Overview

- Estimated achievement difficulty: 4/10
- Offline: 12/12 (200)
- Online: 0/0 (0)
- Approximate amount of time to 20015-25 hours 
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 2 (One on War Mage, one on Nightmare)
- Number of missable achievements: None
- Do cheat codes disable achievements?: No Cheats
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: Yes
- Glitchy achievements: None
- Unobtainable achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed?: None

 

Introduction:

Orcs Must Die! is the first release from Robot Entertainment, founded by some people leftover from Ensemble Studios, who made Halo Wars. It is a tower defense game, but instead of having the traditional top-down view it is a third-person action game. You have to stop waves of orcs and various other monsters advancing from all over the area from reaching a magical rift in the back of your castle. You can use traps and towers to stop them, but unlike normal tower defense games you yourself are also a key force to stopping the waves.

 

Step #1: War Mage run:
When you first start, you will only have two difficulties available: Apprentice, and War Mage. Playing on Apprentice is pretty pointless unless you want to get the hang of the game, but the game eases you into things pretty well anyway and War Mage is easy enough to get the swing of things.

Your first decision is whether or not you want to try and get all 5 skulls on your first run-through or not. The main disadvantage to doing it on your first run-through is that you won't have every weapon or trap, and while many video guides online will assume you do, it is far from necessary. If you run into trouble on any given level and look up a video guide but they're using weapons you don't have, the strategy can almost always be tweaked to accommodate what you do have. For example, if they are using the Brimstone trap and you don't have it yet, the spike trap should work just as fine.

A very important link to keep in mind is the guide at xblafans.com which will break down every weapon, enemy, weaver, and provide video and text guides for every level. They will also give a wave breakdown for every level, so you know what will be coming at you at any given time and how to prepare.

See "Ultimate War Mage" in the guide for more information

 

Step #2: Nightmare run:
This is a step a lot of people seem to be afraid of, but it's not nearly as bad as you'd think. The main difference is that you are given little to no time to prepare, but this can be easily overcome with a few simple things to remember (see "Legendary War Mage" in the guide for more information).

Step #3: Clean-Up:
Nothing too crazy here. All of the achievements can be gained easily with a little strategy (or a little grinding in the case of "Member: 30k Club"). If you're having any trouble with a particular achievement, look it up in the guide for help.

 

[x360a would like to thank relauby for this Roadmap]

 

 

Orcs Must Die! Achievement Guide

Printable Guide
Show completed achievements
Show secret achievements

There are 12 achievements with a total of 200 points

  • Kill 1,000 orcs

    Pretty simple stuff. You should get this within the first few levels.

  • Kill 30,000 orcs

    Not as bad as you'd think. If you don't have this after 5-skulling everything and doing Nightmare, you're close. I used the penultimate level, "Stairs of Doom", to rack up kills because it's easy. Just fill the two choke points on either side with three clockwork maces (upgraded swinging mace) and a 3 x 3 grid of tar traps under them, and waste whatever money you end up with afterwards. This should net you about 700 kills each time. If you can keep up with the kobold runners in the early waves, this strategy also works great for 5 skulls and Nightmare mode.

  • Complete Act 1

    This achievement is story related and cannot be missed. You will get this achievement upon completion of the 10th mission called "Sludge Hole."

  • Complete Act 2

    This achievement is story related and cannot be missed. You will get this achievement upon completion of the 18th mission called "Killing Fields."

  • Complete Act 3

    This achievement is story related and cannot be missed.

  • Complete the campaign on Nightmare mode

    The strategy for this will be pretty much the same as for getting 5 skulls on every level. The main problem you'll encounter is that essentially all preparation time has been taken away. You will get three seconds at the beginning and three seconds in between every wave to prepare, and that is it.

    To deal with this, the best thing to do is to look around the level and re-familiarize yourself with it (assuming you've already mastered it on War Mage, getting 5 skulls). After doing this, choose your loadout accordingly and do your best to recreate your winning strategy. Just remember you may have to re-prioritize and adjust your strategy to do things quicker. Make excessive use of the sprint button (clicking the left stick) and set things up quickly, not neatly. If things are not perfectly symmetrical or the exact same at either side of the map, you don't have time to fix it. You should also try to not spread your traps out too much, and keep them closer to you. Set up essential things, like barricades, in the beginning when the waves will be easier to manage by yourself. Try using the portals a lot, too.

    To counteract the loss of preparation time, since it is no longer required for you to get 5 skulls, enjoy the freedom of letting enemies into the rift or even dying and not having to start over.

    Two other things about Nightmare mode should be noted. You will still get the large coin bonuses every three or four waves and your guardians (Archers and paladins) will not respawn at these times as they usually do, and dead guardians still count towards the total amount of guardians allowed, so do not rely to heavily on them for support.

    For other more general play tips, see the guide for "Ultimate War Mage". If you are having trouble with a certain level, check the guides at xblafans.com or check YouTube for countless other videos. There's also a useful thread here that covers most of the levels.

  • Earn 5 skulls on every level on War Mage difficulty

    This is the most difficult achievement in the game. The requirements for 5 skulls is to never lose a rift point, meaning not only can any enemies sneak through but you can never die, and it must be done in a certain time limit. The time limit should not be a problem, although you may cut it close in the earlier levels, but it is important to keep in mind.

