Before anything, if this guide helps you, I'd like you to rate it positively.

Consider dropping an award too if you feel so inclined to do so.

I know it's annoying to put stuff like this right at the start, but this guide took A LOT of work to put together and I'm not asking because I want something in return (besides perhaps one sincere opinion on commentaries below?).

I'm just humbly asking as positive ratings helps the guide to get in the front page and this will possibly help more people starting this game.

Thank you very much!

This is a simple guide intended for new players and maybe even more experienced ones covering both characters and their exclusive equipment, enemies, with tips and hints for the Nightmare difficulty.

I also talk about weapons, trinkets and traps and give my opinions on them.

Not about Endless. Not about combo making and high scoring.

It is not about complex strategies either. You'll find out that what I use on Nightmare here is some of the most basic, trivial and simple strategies but that are quite effective.

I never had interest in any of these topics and game modes except for getting achievements related to them. Endless is a particular mode I couldn't care less, it gets extremely boring and tedious very fast for me and no tower defense ever gotten close to make me like it.

Welcome to "Orcs Must Die!", where Orcs are fresh and ripe for killing!

Because I like the game?

That would be pretentious of me. I'll give you hints on Enemies, Traps, Equipment and some Skull Farming for you to get you properly geared to kill even the largest mob of Orcs.

No, I really don't like to say "use this and that", mostly because you'll probably use in a different way and it may not work, and you will say I'm pulling your leg. Besides this isn't what the guide is about.

Equipment Loadout Tips section can help you since I try to point which equipment works for me. People have different styles and tastes.

No, because I can't AND I never had interest in combos.

Responsibilities:

Guide author and main editor, screenshot gatherer, updater, typo fixer, etc.

Guide author and avid Orc killer.

This guide originally started as a humble "Enemy Encyclopedia", but ended up growing into what it is today out of a will to share my viewpoints and opinions on traps and weapons in the game to help new players looking for some help.

I tend to make small changes here and there and fix most typos and sentences I find weird after I read the entire thing again, which is quite often.

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2555082930 http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=505739685 http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=482075212 http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=621968802 http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=729779266

Responsibilities:

Guide proofreader and reviewer since its first version.

A great co-op partner and one of the first people who I played co-op in this game.

He also was the one who gave, kind of offhandedly, the hint to make this guide while we were playing.

Responsibilities:

Research; in-game checking of damage types and co-op helper.

Seasoned player, long time co-op partner, adviser and basically my mentor on this game.

He was the first to help me learn how to play efficiently in Nightmare, also helping me get over my fear of it, by giving me a some really good advises and pointers.

He was also responsible in finding peculiar stuff in the game and add or correct several sections of the guide.

• Everyone else who provided countless hours of co-op fun and helped me discover new strategies directly or inderectly.

For making one of my favorite games of all time. As the time of this writing (it's 2021) Orcs Must Die! 2 still holds up very well.

1. 🔰 Hints and Tips:
   Here you'll find basic and overall advises on the game based on my experiences. They may or may not help you.
   
   
2. 💬 Characters:
   The two heroes of Orcs Must Die! 2 explained and a bit of what their unique equipment are.
   
   
3. 📙 Trap Tome:
   Divided in categories (Wall, Floor, Ceiling, Guardians) for your convenience. Find out what will suit best your game style and how much skulls you'll need to upgrade it.
   
   
4. ⚔️ Weapon Compendium:
   Tools for a job. You'll need some of these toys to do a lot of heavy lifting while your traps recharge. This is a Action-Tower Defense after all.
   
   
5. 💍 Trinket Tome:
   Small items which are not mandatory nor necessary, but can give you an edge in battle and turn the tide of a losing fight when used correctly.
   
   
6. 📓 Loadout Lexicon:
   Here you'll find out which combination of weapons I use the most when I play. I also explain in detail why I chose those weapons and did not pick any combination randomly.
   
   
7. 📝 Trap Ideas:
   A collection of some of the trap courses I usually create. Keep in mind this is just to give you some ideas, it is NOT about the perfect trap combinations, maybe help you start designing trap setups of your own.
   
   
8. 📕 Enemy Encyclopedia:
   Know what you'll fight here. While the game gives a small description for them I'll go in detail about their traits and weaknesses. DLC enemies are included.
   
   
9. 💭 Quotes Collection:
   Just for fun. Quotes from the game, the Orcs, the War Mage and the Sorceress are here for the curious.

Act 2 maps: Rift Healing

Something new players take a while to realize is that the rift on Act 2 maps (and some DLC maps) heals you when you're close to it. While the healing is far from instant it's very useful to conserve Potions or get you out of a pinch. Healing in between waves is also a good idea (a bit less so on Nightmare).


Notice the red crosses healing the War Mage here.

Traps: Flow and synergy

It's important to have good elemental balance between your traps and equipment. While you should be prepared for every kind of enemy in the game, you'll probably think using Ice Vents and Floor Scorcher is a pretty dumb idea since as soon enemies are frozen by the Ice Vent the Scorcher will immediately thaw the ice.

Make sure to keep that in mind when picking your loadout.

Mana: Conservation and control

Mana regenerates at a steady pace, but if you are trigger happy with it you'll run out of mana VERY fast. That can put you in a hairy situation where a mana attack would help you or even save your life.

In short, don't spam mana attacks recklessly unless you are absolutely sure you'll be safe, or that it's necessary to survive. You will NOT want to fight Gnolls, Ogres and Trolls without mana.

Potions: Use them wisely

Don't rush to grab every potion as soon as you can. Unless they are in a really bad place, close to the enemy spawn point, most of times it's better to save them when you really need. You never know when you'll need that instant health or mana recovery.

Remember that if you have the Wind Belt with you, you can pull the potions from a good distance, and lump all of them together with the right-click (secondary attack). Unlike pulling enemies and Boom Barrels, this doesn't use up any mana, but you'll instantly use Health or Mana Potions if either is less than full. You can use this to grab coins and dropped Skulls as well.

Minecarts: Powerful when used correctly.

In some maps like The Crossing and Precipice the minecarts can be powerful assets to your arsenal against the Orcs. If you know how to set the Barricades for it the minecart will be enough to kill almost the entire wave by itself.

You must be careful with Ogres and Elementals since the minecart will break as soon they hit one and sometimes these enemies spearheads the mob shielding them from harm.

Minecart wrecking havoc in The Crossing. The Elemental had to be taken out personally. Earthlings offer no threat to it.

Game's physics: Fun or Frustrating

Ever played with the Dwarven Missile Launcher, Blunderbuss and the Wind Belt? Ever fooled around so much you screwed yourself over by throwing an enemy closer to the rift or even over your traps and Barricade?

This happened more than once with me and it will if you don't pay attention: enemies CAN fly above your traps, and most importantly, above your Barricades or towards your Guardians, so don't go recklessly shooting whenever you are close to them.

So, mini-map. Basic stuff, you must be wondering why you should be worrying about reading this since the thing is self-explanatory, right? Maybe.

You can increase the size of the mini-map by pressing M on your keyboard (default button), this can help you check something in particular but since it'll cover a good portion of the screen, obviously it's not recommended to do that in the middle of a wave (unless everything is in absolute and utter control).

Keeping an eye on the mini-map is more difficult than it looks, especially when the fight gets really hectic, but if you get used to it, it'll aid you in your battles more than you can imagine. You can identify where items are, especially coins, and one of the most important things is that you may catch an enemy that slipped past your defenses somehow and kill it before it has a chance to reach the exit/rift and ruin that nice 5-skull Perfect Victory.

The mini-map will indicate whenever something big is happening during your game; if an enemy is about to escape the map (however the game will not alert you all the time, only every once in a while), if a Barricade is under attack, if flyers are entering the map (and the game warns you) and especially if and where a new door/enemy rift is about to open.

On co-op the mini-map may help even more as if you get used to it, you might know when your partner is in trouble or losing control of his side just by watching it. It is also important to know where he/she is since some maps has enemies coming a lot from one door and suddenly from another, so your partner may be busy somewhere else.


The map on the right has the Crossbow's crosshair on it.

White arrow - You
Green arrow - Your partner
Small turquoise arrows - Guardians

Red dots - Enemies
White dots - Dropped skull
Light green dots - Potion (Mana or Health)
Yellow dots - Coins
Purple dot - Teleportation Ring mark; where you'll go if you use its secondary attack.

Turquoise squares - Traps
Red square - Disabled traps. Caused by Goblin Sappers or Mushroom Spores in use (hypnotized enemy)
Green square with white center - Teleporter

Darkened dots/area - Enemy/item is on a upper or lower level.

"(...) ... but together my two ex-apprentices had potential to become... something more!"
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Fights on co-op mode can be far more hectic since, especially on Nightmare, more enemies will appear. You'll fight more Orcs, more Gnolls, more Ogres, more flying enemies-- everything. So make always sure to watch not only for yourself, but your partner as well.

Two people means twice as much damage. Teamwork is decisive in most maps.

Waves in co-op tend to be tougher as well. There will be enemies that usually don't show up in solo showing up in co-op, sometimes much earlier than usual, so knowing this be always prepared to either fight more enemies on your side, or coordinate your defenses when fighting together.
Be ready for tougher waves when playing co-op.
________________________________________________________________

I've played with a lot of people that does this and not only it is annoying as hell but also incredibly selfish. This can be aggravated if your partner has expensive traps to work with or had placed every barricade on the map, or needs to finish a Barricade setup.

A stupid player thinks: "all mine!", a good player thinks: "half mine, half his/hers."
________________________________________________________________

Share skulls as well and for the love of crap, DON'T drop everything you're doing to catch a dropped skull. Not only that's REALLY annoying it may also result in enemies slipping through the defenses, especially in Nightmare. I've seen this happening more times I can count and to add insult to injury the person didn't apologize and said I should've held the enemies for him.

Would it hurt to leave one extra dropped skull for your partner? If yes, why are you even bothering to play co-op?
________________________________________________________________

Try to talk to your partner. You've got only 6 load out slots to work with and it probably will not be enough for what you are planning and even if it is you probably won't have enough money for it.

And don't be self-centered. If you have a strategy for one stage, chances are, so does your partner. Sharing/combining strategies can and will make you a better player.

Talk between yourselves and strategize whenever possible. With only 6 slots for equipment and traps, and shared income from kills, working together is a must to win in the hardest maps. Most of times taking one minute or two to plan up can prevent you from restarting the entire map.
________________________________________________________________

If you are protecting separate sides (most likely in Crunch, Mirror Image and Twisted Halls), trust your partner. Leaving your side unattended can result in disastrous consequences for both of you.

Blocking enemies by yourself or together, keep in mind getting overrun is a real risk if something goes wrong.
________________________________________________________________

Cover your partner's back whenever possible. They may not realize a Gnoll is coming for him, or that a Sapper has decided they need to go boom, or if they gets stunned by an Ogre while other enemies are dangerously close.


Being quick on the fly is also important. If your partner is setting traps, make sure to cover them.
________________________________________________________________

The mini-map can be even more important in co-op. Skilled players are able to tell if a partner is getting overrun or losing control of his/her side just by merely watching it, so make sure to always have a close eye on the mini-map, especially if you know a tough wave is coming.


A lot can happen. A good player is always alert to potential stragglers from the beginning until the end.
________________________________________________________________

This isn't some sort of hardcore competitive game, take it easy and have your fun. Unfortunately you'll eventually run into some rude folk in co-op, generally people who types in "noob" and thinks their way to play is the only way to win. People like that generally gets an instant block and friend removal from me. Don't let this kind of people ruin your fun.


From getting 5 skulls to 1, the most important thing about any game is to have fun with it.

After you play the game in a couple of maps you'll probably realize there's a lot of stuff to use in this game and between traps, weapons and trinkets you'll need lots and lots of skulls to upgrade everything.

Below are video guides explaining how to farm efficiently skulls for your character so you can have everything leveled and nice for your Orc slaughtering.

A simple, fast, efficient, and relatively easy way to earn skulls is by playing on the first level, The Edge, on Nightmare. There are few catches, though, so pay attention.

If you do everything correctly you'll earn whooping 15 skulls at the end of the map; more if you attain "1000 more career kills" award every once in a while. You'll earn up to 5 extra skulls (not necessarily all at once) from the rank after you finish the level for the first time.

________________________________________________________________

• Use any weapon that does not use mana on the primary attack (Blunderbuss, Sceptre of Domination, Stone Staff)
  
• Use trinkets that does not require mana to activate (Jar of Ghosts, Rift Defender Trinket...)

• Use anything that consume mana at all. From weapons (Flame Bracers, Ice Amulet, Ring of Lightning...) to trinkets, no mana usage is allowed.
  
• Take damage. Seems simple, right? Gnoll Grenadiers on Waves 2 and 4 will be pleased to wipe smug smiles from the faces of cocky players.

Equipment:
Blunderbuss as War Mage (Any unique)
Sceptre of Domination as Sorceress (Primary attack has large radius)
Stone Staff (Any unique)
Crossbow (Attacks may set enemies on fire)

Traps:
Floor Scorcher (Fire hits a larger area)
Paladin Guardian (Health regeneration)

Optional: (with both Specials if possible)
Trap Reset Trinket (Bring for its passive. Uses mana to activate, DO NOT USE)
Guardian Trinket (Bring for its passive. Uses mana to activate, DO NOT USE)
Jar of Ghosts (Manaless activation)
Rift Defender Trinket (Manaless activation)




Boom Barrel is just there because. You don't get a lot of money to make good use of them to kill the Grenadiers.
________________________________________________________________

• Use any weapons and trinkets that suits you the best. No need to worry about mana this time.

• Use ANY traps. Guardians, Boom Barrels, Bear Traps and Healing/Mana Well all count as traps. Placing a single one will void the Trapless achievement.
  
• Take damage. Remember that Gnoll Grenadiers are dangerous and their attacks have a small area of effect that can catch one off-guard.

Equipment:
Crossbow (Headshots generate mana)
Wind Belt (Any unique)
Mana Rage Trinket (with at least Special 1)

Optional: (with both Specials if possible)
Jar of Ghosts (active will make enemies run back in panic)
Rift Defender Trinket (active will stun enemies)



________________________________________________________________

The guide below also has other ways to farm skulls, if you didn't like my methods you can see there more using other traps and equipment.
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=127182235

I know what I wrote in the beginning of this guide. I'm not a fan of Endless/Survivals in any Tower Defense game ever. But I wanted to 100% this game and I know some who might want to as well. So here it is my strategy for it.

Another maps I can suggest for Impossible are Crossfire and Passages, look up videos for setups on them, because I'm staying the heck away from Endless.

________________________________________________________________

Map: The Tower

Loadout:

1) Crossbow (Headshots generate mana)
2) Wind Belt (Secondary attack leeches life from target)
3) Floor Portal (Teleported enemy will leave coin behind)
4) Mana Rage Trinket
5) Trap Reset Trinket
6) Barricade (Increased defense)
7) Tar (Tar slows down enemies further)
8) Spike Wall (Enemies will be stunned)
9) Void Wall (Enemies thrown in it heals the player)
0) Spore Mushrooms (Resets faster)

The easiest way I've found to get that darned "Impossible!" achievement that seems to be as difficult as "Pot of Gold".

I kept goofing around and not throwing enemies like Kobold Runners into the Void Wall here. You can see in the video from the Sorceress that it ends up making a negative difference later on.

Anyway, with War Mage you have Tar, which means Spike Wall & Void Wall combo is safer and easier to work. How this setup works exactly? Spike Wall shoves big enemies like Earth Lords, Earth Elementals and every type of Troll into the Void Wall for an instant kill (at least before Waves 75+ or something).
________________________________________________________________

Map: The Tower

Loadout:

1) Crossbow (Headshots generate mana)
2) Wind Belt (Secondary attack leeches life from target)
3) Stone Staff (Secondary attack hits larger area)
4) Mana Rage Trinket
5) Trap Reset Trinket
6) Barricade (Increased defense)
7) Spike Wall (Enemies will be stunned)
8) Void Wall (Enemies thrown in it heals the player)
9) Spore Mushrooms (Resets faster)
0) Jar of Ghosts

I didn't bring Floor Portal here which is risky if you don't know really well how to use this setup. So if you this is your first or second time, or you simply didn't understand how to use it, bring Floor Portal. You don't want to end up overrun in Wave 45+ and lose nearly an hour of progress.

With that said I did bring Stone Staff and Jar of Ghosts as extra safety measures in case something went wrong (which is very easy to happen).

This should set the tone for what you're about to face.

Nightmare is the difficulty level unlocked after War Mage is beaten once. Nightmare has a fair number of changes that make the game a lot more challenging, if you thought the game was holding your hand too much, then Nightmare will certainly change your opinion.

• NO waiting phases (Go break) during waves at all. That means no health refill/trap reset/guardian resurrection.
  
  
• Only THREE SECONDS to sell traps between waves.
  
  
• Enemies hit harder, have improved health and are far more numerous to compensate the lack of "Go" breaks.
  
  
• Stronger enemies appear much earlier in the game.
  
  
• New enemies that don't show up in War Mage.
  
  
• Orcs will have shields from Level 1 and almost every Orc will have shield.
  
  
• Reduced total Rift Points from War Mage (i.e: from 20 to 10).

As you can see the game is done going easy on you. Nightmare doesn't pull any punches and WILL punish poorly set traps and reckless players. There is little to no room for mistakes in Nightmare; unless you are playing in co-op it will be difficult to hold yourself until the next wave to fix what went wrong and if you do the next wave is almost certain to overrun you with even stronger enemies.


It's easy to slip and see everything done gone in mere moments, but take that as a lesson. Nightmare is unforgiving, but far from unfair (at least most of times). If your trap setup/load out isn't working, try something different.


Nightmare doesn't play around. You will fall on your face a bunch of times until you get the hang of it.
________________________________________________________________

If you have the habit of putting traps and then replacing them for something else later (i.e: Spike Floor for Ice Vents) keep in mind it will be MUCH MORE DIFFICULT as you have only 3 seconds to sell traps, so if you plan to replace lots of them you'll probably need more than one Wave to do so.
________________________________________________________________

Remember those breaks when everything stopped for a moment and you had a full health refill and Guardian resurrecting? You don't get any of that on Nightmare and thus forces you to be more careful with positioning so they'll survive and you won't need to bring a Guardian Trinket (or if you don't have the Yeti DLC for it).

Be extremely careful with Sappers, Gnolls and Yetis, they all go specifically for you and Guardians. The latter two ignores Barricades; they go over them as if they weren't there.
________________________________________________________________

These are not fancy "braggin' rights" abilities, they can let you cross gaps that otherwise would be impossible helping you save precious time to control mobs of enemies.
________________________________________________________________

You may not like them, but learning how to use all teleporters properly can help you immensely.
________________________________________________________________

Try to make enemies walk a single path leading them to your traps. Unlike War Mage enemies have more health and come in such numbers that trying to hold even two points without being in co-op is very difficult even with Paladins and other guardians.
________________________________________________________________

If they were dangerous in War Mage they are even more in Nightmare. It's not uncommon for players to die because they were careless or watch their carefully planned Barricade/Guardian setup gone in seconds because of them.
________________________________________________________________

To make sure Kobold Sappers will stay far from your main Barricades, try to put few others so the Sappers will explode them. This may seem like a waste of coins, but believe me: this is one of the most efficient and reliable ways to ensure your safety, especially since on Nightmare battles tend to be more hectic than on War Mage and it's much more difficult to get a bead on Sappers.
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"Barricades take reduced damage". At least it's what I've been using ever since I started taking Nightmare seriously.

Healing Barricades are destroyed faster in Nightmare and, I think, four Sapper attacks are enough to explode them while a Reinforced Barricade will take up to seven. Combined with the fact Sappers very rarely comes in small numbers, or lumped together so all of them die in one attack, and you've got yourself a Sapper problem.

Enemy AI also has a tendency to glitch and start attacking Barricades randomly which is also annoying, sometimes you may be busy with something and may not be able to go immediatelly check the Barricade under attack and the Reinforced Barricade can take a fair bit of punishment from at least Orcs (which has the most problematic AI since they are so numerous).
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The mini-map is a vital tool on Nightmare. By paying attention to it you may catch a straggler rushing to the exit/rift, or upon hearing a Gnoll to know where he's coming from (watch the speed of the red dots moving, Gnolls are speedy enemies).
________________________________________________________________

Speaking of sound clues, make sure you understand them. The game gives a fairly loud warning about Sappers, Gnolls howl, Earth Lords make a deep echoing noise and flyers screeches (while the game also gives a warning most of times).
________________________________________________________________

Be careful. You don't get healing mid-game or close to the end. If you take too much damage and have no Red Potions available stay as far as possible and out of Crossbow Orcs' aim. If you are on an Act 2 level you can stay close to the rift for a slow health regeneration.
________________________________________________________________

And remember...

Something I see that people likes to underestimate a lot is the Orcs' shields and this is the most common kind of mistake, something a beginner gravely underestimates, and I had the feeling I should give some advice about them.

Orcs will lose their shields on the first hit. Sounds ridiculous to worry about this? You won't be smirking so smugly when your previous trap setup doesn't hold well against the Orcs on Nightmare when it did before on War Mage.

The shield Orcs carry will allow them to tank the first hit taking at maximum minimal damage even from VERY strong hits and this can be really dangerous as this allows them to survive a lot of things that would normally kill them with ease.

