Empire Escalation (mission)

Empire Escalation
Basic Information
Name:	Empire Escalation
File name:	mvm_mannhattan_advanced1
Developer(s):	Valve
Map:	Mannhattan
Mission type:	Invasion
Waves:	6
Difficulty:	Advanced
Starting credits:	900
Maximum possible credits:	8950
Minimum respawn wave time:	8 seconds
Maximum respawn wave time:	16 seconds
Fixed respawn time:	No
Tour:	Two Cities
Sentry Buster spawn time:	0 seconds
Sentry Buster respawn time:	30 seconds

Empire Escalation is an advanced invasion mission available on the Mannhattan map.

Waves

Sub-wave	Class			Count			Delay(s)		Credits
Wave 1 (1100 Credits)
1A-1		Expert	100% crit chance	1	1	1	—	—	25
1A-2		Normal	Gatebot	6	12	24	10	10	150
1B-1		Expert	Spawns at the top  100% crit chance	1	1	1	15	—	100
1B-2-1
		Expert	Gatebot Fires continuously	5	10	15	—	18	100
	Über Medic	Normal	Spawns with full Über  +400% ÜberCharge rate  -90% heal rate  -3 seconds Über duration
1B-2-2		Hard	Spawns at the top	3	9	24	20	3	100
1C-1		Easy	—	1	3	3	2	8	100
1C-2		Expert	Gatebot  Spawns at the top	6	6	6	15	—	100
1D		Normal	Gatebot	12	12	24	5	—	100
1E
		Normal	Fires continuously	3	18	54	5	2	250
		Hard	—
Support		Expert	Vision range 4000	2	—	—	40	85	—
		Easy	Melee only	1	1	10	120	20	75
Wave 2 (1000 Credits)
2A-1		Hard	—	6	12	36	—	7	200
2A-2
	Bowman Rapid Fire	Hard	Gatebot  Spawns at the top  100% crit chance	2	4	6	10	12	100
	Über Medic	Normal	Spawns with full Über  +400% ÜberCharge rate  -90% heal rate  -3 seconds Über duration
2B-1		Expert	Gatebot  Spawns at the top	1	2	2	15	28	100
2B-2		Normal	100% crit chance	3	9	24	15	5	100
2C-1		Hard	—	8	8	38	3	—	50
2C-2		Hard	—	4	4	12	8	—	100
2D
		Expert	Gatebot	3	3	6	3	20	100
	Bowman Rapid Fire	Hard	Gatebot  100% crit chance
2E
		Expert	—	5	10	10	10	18	100
	Über Medic	Normal	Spawns with full Über  +400% ÜberCharge rate  -90% heal rate  -3 seconds Über duration
Support		Easy	Melee only	1	1	10	10	15	50
		Expert	—	2	—	—	60	85	—
	Hyper League Scout	Hard	Begins after 2D is all dead  +75% recharge rate	2	2	40	2	1	100
Wave 3 (1200 Credits)
3A-1		Expert	—	8	8	36	—	—	50
		Expert	Gatebot	1	1	1	3	—	50
3A-2
		Expert	Gatebot	4	8	8	40	13	50
	Über Medic	Normal	Spawns with full Über  +400% ÜberCharge rate  -90% heal rate  -3 seconds Über duration
3B-1	Type 1	Expert	—	2	2	8	—	—	50
3B-2		Normal	Gatebot  Spawns at the top	2	10	26	10	3	100
3C-1		Expert	Gatebot	3	9	21	5	5	100
3C-2		Expert	Spawns at the top	3	12	48	10	4	50
3D-1		Normal	100% crit chance	2	4	12	5	5	100
3D-2
		Expert	Gatebot	4	8	8	10	16	150
	Über Medic	Normal	Spawns with full Über  +400% ÜberCharge rate  -90% heal rate  -3 seconds Über duration
3E
		Expert	—	6	6	18	10	0	100
	Über Medic	Normal	Spawns with full Über  +400% ÜberCharge rate  -90% heal rate  -3 seconds Über duration
Support	Hyper League Scout	Hard	+75% recharge rate	1	1	20	10	30	50
		Expert	Does not build teleporters	3	3	6	30	—	50
		Hard	Begins after 3D-1 and 3D-2 is all dead Melee only  Spawns at the top	5	10	50	10	5	300
Wave 4 (1050 Credits)
4A		Expert	100% crit chance	1	12	12	—	0.5	100
		Normal	Gatebot  Spawns at the top  100% crit chance	1	12	12	10	0.5	50
4B
	Major Crits Type	Expert	Gatebot	2	4	4	10	33	200
	Type 2	Expert	—
4C-1		Easy	Spawns at the top	1	10	10	20	2	50
4C-2	Type 1	Expert	—	3	9	9	2	6	100
4D		Normal	Gatebot  100% crit chance	16	16	32	1	—	100
4E-1		Expert	—	1	1	2	1	1	50
	Type 2	Expert	Gatebot  Spawns at the top	1	1	2	1	1	50
4E-2
		Expert	100% crit chance	4	12	12	—	15	100
	Über Medic	Normal	Spawns with full Über  +400% ÜberCharge rate  -90% heal rate  -3 seconds Über duration
4F		Expert	—	1	2	2	—	10	150
Support		Expert	-99.9% airblast cooldown	1	1	40	—	15	100
		Expert	Vision range 4000	2	—	—	120	45	—
Wave 5 (2000 Credits)
5A		Expert	—	2	8	10	—	6	100
5B	Hyper League Scout	Hard	Spawns at the top  100% crit chance  +75% recharge rate	3	3	9	1	6	200
5C		Expert	Gatebot	2	10	10	—	11	500
5D		Expert	—	5	10	35	4	6	100
		Easy	100% crit chance	5	5	15	20	—	100
5E		Hard	Gatebot  100% crit chance	5	10	10	—	7	200
5F		Expert	Gatebot  100% crit chance	18	18	18	1	—	100
5G-1		Expert	Gatebot  100% crit chance	18	18	18	1	—	100
5G-2		Expert	—	2	2	2	9	—	100
5H-1		Expert	Gatebot  100% crit chance	18	18	18	1	—	100
5H-2		Expert	—	1	2	2	5	8	100
5I		Easy	—	4	4	8	15	—	200
Support		Expert	—	1	1	20	10	15	100
		Expert	—	2	—	—	15	25	—
Wave 6 (1200 Credits)
6A-1	Giant Heal-on-Kill Deflector Heavy 60,000 HP	Expert	Gatebot	1	1	1	—	—	250
		Normal	Spawns with full rage  +800%	5	10	25	10	10	250
6A-2	Type 2	Expert	Gatebot  Spawns at the top	4	4	4	42	—	250
6B
		Normal	Gatebot  100% crit chance The Direct Hit	2	18	40	1	1	50
	Über Medic	Normal	Spawns with full Über  +400% ÜberCharge rate  -90% heal rate  -3 seconds Über duration
6C	Type 1	Expert	Gatebot  100% crit chance	1	4	4	—	8	100
6D	Type 2	Expert	100% crit chance	1	6	6	—	10	100
Support		Normal	100% crit chance	1	1	20	45	15	50
		Expert	Vision range 4000	2	—	—	60	20	—
		Expert	Spawns at the top Begins after 6B is all dead Does not teleport in Does not build teleporters	1	3	15	—	1	50
		Normal	Begins after 6B is all dead Melee only  100% crit chance	3	9	33	—	—	100

