Kingdom Rush Vengeance TD+: City of Rivers Impossible Guide

To beat City of Rivers on Impossible difficulty in Kingdom Rush Vengeance TD+ using only starter towers and basic heroes, anchor the central lane intersections with an Orc Warriors Den, back it with a Goblin Rocket Riders tower for crowd splash, and place an Infernal Mage to melt heavy armor. Support your chokepoints using Veruk and staggered Reinforcements to stall enemies within tower firing zones, saving Soul Impact strictly to stop wave leaks.

Starter Tower Roles and Hero Selection

Completing this stage without premium towers or heroes requires using the four base towers for their core combat roles:

Tower	Tactical Role	Priority on Impossible
Orc Warriors Den	Frontline stalling and line containment	Hold enemies at intersections within splash damage range
Goblin Rocket Riders	Multi-target physical splash	Clear clustered low- and mid-tier swarms
Infernal Mage	High-penetration magic single-target damage	Burn heavily armored targets before they breach stalls
Shadow Archers	Fast single-target cleanup	Cover exit lanes and eliminate swift flankers

For your hero, select Veruk over Asra. The layout of City of Rivers features converging waterways where heavy physical blocking is mandatory. Veruk's high health pool and active goblin warrior summons effectively double your frontline stalling capacity without requiring early gold investment into extra barracks. If you run Asra, position her behind blockers to apply poison and shred armor from range while kiting.

Early-Wave Chokepoint Setup

City of Rivers splits early enemy spawns across multiple bridge paths that merge toward the exit. Spreading level 1 towers across all paths depletes your economy and leads to leaks.

Build the central core: Place an Orc Warriors Den paired directly with a Goblin Rocket Riders tower at the primary junction where the waterways converge.
Defend secondary paths manually: Station Veruk and deploy manual Reinforcements on unfortified secondary lanes to delay early runners until they enter the main kill zone.
Cover the exit: Build one Shadow Archer tower near the backline junction set to target "First" to pick off stray scouts that slip past your hero.
Prioritize raw tiers: Spend your early gold exclusively on leveling base tower tiers during waves 1 through 4. Do not purchase tower-specific special abilities until your primary structures reach higher tiers.

Managing Armored Elites and Swarms

As mid-game waves introduce heavily armored bruisers alongside high-speed runners, physical damage falls off significantly. Add an Infernal Mage directly covering the main Orc barricade to counter armor.

Because the Infernal Mage relies on a ramping single-target beam, avoid letting weak swarms distract it:

Adjust the Orc rally point: Pull the rally flag slightly backward so incoming trash mobs walk into the Goblin Rocket Riders' splash zone before the armored elite arrives.
Isolate the vanguard: Drop Reinforcements ahead of your primary barricade to stall the armored lead unit early, allowing the Infernal Mage to lock on and ramp up its damage.
Target cleanup: Keep Shadow Archers along the perimeter to quickly eliminate fast skirmishers before they can flood the main melee.

Micro, Reinforcements, and Spell Usage

Basic heroes lack the high-damage board clears of premium dragons, making active micro necessary throughout the stage.

Hero repositioning: Shift Veruk between waves toward whichever lane displays the highest incoming burst pressure. Trigger his summons when your primary barracks blockers die to prevent a defensive collapse.
Staggered Reinforcements: Never deploy Reinforcements directly on top of explosive or heavy melee clashes where area damage instantly kills them. Place them several paces behind your frontline to act as a secondary safety net that catches leaks and prolongs stall time for your artillery.
Spell conservation: Hold the Soul Impact spell in reserve for genuine emergencies, such as when a dense cluster breaks through a collapsed barricade.

Late-Wave Upgrades

By waves 10 through 15, enemy volume reaches its peak, requiring fully upgraded tier-4 towers and selected skills:

Maximize splash damage: Upgrade the central Goblin Rocket Riders to level 4 and unlock its long-range cluster bomb skill to soften packed bridge waves before they reach your units.
Reinforce the line: Upgrade the Orc Warriors Den to promote high-health captains capable of surviving sustained combat against late-game waves.
Specialize the Infernal Mage: Unlock the mage's magma fissure or teleport skills to split up incoming elite packs.
Rotate defensive cooldowns: Stagger Veruk's abilities with Reinforcements so that you always have an active stall ready whenever heavy mini-bosses cross the bridges.