The biggest problem on Nightmare is that every Orc will carry shields and if you don't pay attention at least some of them will power through your traps because of that shield you laughed about. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THEM.


One shield might not cause a lot of trouble, but a horde armed with them certainly will.

• Survive most short trap courses.
  
• Make Grinders jam much faster.
  
• Make Brimstone and Shock Zapper waste one extra charge on their shields.
  
• Endure single hit traps such as Wall Blades, Autoballista, Spike Wall, Spike Trap, Boom Barrel and Bear Trap.
  
• Mana weapons such as the Dwarven Missile Launcher primary attack, Alchemist's Satchel, Bone Amulet, Ring of Lightning will be rendered almost useless on the first hit.
  
• Make some of mana weapon's secondary attack ineffective like Flame Bracer's secondary attack (even with stun some Orcs can get through) and the Ice Amulet's area freezing (which will make them simply drop the shield, not be frozen).
  
• Shields prevent Orcs from getting headshot'd by the Crossbow.
  
• Melee weapons will be even more dangerous to use as even if you hit Orcs carrying shields they won't flinch and their attack will not be interrupted.

• Anything that hits multiple times or can attack rapidly such as Crossbow, Sceptre of Domination and Stone Staff's primary attacks.
  
• Most "push" damage will knock Orcs back and get the shields off them. Push Trap, Spring Trap, Steam Trap can be helpful in some situations.
  
• Wind Belt's primary attack.
  
• Dwarven Missile Launcher's secondary attack.
  
• Stone Staff's secondary attack will petrify Orcs and make them drop their shields.

"THESE ORCS. MUST. DIE!"

Traits:

+ More Health than Sorceress
- Less Mana than Sorceress

Unique ability: Double jump (requires completion of War Mage difficulty).

Exclusive weapons:

• Blunderbuss
  
• Dwarven Hammer

Exclusive traps:

• Arrow Wall
  
• Tar
  
• Healing Well

Our lovable fool from the first game makes his return just as witty and goofy, if not more than before. Stuck in a job as miner for lack of better skills other than "kill orcs and cast spell thing" and inadvertently causing a catastrophe you can almost feel the glee when an unlikely ally arrives to tell him the orcs are back.

The War Mage is a perfect choice for beginners and great for veterans as well. Aside from having more health - which allows him to take more hits - he also has the excellent Tar trap which is extremely useful in almost every strategy when combined with any other trap you have.

"Their suffering will be legendary!"

Traits:

- Less Health than War Mage
+ More Mana than War Mage

Unique ability: Feather Fall (requires completion of War Mage difficulty).

Exclusive weapons:

• Sceptre of Domination
  
• Polymorph Ring

Exclusive traps:

• Acid Sprayer
  
• Ice Vent
  
• Mana Well

Fallen from grace, without power to control Orcs, she makes her return to fight the horde alongside the dim-witted War Mage. While the alliance may seem shaky at first, it ends with the Sorceress truly fighting for the Order again.

The Sorceress has less health, but more Mana in comparison to the War Mage, thus playing with her takes a little more caution as a mistake like getting stunned by Ogres or ambushed by Gnolls will almost certainly be fatal.

However her larger Mana pool (which can be increased even further with the Mana Trinket) allows her to dish out powerful Mana-consuming attacks much more frequently.

Not quite recommended for beginners, but it's not like the game tells you this.

Several pieces of equipment, be it traps or weapons, must be bought before you are able to use them in combat. It's an extra cost that you must deal with, but if you are in serious need you can always refund your skull or take look in the "Skull Farming" section of the guide.

There are numerous traps and equipment that must be unlocked by completing Story Mode maps and in the table below I'll detail what level unlocks what.

Example of a trap that has yet to be bought.

Example of a trap that was unlocked after completing a Story level, in this case the Archer Guardian.

Test every trap of the game. What you'll read here is only my opinion. Make your own combinations, no matter how weird and nonsensical they may seem, and you might find yourself a tasty killing combination far more efficient than anything I've described.

• Arrow Wall
  
• Tar
  
• Healing Well

• Acid Sprayer
  
• Ice Vent
  
• Mana Well

• Barricade
  
• Bear Trap
  
• Boom Barrel
  
• Brimstone
  
• Coinforge
  
• Decoy
  
• Floor Portal ("Fire and Water" DLC required)
  
• Floor Scorcher
  
• Spike Trap
  
• Spore Mushrooms
  
• Spring Trap
  
• Steam Trap

• Boom Barrel Dispenser
  
• Grinder
  
• Push Trap
  
• Spike Wall ("Are we there Yeti?" DLC required)
  
• Void Wall
  
• Wall Blades
  
• Web Spinner ("Fire and Water" DLC required)

• Autoballista
  
• Boulder Chute
  
• Dart Spitter ("Fire and Water" DLC required)
  
• Haymaker
  
• Pounder
  
• Shock Zapper
  
• Swinging Mace

• Archer Guardian
  
• Dwarf Guardian
  
• Paladin Guardian

Before anything I won't say "This is the best trap ever" or anything between these lines (except maybe for Tar). So if you came looking for anything like that... You might have to read a little and decide for yourself.

Traps are probably the reason you came here and are also the key element of the game. You'll be using these to slaughter masses and masses of endless Orcs and other creatures coming at you and your friends. And here I'll try to help you showing what they do and sometimes giving friendly hints on how to use them.

Make sure to check a trap's range before setting them.

Some traps like Tar are always acting and will never have to reload.

• Arrow Wall
  
• Tar
  
• Healing Well

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"Arrows for everyone!"
"Orcs pincushion coming right up!"

Arrow Wall in action (with chill effect).

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 13 / Unique: 5
Special: 11
Cost: 600$

So this thingy is your first attack trap. It must be pretty weak and you won't use it once you get to unlock other stuff, right? Wrong.

Arrow Wall is a basic, but very good trap. It can hold chill (slow) or burning (damage over time) side effects to help you out balancing your elemental damage, and it can be also placed on the ceiling with a special upgrade turning it into one of the most versatile traps of the game.

The Arrow Walls may not have the oomph required to bring down bigger targets, but put enough of them in a corridor and whatever is left to finish probably will be quite damaged by the end of it.

The chill Unique upgrade is deceptively useful to stall crowds of enemies, it may not be Tar, but it's far from useless.

The Fire Unique upgrade not only gives this trap more firepower (pun intended) and will deal more damage to enemies, especially those vulnerable to Fire damage with the added benefit of causing burning ailment to them.

When in doubt, try Arrow Walls.
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"Now that's a sticky situation! Hahaha... Ha... ha..."
"This will slow 'em up!"
"Wipe your feet!"

They're almost there!... Almost... Almost... Anytime now...


Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 13 / Unique: 5
Cost: 450$, 400$, 350$, 300$

Heads up for the most versatile trap of the entire game. The Tar Trap. Cheap (300 coins at maximum level) and reliable (constantly slows without ever needing to recharge). This simple trap is single-handedly the reason War Mage is perfect for beginners (aside from his increased health) and the reason some people prefer to play as the War Mage instead of the Sorceress. Tar works in synergy with about everything else in your arsenal, from the Arrow Wall to about anything you can think of.

Tar slow downs enemies enough to lump them together for massive damage, be it from a player attack or a trap. It also can be used when Barricades are not as quite effective (like in Mirror Image) to stall enemies on one side while you kill everything on the other.

When strategically positioned with traps like Spike Wall, Spring Trap and Push Trap, Tar can make certain segments nearly impassible to all but the heaviest enemies. If set close to down slopes with the Spike Wall only a large number of enemies at once will be able to pierce this defense.

I'm not exaggerating, test Tar with EVERYTHING you can think of, you'll be surprised how well it works.

I try avoid saying this as much as possible, but Tar should be the first thing to upgrade to max level. Most of times it will be the backbone of your defenses as War Mage and it'll take you very far if you master it and use creatively with other traps.

Regarding Unique upgrades, Unique 1 is better used if you can make a cluster of wall traps for it to be used.

Unique 2 prolongs the effect to approximately 1 Tar trap, so you can so things like put a line of Tar trap, skip and another line which will save a lot of money. Another interesting usage is to put a line of Tar traps and then a Coinforge ahead so enemies will be clustered together better for any other trap you may have ahead.

Tar can aid you take care of separate sides and open a series of strategies that would never work without it. Some call it a "crutch", I call it "most versatile trap in the game".
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"Drinks on me!"
"It's the refreshing taste that keeps me going!"
"Hum... Protein shake."
"Hum... Frothy healing stuff."


While Healing Well seems gaudy on War Mage difficulty, it can be very useful on Nightmare.

Skulls to buy: 12
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6
Cost: 600$ (400$ with Unique 1)

The Healing Well is a support "trap" that allows you or your partner to quickly recover health when standing near it. It recharges itself fairly slow, but if you play carefully it will be more than enough to keep you alive.

On War Mage difficulty it's borderline useless since you get health refill midway and close to the map's end, however on Nightmare you don't have this luxury and the Healing Well can be very helpful in keeping you alive especially if you have bad luck and no Red Potions drops from the enemies in a while.

Healing Well can be particularly useful in levels with Cyclops Mages and those that have too many Crossbow Orcs like Rush Hour or Stairs of Doom.

The Healing Well works especially well with Bladestaff/Dwarven Hammer weapons as they require the player to get extremely close to enemies to dish out damage. It's also a good thing to go along with Vampire Gauntlets depending how daring you are.

• Acid Sprayer
  
• Ice Vent
  
• Mana Well

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"Bath time children!"

Several Acid Sprayers lined up can kill even large groups of enemies. Don't underestimate this basic trap.

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 13 / Unique: 5
Cost: 600$

One of the best traps for the Sorceress, fairly cheap (600 coins), resets fast and can either have further range or Poison (slow) ailment to hit whatever walks in front of it. Putting lots of these traps in a row can have an effect akin to the Tar trap with damage, albeit with a reset time.

The Acid Sprayer should not be underestimated, they can thin out masses of Orcs and soften bigger targets like Ogres and Gnolls enough for you to finish them without much trouble.

The Unique 1 (longer range) is more useful than it seems as some levels can have walls quite far from each other or, if possible, you can put it on walls making a turn so enemies will activate the trap earlier. Unique 2 is also pretty good as leaving enemies enemies slowed for a brief period can be valuable if you use other traps in conjunction.
________________________________________________________________

"Let the cold take them!"
"I'll stop them in their tracks!"

Ice Vents will leave enemies vulnerable for some time and can be set on ceilings to save the ground for floor traps.

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 13 / Unique: 5
Special: 11
Cost: 400$

Ice Vent is the equivalent of the Tar trap for the Sorceress. It's not quite as efficient since it has a reset time and masses of enemies may bypass Ice Vents with much more ease than they would the Tar.

But there are few things to be taken in consideration here: frozen enemies take a lot more damage from anything, it costs mere 400 coins and can be placed on ceilings leaving the ground open for other traps. Just make sure not to use anything with fire damage or else this trap will be rendered practically useless.

The Ice Vents can also be used with Barricades to force Orcs into a single narrow path. This works very well with Acid Sprayers and Grinders or Wall Blades, and will create a big choke point since some Orcs might not be able to pass through their frozen buddies.

Since it can be placed on ceilings, Ice Vents can be used to take some flyers; unless the flyer is a Frostbat, the enemy will be frozen and fall to the ground which means instant death for them.

Unique upgrades are divisive, but if you have something to deal wide range area damage the Unique 1 can be more useful than it first appears.

Unique 2 can be also good, but remember the Ice Vent must recharge, so, again, this trap is nowhere as efficient as Tar for slowing down crowds.


Ice Vents can create big choke points when used with Barricades.
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"I'll make a stand here!"
"Power-- HAHAHAHAHA!! The POWER!!!
"Pure energy!"


Mana Well can be a very powerful asset.

Skulls to buy: 12
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6
Cost: 1500$ (1250$ with Unique 1)

Mana Well is an interesting "trap". It allows extremely fast Mana regeneration akin to the Mana Rage from the Mana Trinket, however the Mana Well recharges slowly, even slower than the Healing Well, and it's fairly pricey costing 1500 coins (1250 with the right Unique), so placing more than two can be difficult in certain maps, especially in co-op due to the limited money earning.

If put to good use with the right equipment the Mana Well can turn the tide of a losing battle giving you the edge to overpower enemies about to overrun your trap course and prevent them from reaching the exit/rift.

• Barricade
  
• Bear Trap
  
• Boom Barrel

________________________________________________________________

"Luckily Orcs can't jump!"
"This flimsy waist-high wooden barricade will stop 'em!"

"I'll shape their path."
"They'll go where I want them to."

Re-routing enemies can be a powerful strategy in certain maps, like Finale.

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 13 / Unique: 5
Cost: 900$, 800$, 700$, 600$

Barricades! Boring stuff that doesn't do crap, right?

If you thought that you are wrong. Very, very, so very wrong. Barricade may be the simplest trap, but in the hands of a seasoned player it's one the most useful ones and it can be used in several ways more than just simply block the Orc mob path.

Barricades can turn the daunting task of dealing with a level that has several doors and rift/exits into a much simpler problem since with them you might be able to force enemies to walk one single path, - maps with separate rifts/exits notwithstanding - so you won't have to spread your resources in two places and worry about something getting through. It is also the best way to avoid getting swarmed from all sides since enemies will have to find another path to the rift/exit.

Barricades are also often used to assist other traps with short range such as Wall Blades and Grinder as well. It can be also used to force enemies walk down a narrow path so other traps like Boulder Chute, Floor Scorchers or Boom Barrels will have maximum efficiency.

Also make sure to keep an eye on the mini-map. Sometimes Orcs may glitch up and start attacking Barricades out of blue, especially if you set them right where they were walking at.

It depends on what you intend to do with the Barricades. In regular maps the Unique 1, more Resilient Barricades, is usually the better option as the Barricades will last longer against Kobold Sappers soaking more damage if you set a few of them as bait.

Regenerating Barricades, the Unique 2, is far more interesting in Endless matches as money income from kill will become more scarce the longer it keeps going.

Kobold Sappers are the nemesis of the Barricades however, so it's in your best interest to keep them safe either by setting one or two Barricades close to the enemy spawn point so they'll go explode them instead of your main ones, or at least be equipped to deal with them as fast as possible.

Example of Barricades and decoy Barricades (marked in red). Kobold Sappers will appear and explode the other two close to the mine tracks ignoring the two in the center and the three on the right side. Make sure to space them properly as well, give one Barricade worth of distance so Sappers won't hit all of your "decoys" at once. You'll also need to keep them in check and put more if needed.

Barricades can be used to create different types of killzones.
________________________________________________________________

"Bears... Orcs... Close enough."
"Orcs don't need legs, do they?"
"Snap, snap goes the trap!"

"Hold them fast, then kill where they stand."
"Snap their feet and crush their knees."
"So simple, yet so effective."


On the left: Earth Lord getting hit by a Bear Trap with freeze effect; on the right: an unfortunate Orc stepping on a fire Bear Trap. That snapping sound is delicious to hear.

Skulls to upgrade: 2, 6, 12 / Unique: 5
Cost: 150$

Note: One-time use trap. CANNOT be placed over other floor traps.

The Bear Trap however is quite powerful and can kill a Gnoll Hunter in a single hit even on Nightmare (at maximum level). If you know which way he's coming from and when, you can easily leave a Bear Trap in a specific spot to catch him. Additionally the Bear Trap can be used as an way to deal with Frost/Fire Ogres, with the right element a Bear Trap will deal a lot of damage to them.

This trap is unique in the fact that it will normally Stun enemies, however buying any unique upgrades will remove this property unless you refund.

The biggest problem with Bear Traps is their lack of versatility, especially when compared to Boom Barrels. You can't place them over other floor traps and even though they are cheap they can't hit more than one enemy at a time.


A Frost Ogre's health after being hit with a Fire Bear Trap (on Nightmare). Damage includes all the burn damage over time. Not too shabby.
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"Please extinguish open flames."
"Who's got a match?!"
"Ka-boom!!"

"Ah, explosives!
"I love fireworks!"
"Surprise!"

Skulls to buy: 3
Skulls to upgrade: 2, 5, 10 / Unique: 4
Cost: 200$ (150$ with Unique 1)

Damage type: Explosive. (Strong vs Elementals)
Note: One-time use trap. May be placed on other floor traps. CANNOT be sold once placed.


You can trigger massive chain reactions with several Boom Barrels lined up.

A simple, yet effective and powerful trap. The Boom Barrel is one of my favorite traps to kill anything ranging from a small Kobold to a hulking Earth Lord.

Boom Barrel is a fairly strong trap and will kill all types of Orcs (Light, Medium and Heavy) in one hit (on max level) as long as they don't have shields to tank the hit. It will also kill Hobgoblin Shamans and Healers in one hit, being a good option to quickly get rid of them without having to fight everything around them, this is particularly useful in Family Ties DLC where you'll be fighting a lot of those things.

But why don't you have Boom Barrel Dispensers instead? Because they cost 1000 coins and are not always a viable option, besides it spawns Boom Barrels in a rather slow rate, so you can't quite rely on it unless you have a truckload of Dispensers lined up and ready for you. Besides you can set the Boom Barrel manually in almost any place you want instead of having to carrying it in the middle of enemies and risk getting hit.

I tend to use Boom Barrels for couple of tasks:

• To quickly dispose of numerous trash (masses of Orcs).
  
• Kill a specific target as fast as possible (Shamans and Healers).
  
• Place 2 or 3 of and use them as a smart bomb to kill or heavily wound everything in the vicinity.

Obviously you can't just fill the place with Boom Barrels and destroy everything since it costs 200$ and the value will add up quickly if you spam it. But if you have something to lump enemies together, like the Wind Belt for instance, so you can kill large groups of them with a single Boom Barrel, then you get yourself a very cheap and useful trap.

As a last note, you can pick up the Boom Barrel and carry it, you can explode them at any time by attacking it with a weapon, but beware that enemies can explode them prematurely if they hit it, so watch out for Gnoll Grenadiers and Crossbow Orcs.

• Brimstone
  
• Coinforge
  
• Decoy

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"BURN ORC-Y, BURN!"
"It's an Orc barbecue!"

"Cooked flesh is such a delight!"
"I love the smell of Brimstone in the morning!"
"Roasted Orcs are my favorite!"


Brimstone is also good to fry annoying Gnolls that can sneak up on you while you're busy killing other stuff.

Skulls to buy: 7
Skulls to upgrade: 2, 6, 12 / Unique: 5
Cost: 700$

Brimstone is a floor trap that will always hit anything that steps on it, be it a sluggish Troll or a speedy Kobold Runner. It recharges very slowly (even with the right Unique upgrade) however.

This is a great trap to balance elemental damage. Although Brimstone is a bit costly at 700 coins, when set in numbers it's pretty strong and can kill a good number of enemies efficiently, ranging from Orcs to Trolls and Ogres. Fire Ogres and Fire Elementals are completely immune to it, so watch out for them.

Brimstone is often used to kill Kobold Sappers and Runners and setting them in strategical positions is a viable tactic to prevent headaches in maps where these enemies attack in larger packs, however keep in mind each Brimstone can kill up to 5 Kobold Runners before fizzling out and needing to start to recharge, ergo some maps like Mirror Image and Crunch will throw WAY more Kobolds than one or two Brimstones can handle.
________________________________________________________________

"Cha-ching!"
Invest today, profit tomorrow.
"Step 1, place Coinforge. Step 2, something with Orcs, but I forgot. Step 3, profit!"

"I'll profit from this!"
"The killing zone will be here."

Orcs ready for profitable kill.

Skulls to buy: 5
Skulls to upgrade: 2, 5, 11 / Unique: 5
Cost: 200$

Coinforge is the largest floor trap of the game and because of that it can be difficult to set it properly in certain maps. It is meant to increase the income of your kills and it can be very useful in most maps, as long as you know how to set killzones for it.

Unique 1 is useful to use if you set things like Tar or a big bulk of traps ahead of the Coinforge, it can be used if you throw enemies away with some physics trap or the Wind Belt.

With Unique 2 the Coinforge gains an additional role that is to reduce defense of enemies and it can be very useful if you put other traps close to it like Arrow Wall, Floor Scorcher, Acid Sprayer and so on. Killzones focused around the Coinforge can be powerful enough to hold even medium sized groups of Orcs and strong enough to badly bruise Ogres and other heavy enemies.

Something to note is that if you freeze/petrify flying enemies and they crash down on a Coinforge you will get the bonus money from them rather than the normal if you kill them in any other way while they're airborne.

The Coinforge's effect can be further enhanced with the Scavenger Trinket allowing you to earn lots of money from kill while its active effect is acting.


Unique 2 decreases enemy defenses and increases your income from kills, the perfect combination to create a very nice killzone.


Flyers dying after being frozen on the Coinforge. They're normally worth 20 coins.
________________________________________________________________

"Hello, handsome devil!"
"Wait a minute, if I'm over there... How can I be standing here?!"
"Whoa... It's like looking into a mirror!"

"This looks just like a dummy I know."
"Ugh! Hideous!"
"Who wouldn't want to kill HIM?"


Any aggressive enemy will attack Decoys on sight. Powerful enemies like Elemental Lords and Mountain Trolls can destroy it in a couple of hits.

Skulls to buy: 11
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6
Cost: 700$

Damage type (if it explodes): Explosive. (Strong vs Elementals) / Ice (with Unique 2).

