Changes

===Chrome Enemies===

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"

|

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> Chaos One enemies have hefty defenses against projectile attacks, so unless you have Piercing MODs on your Relics, try using AOE based attacks such as auras, traps, and nodes. Barricades on each lane are highly recommended while your AOE defenses whittle down their HP.

</div>

</div>

|}

===Griblok's Horde===

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> Chaos One enemies have hefty defenses against projectile attacks, so unless you have Piercing MODs on your Relics, try using AOE based attacks such as auras, traps, and nodes. These work especially well on the Horde lane as enemies are packed so closely together. Keep in mind that the Horde lane moves, so don't overbuild on only one lane. Barricades on each lane are highly recommended while your AOE defenses whittle down their HP, but place them back as far as you can.

</div>

===Wyvern Enthusiast===

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"

|

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

</div>

|}

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> The key to this map is to counter Cyborks in each lane and being ready for the minibosses that spawn on Waves 2-5. Cyborks will target auras, nodes, and traps but do not target towers. The more range your towers have, the better. The air lanes have slightly increased numbers and only a single random enemy type as compared to the Expedition version of this map.

</div>

===Kobold Bling King===

</div>

===Spectral Assault===

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"

|

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">Chaos Four enemies have hefty defenses against attacks that cause slow, so be sure to adjust your layout to account for the [[Berserker_Orc|Berserker Orcs]] that will rush out from the ground lanes. They can be stunned, frozen, and launched into the air though, so those are good tactics to stall them. Well placed barricades will also help to keep them from the crystal.

Once each wave begins, at some point during the wave a Spectral Knight will spawn from any of the ground lanes. Spectral Knights are large, floating [[Squire]]-like transparent ghosts that cannot be damaged by any weapons or stopped by any defense or barricade. They slowly move on the enemy path they spawn from directly towards the crystal, and do not stop until they get there. Once there, they attack the crystal doing 500 points of damage a second, which is a relatively small amount. They do not harm any defenses or heroes. Each Knight is either colored Red, Green or Purple, and when they spawn the game message will tell you what color they are in text, and the message text itself will also be in that same color as well. The Knights are not shown on the mini-map, but are represented on the actual map by a skull and crossbones icon of the same color that they are. Keep this in mind as you cannot tell by looking at the minimap how close they are to the crystal.

To cleanse the Knights from the stage, you must use an environmental mechanism found on only this incursion. Under the center of the map, there is a lower level in the shape of a horseshoe that exits out at each of the 3 major spawn sections. On either side of each exit inside the lower level, you will find an altar with a sword, with 4 total altars. You can interact with the altar, which will cause it to change color from red, to green, and then purple - always in that sequence, and only one color change per an interaction. To cleanse a knight, you must set all four altars to the same color as the knight you want to cleanse. Once all 4 are the same color, approach any of the 4 altars to receive a color debuff, as shown on the screen as an attack symbol in the color of the altar, and it will last 45 seconds. You should get it automatically when you set the 4th altar, but you can reset the 45 sec timer at any time by just approaching any of the 4 altars, as long as they are all still the same color. Each knight floats in the air, but has an aura underneath it shown as a large colored circle. To cleanse the Knight, simply place your hero inside of that circle, or jump into the Knight, while you have a debuff that matches the same color. If successful, the Knight will vanish and a message will say "The Spectral Knight has been cleansed". You will lose the debuff once a Knight is cleansed, so if you have another Knight of the same color you also want to also cleanse, you will need to approach one of the 4 altars again to get the debuff, and then approach that Knight. You can only carry one color debuff at a time, so if another Knight of a different color is also on the map, you must set all 4 altars to that color, get the debuff, and go inside its aura to cleanse it. You will lose your current debuff if you switch heroes or die after acquiring it.

</div>

|}

===The Demon's Lair===

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">Chaos Four enemies have hefty defenses against attacks that cause slow, so be sure to adjust your layout to account for the [[Berserker_Orc|Berserker Orcs]] that will rush out from the ground lanes. They can be stunned, frozen, and launched into the air though, so those are good tactics to stall them. Well placed barricades will also help to keep them from the crystal. Remember that you do not need to defeat any enemies on this map apart from the Demon Lord, so plan accordingly.

