealed, and four more Supernova Casters that can dismantle your lines if you haven't killed the first four by then. There's also an isolated top lane that will periodically send in Wandering Sliders and Big Men, the latter of which have very high stats and can instantly kill blockers covered in Carmine Steam from their thrown sheep or the Sliders, not helped by how the Supernova Casters can ''also'' bombard most of the top lane, destroying anything that isn't under White Steam. Challenge Mode makes it even more enraging by buffing all enemy stats and massively raising the ASPD of the Supernova Casters, turning a huge chunk of the map into a veritable InstantDeathRadius.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
* Pretty much the entirety of Hortus de Escapismo is extraordinarily difficult thanks mainly to the inclusion of the Monastery Inhabitant civilians, which like other civilian units need to be actively [[EscortMission babysat]] by the player. However, what makes these a different level of difficulty to manage is the fact that Monastery Inhabitants will panic when enemies are present, losing HP as long as they are panicked until they reach a statue to temporarily calm down. However, this is only temporary, and unless you're constantly sacrificing 20 DP to activate the holy statue to manage panic, the Monastery Inhabitants will panic again and run away from their current statue to a different one, regardless if it's on the other side of the map and their path is blocked off by pitfalls, which [[TooDumbToLive they will gladly run off into]] in their sheer panic. What makes this worse is ''every'' other mechanic in the event is specifically designed to disrupt any attempts to manage panic, from enemies that can slow DP generation, steal DP, lower your DP cap, or prioritize destroying statues, to areas that infinitely spawn rolling rocks that will destroy wooden walkways and open up pits for Monastery Inhabitants to fall into. It's a small miracle that the FinalBoss doesn't actually need to be fought, because the player is going to be too tied up dealing with the numerous [[ScrappyMechanic scrappy-tier mechanics]] of the event.
to:
* Pretty much the entirety of Hortus de Escapismo is extraordinarily difficult thanks mainly to the inclusion of the Monastery Inhabitant civilians, which like other civilian units need to be actively [[EscortMission babysat]] by the player. However, what makes these a different level of difficulty to manage is the fact that Monastery Inhabitants will panic when enemies are present, losing HP as long as they are panicked until they reach a statue to temporarily calm down. However, this is only temporary, and unless you're constantly sacrificing 20 DP to activate the holy statue to manage panic, the Monastery Inhabitants will panic again and run away from their current statue to a different one, regardless if it's on the other side of the map and their path is blocked off by pitfalls, which [[TooDumbToLive they will gladly run off into]] in their sheer panic. What makes this worse is ''every'' other mechanic in the event is specifically designed to disrupt any attempts to manage panic, from enemies that can slow DP generation, steal DP, lower your DP cap, or prioritize destroying statues, to areas that infinitely spawn rolling rocks that will destroy wooden walkways and open up pits for Monastery Inhabitants to fall into. It's a small miracle that the FinalBoss doesn't actually need to be fought, because the player is going to be too tied up dealing with the numerous [[ScrappyMechanic scrappy-tier mechanics]] of the event.event, though he does apply debuffs to make things more difficult.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
* Pretty much the entirety of Hortus de Escapismo is extraordinarily diffcult thanks mainly to the inclusion of the Monastery Inhabitant civilians, which like other civilian units need to be actively [[EscortMission babysat]] by the player. However, what makes these a different level of difficulty to manage is the fact that Monastery Inhabitants will panic when enemies are present, losing HP as long as they are panicked until they reach a statue to temporarily calm down. However, this is only temporary, and unless you're constantly sacrificing 20 DP to activate the holy statue to manage panic, the Monastarey Inhabitants will panic again and run away from their current statue to a different one, regardless if it's on the other side of the map and their path is blocked off by pitfalls, which [[TooDumbToLive they will gladly run off into]] in their sheer panic. What makes this worse is ''every'' other mechanic in the event is specifically designed to disrupt any attempts to manage panic, from enemies that can slow DP generation, steal DP, lower your DP cap, or priortize destroying statues, to areas that infintitely spawn rolling rocks that will destroy wooden walkways and open up pits for Monastary Inhabitants to fall into.
