Winning 1st Place in PvP - A Point of View

Ever wonder what is going on in Team Battle and what it takes to win the weekly competition? Well, I got in touch with last week's winner and asked her for an interview so we could get to know her more! Clara was the first place champion for week ending September 22, 2014. Clara is a kind, good friend and a long time supporter of mine, so I will be closely moderating replies to this post. Please be courteous!

Panicbutton: Hello Clara (Siam.CRTG) and thank you very much for agreeing to my interview questions. Congratulations on your recent First Place victory in the weekly Team Battle! "Line Rangers & Friends" is very lucky to get to know you and get a closer look at the top tier of Line Rangers Team Battle through your eyes.  

P: How long have you been playing Line Rangers? 
Clara: I've been playing since the game newly started end of March, when they launched the Line Rangers stickers and I downloaded the game to get the stickers, feel in love with the game since.

P: Many long-time Line Rangers players have gotten tired of the game lately. Do you feel this way? Or do you think you will feel this way in the next few months?
C: My heavy paying Line Rangers friends and I got so disappointed by the latest event of Limited Cony Yaris. We spent so much on it because of the first launch stat, but it's been adjusted to more than half less efficient within one night. So if Line Rangers keep doing this, a lot of players will quit soon and so will I.

P: What other games do you like to play?
C: Now I'm starting to play Line Stage, but not as addicted as Line Rangers.

P: The game has a ranger who has the same name as you. Do you like the splash ranger, Clara? Who is your favorite Ranger?
C: 555 That's funny, I wish Clara ranger would be one of those Limited ones. Of course I like splash rangers but it doesn't work much in pvp.

P: Who is your favorite LINE character? Why?
C: I can't really tell which one is my favorite LINE character. I love all of them, especially the funny ones.

P: How did you first decide to try to win the weekly team battle competition? What was your inspiration?
C: Frankly speaking, I only won the battle because of my Siam. team, mostly because Siam.aa (he is the Siam team Mentor), Siam.Ark( he is my line rangers mentor), Siam.อ้น, Siam.Therd and Siam.Chong. We play as a team and help each other.

P: Did you need to do any preparation before the competition began?
C: I need to prepare at least 2000 rubies in advance. I can't waste time to recharge the rubies during the battle. And I need to have lots of rest before the battle week begins.

P: Which rangers did you like to use on your team? Any special reasons why you chose those rangers?
C: I use Erica, Cony Kinnara, Dumpy, Mully , Brown MuayThai. In pvp the attack rangers (Dumpy & Mully) are the most effective rangers. They help me finish the game fast. I also need a splasher to hit the tower so I choose Erica, a long-range splasher and Cony Kinnara melee splasher. Of all the rangers I think Brown MuayThai is one of the best ranger (for now) because of his fast cd, speed type, almost 4 million HP and good attack, too, for only 640 minerals.

P: It seems like each week, the number of points required to get first place is gets higher and higher. How many points did you need to get to win first place last week?
C: The number of points required to get first place is gets higher and higher think it's a nature of competition. My last week points for 1st rank was 31,939.

P: How does it feel to win first place? Do you think you will try to win first place again? 
C: To win the first place takes a lot of time, energy, strategy, and rubies. I couldn't do it without my Siam friends. Last two weeks, I got 3rd place with my Siam friends' help, too. I'm not sure if I can have that much energy and time again.

P: From the point of view of everyone else, it looks like as soon as the weekly points reset, the competition rockets away nonstop. Is is true that nonstop playing is required to win? How much did last week's competition impact your daily life? 
C: It's not really non-stop playing but you need to know when to play and how long you need to play at a time. It could be 18 hours straight or it could be only 1 hour at a time. It is up to many things like your rank, other's score, score gap, etc.

P: Was it exciting and cutthroat for 7 days straight or did you feel like you have time to do some other things?
C: Yes it was fun and exciting. If you are playing for top 5, time is the thing you need to sacrifice. Also the rubies.

P: You did not get to the first place position at the beginning. Was this a strategy, to save some time and rubies in the first couple of days until the ranking settle down? 
C: I just didn't have time to play at the beginning of the week. But it's easier to get a lot of points from below.

