Expert Campaign - Missions Briefing - Among the Old Gods achievement (2025)

"(...) I used a deck with some variation that looked like the image below, (...) This won't set any records but gave me a solid starting base to beat every expert map. What is more is that this is a fairly cheap deck
The Key cards that I swapped in included Nightguard, Scythe Fiends, Undead Army, Mark of the Keeper, Mana Wing, Stone of Torment, and a typical shadow start with Forsaken, NG (Nightguard), and Skeleton Warriors for swapping-heavy maps." - Weakl1ngs

List of cards, many of them are starter cards, there is one rare card and 4 uncommon cards.

• Windweavers;
• Werebeasts;
• Surge of Light;
• Hurricane;
• Stranglehold (P);
• Breeding Grounds;
• Amii Phantom;
• Time Vortex (B);
• Curse of Oink;
• Lost Horror (G);
• Shadow Insect;
• Furnance of Flesh;
• Necroblaster (any);
• Thunderstorm;
• Necrofury;
• Giant Wyrm;
• Regrowth;
• Unholy hero;
• Rifle Cultists;
• Offering (G);

Full upgrades are not necessary, though great for core units and spells. If you for some reason do not want to play campaign with your favourite faction, you can use deck listed above as it should be solid enough.

In map descriptions I mention names of units. Some of them have similar names, make sure to identify your enemies correctly.

PvE enemies compedium [to be link later]

• Twilight Slayer - M sized unit exploding on death.
• Twilight Slayers - S sized archers with high DPS.
• Twilight Crawler - M sized large bug with ~800 HP.
• Twilight Crawlers - M sized squad of bugs, with 1600HP total.

Currently described maps 22/26:

• Encounters with Twilight
• Siege of Hope
• Defending Hope
• The Soultree
• The Treasure Fleet
• Mo
• Ocean
• Oracle
• Behind Enemy Lines
• Crusade
• Sunbridge
• Nightmare Shard
• Nightmare's End
• Slave Master
• Convoy
• The Insane God
• King of the Giants
• Titans
• Blight
• Empire
• Passage to Darkness
• Ascension

Changelog:

• 27 XII 2020 - How to access replays, updates on Slave Master, introducing The Insane God and Nightmare Shard
• 28 XII 2020 - Introducing Nightmare's End, changes in replays.
• 29 XII 2020 - Splitting work into separete posts, introducing Ocean.
• 30 XII 2020 - Introducing Oracle, The Treasure Fleet.
• 31 XII 2020 - Introducing Passage to Darkness.
• 4 I 2021 - Introducing Titans.
• 6 I 2021 - More detailed information on replay's patch.
• 8 I 2021 - Introducing Empire.
• 10 I 2021 - Introducing Ascension.
• 12 I 2021 - Introducing Mo.
• 18 I 2021 - Updates on Behind Enemy Lines.
• 22 I 2021 - Updates on Nightmare Shard, Defending Hope.
• 7 III 2021 - minor improvements in style and grammar, some parts rewritten to make them shorter.
• 16 III 2021 - introducing King of the Giants, Blight.
• 15 VI 2022 – rewritten introduction, Encounters with Twilight, Siege of Hope
• 18 VI 2022 - rewritten Defending Hope, Soultree
• 20 VI 2022 - rewritten The Treasure Fleet, Mo

To view replays, download the files from bottom of particular map section, put the file in:
My Computer ---> Documents ---> Battleforge ---> replays
This will allow you to access replays in-game. You don’t have to turn your game off – just leave and enter replays tab to view newly added replays.

You can increase replays speed up to x32 times, to quickly access relevant parts of playthrough.

Sometimes when a new Patch is released, old replays stop working. As some replays may start working in the future, I will leave them as reference, and will attempt to provide newer ones.

Brief

You will face Vilebloods and Whisperers in early tier 2, and will have to fight Abomination to destroy their spawner. You have as much time as you need to destroy outpost on the north, or to build defence strong enough to hold 4 Hulks and Twilight Dragon.

Use melee units against Infested Wrathgazer and destroy Wisps before they reach him.

Playthrough

Encounters with Twilight is a curious map as you are early introduced to combo of Vileblood and Twilight Whisperers. The former is powerful melee warrior who leaves destructive pool of acid on death, while the latter is a healer with blinding area attack – can easily disable clusters of ranged units. After you get access to second tier, wait. If you kill enemies, they will respawn moment later, and you do not have to hurry into the city. After you build a solid army, move in and clear twilight structures one by one. At some point location with enemy spawn will be within reach – beware as it is protected by Twilight Colossus, Devastators and Witches. If you have crowd control, you may be able to destroy the spawner and return later to defeat the enemies, or launch a huge offensive to destroy all thread before your foes respawn.

When the village is safe, you have as much time to prepare as you need. If you have strong defence deck and answer for Twilight Dragon, using the Horn will prevent enemy respawns. If you prefer attack, crowd control and ranged units will allow you to take down enemy bit by bit. There are total of 4 Twilight Hulks and Twilight Dragon. Fortunately the Twilight Dragon will not respawn, however, after you defeat Hulks make sure to destroy their respective spawners.