to:
* Pretty much the entirety of Hortus de Escapismo is extraordinarily diffcult difficult thanks mainly to the inclusion of the Monastery Inhabitant civilians, which like other civilian units need to be actively [[EscortMission babysat]] by the player. However, what makes these a different level of difficulty to manage is the fact that Monastery Inhabitants will panic when enemies are present, losing HP as long as they are panicked until they reach a statue to temporarily calm down. However, this is only temporary, and unless you're constantly sacrificing 20 DP to activate the holy statue to manage panic, the Monastarey Monastery Inhabitants will panic again and run away from their current statue to a different one, regardless if it's on the other side of the map and their path is blocked off by pitfalls, which [[TooDumbToLive they will gladly run off into]] in their sheer panic. What makes this worse is ''every'' other mechanic in the event is specifically designed to disrupt any attempts to manage panic, from enemies that can slow DP generation, steal DP, lower your DP cap, or priortize prioritize destroying statues, to areas that infintitely infinitely spawn rolling rocks that will destroy wooden walkways and open up pits for Monastary Monastery Inhabitants to fall into.into. It's a small miracle that the FinalBoss doesn't actually need to be fought, because the player is going to be too tied up dealing with the numerous [[ScrappyMechanic scrappy-tier mechanics]] of the event.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
* One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo (HE-TR-2) is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the planks over pits, which you may either want to patch up or use a barricade so a civilian doesn't fall in it. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed to half its normal rate for some reason (and this is not mentioned anywhere in the stage description) but they give you Myrtle to generate it. However, Myrtle is the only one defending the home point and using her skill allows enemies to go right through her, so you can't use it all the time. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill and having Jessica also deployed to do additional damage, she will die well before the map is done if you can't find a way to stop this. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy; you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doesn't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the rest of the main stages, it only blocks civilians, and as mentioned, only temporary in that it'll be up for a short period of time.
to:
* Pretty much the entirety of Hortus de Escapismo is extraordinarily diffcult thanks mainly to the inclusion of the Monastery Inhabitant civilians, which like other civilian units need to be actively [[EscortMission babysat]] by the player. However, what makes these a different level of difficulty to manage is the fact that Monastery Inhabitants will panic when enemies are present, losing HP as long as they are panicked until they reach a statue to temporarily calm down. However, this is only temporary, and unless you're constantly sacrificing 20 DP to activate the holy statue to manage panic, the Monastarey Inhabitants will panic again and run away from their current statue to a different one, regardless if it's on the other side of the map and their path is blocked off by pitfalls, which [[TooDumbToLive they will gladly run off into]] in their sheer panic. What makes this worse is ''every'' other mechanic in the event is specifically designed to disrupt any attempts to manage panic, from enemies that can slow DP generation, steal DP, lower your DP cap, or priortize destroying statues, to areas that infintitely spawn rolling rocks that will destroy wooden walkways and open up pits for Monastary Inhabitants to fall into.
** One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo (HE-TR-2) is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the planks over pits, which you may either want to patch up or use a barricade so a civilian doesn't fall in it. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed to half its normal rate for some reason (and this is not mentioned anywhere in the stage description) but they give you Myrtle to generate it. However, Myrtle is the only one defending the home point and using her skill allows enemies to go right through her, so you can't use it all the time. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill and having Jessica also deployed to do additional damage, she will die well before the map is done if you can't find a way to stop this. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy; you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doesn't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the rest of the main stages, it only blocks civilians, and as mentioned, only temporary in that it'll be up for a short period of time.