P: Can you reveal to us approximately how many rubies you needed to keep at the top of the game? 
C: Well! It's different on each week, depend on lots of things. If you over-prepare special feathers then you will spend a lot more rubies. Last week I spent around 2500 rubies.

P: In the last several weeks, I have noticed that the Siam team and other Line Rangers teams have "stacked" the top ranks together. It created point gaps where the team players all have a much higher score than the next individual rank below them. This strategy is used to block others from gaining enough points to get to the top ranks, is this correct? Can you explain the point gap strategy, and how it began? 
C: We did not intended to block others from gaining the point (there's no such a thing as blocking others to gain enough points to get to the top rank, they can get to that amount of points in time), but to create a gap is just to give us some time to rest.
But you can only make that gap when you get to top rank. But to get to top rank is the most important thing. It takes time energy and a lot of strategies.

P: Is it harder to fight up to first place, or is it harder to remain in first place? How tough is the competition when you are at the top on the last day before reset?
C: The last day wasn't so difficult, only monitoring needed, but the 6 days before that we hardly sleep and eat, we spent almost all of our time on pvp (4 days and 4 nights continuously if I'm not mistaken).

P: Did you have much assistance and support from the Siam team during last week's competition? Can you describe what it is like to be on a Line Rangers team?
C: As I've mentioned before, I will not be able to be 1st rank if I not in Siam team. We are always supporting each other. Siam.aa (our team mentor) always shares video clip of how to win the battle. Siam.อ้น Siam.Chong also share the video clips on Endless Mode, too.
My line rangers mentor Siam.Ark always teaches me how to play and how to use all items. All of us 21 members in Siam team are so nice Siam.aa ,Siam.Ark Badshit ,Siam.#^.^#ครุคริ , Siam.Ball, Siam.THErd , Siam.Chong, Siam.palmyXFreak, Siam.Kurt of BKK, Siam.joEcnx, Siam.อ้น, we always support each other (even though some of us did not use "Siam" in front of their name but they are one of us like Cindy , Totoro ,Naratah , Wachara , Maggy , P'Nhong , DDดีดี , Oat and  หมอชนบท ) .

P: Do you have team strategies that you cannot reveal to the public? If yes, you can just say yes, you don't have to tell me what it is :)
C: Yes we have some strategy that we would like to keep it between us, and also some rules, too, like no cheats. I think every team has it.

P: If you could have one new feature or change to the game, what would it be? 
C: If I could wish for the new feature, exchange rangers from one players to another may be, to reduce our expense in  Gacha, don't you agree? Or maybe Line Rangers can make new extra power feature like Brown combo team or Cony combo team would put a lot more challenge in the game.

P: Is there anything else you would like to share with the Line Rangers & Friends blog audience?
C: Line Rangers is a great game, nice community though, but things are changing. Too many new rangers players had to spend more rubies to mastered new rangers. But things are getting better when the Erica's set comes, a lot easier to get new rangers mastered.
The turning points would be Cony Yaris, it is limited line ranger should think it through before releasing it, not release it and then adjust it after one whole night ( just like you release a ranger that so much like a dragon but when you get hold of it , it's just a simple dog with a dragon skin).  I felt like I've been cheated.

C: Thank you so much Panic, for this interview. It's an honor to be interview by the very famous blogger Panic. Thank you so much again for interviewing me. It's always been my dreams to be in one of your articles.
P: Thanks very much for doing the interview, Clara. I really appreciate that you took the time to share your experience with the Line Rangers community. 

So there you have it! I got some insight on some things about the weekly competition and how intense it can get at various points in the week. In addition, it is quite obvious to those heading into battle with their eyes on the top prize that it is not "worth it" in rubies, because they know they will have to spend at least 2000 rubies on special feathers alone and they will only get a maximum of 1000 rubies as a prize. I get the feeling that the experience of the competitive arena of Team Battle is worth more than the reward. When was the last time you played a game and didn't eat or sleep for 4 days in the heat of it? :)

I am also reminded that even though this game hasn't turned into all we hoped it to be, it has brought a lot of people together in ways that no one ever imagined. The team/clan companionship that has developed is remarkable. Below is a roster list of 2 other famously popular teams in the Line Rangers community. No doubt you have seen some of these players' work on YouTube and elsewhere.