To be successful against infested Wrathgazer, make sure to include both melee and ranged units, as well as some Ms and Ls. Smaller squads will decrease chances of disintegrating your precious XLs, ranged units should focus down Wisps/Spirits, and melee units will decrease efficiency of the Wrathgazer.

• Pink line is patrol path of Vileblood and Whisperers.
• Orange circle is location of key spawner in village and Twilight Abomination.
• Red circles show location of key spawners in outpost.
• Purple circle shows location of Twilight Dragon.

In my attempt I used large amount of War Eagles to secure the village and Northland Drakes to clear the outpost together with it’s inhabitans.

Encounters with Twilight Frost.pmv

Brief

Difficult part of Siege of Hope is getting to Northern camp (E) and defending it against Twilight Abominations and Twilight Dragon, as they attack the location very quickly.

You will first face small sized enemies defending Tier 2 area. With swift or tough unit you should be able to reach power wells cluster.

Destroy enemy spawner before it spawns a huge wave when 2 minutes are remaining. Establish strong defence in northern camp, as first it will be attacked by Large enemies followed by XL creatures and anti-magic Dragon.

You do not need to defend your monuments in this mission.

Playthrough

You will first face 2 Twilight Minions and 1 Twilight Archer defending Tier 2 area, they respawn from nearby spawners. With swift or tough unit you should be able to reach power wells cluster in refugees camp without any fight, as long as you follow the purple path.

If you use air or long-ranged units, you will be able to destroy enemy spawner before it spawns a huge wave when the timer shows 2:00 minutes left. Use remaining time to clear T3 area and proceed to northern and eastern camps. Establish strong defence in northern camp, as first it will be attacked by 2 Twilight Devastators and Abomination, and later by Twilight Dragon which prevents card play.

Most popular choices on destroying the spawner are air units like War Eagles, Shadow Phoenixes, or long-ranged units like Firestalkers or Razorshards.

Friendly units will defend your monuments 1-3 after you build them, so that you can focus on defending enclaves and gaining Tier 3 and Tier 4. While defending build up a strong T4 army and destroy final Twilight outpost to face map’s boss.

• Purple line is the safer path for ground units on their way to refugee camp.
• Blue and Orange circles indicate where to position your long-ranged units to destroy enemy spawner.
• Green lines are paths for swift units to quickly reach remaining enclaves.
• Blue lines show how reinforcements will approach to defend your monuments.

Northern enclave

In order to reach northern enclave you have to go through small enemy camp – there are a few M and S units there so it shouldn’t be too difficult to destroy, however, if you wisely use Crowd Control effects, you may be able to pass by with swift unit without engaging in combat.

Around 9:40 enclave will be attacked by 2 Twilight Devastators, around a minute later they will be followed by a Twilight Hulk, around after 16:00 you may expect Twilight Dragon. As Twilight Dragon disables card play around it’s target, dispels any buffs and is immune to magic; make sure to include relevant counter in your deck.

For example War Eagles attacking frozen enemies with Northstar (B) buff were enough for initial defence phase, later supported by Ironclads.

Southern Eastern enclave

"Normal troops can't pass through the flames, send something bigger!" - Viridya

As we learn throughout the campaign, Viridya is always wrong. Swift M units will have no troubles passing by, if avoiding enemies. This enclave is attacked by smaller forces, a Twilight Devastator, Twilight Slayer and Twilight minions, after ~15:20 followed by Twilight Hulk and possibly a Twilight Dragon before end of timer.

Your T4 location will be attacked from time to time by a few S and M units, your allies are too weak in this location to sustain defence, consider leaving there some support.

Final Battle

You may attack north-east position any time you are ready. The base is heavily defended by Bombards, Twilight Whisperers and other units. On sides there are Infestations which spawn waves to attack on enclaves, so expect a few XL units as well. Twilight Leeches will teleport your units around the camp, possibly changing the battle into complete chaos. You may use this to your advantage with artillery like effects (Comet Catcher, Worldbreaker Gun), grant yourself temporary teleport immunity (Nether Warp) or just crush your opponents by force. When timer for defending enclaves is up, enemy boss will spawn. He has 20000 HP and should not be a huge threat himself. Defeating him ends the map.

My deck, including War Eagles, Northstar and Coldsnap to deal with early XL waves and Worldbreaker Gun Ironclad for late game offense.

Siege of Hope Expert Nature.pmvSiege of Hope Expert Frost.pmv

Brief

Quantity and quality of enemies increases as the map progresses. First you fight a few S and M enemies. Take and defend northern wells – southern ones may be easily destroyed by nearby XLs, so are usually risky to take.

Around 10:50 you will be attacked by 5 Twilight Devastators, 3 Creepers and some extra units. After timer ends you will be attacked by Devastators and Vilebloods, but some enemies like Dancers and Deathgliders will not attack until you save Rogan. If you are having difficulties defending, before you save Rogan capture extra wells and destroy spawners in corners of the map.