Decoy is a very interesting trap that will make any aggressive enemy attack it as soon they get close to it, passive enemies like Kobold Runners will simply ignore it and continue speeding towards the exit/rift.

If the Decoy takes enough hits it'll explode like a Boom Barrel (unless it has an Unique upgrade), but the Decoy regenerates its health at rather fast pace, so you can keep it safe for a long time if you protect it. However Decoy is unique that it loses its original damage source (explosive) almost permanently (unless you respec) since with either unique the Decoy won't explode or will deal ice damage.

Using this trap may require some planning and forward thinking especially in maps where flyers come in. The Decoy may be used to stall enemies in place, in front of traps, or simply to draw attention from your Guardians while they kill enemies.

Both Unique upgrades are useful and your choice will mostly depend on what you need the most. If you feel the Decoy will get destroyed too quickly the Unique 1 may be a good option, but if you're intending to protect it, Unique 2 will be may be much more useful.

Regardless of what you'll be picking, keep in mind the Unique 1 can be a bit misleading, the Decoy takes a good while to fix itself back to usefulness (about 1 minute), so be careful and don't try to rely too much on it. The Trap Reset Trinket will NOT fix them.


Decoys with Unique 1 after being broken by enemies.

• Floor Portal
  
• Floor Scorcher
  
• Spike Trap

________________________________________________________________


Portals can be quite effective in Endless matches if you set them as close as possible to the rift/exit.



Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6
Cost: 1200$

Floor Portal is an odd trap. It sends an enemy that steps on it right back to its initial spawn door.

In normal matches this trap isn't very useful since it's so expensive and you have to worry about the Par time if you want to get a 5-skull. Otherwise it can be used to let an enemy slip by and force him walk through your trap course again to attempt another combo and earn more points.

In Endless matches, however this trap can be extremely useful on late game after enemies starts to get extremely resilient. Set them in sufficient numbers with a good trap course and by the time the monster is back the Floor Portal will be set to fire again.
________________________________________________________________

"I like a nice medium-rare Orc with warmth pink center..."
"Now I can toast six Orcs at once!"
"Like an old-fashioned book burn. But with Orcs instead of books."

"Welcome to my cooking class!"
"I'll see them all BURN!"
"Out of the frying pan into MY fire."

Scorchers are often better to be set on sidelines rather than in front of enemies. Notice the one set on the wall and the other on the left throwing an Orc to his doom.

Skulls to buy: 16
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6
Special: 13
Cost: 800$

Floor Scorcher is a powerful fire trap, it's a bit expensive to buy and upgrade and fairly expensive to build in maps, but it's usually worth the investment. I'm not gonna lie or mince words here-- Floor Scorcher is among my favorite traps of the game due to how cost-effective it is compared to many other traps in the game.

This trap will roast any enemy that walks in front of it and since it deals constant damage it will have no problem hurting Orcs with shields. The Scorcher is activated when anything either steps on it or walks in front of it.

Placement is very important for this trap, even more than usual. Since the Scorchers open up to fire, that will also throw small enemies around and this can either help or get in your way. Setting the Scorchers on the sidelines will prevent Orcs from being thrown forward, thus potentially making other traps ineffective, and if you set them close to pits, the Scorcher may very well launch the enemy to his demise while burning everything that goes in front of it.

The Floor Scorcher can be placed on walls as well, but the interesting thing is that if you set it like you'd other wall traps, the Floor Scorcher will be almost useless. Since it spit fire from its front instead of its sides, one of the best ways to set it on walls is pictured above and below.

The Floor Scorcher can be set in unorthodox places for wall traps due to how it activates. Be creative.


Using it with Barricades. Notice the Scorchers on the wall and the one set on the back wall roasting the Troll.
________________________________________________________________

"Sharp spikes, meet tender toes!"
"Ohh, pointy!"
"This should make my POINT."

"A legless Orc is such a tragedy."
"Clean and sharp!"

A gift for combo makers. But if you're just looking for raw damage you may want to consider something else.

Skulls to upgrade: 2, 4, 9 / Unique: 4
Cost: 300$

Spike Trap is one of the most basic, simplest and cheapest traps of the game. Costing merely 300 coins, this trap resets rather fast, but hits only once per time.

Although dirty cheap, the Spike Trap's damage is modest at best and it isn't nearly powerful to take on big threats such as Ogres (even regular ones), Trolls and Elementals, so you must be careful with them as even the longest corridors with this trap won't be able to kill one, let alone groups of them.

This trap can be good when in sufficient numbers, but Kobold Runners can easily run past it, so be careful with them.

Spike Traps are very useful for combo makers since it can have either Bleeding or Poison effects giving it more combo versatility.

• Spore Mushrooms
  
• Spring Trap
  
• Steam Trap

________________________________________________________________

"Let's be friends!"
"Now this is a party!"
"Riiide the snake!"

"Bow to my will!"
"They'll serve me once again!"
"You'll serve ONLY me."


Beefed up Kobold Runners by Unique 2 fighting for you.


A Troll fighting for you.

Skulls to buy: 15
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 8, 17 / Unique: 7
Cost: 1200$

Spore Mushrooms are among the most expensive traps of the game and it is probably the one that resets the slowest even with the right upgrade.

On normal maps the Spore Mushroom is a cool option, but far too expensive to be of great use. A cunning player however can set it right in front of a powerful enemy like an Armored Ogre or a Mountain Troll, especially close to the rift, so they can have a beefed up guardian there.

During Endless matches the Spore Mushrooms are a powerful tool to fight enemies that gets constantly stronger on each passing wave and if you manage to get enough of them, you can have your own personal Orc army fighting for you.

However make no mistake, enemies affected by the Spore Mushrooms are brought back to their BASE status, so an enemy converted to your side will be ALWAYS weaker on late Endless matches.

Several popular tactics for the "Impossible!" achievement uses Spore Mushrooms.

Big, tough enemies are the best potential victims for the Spore Mushrooms. In Endless matches you can rack up enough money to create a small army of minions.
________________________________________________________________

"Spring traps, fulfilling Orcs' dreams of flight since 1139."
"Pull!"
"You must be at least this tall to ride!"

"Fly away little friends!"
"Watch them flying!"
"Why walk when you can ride?"

Maps like Double Decker are perfect for the Spring Trap.

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 13 / Unique: 5
Cost: 600$, 550$, 500$, 450$

Spring Trap does just about what you think it does. It flings enemies that steps on it far away and most likely to their doom.

Before using the Spring Trap beware of its throwing power, sometimes, more often than you think, a Spring Trap may launch Orcs MUCH farther than you intended, in the worst case ABOVE the pit you intended them to fall in. So study it well before you use it on the map.

With the right unique the Spring Trap may fling Ogres and Trolls as well (albeit in a MUCH shorter distance), but as far as I know, I've never ever seen a Spring Trap, even with the "lift heavier enemies" unique, launch an Armored Ogre, a Mountain Troll or an Earth Lord (or any Elemental Lord). So beware of these enemies too.
________________________________________________________________

"The steam makes them juicy and tender!"
"Let's open those pores!"
"Hot towel with your steam bath?"

"A little steam bath!"
"Come, purify yourselves!"
"Wash away your sins, little ones!"

Don't underestimate the usability of this simple trap. In sufficient numbers it can slow down masses of enemies as much as Tar itself does.

Skulls to buy: 6
Skulls to upgrade: 2, 5, 11 / Unique: 5
Cost: 400$, 350$, 300$, 250$

A curious, fast resetting and cheap trap that will blast an enemy upwards as soon as they step on it. However unlike the Spring Trap there is now way for it to launch any heavy enemy like Ogres, Trolls, Elemental Lords (but the chill unique will still slow down them, except Frost Ogres and Yetis).

The Steam Trap has some uses, like a substitute Tar for the Sorceress, at max level it's even cheaper than Tar, and since it's so cheap it's not hard to fill an entire killzone with it. However beware of fast enemies like Kobold Runners, Kobold Sappers, Gnolls, frenzied Yetis and Goblin Sappers; they are fast enough to run past the Steam Trap and unless they are slowed somehow a bit the trap will activate but they won't be affected.

Using the Steam Trap can be difficult, since it launches enemies far upwards, it might force them out of harm's way decreasing significantly a trap's effectiveness. There are funny combinations such as setting a Push Trap so it'll fling the enemy far backwards or to a pit killing it instantly, or getting it to be flung above with a Boom Barrel Dispenser on its foot so the barrel will explode as the enemy lands with it.

Creativity is the word of rule when using this trap.

Using it force enemies on ceiling traps that would normally be impossible to activate. As I mentioned, be creative.

• Boom Barrel Dispenser
  
• Grinder
  
• Push Trap
  
• Spike Wall

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"It's like a vending machine of death!"
"Boom Barrels for everyone!"
"Multi boom!"

"Presents for everyone!"
"Barrels, everywhere!"

You can cause massive chain reactions if you set them up one close to each other.

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6
Cost: 1000$

The Boom Barrel Dispenser is an interesting and powerful trap that will create Boom Barrels slowly, but surely.

Buying the right unique gives the Boom Barrels created by the Dispenser the same upgrades a normal Boom Barrel would have, which are explosion strength by level and increased radius if the Boom Barrels has it, naturally the cheaper unique from the Boom Barrel is useless.

Dispensers might seem like an expensive offensive trap, but certain in levels, ones with long corridors, the Dispenser can prove to be extremely powerful as if you fill a corridor with them all it will take is a single attack to set off a massive chain reaction of explosions and annihilate everything trying to cross it-- It might be a great asset to use alongside other traps as they will set off the barrels without the need of you hitting them.

Another use for the Boom Barrel Dispenser is to be set above another wall trap, complementing it and increasing its raw power. However this is usually very expensive, ergo maps with low income will not let you do this very well.

You can also set Dispensers on higher walls so when the Boom Barrel is spawned it will explode as soon as it hits the ground. But always keep in mind that the Dispenser generates barrels slowly.


The Boom Barrel Dispenser works rather well as a complementary trap.


Setting the Dispenser at this height will ensure that the barrel will explode as soon as it hits the ground.

Using Trap Reset Trinket with this trap may net you some amusing results.
________________________________________________________________

"Ever wondered how the sausage gets made?"
"It's cleaning the hair afterwards that sucks."
"Sucks Orcs in, spits bones out!"
"Orcs check in, but they don't check out!"

"Let nothing get through!"
"Orcs go in, flesh comes out!"
"Teeth and blades and whirling death!

Grinders often require the assistance of Barricades to force enemies in their range.

Skulls to buy: 12
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6
Cost: 1000$

Grinders are traps that deals constant enemies that comes within their range and can easily dispose of small trash like Kobold Runners and Light to Medium Orc Warriors. It will jam very quickly if something heavier like Ogres, Trolls and Elementals get in their range, so watch out.

Grinders are quite expensive and since they have such short range they need extra "investments" with Barricades to force enemies to get close enough and deal damage.

Grinders are the absolute best trap to kill pesky Kobold Runners, a single Grinder can mow down dozens of Kobold Runners without even slightly getting risk of jamming and if you set them ahead of your trap course you can basically ignore the Runners and let Grinders turn them into processed meat. Grinders are also effective in dealing with other fragile enemies like Light and Medium Orc Warrior (watch out when they start bringing shields) and Crossbow Orcs.

Grinders are good at diposing of small trash, but absolutely suck at dealing with tougher enemies like Ogres, Elementals and Trolls-- any heavier threat will jam even many Grinders lined up, so never rely on this trap to take out these types of enemy.

Between both Unique upgrades the "Unjam fast" always is more attractive as it allows it to destroy enemies faster, but the "Make enemies Bleed" can be a better option to take down heavier enemies. It all depends of what you're intending to do with them.


Grinders are surprisingly good at mowing down flying enemies as well.


Set two of these on each side of Crunch like pictured above and you will have to worry about only one or two rare Frostbat survivors.
________________________________________________________________

"I'm your pusher, baby."
"A little push in the right direction."
"Orcs go here, there and everywhere!"

"Off you go!"
"A SHOVE in the the right direction!"

Push Traps can be a good, effective, and cheap, option in some maps.

Skulls to buy: 8
Skulls to upgrade: 2, 6, 13 / Unique: 5
Cost: 300$

Push Trap is a simple, fast-resetting trap that will bash enemies away dealing very little damage to them. Like the Steam Trap, it will never work on any heavy enemy like Ogres, Trolls and Elementals (although they can be stunned if the trap has the right unique), so watch out for them.

Push Traps can be used in different ways, you can either use it simply as it is intended: to push things into oblivion, or you can set them in narrow corridors with the "Stun enemies" unique and have them to assist your ceiling traps holding heavy enemies in place.

Certain maps like Double Decker, Sludge Hole and Chaos Chamber are perfect for Push Traps with Unique 2 since there are lot of places to set them and let them kill masses of Orcs, while Passages and Triple Threat are the perfect to use them with Unique 1.


Narrow hallways are perfect spots for Push Traps with Unique 1.
________________________________________________________________

Spike Wall shares the same quotes of Wall Blades.

The Spike Wall is nothing to be trifled with. It can stall even the largest enemies and kill groups of smaller ones efficiently.



Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6
Cost: 800$

Spike Walls are large traps, worth of 2 Arrow Walls (or Acid Sprayers) side-by-side, but is the only trap in the game that will throw heavy enemies (Ogres, Trolls, Elementals, Ball and Chain, Yetis...) like ragdolls if it hits them.

Although a bit difficult to set in some maps due to its size, this trap can be extremely powerful if used correctly. Besides dealing good damage, Spike Walls can throw any kind of enemy backwards, lighter enemies will be thrown farther, and this can allow some creative uses ranging from stalling enemies to pushing them into Void Walls, especially the big ones (Elemental Lords, Mountain Trolls, Armored Ogres...) that would normally be impossible to push.

• Void Wall
  
• Wall Blades
  
• Web Spinner

________________________________________________________________

"These things make my brain hurt."
"I wonder what's in there..."
"Express route to the Orc afterlife right through here!"

"Dark as my own soul."
"Gaze into the abyss!"
"So exquisitely empty!"


Void Walls are great traps for Endless maps since even the smallest, puniest Kobold Runner thrown in it can give you a coin worth 100$.

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 13 / Unique: 5
Cost: 300$

A large, cheap, and constant running trap that will never have to reload no matter how many enemies are thrown in it.

Since they're so cheap they are Void Walls are an excellent option for maps where you won't be given a lot of income in early waves, however you WILL need to bring the Wind Belt for it to work.

The problem is that Void Walls can be a hassle to set up in sometimes due to big it is - easily the largest wall trap of the game - and they always require assistance to work as enemies will never walk into them (Orcs are stupid, but not stupid enough for that).

Using traps like Push Trap, Spring Trap, Spike Wall or chucking enemies off into it with the Wind Belt are the most common ways to make good use of the Void Walls.

Void Walls are great traps for Endless matches since it deals gigantic amounts of damage (no it's not insta-kill as player who got to Wave 100+ can testify), and anything chucked into it has a better chance to leave Potions behind and more importantly, coins, which are vital for Endless since as Endless matches goes longer, enemies becomes stronger and gives you less and less coins per kill.

Either Unique upgrade is good, but be careful if you are intending to use it with Unique 2. Unique 2 makes enemies sometimes return as Bone Golems to fight for you, but if you set the Void Walls with Barricades nearby to re-route enemies more easily this can backfire as enemies fighting Bone Golems will also hit the Barricade during their fight and break it eventually.


Example of using "wall-to-wall" Void and Spike Wall, which can push even the biggest enemy of the game. Do NOT use Unique 2 in cases like this, it WILL backfire eventually.


Unique 2 at work.
________________________________________________________________

"Can you go wrong with giant spinning blades? I think not."
"Chop-chop!"
"It slices, it dices, it juliennes!"

"Slice them to pieces!"
"Their suffering will be legendary!"

If Wall Blades are used with Grinders, very few enemies will survive this.

Skulls to buy: 14
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 8, 16 / Unique: 6
Cost: 800$

Wall Blades is a powerful trap that will deal a lot of damage to enemies that walk in front of it, it shares some similarities with the Grinder, like its short range and necessity of Barricades to work well in most cases.

The Wall Blade deals the most damage of all wall traps in the game and it resets decently fast, but they only hit once at time and thus even Light Orcs will endure it they are carrying shields. They lack the capacity of hitting several enemies too unless they are REALLY close to to each other.

Between Wall Blades and Grinders, I'd pick Grinders any time since they are a much more versatile option and takes care of numerous enemies much better than Wall Blades. Mixing Wall Blades and Grinders to take care of small and big enemies can be a good strategy, however.
________________________________________________________________


Orcs in another sticky situation.



Skulls to upgrade: 3, 8, 16 / Unique: 6
Special: 13
Cost: 900$

Web Spinner is a curious trap that will slow enemies and can be set on walls or the ceiling with the Special upgrade. However be wary that this is some of the most expensive traps of the game standing at 900 coins, but its cost is somewhat justified as it's worth three Tar traps side-by-side

This trap is a decent replacement for the Tar trap, and having some Web Spinners close to each other (around 2 or 3 of them) should be enough to lump enemies together and let your traps do a lot of damage to them. Just like Tar this trap is extremely versatile and powerful when used in combination with other traps and it should not be underestimated.

The Web Spinner is also one of the few traps that can hit Kobold Runners, Sappers and Gnolls due to how fast it fires, practically as soon as the enemy steps in its range, and it keeps firing its web for a few seconds so it can and might tangle a small group of enemies.

The Unique upgrades make this trap very interesting, you can either turn what was it's flaw into an advantage or also make enemies have less defense while they are slowed.

With Unique 1 this trap can become very powerful when used alongside Flame Bracers, Brimstone or Floor Scorcher dealing massive damage to enemies, even more so against ones vulnerable to fire. Fire-immune enemies however will just laugh at this.

Web Spinner's Unique 2 is useful in case you're not planning on using any sort of fire damage decreased damage and slowed enemies are easy pickings either for you or other traps, it can also be combined with Coinforge, but, as far as I've tested, both effects don't stack, so only one trap will actually reduce enemies' defenses.

On a last note this trap is one of the favorite choices of combo-makers due to its unique "webbed" status effect it gives to enemies.


Spacing is very important for this trap. Usually giving it one or two wall traps of space is enough for it to create large groups of enemies.


The Web Spinner alongside Floor Scorchers make for a very powerful trap combo that can deal with up to medium group of enemies with relative ease.

• Autoballista
  
• Boulder Chute
  
• Dart Spitter

________________________________________________________________

"I dunno know how it works, but it's awesome!"
"Let's just hang this... Up here!"
"Ah, cute! I'm gonna name it 'Pokey'!"

"A ballista here should work."
"I enjoy watching these work."
"Such a crude device..."

Automatic heavy hitters.


For some reason Autoballistae count as Guardians...

Skulls to buy: 13
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6
Special: 12
Cost: 1000$

Autoballista is the closest thing you have to actual "towers" in this game and they fire powerful projectiles against anything hostile that even looks at it funny.

Spacing is very important for this trap, as amusing as it sounds having them 10 of them shooting one enemy it's far from effecient, especially for a trap this expensive. Placing them one behind the other help avoiding overkills.

This trap's shots are also quite precise, but can still miss fast moving targets like Kobold Runners. Consider the Autoballista like a beefed up Archer Guardian which fires MUCH slower but in trade hits much harder with 3 of them being able to seriously wound a regular Ogre even on Nightmare.

They cannot be targeted by enemies, for this reason they can be replacements in maps where you are unsure if you'll be able to protect your Guardians (particularly maps with lots of Cyclops Mages or Gnolls).

The weird thing about this trap is the fact that even though it's labelled as ceiling trap, it also counts as Guardians, as you can see in one of the pictures above. So you can't have as many as you want on the field.

Another way to use Autoballistae is to set them aiming not where enemies will be, but rather where you intend to fight the enemies the most, so they can keep firing at the same targets you are fighting.


Autoballistae can be set in small gaps above your usual wall traps.


Autoballistae are positioned aiming innards, towards the Rift path instead of the Orc's spawning killzone to keep helping the main killzone.


Range comparisson - with Unique 2 (above) and without it (below).
________________________________________________________________

"Gravity, do your thing!"
"I'm pulling ten large... boulders."
"Rocks. Meet Orcs' skulls!"

"Death from above!"
"This will bury them all!"

Even the largest groups of enemies can be easily humbled under the pressure of the Boulder Chute.

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 14 / Unique: 6
Cost: 800$

Note: Must be manually activated by an attack.

This is a trap I really like. The Boulder Chute is a powerful, area hitting trap. It is one of few traps that must be activated manually by hitting it with an attack, like Boom Barrels, and it can be just as devastating if used correctly.

This trap hits harder the farther it is placed from the ground, which means it is a great option when the ceiling is too high for traps like Pounder, Haymaker or Dart Spitter to activate. This trap is fairly big, though (four spaces) so you may have a bit of trouble setting it where you want to, and more than one depending of the map-- to be honest most of maps are not optimized for Boulder Chutes, especially the ones from Classic mode.

Boulder Chute can hit really hard and large quantities of enemies, especially if you place them one after/beside the other and since it hits more than once it has no trouble getting shields out of Orcs' hand and dealing damage to them. They also can hit hard enough to kill or bruise heavy enemies quite a lot.

