Need help with Iron Wizard

[Anomandaris Dragnipurake]

I have beaten 79 fields and am now completely unable to progress anywhere. There are about 10 unlocked fields which keep kicking my butt and it is decidedly unfun.
What skills are the most important at this stage? I'd need enough leftover mana for a grade 5 and the tower to put it in.

Thanks in advance.

[BilboCGL]

Most important skills to spend points on are - IMHO! - True Colors, Fusion and Mana Stream. However, collecting the other skills is also important. 79 fields alone tells not too much about your progress - do you have pool? crit? some points spent there wouldn't be wasted - orange and beam are also nice to have.
Maybe some thoughts on general strategies? What gems do you prefer? dual gem, pure gem? so many questions :)
What about one or two screenshots, map and skills?

[Anomandaris Dragnipurake]

I uploaded a screenshot of my skill panel. Managed to beat another field but it was oh so close.

[Anomandaris Dragnipurake]

I mostly use dualgems. Orange + whatever good the map has to offer. Sometimes I play with yellow - red if the map allows it and if I need the damage.
I seldom use traps and I don't think Amplifiers are of use at this stage (too expensive).

[strange]

Which fields are you having trouble with? I am around the same stage as you (74 fields beaten so far) and my progress has started to slow down. I've mostly been staying away from investing in skills besides the three Bilbo has already mentioned + (if I can spare the points) Masonry. The extra mana seems preferable for most fields, but others definitely benefit from the right skills.

[Anomandaris Dragnipurake]

Sorry, I was tired last night and totally forgot to add which fields I am trying to beat.

The fields I can access but have not beaten are: A6, C1, G5, G6, J6, K7, L1 (this one might be doable), N4, N5, O1 and Q1.


Edit: Was right about L1. Now I can tackle L2 instead. Maybe that fit of desperation last night was a bit premature.

[BilboCGL]

My suggestion is investing in skills: i.e. True colors and Fusion Level 6 or 9, Mana Stream has not to be a multiple of three (lower MP [the bonus skill] is not so important).
I'd go further on L-hex, get Poolbound before entering O hex (there are some maps to re-arrange skills, O5 and O1 are pretty hard w/o masonry skills due to the maze you have to build)
In general: Look what you need per map, IW is hard!
Good luck!

[Anomandaris Dragnipurake]

I am at 89 beaten fields now and slowly making progress. The main problem seems to be if a map has a lot of giant waves. I just can't handle them after a certain amount.

[BilboCGL]

Originally posted by Anomandaris Dragnipurake:

I am at 89 beaten fields now and slowly making progress. The main problem seems to be if a map has a lot of giant waves. I just can't handle them after a certain amount.

When you have a lot of giants, it can be helpful to set the target priority to "least hit points" or, at least when you encounter mana burning monsters, selecting the targets manualy.
Remember that poison in combination with beam and curse (and freeze) is really powerful (target random)

[Anomandaris Dragnipurake]

Thanks to both of you for your help. I managed to progress a bit more but now I am stumped once again.
Any specific advice for J6 and G6? I feel like they should be the next fields I conquer but I have no clue how.

I have 102 fields beaten so 510 skill points to play with.

[TheSaxRunner05]

I typically spend enough mana on skills that I can buy a grade 4 comfortably. I've found that once I could get the critical hit skill going along with true colors, giants become a lot easier to take down with pure yellow gems. If there are a lot of swarmlings, however, it takes two towers equally leveled to keep up. Dealing 50%+ crits by level 7 gems can tear through giants much more easily that other gem types will. Remember when using this strategy to keep the yellow gems pure: the loss of % critical hits is too much to take until close to the end of iron wizard mode, when you have much more skill points.

[Anomandaris Dragnipurake]

Sadly I don't have the Crit Skill yet. Maybe I should tackle that first.

[rafal_lodz]

Hi
I have a problem. Which field should I choose and how it beat? :)

Map:
http://i.imgur.com/aEHWg8U.jpg

Skils:
http://i.imgur.com/bn2SjIV.jpg

[Galehann]

Hi dude, you got twice the same link ^^
Hi recommend you to do Vision Fields, it is obviously doable since your skills and progression doesn't matter for those levels.
If you have some difficulty to beat Vision Fields, just remember that they are usually made to work with a specific strategy / gameplay, if you're far from winning the field just try something radically different (traps, amps, etc...) and if you still have some difficulty with those missions, check some guide on steam on how to beat them.
It's worth some extra skill points.

[rafal_lodz]

Only 5 V fields left, that gives me only 25 skill points. I think that it doesn't help me.

[Galehann]

It can makes the difference.

For your skills, i think you have to much points on True Colors, if i was you i'd go for 12 / 12 / 12 / 3 (or 6) and nothing else to have enough mana at the begining of a game (unless you feel you need some particular skills for a particular mission).

Try to unlock red gems as well.

And don't forget to try to gembomb the first waves of a game if you can to have more monsters -> more mana. (that's why you need enough mana at the begining of the game to afford a gem of higher grade to kill the first enraged waves).
Basically, the first waves are usually the hardest. Try and retry a level to push yourself to your limits with those ones to not lose a single orb but gain a maximum mana.

Fell free to drop some points on Manastream to have the extra mana points you need to get a higher starting gem.

Sorry for my bad english. :)

Also, you can check the thread i started a month ago ( http://steamcommunity.com/app/296490/discussions/0/523890046871280348/ ), there's a lot of good advices that helped me to beat Iron Wizard.