When 7:00 is left on timer, Twilight Hulk will attack you from south west. When 4:00 is left, expect larger wave of Devastators, Horrors and Hulks.

Playthrough
Main defence

You are attacked on both sides by S units, usually one of your squads with support of already existing towers should be enough to repel those attackers. After initial wave another one will come from north west and south east. When you destroy it, the timer starts – if you build walls and wait instead, you will be able to accumulate extra power and reach higher monuments, allowing you to easily complete the map with a short delay. Destroying starting towers may help in stalling this phase of the match.

For first 3-4 minutes you should be able to defend each wall with default tower and 1-2 archers – your enemies will mostly include S and M units like Crawlers, Archers, Bruters and flying Creeps. After ~9 minutes of defence you will be engaged by total of 5 Devastators, out of which 2 will come to north mid first; as well as some other support. After timer ends, the siege will be continued by Brutes, Archers, Devastators and Vilebloods.

After you save Rogan, Dancers will start attacking together with Deathgliders; so if you are not confident you may wait, improve your defence, conquer extra power wells and clear spawners in corners of the map.

Spawn two squads, one for each side. Focus fire on Twilight Slayers first. You can defend either on T2 or on T3 - you could go straight to T3, however, make sure to have strong and cheap defence to quickly cover all sides. Defence on T2 is a bit easier, however, it scales worse to the late game.

When Viridya shouts “watch out, they are erupting from the ground!” be prepared to defend your wells outside walls.

To deal with Twilight Dancers, you may use long-ranged or flying units like War Eagles, Lost Vigils, Swamp Drakes, Razorleaf or similar. Other units may be good for this as well, however, having to open gate, put your units outside, retreat them after combat and close gate again is taking a lot of time. To deal with Twilight Deathgliders use strong L counters or towers, like Fallen Skyelf, Magma Hurler, Necroblaster, or some XL.

When there is 6:00 time left after saving Rogan, Three Deathgliders spawn from spawners in corners. Another wave spawns when timer shows 3:30 and 1:00. Destruction of all spawners in corners ensures that you won't be sieged by Deathgliders at all.

In the meantime, caves spawn Devastators, Brutes and similar units all the time. When you save Rogan, they start adding Twilight Dancers and larger waves of Vilebloods. When there is 7:00 on timer, first Twilight Hulk spawn, on south east. When timer shows 4:00 left, expect large wave, Devastators, Horrors and Hulks coming. All mentioned units will keep attacking you over time. When horn blows you will be attacked by Twilight Dragon, one on each side, and Deathgliders if you haven't killed their spawners. When horn blows second time, expect more hulks and ground units. Third time horn blows, more units run to attack, however they won't be able to reach your positions in time.

Wells outside fortress

Power wells in north east are in decent spot – close to your base, but far enough not to aggro enemy melee warriors. Take them after ~5:30-5:40 so that they are easy to defend – they will be attacked around 10:00-10:15 by Twilight Bugs unborrowing from the ground, followed by two Devastators.

Power wells in the north are in nice position - close enough to your walls, but far enough not to aggro enemies. Take them after 5:30. They will be attacked, so you may put a tower a bit away from it, to the middle of map, to prevent aggroing passing by enemies. The location will be attacked by Twiligiht Bugs errupting from ground at 10:00, which deal bonus damage to structures, and a moment later at 11:10 by two Devastators. I find it worth holding the position. However, it may interfere with your securing Rogan, if you're doing it in micro intensive way. After wells pay off, if you do not feel confident with your defence, feel free to abandon them.

Power wells on the south are in tricky position, nearby two Twilight Hulks. From time to time a patrol passes by, and if Hulks are alive they are likely to aggro and destroy the wells. However, if you take both power wells at 5:30, they should hold for six minutes and therefore fully paying off and give some bonus power. Taking them is optional. If you desire to hold them for longer, then destroy both Hulks defending further wells and capture the area at once - it will be easier to manage defence and harder to lose wells.

• Blue circle is area with easy to defend wells
• Purple circle is area with hard to defend wells, as enemy XLs may easily aggro there
• Orange circles are locations of enemy spawners

Clearing path for Rogan

You need to kill 2 L Twilight Deathgliders and XL Twilight Abomination to secure path for Rogan Kayle and your Tier 4. You may build lots of structures next to power wells and aggro enemies there, or use strong/ mobile units and CC to pick up enemies one by one, as they don’t respawn.

T4 area may be attacked by Vilebloods, Devastators, Treefiends, Dancers and more. Make sure to defend your monument, preferably with a XL unit.

Defending Hope Frost Expert.pmv

In my approach I constructed two towers on each wall aided by a group of archers, Tier 3 XLs to defeat Abomination and help with defence and finished the match with solid Worldbreaker Guns defence.

Brief

Soultree’s difficulty is short amount of time to deal with large wave and pushing while at low power. You will need a T2 form of area damage as well as a strong units for push the Stonekin and solid units to destroy enemy base later - include some cheap T3 L counters for fast reaction and solid T4 for base push.

Playthrough

As there is low amount of power on the map be careful with power control. Lyr Defenders are great and most of your defence may rest on them. They provide ground presence for units and structures, however, they cannot create power wells.

