Trap Map: Battle Of Changban (with video)

The mission is part of the quest “Battle Of Red Cliff” from the NPC Zhuge Liang – in fact it is the first part.

This mission is one of the timed missions, like Goddess’ Rage, Last Stand or Summoning The Wind. Several events are triggered not by you reaching a certain goal but by Zhuge Liang who watches his watch and decides that the time is ripe to humour you with a new task.

Name	Battle Of Changban
Minimum level	90
Maximum number of participants	3
Size of a party	main + 3
Time limit	50 minutes
Total number of vehicles allowed	1
Entry fee	0.8 M
Total upgrade cost	2 M (after Spelltower patch)
Catapult cost	1 M
Reward	3 x General’s Loot (60 Atlantica Silver Coins)
XP victory bonus	150 M

After some fidgeting around I now can solo this mission with my alt (Fritz, now level 102) applying the following strategy:

Strategy map for BOC, click to enlarge.

1. I divide my troups into two teams: the Wavers and the Cleaners. The Cleaners consist of sheriff, oracle and catapult. Their task is to clean up the area beyond the bridge, where the boss will spawn and the summon portals summon. The Wavers consist of my main and my witch. Their task is to kill the monsters of Wave 2 and 3 and then join the Cleaners in time for the final boss fight.

2. Wavers and Cleaners clear the start of the bridge (the preset monsters at F4/5. Don’t run into the flame trap with your meteor-ready witch.

3. Wavers go to D5 and wait for the wave 2 to appear. Cleaners work their way over the bridge.

4. Wave 2 appears and the Wavers clear it. Cleaners work their way over the bridge.

5. Wavers go to D3 and wait for the wave 3 to appear. Cleaners start to clear the boss area. Keep to one side first (I start with the south side) and after clearing the mobs there and destroying the summon portal clean the rest.

If you have trouble clearing the boss area only with sheriff, oracle and catapult you can move your main to the boss area as reinforcement as soon as the wave 2 has been cleared. In this case only your witch will decimate wave 3. The surviving enemies will of course kill your witch and march to the barracks and your base. But that is ok, because there should be standing around a mass of allies, doing nothing except poking their noses. When your witch resurrects at your base your allies have probably taken care of the enemies, and if not, a well-aimed meteor-strike will clear the situation.

6. Wave 3 appears. Wavers kill all and then go join the Cleaners.

7. Finally, after probably a bit of waiting the boss, a certain Xiahou Ba, will appear. He is accompanied by some mobs but your witch and your sheriff will take care of them. After that it is simple.

When the monsters of wave 2 arrive, Zhang Fei arrives, too. He is on your side and that makes him a burden. He is quite eager to engage enemies even if the odds are not favourable for him and you lose when he dies. That is the reason I recommend to press forward with your Cleaners instead of waiting for the Wavers to join them. If you wait, the boss area will be full of spawned monsters. And when the boss appears, Zhang Fei will hasten to engage Xiahou Ba. That can easily be his doom because you have your hands full to survive in the boss area with about 300 monsters (ok, may be a bit less, but you get the picture). Better to destroy the summon portals fast.

In the waves 2 and 3 only the monsters which newly spawn are definitely to kill. There are some catapult monsters already there from the beginning. If you are careful you can avoid killing them. They won’t march to your base if not aggroed.

Every timed mission confronts you with the question: stalling or hurrying up? Sometimes it is better to stall so that the summon portals can’t create as much monsters as they would do if you hurry (example: Last Stand). Sometimes it is better to hurry to get all these pesky enemies of the actual wave killed before the next wave hits. In this mission your answer to the speed question should be “hurry up”. There are two summon portals but lots of monsters in every wave.

You get a measly 60 silver coins out of it, about 16 M gold at the time of writing. You pay about 4 M. Calculate 2 M more for two freezing scrolls which you need in the boss area, and add the costs for potions. It is not exactly a rewarding mission, moneywise…

Here is a video about a run with Fritz (2011-10-04, Fritz in level 102):

part 1:

part 2: