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For the Redux pet, see Mini Dragon.

The Ancient Dragon is the third and final boss of the classic campaign. He appears at the end of the final wave on The Summit.

Combat[]

After an introductory cutscene showing off his deadly fire breath attack while perching, the Ancient Dragon begins to attack with fireballs while flying around the outside of the level. Ranged weapons and towers can hit him while he is airborne, but he will be easier to hit if a player shoots him down by operating one of the stationary War Ballistas on the ramparts.

When shot by a mounted ballista, the dragon will reappear perching on one of three ledges. This gives melee characters the opportunity to attack him and other heroes an easier time to rack up damage. While grounded, the Ancient Dragon will shoot fireballs more frequently and can either bite or exhale fire breath at heroes (or defenses) close to him. He will take flight again after receiving enough damage or once enough time has passed.

Ascension Secret[]

On Ascension difficulty, if the six intractable gargoyle statues were successfully activated in the correct order, a stronger artificial variant of the Ancient Dragon will spawn instead. This dragon's fireballs travel faster and are shot more frequently, but can be sent back via Reflection Beams. All attacks deal way more damage, lethal amounts to defenses. Though once the artificial dragon is shot down by a War Ballasta, it will never take flight again.

Defeating the hidden boss rewards each player a second pair of Gargoyle Horns and a special Huntress weapon. This red cannon can only be obtained once per user account.

Strategies[]

Warballista

Fire the War Ballista at the Dragon

The Summit[]

Ensure you have sturdy defenses protecting your crystals during the boss wave. These key defenses must require little to no repair maintenance as most of your attention needs to be directed towards the boss if playing solo. Since the ballastas do not shoot instataneously upon activation, you have to predict the dragon's position a few seconds ahead in order to knock him down.

In cooperative play, one person should stay back to maintain defenses while the other(s) run around the ramparts. Two players can divide up the area they patrol to bring the dragon down easier, then meet up at whereever he lands. This is especially helpful when the dragon is flying around the southside perimeter. Squire, Countess and Barbarian are all great choices against the dragon, thanks to their high health and intestingly: melee focus. Their speed-boosting abilities: Blood Rage, Call to Arms and Tornado Stance respectively, also give them the extra agility to catch a ballista on-time better to ground him. By then sticking to close combat, the dragon has a chance to use his bite and fire breath attacks instead of always launching fireballs towards defenses. The melee heroes can tank a few bites, but not constant flames for long (realistically-speaking). The boss telegraphs his fire breath through a prolonged delay; he hunches his head back slightly, blows smoke while grunting, then unleashes the attack in a sweeping motion. Its range covers all three staircases.

  • If you opt to use a ranged attacker instead for this boss, stand to the side far enough to where you have enough time to move away from the dragon's breath. On higher difficulties, you might need to watch out for Dark Elf Warriors, Spiders and/or Goblin Copters as well.

A Summoner can greatly simplify the defense maintenance aspect of this fight. Phase Shift lets him safely repair defenses, only ever needing to rematerize in order to restock on mana. He can operate ballistas while in Phase Shift too. Overlord Mode is also available to remotely cast Flash Heals over allies. If you have spare Defense Units you can also set up ranged towers on the top of the steps pointing down to where the dragon will rest. In this way, you can be damaging the dragon continually and gives you some time to repair other defenses.

Notes/Tips[]

  • On consoles, the Ancient Dragon will not bite in response to an invisible Huntress.
  • The dragon shoots fireballs at the closest defenses to him. This can be exploited by placing a few low-cost defenses along the edge of the map, such as Magic Blockades or 2 DU Physical Beams.
  • When playing The Summit solo, the Ancient Dragon has 1.6 million HP on Insane difficulty and 32 million on Nightmare.
  • In Boss Rush challenges, the dragon must be grounded first to damage him at all.
  • When the dragon prepares to breathe fire, he cannot take off again until he completes the entire attack's duration, regardless of how much damage he receives.
    • If your hero DPS is very high, do not attack until he readies to exhale the stream. Avoid using pets with above-average range, such as the Harpoon or Airplane.
  • In Redux, though only on Ascension, a Reflection Beam can be placed in front of each ledge to make the dragon kill himself while perching. Tower Boost plus an Apprentice Guardian will greatly speed up the process.
    • A multilayered Reflection Beam cage is also needed to securely protect vital defenses from fireballs. It cannot be a single layer because of the projectiles' varied vertical trajectory. Their explosion radius also has to be accounted for, in case they hit the ground beneath a reflector.

Trivia[]

  • There is a poster of the Ancient Dragon in the Back Room of the Tavern with the words Black Dragon written on it. This is possibly a reference to the movie Black Swan.
  • The Tavernkeep often references the Ancient Dragon through his dialogue, even after the hosting player has long-defeated the boss.

Media[]

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