The Ultimate Challenge

I finally managed all the Ultimate modes that are currently in the game. Did most of them with a team of three, usually Greatest Legacy and Super Scientific Tachyon with one other... I know, I know, that is the cheap way, but damn it Ultimate mode is hard.

Some of them were harder than I was expecting, soe of them easier. The Matriach especially was a lot easier than I was epecting, but I think I might have just got aa lucky run to be honest.

Iron Legacy, The Dreamer and Miss Information were all tricky, but I find them tricky normally, so there was no suprise there.

Ambuscade was the real shocker, Challenge mode is a big step up for him, and really opened my eyes to the danger I would be facing.

How about you guys, what are your experiences with Ultimate modes?

I haven't even gotten through all the Challenges yet! D: Still have to beat Kaargra, Matriarch, Miss Info, Cosmotron and Wager Master. :(

Cosmic Omnitron, Ambuscade and Spite/Gloom team were the hardest to beat for me. Heroic infinitor was hard as well but I still managed to win with 1 hero standing. Edit: I think the only three hero team I used was against Miss Information and that one was pretty close too.

I've been doing a run with Legacy, Parse, Hunted Naturalist, Chrono-Ranger, and KNYFE.  I got really lucky with Ambuscade and never hit a trap.  Cosmic Omnitron took a few tries, but this team is capable of doing 100+ damage in two rounds, which is enough to kill him off before everybody becomes dead.  Spite/Gloom wasn't too hard - once the team is set up taking Gloomy from 100 to 0 was easy.

I'm currently stuck on the Ennead.  Advanced and Challenge seperately are both pretty tough, and together they are ridiculous.  And it doesn't help that my team is really targeted towards taking down one huge enemy, rather than several smaller ones.  

For Miss Information and The Dreamer, I may use a subset of the whole team, because they are absolutely brutal against five hero teams.  But we'll see.  First I have to get past the Ennead.

The Ennead were another where I was suprised how easy I found them. I think that the enviroment might have done some of the work though, and the ever wonderful hypersonic assault or two :P

I thought it was cheap using Legacy and SST or TLT, and KNYFE (for the ones where there's a time limit and ALL THE DAMAGE is need.) But Ultimate mode is NOT supposed to be balanced. 

I don't feel bad not doing random, or choosing two of the best heroes. Try Ultimate Cosmic Omnitron with Visionary, Parse, Freedom Six Unity, Freedom Six Tempest, and Generic Bunker.

It's not easy at all. I don't believe "cheap" exists when it comes to Ultimate mode. 

I took out Spite/Gloom with a random team, PWAA on healing, Chrono Ranger debuffing, Wraith, Tempest and PWFanatic.

A turn 1 Shielding Winds really helped.

Spite got all 5 drugs pretty much immediately, and died without flipping. 

Gloomy wasn't much worse, as I was extremely well set up when he came out (also, apparently he keeps the bounties on Spite).  he only lasted a handful of turns once he fipped.

I’m working my way through all of them. So far I’ve managed all 4 base villains, Kaargra, Matriarch, Chairman, Progeny, Spite, The Gloom Team, Kismet, Chokepoint, the Vengeful 5 (all together, even!), Plague Rat, the Ennead, Akash’Bhuta, and Deadline.

I got screenshots of the victory screen for most of them; I didn’t get the Ennead or Matriarch, because I accidentally hit the menu button instead.

Oh, and Apostate.

I had a ton of trouble with him, but not because of Ultimate mode.  I was using a setup heavy team, and kept getting the Orb (redirect Relic Damage to this relic, 12 HP) and Runes of Malediction (all Relics get DR 2).  As my max damage output at the time was 1, this was an incredibly unfair start. (Zero, Bunker, and TLT)

Guise and PW Haka helped me a lot for that one. Get them all week enough, then Savage Mana everything.

Savage Mana is incredible for so many of the strategies I used to bet the Ultimate Modes I have attempted.

Oh, that was tempting, but I really wanted to take them out with the team I had.

I've been going through all the Ultimates (besides Spite and Miss Information) as well. So far The Ennead keep giving me trouble. But I am also using random heroes only. Osiris keeps being one of the first villains out as well, meaning my hand becomes very empty.

If you aren’t doing Random, then I find Ra to be quite effective. Even though they have no ongoings, Drawn to the Flame (along with buffs; gotta bring Legacy!) Does solid damage.

I think I may have also used Fixer and Sky-Scraper, for that delicious cheese.

The last member (of the DK Crew) was TLT, of course. Hypersonic Assault is awesome.

I won the same round they flipped.

I'm starting to work my way through the Ultimate mode for all the villains and I'm wondering what environment most people use for runs like this.

I tend to go fo The Block (as inmates & guards often target eachother) or Final Wasteland (as more targets are rarely the problem).

I've used Freedom Tower and MDP for some of them.  Though that happens typically after multiple losses otherwise I choose randomly.

I use Temple of Zhu Long. There are very few cards that hurt heroes and a lot that help heroes.

The only ones I haven't done are "The Ennead", "Akash'bhuta", and "Agent of Gloom: Spite"

Any recommendations to beat them?

I took out AoG Spite with Chrono Ranger, Legacy, TLT and I think Parse.  Don't recall where, but the environment was barely a factor.

Chrono Ranger used the Neuro Toxin gun to neuter Spite's damage, while Legacy kept everyone healed with Motovational Charge.  I never flipped him, just broke him.