** One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo (HE-TR-2) is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the planks over pits, which you may either want to patch up or use a barricade so a civilian doesn't fall in it. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed to half its normal rate for some reason (and this is not mentioned anywhere in the stage description) but they give you Myrtle to generate it. However, Myrtle is the only one defending the home point and using her skill allows enemies to go right through her, so you can't use it all the time. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill and having Jessica also deployed to do additional damage, she will die well before the map is done if you can't find a way to stop this. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy; you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doesn't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the rest of the main stages, it only blocks civilians, and as mentioned, only temporary in that it'll be up for a short period of time.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
* One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo (HE-TR-2) is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the planks over pits, requiring you to patch them up. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed to half its normal rate for some reason (and this is not mentioned anywhere in the stage description) but they give you Myrtle to generate it. The problem is Myrtle is the only one defending the home point and her skill stops her from attacking enemies. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill, she will die well before the map is done if you can't find a way to stop this. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and attack her; they will kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy, and you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doesn't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the main story stages, it only blocks civilians, and as mentioned, isn't permanent.
to:
* One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo (HE-TR-2) is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the planks over pits, requiring which you may either want to patch them up.up or use a barricade so a civilian doesn't fall in it. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed to half its normal rate for some reason (and this is not mentioned anywhere in the stage description) but they give you Myrtle to generate it. The problem is However, Myrtle is the only one defending the home point and using her skill stops her from attacking enemies.allows enemies to go right through her, so you can't use it all the time. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill, skill and having Jessica also deployed to do additional damage, she will die well before the map is done if you can't find a way to stop this. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and attack her; they will kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy, and deploy; you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doesn't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the rest of the main story stages, it only blocks civilians, and as mentioned, isn't permanent.only temporary in that it'll be up for a short period of time.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
* One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo (HE-TR-2) is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the planks over pits, requiring you to patch them up. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed for some reason (and is unstated in the stage description) but they give you Myrtle to generate it. The problem is Myrtle is the only one defending the home point and her skill stops her from attacking enemies. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill, she will die well before the map is done if you can't find a way to stop this. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and attack her; they will kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy, and you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doesn't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the main story stages, it only blocks civilians, and as mentioned, isn't permanent.
to:
* One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo (HE-TR-2) is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the planks over pits, requiring you to patch them up. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed to half its normal rate for some reason (and this is unstated not mentioned anywhere in the stage description) but they give you Myrtle to generate it. The problem is Myrtle is the only one defending the home point and her skill stops her from attacking enemies. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill, she will die well before the map is done if you can't find a way to stop this. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and attack her; they will kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy, and you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doesn't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the main story stages, it only blocks civilians, and as mentioned, isn't permanent.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
* One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo (HE-TR-2) is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the planks over pits, requiring you to patch them up. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed for some reason but they give you Myrtle to generate it. The problem is Myrtle is the only one defending the home point and her skill stops her from attacking enemies. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill, she will die well before the map is done if you can't find a way to stop this. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and attack her; they will kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy, and you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doesn't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the main story stages, it only blocks civilians, and as mentioned, isn't permanent.
to:
* One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo (HE-TR-2) is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the planks over pits, requiring you to patch them up. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed for some reason (and is unstated in the stage description) but they give you Myrtle to generate it. The problem is Myrtle is the only one defending the home point and her skill stops her from attacking enemies. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill, she will die well before the map is done if you can't find a way to stop this. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and attack her; they will kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy, and you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doesn't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the main story stages, it only blocks civilians, and as mentioned, isn't permanent.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
* One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo (HE-TR-2) is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the plankts over pits, requiring you to patch them up. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed for some reason but they give you Myrtle to generate it. The problem is Myrtle is the only one defending the home point. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and in the path of most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill, she will die well before the map is done. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and attack her, and they will kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy, and you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doens't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the main story stages and it only blocks civilians.
