A Guide to Advents

Contents


Introduction

What are Advent Stages?

Advent stages are stages that run twice a month and drop useful units. These are considerably tough compared to other stages around their level of progression, and feature special boss enemies, exclusive to these stages.

Why should I beat Advent Stages?

Advents drop some of the best cats in the game, with very unique roles that are almost irreplaceable at what they do. Examples of these include Slime, Bullet Train, and Green Shell, among many others.

When should I start doing Advent Stages?

There isn’t exactly a ‘correct’ time to start doing advent stages, but it’s normally recommended to start them in mid-SoL; after you have important Gacha rare / super rare True Forms and Awakened Bahamut.

What order should I do Advent Stages in?

Look at advent stages as and when they come, and see if you’re prepared enough to beat them. If you can’t tell, then ask someone in help channels or the subreddit. There is no well-defined order to do advents in. A lot of them are heavily dependent on a certain gacha cat, and not having that could delay how late into the game you can beat it. Specific uber rare cats also completely nullify the challenge of some advents, so keep an eye out for those too. That being said, the general order of advent difficulty is:

Bakoo < Queen B < Hannya = Daboo < Clionel = Wahwah < Doremi < Papuu < Okame = Emperor < Puffsley < Wanwan = Queen Mother V = Kappy < Z-Onel

How do I do Advent Stages?

Well that’s why this guide exists. Let’s get right into it. But first...

A disclaimer on Unit Levels

Going through these guides, you might find that the guidemaker's levels do not exactly match yours. It's common to see them use an overlevelled Eraser or Manic Lion and yours isn't quite that high. If the guide uses a Level 34 Awakened Bahamut or a Level 32 Psychocat, it's pretty well understood that Level 30 should be sufficient. I tried to balance levels a bit on my own end while making this, but you might run into some oddballs anyway. 5~10 levels here and there can be typically compensated for by some other means. That being said, guidemakers tend to be rather conservative in this regard, so your levels will most likely be higher than those in the guide.

Queen B

Queen's Coronation > Honey Trap

Boss

Queen B stands at 999 range with 888~1332 LD. She inflicts Guaranteed permaslow and has a 3.3s attack frequency, with 12k damage per attack. You need at least 9 speed to enter her blindspot [unless you're luring]. She is Alien / Floating.

Stage Design

The stage contains Queen B paired with The Sloth. Peons include occasional Brollow waves and Kroxos.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies
Note that it is possible to beat Queen B without rushing, if relying on boosted units / True Forms / Ubercarry; but that is not mentioned here. It can also require timing which may take some practice, and the rush approach is usually considered better.

General Rush Strat

Video - courtesy Waran-Ess

Maiden's Defense combo is optional, you can use other appropriate units for the filler slot. This lineup also uses Cameraman for damaging Queen B / Brollows / Kroxos.

Lure Queen B to the base, then start stacking Cameraman / Sadako / Butterfly / Can Can / etc. on her. After the first Knockback, deploy Bahamut. This mostly leads to a consistent chain. Freeze from Necromancer / Necro-Dancer and Castaway / Seafarer makes a clean entry for your other units. Weakening The Sloth with Magica can allow your Bahamut to tank a hit from it, but this isn't absolutely necessary.

Queen's Condemnation > Honey Drip

Stage Restriction

Cost <= 3900. The consequence of this is that you cannot use Awakened Bahamut [or normal-price Ubers]

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

BioBone Strat

Video

The Speed combo is optional, and doesn't do a whole lot, so I removed it in the video. Use Vendor instead if you want to, or a 2-Slot health / defense / speed combo. The purpose of most units is the same as the previous stage, except this approach relies very heavily on Catellite and Fishman.

Stall Queen B on the enemy base with Catellite and Fishman, till the first Brollow wave. Lure the Brollows to the base, and send basically everything at them. Once this is done, The Sloth should be behind Queen B; and your units will knock back Queen B. At this point try and get Worker Cat to ~level 6, and play defensively. Catellite spam is great, send Fishman as he recharges. Octopus and Can Can can be sent less frequently. Reserve Maglev to retain your ground when The Sloth attacks / for Brollow waves. After the first two-three waves the Brollows die down, and you can beat down the bosses.

Queen's Condemnation > Royal Jelly Hell

Stage Design

The stage contains Queen B paired Cyberhorns, Dark Otters, and Wall Doge - with all peons spawning at a relatively slow rate. Arguably easier than the two stages that come before it.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

General Rush Strat

Video - courtesy yohane

Uses BioBone to get more value out of Chill, among other units. You can also try out Crazed Wall if you have extra slots.

Send one Fishman immediately [this isn't done in the video, but other guides do it and it's a good idea]. This will stall Queen B for a while, and buy you some time to build a stack on cyberhorn later [he'll also kill the first Wall Doge, which makes stacking a bit easier]. Lure Cyberhorn to base, then send everything you have on him. By the time Queen B arrives, Cyberhorn should be dead. Try to Cannon Cancel her attack [this isn't easy, so don't fret if you can't do it]. Try to get a few units into her blindspot, and attempt rush similar to the original stage. Bahamut should also enter her blindspot once his slow expires, which will help too.

Queen Mother V

The Old Queen > I'll Be Bug

Boss

Queen Mother V, has the same range and attack frequency as Queen B, but inflicts Curse instead of Slow.

Stage Design

Features 2 200% magnification Professor As spawning at a long interval, with waves of peons in between; consisting of Ginger Snache, Relic Doge, and One Horn. Getting hit by curse makes your anti-reds substantially worse against Professor A. So, some seriously good timing is required here.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Cutter Strat

Video

BioBone is great on this stage. With Research Up M, Roe’s deployment time becomes exactly twice of Queen Mother V’s attack cycle. This means that once one Roe gets in her blindspot, future Roes will also get in, if you time them the moment they recharge. If you aren’t very good at timing, BioBone is for you. Power Cutter and Li’l Brave Cat have an Attack Up Sm Combo, which is great to have [for a cheap slot count].

Use Cutter and Bullet Train in the startoff as shown to get some cheap damage on Professor A. Lure Queen V close to your base (but not hitting), wait out for a while to build up money, and then send Bahamut. Once you get 2 KBs, the first One Horn should be in front. Beyond this point, the strat is relatively flexible. Try to get knockbacks on Professor A with Power Cutter / Bahamut when you can. Time your units to make sure they’re roughly at the same position as Roe when Queen V attacks. This will make your timings consistent. Once the first Professor A dies, your win is practically guaranteed.

