Gathering Storm

Gathering Storm is a 7-day bonus boss Campaign. Rewards are diverse but notably include void cores and epic battle chests, in addition to a large amount of food and training points (tp), artisan points (ap), and skill points (sp).

## Campaign Properties

In Gathering Storm, each mission is a boss mission. The bosses are basically higher-statted normal monsters with oversized models and different shading.

The "Overload" skill is added to all enemies in this campaign, which boosts their attack and defense by a small amount. Boss monsters have a double strength Overload that affects the whole party. Additionally, each mission introduces a new thematic skill that may recur throughout the campaign. For example, Warcry will apply a damage type bonus to each attack, which makes DoT effects extremely deadly when buffed by multiple warcries. In the final missions, powerful debuffs to defense (over 80%) as well as armour will be applied to your entire team. This can be partially countered with use of Warmaster.

These bonus skills are shown in order of introduction (numbers being missions)

1. Fire Aura (Shaman Skill)
2. Hard to Kill (bonus armour while below a health threshold)
3. Units cast Warcry, and each application adds a bonus damage type.
4. Wall's blocking on tanks.
5. Attacks that deal physical damage now deal a single element e.g. lightning or cold damage.
	1. Similar to mission 4 Warcry, but no attack bonus.
6. Haste (Spellsword skill)
7. Magic Jar (Necromancer, full heal on death), Cloud of Weakness, Divine Favour (Templar passive)
8. Curse (Witch skill), Demon Shout (lowers defense by 100%, single target, boss only)
9. Demon Shout (now targets all allies but lowers defense by 83%+), Disenchant on enemies (removes your buffs, single target), Thrall's Stunning Blow applies a 30% Curse affect
10. Shield of Valour and Shield of Discipline (Warmaster skills), Fireball (deals a large amount of fire damage)

## Notable Rewards

* 5 × Void Cores (7-ex, 10-h, 11-h)
* 1 Epic Battle Chest (11-n)
* Level 45 boss monster Kragnor, Undead Warlord (11-ex)
* 1x lvl 50 armor/weapon boosters (11-n+ex)
* 45500 × Gold in total
* 2875 × Food refunded (2565 minimum food cost for campaign after refund)

## Detailed Mission Rewards

\*All max Food costs above 220 are impossible to attain normally.