Basic strategies

• Strafe when fighting the Armored Sandman Scouts. They can effectively slow the defenders after getting hit once or twice.
• On the second wave, critboosted Rapid Fire Bowmen will spawn from the top pocketed by Über Medics. Consider having a Demoman place a sticky trap up top before the wave starts.
• Giant Shotgun Heavies on the third wave can dish an insane amount of damage up close. Have a Medic use a projectile shield when closing the distance.
  • Some of these Shotgun Heavies are pocketed by Über Medics.
• On the third wave, a few enemy Engineers will teleport in after the first two Giant Shotgun Heavies, usually between the front lines and Gate A. Often-overlooked positions are at the foot of the ramp leading up to Gate A and at the large ammo box underneath the platform. A Sentry Gun placed at the top of the ramp behind the balcony should be able to sufficiently cover both of these spots, killing the Engineers before their Sentry Guns can be established.
• On the fifth wave there will be a large horde of 10 Black Box Soldiers. 2 will spawn per wave and there's only an 11 seconds pause between waves. They will fire 3 rockets at once and each rocket heals 1000 health on hit.
  • This sub-wave can be insanely tough to beat for inexperienced players. Using the Medic's shield is arguably the best counter to this.
• Collecting all the money on the fifth wave nets a total of 2000 credits + 100 bonus. This can be very helpful for the last wave.
• On the last wave, it is advised to have most or all DPS classes switch to Heavy due to the sheer amount of damage that needs to be dealt.
  • The Chief Heal-On-Kill Heavy is extremely difficult to kill, even for very experienced players. It is best to stack multiple Heavies with an experienced Medic using Projectile Shield and Über Canteens.

Update history

November 21, 2013 Patch

• Added Empire Escalation to the game.

December 6, 2013 Patch

• Rebalanced Empire Escalation.

Bugs

• In Wave 3 of this mission, the wave status infobox incorrectly lists the number of Uber Medics as being 27 when there are 30 Uber Medics in the wave.

Trivia

• Wave 5's Gatebot Hyper League Scouts are immune to gate stuns due to an oversight from the developers.
• Although the Pyro-bots that appear in wave 4 as support have instant airblast recharge rate, their A.I. doesn't realise that and still thinks the cooldown is still the same as the default recharge time.