Between both Uniques, I'm a big user of the Unique 1, since it drops big coins (worth 100$) fairly often and if you set lots of Boulder Chutes you may end up noticing you'll be gathering a lot of coins from them. Unique 2 is nowhere as good since it only makes the Boulder Chute drop bombs as often as it does with coins and it doesn't make a lot of difference.
________________________________________________________________


Orcs getting a bodyful of darts.



Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6
Cost: 900$

Dart Spitter is a trap with very wide activation range and this a pretty large area as well. It doesn't requires to be placed right under where enemies will cross and thus you may need only have to set a line of them in the central area of your killzone.

Dart Spitter hits multiple times with moderate strength, but it is not meant to be a "solo killer" trap; this trap is best used in accordance to other ones as Acid Sprayer/Arrow Wall and Floor Scorchers.

Since it is also pretty expensive, at 900 coins, it's not a viable option in short maps, or maps where you don't earn a lot of money (Lunch Break, Traffic Jammed...).

Both Unique upgrades are good. Unique 1 will have it to freeze enemies in place, and frozen enemies take more damage from everything which is pretty good. Unique 2 may cause enemies hit by the Dart Spitter to be charmed and fight among themselves, but this effect occurs a lot less often than Unique 1's and watch out if you have Barricades under the Dart Spitter, since enemies brawling between themselves will also hit the Barricades.


Dart Spitters are often best used spacing each other in conjunction with your traps.
Also this picture is a fine example of Unique 2 backfiring on Barricades.

• Haymaker
  
• Pounder
  
• Shock Zapper
  
• Swinging Mace

________________________________________________________________

"Bang! Zoom! Straight to the moon!"
"Kills Orcs AND washes laundry."
"It's like a one-time kind of a ride... of death."

"Spin, strike and toss!"
"This will knock the breath from their lungs."

Haymakers are as effective against ground enemies as they are against flyers.

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 13 / Unique: 5
Cost: 700$

Haymaker is a curious, melee trap that will juggle light to medium weighted enemies and with the right Unique upgrade, stun enemies it can't juggle.

While it has the standard usage of killing things in places with low ceiling, you can use this trap to take care of flying enemies as well, since flying enemies cannot be thrown around, they can take a lot of hits from the Haymaker, which will most likely kill some a bunch of them.

Its Unique upgrades are both good, but I've rarely used the Unique 1 in serious matches, the Haymaker can be unpredictable as it is, and throwing enemies with more force around can result in enemies flying over/away nearby traps, or worse, Barricades, which is never good. Unique 2 however is good since it will stun heavy and flying enemies, stopping them on their tracks, and allow the Haymaker to deal as much damage as possible to them.
________________________________________________________________

"Who wants pancakes?"
"Free headaches! Step this way!"
"Pound! Pound! Pound!"

"Poor, flattened Orcs!"
"The best kind of migraine cure."
"They'll never know what hit them!"

Cheap, simple and strong. Pounder is the jack-of-all-trades of Ceiling traps.

Skulls to buy: 10
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 14 / Unique: 6
Cost: 500$

Note: Effective against Elementals.

Pounder is the most basic, simple ceiling trap of the game, also the cheapest. It smashes whatever goes under it, but like most ceiling traps, it has limited vertical range and it will only activate if put on low ceilings.

Pounder deals a fairly good amount of damage, it hits only once, so be careful when Orcs starts to bring shields, and resets quite fast for a 500 coin trap, and since it's cheap, it's pretty easy to fill entire killzones with them.

Pounder is also strangely effective against Elementals (Earth, Fire or Water) and will most likely kill them in one or two hits unless they're an Elemental Lord.
________________________________________________________________

"I need one of these for the backyard!"
"Electrifying!"
"Hey, at least it is more humane than glue strips!"

"Like disposing of bugs."
"They'll find this shocking!"
"Shivering with anticipation!"

They never miss and have some of the prettiest effects of the game. Too bad they recharge so slowly.

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6
Special: 12
Cost: 1000$

Damage Type: Lightning (Useless against Thunderbats) - (Strong vs Trolls)


Shock Zapper regular energy usage (picture above) - Shock Zapper with Unique 2 (below)

The Shock Zapper is a pretty expensive ceiling trap, but it is the only trap that deals Lightning damage and can be considered the Brimstone of Lightning of ceiling and walls (as long as you buy the Special upgrade).

Shock Zapper never misses its mark and will hit anything that gets within its range, so it can be placed at the end of you trap course to kill Kobold Runners that may slip through your first line of defenses if you wish so. When used up against flyers it does a great job killing groups of them, except, obviously, Thunderbats which are immune to this trap.

Using it with Stun can have a devastating effect against Trolls, since the first hit will lock it in place, the second charge will hit it with full force, dealing lot of damage to it.

Be always careful when using the Shock Zapper, while it never misses it also recharges VERY slowly.
________________________________________________________________

"POW! Right in the kisser."
"Back and forth... back and forth... So soothing."
"Times form here, under the Swinging Mace."

"I love to watch this one."
"None shall pass!"
"Reliable and effective!"

Swinging Mace is still one of the most useful traps in the game.

Skulls to buy: 14
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 8, 16 / Unique: 5
Cost: 1500$

The most expensive ceiling trap of the game (and actually the most expensive of all as well) and former gamebreaker directly from Orcs Must Die! 1, the Swinging Mace. This trap is worth three ceiling traps side-by-side (and six Autoballistae).

Swinging Mace can be a powerful asset when set correctly, but it needs aid of other traps to truly shine. For example: using it having the Maces with stun in narrow corridors alongside the Push Trap also with stun unique will create a nigh impassable trap course allowing you to pick off enemy by enemy at your own leisure.

Unique 1 is ideal if you use the Swinging Mace to deal with lighter enemies, the delay will be reduced from (a rough estimative) 3 seconds to 2 seconds.

Unique 2 is a good option to use against heavier enemies as it will stun them in place.

However the Swinging Mace has a number of problems. It's the most expensive trap of the game, without the right upgrade it swings very slowly, enemies walking very close to walls can go under it, its size doesn't always allow optimal placing of the trap in some maps and while its swinging, the Mace itself can get in your way, especially if you are using more lots of them, so you may end up wasting Mana attacks accidentally hitting the Mace that just happened to pass in front of you.

All in all, the Swinging Mace is pretty devastating, but it's not always a good offensive option for ceiling traps because of its price and size. But when it is, it's fairly easy to see why this trap is so powerful.

• Archer Guardian
  
• Dwarf Guardian
  
• Paladin Guardian

________________________________________________________________

"Give me a direction."
"I serve The Order..."
"My bow is yours..."
"Ready to do your bidding..."
"Show me the target."

"Here is where we'll stop them!
"The Paladins don't seem very bright..."
"We hold the line!"
"We elves are always prepared..."
"We have nothing to fear."
"We are The Order's eyes..."

Archer Guardians will easily destroy groups of enemies when in sufficient numbers. They are quite fragile, though.

Skulls to upgrade: 2, 5, 11 / Unique: 5
Cost: 750$, 650$, 575$, 500$

Archers are the cheapest Guardians even un-upgraded and in numbers they are a force to be reckoned with. Archers are mainly the most reliable anti-air "trap" of the game, being able to kill flyers with speed and precision as long as they are in sufficient numbers.

Archers have tendency to prioritize fast and flying enemies before standard and slow enemies, and are quite precise with their arrows, therefore they can hit even Kobold Runners with ease, but even so you shouldn't rely totally on them as Archers are easily distracted by any other enemy in their range. Also, try not to place Archers behind each other as they have a good chance to waste their arrows hitting each other since they have a huge hitbox (no, they won't hurt themselves).

Just be extremely aware of enemies, even the smallest Orc can down an Archer quickly and the only enemy that Archers resists are Crossbow Orcs; and even them can take down Archer Guardians with ease if they come in large numbers.
________________________________________________________________

"Dependable! That's me!"
"Explodin' time!"
"They won't get past me!"

"Ergh, my beard itches."
"FOR THE HOOORDE!... Oh, wait, that's not right, hehe..."
"I need a raise!"
"I've got this!"
"I'm a sprinter! Good over short distances!"
"No tossing b's!"
"Sure is dark in here."
"Where's the bar...?"
"Where's the enemy?!"

Dwarves are expensive, but powerful and far more effective against big enemies than Archers. Especially Elementals.

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 13 / Unique: 5
Cost: 900$

Damage type: Explosive (Strong vs Elementals)

Dwarves are the most powerful Guardians of the game and will do some grievous harm to enemies if you summon a good number of them.

Dwarves will normally throw bombs at steady rate on enemies from a good, safe distance. The bombs cause respectable damage and can easily humble heavy enemies like Ogres. They are especially powerful against Elementals and in numbers even Elemental Lords won't stand a chance against them. Dwarves may also attempt to chuck bombs upwards in an acute angle, but DON'T rely on them to take out flying threats, it won't end well for them, and you.

Dwarf Guardians can also engage in melee combat if something gets unnecessarily close to them, but their attack is unreliable and I've seen them often simply stopping and doing nothing until they die after performing a single melee strike. They also happen to be surprisingly easy to kill, so it's in all best interest that you don't let any enemies get to them at all since their bombs are a much better option.

As a last advice, don't even think about having them to kill Kobold Runners or any fast enemy as well. Even if they get close, chances are they'll speed through your Dwarves before they even have a chance to lift that cool hammer of theirs.


Decoys, Paladins or Bone Golems are good options to create crowds for the bombs of your Dwarves and also protect them.
________________________________________________________________

"Ah, yes. Nice vantage point!"
"For The Order!"
"I'm in the mood for a good slaying!"
"Ready to go!"
"Step aside, young one!"
"Where's the enemy?"
"Who needs killing?!"

"Ah, not so close to the stinky Elf, please!"
"Agh, this armor makes me itchy..."
"Come and get me!"
"Come fight me Orcs!"
"I was BORN to to protect The Order!"
"I can handle them all by myself!"
"Let them come to us!"
"They're not getting past me."
"They'll rue the day they crossed my path!"
"We are The Order's shoes!"
"You can run, but you won't survive!"

Paladins will easily take care of Orcs. Heavier enemies can become a problem if you do not aid them, however.

Skulls to buy: 12
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6
Cost: 1200$

Paladins are the sturdiest, and most expensive, Guardians of the game, their damage is modest at best, but they do an awesome job at holding masses of Orcs for you.

Paladins are basically Decoys that can fight back and they can endure inordinate amounts of punishment from Orcs, but still can be easily downed by heavier enemies like Ogres (especially because of their stun), Trolls, Kobold Sappers and Cyclops Mages, so don't think they are invincible walls.

Even though they are expensive they can be extremely useful holding enemies in front of your traps or at very least stalling them while you deal with bigger threats ahead. Having them with the stun unique can make even potentially more damaging and dangerous to enemies, but at cost of their durability from the other unique (unless you have the Guardian Trinket).

Keep in mind that Paladins have the bad habit of wandering forward, leaving their original post unguarded, even more if he kills an enemy and decides to go after another, and this can result in enemies slipping by, so it's a good idea to place Paladins somewhat apart from each other so the next one will catch the straggler(s). That said, Paladins are hopeless against Kobold Runners, so don't ever count on them to stop even a single Runner unless it's affected by slow.

Paladins can become nigh unkillable by Orcs (and only Orcs) if they have the Health Regeneration Unique alongside an upgraded Guardian Trinket, since both effects stack into a rather noticeable self-healing effect. Things are still the same: Ogres, Elementals, Gnolls, Sappers; any hard-hitter enemy can kill them relatively fast, so you'll still need to give them much support if you want them to last in more difficult levels.

Paladins will require your assistance to kill bigger threats.

Knowing what tools to use in your battles can, and might be difference between victory and defeat.

In the following sections of the guide I'll talk about the weapons that can be used in the game and give out tips and my opinion about it.

I've seen my share of players using every type of equipment in the most amusing ways, so I think it's pretty safe to say that nothing here is absolutely useless. A bit too situational? Maybe, but nothing is truly useless in Orcs Must Die! 2.

• Blunderbuss
  
• Dwarven Hammer

• Sceptre of Domination
  
• Polymorph Ring

• Crossbow
  
• Bladestaff
  
• Bone Amulet

• Ring of Lightning
  
• Ice Amulet
  
• Flame Bracers

• Wind Belt
  
• Alchemist's Satchel
  
• Vampiric Gauntlets

• Stone Staff ("Family Ties" DLC required)
  
• Teleportation Ring ("Family Ties" DLC required)
  
• Dwarven Missile Launcher ("Are we there Yeti?" DLC required)

• Blunderbuss
  
• Dwarven Hammer

________________________________________________________________


No true miner leaves to work without his... Blunderbuss?

Skulls to upgrade: 2, 5, 11 / Unique: 5

Note: Manaless primary attack.

The Blunderbuss is the weapon the War Mage starts with. Its primary attack fires a spray of bullets that causes good damage to Orcs, while being great to take out their shields, and decent damage against Gnolls and can knockback enemies, even bigger ones with the right upgrade.

However the Blunderbuss by itself generally lacks punch to kill big game like Ogres, Trolls or Elemental Lords, and is overall unimpressive against stronger enemies or very large group of Orcs.

Its secondary fire launches a grenade with rather weak knockback, but good enough to handle crowd control on smaller enemies, killing masses of annoying Kobold Runners.

It's second Unique upgrade serves as a good way to stall tougher enemies like Trolls, Ogres and Earth Lords for traps to do the heavy lifting. Together with the secondary fire it serves as an impressive stalling crowd control weapon used to keep enemies at bay until the traps finishes them off. Just beware that it will never trip really big things like Mountain Trolls and Armored Ogres.
________________________________________________________________


"Ugh. What a mess."

Skulls to buy: 13
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6

Note: Manaless primary attack.

The Dwarven Hammer is a powerful melee tool, it will do good damage against all enemies, but like the Bladestaff you risk getting hit a lot using it. Using the Ice Amulet, Ghost of Jars, Defense Trinket or Healing Well is very recommended to get the most of this weapon.

Ice Amulet in particular is very good as frozen enemies already take more damage from all attacks, add it with the already powerful attack of this weapon and even Armored Ogres and Mountain Trolls will go down quickly.

Using its secondary attack will cause the War Mage to start spinning for as long the button is pressed (and the Mana lasts) hitting everything on his path, while this is a powerful maneuver care should be taken as you'll still be vulnerable while performing it.

Unlike the Bladestaff, the Hammer has a fairly high delay between attacks, meaning you can't just sit in front of an enemy and keep mashing attack until it dies, or you risk getting hit from all other directions. It is a difficult weapon to use, but if used well it can be a very efficient crowd control weapon. Cancelling the attack with movement is possible but it's much, much more difficult to do than it is with the Bladestaff.


The Dwarven Hammer is great at cleaning crowds of enemies, but shielded Orcs can retaliate with ease any attacks, so be careful and try to use something to pick their shields off first. The Wind Belt and the Dwarven Missile Launcher's secondary are great options for this.

• Sceptre of Domination
  
• Polymorph Ring

________________________________________________________________


Fully charged blast from the Sceptre of Domination.

Charmed enemies exploding.

Skulls to upgrade: 2, 5, 11 / Unique: 5

Note: Manaless primary attack.

WARNING: Charm (secondary fire) DOES NOT affect Ball and Chain from Family Ties DLC.

This is the Sorceress' starter weapon, but just because this weapon is the first thing the game hands over to you it doesn't mean it sucks or that you should leave it aside once you get to unlock cooler stuff.

The Sceptre (should've been "Scepter"?) is a jack-of-all-trades weapon. It handles all types of enemies well, but it doesn't excel at killing anything specifically (maybe Runners since the Sceptre has no recoil and can fire very fast). It's primary attack can be charged and used in crowd control without using a single drop of Mana.

It's secondary fire is Charming, it uses up a lot of mana, but if you learn how to use it on the right enemies, normally those spearheading, leading the pack, it'll force other enemies to fight it and lump them together so your traps will hit cluster of enemies. You can also fire a fully charged blast or use another attack to hit all of them at once. Just take note that charmed enemies will be immune to your traps, so be careful when charming something big like an Ogre, he may inadvertently walk into your trap course further than expected.

The Sceptre's Charm can be also versatile on heavy enemies, if you Charm an Ogre he'll stun enemies and act as a temporary Guardian for you. Meanwhile you can kill another problematic enemy on another part of the map.

Another enemy that's very good to Charm are Gnolls, you know, those things that will probably kill you soon or later. Gnolls are extremely aggressive towards you and will be equally angry against your enemies if you Charm one. The Hunter can cause a lot of damage before dying, and the best part? He's fast enough to chase and kill even Kobold Runners.

Charming Kobold Sappers can also result in funny situations like a premature chain explosion or Sappers running towards an enemy rather than you. It's always good to use Charm when Sappers are coming anyway as they'll bomb themselves on that enemy which will help preserve your Barricades or Guardians (or even better: you).

One thing more about Charm is using on weak enemies isn't a complete waste of Mana as if an enemy that is afflicted by the charm dies he will explode dealing damage and stunning everything around him.
________________________________________________________________

Results may vary wildly. Be prepared for them. Yes, it's a chicken there.


Not so funny when he's not on your side, right?

Skulls to buy: 13
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6

Polymorph Ring is an interesting weapon usable by the Sorceress only, it can turn enemies into a variety of things ranging from items, to chicken, to more powerful enemies. Yes you read it right, the Polymorph Ring may actually backfire spectacularly by transforming an annoying Kobold into a problematic Armored Ogre and if you aren't ready to deal with it you can screw yourself over with this thing.

Polymorph Ring "kills" in a single hit *if* (keep that word in mind) it turns the enemy into an item or a chicken, using it on tough targets like Earth Lords and Mountain Trolls can be very effective, but you may end up turning them into something like a Gnoll Hunter or an Ogre (of any variant), so make sure to be prepared for the eventual backfire. NEVER take this weapon for granted.

As shown above it also lets the Sorceress morph herself into an Ogre (gaining a VERY large health boost), it allows her to become even a Fire or Frost variant with the unique upgrade. The Ogre is useful to keep mobs of Orcs at bay, but doesn't fare very well against bigger targets, so don't think you're invincible using it. Also keep in mind some of the damage taken as Ogre will mitigate to the Sorceress' human form, so if you take a lot of damage and run out of Mana you may find yourself in a hairy situation with a mere sliver of health left.

Polymorph Ring truly shines in the Endless mode. After Wave 10 every enemy will get progressively stronger and have more health. You'll probably notice they are getting really difficult to kill around Wave 30+.

• Crossbow
  
• Bladestaff
  
• Bone Amulet

________________________________________________________________


Left: Successful headshot - Right: Stunning bolt

Skulls to buy: 8
Skulls to upgrade: 2, 6, 13 / Unique: 5

Note¹: Manaless primary attack.
Note²: Capable of dealing high damage Headshots to any enemy.
Note³: Headshots can only be done while the Crossbow's crosshair is green.

Returning from Orcs Must Die! 1, the old faithful Crossbow is an incredibly versatile weapon, it can deal big damage with headshots, crowd control with its stunning secondary and recover mana on headshots (or be helpful at combo making if you're into that). This weapon also has a zoom feature you can toggle by pressing the middle mouse button.

Primary fire shoots a bolt that has some traveling time and deal headshots - which does HUGE damage for a manaless attack - but only when its crosshair is green, so don't think you can spam headshots by firing at enemies at point blank range. One detail about headshots: the icon (and guitar chord) doesn't have to pop up to indicate you did a successful headshot.

Its alternative attack fires a bolt which will stun enemies in a small area for a moment, it can be very useful to lump enemies together and kill problematic enemies like Gnolls, Ogres and Trolls.

Between both unique upgrades my choice is definitely the second one. Regenerating mana faster can be an extremely powerful maneuver which will help you use mana attacks much more often than usual. This is not easy to pull off on most Orcs since their head's hitbox is a bit disjointed, but if you pick something big and tough like, let's say Armored Ogres and Mountain Trolls, soon you'll be thinking "Free Mana!" instead of a troublesome enemy.

It takes some time to learn how to use this weapon properly and it's not always easy to score headshots on enemies like Light Orcs Warriors since they sway their heads while running and the aim from the Crossbow is sort of misleading, especially on up or down slopes. To maximize headshot efficiency it's always good to have something to stop enemies on their tracks like the Ice Amulet or the Stone Staff.

As a last note, the Crossbow is also an effective weapon for combo makers, especially with Unique 2, since it can help give one additional status to enemies (burn).


Normal crossbow and flame crossbow (Unique 1)
________________________________________________________________


Left: Normal attack with shielding effect - Right: Secondary attack.

Skulls to buy: 8
Skulls to upgrade: 2, 6, 13 / Unique: 5

The Bladestaff is a melee weapon. It deals a good amount of damage but if you just try to jump into groups and hack n' slash through everything you'll end up dead in no time. Using the Bladestaff with actual efficiency requires some finesse and getting use to as you can die in a number of hits, especially on Nightmare.

It's primary attack consist of fast slashes that hits a good area in front of your character. A curiosity about this attack is that you can cancel it while tapping move and attacking, this works with both characters, keep attacking while tapping movement and you'll notice you'll be hitting enemies much faster than usual, and doing this against enemies that are helpless (frozen, stunned, petrified) will make sure that you'll be able to kill them quickly.

The secondary attack will cause your character to throw a small, short-ranged, wave of energy which will throw small enemies around. It's also strangely effective against Elemental enemies since it does explosive damage, it will seriously wound Earth Elementals and bruise Earth Lords quite a bit, even more so if they're frozen.