General BioBone Strat

Video - courtesy Yohane

[Uses Rich Cat] This strat is like the previous one, with Research Up M and Strong Up Sm. It focuses on landing 2 Bahamut hits just after Prof. As first KB. After that, it stalls till the second Prof. A comes. Rather than using Bahamut to rush down the first Prof. A, it’s kept reserved for the 2x Relic Doge Wave.

Strong Up Combos Strat

Video - courtesy Anthony

This strategy stacks Combos (Strong Up Sm + M / Defense Up Sm) to increase the value you get out of Manic Island. Since it lacks BioBone, it requires good timing from the player. You can bring regular Island too if it’s levelled enough. You could try this out if you have the monthly cats needed for the combos. See Yohane’s dual island version here.

Daboo of the Dead

Dead on Debut > Parade of the Dead

Boss

Daboo of the Dead is an omnistrike pusher boss, with a standing range of 300 and a maximum range of 800. He has an enormous 3 million HP with just three knockbacks. On top of that, he has immunity to most status effects, making him a big slowly pushing wall. He deals 30000 damage every 13s, which can one-shot meatshields and a lot of other units. Worst of all, he inflicts a crippling 10s long Slow to anything he hits, making it more difficult to get to him.

Stage Design

Daboo spawns almost immediately on a timer, followed by a Zroco. Enemies cycle involving Angelic and Zombie peons, including Heavenly Hippoe, Angelic Gory, Zory, and Zir Zeal. After 2-3 waves of both traits the peons die down, giving you a clear shot on Daboo.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

BioBone Strat

+ Sniper

Video - courtesy Lucas IV

BioBone makes Ramen and Shigong considerably better at their job, and also helps other units. Having Sniper goes a long way. The lineup looks a bit different in the video but it is effectively the same as what you see here.

Sniper can be kept on for the entire duration of the run. Send off a Manic Mohawk to bait a Daboo hit. Send meatshields and attackers at a gradual rate to build up money. When the Heavenly Hippoes arrive, send Can Can and pretty much whatever else you have. Awakened Bahamut can be kept reserved for Heavenly Hippoe waves. Use Holy Blast to interrupt Daboo attacks if you have it, otherwise regular cannon works too. Try and keep a decent amount of money in your wallet, and fight out the peon waves. A few minutes later the peons will die down and you should have an easy win.

Dead by Encore > Prisoner's Progress

Stage Restriction

Allowed Costs: >= 1200. Disallowed Costs: < 1200. Since the regular strat relies heavily on Ramen and Shigong, this makes a massive change to your approach. Rather than relying on meatshields to hold the front line, you'll need Titans or Ubers.

Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies
Due to the nature of this stage, Ubercarry is heavily recommended. Most non-ubercarry strats are impractical. If you're interested in beating it uberless for whatever reason, boosted Jamieras and Islands are the way to go. If you don't have those, Dark Lazer gets the job done as well.

Talented Dark Lazer Strat

[+ Rich Cat, Sniper]

Video

Talented Dark Lazer is mandatory, although you won't be spamming her all the time as you might be used to. Rich Cat is needed to sustain her because this stage is stupidly cash tight. Sniper is also needed to get Daboo off of your base, and helps to delay his attacks in general. Pizza works because it's pizza, and Roe is basically the only meatshield / wall that you have.

Try and play conservative. Dark Lazer can drain your money super quickly if you aren't careful. Save up your money for Bahamut during the Angel waves, and your Holy Blast for the Zombie waves [first Zory doesn't count]. As long as you're above 10k cash when no peons are around, you should be fine. When they do spawn, send pretty much everything that you have. Balancing between saving ground and saving money is the key to this stage.

Dead by Encore > March to Death

Stage Design

The stage starts off with a few Metal One Horns for cash. About a minute in, Daboo spawns, accompanied by some Metal Doge. Metal Doge continue to deploy throughout the stage at a gradual rate. Eventually, a couple Super Metal Hippoes spawn, followed by a Sir Metal Seal after some more time. The combination of Metal enemies and Omni Pushers is very lethal, and this stage is a prime example of it.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Cameraman Crit Strat

[+ Rich Cat]

Video - courtesy Lucas IV

Crit Up combo is pretty much compulsory to get Cameraman crits. Manic Jamiera can be substituted for Bahamut, but both are decent. Holy Blast is ideal for this stage, unless you have a levelled Waterblast for whatever reason. Catasaurus is also a functional critter, but not really recommended here. Alternative approach with talented Riceball is seen here.

Start off with Waitress, then send Crazed Moneko after a bit of a delay. Afterwards spam Manic Eraser and Noodles, along with Catornado. These should take care of the Metal One Horns and bring in some money. Try to get Manic Jamiera / Awakened Bahamut in before the Super Metal Hippoe arrive to deal some damage to Daboo.

When the SMH arrives, stop spamming Noodle and Catornado, as they'll only prolong the fight. Waitress and Cameraman will be reliable, and no harm in sending CMoneko along with them. Send Puppetmaster and / or Mochi for Crowd Control, and try and time your faster units. If you're lucky, you'll land a Cameraman crit and make the fight much easier. Try to use a well-timed Holy Blast here to buy you some time.

For the Sir Metal Seal phase, you'll probably be fighting real close to your base. This is okay, and it makes timing a bit easier too. Cameraman isn't super reliable here, but if you have the money you can send her anyway. Waitress will be a consistent source of good damage, and you can always try your hand with C. Moneko [and even regular Moneko] here. This is a "Do or Die" sort of situation so you want to send everything you got.

Once the SMS is dead, you should have a clear win. Bringing Rich Cat is mandatory for this stage, and Sniper is helpful for the cleanup [but far from needed]. Unfortunately, this stage is very heavily RNG dependent, and can waste a ton of Rich Cats [I speak from experience]. Be prepared to sink some resources here if you're not boosted.

Heavenly Herald Papuu

Papuu's Paradise > Saintly Sister

Boss

Heavenly Herald Papuu [Angel] deals 4000 Damage per hit, with 40% extra toxic damage on top of it. With her tremendous omni range, she'll be almost always hitting your base. She strengthens to 3x at 30% HP, becoming much more deadly. She also has immunities to every negative effect except curse and sniper KB, both of which greatly debilitate her.

