Is it just me or is Ancient Hunger a lot worse than Undying Fury?

[PLMMJ]

People slander this game a lot, and for the main campaign, I don't think its very deserved, but for Ancient Hunger?

Let's count up its sins, shall we?

• The Flying Croks are bulky enough to tank a lot of what you can throw at them.
  
• Quickfeet seemingly only exist to distract you and screw you over if you don't kill them. They're fast and able to transform regular Gators, which, reminder, are the basic cannon fodder and can be spawned partway into the map from Crokinders, into Killadiles which are essentially worse versions of Cult Abominations.
  
• Nesting Gators are essentially tankier versions of the already annoying Vile Spawners. Add that to the fact that their Crokinders have defense and fully heal on hatching, as well as synergizing with the Quickfeet, this makes them much more annoying than they have any right to be.
  
• Sylvara's reach is weirdly short and she's very dependent on her power. Additionally, said power doesn't mesh with the upgrade that gives you a free use of a power every 5th use as it doesn't stack.
  
• The second level. The. Freaking. Second. Level. I haven't been able to beat this level on any difficulty higher than Casual (mostly Normal and a couple Impossible!) Woe betide you if you decide to play on Impossible for whatever reason.
  
  • Half the level is full of swamp, including most of the distance on each path, and you physically cannot target enemies in the swamp. Additionally, your units cannot move through the swamp, making using reinforcements pointlessly annoying.
    
  • There are so many paths that using Grim Wraiths to move around your strong towers is next to mandatory. And reminder, you can only use Demon Pits and Bog Hermits in the Iron Challenge...
    
  • The top path. Just look at it. No path in a level with so many paths has any right to be that short. And Winged Croks spawn on it.
    
  • Hydras are gigantic resource drains on this map due to the fact that they can swim through the swamp just like any other enemy, thus being able to shortcut straight to the final stretch, and having more health than any enemy that can take such a shortcut has any reason to have. Additionally, they plow through units like they were nothing. They're not nearly as bad on the third level due to it not having ridiculous amounts of swamp.
• Abominor:
  
  • Eating your towers without being able to tell which it is.
    
  • Growing to obscene sizes. Sure, it looks cool, but it's obnoxious because it gets in the way of selecting things.

[???]

Originally posted by PLMMJ:

I was using the shadow archers, and I still managed to lose against Winged Croks coming up the top lane even with the ability to deploy them. I guess I just suck at micro, which is very possible.

I think the reason you are having trouble is that you don't have enough anti-air towers with single target damage during flyer waves(especially since your heroes can't help with flyers at all). Rally your rocket riders back, plus move highly levelled single target towers that can target air to the top lane). An screenshot would help with providing more specific advice.

You might want to switch Sylvara with someone worse but is capable of providing help with flyers(e.g. Nyru, Broden with his hero spell and, Thieren) if you are still having trouble.

[PLMMJ]

I thought Dune Sentinels were good anti air from the campaign... turns out I was wrong lel

[Salsasouls]

I feel the same way, im not a fan of this update

[???]

Originally posted by PLMMJ:

I thought Dune Sentinels were good anti air from the campaign... turns out I was wrong lel

Yes, unfortunately dune sentinel aren't really good at dealing with the flyers with decent amount of hp.

[PLMMJ]

I probably got used to tier 4s mauling Lesser Eyes and extrapolated from there

[Maurice gaming division]

I hate to be that guy but I'm not that good at kingdom rush and found this campaign pretty manageable on impossible and I think you are blaming your mistakes on the game.

The starting towers are generally the best ones and royal archers, paladins, arcane, tricannon, and arboreon emissary is usually the solution to everything, tho I sometimes use off meta choices like bog hermit and rocket gunners. Dune sentinels are also a horrible anti air use royal archers or ballista for flying enemies. Slyvara is good but as other people said using Anya or Nyru would be better for flying enemies. In terms of enemies

I agree the flying crocs are too tanky, but quickfeet and nesting gators are meant to be blocked by heroes at the entrances which is another reason not to use double dragons. I also love the hydras since they are the closest to a proper miniboss we have gotten since twilight golems and bandersnatches. lvl 4 Paladins with the healing upgrade and royal archers with the triple shot upgrade work well against the hydras.

The only sins in this update are the rng tower deletion (which is dumb but not the end of the world) and maybe the flying crocs.

[PLMMJ]

Originally posted by Maurice gaming division:

I hate to be that guy but I'm not that good at kingdom rush and found this campaign pretty manageable on impossible and I think you are blaming your mistakes on the game.