The Bladestaff is impractical per se, to make the best use out of it you need to use it in accordance with other equipment like the Freedom Trinket, Ice Amulet and Vampirc Gauntlets. The Wind Belt is also an excellent option if you push enemies into a wall, they'll be left stunned long enough for you to reap through ranks of Orcs with little worry.

On Nightmare take care with shielded Orcs as the first hit will not make them flinch and it won't stop their attack animation from hitting you.


When used properly this weapon is nothing to scoff at.
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Left: Primary attack - Right: Bone Golem.

Skulls to buy: 12
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6

Damage type: Explosive. (Strong vs Elementals)

The Bone Amulet is an interesting weapon, it deals explosive damage on its primary attack and it creates a Bone Golem with the secondary attack.

Bone Amulet is a powerful tool against Earth Elementals/Lords as it can destroy them very fast and quickly deal with their lower forms, it is also very useful in the "Fire and Water" DLC where you fight a lot of Elementals, especially Fire Lords and those pesky Firelings. A single well-placed attack will destroy all four Firelings spawned upon a Fire Lord's death and it can easily deal with the two from a Fire Elemental.

The Bone Golem is a resilient, but temporary, ally which will act as a Decoy and attract attention of any aggressive enemy also like Paladin Guardians. Be wary that creating a Bone Golem uses A LOT of mana.

The Bone Golem can withstand a good amount of punishment of hits even from powerful enemies like Earth Lords or Mountain Trolls and it can be used as a makeshift Decoy to hold enemies in place to maximize the damage from your traps or as a distraction. The Bone Golem damage output is modest at best and should never be relied on to kill even orcs.

One last note about Bone Golems is that they can be decent substitutes for Paladins if you think your Guardians might end up dying a lot and you don't want to have to bring the Guardian Trinket with you.


Use the Bone Golems to hold enemies in front of your traps or build time if you need to protect separate points in a map.

• Ring of Lightning
  
• Ice Amulet
  
• Flame Bracers

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Left: Chain Lightning striking Orcs - Right: Summoning a Lightning Storm

Skulls to buy: 12
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 15 / Unique: 6

Damage Type: Lightning (Useless against Thunderbats) - (Strong vs Trolls)

Ring of Lightning is a powerful weapon and quite versatile. It's not very mana friendly on repeated uses, but it can help take out small trash like Light Orc Warriors (without shields) and lots of Kobold Runners around, but this weapon should NOT be used as main option to take on tough enemies like Ogres and Elementals.

Its primary attack is a chain lightning that will jump to another target without damage reduction, more times the higher its level is, and on War Mage it can easily take out groups of pesky Crossbow Orcs in one shot, on Nightmare however they grow strong enough to endure a hit with a sliver of health.

Trolls of all types are particularly vulnerable to the Ring of Lightning, a regular Troll can be killed in a couple of blasts, but the towering Mountain Troll can drain all your mana reserves before he dies, so always have another option ready to deal with him.

The secondary attack of the Ring of Lightning uses a lot of mana, but is very useful with the chill (slow) effect since it's functionally a temporary Tar trap that will slowdown everything in a rather large radius (enemies immune to Ice are unaffected, so watch out). It also deals a nice amount damage and will take out a fair number of enemies that are caught in the lightning storm.


The secondary, with Unique 1, is a good option to control small to medium crowd of enemies at early waves.
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Left: Ice Amulet in action - Right: Ice Storm

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 7, 14 / Unique: 6

Damage Type: Ice (Useless against Frost Ogres, Frostbats and Yetis) - (Kill instantly Hellbats, Thunderbats, Fire Babies) - (Freezes everything else).

Note: Enemies hit by any Fire attack that sets them on fire (Flame Bracers, Brimstone, Floor Scorcher, Elf Guardian's Fire Arrow, Crossbow Fire Unique) will be unfrozen.

The Ice Amulet is a small, but extremely useful piece of equipment that works well with many other equipment like Crossbow, Dwarven Hammer, Bladestaff and a good number of traps as well.

Something particularly useful about the Ice Amulet is the fact frozen enemies take more damage. Add that to powerful attacks like Crossbow's headshot, Dwarven Hammer heavy hit or a fully charged attack from the Sceptre of Domination and you might get idea how freezing enemies isn't useless here.

Ice Amulet on its maximum level hits a fairly large number of enemies in a horizontal spread and if the enemy is close enough it will hit him multiple times. Its primary attack is good to handle small crowd of Orcs (on early waves) but it's mainly used to freeze particularly dangerous targets like Ogres, Trolls and Elementals so you can kill them quickly. It also can be used to kill flyers as quick as possible, but Frostbats are immune to it.

The secondary attack of Ice Amulet freezes everything in an area surrounding the user. Enemies that are hit by that will stay frozen for a much larger period of time rendering them extremely vulnerable. Using it with the Unique 2 can make even the mighty Armored Ogre look brittle for most of your attacks, and using in the middle of a big crowd will ensure you'll have plenty of time to kill stuff.

Do take note that Orcs carrying shields WON'T be frozen, they'll lose their shields first, so against them you'll need to pry that shield off their hands before hitting them with the ice storm.


Enemies frozen by the secondary are easy pickings for anything that doesn't deal fire damage. Melee weapons in particular excel in cleaning up even the largest groups of enemies frozen by it.
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Left: Firebolt - Right: The Flame Wall

Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 13 / Unique: 5

Damage Type: Fire (Useless against Hellbats, Fire Babies, Fire Ogres, Fire Elementals/Lords and Firelings) - (Strong vs Trolls, Frost Ogres, Frostbats, Water Elementals/Lords and Waterlings).

Flame Bracers is an elemental that deals fire damage, it can be devastating if used correctly, especially against enemies that are vulnerable to it like Frost Ogres and Water Elementals.

Its primary attack shoots a firebolt that will cause enemies nearby to get on fire and take damage over time, it consumes about the same amount of mana that the Ring of Lightning does.

The Flame Bracers is great at roasting enemies grouped together as it has no actual limit to the amount of enemies it can set on fire, do take note that the blast radius is rather small, so enemies need to be very close to where you'll aim. For this reason the Wind Belt and/or Tar works spectacularly well with this weapon. You also don't have to necessarily hit enemies head on, you can aim more or less around the ground where enemies are and you'll still afflict them with the burning ailment.

A particularity about the primary attack is that it doesn't deal the whole damage instantly, instead the biggest bulk of the damage is dealt over time, while the enemies are burning. The damage is high enough to kill up to Medium Orcs in one hit (give it enough time for the burning damage over time work its magic), and seriously wound Frost Ogres and Yetis.

There's (seemingly) no real limit on how many enemies can be set on fire at the same time from the primary attack. Remember to let the damage over time work instead of just spamming it.


A Frost Ogre's health after being blasted once with the Flame Bracers. Includes all damage over time.

The flame wall from the secondary is very useful to burn enemies coming in thigh formations, but keep in mind that in Nightmare a number of Orcs can walk right through it unharmed even with the Stun upgrade. The secondary also uses A LOT of mana, so be careful with it.

The other unique which increases the longevity of the secondary, while Orcs carrying shields can walk through it you can at least take their shields out before they move into your trap course. You can also blow them back to the flame wall with the Wind Belt, but keep an eye on your mana.


In Nightmare you can use the secondary of the Flame Bracers at the start of your killzone so you can pry the shields off the hands of Orcs and leave them wide open to your trap course as well.

• Wind Belt
  
• Alchemist's Satchel
  
• Vampiric Gauntlets

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Left: Blowing enemies away - Right: Holding an enemy (and leeching his life).

Skulls to buy: 10
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 14 / Unique: 6

The Wind Belt is one of the weirdest weapons in the game but it can be one of the most efficient in the hands of a creative player.

Its primary attack will blow small/medium enemies away, quite far in its maximum level, which means you can force enemies to walk all the way back in front of traps that were resetting or even better, in acid/lava pools to instantly kill them.

Large enemies like Ogres, Elementals and Trolls won't be affected by it, so don't waste you mana on them unless you are trying to isolate them from the small fry. One last use for the Wind Belt is that it can swat the bombs thrown by Gnoll Grenadiers.

The secondary attack picks the enemy from the ground and keeps him struggling helplessly in front of you. Depending of the upgrade you'll slowly leech its life or when you throw it will cause a small explosion. Besides looking cool there are few uses for it since dropping enemy by enemy in the lava is nowhere as efficient as blowing all of them at once.

The Wind Belt is an extremely powerful tool in some maps like Precipice and Double Decker where there is no shortage of places to swat enemies to their doom. It is also one of the best ways to chuck enemies into the Void Wall and it can be very useful with traps that reset fast like Push Trap or Spring Trap as well.

A last detail is that the secondary attack of the Wind Belt can pull items like Coins, Potions and Skulls to you. So if you want to bunch something together or grab it off a ledge, right-click and enjoy the spoils.
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Left: Primary attack, setting the bombs - Right: Exploding them with secondary attack.

Skulls to buy: 14
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 8, 16 / Unique: 6

Damage type: Acid (deals a bit of damage over time)

The Alchemist's Satchel is an interesting weapon. Its primary fire allows you to set Alchemic Bombs and explode them with the secondary fire dealing a lot of damage to groups of enemies.

It isn't an easy weapon to use properly since it eats a lot of mana on each usage and it doesn't kill anything beyond a Light Orc Warrior in a single hit on Nightmare. If the Orcs are carrying shields they'll ignore the hit from the first bomb which is also problematic.

The Alchemist's Satchel is a great weapon to use alongside traps to increase its damage output and thin out, or soften, large masses of enemies for traps to finish them off.

You can also set off the bombs manually with any other attack like the Blunderbuss' shot, a Crossbow bolt or a small ray of the Sceptre of Domination, and with the right Unique upgrade, this will slightly increase the power of the acid explosion.
________________________________________________________________


Left: Leeching a Gnoll Hunter's life - Right: Converting health into mana.

Skulls to buy: 14
Skulls to upgrade: 3, 8, 16 / Unique: 6

The Vampiric Gauntlets is an interesting weapon. It pairs extremely well with melee weapons such as Bladestaff and Dwarven Hammer since you'll most likely take a ton of hits while fighting with them, but it's generally a good option for people looking to play safe... or use unorthodox tactics.

The primary attack does a good job of killing anything up to a Heavy Orc Warrior reliably and it can deal even with Gnoll Hunters with ease, but tough costumers like Ogres, Trolls and Elementals are nowhere as fragile for it to work well.

Its secondary function allows you to trade your life for mana extremely fast, it can get you out of a pinch, but as it goes with that saying "Out of the frying pan and into the fire", you should REALLY measure how much mana you need since if you bring yourself to almost nothing of life even an unlucky Crossbow Orc's stray bolt can kill you and take away that 5 skull rank from you.

You can use the secondary of this weapon on your favor alongside the Berserker Trinket to have a better control of when you want to trigger that trinket's passive effect willingly by depleting your own health to a dangerously low amount, you can also use it to heal yourself in case the situation gets too dangerous to go with low health (Gnolls coming, Crossbow Orcs around...).

Something odd about this weapon in long Endless matches is that it can keep enemies "paralyzed" long enough so the game will think it's stuck on something and then kill it instantly.

• Dwarven Missile Launcher ("Are we There Yeti?" DLC)
  
• Stone Staff ("Family Ties" DLC)
  
• Teleportation Ring ("Family Ties" DLC)

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Left: Primary attack - Right: Secondary attack, the anti-air flak.



Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 13 / Unique: 5

Damage type: Explosive. (Strong vs Elementals)

A mana based bazooka, RPG. Sounds awesome? Because it is.

The Dwarven Missile Launcher is a very good weapon, mana friendly and it can deal a lot of damage to enemies, but nothing scandalous or game-breaking.

Its primary attack fires a slow moving, semi-homing, projectile that will cause a lot of damage to anything that it hits, but its splash damage is nowhere as good as one would think from a rocket launcher. It will also send small enemies flying everywhere which helps stalling them, but be careful with this: enemies can and might fly over Barricades or from a higher floor close to the rift/exit if you aren't careful with it.

The secondary attack is the top-notch anti-air maneuver of the game and it will clear ranks of pesky Bats, and DESTROY even the largest groups of Fire Babies in a single shot. It might take more than two well aimed shots to kill Fire/Frost/Thunderbats (the closer you are the more damage you'll deal), though, and even though you can spam it, this will eat your mana, so mind how fast you fire it. You can also use it to kill groups of annoying Kobold Runners and Kobold Sappers easily. One last utility for the flak is also to take off shields from groups of Orcs without sending them flying everywhere.

Both unique upgrades are very useful and depending on the situation you'll face one will be more useful than the other, so take it in consideration.
________________________________________________________________


Left: Stone Staff's primary attack - Right: Petrifying enemies (with increased range, Unique 2).



Skulls to upgrade: 2, 6, 13 / Unique: 5

Note¹: Manaless primary attack.
Note²: Does NOT have auto-fire nor zoom.
Note³: Petrifying flying enemies will instantly kill them.

Stone Staff is a nice weapon that can deal with about every enemy in the game if used properly with other traps and trinkets.

Its primary attack fires a small, fast moving projectile that pierces enemies (I think up to 2~3 enemies). While it won't kill Orcs as fast as the elemental jewelry it deals decent damage, and if enemies are bunched together soon all of them will start dying one after the other.

But this weapon fares rather poorly against big, tough stuff like elemental Ogres, Trolls and Elemental Lords (Earth, Fire and Water). Even with the right unique which increases the damage it causes to petrified enemies, it may take longer than expected to kill the big ones.

The Stone Staff's secondary attack petrifies enemies in front of the character within a range (decent at default, but can be enhanced with one of its uniques), it'll also make Orcs drop their shields, its range can be increased with a unique upgrade, or you can choose another that makes the Stone Staff to cause more damage to enemies that are petrified as mentioned before.

Nothing in the game resists getting turned into stone, but petrifying enemies has it's peculiarities. Unless you have the right Unique for the Stone Staff, petrified enemies will take REDUCED damage from any attacks, unlike freeze which lowers enemies' defense.

Petrify does share a similarity with freeze: it kills flying enemies in a single hit and it can also affect Frostbats. Petrifying also overrides all other status conditions like burning, freeze and stun, so watch out for that; especially in co-op.

With Unique 1 the weapon becomes fairly powerful, something able to take down even very powerful enemies like Mountain Trolls and Armored Ogres relatively quick, something you really need in Nightmare maps.

It's overall a good weapon, but it can be taxing on one's finger/wrist since it doesn't have auto-fire. The saddest thing for me is that the lack of auto-fire is the sole reason that keeps me away from this weapon, if you can manage keep clicking fast enough during several matches without giving yourself tendinitis, this is without a shadow of doubt one of the best weapons in the game.

One thing you may do to remedy this is rebind another key for primary attacks, like "F" or "C" to aliviate the stress from the mouse hand (or another shoulder button if you happen to use a controller).


Range comparison: normal (left) - increased with Unique 2 (right).


There's no limit to how many enemies can be petrified at once, but watch for the mana consumption of this weapon's secondary.
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Left: The mark left by the primary attack - Right: Teleporting back and freezing enemies.



Skulls to upgrade: 3, 6, 14 / Unique: 6

The Teleportation Ring is a very... Odd weapon. It is also very mana consuming even on its max level and honestly it saddens me to say how little useful this weapon actually is...

Its primary attack will leave a mark in the map (signalized by a purple dot on your mini-map) and the secondary attack will teleport you to that mark causing damage in a somewhat large radius surrounding it. Additionally, it causes either freeze or burn depending on what unique upgrade you've chosen.

There are a number of problems with the Teleportation Ring:

• Most of the maps are small enough that using it is pointless.
  
• Maps that are big enough often have teleporters built in them.
  
• Bites a VERY large chunk of your mana.
  
• Small damage for such large mana consumption; doesn't kill even Medium Orcs on Nightmare.

Teleportation Ring would be much more useful if it stuck to what it was meant to: transport (and used a lot less mana, it didn't even need to cause damage at all). While it can be useful in certain maps like Double Decker and Twisted Halls, it uses way too much mana to be of any real practical usage.

Don't ever underestimate the power Trinkets can give you. They are always optional, but can give you the edge necessary to win a losing battle.




Trinkets are pieces of equipment that will give players wearing them advantages. Some trinkets may consume Mana on their activation, while other will not.

All Trinkets have passive effects that will affect only the player equipping it. However its active effect will also affect his/her partner when used. For instance, a War Mage using the Mana Rage Trinket's active effect will also grant Mana Rage for his partner, or a Sorceress using the Berserker Trinket will also give an attack boost to her partner (while consuming her health only).



Part 1:

• Berserker Trinket
  
• Defense Trinket
  
• Freedom Trinket
  
• Guardian Trinket ("Are we there Yeti?" DLC required)

Part 2:

• Healing Trinket
  
• Jar of Ghosts ("Family Ties" DLC required)
  
• Mana Rage Trinket

Part 3:

• Rift Defender Trinket
  
• Scavenger Trinket
  
• Trap Reset Trinket

• Berserker Trinket
  
• Defense Trinket
  
• Freedom Trinket
  
• Guardian Trinket ("Are we there Yeti?" DLC required)

________________________________________________________________


The Berserker Trinket ready for use (left) and active (right).

Skulls to buy: 10
Special 1: 5
Special 2: 13

Mana Usage: None. However uses up health to activate.
Cooldown: Short (30 seconds).

Berserker Trinket will grant the player an attack boost on its usage and using it enough times (2 with the Sorceress and 3 with the War Mage) will lower the player's health enough so its passive effect will kick in, giving the player a permanent attack boost as long as their health is kept low.

This trinket can be extremely powerful when used by a skilled player since its attack boost is quite noticeable. However this is a high risk, high reward maneuver, especially on Nightmare, as enemies will be able to kill anyone using the passive effect of the Berserker Trinket in a couple of hits.

If you are intending to use the low health strategy, be extra careful with Crossbow Orcs, Cyclops Mages and especially Gnolls. Knowing the minimum threshold for the Berserker Trinket passive to kick in also helps a lot and having extra gear like the Defense Trinket, Jar of Ghosts and the Vampiric Gauntlets can be very useful to maintain your health as stable as possible and keep you alive if something goes wrong.
________________________________________________________________


Defense Trinket being equipped (left) and under intensive usage (right).

Skulls to buy: 5
Special 1: 3
Special 2: 10

Mana Usage: None.
Cooldown: Long (2 minutes).

Defense Trinket will increase the wearer's health and with its Specials upgrades, help the player take less damage. Its active effect will protect the player from any harm while its effect lasts, however without the Special 2 upgrade your attack will drop significantly.

This trinket can be used very well with melee weapons such as the Bladestaff and the Dwarven Hammer, if the player is a War Mage he can have the Healing Well which will further increase his durability and help him survive while dishing high damage with his weapons.


Weapon used to test: Bladestaff. | Difficulty: Apprentice
Above: Damage penalty when you have the trinket activated (with Special 2).
Below: Regular damage dealt.
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Freedom Trinket being equipped (left) and used by a partner (right).

Skulls to buy: 7
Special 1: 4
Special 2: 11

Mana Usage: None.
Cooldown: Short (30 seconds).
Note: Required for the "Freedom!" achievement, which is earned by saving a co-op partner from being stunned by any type of Ogre.

Freedom Trinket is a very situational trinket. On its use it will break the ally from stun (chill and slow with the Special 2), but its uses are fairly limited, a good player knows better to keep their distance from Ogres and be aware of Gnolls and Frostbats. Besides it can be difficult to know when a partner is in peril unless you two are fighting close to each other.

Its passive can be a bit useful in certain levels like West Wing where Frostbats can catch one by surprise since there will be a ton of Elementals on the ground. The Freedom Trinket is also useful if you intend to use melee weapons as Ogres and Gnolls all have nasty ailments in their attacks that you have to worry about.
________________________________________________________________


Guardian Trinket ready to use (left) and reviving fallen Guardians (right).



Special 1: 4
Special 2: 15

Mana Usage: Medium, about 50% of War Mage's natural Mana.
Cooldown: Medium (1 minute).

The Guardian Trinket will give Guardians the natural ability to slowly regenerate (emphasis on the "slow") their health over time. Its passive effect stacks with the Paladin's Unique 2, which also grants them health regeneration without the need of this trinket.

Guardian Trinket can be very useful in normal maps, especially ones which a lot of Gnolls appears like Crunch, and it helps to fix a mistake like letting Archers, Dwarves and Paladins die. It can be very useful when playing on Nightmare since if a Guardian dies he won't be resurrected due to the lack of "Go" breaks.

On Endless maps the Guardian Trinket will be the only way to resurrect Guardians after Wave 25 (when Go breaks stops happening), so if you are planning on using any, it's always good to ponder if you'll need to bring it with you.

• Healing Trinket
  
• Jar of Ghosts
  
• Mana Rage Trinket

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Healing Trinket being equipped (left) and used (right).

Special 1: 4
Special 2: 11

Mana Usage: Small, about 25% of War Mage's natural Mana.
Cooldown: Medium (1 minute).

Healing Trinket is pretty self-explanatory. It gives the bearer a slow health regeneration and on use it'll recover some HP, around 25% of War Mage's and over 50% of Sorceress', it has a fairly high cooldown, so don't rely heavily on it to survive.

Its passive health regeneration is downright pathetic even with the Special upgrade for it, so it's hardly useful to keep you alive in most cases.

