Good maps for endless mode

[Tschilumbu]

I have played around with the endless mode to find some good maps for XP farming.

My 2 best endless runs so far:

The Edge 900K XP
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=610127012

Boulder Cavern 1.5M XP
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=617297237

I am level 82 atm.

Which maps do you guys think are best for an endless run?
And on which levels did you get your most XP?

[dholland]

That's a good showing at that level. I enjoyed endless so much, I bounced up to level 90 or so before completing all the levels. So I missed out on creatively using low-level traps. You may want to continue in your own way. If not, I found that lightning traps are very useful for the weak, numerous units like dwarves and horsemen, but don't do enough damage to tough units like golems and brutes. If you have at least one level 50 trap, try spinblade, which is effective against all endless units, and with Mechanical Boost can slow them a lot. On this level, spring traps are very useful at the bottom by the pit, and harpoons are also good there against tougher units. This is a pretty good endless map, and a lot of different loadouts can work. Have fun.

Edit: I've used hex traps effectively, and got the achievement for frogs here.

Edit: I don't like grinder or spear trap -- they're bad even at trap level 50 IMO. Pretty useless at low trap levels.

[Iso Koala]

Yeah, Ive used spinblades a lot during my initial completion of the normal stages (latter stages without runes). I tried this time with lightning traps, as I was having hard time with horsemen which kept running past my pushers and such. Lightning traps catch them so easily. I guess some black holes near the pit part along with fully upgraded push walls could be devastating? Or do the Brutes/Golems get heavier and heavier in later waves, so that at some point you cant push them at all? My bomb consumables were 100% useless at the end due their minimal damage.

[dholland]

引用自 Iso Koala：

Yeah, Ive used spinblades a lot during my initial completion of the normal stages (latter stages without runes). I tried this time with lightning traps, as I was having hard time with horsemen which kept running past my pushers and such. Lightning traps catch them so easily. I guess some black holes near the pit part along with fully upgraded push walls could be devastating? Or do the Brutes/Golems get heavier and heavier in later waves, so that at some point you cant push them at all? My bomb consumables were 100% useless at the end due their minimal damage.

Lightning in open areas and lots of spinblades in chokepoints is usually good. Mechanical Boost is good whilst you're setting up your defense line, and sometimes for holding up dwarves. Black holes can be very effective if not using +weight, I like to use against dwarves with inferno to set off chain-reaction of explosions near entrance. I'd prefer spinblades or springs near the pit section. Yes, the brutes get heavier later (and faster) even without +weight rune, which is why I use harpoons (bonus against tougher units and the pull effect is good for a long time. I don't like the push traps, never seem effective).

You probably know, but it's useful to arrange units to be hit by 5 different traps before they die in later waves to maximize XP bonus. I like to use slime and lightning (at max upgrade, hit everything) and inferno, bolt, with spinblade the "final" trap but other combos could work. I don't use freeze traps, prefer to do damage. None of the delaying traps like lich and demon are effective in late endless, although hex isn't bad, just difficult to get the right balance with other traps.

[dholland]

Maybe demons can work on the more difficult endless maps like Crossy Track: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=773744978

I had demons just above the centre, 3 lightning in the centre. This is a very tough map to balance traps, because of the empty space and spinblades less effective. Bolt traps were the key to killing brutes and golems.

[Iso Koala]

Got 1.5M from the casino level. Propably could have gotten a bit more, if I had updated the hex traps which I used a lot in the end. They were still level 1 which was a waste, since I had some traps at level 20-30 yet didnt use them after all.. Well, the horsemen killed me. At that point they would just run past all of my traps. Even with the super layer of lvl 4 harpoons :(. Maybe I should have put more black holes near the exit to stop them?

[Iso Koala]

Sewers 2.2M. I realized that Hex traps wont do much damage after wave 100... they werent the instakillers as in the beginning. Brutes and Golems walked past them like nothing. After wave 100+ the enemies were so heavy too, that the spring traps alone didnt do the job, and only the spots where I also had tier 4 harpoons, the enemies would be dragged to their doom. :(

[dholland]

引用自 Iso Koala：

Sewers 2.2M. I realized that Hex traps wont do much damage after wave 100... they werent the instakillers as in the beginning. Brutes and Golems walked past them like nothing. After wave 100+ the enemies were so heavy too, that the spring traps alone didnt do the job, and only the spots where I also had tier 4 harpoons, the enemies would be dragged to their doom. :(

Not bad. Runes? Screenshots? What XP level are you? I'm at level 160. Here's 3.9m with 5 runes: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=774807995

I didn't use springs, maybe I should have instead of barriers (which I never used). Lots of loadouts could work, and it's an interesting level because there's more space for building than you can use (below 100 waves, anyway).

[dholland]

Most maps are pretty decent for endless XP. The worst ones (not in any order) are IMO Death Spiral, Gold Rush, Mountain, Gridlock, Rend, Haphazard, Abandoned Casino, Lost Royals, First Blood.