The starting towers are generally the best ones and royal archers, paladins, arcane, tricannon, and arboreon emissary is usually the solution to everything, tho I sometimes use off meta choices like bog hermit and rocket gunners. Dune sentinels are also a horrible anti air use royal archers or ballista for flying enemies. Slyvara is good but as other people said using Anya or Nyru would be better for flying enemies. In terms of enemies

I agree the flying crocs are too tanky, but quickfeet and nesting gators are meant to be blocked by heroes at the entrances which is another reason not to use double dragons. I also love the hydras since they are the closest to a proper miniboss we have gotten since twilight golems and bandersnatches. lvl 4 Paladins with the healing upgrade and royal archers with the triple shot upgrade work well against the hydras.

The only sins in this update are the rng tower deletion (which is dumb but not the end of the world) and maybe the flying crocs.

You have some valid points, but that one about the starting towers being the best ones is objectively wrong. Tricannon doesn't even have the opportunity to "fall off", it immediately gets outclassed. I was a genuine idiot not to use Necromancers, considering they counter most of this campaign's enemies. Are they a starting tower? No.

[Maurice gaming division]

I'm no kingdom rush god but I have talked to the top players some of whom chat with the devs and we are in general agreement royal archers and arcane are top 2 in this game.

Royal archers is the cheapest tower in the game and the triple shot does ~450 damage every 15 seconds when maxxed out and ignores half armor. Arcane also does great damage for the cost with two strong abilities for more damage. Paladins are probably the weakest of the starting towers but are good for stalling strong enemies other than tankzards. I assume the stone tower is arboreon emissary and since you use it I don't need to explain why enemies taking 50% more damage is crazy.

Now for tricannon, I used to consider it one of the worst towers in the game, but after a slight buff and using it in the mini campaigns I admit I was sleeping on it. The damage sucks initially, but levels 3 and 4 do solid single target damage and the bombardment upgrade is op and nukes crowds. Your loadout doesn't have any artillery which is probably why you're struggling with the nesting gators since they're meant to encourage artillery for the eggs.

Necro imo is a decent tower and it can save tower slots by being a mage barracks but relies too much on death rider for damage and totem for skeletons and I prefer using arcane for damage and paladins for stalling.

If you still don't believe the starting towers are the best you can ask the top players and they'll say something similar to this.

[Anteater]

As a beta tester, me and other beta testers, as well as other high skill players in general, can confirm with Maurice that Tricannon is genuinely in the top third of towers in the game, as Bombardment just deletes everything once you get it. Sure, base tower is expensive, but the second you’re able to invest in it (which should be a high priority), you just win.

[???]

Originally posted by PLMMJ:

Originally posted by Maurice gaming division:

I hate to be that guy but I'm not that good at kingdom rush and found this campaign pretty manageable on impossible and I think you are blaming your mistakes on the game.

The starting towers are generally the best ones and royal archers, paladins, arcane, tricannon, and arboreon emissary is usually the solution to everything, tho I sometimes use off meta choices like bog hermit and rocket gunners. Dune sentinels are also a horrible anti air use royal archers or ballista for flying enemies. Slyvara is good but as other people said using Anya or Nyru would be better for flying enemies. In terms of enemies

I agree the flying crocs are too tanky, but quickfeet and nesting gators are meant to be blocked by heroes at the entrances which is another reason not to use double dragons. I also love the hydras since they are the closest to a proper miniboss we have gotten since twilight golems and bandersnatches. lvl 4 Paladins with the healing upgrade and royal archers with the triple shot upgrade work well against the hydras.

The only sins in this update are the rng tower deletion (which is dumb but not the end of the world) and maybe the flying crocs.

You have some valid points, but that one about the starting towers being the best ones is objectively wrong. Tricannon doesn't even have the opportunity to "fall off", it immediately gets outclassed. I was a genuine idiot not to use Necromancers, considering they counter most of this campaign's enemies. Are they a starting tower? No.

Tri-cannon is the strongest proper artillery tower in game. Try using it with bombard ability.

[PLMMJ]

Artillery towers in general are complete garbage. Don't get me wrong, I wish they got a significant buff so that they could rival other types of towers, but they just don't have the power.

[???]

Originally posted by PLMMJ:

Artillery towers in general are complete garbage. Don't get me wrong, I wish they got a significant buff so that they could rival other types of towers, but they just don't have the power.

Tricannons are not garbage, especially not for this campaign. Like the tricannon is able to handle bottom right path with help of lv1 barracks.

Tricannon legitimately delete hordes and cripples even decently tanky enemies with their bombardment ability. Try it out.

[PLMMJ]

I fail to understand why a tower that has failed or been outclassed every single time I tried it in the main campaign would suddenly magically be overpowered.

[Anteater]

My only assumption is that you’re not buying the Bombardment skill, as that is what makes it so strong. Also don’t buy Overheat.

[PLMMJ]

Originally posted by Anteater:

My only assumption is that you’re not buying the Bombardment skill, as that is what makes it so strong. Also don’t buy Overheat.

I was buying both, that must be it