From the same token, whenever an Arcane Wizard's Death Ray disintegrates, the DWAARP's Core Drill pulverizes, the Wild Magus's Eldritch Doom explodes, the Shadow Archers' Blade of Demise backstabs, the Dark Knight's Brutal Strike minces, the Blazing Gem's Destructo-Ray incinerates, or the Swamp Thing's Smash! smacks a Giant Mook for a One-Hit Kill.
In a similar manner, having the Specters Mausoleum successfully possess a Giant Mook and temporarily turn it against its allies is amazing, especially if it manages to take down a number of other mooks.
Several characters go through substantial development throughout the Kingdom Rush saga.
On the good side, we have Malik Hammerfury. His first chronological appearance in Origins depicts him as a slave forced to mine Bloodsydian crystals. Malik later becomes a regular playable Hero in the original game. Despite skipping Frontiers, he gloriously returns to Vengeance as a king of Hammerhold - and by extension the final boss of the respective mini-campaign.
On the evil side, we have Beresad the Black Dragon. His young incarnation from Origins serves as an ally that can provide assist against enemies... for a price. Later on in Frontiers, the grown-up Beresad acts as a stage hazard: he guards his hoard of gold and occasionally engulfs several towers on fire, disabling them. In Vengeance, however, Beresad becomes fully playable with free range of movement, several special attacks, and now actively fights against Linirea and Hammerhold, courtesy of Vez'nan bribing him with Bolgur's gold hoard.
Sure enough, Vez'nan himself had humble beginnings. A playable Hero in Origins turned Final Boss of the original game turned Villain Protagonist in Vengeance. Respectively, the player gets the chance to control him in battle, then to fight him, and then to take over the kingdom on his behalf.
Vengeance
Just the fact that The Bus Came Back in regards to the mooks/enemies. Several enemy units from the previous three games are now playable and with updated, more detailed graphics to boot.
The vast pool of various mooks you can fight over the course of the game. Dwarves, giant mechas, Viking expys, icy creatures, townsfolk of Linirea, magicians, Elven rangers, musketeers, Anurians, werewolves, liches, literal souls, gremlins, Chinese carnival dragons, prehistoric cavemen, dinosaurs, djinnis, desert nomads, Assassins, elephants, etc.
This game allows you to play as Vez'nan's Dark Army, and over the course of the game you encounter and have to defeat not one, not two, but three kings! And that's not counting additional mini-campaigns which have their own assortment of "kings" to fight against!
The MechaDwarf MK.9 gets an awesomely detailed Mook Debut Cutscene in Clockwork Factory. On Wave 8, the top-right factory activates, opening a hatch that lifts a dwarf on a platform who waddles into the factory. The factory workers control two arms that enter the building causing sparks to fly and lights to flash, and as soon as it stops the very first giant enemy in the game slowly stomps its way out towards your troops.
The fight against Jokull is the first Puzzle Boss in the series and it doesn't disappoint. You need to hold off the enemy waves as the gigantic dragon Jokull freezes your towers, and you blast her in the face using cannons at the sides of the arena.
The final level of Vengeance. In a series first, we get a two-part level where Vez'nan successfully destroys the castle walls after Wave 7, leading to the inside of the castle with a different layout altogether. Throughout the fight, we get to periodically use Vez'nan's power to one-shot (or deal huge damage) to enemies every now and then. Hordes of Linirea's best head out from the castle and the streets, Denas's artillery cannons fire barrels filled with Tar and Feathers at your towers, and once you complete the final wave, we get a Boss Battle that's a non-frustrating Escort Mission of sorts. Vez'nan summons a giant demon that slowly walks forward to invade the castle, while Denas sends his Paragons who drink a growth potion to take it on in a clash between good and evil. Three defeated Paragons later, and the Demon successfully enters the castle, netting our Villain Protagonists a hard earned victory.
