NM wayverns... what works?

[Korrigan]

Not a single trap works (can't be close to the core)
Only one aura kind of works: Ensnare; but what about Poison immune wyverns? (also aura range isn't great)
App towers? MM and DST dont deliever good enough DPS per DU imho.
Squire towers? I would love to use Harpoon, but it stares at mobs it can't ever shoot 99% of the time and then turns around to face the wyverns TOO LATE and TOO SLOW.

[Bengan]

When I run NMHC Misty Surv we use Harpoon towers for the Wyverns. Though after wave 15 we need to constantly boost the towers with App guardians in order to not get the wyverns too close to the crystals.
Around that wave there's only wyverns until 1000ish mobs spawned.

I think our tower squire has around 2100ish tower damage and maybe 700 range.

[fluffycalico]

2 MM towers and no wyvern should ever get anywhere near a crystal. You can also angle the 2nd so it will dps ogers when they come. So 1 dedicated MM and 1 part time MM

[Korrigan]

Maybe it's different for Misty? I am talking about ES NM HC MM Survival and both my squire and a friend's app are only about 500/900/700/600 or something in those dimensions. Even 3 MM for each core didnt work perfectly. Is it necessary to stand there 24/7 to boost them?!

[Darkman_0]

I've been using bouncers on my attempts for hardcore summit. They're pretty amazing if you can find the right angle. Generally magic missiles will do, but if you try survival mode, you'll need some more. The wyverns are what get me on nightmare ramparts attempts. There, I combine lightning towers, magic missiles, fireballs and ensnares, but I try to position them so they also hit spiders and regular mobs as much as possible.

Also, harpoons prioritize wyverns. As long as you can place them in a straight line with their flight path they can be pretty amazing.

Edit: Endless spires is a nightmare when dealing with wyverns. Hard to position your towers or auras. I'm not sure if you can use bouncers, but the line damage of harpoons might be nice. Going to cost you a lot of DU to sufficiently cover the two crystals though.

I'd recommend you to do ramparts survival instead, wyverns are a lot easier to deal with :D

[Bengan]

Ah, ES.

This is how I build with my App with 500/1200/500/500 on ES NMHC
http://html5.cubicleninja.com/dd/index.htm?layout=18340

Note that this is not survival. This is only a build for me when I want to get some fast money.
Though with my stats it's not an AFK build, so you'll need to be there to boost the towers as the ogres come, and don't forget to upgrade (Captain Obvious strikes again!).

[Korrigan]

Also, harpoons prioritize wyverns. As long as you can place them in a straight line with their flight path they can be pretty amazing.
Well that's what they SHOULD do. Instead they look through the floor at mobs passing below, but can't shoot at them because they dont have a line of sight. When the wyverns get REALLY close - and I mean REALLY; maybe 5-10 range? - then the harpoons begin to turn and fire. NM wyverns are so fast that they reach the core in that time and can sometimes hit it once. Ensnare would help, but then poison immunes sometimes still hit the core. So if every tenth or even twentieth wyvern hits the core once you soon lose in survival.

Why can't the harpoons target the wyverns earlier?

[Sercease]

We have the same problem on survival there. We can deal with the ogres and the spiders but the birds kill us slowly but surely every time. TBH I think the problem is more the spider spawn fest during the bird rush. It completely shuts down any towers you have shooting birds.

We had some success with 2xDST per crystal, and a slow aura on each, but it ultimately starts to fall apart when you get to 8+ (after ogre onslaught). The DST's get wrapped up no matter how hard you try and birds come piling in. Even tried buffing with hunter guardian and app guardian which worked for few waves but eventually even that didn't work (not to mention there is two crystals to monitor, makes solo almost impossible)

At this point I would say you would have to use bumpers or slice and dice on the edge between their spawn lines and the crystal. It's the only thing I can think of that won't get completely shut down by the spiders as you get zerged by both spiders and birds at the same time. Squeezing the DU for them could be tricky depending on your build though.

Just slapped together. Modified build we were using dropping the DSTs for SnD. Untested.
http://html5.cubicleninja.com/dd/index.htm?layout=18362

App Stats (tower): 450/750/350/350

[Darkman_0]

Wouldn't is be possible to use bouncers against the spiders? Not sure ofcourse, but they might be able to prevent a lot of the webbing. I've found them to be amazing against those pesky critters.

[Korrigan]

We have the same problem on survival there. We can deal with the ogres and the spiders but the birds kill us slowly but surely every time. TBH I think the problem is more the spider spawn fest during the bird rush. It completely shuts down any towers you have shooting birds.
At this point I would say you would have to use bumpers or slice and dice on the edge between their spawn lines and the crystal. It's the only thing I can think of that won't get completely shut down by the spiders as you get zerged by both spiders and birds at the same time. Squeezing the DU for them could be tricky depending on your build though.
Harpoons are not shut down often by spiders in my build, but they still fail because of the issues mentioned above.
Bumpers/Bouncers work pretty well, but have only a short time to kill the wyverns before they reach the core. They also get attacked/webbed from below and can even get destroyed by necromancer ranged attack spam in later waves.
If it is interesting I can post links to the builds I've used semi-successfully (~ wave 11)

[Vertigo]

On my squire, I use bouncers. They are great for killing wyverns. The only time they don't is when they get webbed, but no tower is going to be good at killing wyverns webbed. As mentioned earlier, a harpoon can work if it is in a direct line with the flight path. IMO, using one bouncer per flight path is cheaper and more reliable. When placing the bouncer, put it as close to the crystal as possible. That way if it misses or somehow does not kill the wyvern on its approach, it will still hit the wyvern as it flighs around the crystal hitting it.

On my apprentice, I use deadly strike and/or magic missile towers. Also, if the map allows, I set up my "kill zones" to include the wyvern flight paths. Then they get killed along with the ground pounders. Lightning towers are great for this. If you use magic missile towers, then make sure that there are not many other targets for the MM tower to shot at. Otherwise the MM tower will fire at closer targets until the wyvern is nearly on top of it. At that close, many MM towers don't have the DPS to kill a NM wyvern before it is past.

[Volvagia]

DST+MM, cheap/best combination, imo.

[poisonyanni]

What If you moved your southern defenses more to the south so the harpoons won't even see the ground troops?
http://html5.cubicleninja.com/dd/index.htm?layout=18402
I'm not actually into NM yet but this is what my theory would be when I get there.

[alido2boord]

Ah, I've tried many methods. One of the problem is that wyverns also shoot out projectiles in the later waves when they are close enough. It's hard to reach wave 11, and impossible for me to go pass wave 11 doing HC NM ES. I use my squire mainly, but I've tried combinations with auras and apprentice towers. What seems good is the combo of DST and MM. But that means I have to sacrifice DU in other places, which I have to figure out where I can do so. 'Tis difficult!

[CrzyRndm]

http://html5.cubicleninja.com/dd/index.htm?layout=18262
Works fine as long as your bouncers can one shot wyrverns. As soon as that stops, I cant solo it any more (wave 12 for me. 3 starred they hit 82k, wyverns have 83 >.<). With a team of three with two boosting bouncers, this should go a lot further.

[Korrigan]

With a team of three with two boosting bouncers, this should go a lot further.
That's the conclusion we arrived at as well