THOR tips and tricks

[Evolve or die]

I will add to this as I go. There's a lot of stuff buried in the fx threads so I can crib from that and add my own. Feel free to share any goodies you've found or mastered.

NOTE: scroll down to post 12, I get quite in depth about everything there.

But first - THANK YOU ZEN for the best table design I have ever played. The flow is amazing and I love the double letters for kickbacks. And the launcher design is sweet, and oh so exponential in force. There are some tables that suit my style perfectly and this is one. I'm a pretty good pinballer and still there are tables that screw me over and leave me joyless - guns and roses comes to mind - but this table is freaking sweet. If THOR was a real table I'd have a room in my house devoted to it. Can't wait for blade and moon knight, that fx users say is even better.

Ok, on with it......

SYA loop. You know that pesky little button that pops up when you hit the serpent ramp. If you hit it real quick - does take practice - it drops down onto the top left flipper for the Ymir loop. Hit the lightning button that appears - same spot as serpent - after it has hit halfway through the loop*. It should then whip it onto the armor loop. This is great for building up jackpots for the missions and for the destroyer in Asgard mission, esp. when you are on the left flipper or need to hit the Ymir loop.

* actually no need to wait for halfway, as soon as you smack it with the top left flipper just spam that button repeatedly. works everytime.

Tip: ALWAYS have the left kickback active before you try the lightning boost. If ur not halfway it will most probably spit it straight down the left gutter. The irony is if you miss the timing, it can go down the left gutter and kick it back straight through the Ymir loop. So keep yr finger near the boost button for the armor continuation.

question for anyone: on Ymir attacks mission the spinner gets Loki to warm u up. Does the serpent ramp lit up with Odin's reward lighting do anything?? It kicks it up to the paddle wheel, but apart from that ?? (and the oh so vicious kickback)

[shogun00]

Does the serpent ramp lit up with Odin's reward lighting do anything?? It kicks it up to the paddle wheel, but apart from that ?? (and the oh so vicious kickback)

Yes! When you hit the "Odin's Gift" target, it lights up that ramp. If you hit it, then you get a random reward (bonus multiplier, kick backs, ball save, extra ball, etc...).

Note: If you hit the ball hard enough onto the ramp, it will drop off onto the upper right flipper instead of kicking back to you.

[Evolve or die]

Yes! When you hit the "Odin's Gift" target, it lights up that ramp. If you hit it, then you get a random reward (bonus multiplier, kick backs, ball save, extra ball, etc...).

Note: If you hit the ball hard enough onto the ramp, it will drop off onto the upper right flipper instead of kicking back to you.

Yeah I know that,I'm talking specifically on the first YMIR mission. Does this charge Loki up so that the right spinner then will heat you up? The animation seems to suggest it does. I hate the fact that the serpent ramp redirects for this mission, the Ymir loop is pretty much out if you can't drop down from serpent and fire it over.

[shogun00]

Yeah I know that,I'm talking specifically on the first YMIR mission. Does this charge Loki up so that the right spinner then will heat you up? The animation seems to suggest it does. I hate the fact that the serpent ramp redirects for this mission, the Ymir loop is pretty much out if you can't drop down from serpent and fire it over.

No! Hitting the Serpent ramp will have Loki heat you up. There's no need to hit the spinner.

[Whisper]

Great thread. Keep it coming Other tables too please

[Evolve or die]

No! Hitting the Serpent ramp will have Loki heat you up. There's no need to hit the spinner.

Ah, the game calls the serpent ramp the right spinner. It says on the Odin reward dot matrix to shoot spinner. I assume they mean the waterwheel thing buried up in the top corner is a spinner. So the actual right spinner on the orbit isn't the right spinner. Makes perfect sense

Ps: I was just on 189 million on my first ball and I lost power. I had just drained my first ball and was on my extra ball. I had a 8x bonus on my first and cleared up almost 100 million in bonuses. Aaaaaaarrrrggggghhhhh. My own stupid fault

[Evolve or die]

More tips:

Mjolnir is yr friend, easy to hit from a left flipper stall. Just smash it from juuuust before the end of the flippers otherwise you'll smack the right flipper bumper.

Always good to have ready to go before a high probability mission, where the double pts add up. I won't start brothers duel before I have it almost ready to go. Or do it and make sure Loki wins the mission. Always a good scam for big points, you get lots of pts and get to do it again and again.

