Rift Lord game mode impossible now

[granderslice]

Between the limited money you get at the beginning, the expense of the traps, the amount and type of enemy, and the nerfing of the best traps, Rift Lord mode is now impossible. I have used every trinket, every weapon, and every trap in pretty much every combination. If anyone knows the secret to winning Rift Mode, please help me. OR (hello, Devs?). . . give the players more money, make the traps less expensive, nerf the type or amount of enemy, or unnerf the tar traps and laser traps. Like seriously, I can't be the only one this frustrated.

[Crow]

Rift lord mode is just as trivial as it was before. Just use the exact same OP traps and weapons, they are still fantastic. Heck, I barely notice a change.

What is it that you are having trouble with specifically?

[DarkenDragon]

or, or, or, learn how the mechanics of the traps work and learn to be more efficient with your kill boxes, because its all still possible

[⇧⇨⇩⇩⇩]

Originally posted by Azamat Agbayani:

Between the limited money you get at the beginning, the expense of the traps, the amount and type of enemy, and the nerfing of the best traps, Rift Lord mode is now impossible. I have used every trinket, every weapon, and every trap in pretty much every combination. If anyone knows the secret to winning Rift Mode, please help me. OR (hello, Devs?). . . give the players more money, make the traps less expensive, nerf the type or amount of enemy, or unnerf the tar traps and laser traps. Like seriously, I can't be the only one this frustrated.

Lol, no it isnt, you just need to adjust your strategy instead of spamming a few over tuned traps on every level. Try some of the traps that got buffed in the patch. The dragon head with bounce is awesome if used correctly.

[Mist of Majora]

The very short, honest, and almost jerk-like answer is that almost every trap is good in this game (and quite possibly every, but im still working on finding uses for a rare few).

The longer version is... from the traps you listed to buff, it sounds like you looked at a 'best trap setup' video, and have been spamming around it each level. One of the biggest changes with this game from past ones, is that if you're trying to use the exact same traps each level, you may get through warmage, but you're bound to have issues on Rift Lord difficulty. I'd suggest either looking into some vids for traps other people have tried, or starting a thread that focuses only on builds for MISSIONS, instead of just an overall trap setup.

Also new in this game is that debuffing enemies is pretty important in a lot of situations, so building traps that do no damage but debuff just before a killbox can make a huge difference too.

[ForeverZero]

Originally posted by Azamat Agbayani:

Between the limited money you get at the beginning, the expense of the traps, the amount and type of enemy, and the nerfing of the best traps, Rift Lord mode is now impossible. I have used every trinket, every weapon, and every trap in pretty much every combination.

Press 'X' to doubt...
Seriously, most of the nerfs are hardly noticeable and the buffs make many more traps much better now, if anything there are even more winning options for Rift Lord.

[Rubyeyed]

Lasers are trash now but I'm sure you can replace them with something else. It's not the end of the world.

[⇧⇨⇩⇩⇩]

Originally posted by Rubyeyed:

Lasers are trash now but I'm sure you can replace them with something else. It's not the end of the world.

They were in a veird spot. A trap with constant uptime, infinite reach and applies a status effect shouldnt also be a high damage trap. Perhaps they nerfed the hitbox a bit too much, but at the very least the lasers should be more for combo points and nabbing runners/sappers than for shredding waves.

[Sebastian Peril]

It's not impossible, but it is very difficult. I've managed to get 5 skulls on every level up to Secret Fortress on Rift Lord post-patch (some levels have been brutal), but I admit I've hit a wall here. It feels like I could have scraped through if the nerfs hadn't occurred but there just seems to be way too many enemies and way too few funds to cope with the onslaught.

I don't recall the first two games being even close to this difficult on Nightmare mode.

[Mist of Majora]

Originally posted by Sebastian Peril:

It's not impossible, but it is very difficult. I've managed to get 5 skulls on every level up to Secret Fortress on Rift Lord post-patch (some levels have been brutal), but I admit I've hit a wall here. It feels like I could have scraped through if the nerfs hadn't occurred but there just seems to be way too many enemies and way too few funds to cope with the onslaught.