The feeling of gamer burnout is not just for semi-casual players who have grown disappointed at the game. It apparently goes all the way up to the hard core top tiers of competitors as well. Nevertheless, there are still fun aspects to the game -- if you are willing to overlook some of the more frustrating aspects in order to trudge on and save Sally. Many, many people still play Line Rangers with varying degrees of passion. I have stopped spending cash on the game, but I still pick it up and play every now and then. I still look forward to the challenge of new stages. In fact, I was just looking at the calendar... it has been over a month since the Ravine of Death was released. Granted, I've decided since its release to take the slow, casual route through it and I am still working on stage 144, but, I do wonder why it is taking so long to release new stages. Is LINE brewing up something else in the background or are they just taking their sweet time because of the number of new rangers they scheduled to release this month?

Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed reading the interview as much as I enjoyed doing it. Stay fresh, friends.

Rangers to Keep, Rangers to Eat

A friend suggested that I write a description for each ranger and at first I hesitated because I knew it would be a big opinion post. But as I combed through some different Line Rangers communities online, I realized that the question, "should I keep it or should I eat it" comes up quite often. There is nothing more devastating than finding out later that you ate a powerful ranger because you didn't know any better at the time. So if you have found your way here with this question, I hope this post is helpful to you.

Below is my description of rangers that are worth having and my reasons for keeping them or selling/combining ("synthesizing") them. Keep in mind that these descriptions are applicable for normal single-player mode.

Caveat: When deciding which rangers to put on your team, you should always consider the kind of enemies you are facing, the length of the path in the stage and how many minerals they cost to deploy. It is also important to understand what the ranger's attack stats are.

As always, the full list of rangers is here.

[This post was last updated on July 10, 2014.]

CONY  long-range speed/splash

• Lucifer Cony, Best Couple Cony, Witch Cony, Elf Cony, and Magician Cony are all speed class rangers. You can deploy Cony very rapidly back to back at very little mineral cost. Particularly Witch Cony, Best Couple Cony and Lucifer Cony at max level, if you manage to get a lot of them out, they lay waste to enemies fast. Consider using Cony for stages that have a lot of low-health enemy targets and stages that have a very long pathway. 
• Elf Cony is a 3-star ranger gift for sending invitations to friends. She was also obtainable during an event in August 2014. During this event, players could finally max their Elf Cony to level 60.
• In early stages, Magician Cony can be very helpful because she's long-range, fast, and low cost but once you get Manager, you will find that he hits much harder.
• Sorcerer Cony, Songster Cony and Summer Cony are splash rangers. They hit multiple targets with every attack they shoot out. Sorcerer and Songster are both fantastic to have on your team. They also move relatively quickly but unlike their speed class lookalikes, they have a longer cooldown (time between deployment) and they cost more minerals to deploy. Summer Cony is somewhat less desirable only because she is a 3-star ranger. But she does have advantages. She's inexpensive to deploy and for a 3-star ranger, she's really quite powerful. She trails Songster's damage by a significant amount, but she's still not bad for how cheap she is.
• Sorcerer Cony (who I lovingly call SoCo) is one of the highest damage rangers in the game. Songster doesn't do as much DPS as her big sister, but Songster is not bad still. I like Songster better than Clara because she costs less, moves & attacks faster, and hits from further away. However, if you only have one Songster, don't throw away Clara since you can easily get a level 70 Clara. A level 70 Clara is does more DPS than a level 50 Songster.
• All Conys have relatively low health so you need to protect them with rangers at the front of your army.
• End Game: Keep Lucifer, Witch, Best Couple, Sorcerer and Songster Cony

BROWN   melee (mostly)