to:
* One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo (HE-TR-2) is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the plankts planks over pits, requiring you to patch them up. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed for some reason but they give you Myrtle to generate it. The problem is Myrtle is the only one defending the home point. point and her skill stops her from attacking enemies. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and in the path of most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill, she will die well before the map is done. done if you can't find a way to stop this. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and attack her, and her; they will kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy, and you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doens't doesn't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the main story stages and stages, it only blocks civilians.civilians, and as mentioned, isn't permanent.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
* One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the plankts over pits, requiring you to patch them up. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed for some reason but they give you Myrtle to generate it. The problem is Myrtle is the only one defending the home point. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and in the path of most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill, she will die well before the map is done. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and attack her, and they will kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy, and you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doens't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the main story stages and it only blocks civilians.
to:
* One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo (HE-TR-2) is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the plankts over pits, requiring you to patch them up. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed for some reason but they give you Myrtle to generate it. The problem is Myrtle is the only one defending the home point. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and in the path of most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill, she will die well before the map is done. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and attack her, and they will kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy, and you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doens't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the main story stages and it only blocks civilians.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
to:
* One wouldn't think a tutorial stage could qualify, but the second tutorial stage for Hortus De Escapismo is infamous for playing more like a puzzle stage if you want to clear it without leaks. The point of this tutorial stage in particular is to introduce three things: boulders that periodically roll down a line and damage anything in its path, temporary barricades that can be used to block the panicking civilians so they don't walk into a bottomless pit (these are cheaper to build than filling in a gap), and one that wasn't mentioned is that the boulders can break the plankts over pits, requiring you to patch them up. What makes this much harder than it should be is DP generation is slowed for some reason but they give you Myrtle to generate it. The problem is Myrtle is the only one defending the home point. Secondly, Nearl is deployed in such a way that she's in the path of two boulders and in the path of most of the trash mobs. Despite her healing skill, she will die well before the map is done. Lastly, Amiya is deployed in another part of the map and Wasteland Robbers (ranged enemies) will spawn nearby and attack her, and they will kill her in a few hits. You're given Gravel and Gummy to deploy, and you have to figure out how to use them so that Nearl and Amiya don't die, all the while making sure the civilian doesn't fall off the pit. It doens't help that the barricade mechanic is only used once more in the main story stages and it only blocks civilians.
Added DiffLines:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 124,126 (click to see context) from:
* While the second expansion added some [[GameBreaker gamebreakingly powerful]] collectibles as well as even more Cognitive Shaping bonuses to the mix to make things easier, it also threw a few curveballs in the newly added stages. Mutual Aid, a new combat node for the first floor, is frustrating for the reason that it includes two Dublinn Flying Soldiers, making it the first early stage to **require** a unit that can hit aerial targets. Considering that the flying soldiers are also more durable than most low level aerial foes, it's entirely possible that certain low rarity units that the player regularly starts with such as Steward or Orchid might not even be able to take them down before they leave their range, especially at higher Surging Waves where enemies are more durable and have increased RES, essentially requiring a start that includes Kroos at the very minimum under the threat of encountering this stage early. Worse if you choose a random starting squad that starts you with no ranged units at all, making this [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption a guaranteed -2 to your Life Points]] and thus likely dropping your Light as well. While not that difficult with the right starters, the clear case of CharacterSelectForcing is quite egregious, leading the state to cause quite a lot of frustration.
* Also from the second expansion is Hunger and Thirst, which includes the DemonicSpiders from Chapter 11 in the Rotchasers and Sarkaz Wither Devourers. The Rotchaser has extremely high health and enough damage to rip apart a weak blocker without healing support, while the Sarkaz Wither Devourers need to be either fed a fodder melee unit to spare your necessary blocker or killed with a strong ranged unit before they begin to move, which is no easy task considering this stage appears on the second floor, meaning your squad is likely still lacking. And if that wasn't enough, a half dozen Seeds of Withering will spawn on the right side of the map twice over the course of the stage, necessitating someone either be sacrificed or be durable enough to survive **that** burst of damage as well on top of everything else the map throws at you. Not to mention the Emergency Operation version of the map which not only buffs the enemies' stats but spawns a **second** Sarkaz Wither Devourer that you have to deal with before they start moving and consume your blocker. For a pre-third floor stage, this one can be astonishingly difficult due to the resources needed to handle the various gimmicks at play.
