Hey heroes, Kolz here. Today, I'm going to show you how to kite in nightmare mode.
Kiting in nightmare mode is so important because you don't want the horde to hit you. Unlike the other parts of the game where the horde never really get close, in Nightmare Mode, they're going to get close all the time, and your job is just to survive and not get hit as often as you can.
Nightmare mode is so important because of all the additional rewards you get in the form of hero orbs and runes. For that reason, being able to kite effectively is super important in clearing out Nightmare content and making all of your heroes stronger through global buffs.
There are four different ways to kite in nightmare mode:
- Circle Kiting
- The Snake Method
- The Hax Method
- And a special case I call "Wave Riding," to deal with a particular type of Nightmare Mode horde
I'll walk you through each one of them on a run of NMM280, which is currently the last chapter in the game.
In NMM280 my movement speed is capped at 9m/s. If you're running lower-level nightmare modes, 1-120, you should try to get your movement speed up to 11m/s or 12m/s in the detail screen through jewels. You'll have an easier time avoiding being hit, which is the goal.
All, also throw in a bonus strategy from Spiderpig at the end.
Kiting Video Guide
Kiting Strategy
Circle Kiting
The first technique here is going to be a circle technique. You're going to see me kiting around in a circle. I have a pretty good name for that one if you're asking me. The horde in the beginning of a level will come from all parts of the map, and so you're just trying to kind of get them into a bunch and then not get hit as much as you can. What you're trying to do is kind of like stop at each quadrant of the circle in order to let the horde kind of catch up and then kind of keep moving around, and that way, they don't really hit you.
Snake Kiting
On to technique two, which I call The Snake.
Snake kiting is kind of what it sounds like. You're going to be kiting the horde in a vertical S shape North and South across the map. I use this a lot for someone like Shield Warden with a lot of freezes. It does a good job of keeping all of the frozen horde on the opposite side of the map. That way, they can build up and no longer spawn.
The goal here is actually to get as many horde as you can on the screen. When you're lower in early nightmare mode (1-12), you'll be able to fill up the whole screen with horde. They will all be stuck behind you, so no additional horde can spawn from the direction you are kiting.
Hax Kiting
Named after HaxSennin and his ability to kite with the Clockwork mage, this form of kiting is the ultimate skill expression in Heroes vs Hordes.
By keeping the majority of your movement North and South, with small movements west, you can manipulate how the horde spawn. The limited westward movements cause horde to spawn only from the North and South. This technique leaves the whole West side of the map free from horde.
HaxSennin can do this like a pro with Clockwork Mage to the point where he doesn't even get hit on essentially the hardest chapters in the game. He uses incredibly precise V shaped movements that I can't replicate.
So I'm going to show you the much easier way to do it using Werebeast.
You can take advantage of his beastiness but just getting a hit a bunch, but healing through it. This will minimize the number of times you get hit within a short time frame, keeping you safe the entire wave.
You make more sweeping, controlled movements with Werebeast. Try to literally count in your head to three on the way up, followed by one, two, and three on the way down. I've found that to be an easy sweet spot for kiting.
However, sometimes I'll vary it a bit, too, because I'm getting a little bored or if some horde starts to get close.
To help deal with horde that get close, you use Death Ray from the evolved 4* Forged Arcane Staff and evolved Frost Nova from Ice Wand. These will stop any close-by horde in their tracks, keeping the horde on the opposite side from your kiting direction.
Bonus: Spiderpig's Jurassic Park Kiting
Spiderpig gave me some apt advice: sometimes it's better to pretend the horde are a bunch of T-Rexes and not move. They can't see you if you don't move.
At the beginning of waves, standing still to let the horde get close is the best way to "kite." You can also back up against obstacles, stand still, and keep horde away.
Or, just go full heroic gear Warlord, and actively encourage the horde to hit you with this kiting technique.
One Small Optimization
When you're not trolling with Jurassic Park Kiting, you actually want to maintain small north/south movements. If you're moving like this, horde can't spawn east/west, or at least makes them much less likely to.
Anecdotally, standing still, seems to randomize where horde spawns from.
But, more importantly, small movements keep your hands ready to start kiting when the horde does get close. You'll see a lot of professional gamers continuously clicking outside of battle. They do this to stay warm.
While you and I aren't professionals, small things I can help with for hard Nightmare Mode content.
Trade Health For Space
With Werebeast, it's ok to trade some health now for space in the future. In games like League of Legends, there's this concept of trading where you trade damage now in order to get an advantage later.
Same concept applies here, at least in my head. You have to be willing to take some damage to minimize the number of new horde that are coming off the side.
Now, I don't know if that's actually what I'm doing in real life, but that's what I'm thinking about when they are hitting me.