The Healing Trinket can be useful for the Sorceress, but War Mages will most likely use the Healing Well which is very cheap, does a better job keeping people alive since it recharges decently fast and can be used to help his partner.
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Jar of Ghosts effect when equipped (left) and active effect spooking enemies (right).



Special 1: 5
Special 2: 13

Mana Usage: None.
Cooldown: Medium (1 minute).

Jar of Ghosts is a very interesting trinket and can be extremely useful if used correctly, turning the tide of a losing battle easily. If you have a free slot by the end of your planning try to bring this thingie, it can be more useful than you think.

Its passive effect will cause any enemy that hits the player to panic and go away, while you should never make extensive use of this, this passive can save your life from Gnolls, Yetis and Ogres who happened to sneak on you.

Jar of Ghost's active effect will cause a spectral image to pop up and stay there for about 5 seconds before fading, any enemy that touches it will turn back and run towards its initial spawn point. This is very useful and can be used either to save yourself from getting swarmed, overrun or simply to make enemies walk back to your traps again (if you happen to have the Trap Reset Trinket, have fun).


This is a very useful trinket. Use the Jar of Ghosts either to give you a breathing room, to make enemies walk back to your trap course or to give you a breathing room if you're trying to hold two lanes.
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Mana Rage Trinket ready for use (left) and being activated (right).

Skulls to buy: 13
Special 1: 5
Special 2: 15

Mana Usage: None.
Cooldown: Very Long (3 minutes).

Mana Rage Trinket is one of the most useful trinkets of the game, especially with its Special 1 upgrade to increase the character's mana.

War Mages will have easier times with this, especially if they use a lot of mana attacks (as I do) and Sorceresses will have a field day with this having a gigantic mana bar to use her mana attacks like there's no tomorrow (okay, not quite, but still-- a lot).

The Mana Rage Trinket's active ability is also extremely useful and powerful. Who doesn't like to have almost infinite mana? You can spam most mana attacks like crazy while it lasts and this can easily destroy an entire wave of enemies and turn the tide of a losing wave in seconds if used correctly, even more so if you coordinate it with your partner.

• Rift Defender Trinket
  
• Scavenger Trinket
  
• Trap Reset Trinket

________________________________________________________________


Rift Defender Trinket ready for use.

The stunning shockwave.

Skulls to buy: 12
Special 1: 5
Special 2: 14

Mana Usage: None.
Cooldown: Very Long (3 minutes).

Before anything. No, having the Rift Defender Trinket doesn't mean you can let enemies get through, it's still the same rule: one enemy gets into the rift or escapes and your 5-skull rank is gone.

The Rift Defender Trinket is a nice piece of equipment with a very powerful active ability. It has a stun shockwave that hits a MASSIVE area and, with Special 2 upgrade, keeps enemies stunned for good 12 seconds. This trinket however has an equally massive cooldown time, so it's often used like a "panic button" to prevent enemies from ruining 5-skulls or stuff like Gnolls getting to you or your Guardians.

Another use for this trinket is to cast it and clean up the house either by combining it with a Trap Reset Trinket or by killing most of the enemies on your own in one way or another.

Beware when using it, besides its huge cooldown, the Rift Defender will only stun enemies that are currently in the map. Enemies that weren't on the field and enters after you've used it will be unaffected, so it's always good to measure if using the trinket is worth it.

Since the Rift Defender Trinket does not use mana upon activation you can use it while enemies are waltzing in the middle of your trap course and blast a Trap Reset Trinket for massive damage.


More than to save your 5-Skull Victory, the Rift Defender Trinket can be used to help you deal with large hordes. Do keep in mind its very long cooldown, though.
________________________________________________________________


Scavenger Trinket getting set to use (left) and its effect upon activation (right).

Skulls to buy: 9
Special 1: 4
Special 2: 12

Mana Usage: Large, about 75% of War Mage's natural Mana.
Cooldown: Long (2 minutes).

The Scavenger Trinket is used to increase your income from kills, especially when you use its active ability. More money means more traps, more traps means more dead Orcs, which makes all of us happier.

Using this trinket in large waves or when you're about to kill all enemies with aid of something else (Mana Rage, Trap Reset...) can earn you a lot more money than usual, even more so if you use it correctly in accordance with the Coinforge (yes, both effects do stack).

Scavenger Trinket is a viable option for Endless matches as well, since enemies will start to give you less money as Endless maps goes on, it's a good idea to maximize the initial income by using it and killing as many enemies as possibles.

Just watch out for the mana usage, the Scavenger Trinket is easily the trinket that eats the most mana on its use.


Enemies affected by the Scavenger Trinket shares the same effect of those affected by the Coinforge.


Comparison of a Heavy Orc Warrior killed normally (left) and with the Scavenger Trinket activated (right).


Small coin worth 20$ that may be left by dead enemies if you have the Scavenger Trinket with you.
________________________________________________________________


Trap Reset Trinket set to use.

Trap Reset Trinket on use, notice all Spike Traps ready to fire again.

Skulls to buy: 11
Special 1: 5
Special 2: 14

Mana Usage: Medium, about 50% of War Mage's natural Mana.
Cooldown: Medium (1 minute).

The Trap Reset Trinket is one of the most useful trinkets of the game simply because it focuses on its core element: traps. Its passive ability helps traps to reset faster than usual, more with the Special upgrade, but nothing too ridiculous, even with its upgrades the enhanced trap reset boost is marginal at best.

The active ability, however can be extremely powerful. If you wait for the right moment and use the Trap Reset right when enemies are in the middle if your killzone you can guess they'll be wiped out of the map.

There are a number of traps that will NOT be fully restored by the Trap Reset Trinket, however. Brimstone and Shock Zappers will have their bars filled, but not completely, so keep that in mind.


Works well with 99% of all traps.


Even the simplest of trap courses will become far deadlier if you choose the right time to use this trinket.

On the following sections I'll give some equipment hints with suggestion on some traps as well.

I AM NOT GOING TO MAKE JOKE BUILDS HERE. IF THEY ARE NOT SUITABLE FOR NIGHTMARE I WON'T ADD IT HERE.

Keep in mind by no means I intend to tell you "how to win" in the game, they are merely combination of weapons (and sometimes traps) that I found out it works really well. At least for me.

I did test these combinations and wrote about them here as a way for people to have an idea on what to use to deal with Nightmare. I WON'T post any joke loadouts, those that are difficult to use or those who are a bit too situational to work. And don't come with that "get good" bulls**t excuse either, if you want a challenge, good for you, but I want to give practical, simple, clean and clear loadouts.

Because on co-op you only have 6 slots to work with (so does your partner), I tend to take that into consideration as a loadout with too many weapons and trinkets might not leave room for traps which is basically insane on Nightmare.

Because 1) they're a very personal choice and it depends from level to level, and 2) I've already mentioned some combinations I like in "Trap and Tips" section. The only trap I can recommend is the Boom Barrel because that trap is pretty much universal.

That depends, but most of them yes. If I use Dwarven Hammer, or Blunderbuss it'll be exclusive to War Mage only. On the other hand Polymorph Ring or Sceptre of Domination are only available for the Sorceress.

Then take a look on the videos on "Loadout in action", they're here to prove they work on Nightmare. I'd want proof these things could work as well.


Time to give some suggestions to help you decide what's mightier.

Weapons:

1) Crossbow (Headshot Regenerates Mana)
2) Ring of Lightning (Secondary attack also slow enemies)
3) Ice Amulet (Secondary attack reduces enemies defense further)

Suggestions:

* Mana Rage Trinket (with Special 1 at least)

+ Versatility. Almost all types of enemies can be easily dealt with using these three equipment.
+ Good elemental balance.
+ Crossbow ensures that Mana will not be a problem as long the player has decent aim.
+ Ring of Lightning's secondary attack provides good crowd control with slow and kill Light Orcs and Kobolds with ease.
+ Ice Amulet is very useful against flyers and small crowds. It also excels in freezing big enemies (except Frost Ogres) to allow easy kills with headshots.

- Very Mana consuming. Playing as the War Mage requires some Mana management.
- Lack of Fire may force you to pick Floor Scorcher or Brimstone to deal with Frost Ogres and Yetis.
- Takes half of loadout bar in co-op leaving less option for traps, guardians and trinkets.
- Frost Ogres can be a serious problem, especially in Precipice and Crunch, if you are not careful.
- Crossbow's aim is finicky and it may be difficult to score headshots on orcs, especially Lights.

This is my most used loadout. It covers almost everything and deals with nearly every type of enemy fast and with efficiency and it's quite easy to use. The hardest part will be learning how to get headshots on Orcs; it's harder than it looks doing it and once they start bringing shields things will get a little more complicated.

Crossbow is your main weapon here, but you should never hold the attack button unless you're killing pesky Kobolds. It takes some practice to keep hitting the Orcs' heads often since their head hitbox is kind of disjointed and the Crossbow aim can be kind of misleading sometimes. The secondary fire is there to cover things that are not affect by Ring of Lightning's chill or Ice Amulet's freezing like Frost Ogres and Yetis.

Using the Ring of Lightning secondary attack is a must as soon as you see the Orc mob approaching, this attack can be a lifesaver especially since it functions as a temporary Tar for the Sorceress allowing you to leave the mob unattended for a moment to kill another problematic target. However chill does not affect Frost Ogres, so keep an eye for them.

Ice Amulet is there mostly to keep big targets like Ogres and Trolls in check, it can also be very useful in freezing other dangerous enemies like Earth Lords or Cyclops Mages. The secondary attack also works extremely well with Boom Barrels, besides a very generous freeze time, frozen enemies take more damage, even more so with the right unique, and everything up to a normal Ogre will be instantly killed by this combination.

Whenever a tough enemies appears, freeze it and use its head for target practice, this is a good way to dispose of it quickly, especially Armored Ogres and Mountain Trolls and on top of that this will help you regenerate Mana very fast.

Like I mentioned before beware of Frost Ogres (and Yetis), this loadout provides no reliable means to kill them quickly, even with the Crossbow's headshot and stuns it may take a while to bring him down and this is particularly dangerous on maps like Precipice and Crunch.

Having traps like Floor Scorcher and Brimstone will help you a lot against them if put in sufficient numbers. You can add the Flame Bracers to the mixture, but it'll take one more slot (4 out 6 in co-op) and make it potentially even more Mana consuming.

Weapons:

1) Bladestaff (Primary attack creates a shield)
2) Wind Belt (secondary leech health)
3) Ice Amulet (secondary decreases enemies defense further)
4) Flame Bracers (secondary lasts longer)

Suggestions:

* Mana Rage Trinket

+ Very versatile. You're outfit to deal with every type of enemy.
+ Bladestaff's cancelling makes short work of any type of enemy.
+ Knowing how to use will grant you the ability to deal with any type of enemy really fast.

- Mana reliant to deal with heavy threats.
- Takes practice and knowledge about weaknesses to use.
- Care must be taken with Ogres.
- Not suitable for co-op due to how many slots are used for equipment.

This is a build equally focused on the Bladestaff and three of the four elemental jewelry-- all weapons are important here in one way or another:

Your main source of manaless damage. Heavy threats like Ogres, Trolls and Elemental can be frozen and dealt with especially if you use the Bladestaff cancelling (keep tapping any direction and tapping attack too), you can kill even Earth Lords, Mountain Trolls and Armored Ogres in two regular Ice Amulet blasts if your rhythm is good enough.

Used to deal with heavy crowds of Orcs and kill groups of pesky Runners and Sappers, especially since it uses low mana compared to the other elemental equipment.

You can use it to group Orcs together and quickly kill them with the Bladestaff or pop a fire blast with the Flame Bracers depending on how well you are doing on mana.

Used to freeze heavy threat enemies, especially Fire Ogres, and small groups of Orcs. Frozen enemies take extra damage from all attacks the Bladestaff is no exception to this.

The Ice Amulet can be also used to kill flying threats sans Frostbats which the Flame Bracers kill in one hit.

Used to kill large and thick groups of Orcs. One firebolt from this weapon kills up to Medium Orcs in a single hit (make sure they don't have shields) and will leave Heavy Orcs at death's door. Frost Ogres can be killed in two blasts as long as you let the burning ailment do its job before hitting them again.

It also kills Frostbats in a single hit.

Putting this to work in Crunch, the Ogre country, on Nightmare.

Ice Amulet is on slot 3 just because I'm so used having it there I almost always instinctively push 3 to use it, even when I don't have it equipped.

Weapons:

1) Stone Staff (Petrified enemies take more damage from primary attack)
3) Ice Amulet (Secondary attack reduces enemies defense further)
4) Boom Barrel (Increased Explosion radius)

+ Decent coverage of damage and weaknesses.
+ Mana friendly as long you are able to manage your secondary attack well.
+ Good crowd control for early waves.

- Boom Barrel is not optional. You will have to use this unless you want to waste a lot of time getting rid of heavy enemies like Ogres, Trolls and Elementals.
- Remember: petrified enemies will take additional damage only and solely from Stone Staff.
- Takes 3 out of 6 slots for co-op.
- Frost Ogres and Yetis still can be a problem.

A simple, but effective loadout composed of three core things: Stone Staff, Ice Amulet and Boom Barrel. This is one of the few loadouts I can't tell you to go without a trap: the Boom Barrel, I'll explain better later.

Stone Staff is a multipurpose weapon, it's main function is to kill small fry. You can either chose to petrify them and quickly kill them, but watch out for your mana as the secondary attack of this weapon eats a lot of mana. Alternatively you can use the Ice Amulet to freeze enemies and kill them just as fast and using slightly less mana.

Ice Amulet has several usages here: freeze troublesome targets like Gnolls and heavies, deal with airborne enemies like Hellbats and Thunderbats and make them vulnerable for Boom Barrels and Stone Staff.

Maybe you're asking "I have the Stone Staff! Why the heck do I need the Ice Amulet?"
The answer is simple: mana management. Stone Staff's secondary attack eats A LOT of mana.
The other answer is that you Ice Amulet makes fighting flocks of flying enemies and things like Cyclops Mages much easier.

Also it's good to remember that petrified enemies take less damage from EVERYTHING save Stone Staff's primary attack, yes that includes your partner and even your own traps. Besides, Ice Amulet's primary attack reduces defense from everything that it freezes and is comparatively very mana friendly.

Boom Barrel is your heavy duty tool. If you feel crowds are too damn big to handle and notice you'll get overrun, lump them together by petrifying or freezing, set one of these amidst the crowd and shoot it. You can also freeze heavies (except Frost Ogres and Yetis) and use one or two Boom Barrels to kill them or at very least heavily wound them.

Wind Belt is something nice to go along with this build. It is the best weapon to lump enemies together, or at least isolate problematic enemies, and Wind Belt with Boom Barrels on their own is a powerful combination (used in Wind Blast too).

As far as trinkets go Jar of Ghosts is useful in case something goes really wrong and can be helpful to bunch enemies together too. Mana Rage Trinket is always a great option as well.

Weapons:

1) Crossbow (Headshot Regenerates Mana)
2) Stone Staff (Secondary attack has increased range)

+ Crossbow ensures that Mana will not be a problem as long the player has decent aim.
+ Petrified enemies are much easier to hit with Headshots.
+ Nothing resists getting petrified in the game.

- Crossbow aim can be a bit of a hassle to understand for beginners.
- Slow killing build. Elemental Ogres can be a hassle to kill.
- Petrified enemies take less damage from almost everything.

One of the simpler builds. Not much of a secret here, you petrify whatever gets in your way and pick them off with Headshots, it works very well against any kind of enemy.

This build is safer than the "Arctic Lightning" and somewhat less mana eating, however it also kills considerably slower, so maps with strict Par times can be a bit of a problem.

Co-op version.


Solo variant.

Weapons:

1) Stone Staff (Petrified enemies take more damage from Stone Staff)
2) Vampiric Gauntlets (any)
3) Berserker Trinket

Suggestions:

* Defense Trinket, Jar of Ghosts, Ice Amulet, Flame Bracers, Sceptre of Domination

+ Versatile. Handles all types of enemies well enough.
+ Good crowd control for early and late waves.
+ Adaptable, you can swap Stone Staff for something else if it suits your taste.

- Stone Staff. No auto-fire which means tired fingers/wrist.
- Difficult to use. You have to watch out for Potions and dangers like Gnolls and Crossbow Orcs.
- Watch out for Elemental Ogres and Elemental Lords.
- Takes 3 out of 6 slots for co-op.

A loadout focused on the Stone Staff with the Berserker Trinket. As soon as the game starts you can use the Vampiric Gauntlets to drop your health low enough so the Berserker Trinket's passive effect kicks in, and in case things starts to look dicey you can recover your health at your own will.

This loadout is a bit gimmicky, but it's powerful enough to deal even with large amounts of enemies, especially if you use Barricade funneling. You do have to be particularly careful not to get Potions or stay too close to the rift on levels that features them or else you'll lose your low health attack bonus.

I like using Ice Amulet to go along even with the Stone Staff because the Ice Amulet uses much less mana and attacks from a distance which is great to deal with Gnoll Grenadiers (and Hunters) and things like Cyclops Mages.

The first reason I recommend using this build with the War Mage instead of the Sorceress is because of the extra health, especially with the Defense Trinket. Having both means the effect of the Berserker's Trinket will activate when the War Mage has more or less the same amount of the Sorceress' default health, which means it should be a little less riskier to use this build (key word here being "a little").

The second reason are because of his two exclusive traps: Tar and Arrow Wall. Tar works EXTREMELY well with this loadout to keep enemies clustered together and the Arrow Wall can be used to balance out either fire or ice damage to help you against Elemental Ogres.

Personally, I like to use the Ice Amulet together to deal with Cyclops Mages and Gnoll Grenadiers, enemies that are tough to deal with using only the Stone Staff. For Frost Ogres I petrify them and make use of those bonuses to kill them quickly. However when playing as War Mage your default mana is only enough for two petrifying attacks with the Stone Staff, so you have to watch out for that.

The Jar of Ghosts is also an excellent trinket for this loadout to help you survive. In case a Hunter or an Ogre happens to catch you off-guard the trinket can protect you from dying as enemies will run away if they hit you once.


With clever usage and some elemental damage balancing with traps this loadout can even deal with Crunch on Nightmare.

Weapons:

1) Crossbow (Headshot Regenerates Mana)
2) Bone Amulet (Primary attack deals more damage)
3) Ice Amulet, Stone Staff, Sceptre of Domination, Wind Belt, Dwarven Missile Launcher

Suggestions:

* Mana Rage Trinket

+ Adaptable loadout.
+ Kills elementals with ease.
+ Good crowd control for early and late waves.

- Mana guzzler. Creating Bone Golems will take a heavy toll on your mana.
- Little options against airborne enemies. Be on your toes for them.
- Takes 2 out of 6 slots for co-op; 3 if you pick Mana Rage Trinket.

Bone Amulet is the core of this build, using it to help you in early waves to hold yourself against the Orc mob during the early game where you won't have a lot of money to create a good setup of traps and later on to keep enemies busy while you and your traps kill everything.

The main strength of this loadout is how you can adapt to your liking; the third slot can be used to have Ice Amulet (freeze, decrease enemies' defense, instant kill flyers), Stone Staff (petrify, small area damage), Sceptre of Domination (charge attack, charm for extra minion), Wind Belt (crowd control) or Dwarven Missile Launcher (crowd control, anti-air flak).

Problems? Mana. You will need A LOT of it, so Crossbow with Mana Regen on Headshots and Mana Trinket are not exactly optional. Since Bone Golems attract attention of every aggressive enemy in the game you MUST be careful with Gnolls and Sappers, it's quite possible they'll accidentally hit you if they go for your Golems if you're too careless.

What's this section about?

This is some of the general ideas I like to give when building traps courses.

Keep in mind this isn't a strict guidebook, if you feel another trap will do a much better work than the ones here, do change the setup to suit your own needs or liking.

Important Tip: PROTECT YOUR BARRICADES!!

Since the ideas here must have Barricades it's imperative that you protect them from Sappers as if it was the most important thing of the game (because it is in this case).

Make use of decoy Barricades, Barricades set ahead so Sappers will target them instead of the ones used to lure enemies into your traps, or other traps like Brimstone or Grinders to avoid Sappers from breaking your Barricade setup.

An example with Grinders below:

Notice the Sapper that was aiming for the closest Barricade being killed by the Grinder. Do keep in mind you must space the Barricades far enough so they won't get caught in the Sapper's explosion.

Main Traps:

Barricade, Floor Scorcher

War Mage Recommendation:

Arrow Wall, Tar

Sorceress Recommendation:

Acid Sprayer, Ice Vent or Web Spinner

General Recommendation:

Grinder, Dart Spitter, Brimstone

A powerful setup using Barricades that forces enemies to "snake" around them forcing them to take as much damage from the Floor Scorcher, Arrow Wall or Acid Sprayer.

With the War Mage the setup is as simple as it gets: Tar between the Floor Scorchers and set Arrow Walls for extra killing efficiency.

Sorceress has a trickier time with this setup as she will need to rely on Web Spinners and Ice Vents to make it work, but this setup is no less efficient with her because of that. She can also make use of Brimstone or Spike Traps to complement the floor and add more to combos if you're into that.

Grinders are also recommended, especially if set at turns and at the end of the setup to prevent any pesky Kobolds from triggering too many traps or getting past everything if you're unlucky enough.