Stage Design

The stage is relatively short, and Papuu spawns nearly immediately; followed by two sir rels. Following this, there are a few peon waves with weak Dagshunds and Wall Doges. After three Dagshunds and a few Sir Rels, the peon flow mostly stops, allowing you to get clean hits on Papuu. Overall, a very easy stage with the right lineup and approach.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Curseblast Strat

[Level 10 Base Defense, Sniper]

Video

Base Defense Combo allows you to survive Papuu hits for longer, especially if your base isn't fully upgraded. If you don't need it then you can try an Attack Up combo instead. Green Shell can be swapped out for Eraser, both are decent here. Ramen is also a staple for this stage, but I chose to not bring it. Curseblast and Bahamut are mandatory for this setup. There's another lineup with no sniper and Pizza instead of Slime in the video, you can check that out if you want.

Use Manic Eraser to bait out a Papuu hit, and lure Sir Rel close to your base. Wait out the first Dagshund, lure it to base, and kill it with whatever you have. Now that you have a gap, send Bahamut. Use Curseblast to take an extra hit, and utilise Shell / BTrain to protect your Bahamut from Sir Rel/s. Sniper will also help you do extra damage if you have it. Rinse and Repeat. If you have enough base HP [which you should if you didn't let any enemies hit your base], send the second bahamut after the last Dagshund, and just after Papuu falls into strengthen range. At this point, it should be an easy win.

King Wahwah

N-1 Grand Prix > King Wahwah's Revenge

Boss

King Wahwah stands at 600 range with omni-strike up till 1000. He deals 24000 damage per attack cycle distributed into three equal multi-hits. He has a million HP with 25 KBs, making him relatively easy to knock back [if you can reach him]. All his attacks have guaranteed KB effect. Lastly, he's pretty slow, with just 5 Speed.

Stage Design

The stage features Wahwah with minimal peons. These include Scissoroo, Zang Roo, Shadow Boxer K, Ottas, and some Doge variants. Not that difficult to handle, but the restriction...

Stage Restriction

Allowed Rarities: Normal, Uber Rare, Legend Rare. Disallowed Rarities: EX, Rare, Super Rare. This leads to a situation where 99% of players will be using heavy Ubercarry for this stage.

Useful Uber Rare Cats

Note: This list is not comprehensive.

Lineups and Strategies

Use whichever Ubers work here for you. Go to a help channel if you can't figure out what to use.

King Wahwah's Return > Revenge of N-1

Stage Restriction

Allowed Rarities: Super Rare. Ironically much easier than the original.

Lineups and Strategies

Endurance Setup

An incredibly straightforward stage. Kill peons and live. You shouldn't have any trouble lasting till the end of the enemy waves. I don't see any need to see a video for this one.

King Wahwah's Return > Wrath of the Dogelord

Stage Design

This stage focuses on a peon-spam approach, similar to CotC Broton. Kroxos, Mr. Angels, Ginger Snache, Trolly Bloggers, and Brollows can be seen in the enemy roster.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Endurance Strat

Video

Use Bullet Train to pin Wahwah in the startoff and get some cash. When the Mr. Angels come out, start sending your attackers and meatshields. Afterwards, it's more or less a CPU strat. Keep your Cyberpunk saved for when you're pushed to your base. Bring Thunderbolt to enable slime to land hits more consistently, and keep an eye on your money. This is a straightforward stage, although not that easy with low levels.

Everlord Wanwan

Wanwan's Glory > Dogsville

Boss

Everlord Wanwan has omni and multihit, with the same build as Lord Wahwah. The difference being, his third hit carries a one-minute long warp instead of knockback; and does only 1500 damage.

Stage Design

The stage starts off with Wanwan immediately, followed by some Relic Doge. Around a minute in, one Capy spawns. Another Capy spawns some while later. Peons include Relic Doge, Sir Rels, Croconators, and Mistress Celeboodles. This stage has a cat limit of only 10, which is challenging because of Wanwan's warp. It limits your meatshielding ability, and makes the enemies push more. 1500% CotC crystals are mandatory for this stage.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Note: There are cheese strats for this stage using either Healer or Seafarer. You should avoid these, because the setups are too elaborate and RNG reliant / need immensely difficult timing.

Double Bullet Train Warp Strat

Video

Just a heads up, this guide uses Jiangshi, both with and without talents, in different lineups. If your Jiangshi isn't talented using Catellite is just as good. Jiangshi is a decent pick because high speed, and because he saves Cat Limit thanks to survivor. The stage isn't too cash-intensive either. Pizza and Can Can are there for general DPS, and the rest of the lineup is obvious. There's another lineup with NEO Cutter in this video, refer to that if you have the unit.

This does have some timings to master. Immediately send Bullet Train, don't even upgrade worker. After BTrain hits base you can upgrade worker to 2 [but not 3]. As soon as Wanwan spawns, send Manic Eraser and Can Can, in that order. When BTrain recharges, deploy MEraser. as soon as MEraser recharges, send BTrain again [this is just for timing, so that BTrain hits Wanwan after his first multi-hit]. Ideally it will hit Wanwan and get warped, but if it doesn't hit him that's okay too.

After this point, lure the enemies. Handle the peons as you want, just make sure you don't push too far from your base. When the Capy comes, use Bahamut to damage him, and send the other damagers that you've brought. If all goes well, both the warped bullet trains will arrive and interrupt Wanwan, buying you time to rush Capy. This is a very chaotic stage, so you might not get immediate results even with the correct approach.

In between Capies, you should try to gain ground. Push back Wanwan with well-timed slimes, Can Can, Bullet Train, and Manic Lion. You can send Cyberpunk here, or when the second Capy comes. When the second Capy comes to the field, send everything that you got. It's tough, but once that's done the stage is over. Remember to prioritise getting as many Slime hits as possible. They knock back Wanwan, deal good damage to all peons, and buy you time for other units to attack.

More important than WHAT to do in Wanwan, is WHAT NOT to do. There are many pitfalls in this stage, and even expert players will fall for them from time to time. Without go into too much detail, remember these few points.

Standard Bullet Train Warp Strat

Video - courtesy Lucas IV

Uses Manic Island for killing peons, a perfectly acceptable alternative to Pizza. Both of them have a tendency to get warped, but Manic Island's fast attack rate and solid DPS make him a great pick for this stage. It uses only a single Bullet Train warp, which is a bit easier to time. Other than that, the basic principle and strategy is the same as the previous lineup.

Research Up Strat

Video - courtesy Anthony

Relies on Elemental Duelist to damage Capies. Research combos help both Slime and Elemental Duelist. Otherwise very similar to the previous two strategies. Can Struggle with Relic Enemies compared to the other two lineups, but faster at rushing Capy.