As all bounties on Spite go on Gloomy, and I was fully set up, Skinwalker Gloomweaver didn't stand a chance. Parse kept anything too bad from coming out.

I did my entire run with Legacy, Parse, Hunted Naturalist, ChronoRanger, and KNYFE for maximum damage and a little bit of deck control. They worked like a charm against Akash and Spite, but I struggled against the Ennead.

I did this and ROCKED it. I only got the Neuro Toxin gun when he was almost already dead. 

I used Next Evolution and Lead from the front a lot too. Those two cards with Hunter and Hunted made Chrono a super-star!

Thanks Blackfang! Now for Ennead, and Akash'bhuta. 

Akash is pretty easy in Freedom Tower as there are ZERO environment targets.

Really? I tend to avoid Zhu Long's temple because I always end up with the Assasins on top of my decks which I find very annoying.

Oh wait… I'm not supposed to kill them, am I?

Wait… Hold up…

feels dumb

In all reality though, Insula Primalis is always my go-to environment, because I know it really well, and it doesn't give me much trouble. Kill the pterodactyls, avoid the plants, and you're pretty much good.

Wait, what?  That doesn't make any sense.  Was it ever stated it's supposed to work that way?  Otherwise, that sounds like a bug.

Yes, this was confirmed during beta testing.  Any bounties on Spite go immediately onto Gloomweaver upon defeating Spite.  The idea is that Gloomweaver is taking over Spite's body so any cards attached to Spite are attached immediately to Gloomweaver.  

That might be "the idea," but nothing in the way the mode is written suggests that, and I don't see an official clarification on the matter.

And extending that logic, if AoG Spite were removed from the game by Unforgiving Wasteland, the whole fight should be over, but it doesn't work that way.

I'll check out Final Wasteland in regards to this but what Blackfang109 described with the bounties is intended behavior.  

Actually looking at the updated video game text again even being removed from the game wouldn't stop Skinwalker Gloomweaver. 

This is the text

>

After Spite is defeated, he is immediately replaced by Skinwalker Gloomweaver without altering the environment or any of the heroes or hero cards. Heroes do not regain HP or draw cards between games.  The game resumes at the Start of Gloomweaver's turn

So removed or not that is still a defeat of Spite and brings on Skinwalker Gloomweaver.  

Ah, I wasn't aware the text had been altered.  The "replaced by" definitely changes things.

It also suggests, however, that you don't do Skinwalker's setup.  The old text said "immediately set up and play a game against the villain Skinwalker GloomWeaver".  Does he get his Pouch of Bones to start off with?  Frankly, with this wording, it's ambigious what you do with the villain deck at all.

At least in the video game his setup still occurs which is just getting his Pouch of Bones.   

The weird part is you immediately move to Skinweaver's turn, so you want to try and finish Spite off with your last hero.

Yeah, that threw me off, because I was poised to lay a beat down on him.

Which I still did.

On the positive side, you'd skip the Environment's turn, which can be unpredictable and tricky.

Probably the best thing to do there is to have someone like Nightmist or Legacy lock down the villain deck beforehand.

Speaking of lockdowns, if your having trouble with the Ennead, you can use Legacy, Visionary, and Omnitron X in a safe environment to completely lock them down.

I don't recall having much difficulty with the Ennead.  I think I got lucky with getting Damage Reduction out early.

This can be done with a lot of villains.  

Yes, but none as completely as the Ennead.

Anyone got some advice they could share on beating Ultimate Cosmitron? It's giving my heroes a massive beat-down every time so far.  

Sentinels, Grandpa Legacy, Team Leader Tachyon, Visionary, Wraith. Have Wraith Throat Jab Vis. Put Wrest the Mind on the EPE, watch Omni kill itself on the start of its second turn. Sentinels there for more targets. Tachyon and Grandpa to help draw the needed cards.

Thanks Pydro, that did it.  I had remembered that there was some trick with Wrest the Mind and the EPE, but I didn't have all of the pieces. I almost blew it by having Legacy play Heroic Interception (which blocked the EPE outright and didn't give me the option to redirect the damage), but I was able to survive the round (thanks to that HI) and then pull of the win on Omni's third turn. 

Heh.  I just brute forced it with the high damage team I mentioned above.  Damage racing with Cosmitron took me far too many tries, but all you need to do is 100 points of damage in 2 rounds and get slightly lucky with Omnitron's plays, and it's definately doable.

I've read the comments above, and several people noted that three-hero teams make the Ultimate challenges easier.   This seems unintuitive to me.  Certainly, some villains have detrimental effects that get worse with more heroes/higher H value.  But in general, don't more heroes give you more options?  

What exactly would this lockdown consist of? I presume it would have Legacy with his tank setup, but what would the others have to offer?

Visionary puts Take Down from Legacy's trash on top of Legacy's deck, Omnitron-X plays it off the top of his deck.

The statistics don't bear that out.  I'm flipping through the stats for each Ultimate villain, and I'm not seeing any that are easier with fewer heroes, except for The Dreamer, for whom that's true on every difficulty level.

Normally Miss Information is easier with fewer heroes because you don’t have to suffer as long before she flips. But with her Clue chaining in challenge mode she flips pretty no matter how many heroes you have.

Dreamer also is easier with fewer heroes, because her flipside damage output increases with H squared. But I used Legacy to tank all psychic damage, so that too is a non-issue.