Wicked Defense tips and hints

The most important part of any defense is to make sure that the main line of defense survives, and in the case of Wicked Defense, this is the village wall known as the rampart. Enemies will advance, and once they get in range, they will attack the rampart with everything they've got until they're killed or the rampart falls. As long as you defeat all the waves of enemies without the rampart's HP hitting zero, you'll clear the level. The problem is that in order to unlock future stages, you need to get three-star ratings on the previous stages, which means keeping the rampart's HP above 90 per cent. This is easier said than done, which is why you need to hunt for and make use of any runes that increase rampart HP, reduce damage taken, or, most valuable, recover rampart HP over time. Ranged enemies are the most troublesome (for reasons you'll soon see), so if there are a lot of them, pick spells that are most likely to hit and eliminate them before they get too close.

Each battle starts off the same, with the witch always having Magic Missile as her first spell, which she will cast as often as she can. The first problem is that the witch will always cast spells at the enemy closest to her. As such, she won't prioritise ranged or tougher enemies unless they're at the front of the line, leaving her to switch targets only once the closest one has been eliminated. This is just something you're going to have to get used to, and it quickly becomes a problem when enemies attack in groups. Use this to better understand the enemy types that you'll be facing in each stage so that you can start tailoring a strategy that makes use of or compensates for the witch's auto-firing.

Since the witch gets access to tons of spells, they'll fall into well-known elemental categories like fire, lightning, ice, and light. And yes, certain enemies will indeed take increased damage from certain attacks and may completely nullify others, but that's secondary information. What you need to remember is that each spell has a distinct attack pattern, which will cover the field and target enemies in various ways. Magic Missile is a standard projectile that flies in a straight line towards its target, which is very limiting. You must pick spells that will literally give you more coverage. For instance, lightning calls down random strikes across the field, fire shoots fireballs that explode on impact, and light fires a piercing, lingering beam straight down the path. You'll need to gather a diverse number of spells as soon as possible to handle as many enemy types and groups as you can.

With every main enemy that the witch eliminates, she'll gain XP, which will be tracked at the top of the screen. When the meter fills up, she'll get a choice between one of three power-ups that can affect her spells in different ways. The power-ups tend to affect the spell's stats as well as the effects they can have when they land. That being said, you should be casting as many spells as often as possible. Each spell has a cooldown period, so you need to make the most of each casting. So, when you're given the option, always choose to make it so that your spells fire more projectiles or land more strikes with each casting. This means they'll take a hit to their damage, but increasing the frequency early on when the enemies are weakest will leave you plenty of opportunities to increase their strength.

Even though success depends on being able to build up a variety of spells, it is possible to cripple yourself as a result. The more spells you unlock, the fewer chances you'll have to draw upgrade cards when you level up. Based on the enemies you encounter, you should consider gathering three to four spells (including Magic Missile) and then focus on increasing the strength of only the ones you pick. More spells can give you more variety and range, but it'll also make it harder to get the spells you already have beyond a few levels, and even less likely to get the upgrade options that you really want.

Unlike some other games where you have slots to the moon and beyond to put gear, runes, accessories, and whatever, in Wicked Defense, they have a very real impact. The witch can equip six different pieces of gear, and each one can be slotted with five different runes. Both the gear and the runes can be upgraded through level-ups and merging, which changes their effectiveness. The runes are what really matter, though, as their effects can be very specific in very notable ways. These can be as simple as increasing spell and elemental damage or as complex as changing the properties of a spell and how it affects enemies. Always aim to choose runes that give you a strong start so that you can gain levels and upgrades while enemies are still weak.

The one thing you and the witch can rely on in every battle is that Magic Missile will always be there for you. It's the base projectile with the fastest cooldown and arguably the most precise aiming. Since it's always going to be taking up a spell slot, you should do what you can so that it's using that slot as best as it can. You should always have an equipment loadout that has a decent chunk spec'd specifically for Magic Missile. When you get your early level-ups, hope for upgrades that increase Magic Missile's fire rate and number of projectiles. The sooner it gets stronger, the sooner you'll have a strong and reliable base.