Difficult Stages - Stage 71

Upon arriving to the Ancient Museum zone, I think I only had a bit of trouble briefly at 64 and 68 before I hit a wall at 71. Stage 71 is difficult because it's a continuous stream of enemies big and small and your melee attackers and balance rangers are completely useless. The purple lizard in the back of the enemy pack will slaughter anything and everything at the front of your team. Health rangers can take a few hits but even then, they don't hold for very long. As more and more lizards pile up back there, the faster your front line will melt away.

I had a lot of trouble with this stage because I had no splash rangers worth using at the time. If you have Sol, Pew, Vlad or any Jessicas, seriously, save your minerals and feathers. They won't survive long enough to make a dent on the enemies here. If you are reading this on the day of writing, April 13, 2014, drop everything and go try your GACHA chances for a Clara. Clara, Sorcerer Cony and Opera James completely trivialize this stage with splash damage. If you don't have any ranged splash attackers, then sorry, you'll have to do it the long, difficult way like I did. 

My Team

• Level 55 Ellin (farmed from stages 52, 56 and 60)
• Level 40 Sindy (farmed from stages 64, 68)
• Level 40 Frog Brown
• 2 lowbies - Scott, Bella

I opened the stage with Scott and Bella and used them to stall for time while I upgraded minerals to max. Remember to properly deploy the lowbies so that they walk with some equal space between them. This will help slow down the green guy and also prevent both your lowbies from being smacked by the lizard tongue attack at the same time. The green guy will only stop walking if he has something to attack, so time your lowbies!

Bella, Scott and Frog Brown stalling the enemy's march while I level minerals

Once at max minerals, I entered Brown into the mix with the lowbies and continually deploy them. Deploy Ellin and Sindy whenever you have the minerals to do so, but never prioritize their deployment above Brown and the lowbies. Brown and lowbies must be sent out as soon as their cooldown is done. The job of Brown, Scott and Bella here is to hold the front line and not to allow it to slip towards your tower. You need to protect Sindy and Ellin from being hit by the lizard enemy. You can probably afford to throw one missile at the green guys, but save the second missile.

After a certain point, you will inevitably get cornered. Try to time it so that the lizard has not yet reached Sindy and Ellin, but is right about to reach them. Then toss a tornado at them. Hopefully you haven't used your missile yet because if you throw it right when every enemy is at the foot of their tower, all the lizards will die. Send out as many rangers (keep the priority of lowbies> Brown> Ellin> Sindy) as possible. Launch your missiles as they become ready. Without the annoying lizards, you should very well be pushing at the enemy tower soon. When the yak mini-boss pops out, if you feel your team is running thin and can't handle him, use your ice shot and meteor. If you're strong enough to hold your front line without items, just keep pushing with more Sindys and Ellins. If you have a Friend to deploy, use them now. You want to kill the tower soon after the yak mini-boss dies.

Trying to hold the front while the clump of ranged attackers take down the enemy herd

If you hit Hurry Up, the stage becomes much harder. Another yak or two will pop out and another stream of lizards, and green guys will come. If you have any offensive items left, now is the time to use them. 

If you still have trouble with Stage 71, make sure your Treasures are at 100%. This stage is terrible for single target rangers. It's terrible for melee range rangers. It's a tough one. Grinding some more levels might be necessary. Upgrading mineral production, mineral max, and missile power may also help. This was the stage that really made me rally all my resources and get all my ducks in a row. 

If you have ranged splash attackers, this stage likely didn't make you think twice about it and you're wondering why this post exists. :)

Good luck!