4. The Dwarves Title Update

Overview

The title update adds challenges to the game. These are accessible from the "challenge" entry in the main menu of the game screen.

Initially only the first challenge is available. You need to get at least 1 star in a challenge in order to unlock the next challenge. The first two challenges are of the "Horde" variety. The next two are of the "Time Challenge" variety. The last two are of the "Chase" variety. The first challenge in each variety will only allow you 2 characters total while the second one will allow a total of 4. All of these characters will be pre-leveled for you with all skills available (make sure you equip them). You will also have access to all the items in the game.

Ironically, the first two challenges and in particular the very first challenge are actually the hardest in the entire set of challenges. You will probably fail the first challenge at least a few times while learning the spawn points and trying to manage the enemies swarming you.

These challenges are just basic battles with some special conditions. If you just played through the game you should have no problems feeling at home here.

As with the other parts of the game, the overpowered Andokai is your main weapon here. Her flame lance ("Scorch") move will kill everything in its area-of-effect in one hit and instantly refill your AP. Her "Chain Heal" skill will keep your entire party alive. Her "Blast" move will move and knock down a whole bunch of enemies allowing the rest of your party to auto-kill them. Do be careful when aiming it however, as the potential to kill your own party members is immense.

Horde (Oak/Village)

The object of horde mode is to kill as many enemies as possible before you get overwhelmed. The waves will spawn on a set timer, meaning if you didn't finish killing the last wave they will still spawn and add to the existing enemies.

The requirements for stars are as follows:

Oak:

• 1 star = 50 - 99 enemies killed
• 2 stars = 100 - 149 enemies killed
• 3 stars = 150 or more enemies killed

Village:

• 1 star = 75 - 124 enemies killed
• 2 stars = 125 - 174 enemies killed
• 3 stars = 175 or more enemies killed

Ultimately you can choose whatever setup you're comfortable with but I went with Andokai and Bavragor. Bavragor has both "Mighty Blow" for doing big damage to a single target and "Cleave" to either push a bunch of enemies of the cliff or at least knock a bunch of them down. The knocking down will allow you to auto-kill enemies or at least stall while you wait for your cooldowns to run out. Finally, his "Elixir" move is one of the very few healing skills in the game. He can only target himself but combined with Andokai's "Chain Heal" it should greatly increase your survivability.

That being said the first challenge Oak is tough and I wouldn't worry about getting any more than 1 star on it. The game spawns 20ish enemies at a time including archers. With only 2 characters you quickly get overwhelmed. I managed to squeeze out exactly 50 kills after several attempts.

Instead focus on Village. Village seems significantly easier simply due to the extra members of your party that can spread out the damage and keep enemies knocked down while Andokai's death lance cooldown resets. I filled out the rest of my party with other dwarves (Boendal and Gandogar - both have a "Cleave"-type move and Gandogar is level 10). Between the 3 dwarves they were able to keep the enemies constantly knocked down. This challenge is still tough but significantly easier than Oak. I actually managed to kill all the enemies at which point the game just stops. The total kill count was at 198.

Assuming you get 3 stars on either Oak or Village you will unlock:

Horde Mode Master

You’ve won three stars in a horde mode battle.

1 guide

Time Challenge (Wackenstein/Volcano)

The object of time challenge mode is to kill all the enemies on the map as quickly as possible.

The requirements for stars are as follows:

Wackenstein:

• 1 star = 10 minutes to 8:21
• 2 stars = 8:20 to 6:41
• 3 stars = 6:40 or less

Volcano:

• 1 star = 12:30 to 10:26
• 2 stars = 10:25 to 8:21
• 3 stars = 8:20 or less

That being said my experience was that survivability was a bigger problem than killing things too slowly. Once again Andokai and Bavragor make a very good team. Andokai can murder everything with her skills while Bavragor can do crowd control and auto-kill knocked down enemies. Fill out with the rest of the dwarves for the second challenge as before. I managed to be a full minute under the 3 star requirement on my first attempt, so you should not have as much difficulty with these as with the Horde mode.

Assuming you get 3 stars on either challenge then you will unlock:

Time Challenge Master

You've won three stars in a time challenge.

1 guide

Chase (Desert/Torboribor)

The object of chase mode is to kill specific enemies who will actively run away from you if you get close. You are awarded a certain amount of points for each kill and there is a set amount of time. So the goal is really to kill as many of these special enemies before time runs out.

The requirements for stars are as follows:

Desert:

• 1 star = 300 - 649 points
• 2 stars = 650 - 999 points
• 3 starts = 1000 or more points

Torboribor:

• 1 star = 750 - 1099 points
• 2 stars = 1100 - 1499 points
• 3 starts = 1500 or more points

As with any other part of the game, Andokai is a fantastic choice as her flame death lance will one-shot kill the special enemies. On rare occasions you'll be able to kill 2 or more with one shot. The only problem is the cooldown.

I found the dwarves (and melee characters in general) too slow for this mode. The special enemies will run away from you while you aggro all the enemies you don't want to fight. For the second character I actually went with Giralda. She is a ranged character and therefore can also snipe the enemies from a distance. Her "Shadow Stab" move will almost one-hit kill an enemy. Follow up with with one of her bolt attack skills to finish the job. Spread Andokai and Giralda across different sections of the map and kill enemies as often as you can. While one character is waiting for a cooldown to reset switch to the other and repeat until time runs out. I managed to get a score of 1618 using this setup. I can't comment on the last challenge as I had no need to play it. I imagine controlling 4 characters will be a bigger micro-management task but probably still doable.

Assuming you get 3 stars on either challenge then you will unlock:

Chase Master

You've won three stars in a chase.

1 guide