achievement guide

Overview

everything you need to 100% that game

story

Defender
Complete Act 1

Keepmaster
Complete Act 2

Master War Mage
Complete Act 3

• unmissable achievements, just beat all the levels in the game
• there are three difficulty levels: “Apprentice” (easy), “War Mage” (normal) and “Nightmare” (hard). those achievements are obtainable on “Apprentice” difficulty, but it is better to play on “War Mage”, since there is really not that much of differences (enemies has 20% less health, and deal 20% less damage on “Apprentice”, that’s it)
  
• there are lots of guides explaining in good details various tactics and tricks how to effectively play, deal with enemies and set-up traps. I highly recommend to checkout the videos by Cromar from TGN, as they serve as the good all-around guides in dealing with enemies:

  vs Orcs & Kobold:
  
  vs Kobold Sappers and Gnoll Hunters:
  
  vs Ogres:
  
  vs Hobgoblin Shamans, Hellbats and Fire Babies:
  

• to everything Cromar said in those videos, I can add the following:
  • Ice Amulet’s alternative attack is way better in dealing with Ogres, than a main attack. in consumes 50% of mana, but freezes enemies for about three times longer, giving you enough time to kill even Armored Ogre in one go. furthermore that attack has a really long AoE, so you don’t need to come closer to enemies (and being vulnerable for stuns)
  • quite effective way to kill multiplier fliers at once is to to jump into the middle of them and use Ice Amulet’s alternative attack
  • don’t place archers in two or more rows! that setup is bad, because the archers in the back row will not attack enemies (their arrows will land at front row’s backs). they still can deal with flying enemies, but that’s about it
  • you can sold the Spicy Mushrooms that currently “hold” an enemy to re-take your money back and kill an enemy. it is the extremely effective cost-less way to kill off tanky enemies
  • Meat Grinders are the best way to kill Kobolts, but they are less effective against regular orcs comparing to Wall Blades. place Meat Grinders in the end of your killbox, to killing those pesky ones who survived all your other traps
• you can find information about every level in the game, enemies routes, as well as general guidelines and setups on official wiki[orcsmustdie.fandom.com]

Ultimate War Mage
Earn 5 skulls on every level on War Mage difficulty

• in order to get 5 skulls you have to:
  • don’t let any enemy enter the Rift. self-explanatory, look out for Kobolts
  • don’t die (guardians may die). remember, you may heal yourself near the Rift (and restore mana twice as fast)
  • finish the level under the time-par. time-breaks do count towards the time-par, while the preparation time before the first wave doesn’t. overall, time-par is quite lenient and there are only two levels that have a challenging time-par: “The Stream” and “Hard Climb”
    

Legendary Defender
Complete Act 1 on Nightmare mode

Legendary Keepmaster
Complete Act 2 on Nightmare mode

Legendary War Mage
Complete Act 3 on Nightmare mode

• “Nightmare” difficulty is unlocked once you beat the game on “War Mage” difficulty first
  
• “Nightmare” difficulty has the following extras:
  • no preparation time before the first wave
  • no time-breaks after each three waves
  • you have a 3-seconds break between the waves (instead of 12-seconds)
  • enemies have +20 health and deal +20% damage (doesn’t apply when they fight Archers/Paladins)
  • player has -50% health
  • the Rift has -50% points
  • all Orcs have shields (meaning that most traps don’t insta-kill them)
  • killed Archers/Paladins are not resurrected every x3 waves
• the good news is that you don’t need to beat all levels with 5 skulls – you just need to beat the game, that’s all
• read the “Defender”, “Keepmaster” and “Master War Mage” achievements, you can find various advice and help there. also, don’t hesitate to check-put other players’ walkthorught, you may learn some interesting tactics and setups

Kill Streak

Perfect 10!
Get a 10 kill streak

Natural 20!
Get a 20 kill streak

What a Mess!
Get a 30 kill streak

Who Wants Some?!
Get a 40 kill streak

Who Wants Pancakes?
Get 50 kills with the rolling log in one level

• “Kill Streak” is killing numerous enemies with one attack/traps, or killing multiple enemies with various attacks/traps in a little amount of time. so getting x40 Kill Streak means that you need to kill x40 enemies in a quick succession
• the easiest place to get x40 Kill Streak on the level “The Squeeze”:
  • take Barricades, Tar and Wind Belt. fill other slots with whatever you like (consider to pick out Ice Amulet to kill fliers in the beginning)
  • travel to that spot (see minimap) and look behind – see that Rolling Log? mind it
    