## Strategy

* In the middle missions (in particular Mission 7), the enemy is highly reliant on buffs to be a threat. The Spellsword is worth trying if one is struggling.
* In missions 9 to 11, Cleric / Mystic / Druid / Blackguard can be used. The Cleric/Mystic will remove the massive defense debuffs / damage over time effects while the Druid keeps everyone alive and the Blackguard deals damage on the frontline.
* For mission 10, it may be necessary to bring the Spellsword in exchange for one of your heroes, such as the Druid. While your healing will be crippled, it is a worthy trade-off since you can get rid of the enemy Warcries that do massive amounts of lightning damage as well as keep the two heroes that can remove the Demon Shout defense debuffs.
* Note that you can use a DPS Druid and Warmaster tank for most of the campaign (except for Missions 6 and 7), as long as you have high resistance bonuses on her with Great Wyrm Hide and the Cleric and Mystic's passive resistance buffs as well. With all this, heroes get a maximum 51% resist bonus just from skills, allowing you to survive some HEAVY damage! With the occasional Doom-spam, the Visions cooldown and Battle Fury, you can still deal nice damage.
* Use the Abjurer's Staff on Mystic--Horrify is rubbish, therefore Rod of Ruin will not serve her well. Foretell is sometimes good, but would you rather take chances? I prefer Safety Ward--it infinitely stacks with Take Charge, so sometimes you don't even take damage. Confuse is a must so you can slow an enemy and/or hit it. Some enemies seem to have 100% stun resist, but there's not too many of these. They're predominantly tanks placed in the front row to protect important enemies.
* Remember that it will take a while to win even with the resist and damage boosts. Warmaster will restore armour and defense.
* Lastly, it is imperative you field the Warmaster and Cleric with a maxed Chainskin and King's Hammer for the hardest stages, and don't forget: spam all usable skills as much as possible and/or needed. All this gives you high resist and armour, but the occasional true damage will hurt. Crits boosted by Warcry may still catch you off guard, and if you don't spam enough, you'll slowly die.
	+ This team may work for lower levels with hard work and a couple of good potions.
* With all this, Cleric actually becomes a damage dealer, doing 200-1000+ damage with Righteous Call (depending on enemy resists and crit chance)!
* The Frozen Blood Conjurer in Mission 7 likes to target the middle back row, but not always. Be warned, sometimes it will target the Spellsword or Cleric, so be prepared.
* In the final mission, the first stage shouldn't be too troublesome; simply target the Skeletal Archers first. Their borrowed Target Weaknesses can take a toll, especially on Extreme and when coupled with the Deadeye's Barbed Arrow, which carries a Curse side effect and boasts a fast cool-down. Knock out each archer, then the Deadeye Archer. Try to focus the melee attacks on one skeleton at a time. Just as a suggestion, go for the Dreadnought first, as his melee attacks deal lightning damage instead of physical damage. The Undead Warlord's Slash does deal a bit of true damage, but this skill has a long cooldown, so it should only be a minor pest by comparison.
* The second stage will pose a bit of a tougher challenge. Immediately target the Skeletal Mage; his Demon Shout is far more dangerous than the Target Weakness since it affects the whole hero party. Using the Druid / Mystic / Cleric backline, it's easy to annihilate it even on Extreme with a combination of Entangle, Confuse, Doom, Soul Rend and Tendril of Shadow. Remain diligent with cleansing Blackguard and spam soul skills whenever possible. Once the Mage is gone, clear the other enemies in the same fashion as last stage.
* Stage 3 works virtually the same as Stage 2. Get rid of the Mage, and then the Skeletal Archer. To save time, target the Deadeye in the very back first; with luck and some Doom-spamming, the other Deadeye will have to face the full force of the Blackguard and easily be pulverized.
* If reading ahead, you'll know that the boss stage is due to be the toughest. With two Skeletal Mages and Kragnor himself to contend with, strategy will be more important than ever. As usual, take out the mages; one of them might have free reign to strike with everything its got, but that's better than both firing on all cylinders. If both Demon Shouts roll out, don't be discouraged, just be diligent in cleansing and spamming Rapid Regeneration. After the Mages, switch things up and go for the Deadeye behind Kragnor instead. There's a decent chance that the Warlords will fall quickly to Blackguard's attacks, which improves greatly if he has an Iron Rose. The Skeletal Archer should be taken out after that, and then the other Deadeye. All of this take a while because of Kragnor's Disenchant and Overload. His Disenchant affects all of his allies, wiping away your precious debuffs, and his Overload is quadruple strength and affects the whole party (making stronger than the Knight's Inspiration). Once he is alone, hit him with everything, just beware of his Avenge.

## Mission Monsters,

**1**
level 20/24/31

Monsters

* 2x Kobold, 1x Goblin | 1x Goblin Magus
* 1x Kobold, 1x Goblin, 1x Goblin Trickster | 1x Goblin Magus, 1x Goblin Trickster
* 2x Kobold, 1x Goblin | 2x Goblin Trickster | 2x Goblin Magus, 1x Goblin (boss)

**2**
level 25/30/38

Monsters

* 2x Bandit, 1x Bandit Bruiser | 1x Bandit Archer
* 2x Bandit Cutthroat, 1x Bandit Leader | 3x Bandit Archer
* 1x Bandit Cutthroat, 1x Bandit Lord, 1x Bandit Bruiser | 1x Bandit Lord, 1x Bandit Leader, 1x Bandit Archer | 1x Bandit Lord (boss)

**3**
level 30/35/44

Monsters

* 2x Evil Acolyte, 1x Bandit Cutthroat | 1x Bandit Marksman, 1x Bandit Archer | 1x Bandit Marksman
* 2x Bandit Bruiser, 1x Bandit Cutthroat | 1x Bandit Leader, 1x Bandit | 2x Bandit Marksman
* 2x Bandit Lord, 1x Bandit | 1x Harlequin, 1x Bandit Marksman, 1x Bandit | 1x Harlequin (boss)

**4**
level 35/41/50

Monsters

* 2x Giant Spider, 1x Huge Croc | 2x Giant Snake, 1x Swamp Giant
* 2x Putrid Hulk, 1x Huge Croc | 1x Swamp Giant, 1x Giant Spider | 1x Ogre Spirittalker
* 1x Huge Croc, 1x Giant Snake, 1x Giant Spider | 1x Giant Snake, 1x Ogre Spirittalker, 1x Swamp Giant | 1x Vicious Overseer (boss)