Cruel Angel Clionel

Clionel Ascendant > No Plan A

Boss

Cruel Angel Clionel stands at 600 range, with an LD reach of 400~1200. She deals 32000 Damage in a single hit, and attacks every 4.8s. She has 2.4M HP with just 4 KBs. While her blindspot is large, she's almost always featured with support enemies which fill it up, making her a forbidable foe.

Stage Design

The stage features the deadly duo of Clionel and Sleipnir. Clionel's blindspot of 400 is almost completely covered by Angelic Sleipnir, leaving no safe zone for any cats. This makes the combo difficult to fight without any specific strategy. Additionally, there are Trolly Bloggers who can push your units into Clionel's range, and Angelic Gories who plow through your defenses.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Two Bahamut Cycle Strat

Video - courtesy Lucas IV

The video is new, goes well in depth, and is self-explanatory. There is no need for me to summarise it. Levels used in it are converted to True Form equivalents here.

Clionel Dominant > New Testament

Stage Restriction

Cat Limit 5. This makes a massive difference for obvious reasons, mainly that meatshielding is a whole lot tougher now.

New Must-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Polished Two Cycle Strat

Video

Attack and Defense combos can be replaced with Resist combos if you don't have the needed units. Base Defense combos are usable here as well. Alternatively, you could try Manic Eraser / Zamboney / Seafarer instead of those. Level 40s are heavily recommended. Can Can and Pizza talents are great to have as well.

Send off a lone MML to kill Bloggers for money. If you've brought Crazed Cow you can use it here as well. When Sleipnir moves in front of Clionel send Maglev. If you're lucky, you'll get 3-4 hits out of Maglev, which will seriously injure Sleipnir. Lure the Angelic Gory, and rush it down with Bahamut. The stage proceeds similar to the original No Plan A afterwards, but the cat limit makes it considerably tighter. Use Seafarer instead of Can Can if yours is missing a lot.

Clionel Dominant > A Cat Screaming Love

Stage Design

This stage contains Clionel paired with highly boosted Heavenly Hippoes. It's almost impossible to push through them without having your stack killed by Clionel, and eventually the enemies push to your base [if you're fighting the stage "normally"]

Must-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Slow Beam / Cannon Rush Strat

Slow Beam - Video - courtesy Lucas IV

Regular Cannon - Video approach from Mickey (recreated by Xan)

For Slow Beam approach, Slow Beam level 8~9 is recommended for this strategy, but 3~4 should be sufficient if your timing is good. Manics with lower levels could work, but Zamboney / Roe are mandatory. Needless to say, Ramen works well in place of Mohawk too.

Stall out the two waves of Relic Doge in the startoff however you want. Lucas uses Cameraman here, I prefer Can Can and Maglev. Stall for a while, then send Roe and Zamboney. Send Bahamut just before Zamboney can hit base, and Maglev with him. Timing is essential here, so pay close attention to the video.

Fire Slow Beam on base hit. Do note that Iron Wall can work as well, but it's not mentioned as no one has a levelled Iron Wall. Maglev should hit the Gabriel in the boss wave, making way for Bahamut and Zamboney to enter Clionel's blindspot. If done right, this should be an easy win from here. Keep spamming meatshields and tanks.

Alternatively, you can try which uses the regular cannon, with a startoff focused on Awakened Bahamut.Stall the first Relic Doge wave, then spawn Awakened Bahamut when you see the next Relic Doge wave spawn. Let Awakened Bahamut trigger the boss wave, in turn letting him get knockbacked by Gabriel. Spawn Maglev when no enemies are in front of Heavenly Hippoe, and then fire your cannon when Hippoe is knocked back. You should not spawn Manic Lion until you fire your cannon.

Death Angel Z-Onel

Z-Onel Rises > Last of the Dead

Boss

Death Angel Z-Onel retains the LD reach and attack cycle of Clionel, but now has the Zombie trait instead. She also revives infinite times at 50% HP, and has 1M base HP.This means that she can be quite troublesome if you can't Z-Kill her.

Stage Design

Features 2 Z-Onels, paired with Zuche, Zoge, Star Peng, Shibalien Elite, and General Gregory. 1500% CotC crystals are mandatory for this stage.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Holy Blast Z-Kill Snipe Strat

Video - courtesy Lucas IV

Seafarer and Can Can's Alien CC Talents are both great to have here, but not compulsory. You might want Chill Cost Down if trying richless, especially since it's used on Puffer Planet as well. Boosted Manic Island isn't that common, you could try Li'l Flying / Cadaver Bear or talented Housewife there instead [even Dancer or Ubers can work]. Holy Blast Level 15+ is mandatory for this lineup, 18+ is recommended.

Start off by luring the Zoge. Kill it and a Zuche with Slime. Lure the Star Peng to your base, then stack attackers on it. By the time Z-Onel comes, the Aliens should be dead. Send Bahamut now. From here on out, it's a number guessing game. Wait for a bit after Z-Onel's third KB, then fire Holy Blast. If you did it right, you should get a Z-Kill. From here on out, you can improvise, and the video goes more in-depth on that.

Regular Z-Kill Strat

Video - courtesy Yohane

This strat works well even with a level 10-12 Holy Blast, but it needs either Li'l Flying Cat [Level 60+ recommended], or Cadaver Bear Cat.

Startoff is almost identical to the above strategy. After dealing with the Star Peng, use Holy Blast to make way for your Li'l Flying stack to enter Z-Onel's blindspot [It's too slow to enter normally]. Afterwards, you kinda just pray that Flying gets the Z-Kill. A higher level Li'l Flying helps. The rest can be improv'd from there on.

Bakoo

Deeply Dreaming > Bombergirl

Boss

Bakoo is a Black enemy with 180 standing range, an LD attack ranging from 50 to 1850, freeze with 177% uptime, a 2.83s attack frequency, and 10000 damage. To compensate, she has a very low 4 Speed, and 500k HP with 10 KBs [putting her at a relatively low endurance of 50k].

Stage Design

A Bore spawns in the startoff. When you hit the base, Bakoo is deployed; along with a Kang Roo and a Bore. Some Wall Doge follow after, and another Bore spawns after a while.

Must-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats

Most other Ubers are unnecessary here, if not counterproductive.

Lineups and Strategies

LD Stack Strat

Video

BioBone allows you to get 2 iCats in time if your base HP is low. Otherwise very straightforward lineup.

Lure the Bore close to your base. Send iCat and Crazed Tank. Bore will knock back your iCat once it unfreezes, then you can stall it on your base. Wait till the second iCat. Once two iCats are out, you'll have permafreeze. Stall for money if you want, then start stacking Cyborgs. Once the Bore dies, your iCat stack will hit the base. Fire cannon when this happens to cancel Bakoo's attack. After that, just watch the magic.

