Does the timer include the time between waves?

Question

Since there is no visible timer while playing a level (one can only see it after he finishes the level), does anyone know if the timer includes these two things into the total time you played a level:

1. The time between waves when you need to press "G" to start the next wave
2. The time between waves when the 15 (or 12? I am not sure) seconds countdown until the next wave is visible

Asked by pootzko

Answer

Yes, the timer includes the time between waves. The timer in Orcs Must Die! starts when the initial setup period ends and runs up until the last orc of the last wave is dead and the only time that it does not include is when you are accessing the weavers and when you pause the game (ESC on PC).

Answered by skovacs1

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Are there enough skulls in the game to buy all upgrades?

Question

Are there enough skulls in the game to buy all upgrades? Each level seems to offer only up to five; with a new trap given every level and upgrades costing more than five skulls, it seems like you can never get enough skulls.

Or can you?

Asked by badp

Answer

It is possible, but you have to essentially beat the game twice to do it. You have to play through once on War Mage, and then again on Nightmare.

As further backup, a quote from the developer:

To upgrade every trap, you have to five-skull every War Mage and every Nightmare level. You can get around half of them upgraded by the end of the War Mage campaign, so pick the ones you'll use the most.

I haven't played any of the DLC, though, so if you are including that it's possible that this answer changes depending on how many new traps versus new levels are introduced.

Answered by Sterno

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What is the blue bubble around paladins?

Question

It only lasts until he attacks, so it doesn't appear to be an effective shield as I would first guess. I had 8-10 paladin guardians at the time, and only 1 ever had this happen.

What is this shield/aura the paladin has around him? What does it do?

EDIT: The paladin also had this aura active between waves, so I don't think it is related to any kind of enemy. Proof: the "2" in the screenshot below is the countdown to the next wave.

Answer

In my experience, I've seen that effect when a Paladin is being hit by something it can't counterattack (ranged flying enemies). This usually ends one of a few ways:

• Something comes within melee range and the Paladin beats on it instead.
• The ranged mob dies via some other means or stops attacking the Paladin.
• The Paladin dies.

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What are the coins Ogres drop used for?

Question

When killing an Ogre they drop this large coin.

What does picking this up do? I haven't been able to see any benefits to picking it up.

Answer

It gives you money the same way killing an orc does except that you must go to pick it up and isn't given to you automatically after killing one.

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How are skulls awarded?

Question

I've noticed that a higher score does not necessarily coincide with more skulls. When comparing to another player, I may have a higher score for a map, but have been awarded fewer skulls.

How is this determined?

Answer

Rift points determine 4 of the 5 skulls, but the 5th skull is dependent on the amount of time it took you to finish the level. You can check the time it took you and the par time in the statistics at the end of the level.

You also must be playing on at least War Mage to get all 5 skulls. At the lowest difficulty you will get far fewer.

If you're aiming for 5 skulls, there are many video guides on YouTube, and I also found this Steam forum thread.

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Which upgrades are worth it?

Question

So far I have upgraded spikes, arrow wall and archers. But i'm nervous about my next upgrade as you can't reset your points and I don't use the other traps as much.

The arrow wall and archers seem worth it as I'm using them a lot. What other upgrades are worth it? are any to be avoided?

Answer

It depends on your play style. I've seen some people max out guardians for upgrades and then take the weaver skills to buff them every level to a nice effect. I've seen others concentrate on other traps instead.

Personally, I like to bottleneck orcs with a combination of barricades and tar traps, then take them out with wall blades and clockwork maces. So, I've purchased those upgrades.

I would stress that, in my experience, there are some traps that seem a bit underpowered and that could be ruled out when focusing on what play style works best for you and what upgrades to choose.

• The steam trap is something I've never used. It seems to lack sufficient utility.
• Decoys and boom barrels are things I usually only use when I have an extra slot available as a "get out of jail free" card.
• Because of how the spore mushroom works, it seems a bit too random to be reliable.
• The spring trap and push trap are very situational.