* Also from the second expansion is Hunger and Thirst, which includes the DemonicSpiders from Chapter 11 in the Rotchasers and Sarkaz Wither Devourers. The Rotchaser has extremely high health and enough damage to rip apart a weak blocker without healing support, while the Sarkaz Wither Devourers need to be either fed a fodder melee unit to spare your necessary blocker or killed with a strong ranged unit before they begin to move, which is no easy task considering this stage appears on the second floor, meaning your squad is likely still lacking. And if that wasn't enough, a half dozen Seeds of Withering will spawn on the right side of the map twice over the course of the stage, necessitating someone either be sacrificed or be durable enough to survive **that** burst of damage as well on top of everything else the map throws at you. Not to mention the Emergency Operation version of the map which not only buffs the enemies' stats but spawns a **second** Sarkaz Wither Devourer that you have to deal with before they start moving and consume your blocker. For a pre-third floor stage, this one can be astonishingly difficult due to the resources needed to handle the various gimmicks at play.
to:
* While the second expansion added some [[GameBreaker gamebreakingly powerful]] collectibles as well as even more Cognitive Shaping bonuses to the mix to make things easier, it also threw a few curveballs in the newly added stages. Mutual Aid, a new combat node for the first floor, is frustrating for the reason that it includes two Dublinn Flying Soldiers, making it the first early stage to **require** ''require'' a unit that can hit aerial targets. Considering that the flying soldiers are also more durable than most low level aerial foes, it's entirely possible that certain low rarity units that the player regularly starts with such as Steward or Orchid might not even be able to take them down before they leave their range, especially at higher Surging Waves where enemies are more durable and have increased RES, essentially requiring a start that includes Kroos at the very minimum under the threat of encountering this stage early. Worse if you choose a random starting squad that starts you with no ranged units at all, making this [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption a guaranteed -2 to your Life Points]] and thus likely dropping your Light as well. While not that difficult with the right starters, the clear case of CharacterSelectForcing is quite egregious, leading the state to cause quite a lot of frustration.
* Also from the second expansion is Hunger and Thirst, which includes the DemonicSpiders from Chapter 11 in the Rotchasers and Sarkaz Wither Devourers. The Rotchaser has extremely high health and enough damage to rip apart a weak blocker without healing support, while the Sarkaz Wither Devourers need to be either fed a fodder melee unit to spare your necessary blocker or killed with a strong ranged unit before they begin to move, which is no easy task considering this stage appears on the second floor, meaning your squad is likely still lacking. And if that wasn't enough, a half dozen Seeds of Withering will spawn on the right side of the map twice over the course of the stage, necessitating someone either be sacrificed or be durable enough to survive**that** ''that'' burst of damage as well on top of everything else the map throws at you. Not to mention the Emergency Operation version of the map which not only buffs the enemies' stats but spawns a **second** ''second'' Sarkaz Wither Devourer that you have to deal with before they start moving and consume your blocker. For a pre-third floor stage, this one can be astonishingly difficult due to the resources needed to handle the various gimmicks at play.
* Also from the second expansion is Hunger and Thirst, which includes the DemonicSpiders from Chapter 11 in the Rotchasers and Sarkaz Wither Devourers. The Rotchaser has extremely high health and enough damage to rip apart a weak blocker without healing support, while the Sarkaz Wither Devourers need to be either fed a fodder melee unit to spare your necessary blocker or killed with a strong ranged unit before they begin to move, which is no easy task considering this stage appears on the second floor, meaning your squad is likely still lacking. And if that wasn't enough, a half dozen Seeds of Withering will spawn on the right side of the map twice over the course of the stage, necessitating someone either be sacrificed or be durable enough to survive