**5**
level 40/46/56

Monsters

* 1x Troll | 2x Ogre
* 1x Armored Troll | 2x Ogre Brute
* 2x Ogre Brute, 1x Armored Troll | 2x Battle Ogre | 1x Mountain Giant (boss)

**6**
level 45/52/62

Monsters

* 1x Vicious Orc | 2x Orc, 1x Orc Warrior | 2x Orc Scout
* 1x Vicious Orc, 1x Frozen Blood Veteran, 1x Orc Warrior | 2x Orc Scout, 1x Orc Shaman
* 1x Frozen Blood Veteran, 2x Orc Warrior | 1x Frozen Blood Hero | 2x Orc Scout, 1x Orc Shaman
* 2x Frozen Blood Veteran, 1x Frozen Blood Hero | 2x Frozen Blood Executioner, 1x Orc Scout | 2x Orc Shaman, 1x Orc Overlord (boss)

**7**
level 50/57/68

Monsters

* 1x Frozen Blood Executioner, 1x Frozen Blood Hero, 1x Black Fist Enforcer | 1x Black Fist Skirmisher, 1x Frozen Blood Conjurer
* 2x Frozen Blood Veterans, 1x Black Fist Enforcer | 1x Frozen Blood Executioner, 1x Frozen Blood Conjurer, 1x Frozen Blood Hero | 1x Black Fist Evoker, 2x Black Fist Skirmisher
* 2x Black Fist Enforcer, 1x Black Fist Enforcer (boss) | 1x Frozen Blood Executioner, 1x Frozen Blood Conjurer, 1x Frozen Blood Hero | 2x Black Fist Skirmisher, 1x Black Fist Evoker

**8**
level 55/62/74

Monsters

* 2x Evil Acolyte, 1x Covenant Guardian | 2x Dark Fanatic, 1x Vile Priest
* 1x Dark Fanatic, 1x Covenant Guardian | 1x Corrupted Inquisitor, 1x Covenant Assassin | 2x Covenant Witch, 1x Vile Assassin
* 3x Covenant Assassins | 3x Vile Assassins
* 2x Covenant Guardians | 2x Vile Priests, 1x Covenant Witch | 1x Covenant Assassin (boss)

**9**
level 60/68/79

Monsters

* 2x Vampiric Zombie, 1x Lesser Demon | 1x Vampire, 1x Vile Priest, 1x Ghoul
* 2x Ghoul, 1x Lesser Demon | 2x Vampire, 1x Vile Priest
* 2x Vampire Thrall, 1x Vampire Lord | 2x Vile Priest, 1x Vampire
* 3x Vampire Thrall | 2x Vampire, 1x Vampire Lord | 1x Demonic Watcher (boss)

**10**
level 65/73/85

Monsters

* 2x Zombie, 1x Vampiric Zombie | 1x Vampiric Zombie, 1x Lesser Lich, 1x Plague Zombie
* 2x Giant Zombie, 1x Putrid Hulk | 2x Lesser Lich, 1x Necromancer (monster)
* 2x Plague Zombie, 1x Giant Zombie | 2x Lesser Lich, 1x Putrid Hulk | 1x Necromancer (monster)
* 1x Giant Zombie (boss) | 2x Lesser Lich | 1x Lesser Lich, 2x Necromancer (monster)

**11**
level 70/78/91

Monsters

* 2x Skeletal Warrior, 1x Skeletal Dreadnought | 2x Skeletal Archer, 1x Deadeye Skeleton
* 1x Skeletal Warrior, 1x Undead Warlord, 1x Skeletal Dreadnought | 1x Deadeye Skeleton, 1x Skeletal Mage, 1x Skeletal Archer
* 2x Skeletal Dreadnought, 1x Undead Warlord | 1x Deadeye Skeleton, 1x Skeletal Mage, 1x Skeletal Archer | 1x Deadeye Skeleton
* 2x Undead Warlord | 1x Skeletal Archer, Kragnor (boss), 1x Deadeye Skeleton | 2x Skeletal Mage, 1x Deadeye Skeleton