Initial attacks

When you gain control over Lyr Defenders, send the first one to the rest on the wall and one of northern defenders towards power wells cluster.

Build a cheap structure in a corner so that you are able to create power wells later. When you start construction, immediately retreat Defender to the wall.

You should be able to defeat first wave without any loses and large damage taken – if you focus fire your units and walls will take less damage. Take power well when archers from second wave turn toward the wall. During second wave use one spell to help defenders – Glaciation, Hurricane or Mine would do great. Third wave will not come until you defeat second wave, allowing you to stall the game by leaving walls undefended, and gain extra time and power.

Take second power well (or skip it if you have issues with this part of the match) and move your army out of the wall a bit forward – when Viridya’s spell hits, it is beneficial if enemies are more closer together for both duration and area damage effects [2]. Build second monument so it finishes a moment after enemies approach you.

[2] If you don’t heal Lyr’s Defenders in the meantime (resting next to Ice Barrier or similar structure, or Surge of Light when under attack), there is a small chance you will lose 3 squads meaning instant lose. Be careful and if you struggle, do not take second power well and invest more into units, towers or spells.

To destroy huge wave most reliable options are unlimited aoe damage sources – Pyromaniac Red, Mountain Rowdy Purple, Spikeroot, Sunken Temple Green, Stone of Torment are most popular choices. Use Lyr Defenders to focus down Large enemies, as they tend to be hardest to kill and avoid standing where Twilight Slayers were – their explosions can quickly decimate your units.

• Blue circle is where you should place an extra structure or unit to later build power wells.
• Green circle is where you should position your Defenders, just next to first wall segment.
• Purple circle is location of Twilight Willzapper

Climbing the mountain

After wave is cleared, move Lyr Defenders to the west and destroy everything you don’t need, take third tier and proceed to aid Viridya. L and XL counters, XL units and high damage flying units with CC support would do great. If you are not confident in your existing army, do not hurry with aid – as Viridya freezes enemies, the initial Warriors are not a huge threat to her, and not helping will make Viridya waste more time, while your power levels grow. Use Lyr Defenders for extra damage, but keep them far behind for their safety. When you reach top of mountain, if possible CC enemies and focus fire on Stonekin Grinder, which has CC immunity and is a miniboss. If you plan to use T4 units, destroy your T3 army immediately when enemies are defeated and take power well same way as you did in the beginning of the match.

To hold Viridya’s onslaught use a unit with low cost and high HP, position unit far enough from power well so it does not share damage taken, but close enough to have out of combat health regeneration. Single Tremor, Sun Reaver, Mutating Frenzy, Fathom Lord, Mutating Maniac, Stone Warrior should be tough enough to hold without issues.

Your eastern position will be soon attacked, however, you should have enough time to create a Tier 4 unit there.

On the west forestkin creatures will arrive and attack your monument location – 2-3 L counters should be able to defeat them, or an XL should be suitable. Protect the Defenders, as Spikeroots have piercing attack that deals full damage to all targets.

When attacking the base be careful for large amount of Twilight Creeps with strong anti-air attack, Twilight Horrors with paralysis as well as Twilight Willzapper with aoe paralysis. After the map is cleared destroy most of your army to get power return and complete the objective.

Soultree Expert Nature.pmvSoultree Expert Frost.pmv

Brief

Being aggressive and doing a lot in early game can be both beneficial and difficult. There are easy to conquer areas that either have power wells or spawners – taking control of them hugely boosts your economy and decreases amount of enemies you have to deal with throughout the map. On the other hand it may be difficult to defend Wagon at the same time, and you will need to multitask a lot if you do not want to lose one of the wagons.

Focus down enemy spawners, claim power wells, destroy Willzapper and Bombard, take control over the map.

Playthrough

First you will face mostly S enemies with a few M foes – as you progress through the map you will face harder and harder opponents, to finally fight through hordes of L and XL units.

Start with one unit to capture nearby power wells, add 2-3 more units and capture another wells cluster. Your base will be attacked in the meantime, but towers should hold long enough. Destroy nearby spawner and send 1-2 units or a spell to aid your towers in defence. Get second tier as without it defending the Wagon may be extremely difficult.

Start escorting the wagon – if possible destroy nearby easy spawners and capture well cluster north to your second monument. If you don’t have solid sustain, you may want to play less aggressively to ensure wagon’s safety. When you reach the Willzapper split your units so it can’t paralise your army all at once, or use spells like Supression or Matter Mastery to take it down. If you synchronise attack with approaching Wagon, it may tank some of paralysis shots for you.

As you start reaching north go forward to destroy the Twillight Bombard – it may be difficult to destroy, however, if you used air, long-ranged or swift units, you may be able to dodge some of its shots and hopefully take it down before it deals critical damage.

Evacuation area is defended by Twilight Devastator, Healer, 2 Twilight Slayer, Twilight Bombard and Scyscorcher. Wagon may survive 2-3 shots from bombard when on full HP.
Note that if you are close enough to Bombard, it will not shoot, making Fire and Nature swift melee units an interesting choice.