A Deeper Dream > Wrath of the Dreamer

Stage Restriction

Disallowed Rarities: Special, Super Rare. Allowed Rarities: Normal, Rare, Uber Rare, Legend Rare. No longer having access to iCat or Roe forces a different strategy. While the general idea is the same [CC Bore/s, stack LD / Cyborg], it becomes less consistent in execution.

Must-Have Units
Great-to-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Dread Pirate Catley Strat

[+ Rich Cat, Sniper]

Video - courtesy Lucas IV

Catley is brought for crowd control. Thaumaturge won't hit much in the startoff but can be useful during the boss fight. Enchantress is not used because her proc sucks lmao. Bring Zamboney if you have it.

Lure the Bore close to base, but not quite hitting. Keep 2-3 Catleys on the field to maintain a stable frontline, then build a stack. If Bore isnt dead but you're close to the enemy base, stop spawning everything and let them die; then start over. Rinse and repeat till the Bore dies, then hit the base. If everything goes right, you'll win. While this strat is quite RNG dependent, it's the best accessible approach we've got.

A Deeper Dream > Revenge of the Dreamer

Stage Design

3 Bakoos spawn on this stage at large intervals. Along with them, we get to see two Elder Sloths, and occasionally a few SBKS.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Ranged Meatshielding Strat

Video - Lucas IV

Eraser is only brought for the startoff. Bahamut is used at 36 in the video but 30 is perfectly usable. Pizza Wave, Cameraman Survivor, and Can Can Double Bounty talent are highly recommended. While Seafarer Freeze Up did not exist back then, it's definitely phenomenal here. Legs are optional. Savage Blow on Housewife is good to have too, but far from compulsory. Avoid any short ranged unit unless it has piercing or is Yukimura.

Lure the first Doge Dark to your base, and kill it with can can for good money. Send out Seafarer and Bomber to stall for a bit, then clear out the Doge with Pizza. Keep spamming Cameramen and Bombers, save up some money for Bahamut. Once the Gory Blacks are dead, you'll have some respite. The Shadow Boxers are threatening as well, but you should have some money and a good stack by then. Use cannon to interrupt Bakoo's attacks if needed.

Doremi

First Errand > Baby Fake

Boss

Doremi has the same LD range as Bakoo, but is traitless. Additionally, she's considerably faster (14 as opposed to Bakoo's 4), and has higher endurance, much more damage, and a slow instead of freeze proc.

Stage Design

Startoff consists of an Alpacky with some Mr. Angels for support. After base hit, Doremi spawns with Trolly Bloggers, Mr. Angels, and Director Kurosawah as support.

Must-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats

don't.

Lineups and Strategies

"Making this stage a joke" Strat

Video - courtesy Lucas IV

Bring something that can kill Alpacky. MIsland works but so do 20 other things. Bahamut for reasons that will be clear later. Base Defense combos if you're poor. Attack Up combos also work well here.

Kill Alpacky and stall for max cash. Then hit the enemy base. Use something weak like a meatshield to do so. This will leave a Mr. Angel to rush forward. Lure Doremi to your base, and send Bahamut to hit the Mr.Angel. Before Doremi attacks, use the cannon to stall her and clear out the Trolly Bloggers, with Bahamut now hitting Doremi. This should line up Bahamut to hit both Doremi and the Mr.Angels without either hitting the base. After 20 some repeats, Doremi is dead. GG. See video with the pinned comment for more specific details.

Hannya

River Styx > Realm of Carnage

Boss

Hannya is a red variant of The Face, with an enormous 800 range. She also cripples all units to 25% Attack with her weaken, and has an attack frequency of 5s. She deals 36k damage with one attack, which can one-shot many units, including Awakened Bahamut.

Stage Design

Hannya spawns almost immediately on a timer, followed by a Bore. About a minute later, R. Ost spawns, and these two enemies keep cycling. Ginger Snache are sent intermittently, with Sir Seals appearing as well later on.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Note: An approach involving Bahamut Chaining on R. Ost is possible, but I wouldn't recommend it. Most lineups that can make it work will work better with a conventional Rush.

General Rush Strat

Playlist - courtesy Waran-Ess

BioBone helps to rush down the Bore quickly, and allows you to get more iCats, which means more chance of permafreeze lasting for the full rush. The rest of the lineup should be self-explanatory. The playlist also has lineups with Freeze Up combos, Speed Up combos, and a setup without Sushi. Alternatively, you can try your luck with iCat Speed Up talent.

Lure the first Bore up close, throw everything you got at him except Bahamut. The Bore should die just before Hannya gets up close, and your Sushis will take a hit. After that, you should get a permafreeze from iCat, and you can start Bahamut chaining. If all goes well, Hannya will be dead before the R. Ost arrives. You can use Thunderbolt cannon to stall her if she unfreezes, and the Weaken from Sushi will allow your units to tank a hit from her, if needed.

Courier Endurance Strat

[+ Rich, Sniper]

Video - courtesy Xan

This lineup uses BioHazard along with Moby Dick. BioHazard gives a research boost, which is useful for spamming Courier more often, while also giving a boost to Can Can and Crazed Whale. Moby Dick's HP boost can be replaced with another HP Up or Strong Up Combo. Courier handles Ginger Snache, while Crazed Whale's DPS helps for Bore. Can Can provides CC. Hannya is chipped with occasional Courier hits, and Bahamut later on. Sniper is not used in this video, but it can be great at gaining ground. Turn it off whenever you lure R. Ost though.

Rather than luring, this strat involves starting the fight far off from the base. Use most of your attackers except bahamut, but be a bit judicious with Courier usage at the start to keep a decent amount of money. The Bore should be gone before R. Ost spawns. Stall the R. Ost for some time, then lure it to the base. Bahamut chain the R. Ost as shown in the video. If you've timed it right. You could get a couple Bahamut hits on the second Bore as well. You'll need to stall the second R. Ost as well till Bahamut recharges, but after it dies you should have an easy win.

River Acheron > Wrath of Carnage

Stage Restriction

Allowed Rarities: Normal, Special, Uber Rare, Legend Rare. Disallowed Rarities: Rare, Super Rare. This makes the stage considerably tougher, since a lot of the units you rely on are Rares and Super Rares [iCat, Roe, Elemental Duelist, Crazed Whale]. There are two distinct ways of beating this stage. One is having decently levelled Normals, and the other is Ubercarry. Most people stick with the latter.