  • now place Barricades near the stairs and (optionally) few Tars. don’t copy exact locations, your don’t need to be precise
    
  • start the Wave #1 and deal with the first enemies (x30 Orcs + x4 Fliers, nothing terrible)
  • at the beginning of Wave #2 travel back to the post you reinforced and use Wind Belt to push enemies away from the Barricades. don’t kill them, just push away
    
  • hold them away for as long as you can without killing them. when Orcs finally destroy the barricades, turn around and shot the Rolling Log. it should kill exactly x40 enemies
    
• “Who Wants Pancakes?” achievement requires you to kill x50 enemies with the Rolling Logs in one level, and guess what? if you have followed instruction above then you already killed x40 enemies and need to kill just x10 more – and “The Squeeze” has x3 more the Rolling Logs for you try:
  

tasks 1, The Corner

Tenderized!
Get 50 pounder kills in one level

Giblet Storm!
Gib more than 200 enemies on one level

• both those achievements you can get in one go on “The Corner” map. you need “Pounder”, “Tar”, “Barricades”, “Push Trap”, and “Wind Belt”
• start the level and purchase Death Augmenter upgrade and place x2 “Tars” and x3 “Pounders” in the following formation:
  
• let the traps do all the work and if enemies passed it, then use “Wind Belt” to throw them back
  
• continue polishing your killbox with adding more “Pounders”, “Tars”, adding “Push Traps” on the walls, and “Barricades” around. also buy “Oiled Trap Gears” upgrade before Wave #4
  
• The Corner has exactly x261 enemies, which should more than met requirement for “Giblet Storm!” achievement (assuming you didn’t kill anyone on your own)

In your Face!
Get 100 acid pot kills in one level

• another achievement that you can get on “The Corner” map. you need “Tars”, “Barricades”, and “Wind Belt”
• before placing any traps find two green dots on the floor and look above: those are acid caldrons
  
• place your “Barricades” and “Tars” around those spots
  
• whenever enemies will be nearby – just shoot both caldrons – and watch the show
  

Lights Out!
Get 20 chandelier kills in one level

• one more achievement that you can get in on “The Corner” map. get “Barricades”, and “Wind Belt”
• first, place “Barricades” near enemies spawn point and use Wind Belt to hold them off until they finally destroyed your barricades
  
• after that immediately look above and shoot off a Chandelier. it should kill ~15 enemies
  
• kite back and shoot one more Chandelier above you to kill more enemies. usually that’s enough, but if you still didn’t get the achievement, then move back further. there in total x4 Chandeliers on that stage
  
• there are in total x25 enemies in Wave #1

Skin of your Teeth
Win a level with 1 rift point left

• and since we are on topic of “The Corner”. you may also obtain “Skin of your Teeth” achievement here
• the Rift has x20 points, Wave #1 has x25 enemies. so, just kill exactly x6 enemies in first wave and allow all other enemies get inside the Rift. you shall have x1 Rift point left. now, just finish off the stage as usual

tasks-2, Chokepoint

Great Balls of Fire!
Get 300 fireball kills in one level

• you can obtain that achievement in “Chokepoint” level, pick “Barricades”, “Tar”, “Flame Bracers” (optionally – “Bladestaff” to kill Kobolts and “Ice Amulet” to kill Ogres)
• start with this setup:
  
• after each wave continue building the same until you obtain the achievement
  
• now just fire fireballs into the piles of enemies until you done. don’t throw fireballs upfront (1st image) you will not get many kills. instead throw them at angle, preferably jumping from barricades (2nd image)
  
• whenever you see Kobolts which are out of fireball’s reach – either switch to “Bladestaff” to kill them off, or just let them get into the Rift
• you can easily kill Ogres with “Flame Bracers”, but I always prefer to deal with them with “Ice Amulet” + “Bladestaff”

