Anvil Guide

## Anvil Overview

(Updated to v15.6)

Anvil can deal high damage to both high HP targets and hordes of weak mobs. However, he only deals half damage with his auto-attacks to flyers while in siege mode.

Since Version 15.5, when Anvil reaches his 25,000 score, he deals massive damage with his secondary nuke auto-attacks. The frequency of the secondary auto-attacks is directly affected by his attack speed. As such, Bug Zapper becomes an essential perk for Anvil.

Anvil also has the great advantage of being able to remain cloaked while in siege mode with the Ambush Protocol mastery. His auto-attack range, even without Graduating Range mastery, is more than enough to safely deal with all threats safely when sieged from afar, with the only exception being Hellwalker Brutalisks.

Anvil also has the Mudstompers talent for free, meaning that he is not slowed by creep. He also cannot be lifted by hybrids.

Last, but not least, Anvil starts with an additional Mastery point.

## Anvil's Perks for OS and HW

Anvil, for all games except speedruns, is played optimally with the following 4 perks:

1. Onslaught
2. Bug Zapper
3. Weaponsmith
4. Doomsday

For quick entry of Perks at the beginning of the match, type (without quotes) "-perk obwd"

Onslaught adds +20% to Anvil's auto-attack damage and spell damage, and is the single most powerful perk for Anvil.

Since Version 15.5, Bug Zapper is now an absolute requirement for Anvil, not because of the relatively low damage of the empowered shot (which scale poorly as the game progresses) but because it increases his base attack speed by 10%. This synergizes with stimpack, which further increases the attack speed of Anvil while active. Coupled with a completed Lightweight Mastery, stimpack's cooldown could be reduced allowing even better synergy with Bug Zapper perk.

Weaponsmith increases Anvil's auto-attack damage and range, and its benefits stack up throughout the entire game. Most importantly, Weaponsmith "pre-picks" Weapons Research mastery, which halves the mineral cost of Jötunnbane Corps Mastery from 40,000 minerals to 20,000 minerals right at the start of the game.

## Anvil's Mastery Order for OS and HW

This is what is recommended for non-speedrun multiplayer games with Anvil:

1. Level 0 = Ambush Protocol + Mobile Command Post
2. Level 10 = Long Range Combat
3. Level 20 = Asgard Training + Free Jötunnbane Corps
4. Level 30 = Wrath of Thor Ultimate
5. Level 40 = Graduating Range/ Nuke
6. 2K Streak = Nuke/ Graduating Range
7. Level 50 = Lightweight Equipment
8. Level 60 = Borr Protocol

An early Mobile Command Post mastery allows Anvil to kill more Hellwalker banelings to reach his 2000 killstreak earlier. If Anvil is properly positioned, it is possible to have 1200 killstreak within the first 8 minutes of a Hellwalker game, and achieve his 2000 killstreak by level 30.

Asgard Training mastery is immensely beneficial. It increases Anvil's auto-attack damage, range and Jötunnbane corps damage over time and takes quite long to max out.

Get Nuke slightly earlier (with your 2K streak) to trigger bosses in the absence of Nova. If Anvil is the hero that is nuking, then Nuke should be picked by level 50 at latest, since this is the time frame when major enemy bases such as the Leviathan and Brain Bug bases need to be softened.

## Additional Comments on Jötunnbane Corps Mastery

Since version 15.0, Jötunnbane Corps Mastery has a steep cost of 40,000 minerals that gets halved every time Anvil picks a mastery point. This includes perks which "pre-pick" mastery points, such as Weaponsmith perk. As such, if Anvil picks Weaponsmith as a perk, the cost of Jötunnbane Corps Mastery is halved from 40,000 minerals to 20,000 minerals right at the start of the game.

Many non-experts make the mistake of picking Mercenary perk for the purpose of picking Jötunnbane Corps Mastery while failing to pick Weaponsmith perk.

If Anvil follows the recommended perks, at level 0, Jötunnbane Corps Mastery will cost 5000 minerals after 3 masteries (Weaponsmith perk, Ambush Protocol mastery, Mobile Command Post mastery). At level 10, Jötunnbane Corps Mastery will cost 2500 minerals after 4 masteries. It is therefore entirely possible to pick Jötunnbane Corps Mastery as from level 0 with the help of ally donations and by level 10 without any ally donations. In the circumstance that Aquila picks Altruism mastery at level 0, then it would be entirely possible for Anvil to pick Jötunnbane Corps Mastery right from the start of the game.

On Hellwalker, Anvil avoids picking Jötunnbane Corps Mastery too early since Jötunnbane Corps will simply die off to the early waves of banelings. Most importantly, Anvil should always be the last player in the lobby, so as to channel all banelings to his position. Picking Jötunnbane Corps Mastery will simply cause his banelings to suicide onto his minions, ruining Anvil's killstreak. With proper positioning, an expert-level Anvil achieves 1200 killstreak or more by the 8th minute of a Hellwalker game, without the nydus trap (baneling trap) having been activated.

For Hellwalker games, Level 20 is the earliest level where you can really place Jötunnbane Corps exactly where you want, that is, focused on hives and lairs, to gain maximum score. Ideally you should be targetting the Upper Hives and the Middle Hives and having your Jötunnbane Corps spawn on you at that moment while killing the hives allows you to reach your 2500 score as early as the 12min50s mark.