Protect the King (Hardcore)

Similar to Hardcore Hunt there is a Hardcore Protect the King mode. This mode unlocks once you have an Awakened Hunter and your Hunter must be awakened to play this mode. There are many different options for upgrades including Poison, Burn, Freeze, as well as the normal Level Up, Heal, and Gold Increase.

The goal is to survive 50 waves. The King is not as protected as he is in the regular mode and moves to a new area every 3 waves. Monsters will come from two directions at a time to reach the King and there is no easy way to funnel them together like in the regular mode so you will need a partner to work together. The monsters start as the hardest ones from each biome; Worm Queen, Death Knight, Crystal Keeper, and Dragon. As the game goes on there will be monsters from Kraken's Ship, Yeti's Tundra, and finally Maze.

As you kill monsters coins will drop that are shared between both players so it doesn't matter who picks them up. These coins can be spent on the upgrades mentioned above. The cost of healing your Hunter increases by 5 gold each time you use it up until you spend 20 gold to heal. It will then cost 20 gold per heal and continues to scale the more times you use it. If you die you will respawn as long as your partner and the King are still alive.

Your rewards be Dragon, Kraken, and Yeti gems. The amount you get will depend on the amount of waves completed. If you manage to beat wave 50 you will receive a total of 1200~ Dungeon Gems.

Strategy

My experience in this mode is that not many people play it or if they do they play with friends rather than random matchmaking. It is a difficult mode and requires the proper hunters and teamwork to progress. Though if you have a partner you can reliably complete wave 50 with it is a great source of Dungeon Gems. As I mentioned it is a combination of Dragon, Kraken, and Yeti gems totaling around 1200 and the mode takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete.

The best Hunter for this mode is Trickster. This Hunter is so great because his attack stuns enemies and his awakened ability allows his damage to scale throughout the game with every monster killed. The abilities you will want to focus on in order are Fast Stealth, Improved Tricks, Movement Speed, and finally Death Strike. Fast Stealth is the most important to allow you to get back into stealth to use your ability quickly. Improved Tricks will increase your damage and stun time from your attack from stealth. Movement Speed helps you get between areas when the King moves, allows you to catch up to monsters as their speed increases, as well as reach the necessary upgrade pads between waves as there isn't much time.

Throughout the game it is important to focus increasing your gold bonus as well as your level. It is a balance to increase the gold bonus but also grabbing enough levels to get the abilities you need. If you get Fast Stealth and Movement Speed early it can allow you to focus more on early gold bonus. If you don't get these abilities you may have to focusing on leveling more until you get them or else you will be unable to control the monsters attacking the King. As you start getting to around the half way point of the game it is worth grabbing some of the Poison, Burn, and Deep Freeze upgrades for the additional damage to allow you to defeat the waves easier. Burn is probably best to focus on as the damage is higher but it is worth grabbing two to three levels of the others.

This is a difficult mode and requires a lot of focus. One mistake by either player can let a monster through that kills the King. At later waves it will only take 1 to 2 attacks to kill him most likely. Trickster is definitely the best hunter here and at least one is recommended but having two Trickster is even better. This allows each player to lock down their waves. I've heard there can be success with other Hunters that have many attacks and crowd control effects especially if you grab the stun upgrade but just having two Tricksters is the most reliable. This game can be a little glitchy where monsters die after you attack or will run by you without getting stunned. That is why two Tricksters is the most reliable and why Movement Speed is so important to catch the monsters if any slip by.