Trial Mode Tips
What Can You Try Differently?
Start waves early. From what I’ve seen, spawns seem to be randomized (sometimes they come in clumps, sometimes spread out). If you know when there may be a gap with few monsters, spawn the next wave for some extra mana.
Combine/move gems around. Some may want to keep a gem in the back to clean up stragglers, but in reality this is wasted dps when there is nothing for it to shoot at. Move gems around to where they will have targets, and if towers are scarce, combine gems into a bigger gem and move that around, based on the spacing between clumps of monsters.
Look at your gems. They don’t all share the same base stats. Does heavily relying on effects help get you further? Does combining those with the most damage output give you a gem than can hold out against the waves? (If you can’t create more gems, ‘D’uplicate existing ones – MihaP)
Look at the monsters’ stats. Are they too much because of numbers (swarmlings), armor, or raw health? Do your two gems take 2.5 shots on average to kill each one? Does combining them make it take 1.1 shots on average instead(don’t forget higher grades also shoot faster).
Look at the environment. Are there better terrain features you can take advantage of, that gives your gems more coverage(and thus time) to shoot? Are there beacons that are buffing the enemy, or shrines you could use at a better time? Is there some structure that the devs might have forced you to take advantage of for this map?
Don’t be afraid to restart the level early. Sometimes 4 get through the third wave, and sometimes you get to the 8th wave with no problem. The biggest threat of monsters getting through, is actually slowing your progress and holding you back for the harder waves. Restart right away if it’s clear you’re going to be significantly set back in this try.
Finally, keep experimenting. I honestly doubt there is a strategy that works 100% of the time on every single map. Keep experimenting, and look at what approaches get you further, more often – and keep trying to refine them.
Spoilers
I will separate spoilers, so you will only see the next step, but not the entire solution.
- T4 – Skip 6 waves, then use the mana to build a tower.Put the tower in a good spot leading to the orb, and pray the reavers spawn evenly. At the end, leave one normal monster(not frozen) alive to run around, while you build a second tower to destroy the Wizard Stash. If you leave a giant, it is slow and gives you time, and can be killed using a gem bomb after the stash is opened.Credit: Kava
- U3 – Put 2 towers and 3 amps near the southern mana pool. Leave one enemy alive to open the Wizard Stash. Credit: Dumbo
- Y1 – The gem controlled by the Spirit Forge will start spawning in swarmlings if you take too long. The Spirit Forge gem won’t spawn swarmlings after the last wave stone has passed. -Belzeberto. I was able to beat it using 3 poison traps staggered throughout the path, and calling waves as fast as I could without losing.
- Z4 – The bolt spell makes lantern damage ignore armor.I just made one strong dual gem, put it in the lantern closest to the orb, and kept using freeze/bolt to kill as many as possible. (A few got through but I could make up the mana). At the end with one giant left, I put it in the tower to open up the Wizard Stash.