[dholland]

引用自 Iso Koala：

Got 1.5M from the casino level. Propably could have gotten a bit more, if I had updated the hex traps which I used a lot in the end. They were still level 1 which was a waste, since I had some traps at level 20-30 yet didnt use them after all.. Well, the horsemen killed me. At that point they would just run past all of my traps. Even with the super layer of lvl 4 harpoons :(. Maybe I should have put more black holes near the exit to stop them?

A very decent effort. Hard to give advice without a screenshot. I was inspired by your post to 2.7m: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=774857362 I didn't use hex traps, but I did use many black holes. Maybe should have included the slot machine in my loadout, since I had tons of cash by the end and nothing else worth building.

Edit: a fun map, but tricky to balance and limited meaningful build space.

[Iso Koala]

引用自 dholland：

Not bad. Runes? Screenshots? What XP level are you? I'm at level 160. Here's 3.9m with 5 runes: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=774807995

I didn't use springs, maybe I should have instead of barriers (which I never used). Lots of loadouts could work, and it's an interesting level because there's more space for building than you can use (below 100 waves, anyway).

Didnt take screenshots, as I thought I could do better. I was exp level around 70 then, a bit higher now. I used 2 runes, the one that gives 5% health regen and one that gives +20% to health. I died at wave 110ish. I used a lot of freeze traps built on top of barricades, which I dont normally use but decided to give a try this time. It worked quite well when the enemies were snail speed at my spring trap+harpoon areas. The lvl4 spring traps with slow are so good, but unfortunately they get too limited in number later on.

[Iso Koala]

引用自 dholland：

A very decent effort. Hard to give advice without a screenshot. I was inspired by your post to 2.7m: I didn't use hex traps, but I did use many black holes. Maybe should have included the slot machine in my loadout, since I had tons of cash by the end and nothing else worth building.

Edit: a fun map, but tricky to balance and limited meaningful build space.

I am not 100% sure, but quite positive, that I actually got to the 1.5M with no runes with 1.0x multiplier. Could be wrong about that though, and I could have used the 2 hp runes in that too. Gotta try it again later with plenty of runes. I used a lot of black holes too, but the horsemen still got through eventually. :( I used a barricade near the entrance btw, it helped a lot, except later when armies of dwarves came. But you have to money to replace it endlessly.

[Iso Koala]

The Edge 4.9M at level 75 and some runes. I shouldnt have taken the +5% HP regen rune, as it ended up being my demise at wave 132. My kills were done by harpoons and spring mainly and huge ammount of freeze traps and slime to choke their speed down. But at wave 130, the golems didnt budge at all by springs and harpoons anymore. Too bad, as their hp was over 800 so that 5% per second ensured that they heal themselves faster than my traps damage them... I made a tunnel full of Hex traps that worked quite well, but when 2 golems got there at the same time, not even 12 hex traps in a line could stop them anymore. :(
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=775216959
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=775216984

[dholland]

Interesting! Your approach is very different to mine. I've had poor results with freeze traps. When I use hex traps, I find the balance very difficult. And your runes are very different! I still have a little more XP on this map, but probably because I have higher level and you maybe don't yet have all your traps level 50? And you're still gaining massive XP hikes, whereas I can't gain much on any level now (not able to progress at all on Hook, for example). Yes, I can see your regeneration rune was counterproductive, I haven't used it in endless. I use a different barricade placement on this level and a lot more harvesters. But whatever you're doing, it's working pretty well! I could try using a few less harvesters, they do get very expensive and the last ones I place don't pay for themselves. You use very few spinblades here, which is probably why you have problems with golems. When I use a lot of spinblades, it's only the brutes (and dwarves) which are a problem, everything else dies before the end. In particular, wizards don't get far, but somehow they do in your setup. Your screenshot didn't show the wave number, maybe next time! I'm going to try this level again. Good luck!

Edit: the golems probably got through because of +vine keeping wizards alive.

[Iso Koala]

Hook, 5.4M. Forgot to take a picture of the runes and final score screen though. Should have taken so that the wave is visible too..oh well, next time. Wish the game could keep track of that automaticly though.
Used plenty of Lightning traps and Hex, and this time plenty of freeze traps which give +20% to damage on frozen targets. Still, at around wave 110+ it became too hard to chew the HP of enemies. To my surprise, this time it was the faster moving yet high HP Elite Warriors that got through. Golems werent a problem this time.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=775246734

Edit: At the Edge, I actually had few more harvesters at some point. Eventually the dying places of the enemies were so spread, that I sold the less money making ones away and bought more harpoons instead. I wasnt running low on money, I needed more space for traps more than gold.

[Iso Koala]

引用自 dholland：

I got a bit more with 5 runes: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=771879018

I got some waves further than you, but had much poorer exp multipliers apparently.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=775298840

Again, I took the 5% regen rune, and wonder if I would have done better without it.
My total score was 3.9M.