I don't recall the first two games being even close to this difficult on Nightmare mode.

Secret Fortress is my last mission in the campaign I have yet to 5 skull - it's literally been a nightmare to get through flawlessly lol

Originally posted by morrganstain:

Originally posted by Rubyeyed:

Lasers are trash now but I'm sure you can replace them with something else. It's not the end of the world.

They were in a veird spot. A trap with constant uptime, infinite reach and applies a status effect shouldnt also be a high damage trap. Perhaps they nerfed the hitbox a bit too much, but at the very least the lasers should be more for combo points and nabbing runners/sappers than for shredding waves.

Totally agreed, they went from OP to useless with the hitbox nerf in addition to everything else (I'd be happy with the nerf if they just returned the hitbox to what it was and left the dmg nerfs). Ironically, lasers might be the most useless trap of the bunch now lol

[Vortimous]

and there lies another problem... alot of videos out there showing these levels getting beat easily, dont work so well now with the new nerfs... almost all of them were using lasers and the same success cant be done so the videos as misleading into thinking this is how they 5 starred it.. but they had prenurf conditions which changes alot... just something to think about as you watch strat videos to see how others beat it....

[Nimitz]

Building killbox isn t that hard :/.

[⇧⇨⇩⇩⇩]

Originally posted by Vortimous:

and there lies another problem... alot of videos out there showing these levels getting beat easily, dont work so well now with the new nerfs... almost all of them were using lasers and the same success cant be done so the videos as misleading into thinking this is how they 5 starred it.. but they had prenurf conditions which changes alot... just something to think about as you watch strat videos to see how others beat it....

I have played (and 5 skulled) half of the main campaign and all of the drastic steps campaign on riftlord after the patch. I played co op however and I suspect that makes it easier if your partner is competent. Also we had voice chat so we could quickly communicate a leaking runner or if we needed help holding a lane.

[ShadowAngel]

Originally posted by morrganstain:

I played co op however and I suspect that makes it easier if your partner is competent.

That's not even a suspicion but a simple fact. 2 Guns are better than 1. 2 People who can split up are better than running from one corner to the other alone. It goes without a saying that Coop is not a good measurement for this game and its difficulty and how trap nerfing worked out.
I played through both campaigns on Riftlord with a friend who played Orcs before and thus knew how it goes and it was a piece of cake (except for the last level of the smaller campaign, that one is just nasty).

Play it alone and you get a better picture about it and the true difficulty of the game.

[⇧⇨⇩⇩⇩]

Originally posted by ShadowAngel:

Originally posted by morrganstain:

I played co op however and I suspect that makes it easier if your partner is competent.

That's not even a suspicion but a simple fact. 2 Guns are better than 1. 2 People who can split up are better than running from one corner to the other alone. It goes without a saying that Coop is not a good measurement for this game and its difficulty and how trap nerfing worked out.
I played through both campaigns on Riftlord with a friend who played Orcs before and thus knew how it goes and it was a piece of cake (except for the last level of the smaller campaign, that one is just nasty).

Play it alone and you get a better picture about it and the true difficulty of the game.

And yet you still find streamers playing it fine on rift lord solo and post nerf.

https://youtu.be/2rGczJbhuSY

Difficult yes, and thats a good thing. If the hardest mode of a game was easy there is less reason to come back and play it again.
Ive played through the game with my brother because I wanted to experience the co op before I figure out a solo way to do everything. I have done a bunch of the main campaign map solo after having finished them in co op. It is very doable if you just refine your strategy and practice.

[gjhall99]

You are not the only one. I loved the OMD series, but after this one, i have no desire to play due to the frustration to play for rift lord difficulty. It used to be challenging, now it's just frustrating. I was going to buy the new one coming up, but going to pass this time around.