- "All enemies have Nimble."
- ―In-Game Description
Description
Vanguard is a challenge map, which can be currently played in the Winter Stronghold map. It uses a modified version of the Fallen mode as its mode. Triumphing this challenge rewards the player with 
100, 
350 EXP, 
3 and two Blizzard Bombs. However, the rewards can be higher if modifiers that affect rewards are present. Like with other challenges, rewards can only be gotten once a week.
Changes
The main change in this challenge is all enemies have the Nimble attribute. Cash is also altered on this challenge.
Enemies
All enemy replacements from Enemies Beta are applied here.
A few regular enemies also have their health values, which for most of them is changed to match their previous Fallen mode health values.
- Abnormal - 6 health (-2)
- Quick - 4 health (-6)
- Heavy - 16 health (-44)
- Breaker2 - 50 health (-30)
- Fallen - 180 health (-45)
- Fallen Hero - 5,000 health (+2,000)
- Fallen Guardian - 14,000 health (-18,000)
- Fallen King - 75,000 health (-125,000)
Any enemies that do not have their health altered in any way by the challenge or modifiers present on this map are affected by Fallen mode's health scaling. Additionally, any enemy that has no set cash to give when killed or damaged enough will give 
$5 on death.
Wave Structure
Bolded names indicate an enemy type's debut. Due to the All Paths modifier present on the most recent map, all enemies are duplicated for each path except Fallen King.
| Wave | Enemy Type & Amount |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5x Abnormal |
| 2 | 6x Abnormal |
| 3 | 7x Abnormal |
| 4 | 8x Abnormal |
| 5 | 8x Quick |
| 6 | 5x Abnormal, 8x Quick |
| 7 | 10x Heavy |
| 8 | 5x Quick, 6x Abnormal, 6x Heavy |
| 9 | 6x Heavy, 5x Abnormal, 7x Quick |
| 10 | 12x Abnormal, 4x Heavy, 1x Abnormal Boss |
| 11 | 8x Heavy, 8x Abnormal, 8x Quick |
| 12 | 1x Abnormal Boss, 8x Abnormal |
| 13 | 10x Shadow |
| 14 | 12x Heavy, 2x Abnormal Boss |
| 15 | 20x Shadow |
| 16 | 8x Breaker2 |
| 17 | 6x Heavy, 6x Breaker2 |
| 18 | 14x Breaker2 |
| 19 | 4x Heavy, 6x Quick, 4x Shadow, 3x Breaker2, 2x Abnormal Boss, 1x Necromancer |
| 20 | 4x Fallen, 1x Abnormal Boss |
| 21 | 7x Breaker2, 5x Fallen, 2x Abnormal Boss, 8x Heavy, 4x Shadow |
| 22 | 8x Heavy, 4x Shadow, 8x Breaker2, 2x Abnormal Boss, 1x Giant Boss |
| 23 | 6x Fallen, 1x Giant Boss, 8x Breaker2, 1x Necromancer |
| 24 | 6x Fallen, 8x Breaker2, 1x Shadow Boss |
| 25 | 12x Fallen, 4x Heavy, 6x Breaker2, 4x Necromancer |
| 26 | 12x Glitch |
| 27 | 10x Glitch, 8x Fallen, 8x Breaker2, 4x Abnormal Boss |
| 28 | 13x Hazard, 2x Giant Boss, 10x Breaker2, 10x Glitch |
| 29 | 1x Giant Boss, 10x Breaker2, 12x Glitch, 12x Fallen, 4x Hazard |
| 30 | 5x Fallen, 4x Hazard, 4x Abnormal Boss, 2x Shadow Boss, 10x Breaker2, 9x Glitch, 1x Tank, 10x Breaker2 |
| 31 | 5x Giant Boss, 13x Hazard, 10x Fallen, 1x Necromancer |
| 32 | 3x Giant Boss, 8x Breaker2, 1x Tank, 10x Breaker4 |
| 33 | 6x Giant Boss, 24x Glitch, 10x Breaker2, 12x Breaker4, 1x Necromancer, 3x Shadow Boss |