I'm not sure if the dbl points apply to the final completion bonus of each mission. Which is normally around 15 million, I think. Anyone??

Flipper shots:

Get to know the exact sweet spot on the flipper where a ramp or feature is then easy money. For example the golden apple / destroyer hole ramp is pretty much on the 8 on a right flipper stall. I don't miss it often anymore. Or if you smash it through from the left flipper at speed as soon as it touches it. That works for me half the time.

I,m not sure what the correct jargon is, but when I catch a ball on the flipper and hold it there, that's what I call a stall. 'at speed' is when you don't stall it and just play it straight through.

[shogun00]

Ah, the game calls the serpent ramp the right spinner. It says on the Odin reward dot matrix to shoot spinner. I assume they mean the waterwheel thing buried up in the top corner is a spinner. So the actual right spinner on the orbit isn't the right spinner. Makes perfect sense

When you activate that mission, the Serpent's tale ramp now leads to that cage looking thing. The ball spins around in it, so I guess you can call that thing a spinner.

[Evolve or die]

a word on bonuses.

as i mentioned above about my lost game, you can rack up huuuge bonus scores.

Completing missions is a good way to increase, as are the side missions (I assume this is surtur multiball and day of the dead). But a good skeleton count in day of the dead is by far the best way. I think its 100 000 per skeleton or something stupid like that (will try to confirm next time i drain a ball after day of the dead). So with 100 skeletons (my best was 168) thats a lot of points when the mulitplier hits.

for any newbies: on a multiball mode you should go hell for leather with three balls, but as soon as you lose one you should stall as much as possible, especially when you have them on either flipper. and on this table shoot with the right first as the top right flipper can get in the way of your left flipper shot. Keep this up and you'll find where you used to get 30 or so skeletons, you're nailing lots more.

for every ten apples you go up a mulitplier, so thats a lot of apples. you really have to get good at trying to nail the odin reward button (just to left of rainbow bridge) and then collect it on the *ahem* spinner (aka serpent ramp). It gives a lot of crap away, 250k, 1 million, ball save, but the chance for an extra ball or multiplier increase is pretty rad.

I'm not entirely sure what honor bonus is, i think it means how many ramps you made. Anyone??

[Coffee_n_Donuts]

Just to confirm that the mission bonus's do indeed double up if you have 2 x scoring active.

Ps. Congrats to Evolve or Die for beating my score on the leaderboard. I'll be trying to get back up there later!

[Evolve or die]

Just to confirm that the mission bonus's do indeed double up if you have 2 x scoring active.

Ps. Congrats to Evolve or Die for beating my score on the leaderboard. I'll be trying to get back up there later!

cheers, it gives my 'advice' some credibility. And especially after losing that other high score, it's good to post an even better one. I do however hate getting a massive first ball score and then losing the next 2 pretty cheaply. My current high score was 190 million on first and then only 50 mil for next two. Richard's current high score is astounding (630M+) My next goal is to hit 300M, but nice to have some rivalry with you developing.

and thanks for the confirmation of x2 scoring

[Evolve or die]

Gameplan

OK, this is what I usually do. From the start. Having a plan helps a lot. Nothing worse than getting lost, and having no goals in the middle of a tense game.

SKILLSHOT:
See where the top of the last chain link where it meets the striker ball? Now look at the rune artwork directly to the left. There's a line between the two bottom runes. Line the chain with the line and that's an "I". Go up slightly for "F" and down slightly for "S". You'll get the hang of it in no time. I get it about 95% of the time.

After you hit the letter, watch out! it's usually coming SDTM so be prepared for both flippers at once or a double slap save.

KICKBACKS:
Try to get these both lit up ASAP.

GENERAL:

If it's on the left flipper, I'll usually try and spam the serpent ramp and use the dropdown and lightning loop (SYA) for some big combo scores whilst collecting some kickback letters.

WARNING: sometimes that great big dragon head will get in the way of your timing (only thing about this table I dont like) for the dropdown shot into YMIR, be careful and dont drain it to the right outlane by accident!

If it's on the right flipper, apples, apples, apples. The right apple ramp is a godsend for this (no pun intended). From a right flipper catch/stall/hold, the sweet spot is between the 'x' and '8' on the table art. So when it's on the '8' hit it and you should be sweet. So during the catch, cue up the letter you need with the left flipper on the left middle inlane and shoot for that apple ramp (I also call this the apple destroyer hole/ramp, as it figures a lot in the Destroyer missions).