The War Mage's version. Notice the where the Grinder is placed and how the Scorchers were set.


The Sorceress variant without Floor Scorchers.

Main Traps:

Grinder (Unique 1), Barricade (any, but Unique 1 preferable)

War Mage Recommendation:

Arrow Wall, Tar

Sorceress Recommendation:

Acid Sprayer, Ice Vent

General Recommendation:

Brimstone, Spike Trap, Floor Scorcher, Boulder Chute

One of the most known trap setups, this one is centralized around the Grinder, aiming to maximize its killing capabilities. This setup is focused on creating a big, even if small, and powerful killzone and you can customize it with many traps (which I recommend above).

Be on your toes for Sappers, putting Barricades as decoy so they won't target the ones used to force enemies into the Grinders is a must for this setup to work. Sappers do like to aim for the closest Barricade, so you can set one close to a wall and let them explode themselves on a Grinder.

This build can work with Wall Blades, but keep in mind Kobold Runners easily get past them if you don't place Tar beforehand.


Grinders and Tar. A powerful combination.


Sorceress' variant without Tar. Notice the Scorchers adding even more destructive power to this setup, you can add Acid Sprayer for even more power.

Grinders, Tars, Floor Scorchers and Arrow Walls.

Main Traps:

Void Wall (Unique 1), Spike Wall and Barricades

General Recommendation:

Wind Belt, Spring Trap, Tar, Jar of Ghosts, Crossbow (Stun).

A combination of traps that requires corners to be truly effective. The idea behind this is to get the most out of the Void Wall by chucking things into it through any means, with the Wind Belt being the most straightforward and direct.

The Spike Wall is there to throw the big enemies (Ogres, Trolls, etc) that cannot be pushed by the Wind Belt. Stunning or freezing them or spooking them will help in keeping the enemies in place to be throw into the Void Wall.

Wall to wall synergy. Notice the second Spike Wall set to aim at big enemies like Mountain Trolls and Earth Lords.

Killzones without Barricades

These are ideas for killzones without Barricades.

While they can be a little harder to work with than the ones using Barricades, here you'll have ideas that can be used in maps that have too many Sappers.

Main Traps:

Arrow Wall or Acid Sprayer, Tar or Ice Vents

War Mage Recommendation:

Up to you.

Sorceress Recommendation:

Barricade, Web Spinner

The standard combination of traps the game gives to you right at the start of the game.

"But it's boring!" It may be, but learning the uses of your initial traps and how useful they can be might carry you through War Mage difficulty to the last levels of Nightmare.

As for the Sorceress, the Ice Vent is more focused on using Barricades as enemies cannot walk through frozen enemies and this might create big cluster of them for the Acid Sprayer to kill, but this doesn't mean that the Ice Vent is useless without Barricades-- with aid of Web Spinners they're a force to be reckoned with.



Simple, but no less effective.

Main Traps:

Coinforge (Unique 1) and Floor Scorcher (any Unique)

War Mage Recommendation:

Arrow Wall, Tar (Unique 2)

Sorceress Recommendation:

Acid Sprayer, Web Spinner

A trap setup where the focus of its build is the Coinforge, normally more useful in places with high ceilings where you need to focus on wall and floor traps to deal with the Orc mob.

You can use the Floor Scorcher with other traps like Arrow Walls and Acid Sprayer in order to create potent killzones.

With the War Mage you can use Tar with Unique 2, the slow enemies for a while, to keep them on the Coinforge. As Sorceress you can use the Web Spinner for this purpose.


Add Wall traps to make it even more effective whenever possible.


Another example in Corridors.

Main Traps:

Wind Belt, Tar (any Unique), Boom Barrel (Unique 2) or Boom Barrel Dispenser

War Mage Recommendation:

Tar

Sorceress Recommendation:

Web Spinner

General Recommendation: Wind Belt or Ring of Lightning (with Chill), Dart Spitter

A simple trap course focused on the destructive power of Boom Barrels. Making use of the Boom Barrel Dispenser can be a tricky little thing, but with this setup they'll be able to destroy even the largest groups of enemies with ease.

Naturally the War Mage has an easier time with this build since Boom Barrels and Tar makes for an awesome duo.

The Sorceress has to use the Web Spinner with Ice Vents for maximum crowd control and keep as many enemies vulnerable so you can hit them with the gathered barrels.


The Sorceress' version with Web Spinners. Notice the Dart Spitter set the furthest to trigger and explode all barrels hitting as many enemies as possible.

Orcs are not the only things that will die by your hands.


There are plenty of enemies with particular resistances and characteristics you should be aware of and in the following sections of the guide I'll talk about them.

Please take not that everything here is based on my experiences with these enemies, you may think an enemy that I find extremely dangerous is a joke to you and vice-versa, so be reasonable.



Part 1:

• Light Orc Warrior & Medium Orc Warrior
  
• Earth Elemental
  
• Kobold Runner
  
• Crossbow Orc

Part 2:

• Kobold Sapper
  
• Bilebat
  
• Ogre
  
• Heavy Orc Warrior

Part 3:

• Gnoll Hunter
  
• Troll
  
• Fire Ogre & Frost Ogre
  
• Earth Lord

Part 4:

• Hellbat
  
• Fire Babies
  
• Frostbat
  
• Swamp Troll

Part 5:

• Cyclops Mage
  
• Hobgoblin Shaman
  
• Thunderbat
  
• Mr. Moneybags

Fire and Water DLC only {Fire enemies}:

• Fire Elemental
  
• Fireling
  
• Fire Lord

Fire and Water DLC only {Water enemies}:

• Waterling
  
• Water Elemental
  
• Water Lord

Family Ties DLC only:

• Hobgoblin Healer
  
• Ball and Chain

Are we there Yeti? DLC only:

• Yeti
  
• Goblin Sapper

Nightmare (mostly) only:

• Gnoll Grenadier
  
• Mountain Troll
  
• Armored Ogre

Threat Levels:
Very Low < Low < Moderate < High < Very High < Extreme

• Light Orc Warrior & Medium Orc Warrior
  
• Earth Elemental
  
• Kobold Runner
  
• Crossbow Orc

________________________________________________________________

Light Orc Warrior & Medium Orc Warrior

The typical "fodder" enemy of tower defense games. Generally comes in large numbers alongside other Orcs (Medium and Heavy) and are hardly a threat at all.

However what they lack in qualities they more than make up for it in sheer numbers. Do NOT underestimate them, especially on Nightmare.

Later on they will start to carry shields which will absorb one single hit. It may not sound impressive but that will prevent you from one-shotting them with a fully charged blast from the Sceptre of Domination or a charge of the Ring of Lightning for example. Combine that with the fact they come en masse and you've got yourself a very annoying type of enemy.

The game is about doing something with these guys, but I forgot exactly what it is.
________________________________________________________________

Earth Elemental

An annoying, treacherous enemy that will split in two Earthlings after they are killed. Earthlings are passive creatures that will go directly to the exit/rift.

Elementals are resistant to most types of damage with the Blunderbuss and Sceptre of Domination primary attack doing less than impressive damage and soaking even a few headshots from the Crossbow, but are vulnerable to explosive damage (see notes).

Earth Elementals tend to come in tame numbers and are slightly slower than Orcs, but they are still an enemy that you should keep an eye on. Letting one getting too close to the exit/rift is asking for trouble, if you don't have time to deal with one try to keep it busy by stunning or freezing it.


They don't take kindly to War Mages attacking them. Stay out of their range.


Earthlings don't care about fighting; they'll just rush to the exit/rift. They are as tough as a Light Orc Warrior, thankfully.
________________________________________________________________

Kobold Runner

Little pesky things that will speed through your defenses like there's no tomorrow. They are passive towards the player and guardians and will never attack them directly. The only time you can see them actually attacking are when they are attempting to smash through Barricades or if taken control of via Charm or Mushroom Spores.

Kobold Runners are probably the most fragile enemy of the game, anything ranging from a Boom Barrel to the mere flip of a Floor Scorcher of a soft blow of the Wind Belt being can kill them.

"Then why they are so dangerous?" Because they have the nasty habit of being the first enemies coming from a wave, often in large numbers as well, thus prematurely triggering your traps before masses of Orcs (or more dangerous enemies) start appearing, and are actually fast enough to blaze through most traps without a scratch. Alternatively they can come shortly after Orcs passing unnoticed amidst the chaos.

Don't be ashamed to admit that a Kobold Runner screwed your 5-skull rank. It's like dying to Sappers: happened to the best of us and will happen to everyone soon or later.

You'll find out how annoying these things can be whenever you fight them when you can't waste time aiming or when one of them sets off the "They're almost there!" alarm.
________________________________________________________________

Crossbow Orc

Crossbow Orcs are annoying enemies that attack from a distance and will aim at you and your guardians. Dwarves are particularly vulnerable to them as they don't get damage reduction like Archers do.

This type of enemy is more annoying than a threat on War Mage difficulty since they go down quite easily and are barely stronger than a Light Orc Warrior. These guys do have a decent AI and they will lead their target if one keeps a single direction pressed or just jumping.

Crossbow Orcs are the enemies which have the biggest leap in my threat level: they can easily become a legitimate threat in Nightmare-- they gain a small health boost enough to make them endure a good number of things that would instantly kill them on War Mage difficulty, and you DO NOT get health refills between certain waves.

On the long run getting pelted by their bolts can take a toll on your health and you can find yourself in a pinch praying for one Health Potion to drop. Tread lightly when fighting a squad of these things on Nightmare.


On Nightmare scoff at them at your own peril. The aim of these guys is surprisingly good.

Threat Levels:
Very Low < Low < Moderate < High < Very High < Extreme

• Kobold Sapper
  
• Bilebat
  
• Ogre
  
• Heavy Orc Warrior

________________________________________________________________

Kobold Sapper

You've died to one of these. Don't lie. Either because you didn't know how powerful they were or because a bunch of them flanked you. Anyone that underestimate Sappers end up facing an untimely end or have their defenses blown to bits. DON'T. LET. THEM. GET. CLOSE.

Kobold Sappers are among the most hated enemies of the game as they are extremely dangerous to two common tactics: Barricade funneling and Guardians. They will prioritize Guardians AND players and then Barricades, they are difficult to outrun and pack quite a punch to boot. Make sure to be on your toes whenever you hear the Sapper alert.

The upside of Sappers is when they die they hit everything around them, even enemies. This can end up helping you at times especially when they come bunched together.

Brimstone or anything combined with Tar will take care of them easily, however as mentioned early in the guide, placing a Barricade where they will spawn is also quite effective in preventing them from reaching you, or another player, or guardians.


Using Sappers to your advantage can be a double-edged sword: it can cause as much damage to enemies as it will to you.


A happy Sapper reunion. Now imagine the damage all of those little guys exploding would do.
________________________________________________________________

Bilebat

That means they die. Petrifying give similar results.

Annoying flying enemies that like to pester you with poisonous attacks that will slow down you if hit. On death they fall to the ground and burst poisoning anything close to them, you and enemies alike.

On Nightmare they become dangerous due to the fact they gain a substantial health boost, enough to endure quite a few attacks and tend to come while you are being swarmed by other enemies on the ground. They also come in larger numbers and even a good number of Archers may not be able to kill Bilebats before they start attacking them.

Oddly enough, even though they can be even more dangerous than Hellbats with their slowing attack they stop appearing on Precipice and appear only once on Nightmare in Hidden Gulch.


Bilebats are dangerous foes for unsuspecting players.
________________________________________________________________

Ogre

Dangerous enemies that can stun you with their attacks. They can take quite a beating and cannot be thrown by the Spring Trap without a unique upgrade and are unfazed by the Wind Belt.

Ogres are one of the most loathed enemies of the game, they are deceptively fast when charging towards their target and getting stunned by one when surrounded by enemies is almost certain death, or it may give the opening for one or two Orcs or Kobold to pass through you ensuing in a lot of trouble. Keep your distance when dealing with these things.

On Nightmare they come in larger numbers and can easily overwhelm unprepared players allowing Orcs and smaller enemies to get through your traps. Care should be taken in Precipice and Crunch as they come in such large quantities that poorly designed trap courses will not be able to hold them off.

Something like this you probably want to avoid happening as much as possible. Especially if things like Hunters, or even Orcs, are nearby.
________________________________________________________________

Heavy Orc Warrior

Cannon fodder v3.0

The last flavor of Orc you'll meet at Servant Entrance (War Mage difficulty). Bigger, tougher, hits harder and still unimpressive, but they are capable of enduring enough hits to bypass weak traps.

Just like their weaker counterparts they will start carrying shields eventually.


Bigger and meaner than other Orcs. Still easy to kill but they are tougher and hit harder, don't go too easy on them.

Threat Levels:
Very Low < Low < Moderate < High < Very High < Extreme

• Gnoll Hunter
  
• Troll
  
• Fire Ogre & Frost Ogre

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Gnoll Hunter

That should be a fair warning against these things.

Whenever you hear a howl get ready to fight them, Gnoll Hunters can and WILL kill incautious players. They are fast moving enemies that are difficult to outrun on normal conditions and plain impossible if they hit you even once.

Fighting more than one can be difficult without proper equipment and more than two unprepared is borderline suicidal. Make sure you always have a bit of Mana to deal with them.

Gnolls are like Kobolds on steroids: they speed through everything until they reach their desired target and that alone can cause a huge headache as they tend to come in waves with things like Ogres.

Hunters are the bane of Guardian focused defenses and can kill even Paladins quite fast. If they reach your Dwarves and Archers you better act FAST or the Gnoll will be more than happy to down more than one Guardian at a time with his attacks.

On Nightmare they are even more dangerous as they can kill Archers in mere two hits and almost always comes in pairs, sometimes with a Grenadier buddy to spice things up. On co-op it's not unusual to see from two up to FOUR of them coming at once, so make sure you either have enough Mana to fight all of them or at least fight them with aid of your traps/guardians.

I can't stress this enough: DO NOT LEAVE GNOLLS UNATTENDED. If they don't go after you, they'll after something just as important like guardians or your partner. I've lost count of how many times a good game went sour because of a single Gnoll Hunter screwed everything.

The Gnoll Hunter AI is curious: they'll go for the closest guardian/player to their spawn rift/door which can mean that sometimes a Gnoll will bolt to get to that Guardian or your partner while seemingly ignoring you.


The usual consequences of forgetting about Hunters. Dead players and/or Guardians.
________________________________________________________________

Troll

Trolls move slower than Orcs and appear in much smaller numbers. They take extra damage from Fire and Lightning attacks so traps like Brimstone, Floor Scorcher and Shock Zapper will make short work of them.

The Troll's special gimmick is the fact he regenerates his health, not at a ridiculous rate, but enough to bring itself back to full health if you just bruise it and leave the Troll to kill other enemies.

Regardless of that Trolls are relatively easy to bring down with almost any weapon and combination of traps.
________________________________________________________________

Fire and Frost Ogres

Just like Ogres, but one is able to shrug off Fire attacks (being immune to burning) and traps and the other Ice ones (being immune to chill and freezing as well). Their purpose is to make the player think about their loadouts and prevent them from using a single trap/element to kill everything. On top of that both are sturdier than a regular Ogre, so never underestimate them.

Just like common Ogres they can stun whatever they hit and they can keep you stunlocked for a decent amount of time, so don't get unnecessarily close when fighting them.

Since there are very little in the way of ice damage traps, my preferred method of killing these guys consist of Ice Amulet and anything else. While the Ice Amulet works well enough on its own, Ice + Crossbow Headshots will make short work of these things using much less mana on the long run.

Brimstone and Floor Scorchers are my favorite ways to dispatch these things quickly and reliably. The Fire Arrow Wall is not a bad idea if you set it in sufficient numbers.

The Flame Bracers will kill these things in two blasts if you let the burning damage over time eat enough of their health between each shot and can even hit more than one if you group them together close enough to each other.

Generally speaking I like using Boom Barrels or the Dwarven Missile Launcher as they deal good amounts of damage to them, not anywhere as countering them with proper elements, but they may be a good option if you're going to face Elementals in the same level.

The Crossbow with Headshot Mana Regeneration is also good, you can keep them stunlocked in place and pelting their heads until they die, but keep in mind this is a very slow method of killing them without aid of traps or guardians.

The Stone Staff is also a good way to neutralize them, especially with the unique to increase damage against petrified enemies, but it's also another slow way of killing them on its own.

Threat Levels:
Very Low < Low < Moderate < High < Very High < Extreme

• Earth Lord
  
• Hellbat
  
• Fire Babies
  
• Frostbat
  
• Swamp Troll

________________________________________________________________

Earth Lord

Big, hulking enemies that can withstand a good amount of punishment before crumbling... Into two Earth Elementals that crumbles into two Earthlings. That gives you seven enemies for the price of one!

The biggest problem with Earth Lords is how much time you may waste getting rid of them. Even a single Earth Lord can keep you busy enough to cause trouble, especially in maps like Crunch, so it's always good to bring something to get rid of them like Boom Barrels, Dwarven Missile Launcher or (the best option, but only available for the Sorceress) the Polymorph Ring.
________________________________________________________________

Hellbat

That means they die.

Flying nuisances that will drop a rain of fire on your head if they get close enough, also their attack hurts quite a bit.

Hellbats are mostly easy to deal with in War Mage since they come in small numbers and are easy to counter, however this changes on Nightmare. Not only do they come in larger numbers but they are also resilient enough to force you to put lots of guardian Archers or have a specific counter as you might get overrun by ground enemies while you are busy killing them.


Firebats won't slow you, but their attack hurts considerably more than one from a Bilebat.
________________________________________________________________

Fire Babies

That means they die.

An enemy that only appears in a single level of Story Mode, Corridors (and also in Twisted Halls on Nighmare). Fire Babies are enemies that attack en masse, they are fragile, but show up in numbers enough to keep a small groups of Archers busy enough to let Hellbats slip through.

In Twisted Halls on Nightmare they appear in the first two waves forcing you to place anti-air measures earlier which can be annoying since you'll have enough to worry about on the ground.

Good ways to kill them in Corridors is placing two Arrow/Acid traps where they'll spawn (alongside the Hellbats), Sceptre of Domination's charged blast, but the best thing by far is the Dwarven Missile Launcher's secondary attack; it'll kill entire ranks of them in a single shot.
________________________________________________________________

Frostbat

Much like Hellbats, Frostbats tend to be at most a nuisance on War Mage rather than a threat at all. They appear in a single stage of Story Mode (Crunch), but can quickly become a hassle to fight since you'll have a lot to worry about on the ground.

In Crunch, placing numerous Archers surrounding the Rift is my favorite strategy to kill them without ever having to fire a single attack upwards.

Frostbats re-appear in The West Wing, the final level of Fire and Water DLC, and they are much more dangerous there since you'll have a ton of Elementals on the ground, bringing the Dwarven Missile Launcher for its secondary attack or setting Archers to help you out is almost a must since it'll be VERY difficult to handle airborne and ground enemies at same time there.


On the plus side, it's the only way to see how your character looks like without another friend's screenshot.
________________________________________________________________

Swamp Troll

Uglier and somewhat more dangerous than regular Trolls, much like the normal ones he regenerates his health, although at a slightly faster rate. He also has one nasty trick up to his club, his attacks will Poison (slow) if it hits, which makes him more dangerous to Paladins than regular Trolls.

Swamp Trolls cannot be slowed by Poison (from Acid Sprayer or Alchemist's Satchel), so if you make use of any of these, watch out for this enemy.

Threat Levels:
Very Low < Low < Moderate < High < Very High < Extreme

• Cyclops Mage
  
• Hobgoblin Shaman
  
• Thunderbat
  
• Mr. Moneybags

________________________________________________________________

Cyclops Mage

They don't make a sound when they enter in the field, but you should keep your guard up for these one-eyed things. Mages come always in pairs and are deadly on their own, but fighting them while busy with other enemies is extremely dangerous.

Cyclops' attack is a somewhat slow moving homing projectile, you can't block it, you can't dodge it. Unless you have something to get behind or run a good distance that thing will hit it and it's a problem because 1) HURTS, 2) they do it from a good distance and 3) drains AND disables your Mana regeneration for a short, but precious while.

Cyclopses are also dangerous since they tend to aim for Guardians and Decoys especially if they are positioned in ledges (which is problematic in Twisted Halls).

Make sure to bring something to Stun, freeze or petrify them, anything to neutralize these things as fast as possible since the more ground they gain over you the more they'll allow enemies to get further into your trap course.

On Nightmare since you take even more damage than normal they might force you to fall back and can easily turn a fight on your head if you're not careful, so never underestimate Cyclops Mages because they come in small numbers.


If you hear the sound of a Cyclops Mage attacking make sure to run to cover.


Freeze, stun or petrify will interrupt their casting, but you have to be quick about it.
________________________________________________________________

Hobgoblin Shaman

Shamans are despicable enemies. They resurrect dead enemies every once in a while and are durable enough to walk through a good number of traps.

"But they resurrect only Orcs!" No they don't. If you're unlucky enough they can raise a Cyclops Mage, an Ogre or a Gnoll Hunter, or even another Shaman to resurrect another enemy right back to pester you again.

You can interrupt the Shaman's spell before it has a chance to raise the enemy, but you must be VERY fast and kill the Shaman swiftly. If you take even one second more, the enemy will be revived even if the Shaman is doing that little dance.

