Nivus the Grand Wizard is a hero in Kingdom Rush: Frontiers. He costs $0.99 on Flash and $2.99 on mobile. He is unlocked at stage 9 on the steam version.
Description
A bit more eccentric than wise, he wrote most spells taught today in the Wizard’s Academy. Nivus wields an astounding power… and with such power comes great responsibility.
Skills
Primary
MAGIC MISSILE (active) (cooldown: 10 seconds) (1/2/3 hero points):
- Casts 3/5/7 homing magic missiles that never miss and deal 12/18/24 damage each.
CHAIN SPELL (active) (cooldown: 6 seconds) (2/2/2 hero points):
- Shoots a regular bolt that pierces to an additional 2/3/4 enemies.
DISINTEGRATE (active) (cooldown: 20 seconds) (3/3/3 hero points):
- Disintegrates enemies in range with a combined total health of 170/330/480 or less.
ARCANE REACH (passive) (1/1/1 hero points):
- Increases attack range by 10/20/30 percent.
ARCANE FOCUS (passive) (1/2/3 hero points):
- Increases attack damage by 2/4/6 points.
Secondary
- Nivus can teleport across the map.
Order of importance
When all of Nivus' abilities are active, he uses them in this order:
- Magic Missiles
- Disintegrate
- Chain Spell
Stats
Nivus regenerates 10% of his maximum health per second, taking 10 seconds to fully heal.
| Level | Health | Magic Damage (with Arcane Focus) |
Armour | Heal Rate | Respawn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 160 | 14-41 (16-43 / 20-47 / 26-53) |
None | 16 | 18s |
| 5 | 175 | 15-45 (17-47 / 21-51 / 27-57) |
None | 18 | 18s |
| 6 | 190 | 17-50 (19-52 / 23-56 / 29-62) |
None | 19 | 18s |
| 7 | 205 | 18-54 (20-56 / 24-60 / 30-66) |
None | 21 | 18s |
| 8 | 220 | 20-59 (22-61 / 26-65 / 32-71) |
None | 22 | 18s |
| 9 | 235 | 21-63 (23-65 / 27-69 / 33-75) |
None | 24 | 18s |
| 10 | 250 | 23-68 (25-70 / 29-74 / 35-80) |
None | 25 | 18s |
Tips and Tricks
Nivus is a fragile hero adept on Harassing. His good base magic damage and long range excel in hurting a few enemies from afar, beyond the range of most ranged enemies, making up for his low health count and lack of armor. Above all, Nivus can also teleport, so he can quickly get away from any approaching danger, as well as supporting multiple areas almost simultaneously. When using Nivus, the most important thing to remember is to build at least one sufficiently strong barricade of Barracks, so as to provide shelter for Nivus to hide while attacking enemies.
- Chain Spell hits multiple targets, gaining strength as Nivus' base damage increases by leveling up and upgrading Arcane Focus. Its damage may not be instantly visible, but with a fast cooldown, Nivus can wound most regular enemies nicely and reliably. The skill will target the maximum number of enemy, only chaining to those behind the initial target.
- Keep Nivus near a Necromancer is good, since the skeletons keep enemies busy in place for Nivus to bombard them with Chain Spell, and the wizard can avoid being ran over by too many enemies.
- With everything fully upgraded, the total damage done by one Chain Spell is actually 175-400 Magic Damage, about 287.5 points in average, a very high number. However, this damage is divided evenly to all targets, and cannot be concentrated on a single foe in any way.
- Magic Missiles have infinite range, allowing them to hit enemies across the map, however, they seem to prioritize those closer to Nivus. The damage done is low but made up by a really short recharge of just 10 seconds, resulting in a decent damage skill with a global range. Due to each missile's low damage output, Magic Missiles should only be counted on to weaken an especially tough foe, not directly killing enemies.
- The missiles will turn to another target should the initial one dies, and they can keep switching target back and forth indefinitely, so that the damage packed in those missiles are never wasted, as long as there are still enemies on the screen.
- In order for Nivus to use Magic Missiles, he must be within a certain distance to enemies, despite the missile's infinite range.
- Disintegrate is one of the two instant kill that can target multiple foes, the other being Soul Burn of Vez'nan, the hero in Kingdom Rush: Origins. A multi-target instant kill has its own unique strengths, such as the ability to quickly clear out groups of enemies. However, the range of this skill is ridiculously short, so Nivus must be very close to enemies for it to activate. The maximum total health of all the captured enemies is also rather low, at only 480 HP, which is barely enough to kill two Savage Warriors. For these reasons, Nivus would need to put himself at risk to use this skill.
- Due to the low maximum total health of all the targets, only use Disintegrate to quickly get rid of grouped, heavily-wounded foes; or try to isolate just one desired enemy, preferably one who is really annoying, and use Disintegrate on it, in which case the health limit can be exceeded.
- Timing is key. If Nivus does not use Disintegrate right the moment he exposes himself to enemies, he may be hurt badly and even killed.
- To minimize the risk of Nivus' death, you can group many soldiers in front of him, so he can disintegrate the blocked enemies safely.
- Teleport now comes in handy: You can quickly move Nivus right into the targeted group for him to use Disintegrate, then quickly back away.
- Arcane Focus & Arcane Reach give Nivus the edge over other enemies: High base damage and extreme range. This edge makes up for the wizard's fragility and slower fire rate compare to other ranged-capable heroes, like Mirage and Dante. This slow fire rate means that while Nivus has an extremely high maximum damage per shot, greater than practically any other hero, his DPS is fairly average, and he won't fare so well against floods and hordes as he does versus single, durable enemies. Nivus functions best as a "glass cannon" - a unit best placed slightly behind lines, well defended, can shred enemies but is incapable of fighting blow-for-blow versus foes.
Nivus is designed so that you only need to pay minimal attention to him and he can still achieve full potential, thanks to the great range he has. Wherever enemies cluster, you should move him there, positioned distanced from the fray, then let him do his job.
A few last things to note about Nivus:
- Nivus's teleport is slower than that of Dierdre, Vez'nan and Magnus Spellbane; it takes him a moment to charge up before he actually moves. This animation makes his relocation slightly less fluid, requiring timing to position him in a good position relative to enemies.
- When playing the final campaign stage, Emberspike Depths, Nivus apparently is the first priority target of both Lord Malagar and Umbra, meaning that he would mostly be dead throughout the stage. It is unsure whether this is a bug.
- Nivus targets Bluegales over Bloodshells, despite obviously being more effective against the crabs since the latter is immune to magic. Therefore, you must separate the 2 enemies.
- Nivus is effective against pre-transformation Lycans and enemies that spawn other foes, like Immortals and Giant Wasp Queens, when he disintegrates them, because they will not spawn a new creature like they normally would.
- He seems to level up quite quickly if you let him do a lot. He can even climb two levels in long stages, such as The Dark Descent or Dusk Chateau.
Quotes
- Excelsior!
- Merlin's pants!
- A wizard is never late.
- Boom-shaka-laka!
- (upon death) Noooo!
Trivia
- "Excelsior!" - One of Stan Lee's (brainchild of Marvel Comics) most used phrases.
- "A Wizard is never late!" - A line spoken by Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Ring. The full quote is "A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to."
- "Boomshakala!" - The key phrase from 1993 hit song Boom-Shak-A-Lak by Apache Indian. The song has been used in films and commercials across the world.
- "Merlin's Pants!" - A line spoken by Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (book and film) as an exclamation of shock or surprise. The character of Merlin (though only mentioned in the series) is so well known that his name has entered everyday vernacular.
- He starts from level 4 on the steam version.
Gallery