This is a stage fight against the boss - Demon Lord. Each wave will spawn infinite enemies until a third of his health has been taken away, on each wave. At the start of a wave, you cannot attack the Demon Lord, but he will attack you. He will ignite you, causing fire damage over time, and this attack hits all heroes and is unavoidable. The Demon Lord will also repeatedly throw lava balls at or near each hero, and do splash damage when they hit. This attack will hurt your towers and the crystal, so be mindful of where you are standing, and be prepared to dodge. The lava balls he throws at you can also snap you out of a jump animation, and can cause you to fall to your death if you are over a lava pool when you are hit by one. Gnash the Flame Lance (large [[Berserker Orc]] miniboss) will often spawn at the beginning of any wave.

In order to damage the Demon Lord, you must first stun him. Once each wave begins, at some point during the wave a Lava Guardian will spawn from any of the ground lanes at random. A white exclamation mark will be shown above the area he will spawn from, but will vanish once he actually spawns, and no icon showing their location will exist after that. These units will spawn repeatedly over time, but are spaced out in frequency. Upon defeating a Lava Guardian, it will drop a lava ball on the ground. This is a Hero debuff that you can acquire by having your hero touch it. Once you touch a lava ball, it will vanish and you will see a lava ball debuff icon on your screen, and the hero will have a red glow to them. There is no timer on this debuff, and you can only carry one lava ball debuff at a time. More than one lava ball can be on the ground at one time. If you swap heroes once you have the debuff or die, you will lose it and need to get another lava ball. The lava balls the Demon Lord throws do not end up as debuffs on the ground in any way.

Once you have the debuff, return to the area where your hero spawned when the map started and where you spawn when your hero dies. In that room, there is a hallway on the side that leads up some stairs to a long rampart that oversees most of the map. On that rampart you will see a catapult. If you approach the catapult while you have the lava ball debuff, the debuff will be removed from you and a lava ball will then become loaded onto the catapult for use. When the catapult is loaded with the lava ball and the debuff is removed, all other existing lava balls on the map or held by other heroes are also removed at that time. Before you use the loaded catapult, jump onto it. You cannot stand on the actual lava ball, but you can stand on the catapult where the ball is, and the graphics will just overlap. You can then activate the catapult, which will also launch you with it.

</div>

===Altar of the Athame===

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> Chaos Five enemies see the return of Cyborks once again and then the addition of Dark Assassins. Be sure the defenses you select can combat both of these units. Dark Assassins can be instantly removed by Huntress Geyser Traps and Mystic Viper Fangs. They are also susceptible to stun attacks, so after they latch on, just stand in front of or near any defense that stuns to remove them. Having a high hero HP value is also advantageous to surviving their attacks. Normal minibosses will spawn in lanes with the [[Goblin Siege Roller]] and Skarnash the Terrible (large version of a Dark Assassin) being the most common ones.

In the West center of the map there is a raised rectangular area with a coffin in the middle of it surrounded by 4 pillars. This is the Altar and the pillars are each hiding a Dark Realm Statue miniboss. The Altar will be motionless and does not do anything at first. You must summon a Dark Realm Statue miniboss by collecting 4 Ritual Items (purple books) dropped by defeating Dark Prophets. After a Dark Realm Statue miniboss has been summoned and defeated, the the Altar Assassins can then be damaged. You must defeat all of the Altar Assassins on the map to end that wave, and enemies will spawn infinitely until then.

On Wave 1, 3 Altar Assassins will spawn. On Wave 2, 4 Altar Assassins will spawn. On Wave 3, 6 Altar Assassins will spawn. On Wave 4, 8 Altar Assassins will spawn.

