Okay so here's an update... I've pretty much completed every map with 10 runes except for these maps:


Gridlock (9 runes, missing purity rune)
Excavation (9 runes, missing purity rune)
Goldrush (9 runes, missing purity rune)
Mountain (8 runes, missing purity & trinity runes)

I've tried several ways to do these with 10, and I just can't get past the 9 runes... The starting gold is too little and the maps are rather unfriendly in terms of layout.

I'd be interested to know if anyone's managed to 10-rune any of these maps... Excavation and the Mountain are SUPER tough with some really unfair waves, and the purist rune makes it VERY hard to do...

I'm level 82 right now tho... maybe with a lot more levels one could add a lot of starting gold? I don't know... probably a good 100 or more levels worth of starting coins would make the difference, but it would take waaay too much grind time to test it out =P

Also, about levels... I was something like level 62-63 when I 10-runed the Casino... I got 6M+ xp and I jumped something like 11 levels in a row (went to 74)... that was pretty funny =P

Look for posts from dholland in these forums. I know he has screenies of most maps that he did. He was also lvl 150ish when he did them.

Yeah I saw them but most of his post seem to be about 9 runes... =/

Sorry, I can't contribute further, except to say that I made XP level 201 and still can't 9 rune The Mountain, although I made it to wave 7 one time. I really thought the last level was impossible with 10 runes since there are fliers and a boss that you can't kill with +vine except with special pit attacks (or if you can somehow get him into a pit), and an open layout which makes it impossible to hold the huge numbers of enemies without barricades. For these reasons, I thought that you needed more than the 3 traps with +trinity, so I didn't go beyond 9 runes (-trinity). I can't see what traps you used in your screenshot, or anything about your layout, so I still consider it impossible, at least for me!

But I have RSI so my runs are based on strategy without being able to click very fast. Sorry I can't be of more help, but I haven't 10 runed the levels you mention (and several others).

Oh ok thanks... Honestly I gave up trying, because getting to level 200 sounds like too much grinding (I stopped at 84 or something) just to try with more starting money (it should however work, in theory).

As for my strat for beating it with 10 runes, it's actually fairly simple, and basically the same I used for every level:

You need tier 3 Blackholes. That's the important trap. As for the rest I used T3 grinders usually, or sometimes the hex trap... and barricades in most maps (where they're needed, but they help).

Obviously you will want to get the barricades and grinders to level 50 because of the discounted prices, the blackholes aren't that expensive, so you can just take them to T3 (T4 is not needed or recommended actually) unless you want them cheaper too... the rest goes to the starting money upgrades.

So what you do is use a setup of 3 tier 3 blackhole traps right away to start holding the minions in place (you build 3 next to each other, starting by the last one, and then going backwards... you'll need to wait around 2 seconds in between placing the next one, and build them in "pause mode" straight away to tier 3, NOT 2 or 4... it only works with 3 because of timing). You'll want to setup your BH traps next to a pit when possible.

The trick is building the T3 BH traps with the right timing so they keep getting stuck in there for as long as possible... It's a waiting game and taking advantage of pits to deal with the overflow (if you got money, you should crush the overlfow with barricades from time to time to avoid more leaks). You gotta synhc them correctly though.

Then you'll want to use T3 grinders to deal with any leaks and heavy minions... I found the grinders to be the most effective damage traps because of their constant output (you'll probably need to sell/rebuild them because usually they won't recharge in time).

As I said, it's a waiting game... the goal is to get to the last wave and try to get as many minions in you BH setups, so you can basically crush them all with barricades, once all the minions are out.

For exemple... The last level I had 2 BH setups... one on the edge of one of the pits, so the overflow would keep filling it and I'd have easy and quick lasers... the other one below near the rift, to catch flyiers... Flyiers are supper easy to trap because they're very light (in terms of weight) so they'll NEVER escape the BH setup unless in becomes un-synched (which can happens some times for some unkown reason).


Those levels I couldn't 10-rune, it was mainly because too little money at the begining, and no pits to deal with the overflow and bring coin income (the BH trap doesn't deal damage, you need to kill minions to get more money)... also lot of heavy units that leak through very early, which is an issue with little money, as you can't keep up with the building/selling of T3 grinders, or any other trap for that matter.


Edit: I re-installed the game and recorded a video... I'm uploading it to youtube, then I'll post it here... I think it's just easier if I just show you guys xD

Here it is:

https://youtu.be/-kIxcLQml34

So, 2 things... first: I forgot to change my audio setup, so there's no sound, so no commentary or game audio... oops =P

And secondly, you'll notice that I keep rebuidling the BHx3 setups it was because I wasn't entirely happy with the synch, and at some point I was explaining why you have to find the best spot to build them (neart the sacrificial pit), which is why I moved it at some point, and brought it back to where it was...

Anyways, I hope that you can understand the basic strategy here... This works for all the levels, except the 4 I mentioned above, for the reasons I did. It SHOULD work, with more starting money for heavies and leaks.

Oh last thing I didn't mention... keeping the game in x2 speed helps with the physics of the blackholes, since they keep the minions tighter for some reason, than at x1 speed.

Originally posted by dholland:

But I have RSI so my runs are based on strategy without being able to click very fast. Sorry I can't be of more help, but I haven't 10 runed the levels you mention (and several others).

BTW, as you can see, this strat is basically about using Pause A LOT, so you should be good to go =)

Awesome! I did see a comment about triple BHs before, but I thought it had been patched and didn't work out how to do it properly. I'm so glad you're a genuine gamer! I was about to give up on the game, but it looks like there's more to do. I find it ironic that you don't want to spend the time grinding to higher levels when you have to spend so much time and patience with the 3 BH strategy, but whatever:-D
I tested it out on Abandoned Casino:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=797357717
It worked (I used spinblades because I have pots of cash) although my syncing was terrible, ha ha! I even got more XP, which is now pretty hard for me to do.