I also just noticed that the left apple hole will give you 3 apples for every 2 hits. 1 when you open it, and 2 when you put it in the hole next time. From a right flipper catch, hit it when it nears the end of the flipper. Watch out in case you miss and it does the mini left loop and heads back for a centre drain. Left flipper might save you... most of the time it will, but there is definitely a path that will leave you helpless.

After kickbacks, on left flipper I alternate between SYA combos and the SURTUR loop, or try to get some MJOLNIR to set it up for dbl scoring.

Right flipper is all apples, and opening up URU (then going for rewards and DotD). Now pay attention:

DO NOT hit the rainbow bridge. Hold off for a while, try to get a few odin rewards, try to start Day of the Dead (DotD). The bridge will still be there afterwards. Never go for it straightaway. go for the left-right orbit and try to hit across or hit the left Golden Apple hole (which every second time dumps the ball on the top right flipper). When the Odin reward is lit, go for the reward up the serpent ramp. Sooner or later you'll do something stupid and start a mission, but for the meantime I'm racking up my multiplier and gunning for extra balls and DotD.

Before you start a multiball, make sure MJOLNIR is open and ready for the ball that will start it. For the missions, make sure it's ready to go. It will double the completion bonus (15M becomes 30M), so save it towards the end if you can.

If I accidentally start a mission, I'll do the ones that I find the hardest - the YMIR missions. Or I'll do Brothers Duel, rack up some pts and then let LOKI win (usually his health will be at 2 or so, so at least 12 hits = at least 6M points).

If I complete an YMIR mission and my multiplier is looking good (at least high x4, preferably x6), then I'll play freely and try to make sure I've started both multiballs, especially DotD and if an opportunity to start another mission pops up, I will. Hopefully I've also got an extra ball at this stage too. As soon as I hit x6 I'm thinking to start the easy missions - Loki and the 2 Destroyers. If your multiplier is high, there's no reason to put them off. The bonuses this game bestows can be huuuge. And the mission completion end-of-ball (EOB) bonuses are quite big, so you need them whilst you have a good multiplier. Try to have at least 3 missions completed by the time your first ball drains. With a SURTUR, good skeleton count in DotD, 3 missions and a x6 multiplier, you're looking at a score of probably around 190M for your first ball. With half of that being bonuses.

If you drain, remember you have to start from scratch and do the grind again for kickbacks and apples. Fun, fun, fun. Basically do everything like you did first ball but try to complete the missions so you have a shot at Wizard mode. And dont forget about MJOLNIR, every 2nd left flipper catch should be going that way until its ready to go. Any other left flipper shots should be going for the SYA loop combo. If you're close to 25 surtur bumper hits, put it around the orbit to start that.

Right flipper shots should be apples, getting URU and then orbits/left apples to set yourself up for a DotD or odin reward. Usually I won't consciously aim for the rainbow bridge, but it always ends up there after a wayward shot. Unless I've got DotD completed again, an extra ball and at least x4 already I wont aim for it. Depends how I feel. I've yet to complete Wizard mode, so I do tend to ignore my own advice after Ball 1 and go for it.

SIF:
Activating the ball save is OK, I dont tend to need it much, this table doesnt drain SDTM too often. Good for missions when you dont have another shot and one letter is remaining. Remember after any L-R orbits when URU is closed you can take a stab at them from the top right flipper. As I've usually got waaay too many armour ramps from SYA I dont feel the need to go for the ramp.

Edit: of course after writing that, the game continuously tortured me with a string of SDTM drains. I should say I don't rely on getting the ball save, it just seems to happen in run of play stuff. So target it or don't target it, up to you.

MISSIONS:

NOTE: have mjolnir ready to go and hit it as you get to the end of the mission for big points when you complete.

Brothers Duel:
Easy, easy. If you wanna complete it, the SYA gives you a 2-1 advantage or pass to the right flipper. If you wanna spam it and play again, keep it on the left flipper mostly. Either way make it a close fight to maximise your points.

Destroyer:
You should be able to nail the right flipper into the apple destroyer hole 95% of the time with practice ("x-BOOM-8"). So any right flipper shot should go there. Left flipper: either do the orbit for the bumper hits or progress MJOLNIR. Stay the hell away from the left mini orbit by the top left flipper, it has a nasty habit of coming straight back for the drain. You can spam this mission for ages if you want.