Must-Have Units [Uberless, no EX Talents]
Talented EX Alternatives
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Note: All the approaches to this stage are a bit high-investment. The talents which you use here [Bondage HP/ DL Talents] are expensive, and farming Islands to +30 or such won't give you massive return for the energy investment either [by 2021 progression standards]. Ubercarry relies on having one of a particular set of ubers, so it isn't super accessible. No matter which approach you choose, expect to go out of your way while making a lineup for this stage.

Boosted Dual Islands Strat

Video - courtesy Lucas IV

The Strong Up Sm + M / Defense Up Sm combo allow both Islands to take a hit from Hannya without flinching. This is great for maintaining a stable frontline.

Send Islands only in the startoff to kill off the Bore. Try and keep Hannya away from your base. Lure R. Ost and Bahamut chain it. If you wish to chain on your base clear off Ginger Snache first. If you can't kill it in a single chain then chip with Dragons or other ranged units. Stall between Bore and R. Ost waves with Islands. Use erasers for R. Ost. Try and Bahamut chain it if you can. Rinse and repeat till Hannya dies. Curseblast can be good to bring here too, but Breakerblast / Thunderbolt work just as well.

Talented Dark Lazer Strat

[+ Rich Cat]

Video

Research and Strong combos are similar in effect. If you have the Seasons of Love combo I'd definitely recommend that. Dark Lazer has Attack, Defense, and Wave talents. Nothing else is talented. Add talented Bondage if you can afford it. Riceball is only for occasionally baiting Hannya hits, I wouldn't recommend it for meatshielding if untalented. Curseblast is used to let Dark Lazer temporarily hit Hannya unweakened.

The video description goes in-depth on the approach, but I'll summarise it here. Start off by spamming Lasers till the first Bore dies. Wait out the first R. Ost and a Ginger Snache wave that comes just after it. Then lure R. Ost to your base and Bahamut chain it [see exact procedure in the video]. Use what you must for the second Bore [I use Ninja as a filler meatshield but it isn't needed if you've brought Island]. The second R. Ost can be Bahamut chained similar to the first, but now Hannya is close to your base so it's a bit more complicated.

River Acheron > Revenge of Carnage

Stage Design

The stage starts off with a few Znache. When you hit base, Hannya spawns; starting a few waves of Zombie peons. These include Zroco, Zigge, and Zir Zeal. After a couple minutes the peons die down, and you're free to take out Hannya.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

General Strat

Video

Research Combo helps mainly for Shigong. Other units are explained above. Holy Blast helps a lot but it isn't necessary by any means, as the stage is relatively easy.

Send a single Pizza in the startoff to build up money. There's fancier setups for the startoff but this is very straightforward and gets the job done. You should have about worker Level 6 and 5k money in your wallet when hitting base. Afterwards the only real concern is money. Don't send Bahamut outside of an emergency and try to get Housewife Z-Kills [by not sending more of Pizza / Can Can than needed]. This helps to conserve money too. If the third or fourth Zir Zeal end up close to your base you can rush them down with Bahamut as well. Afterwards just pin Hannya with Roe and kill Zrocos with Maglev / Housewife.

Black Okame

Courts of Torment > The Pure Land

Boss

Black Okame is a Red / Black variant of Hannya. And before you even try it, she is Freeze Immune. She has 320 Standing Range with omnistrike up till 800. With 24000 damage and a 2.1s attack frequency, she can disable most units that aren't tankers. Even slow bulky units like Island or Pizza struggle because of the knockback. Finally, she has 2.6M HP with just a single knockback, which means you aren't killing her before peons stop cycling [without insane Ubercarry at least].

Stage Design

Okame spawns almost immediately on a timer, accompanied by a Doge Dark. Doge Dark and Ginger Snache spawn on cycles, along with Gory Blacks. After a couple minutes, the peons die down [there are only 5 Gory Blacks] and you have a free shot on Okame.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Note: Many ubers that would otherwise have great for these traits can suffer greatly on this stage, due to Okame's stunlock. Watch out for anything with high Foreswing or slow Speed, because it will probably not work.
Lineups and Strategies

Stall / Push Strat

[+ Sniper]

Video - courtesy Kaxzer

This lineup uses two Health Up Sm combos. I've swapped out Wrestling's combo with Cameraman's combo which has the same effect, but is more accessible. You could also try Resist combos if you want. Regular Island is used in this lineup, but I would advise against deploying it [unless yours is +30 or higher, and even in that case it's mediocre due to low speed]. Awakened Bahamut can come in clutch for peons, particularly Gory Black.

Lure the first Doge Dark, and kill it for quick money. The stage is really straightforward afterwards. The peons are too weak for there to be any difficulty. That being said, don't bother with trying to kill Okame quickly; peons will die down before you do it anyway, and you'll end up wasting money. Breakerblast and Sniper are both must-haves, as you heavily rely on them for gaining ground. Sniper the Deadeye is also a decent unit here.

Courts of Agony > Heaven and Hell

Stage Restriction

Unit Limit: This stage has a unit limit of 5. While typically a severe restriction, it's not that much of a problem in this stage, as your units typically don't live that long anyway.

Must-Have Units
Great-to-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Stall / Push Strat

[+ Sniper, Rich]

Video - courtesy WaffleCat

The lineup in the video uses level 50s with no items. If you're using level 40 units, using Rich Cat and Sniper is recommended. BreakerBlast allows you to gain ground quickly. While it may be tempting to bring Cyberpunk or Sniper Deadeye, they don't work here due to the low cat limit.

Your biggest enemy here is the Cat Limit. At no point do you want more than two of any unit. Roe and Manic Island are great for stalling Okame, and Bear should be sent just before black enemy waves. Bullet Train can help to clear out Doge Darks. Bahamut is best saved for Doge Dark + Gory Black waves. Stone should be used sparingly, because it can clog up the Cat Limit.

Box Cats Strat

Video - courtesy Siluman Tomcat

This lineup substitutes Assassin Bear for Talented Box Cats. This makes the stage a lot easier than what it already was. Strong and HP up combos allow Manic Island to live longer and do more damage. Box Cats' weaken and rebound allow them to deal large amounts of damage to Okame.

Use Box Cats to take care of black peons. You could try to add Awakened Bahamut if you wanted. Bullet Train helps for Ginger Snache. If your Breakerblast is underlevelled, make sure there aren't peons in front of Okame when you use it, lest you miss.