On The Mountain, I don't suppose you can work a way to "walk" all the units to the pits with black holes? I might have enough cash to try that, ha ha!

Well I just began playing recently, so I have no idea about previous builds... But I dunno, I tried A LOT of ways of doing 10 runes, and honestly, nothing I tried worked on the more difficult levels (there's one where you can use only hooks, which is easy for exemple).

Damage traps are too slow and too weak when using 10 runes, so you need physics traps, but those take too long to reload as well... so that's how I came up with the strat... trying to slow them down as much as possible =P

As for grinding further... nah, I feel I did everything I could. I'm pretty sure it's doable with more money, because you can obviously place more traps straight away.

And in the casino I just used the black holes and barricades, but a couple of springs can help as well... I got something like 6 million xp when I didi it... pretty crazy xD

As for the mountain... I tried, but it's too hard... you can use the pits for the lateral doors for the light minion waves, but there are too many heavy ones, which is an issue because they go through the BH like water. So you'll need to use a lot of grinders or some other damage trap.

But let me know if you manage to do it with your higher level =)

Well, so far I can only do Abandoned Casino with this method. My sync timing isn't good enough. What's needed is my XP level and your gaming skill :-D. Shame you don't want to try grinding. You could get 10m XP on Aerial Assault easy (7 runes), and surely it's worth trying one time just to see if you can do it? But I know it gets boring past level 100 or so... Okay, well, I will update if I get further, but it looks like I will have to obsessively replay your video about 100 times before I can get it right. Putting the fliers into stasis was pretty amazing.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=797545570 https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=797545831 I finally managed Excavation 10 runes. I tried variants of your method, but eventually went for my own method, using the fact that you're given 12 barricades, so you don't have to have barricade as one of the 3 traps: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=797545994 https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=797546220 https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=797546424
It was a very difficult start, where I used the boulders and remaining barricades against the early brutes. Lots of close calls, and played at XP level 201 with the 3 traps L50, also L50 trap boost and rest in extra cash.
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=797546491
BTW, the Blood rune doesn't show on the final screenshot, but you can tell from the multiplier that it is 10 runes.

I did Excavation with 9 runes at level 50something. I found it easy, don't really get how you guys find it difficult. As you said, you don't need to take the barricade, the 12 you get are plenty.

I used bolt, lightning and that cash bonus one. Use the barricades to create a small maze so that fast units have to keep going around corners (strategy in screenshot in previous post seems a bit stupid to me) and then spam everything full of lightning traps on the floor and bolt traps on the walls. Add one level 4 harvester and done. Honestly I never had to try this map twice, it worked first time.

Originally posted by dholland:

I finally managed Excavation 10 runes. I tried variants of your method, but eventually went for my own method, using the fact that you're given 12 barricades, so you don't have to have barricade as one of the 3 traps:.

Whoa that's nice... And yes, the begining of that map is brutal. I'm gonna try that... I got a bit too complacent with my BH strat, so I'll re-try some other things =P



Good job! Now let's try to beat the others xD

Originally posted by Avyctes:

I did Excavation with 9 runes at level 50something. I found it easy, don't really get how you guys find it difficult. As you said, you don't need to take the barricade, the 12 you get are plenty.

I used bolt, lightning and that cash bonus one. Use the barricades to create a small maze so that fast units have to keep going around corners (strategy in screenshot in previous post seems a bit stupid to me) and then spam everything full of lightning traps on the floor and bolt traps on the walls. Add one level 4 harvester and done. Honestly I never had to try this map twice, it worked first time.

Yeah using 9 runes is not that difficult... the problem is doing it with 10. So his strat might seem "stupid" to you, but he did the 10 runes with it, as opposed to your 9.

Originally posted by Avyctes:

I did Excavation with 9 runes at level 50something. I found it easy, don't really get how you guys find it difficult. As you said, you don't need to take the barricade, the 12 you get are plenty.

I used bolt, lightning and that cash bonus one. Use the barricades to create a small maze so that fast units have to keep going around corners (strategy in screenshot in previous post seems a bit stupid to me) and then spam everything full of lightning traps on the floor and bolt traps on the walls. Add one level 4 harvester and done. Honestly I never had to try this map twice, it worked first time.

Well done for doing 9 runes at a low level. I appreciate you want recognition for your gaming skill, but maybe using insulting terms like "stupid" isn't the best way to get it. I try to show respect for other players and I would appreciate it if you could do that too.

Originally posted by Jacowboy:

Whoa that's nice... And yes, the begining of that map is brutal. I'm gonna try that... I got a bit too complacent with my BH strat, so I'll re-try some other things =P



Good job! Now let's try to beat the others xD

Maybe you could compromise with BH and bolt on Excavation? But you know your strategy best. I've got better at the sync timing and completed a few more levels at 10 runes but I still have 12 to do. I'm not sure how you managed levels like Death Spiral 10 runes where there are 2 different paths which don't intersect, but I'm having fun trying. It's more fun doing 10 runes on the tougher levels because it's always a struggle and there is actually a good chance of failure whatever your XP level!

Well, I'll try to 10 rune everything, but when it comes to Gridlock and Gold Rush... sheesh. And I have yet to climb The Mountain with 9 runes on my back.

For those levels with 2 paths, you do 2 separate BH setups... simple as that =P

Those were fairly easy. One of the hard ones is Race of death because of all the horses.

Oh and I did try excavation in many ways, and I tried with bolts, but I just don't have enough starting money to deal with the inital waves. I tried your setup, but my initial damage output was just lacking.

The purist rune is by far the most punishing =P