• Thunder Brown, Best Couple Brown, Frog Brown, Underwear Brown, Summer Brown, Super Brown and Brownie are health rangers. I like the Brown series of health rangers quite a lot because they move at a decent speed and their cooldown are all about 5 seconds, which is acceptable for most stages. Thunder Brown costs the most minerals of the bunch and you may find him useful if you encounter stages that need a lot of big-HP tanks (he has over 1 million HP at max). There are more affordable alternatives like Macho Moon who can tank for less cost. Summer Brown is an interesting option as a health ranger because for a 4-star ranger, he has more HP than his 5-star lookalikes, while costing quite a bit less. Summer Brown has 1.5 million HP at level 70, but does peewee damage. For a health ranger though, the health is mostly what matters.
• Frog Brown can be obtained by inviting friends to play the game or now you also have a chance to get him from Gacha. He makes a fantastic tank for your team until about stages in the mid 80's. At that point, you may be better off with Xan. 
• General Brown is one of my favorite balance rangers. He is meaty enough to take a lot of hits and deals a very decent amount of damage. He is also pretty cheap to deploy as he is a 4-star ranger. I have often used General Brown instead of a health ranger.
• Hip Hop Brown is a speed ranger but he can dual purpose as a health ranger as well. Hip Hop Brown gains a lot of health as he levels up. He costs only 210 minerals and his cooldown is a mere 3 seconds so you can deploy him over and over to keep the front of your army safe. He can easily double as your team's primary health ranger. 
• Red Brown is also a speed ranger, but he doesn't have the kind of HP that his big brother Hip Hop does. He was available as a limited edition ranger on two occasions. He is not available in Gacha or stages anymore. He is an interesting option as a super-lowbie because of his speed and cost. At level 60 he has 153K health so he's really not a bad choice as a filler if you need someone to quickly rush to the front and take a few hits. Red Brown is a keeper because he's both a collector's item and he's quite useful as a mini-tank/lowbie hybrid. 
• Ola Brown is the first of the Brown series to break out of the melee status. He's not just any ranged distance ranger, he's the longest range splash unit in the game currently. He's a delicate guy, only 104K health at level 80, but he can throw almost 49K DPS at a cost of only 350 mineral, which makes him more attack-to-cost effective than Sorcerer Cony. His low health but long range will keep him safe from most things, but be aware that enemies like the Convini (onigiri enemy), Creamy (ice cream enemy) and Richard (green dino/lizard enemy) will definitely kill Ola Brown in seconds. One last thing: He's limited edition, only available in the GACHA mix for the month of June 2014, so you must get him while you can and then keep him forever!
• End Game: Keep Thunder, Best Couple, Summer Brown, General, Hip Hop, Red and Ola Brown.

Edward melee splash 

• Edward is a brand new limited-time ranger that is only obtainable for the month of August 2014. He's very, very strong splash ranger with well over 1 million HP. Edward's splash range is quite large, hitting a huge area in front of him where his acorn mobile zips through. 
• The cons of Edward are that he costs a huge amount of minerals to deploy. If you're not high enough level, you cannot even deploy him right away. Edward's cooldown is also very, very long - 38 seconds normally, 19 seconds at master level. At high levels, though, Edward is a great ranger to have on your team for long levels that require big sustained damage. He's definitely a keeper if you are lucky enough to have him.

COBE  melee splash 

• Cobe is really adorable and if you happen to have one in the lower stages, he (she?) is fantastic to use. He has a relatively high health pool and attacks multiple targets with his lollipop which makes him a good alternative to a traditional health ranger. 
• At level 50, Cobe starts to become less useful in the Ancient Temple area. But if you manage to get Cobe to level 70, he is still a very viable splash ranger to use throughout. The only thing I don't like about Cobe is his long cooldown period, but pair him with another melee ranger like Moon, Brown or Jessica, and he will be fine. 
• End Game: Keep Cobe if you can get him to level 70. 

MOON   melee

• Masked Moon, Fighter Moon, Champion Moon and Popeye Moon are balance rangers. Moon does a decent job being a backup tank for your team while doing more damage than a health ranger. Fighter and Masked Moon are obtainable from later stages and it's a good idea to max them out. They rush to the front and can help hold the front line if your health rangers die before you get another one up. 
• Macho Moon is a great health ranger to have because he runs faster than Brown, and costs less than Thunder Brown while packing a lot more health than Frog Brown. He is cheaper to deploy and  has a lower cooldown than Xan, so if you get your hands on Macho Moon, keep him.
• End Game: Keep Masked, Fighter, Macho Moon.