After you start escorting wagon, ensure your monument is defended as enemies will come from different directions at you – including many S squads and army of 4 M units attacking early from north.

Control the map

Destroy enemy spawners as fast as you can – the less units running across the map, the more time you have to regroup your units and prepare defences. Keep your armies in key locations to restrict enemy movement across the map and make sure to provide sustain or other form of healing, so you can regenerate between frequent waves. If you contain enemy and not let them overwhelm you, the map should quickly become easier as you transit into T3 and T4.

• Green circles are easy areas to conquer, they all contain spawners and can be cleaned during 1st or 2nd wagon.
• Yellow circles are moderately defended areas, all of them contain spawners.
• Pink circles are heavily defended spawners, additionally reinforced by Evil Eye patrol. Avoid unless on T4.
• Lemon circles are great locations defence and for towers with S knockback, as some enemies will pass by while ignoring fire.
• Teal circles are well clusters to be taken early into the game.
• Orange circles are locations of Twilight Willzapper and Bombard.
  

• Just build towers next to caverns and control the middle to control the chaos.
• Enemy attacks aim at your T2 and T3 areas.
• Purple lines are attacks which may include air units.
• Red lines are attacks with ground units only.
• All attacks which lead to T3 location will follow in straight line to your T2 location.
• Orange circles are cave locations, which spawn units all the time throughout the game.
• Caverns spawn Twilight Archers, after 2nd wagon is secured they create Twilight Hags, and after 3rd wagon is secured Twilight Deathgliders are added.

Avoid Twilight Evil Eye patrol until you are on Tier 4, ready to clear last spawners, as else it will respawn without giving you any value.

Move to the left side of T4 area to avoid being attacked by Evil Eye patrol.

In my approach I used War Eagles as strong T2 unit to rely defence and offence on it, Stronghold with Skyelf Sage to destroy everyone who leaves caves, and Silverwind Lancers as defence supported and push toward T4.

Treasure Fleet Expert Frost.pmv

Brief

As you control a powerful Juggernaut at the start of the match, the map is appropriately more difficult. At the same time, death of the hero means instant defeat. While you can get to the north using only Mo, it may be difficult to keep him alive if you are too aggressive.

Focus down Bandit Bouncers, Windhunters, use Stampade on Waystation to prevent healing, and then focus down high damage sources like Soulhunters and Artilleries. Use spells and ranged XLs for best results.

Playthrough

Spawn a squad to take control over Mo. Move him to the west – kill Bouncer to prevent paralysis and then destroy Wizard Tower. Create some defence against Bandit Skyrakes spawning nearby and proceed East. If you stay on upper side of the path, the Gun Position should not shoot at you. You may stampede Wizard Tower or Waystation and then kill Windhunter.

After restoring your health proceed to the next area. Do not take power well until you kill all enemies and carefully destroy enemy after enemy. If possible provide spell support and do not be afraid to retreat for restoration in the meantime – you don’t have to capture T3 location in one go. Nearby cave will spawn Windhunter and 2 Skyrakes, so prepare relevant defence.

Going north

Ranged L and XL units are most reliable choice on the map – you will need tough units with powerful attacks, while being able to stay away from Banzai Birds. Slowly destroy enemy fortifications one by one and frequently retreat to restore your live – there is no need to hurry. Banzai Birds have only 100 HP, so if you are aoe spells and abilities, they will be a great aid. Before Banzai’s Lord location take Mo to right side of the map, so he can destroy Wizard tower and Sniper. You may stampede Gun position and aggro Banzai Lord away from birds spawning location. Focus him down to put end to all Banzai Birds. As Banzai Lord heals from nearby corpses, avoid casualties during fight.

In the meantime make sure to increase your air defences next to two caves, as amount of appearing enemies will slightly increase.

Main Bandit outpost

Main Bandit base swarms with Bandits. Use units with M knockback and aoe damage, or air units to avoid most of enemies. Unless you attack Command Walker with air units, focus on Gun Positions and Lieutenants to decrease Bandits morale. Even if you destroy Command Walker, you still will have to fight it later. When Bandits run, secure the area and prepare for final battle.

Make sure you are ready for the fight – first you need to destroy all Raven Ships, then all remaining troops. If you use spells, cast them before Walker uses it’s Aura of Corruption ability. As every ship has special anti-ground ability, Walker has shoot only ground and Gun Positions are around – Air units are greatly favoured. Take Ships one by one and retreat when your army is weakened, Ships do not respawn and it is wise to be careful.

• Red circles show where enemy air forces spawn. Left one consist of 4 Skyrakes a wave, while the right one has two Windhunters and Skyrake.
• Purpe circles show areas where enemy patrol spawn, while Bandit Outpost is active.
• Pink circle show where Tortugun spawn after Bandits flee from the map.
• Orange lines represent Bandit patrol routes.

Mo Expert Frost.pmvMo Expert Fire Prajoss.pmv

A very nice map. Spawn a few squads and let them have a bit rest, they deserve it after carrying you through whole campaign.

