Forest Keepers

Forest Keepers
Type	Melee Tower
Level	4
Introduced	Grimmsburg
Build Cost	300
HP	300
Damage	24-36 45-69
Attack Rate	1.3s 3.1s
Armor	None
Respawn	12 seconds

“

Nature is calling!

”

The Forest Keepers are a level 4 Melee Tower in Kingdom Rush: Origins, unlocked in stage 8, Grimmsburg. They are well-rounded, powerful in both attack and defense, and have a ranged attack - however their number is limited: each barracks only has the capacity to support two Keepers. They regenerate 35 hit points per second when idle.

Description

Guardians of the forest, they command the powers of nature to help protect the realm.

Abilities

Circle of Life

Nature protects its own.

Heals themselves and nearby allies over 4 seconds.
(Cooldown: 10 seconds)

Level	Cost	HP healed
1	185	80
2	185	160
3	185	240

Eerie Gardener

The forest awakens!

Covers an area with barbed vines, slowing and damaging enemies.
(Cooldown: 16 seconds)

Level	Cost	Damage	Slowdown	Duration
1	285	72 (69 iOS)	50%	4 seconds
2	285	144 (140 iOS)	50%	6 seconds

Ancient Oak Spear

You! Catch!

Empowers the Forest Keepers' spears, making them deal True Damage.

Level	Cost	Damage
1	250	90
2	250	125
3	250	160

Strategy

• Even though Forest Keepers are very useful with their upgrades, they deal no more damage than the Barbarians do in the original game since they come in two at a time and Barbarians come in threes, both combined have average health like a Bladesinger, which is less than a barbarian's and still takes longer with 12s respawn time instead of 10s. Furthermore, they have no base armor.
• Eerie Gardener is great at slowing leaked enemies down.
• Circle of Life is extraordinarily useful when facing powerful enemies such as Bandersnatches, Twilight Golems, and even Bosses. Because of the extremely high damage of such foes, melee soldiers cannot hold long. With this ability, bosses and boss-like enemies can be held much longer.
• Ancient Oak Spear is exceptionally powerful when a large number of Forest Keepers are dealing with enemies such as Bandersnatches, Twilight Golems, and even bosses. However, the slow speed of the Forest Keepers' throwing compromises their abilities, and the number of Forest Keepers is usually limited.
  • Regardless of limits, at max upgrade, each double-spear volley deals 320 true damage, 640 if the target is afflicted by the Hunter's Mark, and should the target also be suffering from the Sylvan Curse, the same 640 will be taken by all nearby enemies.
• Not factoring in mercenaries and heroes, Bladesingers and Forest Keepers are the most synergetic melee towers in the Kingdom Rush series. Bladesingers should be put in the front, while Forest Keepers should be put in the back.
  • When facing a large number of low HP enemies, the Forest Keepers' Eerie Gardener will slow enemies down while the Bladesingers' Edge Mastery and Blade Dance will eliminate them in seconds.
  • When facing a small number of high HP enemies, upgrading will be different. Combining the Bladesingers' Perfect Parry and the Forest Keepers' Circle of Life, they can be almost analogous to Paladins in Kingdom Rush with their Shield of Valor and Healing Light upgrades. While Bladesingers hold the enemies as long as they can, Forest Keepers will deal high damage with their Ancient Oak Spear, making them almost analogous to Barbarians.

 Additonal Stats

• Enchanted Armor gives +10% armor, increasing their natural armor to 10%.
• In total with all upgrades, their EHP* is 333 points of physical damage per soldier (2 soldiers equals 666 EHP).
• The cost of the Forest Keepers is 810 Gold, 759 if upgraded.
• Gold spend per EHP (for all 3 soldiers) is 1.22 (1.14 if upgraded).
• This makes Forest Keepers the least cost-to-EHP efficient Barracks across all three games.

Note: Effective Hit Points = how much damage a unit needs to take before dying.

Related Upgrades

• Expert Tactician (1 star)
  • Increases barracks rally point range.
• Enchanted Armor (2 stars)
  • Barracks equip soldiers with improved armor. (+10%)
• Moon Forged Blades (2 stars)
  • Soldier attacks deal additional magic damage.
• Blessing of Elynie (3 stars)
  • Soldiers have a 10% chance of cheating death when dealt lethal damage. (Soldiers revive with full health when proced.)

Related Achievements

1, 2, 3... PLANT! Grow 100 barbed vines!

KINGSFOIL LEAVES Give regeneration 25 times to the same soldier.

Quotes

• "Nature is calling."
• "You reap what you sow."
• "Live long and prosper."
• "Strong, like an oak."

Trivia

• The Forest Keepers are based on the Night-Elf hero-unit of the same name appearing in Warcraft III. They share the same name, appearance and abilities as their Real Time Strategy counterparts.
• "You reap what you sow"
  • A person is rewarded only by what they put in. Here it is paraphrased from the bible passage in Galatians 6:7
• "Live long and prosper"
  • A phrase said by Vulcans in Star Trek, it is commonly associated with the character Spock.
• The names of the Keepers are a reference to many horses or horse-like characters, both real and fictional
  • Bucefalus is a misspelling of Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander the Great.
  • Incitatus is the favorite horse of Roman emperor Caligula.
  • Khartoum is the horse of Jack Woltz in The Godfather
  • Mandarb is the horse ridden by Lan Mandragoran in A Wheel of Time
  • Othar is Atilla the Hun's horse.
  • Quiron is a Spanish form of Chiron, a centaur from mythology
  • Shadowfax is Gandalf the Grey's horse from The Lord of the Rings
  • Shadowmere is a red-eyed horse from the Elder Scrolls video games.
  • Stonebrow is a centaur from the Time Spiral TCG.