Once you have a Ritual Item debuff, give it to the altar by touching the coffin anywhere with your hero. The Ritual Item debuff has no timer, but if you switch heroes or die, it will be lost. You can only hold one Ritual Item debuff at a time. You must collect and bring 4 Ritual Items to the altar to activate the summoning Ritual. There is no time limit for getting all 4 Ritual Items, and they will remain there until all four are collected. The altar will display a message after each Ritual Item is given successfully, and you can also see them placed on each corner of the coffin as you progress. The game will announce when the Ritual can be used to summon the Dark Realm Statue ("Dark Realm Ritual is Ready"), which will be immediately after the 4th Ritual Item is placed. Once the 4th Ritual Item is placed, all other Ritual Items currently on the map or in the possession of a hero will disappear, although more may spawn after this event as Dark Prophets continue to spawn. To activate the Ritual, you must interact with the coffin. When you do this, you will call forward a single Dark Realm Statue miniboss that is located in place of one of the 4 pillars, with the Northeast, Northwest, Southwest, and Southeast pillars always activating in that order, with only one being summoned on each of the 4 waves. The Dark Realm Statue does not move from its location, but will attack you. The ritual only lasts 10 seconds. When the ritual is activated, the entire altar area is covered in a purple glow. If the Dark Realm Statue is not defeated during the ritual, it will vanish and any heroes inside the altar area will be killed instantly, no matter your defense or health level. You will then need to collect 4 more Ritual Items to summon it once again. If you summon it again, the Dark Realm Statue will have the same remaining health as when it disappeared.

</div>

===Power Surge===

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"

|

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> Chaos Five enemies see the return of Cyborks once again and then the addition of Dark Assassins. Be sure the defenses you select can combat both of these units. Dark Assassins can be instantly removed by Huntress Geyser Traps and Mystic Viper Fangs. They are also susceptible to stun attacks, so after they latch on, just stand in front of or near any defense that stuns to remove them. Having a high hero HP value is also advantageous to surviving their attacks.

The timer defenses disappears by starts from when the defense is placed, no matter what phase it is, so it is recommend to ready-up the stage as quickly as you can on each build phase. If you sell a defense before it disappears, you get the mana back. If the defense disappears due to the timer, you will not get any mana from it. You can still upgrade defenses if you choose to, but the mana may be better saved to build more towers with instead. The increased power and speed make it so that upgrading is not really necessary.

Dryad Trees do not ever disappear, so that all Dryad defenses can be used. This is the only defense that does not disappear. You can spam this blockade and build many of them in every lane as a way to block enemies. Abyss Lord defenses still have a 4 second lag from placement until activation, so these defenses may not be a good choice for this incursion. EV2 Reflect Beams fire constantly at a fixed rate, no matter what size the beam is, and the node only travels along the bottom of the beam. So if you use EV2, you don't have to worry about what size you make your nodes. Don't forget to defend the air lanes as well.

</div>

|}

===Malthius Incursion===

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

===Return of Maldonis===

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> Chaos six enemies add Hex Throwers to schedules. These units have very long range and target towers and barricades. It is best to try and kill them with traps, nodes, and auras before they get in range of anything they target. If you need to protect a defense against them, the best way is to use EV2's Reflect beam. Set one up in front of the defense you want to protect, with about one hero length away from it as the spears they throw penetrate the shield slightly and will hit your defense if it is placed too close. Dark Assassins also spawn, so be prepared to remove those as necessary.

What makes this incursion unique are the Death Marks that Maldonis summons throughout each wave, placed randomly on the map. Maldonis will do an animation, and then somewhere on the map, a small green area on the ground will light up, and that small area will then be a Death Mark for the rest of that wave. Death Marks cause hero damage over time when you stand upon them, similar to how poison or fire might damage you. They do not damage defenses or cores. The damage will cease as soon as you step outside of the mark area. The mark only does damage if you are standing on the ground, and does not affect those who are standing on elevated objects within the mark or those in the air above one. Maldonis continues to summon marks as long as play continues on each wave, and the frequency of the summons increases on each wave. On Wave 1 you may see 6 or more marks, and by Wave 5 you can see 18 or more. Marks can overlap, and do only minor damage. When marks are summoned, they are not visible on the minimap, but a white skull and crossbones icon will show on the screen for each one, as long it exists. All current marks on the map vanish at the end of each wave. On Wave 5, Maldonis summons a huge amount of Marks all at once, right before he descends as a miniboss, and no more Marks will spawn after that.