Defending air attack:

Do not push from your 1st monument. You may consider killing Bandit Steelguards on the hill, but that's it. You need to design a T1 defence that is capable of holding Bandit Air Attack - that includes Bandit Skyrakes, Bandit Windhunter and Bandit Scoutship - with powerful single shot ground attack, and 5200 HP. Attack wave spawns around ~6:45. First attack come at 7:25, and Scoutship at 8:35. Defence chills in your monument and enjoys holidays till waves come. After cleaning enemy Battleship, you no longer need this army and defence.

Securing T2:

Wait till 0:45 for Dropship to come.

Take Dropship west and micro Bandit Windhunter to death. Dropship has rear plating made of mithril titanium alloy. If the ship flies straight and get hit around it's back, it should "dodge" the shot, allowing you to easily kill opponent. Come close to enemy, and when enemy has attack animation, move away from it when flying straight. After you're done with defender, use Disembark ability, capture the well and spawn ~3 more squads in the area. Come to Death Ray summoning altar and suicide your ground units. ~4 squads should allow Deathray Summoner to summon a weakened Deathray. If you manage to lure Bandit Windhunter to die near Death Ray Altar, you will need only squad from Disembark to summon the unit.

Heal the Deathray and attack north island. When healing Deathray, use Dropship to kill nearby air units. Destroy Bandit Artillery, consider killing shamans and other troops, and then free Twilight Frenzy from it's cave. Destroy anti-air turret with some micro (use Dropship to tank dmg) or spell support. Consider retreating Deathway for healing, and then free 2 more Twilight Frenzies from their cages. Use Disembark to secure your 2nd monument here. Power well behind wall is protected by hidden mines. Trigger them before building the well.

Securing T3:

Spawn T2 units in your initial monument and use them to capture the island where your T1 is.

• Suggested attack paths: first yellow, then blue, then green.
• Red S are areas where Bandit Scoutships spawn.

Securing T4:

There is detonator on the island. You can ask some volunteer swift units to turn it on - if you come close the building will become yours and you will be able to use it's ability. After long delay, an explosion appears, destroying many buildings, including both spawners, and dealing large damage to surrounding units, weakening the defence. Then I use teleporter again with my main army and clear the area.

Fighting Bandit Scoutships:

Scoutships spawn usually from 4 locations on the map. You should have easy access to 2 of them, semi-easy access to 3rd one and heavily defended outpost nearby 4th location. It is nice to intercept Scoutships, however you can let a few of them pass, specially ones that spawn in North West. You can use free Dropship (but only ~3-4 will respawn) and a Deathway, together they are capable of destroying Scoutship without any outside assistance, if Dropship tanks some damage. When you access T3/T4, consider using other units (flying XL counters are best) to do this for you, due to low Deathray mobility.

There is no more time pressure on the map, complete it at your own pace. Make large army for end-game and do not rely on T4 spells - you may lose some monuments. A few flying XLs can clear map of Raven Battleships a bit earlier. If you want to trigger the event, make sure to clear many islands from buildings, if you leave some anti-air towers alone, you may be stuck on the map wondering what to do. In late game I kill the Dropship and spawn another XL unit for available supply, Dropship respawns a moment after.

• Spawn locations during last fight - North mid area should spawn no ships.
• Purple lines are attack paths of Battleships spawned in first wave.
• Pink lines are attack paths of Battleships spawned in second wave.

I was very happy to use Icefang Raptor during the mission. It perfectly aided my Stormsingers while securing my T3. The only situation I found the card useful, so far. After accessing T3, I used Northland Drakes to clear the sky and secure some smaller islands, while mounting attacks with my main army. Silverwind Lancers were volunteer swift units to turn on detonator.

Replay on Patch #400021 available in files under post.

Nature run using the same strategy, another Nature run that uses Enlightment instead, and Lost Souls run.

Early game:

You can wait until 0:30 to let Firechanters destroy first wave that is coming.

Area around Oracle is defended by 3 spawners, 5 towers and some minor troops - waves of Shaman, Bandit Crossbowman and Bandit Footmen are coming from several directions. Make large force and clear everything out, you can retreat to your first monument - if all Firechanters are present, they cast actual healing spell all the time. If some/all Firechanters die in the process, do not worry, you don't need them. Claim wells and your T2 and begin building large force. You basicly need something what can roll over the map quickly to get your T3.

You will be frequently attacked by waves of Bandit Gunners, Bandit Spearmen, Bandit Sorceress, and later Bandit Gunners, Bandit Windhunter and Bandit Footman. Sometimes 2-3 waves at once will arrive. Bandit Gunner is a very problematic unit, similar to Fire T4 Boom Brothers. They counter XL units and have powerful area of effect attack, that hits air units and kill destroy a few your squads at once. Think over a temporary T2 defence while getting T3 with your main force, and add some reliable counters on T3 to deal with the unit.