Ymir attacks:
My most hated mission. Keep an eye on the countdown clock, many times you will line up the shot and the target changes when ur halfway up the ramp. Or if you dont have a shot on the flipper you're on, just wait and it should open up (especially true for right flipper and my precious apple destroyer hole). There is nothing more infuriating than the YMIR loop lighting up, as the only way across to it is through a left apple that puts you on top left flipper or by sheer fluke. Shoot for the serpent ramp for a TINY bit of extra time (if it comes back down the ramp, smash it again, with timing more often than not it will send it straight back up again). Good luck. It's why I try to get this mission out of the way first.

Destroyer in Asgard:
Piece of cake. Aim for the serpent ramp and just do a SYA loop twice, then pass to the right flipper for an apple destroyer smackdown. Alternatively go for left apple or URU hole for the setups.

Ymir rages again:
Not too bad once you get the hang of it. Get to the right flipper, flame up that ball in the apple holes. The left flipper is self-explanatory but there's a lot you can do with the right. If you hit it early as it drops with the top right flipper you can hit the ice in front of the Serpent ramp. If you catch it with right flipper, you can do an instant smash and send it up to take care of the Asgard ramp ice, though its hard to actually complete the ramp from here (can be done though).

I'm still undecided where the left flipper sweet spots precisely are. the 'x' on 'x4' for asgard and the '4' for serpent. Just after the '4' for the orbit. All from a catch/hold/stall. I should practice more. I've got a good knack for smacking the crap out of SYA at speed.

Final Battle:
Good luck. A lot like the first YMIR mission. Go crazy with three balls, as soon as you drain one, BE PATIENT, try to catch the balls, select your shots. The prize is 50M, so when down to one ball left to lock try and activate MJOLNIR for 100M.

OK, THAT'S MOSTLY IT. Remember, apples, apples, apples! REWARDS!! SKELETONS!! MJOLNIR!! And smack the crap of Ymir for me, that stupid big white fucker!!

NUDGING:
Fucking nudging on the ipad. AAAAARRRGGGHHH! I have pulled off a few bang backs (what most incorrectly call a death save) so it can be done. I don't bother with nudge passing between flippers (I support the swipe gesture!!!). It's just way too inconsistent. I've been reading up on a few advanced skills, and the best way on Zen is either a drop catch that is pretty good for passing (sort of like a loop pass, see vid below) or just bounce pass (this is why its good to know what you want to hit next - ie. having a gameplan). For a loop pass, when the ball is coming down the centre, hold the flipper up and as it touches the flipper, let go and drop it. Usually it speeds down the flipper and bounces to the other one. The other successful method I've used is to hold the ball in the flipper and hit the flipper twice REALLY quickly and it bounces over to the other side, bouncing off the bottom of the slingshot bumper. Edit: I can now do that trick with only one press like in the vid below.

check out the master, Neil Shatz, and see if you can do any of these on Zen IOS. The flippers maybe hit too hard (or all or nothing) for most: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlLjhoarx9c

[Evolve or die]

Kickback management

A word on kickback management:

After you have them both lit, try to light up most of the letters in case you have to use a kickback. BUT DO NOT COMPLETE. I leave at least one letter completely untouched (2 to be safe), and try to be conscious of not lighting it. You're more likely to drain the right kickback, and because left kickback lights first, the right is easier to relight (if you accidentaly filled FROST already). Nothing worse than using a right kickback and realise almost all of the letters are unlit. You have to fill out FROST first and you already have the left kickback still lit. That's futility.

And make sure you have both kickbacks before collecting odin's gift. It sucks to get a kickback instead of an extra ball or multiplier. So remove them from the random pool of prizes.

[surf1der]

@Evolve or die: thanks for the tips.

[Evolve or die]

Ymir Attacks mission

I used to hate it during this mission when the YMIR loop lights up, but remember a left apple or URU hole will put you on the top flippers, preferably the left one where u can lightning boost for either YMIR or ARMOR lanes. I suck at getting ARMOR from top right flipper, so rememember where it will drop next and go for it if either of these lanes lights. And even if it drops top right you can easily smash it into URU for an instant top left shot into YMIR and the lightning boost.