    Being a strategy game, there are of course many ways to handling any given situation, but these are some general tips I used to help me make way through the campaign and getting all 5 skulls.

    -Always block off split paths whenever possible so that all the enemies will be forced to file down whatever path you have lined with traps and so that they are easier to watch and manage.

    -Combine effective traps, namely the tar trap and any devastating wall or ceiling trap. In particular, the tar trap with a clockwork mace swinging over it is extremely effective in any tight choke point.

    -If the enemies will be coming at you from anywhere near an opening in the floor standing there with the wind belt blowing them into the abyss is also very effective (and satisfying). This will also earn you bonus points for the kill streaks. Again, lining the area with tar traps to bunch everyone up will help immensely.

    -If you are having trouble with a level, don't be afraid to try something new and re-assess the map. Maybe a different trap or way of attack will help.

    -Don't spread yourself too thin. If there's a level with two directly opposite lanes and you cannot possibly watch both, place every trap at one lane, hope it will kill or at least slow down everyone, and watch the unprotected lane yourself. Similarly, if you're being attacked both on ground and from the sky, set up guardians and traps to exclusively deal with one problem while you deal with the other. In both cases, you should be watching the one with more enemies or shorter time to reach the rift.

    -Give every trap a try. Everyone has their favorites and what they like to use best, so give them all a shot.

    -Standing next to the rift will regenerate magic faster and also bring back health. Use this if you think you're going to die and there's no health potions around, or it's unreachable. Also use this if there's only one rift, as you can often just stand next to it and protect it semi-effectively with your quickly-regenerating magic.

    -The ice amulet takes out the flying enemies very well (one shot kill and easy to hit) and the secondary attack on the ring of lightning (the lightning cloud) are good for crowds and specifically kobold runners, or if you have to run to another area and want a certain place covered.


    The only specific level I can provide advice on is the finale, as none of the guides out there were working for me and I used my own method and got it first try. Set up each entry point with a clockwork mace and three tar traps underneath. Once you have that setup, purchase knowledge weavers to move faster and give the rift it's own defenses, and then start placing paladins at each entrance to defend the rift. Just stay near the rift and keep in constant movement and you'll be fine. I got 5 skulls on War Mage and beat it in Nightmare on my first try using this method.

    If you are having trouble with a certain level, check the guides at xblafans.com or check YouTube for countless other videos. There's also a useful thread here that covers most of the levels.

  • Win a level with 1 rift point left

    Pretty easy on the third level, "The Corner". I chose this level because it is the first level where you do not have a pre-placed guardian that will kill the enemies for you. Basically, I stood behind the rift and allowed them to pour in, keeping a close eye on the number of rift points left, and when it got to 1 I blew them back with the wind belt, killed them with the ice amulet and then finished the level normally. If you can't get the timing right to stop them from either getting it to 1, or not ending the level, try separating them with the wind belt to give yourself more time.

  • Get 50 kills with the rolling log in one level

    Pretty easy. I chose "The Tower" only because it had a pretty straight-forward setup, but there are only two rolling logs in the level. When the first wave comes in, I kept blowing them away with the wind belt and keeping them stuck in the tar trap until I thought they were all out, and then let the log roll. I got over half of them with the first log. Repeat at the second staircase.

  • Get 50 kills with explosive barrels on one level

    Same basic idea as the rolling log achievement, but easier because you create the weapon that has to be used. I kept the orcs stuck in tar and kept blowing them back with the wind belt until they all bunched up and then I dropped a barrel in there. It should probably take about 4 or 5 barrels. Pick somewhere simple. Once again, I used "The Corner" because of it's simple structure and the fact that there are no guardians to steal my barrel kills.

  • Gib more than 200 enemies on one level

    Gibbing an enemy just means to cut it up into little pieces. Some of the weapons that count as gibbing are the Wall Knives, the Clockwork Mace, the Grinder and the Exploding Barrel. Most later levels have way more than 200 enemies, so this shouldn't be hard. Just get a decent setup with some wall knives (as they unlock the earliest) and if you're still worried about it, start using the exploding barrel. If you don't have it by the time you unlock the Swinging Mace, upgrade it and pair it with some tar traps. It is amazingly effective.

  • Get 20 chandelier kills in one level

    Once again, go to "The Corner". For the same reason that it's simple, but also because it has four or five chandeliers so there's plenty of room for error. Also once again, just bunch people up under the chandeliers with tar traps and keep blowing them back with the wind belt until you get a suitable crowd, drop the chandelier (don't worry, the game's pretty forgiving with it's spacing), sell the tar traps and move back to the next chandelier. You should get about 15 with the first one, so this achievement should not be a problem.

    The level "The Stream" has also been recommended because it has more chandeliers, though the structure and layout is a lot more complicated, the spaces are wider so it's harder to bunch the enemies up, and the chandeliers are higher making the time harder. People have also said they haven't been able to get the achievement on this level despite killing 20 enemies. Still, having an alternative is always good in case you're having a problem with The Corner.

You might also like