Then proceed to clear the map. Keep mind, that area with your T4 is heavily defended - by Construct and Bandit Tortugun, which can respawn during fight. It is also likely, that nearby camp will be aggroed as well, with Bandit Soulhunter and another Bandit Tortugun, which can respawn there as well. One could consider destroying right camp first, and then going for left one with monument. Prepare sufficient forces and secure the area. You do not need to deliver all 4 stones at this point. You can wait and build sufficient defence/offense force.

Getting Brimstone:

• Getting nearby first Stone Transporter causes single Bandit Skyrake Alpha Male to spawn, until the stone is delivered.
• 2nd Stone Transporter will cause Bandit Windhunter to spawn and defend it.
• 3rd and 4th Stone Transporters will each cause Raven Scoutship to spawn.
• Locations are random or semi-random.

• Blue line is suggested mid-game attack path.
• Yellow circles are areas where Stone Storage can spawn - with objective inside.
• Purple circles are locations of Bandit Artillery.
• Dark blue is area where your air units may fall under textures. The bug will be probably fixed at some point, but before that happens I suggest to avoid the area.

The ritual:

You are to use spell devices. Regardless if you use correct sequence or not, the effect is still the same. Umbabwe will spawn after 2nd part of ritual, with some troops around the map. Completing 3rd ritual stage correctly gives you effect of Enlightment - allowing you to cast any T1-T4 card once. You do not need it to succeed, however since your monuments are likely to be destroyed, it can be helpful effect. There are many effects going around the fight, including Umbabwe's Meteor shower, however effects around Spell Devices should be possible to spot.

Umbabwe causes 6 Bandit Ships to spawn - more powerful variants of Raven Scoutship. 3 of them are neutral and will drop troops on the map, while other 3 will attack your monument locations from a distance - if you can, ignore them and focus on Umbabwe, since they are very far away. Your T3 area should not be attacked, therefore you will not lose early by losing all monuments. Expect 3 Bandit Gunners and 3 Bandit Snipers to spawn from each Ship, along with 2 Bandit Walkers and 2 Bandit Windhunters spawned a few times next to Umbabwe. Waves from ships may respawn, and attack your first monument, leaving you with only 1 monument remaining.

In my deck I used Stormsingers to provide mid-game defence while War Eagles were clearing the map. Later, I used Silverwind Lancers to get strong presence on the map and strong attack force. During ritual I defended with Dreadnoughts on their ability and Battleships - Battleships deal more significantly more damage to Umbabwe than Ironclads. Worldbreaker Gun support was great as well.

Replay on Patch #400021 available in files under post.

Also see relevant thread, starter cards only run and mixed deck run:

Expect to lose multiple times, even if you know how to play the map. You need a strong plan, multitasking and correct implementation to progress quickly - a small mistakes can make your live very annoying. You often need to be in two or three places at the same time. After you manage to go through early game, you have large options on how to approach the map - if you can stabilise your defence versus Twiligth Dancers and Twilight Deathgliders, the map should become significantly easier.

You need to think over a way you are going to kill disciples in early game. Successful strategies may be based on :

• Mana Wings
• Archer spam with spells
• Nightguards
• Towers

T1 Towers:

Rush to clear good hill positions with 3-4 squads and create a few towers. Control your towers to ensure death of disciples.

• Fire: Only Makeshift tower can hit discpiple while on a way, but the hits are very weak, so you either need ~6-7 towers, or use other units to aggro discples. Not a strong strategy.
• Nature: Stranglethorn (P) can be useful, however it does not one-hit Disciple and allow it to pass by. Pair it with Primeval Watcher - first put watcher, then Stranglethorn - root will allow Primeval Defender to finish Disciple. Keep in-mind, that passing by enemy patrols can aggro Stranglethorn and waste it's short on low priority target, so you may need focus fire with tower. Primeval Watcher on it's own cannot hit Disciple - projectiles are too slow. Strangletorn (G) can be useful as well, however paired with one Primeval Defender it cannot kill Disciple. Ensaring Roots may be helpful on their own.
• Shadow: Phase Towers and Lifestealers may be capable of hitting Disciple when it's passing near towers, it's not enough, though.
• Frost: Defence Tower and Northern Keep can hit Disciple only when it's close. However, usage of Glyph of Frost and Frostbite allows you to kill Disciple while using two towers only. I found it pretty reliable. Ice Shield Tower have fast enough projectiles to hit Disciple on the move, however, they have low damage output. You may need three towers, and I am not sure if it will be enough.

Stack large ground force, at first you may use it to intercept Disciple from one side and defend your base. Later, when you are strong enough, attack one of outposts and get T2. For me it's ~9 minutes in the game. There is no need to hurry, waves do not become stronger.

Mana Wings:

The idea is to create large force of Mana Wings and safely kill Disciples and patrols. With enough Mana Wings, you should be able to clear one of camps. Remember to cover both sides, you may initially start with Mana Wings, and later add some more support units, like Windweavers with Ensaring Roots.

Archer spam:

Long range units that should kill your opponents before they reach you. Initially avoid fighting patrols and focus on increasing numbers and killing Disciples. Then, start killing patrols and finally attack one of outposts while covering second side of the map. Works best with Ensaring Roots, Frostbite and Glyph of Frost - you can attack enemies from hill without any threat. I do not know if Nox Trooper/ Forsaken / Fire Sworn can kill Disciples and patrols fast enough.