BOSS  mid-to-long-range attack

• Legend Boss, Rapper Boss, Gangster Boss and Dancer Boss all attack from mid-range so be careful using him if you have dangerous enemies that can hit past the front line. Boss does not have a lot of health so you really must try to protect him. He attacks very slowly but each hit packs a punch. His attack power is quite good when compared to other single target ranged hitters. He also moves quicker than most other single target ranged hitters. I like using Boss if I don't have access to any splash rangers. Rapper Boss versus Ellin or Sindy, I would choose either Ellin or Sindy over Rapper because of hit range advantage. 
• Gangster Boss is the only one who is pretty useless. He isn't obtainable from stages until stage 93 and by that time he won't be helpful at all. If you randomly get him from Gacha in the early stages, you can certainly use him. 
• Dancer King Boss is currently the second-longest range attacker in the game. He's so far in the distance and his attack power is so high that he's basically a cannon. If you get your hands on him, train him up and he won't let you down.
• End Game: Keep Dancer King and Legend Boss. 

JAMES  mid-to-long range single/splash

• Gentleman James, Biker James, Sexy James and Ballerino James are balance rangers who hit from a short distance away from the enemy, and they have a decent amount of health. James can take a couple of hits if your health ranger happens to die, but he is not as meaty as Moon as a balance ranger. James' DPS is nothing very special because he is not as good as Boss series rangers for attack but he sort of makes up for it with more health. I really don't find James to be very effective and I haven't ever found a reason to use him over someone else. Gentleman James has decent damage and a lot of health but he's too far away from the front line to be a tank. If you get a 5 or 4 star James, maybe just keep him around in case the game developers buff him up one day to be actually useful. You can eat him up otherwise.
• Opera James is the only splash ranger of the James series a very good one. He attacks multiple targets from a distance and at max level he hits very hard. Opera James is a solid addition to any team. At max level he costs less and hits harder than Clara but has a slightly longer cooldown. 
• Prince James is one of the newest rangers in the game and is currently the longest range attacker (longer than Dancer King Boss by a little). He does incredible single target damage (more than Dancer King), has really decent amount of HP, so he's definitely a good asset to the team.
• End Game: Keep Opera James, Prince James. 

JESSICA  melee 

• Charismatic Jessica, Warrior Jessica, and Hero Jessica are all great splash rangers. Max level Jessicas are very versatile. You can use her in lieu of a backup tank ranger like Moon. Jessica's high speed and high HP make her the perfect alternative to a health ranger altogether if you are looking for ways to increase your total damage output. Once you get to the stages where you can get Warrior Jessica, it is a good idea to farm 5 and max her out. 
• Lightning Jessica is unlike the others in her series. She is a speed ranger, moves lightning-fast and can be deployed again and again very quickly. She has more HP at max level than Warrior, but since her attack is single target, her damage will generally be much lower. For her cost, speed, and cooldown, Lightning Jessica may be an interesting option as a backup tank, similar to Hip-Hop Brown in this respect, but with lower stats. One thing to be cautious about is that Lightning Jessica's range is a bit farther back than her splash lookalikes. She leaves room between her hit range and the enemy's hit range, which may result in allowing the enemy some extra forward marching space.
• End Game: Keep Charismatic, Warrior and Lightning Jessica

There sure are a lot of humanoids.