However if you kill the enemy by burning them to a crisp, blasting them to pieces with explosives, or shattering them while they're frozen Shamans won't be able to bring them back. Apparently they need the body relatively intact to do so.
________________________________________________________________

Thunderbat

That means they die. Petrifying give similar results.

Thunderbat is the last enemy type showed before you move on to Nightmare and is one of the most dangerous enemies of the game. Their attack has longer range than other Bats, enough to fry Archers before they can kill them, especially when they come in larger numbers. Additionally, their attack is just like the Ring of Lightning or Shock Zapper: jumps from one target to another if they are close enough. This can cause the fall of many Archers at same time creating an enormous hole in your defenses.

A common tactic against Thunderbats is to place a Decoy and Archers far enough to avoid the chain lightning or simply set Archers with health regen, and in sufficient numbers, to bring them down before they cause trouble.

However in Twisted Halls and the north hall of The Squeeze they come in such large numbers that either having to deal with them personally or placing something like Haymakers, or Decoy is practically a must.


This is every bit as unpleasant as it looks.
________________________________________________________________

Mr. Moneybags

Moneybags is an enemy that will only pop up in Endless maps, you'll know when he's arrived by a loud slot machine-esque sound that will play. He will never try to attack you and will just go straight to the rift, you won't even lose any rift points if he escapes at all.

Moneybags offers almost no threat at all, the worst he can do is get in front of your attacks and unintentionally tank the enemy behind him. He never attacks and even if he escapes the map you won't lose any rift points. However since money is extremely scarce on late Endless matches, most players prioritize this big, shiny guy.


The big coin left by a dead Moneybags. Make sure to check with your partner if he needs more than you do if you're doing Endless co-op.

Threat Levels:
Very Low < Low < Moderate < High < Very High < Extreme

NOTE:
These enemies may appear in co-op maps earlier even on War Mage. There are few instances of them also appearing on War Mage while playing single player in DLC maps.

• Gnoll Grenadier
  
• Mountain Troll
  
• Armored Ogre

________________________________________________________________

Gnoll Grenadier

Grenadiers are Gnolls that hunts down Guardians and players, but instead of getting up close they prefer to chuck bombs at a relatively safe distance.

While he's not as powerful as their Hunter counterpart he doesn't stand still for too long, and just keeps moving erratically everywhere while forcing you to do the same unless you want get a bomb to your face. He's tough enough to soak some damage and is a very dangerous, and deadly, distraction, by the time you finish him you may find yourself rushing to deal with masses of other enemies close to passing your killing zone.

Another problem Grenadiers cause is the fact they can inadvertently break Barricades or explode Boom Barrels. Make sure to fight him where he won't cause too much collateral damage, especially if more than one enters the field.

The Crossbow secondary fire can stun him long enough for you to score headshots, the Sceptre of Domination will cause him to fight for you (and most likely get killed by other enemies), freezing him with the Ice Amulet is also an efficient way to quickly dispose of him.

Although dangerous the Grenadier AI cannot identify if their target is above them resulting in the Gnoll Grenadier throwing bombs at thin air and simply standing still.
________________________________________________________________

Mountain Troll

Very tough enemy, very blue and very, veeery tall, it's almost impossible to miss him. He regenerates his health the fastest of all Trolls and packs quite a punch with his attacks which also causes Bleeding (damage over time) for a short while. Thankfully he is somewhat slow, being about as fast as an Earth Lord.

Unlike what the description says he is susceptible to stun. So if you have something to stun him, don't be afraid to use it.

Mountain Trolls can take a while to kill under normal circumstances, even using Lightning or Fire, and you cannot leave him bruised and wait for traps to finish the job as he may reach them with full health. Freezing him and dishing out everything you've got is a good way to quickly kill a Mountain Troll.


He can be stunned. Don't be afraid to use this against him if possible.
________________________________________________________________

Armored Ogre

What's worse than an Ogre? An Armored Ogre. He used to take 10 rift whooping points in the first game, but now he takes "only" 5 like the other Ogres and Trolls.

This big fella here can take a lot of punishment before going down and is not to be taken lightly. Armored Ogres can walk through a lot of traps before dying and should not be underestimated, if you see one make sure to always keep an eye on it.

Like most tough enemies freezing him will help immensely in dealing with this tank as it increases dramatically the damage you deal to him. Charming him will get you a very durable ally for a moment and if you have the right unique upgrade a fully charged attack from the Sceptre of Domination will do a decent damage to the Armored Ogre.

Don't forget that he's an Ogre-- If he hits you, you'll get stunned and on Nightmare that's almost a death sentence if there are other enemies around you.


Armored Ogres are always trouble, make sure you have something to deal with them reliably.

Threat Levels:
Very Low < Low < Moderate < High < Very High < Extreme

• Fire Elemental
  
• Fireling
  
• Fire Lord

________________________________________________________________

Fire Elemental

Fire Elementals are aggressive enemies that will split into two Firelings when they die.

Fire Elementals are just as tough as their Earth counterparts and anything used against them will work about as well on the Fire ones. The Ice Amulet will freeze them for merely a second, although it will do a lot of damage to them.

Efficient ways to quickly defeat a Fire Elemental is explosive damage via Dwarf Guadian, Boom Barrel or Dwarven Missile Launcher. Ice is also a decent way, but very Mana consuming.
________________________________________________________________

Fireling

Beware of these pests. They are fast and deceptively tough, and difficult to hit with a headshot, they're also heavier than Orcs, so blowing them away with the Wind Belt is considerably more difficult. The good thing is that simply walking backwards when a Fireling is about to explode is enough to avoid their blast radius.

Firelings acts somewhat like Kobold Sappers, and are just as deadly; they will close in to the nearest player or Guardian before exploding, if they do hit not only will cause extra damage over time (DoT) but also slow effect, which can be extremely dangerous if you are close to other enemies. As if that wasn't annoying enough if a Fireling successfully blast itself up you won't get any money from it since it doesn't count as a kill.

For Sorceresses if you Charm enemies with the Sceptre of Domination it'll force the Fireling to suicide bomb them rather than you, so take that in consideration.


A Fireling about to suicide bomb.
________________________________________________________________


Fire Lords are tougher variants of Fire Elementals, they are slower but can withstand a lot more punishment before dying and will cause four Firelings to spawn rather than two.

Unlike Earth Lords they tend to come much more frequently and can easily overwhelm a careless player or poorly set traps, and even if the player kills them they'll have a horde of Firelings to worry about and without a viable mean to kill them quickly they can be just as troublesome as the Fire Lords themselves.

Make sure to bring something like Boom Barrel, Bone Amulet, Dwarven Missile Launcher or Pounder to get rid of them quickly.

On Traffic Jammed and The West Wing it's not unusual for you to fight six of these things at same time.

Threat Levels:
Very Low < Low < Moderate < High < Very High < Extreme

• Waterling
  
• Water Elemental
  
• Water Lord

________________________________________________________________


Waterling are small creatures that tend to appear in numbers. Like Earthlings they are completely passive and will just speed to the closest exit/rift. However when they die they leave a puddle behind and if a Waterling is nearby it will go for this puddle, if it touches it the Waterling will become a Water Elemental, if a Water Elemental touches a puddle then it will become the significantly more dangerous Water Lord.

Water Elementals and Water Lord are aggressive and will attack players and guardians on sight, they resist almost every kind of damage except fire and explosive, so weapons like the Flame Bracer, Dwarven Missile Launcher and traps like Floor Scorcher, Brimstone and Boom Barrel are very effective against them. Dwarf Guardians are also highly effective in numbers against Waterlings and their evolved forms.

A common way to prevent from Waterlings to leave puddles behind is to shove them into pits with the Push Trap or the Wind Belt.
________________________________________________________________


What a Waterling grows into if one steps on a puddle left by another dead one.

Water Elementals are still relatively easy to kill, but should not be underestimated as their resistance grow to respectable levels in this form. Dealing with one should be about as difficult as dealing with an Earth Elemental.
________________________________________________________________


If you hear a deep growl in the stage, it signalizes the birth of a Water Lord and you should be prepared to fight it. Water Lord is the final form of the Waterling, what happens if a Water Elemental steps on a puddle, and is a much more formidable opponent.

Never get too close to this thing, their attack hurts a lot and they are not as sluggish as Earth/Fire Lords, if you get hit, especially on Nightmare, you will notice.

Water Lords are mostly a problem due to how sturdy they are. Without an explosive/fire damage source they can take a while to bring down even with headshots from a fully upgraded Crossbow and exhaust your Mana reserves if you use the Flame Bracers on one. Due to their resistances they can walk through most traps courses and still have a lot of health in the end promptly forcing you to rush and deal with him before he causes more problems.

Threat Levels:
Very Low < Low < Moderate < High < Very High < Extreme

• Hobgoblin Healer
  
• Ball and Chain

________________________________________________________________

Hobgoblin Healer

Hobgoblins Healers are incredibly annoying and passively dangerous enemies, probably the most dangerous of the entire game as it makes every kind of other enemy much more difficult to kill, from your daily Orc to the extremely resistant Armored Ogre.

Healers have the worst habit to get into masses of enemies making them very difficult to kill without getting hit by other enemies, they will fall back to heal wounded allies and will not stand still for a moment. Also a Healer can and will heal another Healer making them even more durable.

Some of the best ways to quickly kill them includes freezing them and everything around them with the Ice Amulet's secondary attack or place an upgraded Boom Barrel close to them and set it off finishing the Healer in a single hit. Another great way is to Charm one with the Sceptre of Domination and let the Orcs surrounding him kill it for you (turn his best way to defend himself against him).

Healers will make your life miserable when they start healing up things like Mountain Trolls as you are about to kill them.
________________________________________________________________

Ball and Chain

Ball and Chain is a female orc and will empower other orcs, and only orcs, with her war cry from time to time. This war cry makes even the most common type of orc dangerous as they will become faster, stronger and more durable, enough to bypass weak trap setups and overrun careless players.

Ball and Chain herself is no slouch either. Her attack is among the strongest of the game and if she lands a hit with her ginormous morning star it will bite off a very sizable chunk of your health. She is also the only enemy that resists the charm of the Sceptre of Domination and is fairly durable being able to soak many hits before going down. Don't underestimate her speed either, once she uses her war cry to buff orcs she will start to rush to the exit/rift at a considerable speed.

Only the Spike Wall is able to throw her backwards and even strong traps may not be enough to finish her off without the aid of the players. Freezing her and attacking with your best equipment is a good way to kill her before she can cause more problems.

Orcs empowered by Ball and Chain, also healed by a Hobgoblin Healer, a fearsome combination.

Threat Levels:
Very Low < Low < Moderate < High < Very High < Extreme

• Yeti
  
• Goblin Sapper

________________________________________________________________

Yeti

Do you like Gnoll Hunters?
Do you like Gnoll Grenadiers?

No and no? Then this enemy will make you feel like the game is giving you the middle finger.

The Yeti is both of these on steroids. He chucks ice balls that acts similar to the Grenadier's grenade with the additional chill (slow) effect and once his health is chopped to half he enters in a rage state and starts acting like a Gnoll Hunter, only stronger and more dangerous. Oh, he also goes over Barricades, just like Gnolls.

However unlike Gnolls Yetis cannot be thrown by the Wind Belt or frozen, but are vulnerable to fire attacks and traps.

Yetis should never be underestimated or worse, unattended, the Yeti on normal conditions will pester you with chilling attacks and an enraged Yeti can skill the Sorceress in two or three hits and is probably faster than a Gnoll Hunter. Make sure to keep Yetis at bay somehow either by stunning or charming them.


A very angry Yeti coming for you.
________________________________________________________________

Goblin Sapper

Sappers. You've learned to have them when they were Kobolds, now you'll learn to hate them even more as Goblins.

Goblin Sappers will disable traps once they've reached it for a short period, but enough for most enemies to run through them, and don't think you can play smart by putting a single trap and expect them to detonate there, they'll explode deactivating as many traps as they can.

Goblin Sappers are medium weight (heavier than orcs), so they are harder to fend off with the Wind Belt or the Push Trap and killing them will still activate their trap defusing explosion, albeit in a smaller area.

On the plus side, traps will still keep recharging even if they are jammed. On the negative side even if you Charm an Goblin Sapper and it dies like that the jamming effect of its bomb will activate on your traps.

How they jam a pit of Tar or Brimstone is anyone's guess.

The following sections serves no purpose other than satisfy the curiosity of people wondering what Orcs speak while trying to escape the mines/to the rifts and the one sided banter of both characters.

This section will probably be under construction for a while.


_____________________________________



*random burping sounds* (Classic levels only)
"AGH! I'm allergic to flames!"
"Anyone have an aspirin?"
"Are we there now?"
"Can I be the good guy?"
"Can I get park validating?"
"Can't we just all get along?"
"Careful! There's traps!"
"Come at me, bro!"
"Don't kill me! I'm only half worth!"
(very effeminate tone) "Don't hit me! I'm a girl!"
"Don't crossbow me, bro!"
"Don't push me!"
"Get outta my head!"
"Get your axe outta my way!"
"Go faster!"
"Goooo!!"
"Hey! This is not in union contract!"
"I don't wanna go first..."
"I go last!"
"I stay back here."
"I wanna go home!" (has many different tones)
(singsong) "I'm gonna get ya!"
"I'm gonna stay back here!"
"It's a trap!"
"Kill the humans!"
"Keep moving!"
"Last one to rift is a human!"
"Make room!"
"Move, dumb-dumb."
"Move your axe out of my way!"
"Off my foot!"
"One more day until I retire..."
"Resistance is futile!"
"Stop pushing!"
"Stop the pushing!"
"They saw how the last wave went, why'd send us?!"
"Treat time?! What does it mean?"
"To the rift!"
"Uh, don't go that way!"
"When's lunch time?"
"When do we eat?"
"When do I get my paycheck?"
"Which way now?!"
"Watch for traps!"
"Yes, mistress." (Classic levels only)
"You go first!"
"You stepped on my foot!"
"Your axe is in my way!"
"You're in my way, axe man!"

"Combo..."
"Destiny, why must you mock me?"
"Every moment I live is agony!"
"Everything but the face!"
"Game over man, game over!"
"Hey, not funny!"
"How can this beeeee?!"
"I don't know why I got up this morning..."
"I knew I shouldn't have got up this morning..."
"I'm too old for this..."
"I'm too young to die!"
"My armor! It does nothing!"
"My kidneeeey!"
"Not again!"
"Not funny!"
"Ouchies!"
"There goes again!"
"This how it ends?"
"Why me?!"
"Why mistress?!" (can be said even if you're playing as War Mage)
"Why... WHY?!"
"Yikes! It hurts!"
_____________________________________



"Here they come!"
"More enemies on the way!" (Triple Threat and The Hive only)
"They're breaking through!"
"They're in the north/south/west/east hall!"

"Ogre sighted!"
"Watch out, they have Ogres..."
"Watch out! Ogre!

"Flyers! In the air!"
"Look out! Flyers!"
"Watch out! Flyers!"

"Sappers! On the way!"
"Watch out for Sappers!"

"They are almost there!"
"Stop them quickly!"

"The Orcs are escaping the mines!"
"More enemies in the rift!"
"They're entering the rift!"

Guardians' death:

"An Archer has fallen!" (two tones)

"A Dwarf has fallen!"
"A Dwarf was knocked out!"
"We lost a Dwarf!"


"A Paladin has fallen!" (two tones)

"Whoa, elemental! I heard when you kill 'em you just make more of them..." (Tunnels)
"Bilebat, yuck. It's bad enough when they just breathe fire and ice..." (Hidden Gulch)
"Now those are some big, hungry Orcs over there!" (Servant Entrance)
"Troll! Better kill him fast or he'll heal up!" (Passages)
"They got Thunderbats now?! Well, nothing shocks me anymore... Except Thunderbats..." (Twisted Halls)

"A little preset for ya!"
"A little present for you. One for you... And one for you..."
"A treat for ya!"
"Can you smell what the War Mage is cooking?!"
"Can you ever have too many traps? I'm thinking no."
"Gee, I hope nobody gets hurt!... No I don't."
"Just add Orcs and blend!"
"Just for you!"
"Hah!"
"Ha-ha!"
(as if calling a puppy) "Heeeeere, Orc-y, Orc-y, Orc-y."
"How 'bout some of this?"
"I like this one."
"I'm so clever. And handsome."
"It'll hurt A LOT."
"Like catnip, but for Orcs!"
"Lookin' good!"
"Measure twice, cut once."
"Ohhhh, shiny."
"Oh, here's a good one!"
"Orc. The other, other white meat."
(singsong) "Picnic time!"
"Right there! That's the spot!"
"Some new decorations!"
"Something for your face!"
"Sometimes I almost feel bad for the Orcs... 'cept, not really."
"Step right this way, mister Orc."
"That's gonna leave a mark."
"The last thing you'll ever see."
"They'll never notice this!"
"They'll never see it coming!"
"They'll never see this coming!"
"They'll like this one."
"This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you... No, wait! Other way around!"
"This just doesn't seem fair!"
"This should shut their traps. Get it? Traps."
"This will be GOOOOOD."
"This will take a few toes!"
"This won't hurt I bit."
"Traps are just so cool!"
"Try this one for size!"
"Voilà!"
"Warning: May cause death!"

"Another sweet skull!"
"Cool! This used to be an Orc's head!"
"Dibs on the skull!"
"Hey, look, a skull!"
"I got it first!"
"This one's for me!"
(singsong) "Trophy time!"

"Aw, look who has no arms!"
"Aba-ba-ba"
(singsong) "Bye-bye, evil guys!"
(mockingly) "Ew, gross!"
(grossed out) "Eerk".
"I got you! Right in the... place... with the... thing!"
"In your face!"
"In the FACE!"
"Is that a liver?"
"Oh, really? YEAH, REALLY!"
"OH, SNAP!!"
"Oh yeah! I'm a tower of power!"
"Ohhhh-- brutal!"
"Ohhhhh!! Nice!"
"Orcs get hit by traps, Orcs die. Can't explain that!"
"Orcs-- More like 'dORCs'! Hah!"
"Rest in pieces!"
"Sometimes I amaze myself."
"Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick!"
"Urgh, I think I'm gonna barf..."
"Unstoppable!"
"You have the right to remain silent!... And dead...

"It's more fun when you kill all of them at once."
"Killstreak!"
"Now how many was that? Hah! Who cares!"
"One... two... five... Kinda, I lost count again."
"Welcome to 'Killstreak City'. Population: those guys!"
"Wow! That's a lot of death!"
"Whoa! This has to be some sort of record!"
"Yes! Killstreak!"

"A little dash of that trap, a little puncture of that trap..."
"Check out THAT combo!"
(singsong) "Combo!"
"Combo! I'm a Orc killing genius!"
"Funnier when multiple traps get them."
"Now that's killing with style!"
"Sweet! Another combo!"
"That one should be extra dead!"
"That was AWESOME!"
(celebrating) "Whoo-hooo!"

"All aboard!"
"All aboard the pain train!"
"Here's a tip: stay out of the tracks and that won't happen."
"Mine cart coming through!"
"Tickets, please!"

"Bye-bye!"
"If you flap your arms really fast you might make it!"
"It's like a flock of Orcs, except they can't fly."

(singsong) "Acid burn!"
"Acid trip! Get it? Acid... trip."
"Ohhh, sizzily!"
"Right into the drink!"

"Everyone loves an old fashioned log roll!"
(singsong) "Keep those logs rolling! He-he."
"That's the way the log tumbles!"

"Dibs on the Orcs!"
(singsong) "Food fight!"
"Heads are gonna roll!"
"Hey, look! Room service!"
"It's about to get awkward...ly fun that."
"It's my happening and it's gonna freak you out!"
"Keep it coming!" (two different tones)
"Killing season."
"Let's go!"
"None shall pass!"
"Oh, it's about to get REAL!"
"Party starting, and you're all invited!"
(singsong) "Ready for more!"
"Stabbin' time!"
"THESE. ORCS. MUST. DIE!"
"Time to dance!"
"Time to go to work!" (two different tones)
(singsong) "Treat time." (two different tones)
"Whenever you guys are ready!"

"And boom goes the dynamite!"
"Aaaand break!"
"Baked and stirred!... Also stabbed."
"BEST. JOB. EVER!"
"Best War Mage, ever!"
"Break time!"
"Done and done."
"Hahahaha!!"
"How you like me now?!"
"I could do this all day!"
"I kind of rule."
"I love this job!"
"Is that all you've got?"
"It's like making... Orc salsa!"
"Let's do it again!"
"Let's take a moment to reflect on my mistakes there... Hah, who am I kidding, I didn't make any!"
"Nice!"
"That one was for you, old man!"
"That... Was fun!"
"Thaaat's a break."
"That's right!"
"That's how it's done!"
"Time break!"
"Oh, yeah! I'm awesome!"
"Planning time. Uh, if planning was something I did."
"Potty break!"
"Soooo, that just happened."
"Sweet!"
"Wait, is that it?"
"Whoa, is that it?"
"Whoo!"
"Winning!"
"Yeah!"
"Yes!"
(singsong) "Yeeees!"

"GAH! Should've... ducked..."
"G'OH! What was I thinking?!"
"I hope no one saw that...!"
"Nothing to see here... move along..."
"Oh, this is embarrassing!"
"OOO-- Bad! Bad..."
"OOO-- Bad! Very bad!"
"Ow! Why me?!"
"OW! That hurts!"
"OW-OW-OW-OW-OW!"
"THAT... STINGS!"