Nightguards:

"Easy" mode. Create two Nightguards, go right, take Devastator and Horror. Do not aggro enemies from camp and return Larges for heals. In meantime, create two more Nightguards and go left. Capture Horror, and then either capture another Horror or take Power well. Keep adding Nightgguards and taking enemy Large creatures. Have ~5 Larges and ~2 Nightguards when attacking enemy outpost - capture flying Twilight Creep, and use 2nd Nightguard to create power wells and monument. Do not let Disciple on right side pass - it's difficult to chase it. Make sure to have ~3-4 Larges on side to defend, sometimes enemy waves come together, make sure to heal them next to buildings.

You can quickly have both camps and easily progress through the map. Make sure to prepare for Twilight Dancers and Twilight Deathgliders.

Securing T2:

Enemy early attacks come at 3:20 and 6:35, they consist of one Horror and one squad of Pikemen, do not leave your monument undefended.

Twilight Dancers and Twilight Deathgliders start spawning after you kill first spawning camp. Therefore, if you do not kill the camp, they will not start spawning, allowing you to create defences with T3. Keep some melee units on hold position to tank incoming damage, and let them stay next to friendly building for health regeneration. Monument will attempt to destroy spawner, so focus it's fire on other enemies within range and consider synchronising construction of T2 and T3 monuments. If you captured Twilight Creep with Nightguards, you can set them on enemy paths, as shown by @RadicalX here .

• Strong melee units tanking spawner and Disciples with help of regeneration from friendly buildings. Allow me to secure another camp and build defences before Dancers and Deathgliders appear on the map.

Ending map:

If you can stabilise your defence, by for example using Necroblasters or other buildings with units to defend incoming patrols, the map should be way easier. Create large T3 force and capture northern western outpost to get T4. I use Amii Monument in my replays, because it allows me to speed up the map, however it is optional.

The fortress is defended by Abomination and Twilight Dragon. Power wells on the map have very high capacity, giving you a lot of time and power to complete the map.

• Blue circles show good early game areas of towers and attacking enemies from hill. You need to secure areas first - they are defended by tower and pikemen.
• Red circles show caves where some enemy patrols spawn - including Deathglicers and Dancers. There are also patrols coming from northern outpost.
• Green circles show good positions for strong towers, for example Necroblasters. Two thin towers can be constructed in front of right cave to intercept most attacks from fortress and cave, put them next to cliff. However some Disciples may sometimes pass by.

My attempts:

Recently I replayed map with pure Shadow with Nightguard approach. I used Nightguards, Resource Boosters and Amii Monument to get T4 quickly. With Necroblasters I killed Dancers and Deathgliders, and with Overlord, Shadow Worm and Death Ray army I cleaned the map.

My initial attempt was with pure Frost, using Towers tactic, I include my detailed order of action:

I create 2 towers on south and cast Frostbite(P) to deal with one, while my 4 Master Archers kill the other one. Glyph of Frost is used to block enemy patrols. In meantime, I heal Master Archers and use them to destroy more towers. Enemy early attacks come at 3:20 and 6:35. I use Imperials with their ability on to tank wave ot Twilight Devastator and Twilight Pikeman. I do not take eastern well in the early game - it attracts enemy patrols too often.

My path:

Southern Pikeman and Tower ----> Eastern Pikeman/Construction Hut on South with 2 towers ----> Northern Twilight Disciple /2 towers and Frostbite kill Disciple on South ---> Eastern Tower/Taking Well ---> Defending enemy attack at 3:20 ----> Western Pikeman ---> Northern Disciple/South Frostbite ----> Western Tower.

I create small outpost on western side of cliff to kill another northern disciple when I am busy defending enemy wave around 6:40.

I also support southern towers and add Warden's Sigil(B). 3 Towers with Sigil can easily deal with Twilight Deathglider that come here later. In the meantime, southern towers aggroed some enemy forces from south east camp - it is easier to capture now.

8 minutes in game, if I missed one of disciples right now, I could be able to kill the abomination. But it would slow me down significantly, so is not desired. With 8 Master Archers I capture and defend (with wall and MA) south east camp and get my Tier 2.

With War Eagles I defend from Dancers and let one Disciple transform into Abomination and add War Eagles. I defend with them, freezes and Home Soil. With Stormsinger I kill Deathgliders. I stabilise my defence with War Eagles and the map becomes easier. If you can reach this point in the game, you should be okay with T3 technology.

With Amii Monument and Worldbreaker Guns I clear the map - Amii Monument is optional, but it makes my live significantly easier. If I didn't have access to that, I would use a few Northland Drakes nad Avatars of Frost.

Replay on Patch #400021 with Frost Tower approach is available in files under post. "Behind Enemy Lines Expert.pmv"
Replay on Patch #400023 with Shadow Nightguard approach is available in files under post. "Behind Enemy Lines Expert Shadow.pmv"

Seek inspiration here (Nature, Frost and Shadow/Frost decks) :