TLDR;
Hello heroes, Kolz here!
Today, I'm gonna be walking you through my journey through Nightmare Chapter 202. And this was a nightmare.
I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep. My kid was screaming, put them back to bed. And I was like, alright, I'm awake, I'll do a run. What ended up happening was I had the best run I've ever had on 202.
I've done 202 at least 15-20 times a day since the patch. I've been trying all kinds of builds—monk, knight, clockwork mage—anything with healing. Werebeast, leprechaun. I thought maybe you had to kill the horde to get through wave two. I was trying everything. I've been all over the place.
So it's like three o'clock at night, just put my kid back to bed, and I'm like, I'll do a run. And I'm killing it.
The footage I'm showing you right now wasn't actually recorded because I didn't think it'd be that good at three o'clock in the morning. That I should be practicing. This is from the day before, but it gives you a general sense of how Wave 1 goes.
With this build, I can clear it. I figured out with Werebeast that if you wear four wizard pieces on Knight, you can maximize the number of initial upgrades. When I do it right, I can clear it every time.
The Werebeast with a double snail pet and all of his inherent healing—you can clear Wave 1 three out of four times. But Wave 2 is basically impossible.
I even tried Paladin. I was throwing everything I could at this concept, and I could not get past one minute. My second death was always at 1:08. That would be the end of the run. All hope is lost.
But this run? I was rocking it. No deaths at 1:08. So I was like, alright, I'm invested. I'm gonna make this work.
I've done 60-70 runs over the course of a week. I need this. No one wants to just see me failing all the time (though I probably should make a compilation of just my fails). But it was always the same thing—1:08, done.
But now, I was past it. I was like, alright, I'm clearing this freaking level.
So, that's where we're gonna start. You can see Wave 1 ending. This is just some old run—basically what I'm doing. Four wizards for the slow, Knight for extra health, and double snail. You can turn Werebeast into a really tanky dude.
This is probably the build I'm gonna use to explain how to beat the rest of Nightmare Mode. But for this, you need to get Ice Wand evolved.
And that's where the story goes wrong.
Alright, so this is my run. I'm 1:23 into Wave 2. I'm like, oh my god.
You can see, he's tanking stuff—he's just not dying. My first death is at 1:15. That's crazy! Usually, that's my second death, and I'm done.
So I'm thinking, okay, I gotta figure out how to make this run work. And here we go.
Now, this is my mindset at 3 o'clock in the morning: This is it. 70 runs. This is the best one I've ever had. And I'm under a minute, like, oh my god, I can do this.
I'm in.
I get 60 gems. I get Ice Wand. Sweet. Now, even if I lose again, I'll have 120 more gems and be able to evolve Ice Wand.
I live another 20 seconds. As a non-warlord, I don't know how you do better than this.
But now, the issue is... I'm 180 gems in. And I'm shaking. I only have like 1,000-2,000 more gems to work with. I have two more revives. This is it.
Then I get another Ice Wand. This is meant to be.
I'm at 420 gems in. I have 1,500 gems left—one more revive.
Then... I got evolved Ice Wand. Thank. God.
I'm at the end of Wave 2. I have hope. 520 gems in. One more revive left.
I can do this.
At this point, I'm hyperventilating. You see me pause on that last talent choice? Because, oh shit, it's actually happening. I'm going all in.
And I did.
I cleared Wave 2.
Everyone says Wave 3 is easier, and... it is easier. But I'm shaking, can barely breathe. I'm trying to focus.
At this point, I'm just telling myself: Don't let the stupid flock of seagulls get you.
And he's tanky. I'm not doing well here. I'm shaking. Absorbing hits. Then, calm down. I've been in high-pressure situations before. This is just a video game. Calm down.
I have one revive left. I'm :30 in. I got this. People say this is easy.
I got this.
I'm playing pretty well. Kiting with Werebeast is different than Clockwork Mage—it's a zigzag. You can take damage because he heals it back. The issue is when the horde gets stuck on you. Without Divine Aura, they just wail on me.
I still have one revive left.
I have told people—my wife—about the sunk cost fallacy.
Things you've lost? They're gone. You don't make future decisions based on the past.
But now? 2,000 gems in.
I'm beating this level.
There are 35 seconds left. There is no way I'm just gonna waste 1,900 gems. I got this.
There are 28 seconds left.
I'm going to beat this. There's no way I can't survive 20 more seconds.
...I didn't survive 20 more seconds.
I am going to beat this level.
Sunk cost? That's someone else's idea of how the world works.
At this point, I'm telling myself: This is fine. I can write this off for taxes. $40? After taxes, that's $30. Not a big deal.
It wasn't.
I lasted eight seconds on that last revive.
And now? I'm crying.
I'm physically crying in bed. My wife is asleep. My kid is asleep. And I'm sitting here, crying over a video game.
Ridiculous.
But I did not come this far just to give up.
I cleared the level.
But it didn't feel good.
I don't know how you beat this without Warlord. I've tried everything.
I beat this three days ago, and I still can't beat it again. It's driving me nuts.
Moral of the story?
1. Don't play video games at 3 a.m.
2. Wait for Warlord.
Yeah... so that was my story.
Day 3 of Nightmare. A true nightmare.
On the bright side, by that afternoon, I figured out a whole new strategy to clear the rest of Nightmare Mode—and 201 too.
So, I had a really good day after this.
But man... this run?