• KSM is a splash ranger, and one of the highest DPS ones at that. He costs a lot to deploy and has a very long cooldown, but he makes up for it with his insane attack power. He is worth deploying in almost every stage and situation. You don't even have to worry whether you will waste your minerals deploying him while fighting a boss stage because he has a lot of health. He is slow, but he will survive even if he gets hit a few times on the way to the fight. Make no mistake, he is one of the most sought-after ranger in the game at the moment, so if you got him, congratulations!
• Lia is a balance ranger who packs a caffeinated punch. She is small but she actually is a very high damage single target ranger. Her cooldown is so low that you can amass an army of little girls very quickly. I had reservations about using her when she was low level because of her cost but actually at high levels she's pretty useful.
• Alice is the highest single target dps ranger that you can get from stage clears. She hits like a truck and sports a lot of health. The only downside to Alice is that she is very slow in every way (cooldown, move & attack speed). But if you manage to get her into range of the fight, she does tear up the place with her shoe. If you don't have Lia, Alice isn't a bad alternative.
• Clara is a solid splash ranger and the first splash ranger you can obtain from stage clears who can attack from a good distance away. Once you can safely farm stage 40 to get her, I would highly recommend doing so. Clara will make life a lot easier as you progress through the mid-level stages. 
• Dwight is a very powerful balance ranger to have on your team because he comes with very high attack stats as well as extremely high health, like Bernard. He costs quite a lot to deploy, but he is well worth the mineral cost because you almost never have to worry that he will die quickly. As far as single target damage, Dwight is one of the best.
• Xan is the highest HP health ranger you can obtain from stage clears. He costs quite a lot and his cooldown is longer than most other health rangers but he makes up for it by flying to the front of the fight very quickly. If you get Xan, keep him as he may very useful for stages where you need a big meaty tank. 
• Styne is pretty much the default health ranger at mid-lower stages. He's fine to use if you have no other viable alternatives available. Once you get 5 Stynes combined, he has a lot of health and remains useful until around stage 70. Styne pairs really well with Moon on a team because Moon moves fast and can be Styne's backup. If you get your hands on General Brown, Macho Moon or Xan, you might want to try them over Styne. 
• Bob is a health ranger who really has a ton of health but he moves very, very slowly. You have to plan ahead when you use Bob and learn to anticipate when he is going to die because you will need either a backup tank to help take the hit when he dies or time the arrival of another Bob to waddle his way there. If you don't have Frog Brown, Macho Moon, Styne or Xan, Bob is ok to use. Since Styne is obtainable from stage clears, I would dump Bob as soon as I got 2 or 3 Stynes combined. If you have several Bobs combined, the difference between Styne is slight and you'll have to judge for yourself which one has more of a health or speed advantage for your needs. At max, I would pick Styne still. While he has a little less HP, he costs a great deal less. If you have Macho Moon, then there is no contest. 
• Manager is probably one of the best ranged attackers you can get very early on in the game. Combine 5 of them together and you should have pretty decent outgoing damage in the lower stages. When you can trade up for Clara, Sindy or Ellin, do so. 
• Abdula's pure splash damage stats outperform every other 4-star splash ranger currently. Looking at damage alone, he even tops Sorcerer Cony at max level. However, when you compare how much he costs (which is a lot for a 4-star ranger) then actually SoCo pulls ahead by a little bit. The difference is that Abdula has nearly double the health, and therefore will generally live much longer than SoCo which under certain battle conditions will make him a much better choice. He's a keeper.
• Shu is a splash ranger whose range is almost the same as Ola Brown. His survivability makes him an excellent ranger to have. His damage is better than Clara's and he has much more health than her. He's a solid splash ranger, but he is limited edition so unfortunately, not everyone will have him. 
• Susu is part of the same promotion as Shu, but you can only randomly get him from Premium Gacha for a limited time. Susu is the highest DPS splash ranger by a mile, and he over 4 million health (at master level) which makes him perfect for standing in melee range and crushing enemies. The pros are that he's really meaty and destroys things in no time. The cons are that he's very rare to obtain, costs quite a lot to deploy and has the 2nd longest cooldown of any ranger on the roster. If you get him, by all means, you should keep him. 
• Hitman is quite similar to KSM and Abdula, but actually he is worth more damage per cost, which makes him even more worth it to deploy than KSM. He attacks from a really nice distance away, and his high-DPS is very impressive. 
• Luis, for all intents and purposes, is more cost-efficient Dwight. His damage to cost ratio is better than Dwight's, but per unit he does less damage. There are a few tradeoffs, but all in all still a solid damage dealer for a balance class.
• Chichi is the new better, faster Dwight! She's so expensive to deploy but she's worth every penny. She moves fast and she has more health than any other ranger at the moment. Her half million damage at level 80 is quite scary for a little girl.
• End Game: Keep KSM, Lia, Alice, Clara, Dwight, Xan, Abdula, Hitman, Luis, Chichi

