@MercWithMouth - Yep, told you :P. I was frankly disappointed with the desert levels, I actually found them easier than the Lava levels. I've 3 starred all the normal levels already at level 30, now I'm sitting around for TEN LEVELS until level FOURTY before I can move on.
And yes, it was somewhere around that area I beat Fauna Forge.
I suppose 'easy' is the wrong word to use, though. Since the levels don't change, once you understand the waves it becomes easier to beat them.
For that particular level, there are a couple key things to understand:
1) Money is limited. You only have enough money for three level 3 towers with 1 ability upgrade before the key point, the wolfriders from the cave. You may or may not upgrade your barracks depending on personal preference, I preferred to spend that money putting more arrow towers out the front of the level.
2) Barracks Juggling may be necessary depending on your upgrade levels. This means taking advantage of the fact that when you buy a new barracks, 3 troops instantly spawn. So, if you have a bit of money, and all 3 troops die or are about to die, you sell the level 1 barracks and immediately rebuy it, respawning 3 troops. It costs 35g each time you do this. Using this method on bosses
3) Double reinforcements - the reinforcement spell has a lower cooldown than they are active for. Meaning if you know where to place them, you can have 4 reinforcements active at all times.
4) Static exploit - use Static to deal the killing blow to a wolfrider and he doesn't spawn the wolf/orc. Not a huge deal, but every bit helps if you are trying this at lower level.
So my basic strategy was to build 3 Sniper towers with level 1 0.50 cal shells and 2 barracks at the top. The only tough point was the wolf riders, so make sure you anticipate it.
The key to beating them is to have both of your barracks and your heroes in a big pile right at the top intersection. Pre-stack Reinforcements on top of the ball (if you summon them early, basically you can have 2 summons active at the same time for an extra 4 troops). With 2 barracks, 4 reinforcements and 2 heroes this gives you a ball of 12 troops.
As the wolfriders spawn, assuming no OHKO, use static to deal the killing blow to the first one to avoid an extra spawn (or the second one, if the first one dies too fast). Then carefully watch the riders as they impact your speedbump ball. A soon as you see a wolfrider start to go through the ball (i.e. he's heading for the exit) and NOT get stopped by a troop, hit the whole group with Blizzard. That should pretty much clear everybody in the ball, though there may be extra troop spawns from dead riders to kill for a couple seconds.
At this point your strategy is dependent on how many wolfriders and extras from the bottom there are left. If more than a couple are left you may need to quickly sell and re-buy one or both barracks to hold them for another second or two.
For an easy cheat, this would also be the point to use a Freeze Wand.
After that it's smooth sailing. Another Blizzard cast on the group of dogs that spawn from the cave and they get mowed down, you have enough money to put a couple more Sniper towers out throughout the level for more damage.
Although I did this with Sniper Towers, I'm sure this method would also work with Assassin towers, although you may have to be a bit higher level.
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