A stage mechanic has been added to this incursion so that you can remove Death Marks. In the Southeast part of the map, the Subcore is called the Holy Artifact. Touching the Subcore with your hero will gain you a sparkling golden glow debuff around your hero, known as the Holy Aura. The debuff will last 45 seconds, but no icon will show it on the screen apart from the cosmetic. To vanquish a Death Mark, have your hero walk anywhere on the ground inside a Death Mark while you have the Holy Aura, and it will then instantly disappear. You cannot do this from the air or on an elevated surface. You will not lose the debuff when you vanquish a mark, so you can eliminate as many Death Marks as you can touch in the 45 second time frame. If you swap heroes while you have the debuff or die, you will lose it. To get the debuff again, touch the Holy Artifact for another 45 second debuff. There is no requirement to remove any marks apart from the fact that it will make playing the stage easier.

</div>

===Bastille Master===

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> Chaos seven enemies add [[Kobolts]] to schedules. These are flying units that spawn from ground lanes and follow those paths. They target towers, and will fly quickly forward once attacked, and explode on impact disabling everything in the explosion area for almost a half minute. It is recommended not to build any towers near spawn points. You can build a Weapon Manufacturer near the spawn point, as the Kobolt will dive to attack it, but will not disable it. Auras work very well to damage them as they are nor targeted or disabled. You can also put up high health towers or barricades between the spawn point and your towers to protect them. Mystic Obelisks work very well for this task.

What makes this incursion unique is that you are given a pool of 4 lives that all heroes on the map share. A Life Counter is shown in the center of the screen at all times so that you know how many lives you have left. If any hero dies during combat phase, that number will be reduced by one, for each death. Deaths on build phase or after the map is complete do not subtract from this total. If the last hero on the map dies during combat and the life counter is set to zero, you will fail the incursion. You begin Wave 1 with only 1500 Defense Units, whereas on Expedition you start with 2400. All normal minibosses may spawn. 1 will spawn on Wave 2, 2 on Waves 3 and 4, and 3 will spawn on Wave 5. The minibosses on Waves 2-4 all come from the Southeast and Southwest spawn points, and then on Wave 5 those two locations spawn again as well as the North spawn point will also spawn an additional normal miniboss along with the Bastille Master. No minibosses will come from the Central Southeast and Central Southwest spawn points. When you begin Wave 1 you will have infinite building time. However, once you begin combat phase on Wave 1, a timer begins with 1300 seconds (a little over 21 min) on it. This timer continuously counts down from that point forward, and includes all of the following build and combat phases until the stage is over. This stage only has 1 crystal to defend in the center of the map, close to where you spawn, as opposed to the expedition version that has 4 crystals.

</div>

===Revenge of the Yeti===

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> This stage has the same number of ground and air lanes, however the ground enemy schedules are all completely new. Air lanes are still the same, and have no new enemy types. Five new enemy units have been added and one new miniboss. All new enemy additions are frost based and can cause heroes and defenses to be chilled if their attacks connect (or are within the Frost Orc's aura). Chilled status causes attack speed to drop, and can stack all the way to zero speed, at which point your Hero will become Frozen, and can be killed by the next attack. Frost units are all immune to slow and freeze effects, as well as bubble and petrify attacks. Frost enemies will not target auras and traps, but anything inside the frost aura will be hit. Frost enemies will take double damage from any flame element attacks.

</div>

===Dark Awakening===

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> Chaos seven enemies add [[Kobolts]] to schedules. These are flying units that spawn from ground lanes and follow those paths. They target towers, and will fly quickly forward once attacked, and explode on impact disabling everything in the explosion area for almost a half minute. It is recommended not to build any towers near spawn points. You can build a Weapon Manufacturer near the spawn point, as the Kobolt will dive to attack it, but will not disable it. Auras work very well to damage them as they are nor targeted or disabled. You can also put up high health towers or barricades between the spawn point and your towers to protect them. Mystic Obelisks work very well for this task.

A new miniboss has been added - Capt. Dreadbones. He charges forward quickly once he spawns. All normal minibosses can spawn on this map, which can include Capt. Dreadbones as well. One miniboss will spawn from the Southeast corner on Waves 2 and 3, and then in addition another will spawn on Wave 4 from the central Southwest point (2 total), and on Wave 5 a third will spawn from the top drawbridge in the Southwest as well (3 total).

</div>