Courts of Agony > Okame's Teahouse

Stage Design

Okame spawns almost immediately, along with a Miz Devil. In the following three minutes, gradually increasing waves of Miz Devils spawn. Once you're done with them, Miz Devils spawn very sparsely one at a time. At this point you've won.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Don't. Except Cradle maybe.
Lineups and Strategies

Endurance Strat

[+ Sniper]

This lineup uses two Attack Up Sm combos. You could use Brave Cutter instead of Sister Act, or Cool Japan if you have neither. These combos allow slime to take down most of Miz Devil's shield HP, which makes your life a lot easier.

Lure the first Miz Devil, kill it with Slime + Seafarer. Send Roe, and be somewhat judicious with Roe and Stone usage. Keep a watch for your cash, try to level up your wallet. Slime will take care of the first 2-3 peon waves easily, Seafarers should live for quite a bit. Around the fourth wave, you should have enough cash to send Bahamut, which might help [although it's far from compulsory to use him here]. I send Cyberpunk around the fifth wave, and after that it's an easy win.

Sathankhamun VIIII

Rashomon > Aku Reincarnation

Boss

Sathankhamun VIII is an Aku variant of Hannya. He wields 650 standing range with omnistrike up till 800. He has 34000 damage per hit and inflicts slow of 2 seconds. His attack frequency is 4.3s. While Sathankhamun is an Aku enemy, he does not have any Aku Shield. That being said, he's still a nasty pusher.

Stage Design

Sathankhamun spawns immediately, followed by a Nimoy Bore. A minute later, Chik-ful-a spawns. Alongside it, a Puffington appears. It's best to finish the Nimoy Bore before Puffington spawns. Cerberus kids appear as peons. There are more Chik-ful-as and Puffingtons, but their respawn delay is massive [around five minutes]. By then, you should be done with the stage. Note that the stage is quite long, and somewhat cash-tight.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Minimal Cyberpunk Strat [Seal Level 40]

Video

This lineup uses Sunbathers combo for some extra money at the start. You can use rich cat if you feel the need. Chill cat, Seafarer, and Can Can are good for chipping the Bore at the start. Slime is great if it hits Cerberus Kids, but it needs good timing to work properly. Cyberpunk is there for general crowd control.

Lure the Bore close to your base, then chip it down with everything you got. Don't use stone till you're fighting Sathankhamun, it'll just waste money. Focus on getting rid of the bore quickly, Seafarer Freeze Up and Chill Cost Down talents will help here, alongside Can Can Target Alien. Once the Bore is down, you should be seeing the remaining boss enemies on the field. Time slime regularly for some chip, use Bullet Train + Stone to keep Puffington pinned behind. Cyberpunk should give you some breathing room, and sending Stone immediately after Sathankhamun attacks will reduce the amount of enemy push some more. Use Bahamut on Chik-ful-a whenever you get an opening, and you should be good to go. After the Chik-ful-a is down, you've pretty much won.

Idi Strat [Seal Level 50]

Video - Courtesy Lord Blu

"With a single Defense Up Combo, Lv 50 Fishman and Bullet Train can survive a hit from every single enemy here. The same applies to Idi at Lv 40. With two Defense Up Combos, which is what I used, Lv 40 Bahamut can also survive a hit from every single enemy in the stage, but this didn't really do much to me anyway." Besides combos, Blu uses Bahamut for the first Bore [something not feasible in the previous strat as you need him for Chik-ful-a], and he relies on fishman for chip damage as well. Cameraman is just for combos here.

Since his fishman has Speed Up talent, it's capable of chipping more conveniently between enemy attacks. Breakerblast is the preferred cannon here to regain lost space. Idi takes out Puffington almost instantly, and the rest proceeds smoothly. This is a faster strategy catered more towards end-game players due to the unit and level constraints.

Evil Emperor Cat

Possessed by Evil > Prelude to Ruin

Boss

Evil Emperor Cat has a range and attack cycle similar to Nyandam Variants. However, he also has a Level 3 Surge [600~900 range] with a debilitating status effect. He inflicts Freeze for 1.5s [reset by surge], and curse for 4s. The damage from the surge isn't that much [6.7k per hit]. He has 520 standing range with omni-strike that goes till 620. He's somewhat fast for a Nyandam variant with 6 speed and very little backswing. He has 1.2M HP and 8 KBs, so he's relatively easy to push back if you have a clean hit.

Stage Design

The stage starts off with Emperor almost immediately. Sir Seals, Ginger Snache, Sir Rels, and two Capies feature as peons early on. After some time, Oldhorn appears as the final threat. Once he's down, there's no one protecting Nyandam and you have an easy win.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Endurance Strat

Video - courtesy Lucas IV

[No items used, but Rich Cat helps.] BioBone increases the efficacy of Can Can, Manic Island, and Slime. Dual erasers are used here, and you should stick with regular Eraser even if yours isn't very high levelled. Rest of the units were explained earlier. Awakened Bahamut is decent for chipping Capy but you have to time him right. A well-timed cannon cancel can also help your Bahamut survive longer.

Lure the Sir Rel / Ginger Snache to your base, and try to get Double Bounty on them. Afterwards, keep the fight as far from your base as possible. This will give more ground to deal with the Oldhorn later. Try and time your slimes to avoid Emperor's surge. This takes a bit of practice but can be great once you have it working. Can Can / Manic Island should deal with the enemies just fine, especially if they're boosted. Slapsticks don't help much here, so don't send them. Send Awakened Bahamut somewhere around the second Capy to chip it down.

When the Oldhorn spawns, you should have one Capy dead and at least one KB on the second Capy. If your units are boosted / you played really well, you can get even the second Capy down by now. However, this is not a requirement. You should also have Emperor pushed back to the enemy base. From here on out, send pretty much everything, and pay extra attention to timing your Slimes. Your Bahamut might recharge towards the end of this fight, but you might not have enough money to send him. If your units are levelled enough and your timing / luck are decent, the Oldhorn should be down before your base is being hit. If so, congratulations, you've won.

Courier Rush Strat

Video - courtesy Xan

Cool Japan gives an attack boost which helps for rushing. Can Can and Maglev are useful for dealing damage to Sir Rel and Emperor. Courier's immense anti-red DPS helps to rush down Capy. Bahamut's used for rushing purposes, and the rest of the lineup is self-explanatory. Rich Cat / Sniper could be used but aren't needed.

Lure the Sir Rel / Ginger Snache to your base, and try to get Double Bounty on them. After you have some money, start spamming Courier and meatshields. Sir Seal should die quite quickly, giving you a lot of money. After Emperor's first hit, wait a couple seconds, then deploy Bahamut. You may want to use Cat Cannon to cancel Emperor's attack during the rush. If done well, Emperor will be gone before Oldhorn spawns, and you can do cleanup from there.