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How are points calculated in Orcs Must Die?

Question

I am playing the demo of Orcs Must Die! and trying to understand how points are calculated and how to increase the points I get when I finish a mission.

Just to make an example, I reached about 26K points in the first mission The Hallway, but looking at the overall leaderboards plenty of players went over 40K.

In which points category should I concentrate more?

Answer

• If a trap kills an orc, you get 100 points.
• If you kill an orc, you get 50 points.
• If a combination of traps kills an orc (tar trap + clockwork mace, for example), the kill is worth 3 times what it would have been.
• You get 100 points for every rift point remaining.
• You get a bonus of 10,000 if nothing makes it to the rift.
• Each time you kill 5 or more orcs at once (thus getting a kill streak), you get a small bonus for that kill streak. The score at the end adds these bonuses up.

Focus on combos. If you start lining up awesome combos (tar trap + clockwork mace), you'll rack up tons of combos and this will naturally lead to lots of kill streaks around 10x. These add up. On maps where the above combo was favorable, I've gotten near the top 1,000 on the leaderboard. Each level will have different ideal combos, so you'll have to experiment to really optimize your score.

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What are the extra weapon/trap slots for?

Question

In Orcs Must Die! in both the spellbook and upgrade page there are extra slots left over after finishing the story on War Mage, and after playing through a few levels of Nightmare mode, it doesn't seem that there are any new traps/weapons coming.

Are these spare slots left there for future DLC, or is there a way to unlock these new weapons that I'm just missing?

Answer

These are just spare slots. The items doesn't exist yet, and are most likely to be included in future updates or DLC.

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What are combos and kill streaks?

Question

I've noticed that, while I'm killing orcs, it will pop up with my current kill streak quite often, and, much more rarely, say my combo. I seem to get money for both and maybe points, but what are they defined as?

Answer

• A combo is when an orc dies from 2 or more methods at the same time. For example, a tar trap slowing them down and a clockwork mace gibbing them will count as a combo.
• A kill streak is when you kill many orcs within a small time period. If you continue killing orcs within a second (or so) of one another, your kill streak increments. Once you've gone a second (or so) without killing an orc, you are given a bonus based on the number of orcs you killed in that streak.

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Some questions about Wind Belt mechanics

Question

I have two questions about Wind Belt:

• Does its wind blast damage the orcs?
• If I use its power to push orcs inside water, does it count towards the killing combo multiplier?

Answer

1. Yes it does damage orcs. Although it's not a whole lot, as you can see from the image below.

   

2. Yes it will count towards the combo, note that it might actually take 1-2 seconds before the kill happens, after the orc(s) have landed in the water. So as always with this game, timing is key.

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Do the pre-order bonuses offer any advantages or do they just look good?

Question

Prove your devotion to the Order and be handsomely rewarded! Pre-purchase now and receive an exclusive "Knight of the Order" costume for the game's hero, the War Mage. You will be able to play though the entire campaign wearing this beautiful custom suit of armor and wielding the mighty Hammer of War against your foes.

As the game is out and the time for the bonus quickly running out, I was wondering if the Knight of the Order custome or Hammer of War offer any actual gameplay bonuses?

Answer

According to this developer reply,

The costumes can be turned on and off. When you turn on the "Knight of the Order" costume, he's still using the crossbow, but instead of the Bladestaff he'll be carrying (and swinging) the Hammer of War (it'll still show as the Bladestaff on the spellbook tiles, but don't let that fool you). You can turn the costume off at any time to go back to the standard War Mage and Bladestaff.

Same goes for the Cardboard Tube Samurai costume. If you came by our booth at PAX Prime and unlocked the CTS costume, you can turn it on to change the clothes of the War Mage and to swap out his Bladestaff with a giant cardboard tube. Yes, it's pretty awesome.

So it appears as though the suit, including the Hammer of War, is nothing more than an affixable costume that offers no additional gameplay benefit.

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