Difficult Stages - Castle in the Sky 97 to 101

Castle in the Sky is a very strange place. Some of the stages don't follow any of the traditional mechanics, don't require any melee units, and the enemies are just plain odd. It's the most challenging area to date, for lots of reasons.

This area has undergone significant difficulty changes since it was initially released. The nerf bat hit it hard, and I think  it was probably necessary. People were stuck on stages for days, approaching weeks, and it hasn't even been open that long which means many players were not making any progress at all. As a result, they've modified and played musical chairs with all of the 4-star rangers that are farmable from stages (here is a revised list). There are even a couple of 5-star rangers now available in the higher stages. In addition, some rangers have had their stats buffed so that they are actually useful, or more competitive to be put in your team. If you have not taken a good look at your available rangers recently, look again now. Some of them might have been buffed and you may consider giving them their day in the sun. All this, just so people can be better equipped to handle the difficulties in Castle in the Sky!

Tyler, Mabebe, and Sena are not all that interesting. They have a lot of health, one of them does splash to melee, but they're otherwise not very threatening. The 2 enemies that are not listed in the collection are the Unicycle guy and the Dropped Ice Cream guy. They're the first and only jerks you see when you first enter Stage 97 and 98, and you will learn to dislike them a lot.

The unicycle enemy has a *ridiculously* long range. Think of him as having about the same range as the blondes with dolls in Altar of Flame, but without the animation. I can't seem to find confirmation anywhere but I do believe that the Unicycle guy behaves in a way that we have never seen enemies do before: If only one unicycle is in range of your team, he will just single target whoever is in range; If more than one unicycle is in range, they start to splash damage. It seems bonkers that an enemy can do this, but I can't otherwise explain why 2 unicycles can pretty much annihilate my entire team in 2 hits while also hitting my tower. So the point is, do not allow more than one of them to actively hit your rangers if you can help it.

The Ice Cream enemy has a much longer range than the animation lets on. Basically, only the longest range rangers can avoid being hit by the ice cream guy at their max range. Everyone else, including James, Clara, Boss, Sol... well, nice knowing ya. You do not want a lot of ice creams stacking up because they will start to decimate your entire team with splash damage.

Stage 97

Stage 97 is a test of control. Youtube has some great videos of people excelling at the art of staying behind the midpoint of the path. If you stay on the left side of the path, you will only have to deal with unicycles for a long time. If you pass the midpoint, you will have to contend with both unicycles and ice cream guys - very bad, almost certain death. The trick that is prevalent right now is to use only long range rangers and try to nuke down the unicycles one by one from far away. You have to get to know the order of the unicycles popping out and expect the next set of enemies so that you can properly position your rangers and throw down your items. Clara, Opera James, Sindy and Ellin all walk relatively slow, but if you use someone like Boss, Cony, Hunt, Alex, you will have to watch your toes and time carefully. If you deploy them at the wrong time, they'll cross the midpoint and you won't be ready for the onslaught of scorned dairy. I do not recommend bringing a Friend or Sidekick with you here because you never know if your Friend will send out a Xan or Moon and ruin your day.

Stage 98 is almost exactly like 97 except reversed. You deal with the ice creams right away and if you cross the midpoint you will get unicycles. It's also a control phase, but the ice creams are considerably more dangerous because of splash. The ice creams don't do a lot of damage per hit, but when they stack up, they hurt a lot. So at first I tried just using Jessica instead of a regular tank. It worked pretty well but the end of the stage still overwhelmed me so I decided, why not...

All Splash All The Time

I know, I know, not everyone has 3 cats. But consider this: Everyone has access to Clara, Warrior Jessica, Sol, Vlad and Pew. Something to think about, no? With my team of 3 speed kitties, not crossing the midpoint was not really an option. I bought myself a little time by minding my toes for the first 3 ice creams, and it's really just to stall while I try and get more James and Clara deployed. Once I was ready to cross the line, it's no holds barred, all out war. Knock them back with a Tornado, I brought my Friend, I brought my Missile, I brought the Meteor. Once the enemies were all dead, there's a little bit of time alone with the enemy tower but soon another wave comes out. I saved Ice Shot to freeze them right when Hurry Up starts and cleaved down the tower a la Stage 84 1.0. Yeah, I know it's not fair, but clearly this game isn't fair :) Honestly, this all splash team was a much more relaxed way to clear this stage. Their cooldowns are so long that I didn't bother to tap the deployment button like a crazy person.

After I did this for 98, I realized this is also doable for 97 so I went back and tried it - yep, you can do it. Note that this was probably not an option pre-nerf as the enemies really had too much health.

Stage 97 - All Splash

Stage 99 Team. I don't really remember this stage being that tough. I used Jessica to tank instead of a real tank for more dmg. She's pretty meaty.

Stage 100

Stage 100 was originally insanely hard. The damage on your team was very high, and the demand for damage on the multiple mini bosses was also very high. Without Sorcerer Cony, I think it was extremely rare for players to pass this stage. Even with Sorcerer Cony, players had a lot of problems because she's very expensive and so are high-health tanks. Post-revision, Tyler the paper airplane rider has a lot less health and he can be splashed down in a reasonable amount of time. I went with General Brown (60) and Charismatic Jessica (55) because they put out more damage than 2 tanks would. However, it is just as doable with 2 tanks, Warrior Jessica, Clara and Opera James. I might go back and try this but I am pretty sure you can do this with 2  tanks, Warrior Jessica (60), Clara (60), and Sol (70). I'll let you know when I get my Jessica and Sol to max... might take a while. The random spinning wheel hasn't been nice to me.
[Update: Check out YouTube video for clearing with Xan, Sol, Warrior Jessica, Ellin, Alice]

Stage 101

Stage 101 is a tough one, too. It took a little practice to get the timing right. Just know that you will need some splash, a really meaty tank ranger, and you definitely want Sindy. The stage starts with a bunch of Mabebe (fat bird with braces), coupled with ice creams and they're your biggest problem. The reason Charismatic Jessica works so well here is she has more health than Clara and James as a splash ranger, and you need someone who can take a few hits while the ice cream is out. You might also be able to do this with Sol. You can also substitute General Brown with Xan, Styne, Bob, Masked/Macho/Fighter Moon, or Thunder Brown. I just chose him because he's cheap, beefy, and does decent damage.

The number one thing that helped me defeat this stage was Sindy. Sindy is the longest range attack ranger and she stays out of the splash damage from the ice cream. While you are holding the front line from a lot of Mabebe, you will occasionally see an ice cream join him and that one ice cream is going to destroy your ranged splash units (Clara, Cony, James will all die). To avoid this and keep your team healthy, only produce tanks, Jessica, and Sindy until the first 3 ice creams are gone. Count them! Do not produce any other units until the 3rd one is dead otherwise it is a waste of minerals and time. Once the 3rd one is dead, you will have time to deploy Clara/James/Cony to defeat the Mebebes and move forward. Once you pass the midpoint, Tylers will come out with more Mabebe and more ice cream. By then, you should have a really healthy army to kill them off one by one.

For my troubles, I have gotten 2 star Treasures in the first section, and 1 star Treasure in the second section. To be continued! Good luck, everyone.