Possessed Empress Cat

Temptation's Symphony > Aku Melody

Boss

Possessed Empress Cat has a range and attack cycle similar to Nyandam Variants. While Evil Emperor has access to surge, Empress attacks with mini-waves. She also has a practically unbreakable 1.2M HP shield, with 980K HP and 10 KBs.

Stage Design

There is an enemy limit of 4 (Effectively 3 due to the enemy base). Doge Dark, Aku Doge, Aku Gory, and Heavenly Hippoe spawn on a regular basis. Shadow Boxer K appear as minibosses. Empress spawns 10 seconds into the stage.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Endurance Strat

Video - courtesy LordBlu144

Researcher is usable for shield breaks. Other Shield Breakers like Ubers or Li'l Jamiera would be preferable. The levels that matter most are Octo tanking an Empress hit when hypermaxed and Bahamut surviving a hit when at Lv 40 with a defense combo, if you bring it.

Try not to let the enemies hit your base like Blu ended up doing. Save your cash to deal with the SBKs and starting enemies, from then on it is just Aku Doges and Aku Gories, which should be pretty harmless as long as you don't fuck up. Li'l Eraser + Camera combo ended up not doing much in this lineup, so you could switch in some other useful unit like Bahamut to speed up the stage.

Kappy Jr.

Bottom of the Swamp > Flow like the Stream

Top of the Bog > Guided by Currents

Boss

Kappy stands at 230 range, and deals a devastating 38k damage with each attack. To make matters worse, he has a Level 1 Surge [150~750 range]. He has a decent foreswing [40f], and it's not too difficult to make him miss. If you do lose your stack though, he's going to push a lot due to his 14 Speed. He's traitless, and takes quite a long time to kill [2M HP, 6 KBs].

Stage Design

The stage features Kappy, paired with a few Scissoroos and Thrillerz. The startoff has a lone Scissoroo with some Thrillerz. On base hit, Kappy spawns with two Scissoroos and some Thrillerz. Scissoroos respawn regularly from now on, and Thrillerz cycle quickly.

Stage Restriction

Allowed Rarities: Normal, Rare, Uber Rare, Legend Rare. Disallowed Rarities: EX, Super Rare. Guides for both the regular and wrath stage are merged, as they both can use the same lineup.

Must-Have Units

Stone - Great for stalling Kappy. Stone-less strategies exist, but I wouldn't recommend them.

Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Research Stone Strat

Video - courtesy Lucas IV

3 x Research up Sm combos sync Stone's respawn cycle exactly with Kappy's attack cycle. This allows you to set up a continuous cycle of making Kappy miss. There are stone-less strats too, but they're less consistent [and typically need level 50 Cameraman or higher]. Cameraman is also great on this stage, as it acts as a ranged meatshield. Scissoroo hitting Cameraman makes Kappy miss, preserving the rest of your stack. For the regular stage, you could try Housewife / Seafarer / Pizza in remaining slots. You can also save up some slots by swapping the research combos with uber equivalents [Sm + M or L research combos have the same effect as 3 x Sm combo]. Crystal can work as well.

Stall Scissoroo in the startoff with meatshields. Once you have money, stack Cameraman. After Scissoroo dies, hit the enemy base. Try and have stone land on Kappy during his backswing. This way, you'll set up a cycle of Kappy missing. Keep spamming Stone and send Cameraman as long as you have money. If done well, you'll have a win from here. Thrillerz and Kappy knockbacks can cause interruptions to your Stone rhythm, so you'll need to reset on those. Overall, less complicated than it sounds on paper.

Top of the Bog > Water Conservancy

Stage Design

Instead of on base hit, Kappy spawns on a timer in this stage. He's accompanied by Loris and Owlbrows, with Relic Doge and Trolly Bloggers for further support.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Research Stone Strat

Video - courtesy Lucas IV

Rich Cat is highly recommended, although not used in the video. Same drill as the previous stage. Timing Stone is a bit easier here, as you're fighting closer to the base and don't have Thrillerz to worry about. Lure close to the base, stack Slapsticks / Housewife, and watch the magic happen. The stage has a tendency to collapse on you if you make any mistakes, so watch out for that. You might need to let your stack die to restart the stone rhythm, and that's okay.

Puffsley's Comet

Blue Impact > Puffer Planet

Boss

Puffsley's Comet has a similar build to Brollow, with big damage [40k], full backswing cooldown, and a high KB count [400]. It has 900k HP, with a standing range of 200 and omni-strike till 500. It also has a guaranteed chance to Knockback all units, although this isn't very relevant as there are few cats with above 40k endurance.

Stage Design

Puffsley's Comet spawns 20 seconds in. It's followed by the first Star Peng. The stage features many more Star Pengs at a rapid respawn rate, along with Three Corporal Weylands and a Project A. After some time the Star Pengs die down, giving you a clean shot at Puffsley. The win-condition of this stage is to outlast the onslaught of Star Pengs. 1500% CotC crystals are mandatory for this stage.

Must-Have Units
Great-To-Have Units
Useful Uber Rare Cats
Lineups and Strategies

Endurance Strat

[+ Rich Cat]

Video - courtesy Lucas IV

Aerial Recon is brought for Research Up M, and it also includes Saucers within it which is a Massive Damage Up Sm combo [good for Chill]. Bullet Train can deal extra damage if it gets warped, and the Double Bounty is nice to have. Awakened Bahamut is mostly there for cleanup, but you could send him for Star Pengs as well if you had the money [which, you most likely won't]. BioBone and Uber research combos work as well. Cyberpunk in top row also gives IT Crowd when combined with TTraveller [which is an accounting combo], so it can be brought. Seafarer isn't used here, but it's a decent pick, especially if talented.

Start off with a Bullet Train to keep Puffsley temporarily pushed back. Keep spamming Catellite early on with Can Can. Use Chill sparsely early on to save up some money, and avoid Manic Eraser if you can. Once the Weylands come in, the pressure increases. Play aggressively, spam your units. There isn't much depth to this stage. If you play too conservatively though, the Star Pengs will pile up and demolish your defenses. Once the Pengs die down, you've pretty much won. There's infinite Pengs afterwards at a gradual rate, so save up some money for those. Besides that, use Bahamut / Can Can / BTrain for cleanup, and you'll be good to go. Note that boosting your Can Can / Chill makes this stage much more consistent.

Credits

LucasIV, Yohane, Kaxzer, Waran-Ess, Anthony (for many of the guide videos used here)
Pandango#2883 (web conversion)