Ogre Bisque
Kill an Ogre in a Lava Pit or an Acid Pit

• you can obtain that achievement in “Chokepoint” level. copy everything from “Great Balls of Fire!” achievement, but also pick “Spring Trap”
• before Wave #4 (in the break), purchase “Overcoiled Springs” and place “Spring Trap” as the on image
  
• optionally place “Tars” in a straight line (to slowdown Ogre)
  
• start Wave #4 and quickly kill all Kobolts
  
• and then just wait until Ogre killed himself in lava pit. poor guy
  

Pow! Pow!
Get 50 kills with explosive barrels on one level

• the funniest achievement in the game and you can easily get in “Chokepoint”. you need only “Tars” and “Boom Barrels”
• start-off with the following setup (bunch of “Tars” with a “Boom Barrel” in the center)
  
• and once there will be lots of Orcs around it – just do -BOOM-
  
• quickly put another “Boom Barrel” and detonate it too – continue until your inner pyromaniac will be satisfied -or- until you get the achievement

tasks-3, misc

Tunnel Vision
Win an act 2 or 3 level using a single trap type

No Traps for You!
Win an act 2 or 3 level without using any traps

• two achievements, one requires to use only one trap type, other requires to not use them both. you may get both at the same time by doing trap-less run
• rules:
  • Archers/Paladins do not count as “a trap” (i.e. use them as much as you want)
  • Autoballista DOES count as “a trap” (in contrary to “Orcs Must Die! 2”, where Autoballista was considered as a guardian)
  • various environmental hazards (like Acid Cauldrons, the Rolling Logs…) count as “the traps”
  • you may use any weapons and skills you want
• the easiest place to get those achievements is “The Arena” map. you just need “Archers”, “Paladins” and “Ice Amulet” (optionally – “Bladestaff”)
• start the game buy buying “Tempered Blades” and placing x2 Paladins near each door
  
• now, whenever your Paladins are fighting enemies – assist them by doing Ace Amulet’s alternative attack (AoE freezing spell). you can help them further by killing those frozen enemies
  
• before Wave #3 place Archers on balcony above, in total you have to put x10 Archers here (also buy “Burning Pitch” upgrade for them at some point)
  
• before Wave #6 start putting more Paladins near the doors. in total you have to put x5 Paladins near each doors
  
• for whatever money you have left either buy more Paladins or Archers – it doesn’t really matter
• continue helping your Paladins by spamming Ice Amulet’s alternative attack, especially on Waves #9-10, when Ogres will appear
• don’t mind if few Kobolts get through
• that setup is so effective, then you can beat Nightmare mode with it, just add Tars or Brimstone here

SG1
Go through portals 20 times in one level

• one easy achievement. there are portals on some maps, and you have to enter them x20 times in one level
• the first instance of such portals is level “Overpass”
  

Deck the Halls
Complete the Hallway using only the Arrow Wall trap, weapons, and spells

• and another one self-explanatory achievement, nuff said
• that achievement was added in the game a bit later, in a winter patch, as a Holiday achievement. contrary to some other developers, those ones decided to not make it as a data-based one. thank you!

killings

Dead Orc = Good Orc
Kill 1,000 orcs

Droppin’ Ten Large
Kill 10,000 orcs

Member: 30k Club
Kill 30,000 orcs

• it may look as annoying grindy achievements, but honestly they are not. when you finish the game on both “War Mage” and “Nightmare” difficulties you already will have ~25,000 kills, so you need to push just a bit more
• the best place to finish those achievement off is “The Arena” stage. just follow the instructions from “Tunnel Vision” / “No Traps for You!” achievements. you can easily kill 386 enemies per ~5min run
  

~removed achievements

Series of Tubes
Connect your Robot Entertainment account to your Steam account

• that achievement has been removed from the game by developers
• originally you have to create an account on developer’s site and connect it to your Steam account, but in 2016 people have started to report about the achievement being broken, and in May 2016 developers acknowledged the situation and removed that achievement from the game what-so-ever (thank you! we need more developers like this!)

if you want to thank me…

…then check my guide about fixing various game issues: launching, crashing, optimization, stuttering, gamepads, etc. the guide is huge, but the topic is broad to begin with
[link]