| 34 | 8x Giant Boss, 1x Boomer, 8x Glitch, 6x Breaker2, 6x Hazard, 8x Fallen, 14x Breaker4 |
| 35 | 1x Warden, 5x Hazard, 20x Breaker4 |
| 36 | 8x Giant Boss, 1x Boomer, 8x Glitch, 1x Tank, 8x Error, 1x Necromancer Boss |
| 37 | 1x Boomer, 10x Glitch, 6x Error, 6x Giant Boss, 2x Shadow Boss, 6x Hazard, 6x Error, 6x Fallen, 1x Warden, 2x Necromancer Boss, 6x Error |
| 38 | 1x Boomer, 10x Glitch, 6x Error, 6x Giant Boss, 2x Shadow Boss, 6x Hazard, 6x Error, 6x Fallen, 1x Warden, 2x Necromancer Boss, 6x Error |
| 39 | 2x Boomer, 2x Tank, 6x Error, 10x Glitch, 1x Warden, 10x Hazard, 2x Error, 15x Fallen, 9x Error, 7x Fallen Hero, 5x Fallen, 1x Necromancer Boss, 9x Error |
| 40 | 3x Fallen Hero, 1x Warden, 6x Glitch, 9x Error, 10x Fallen, 5x Giant Boss, 6x Error, 4x Fallen Guardian, 1x Fallen King, 2x Fallen Hero, 4x Giant Boss, 7x Breaker4, 1x Error |
| Lose Dialogue | |
      |
One icon and dialogue is randomly chosen upon defeat:
ā¢We're toast! |
Cash
Base cash is increased by $100 in comparison to the regular Fallen mode, though wave bonus is unchanged.
Strategy
- As all enemies move twice as fast due to the Nimble attribute, stalling towers such as the Electroshocker, Cryomancer or Frost Blaster are highly recommended.
- Similar to other challenges, high DPS towers such as the Engineer, Ranger, Turret and Gatling Gun are advised.
- Do be aware that depending on the map, cliff spots may be limited or not in a good spot.
- The Accelerator may not perform that well here without stalling towers, as multiple enemies with their speed boosted by Nimble could leave its range during while it is charging up for a few seconds.
Trivia
- Vanguard was actually first added on the 21st of June 2024. However, it would take it 114 days for it to actually appear.
- During that period, it actually received changes in the Fallen Foes Update, meaning the original version of Vanguard never got a chance to appear in-game.
Challenge History
- 13 October 2024 ā 20 October 2024
- Map: Winter Stronghold
- 3 November 2024 ā 10 November 2024
- Map: Infernal Abyss
- 24 November 2024 ā 1 December 2024
- Map: Winter Stronghold
- 19 January 2025 ā 26 January 2025
- Map: Winter Stronghold
Update History
- 21 June 2024 - v1.25.0
- Vanguard added.
- 2 August 2024 - v1.27.0
- Now uses the new income system.
- Updated to use the new Fallen mode enemy appearances, some stats, health scaling and soundtracks.
- Now changes more enemy health values.
- Abnormal health now changes to 6.
- Quick health now changes to 4.
- Heavy health now changes to 16.
- Breaker2 health now changes to 50.
- Fallen health now changes to 180.
- Fallen Hero health now changes to 5,000.
- Fallen Guardian health now changes to 14,000.
- Fallen King health now changes to 75,000.
- Disabled dialogue.
- 16 December 2024 - v1.46.0
- Bug: When activated in Sandbox mode, the mode is set to Intermediate mode instead of Fallen mode.
 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Challenges | Back to Basics ā¢ Boss Rush ā¢ Jailed Towers ā¢ Juggernaut ā¢ Legion ā¢ Oops! All slimes! ā¢ Vanguard | |
| Wave Structure | Back to Basics ā¢ Jailed Towers | |