DRAGONS  splash 

• Sol is currently the highest damage splash ranger that you can obtain from stage clears. At max level, he does about 36000 DPS, which is quite powerful. And unlike Opera James, Clara and Sorcerer/Songster Cony, Sol can actually take a lot of damage before he dies. This is his biggest advantage in the later stages over other splash rangers. He is, as many people will agree, a poor man's KSM. Definitely keep Sol and level him up. 
• Luke is some kind of a dinosaur in a suit, I guess. He is a melee splash ranger so his large health pool will help him survive in the front line. Luke does less damage than Sol but if you have Luke and you don't have any other better splash ranger alternatives, he will do just fine. But otherwise, I think Warrior Jessica, who is obtainable from stage clears, is a more versatile alternative. Keep him around if you have 5 Lukes combined as a fill-in splash ranger.
• Dickey is one of the first splash rangers you can get and he is pretty useful up to about stage 30. He's very slow getting to the front of the fight, but if you manage to get him to the enemy tower, he can help shorten the battle by splashing down the tower. He's nice to keep around until you have a better option like Vlad or Clara. Don't get me wrong - I'm only saying he's fine for the very early stages! 

• Bernard (roasted peanut? sweet potato?) is a very healthy ranger with a lot of HP. He has well over 3,000,000 HP at max level, but he is very costly and his cooldown is very, very long. He is definitely worth keeping, but more as a back pocket tank. I wouldn't use him as the only tanking unit at higher stages because he walks so slowly and takes so long to produce. But if you time it right, Bernard can be very useful indeed.
• Honey the Sally doppelganger bee is a speed ranger with formidable attack power when you get her to max level. Even at level 60 her attack is not to be dismissed lightly. Because she costs very little, move speed is very fast and her cooldown is merely 3 seconds, you can spam many Honeys out and the sheer quantity of her attacks going out can be overwhelming. Another way to use Honey is as a halfway lowbie. She's spammable, but her relatively high attack gives you a little bit of extra damage on tough enemies. Honey has helped me win several stages where the tiniest increase in damage was crucial. Obtainable from Gacha or 100 friend invitations, she's really quite worth getting and keeping around.
• Dumpy is the highest single target attack ranger currently. He has more DPS than he has HP! He rolls on his steamer to the front line very quickly and can easily get himself killed as a result. He doesn't have a lot of HP so if you use him you must make sure he is protected at all times, or he will quickly become enemy appetizer. At level 80 he does the equivalent of 477K damage per second! Seriously, make sure he lives! 
• Sindy (a tanuki) & Ellin (cloud elemental) are both fantastic rangers to have on your team in the mid-stages (~52 through 87). They are both obtainable from stage clears so anyone can get a max level Sindy and Ellin. Before getting Alice, Sindy and Ellin are almost indispensable as high DPS rangers to have on your team. Sindy does a bit more damage and attacks faster, but costs more. Ellin is a little more affordable which may be helpful in some stages. They are both very useful to have in the mid and near-end game. If you are using freely obtainable rangers only, they're practically indispensable. If you play the Premium Gacha a lot, Sindy and Ellin will be old news for you.
• Cherina is one of the newest splash rangers and she looks like a cherry bomb because she is. She rockets her way to the front line and deals an astonishing amount of splash damage. She's costs very little to deploy, has an incredibly short cooldown and sports enough health to tank (at max level). I can't begin to tell you how powerful she really is so you have to see her in action yourself. A half dozen pack of Cherinas at your front line and your enemies will be in a lot of trouble.
• Mully... I don't even know what kind of creature Mully is. But he is a fantastic attack ranger with high attack, high health, and very fast move speed. At moderate cost, Mully is great for pushing forward against clumps of difficult enemies because he can withstand a lot of damage while dealing lots of pain. He's a great ranger to have on the team.
• Elle is a new 3-star splash ranger. She's a top tier 3-star ranger and can contend with some 4-star rangers as well. Her damage is really good for the amount of minerals she costs. Elle's best feature is her long range. She can fire from a huge distance and safely stay out of the enemy fire. Not a bad ranger for 3 stars!
• End Game: Keep all of them!

LOWBIES

Little guys Scott, Bella, Crush and Glenn are speed rangers that I think everyone should keep around. There are many stages in the game where lowbies like these can be very, very useful. They are speed rangers so their mineral cost will never change even if they level up to max.

JUST MAYBE

• Dane is a 3-star health ranger obtainable very early on and I think he is useful only in the very early stages of the game. Though as soon as you can get Styne, there's really no reason to continue using Dane. 
• Pew and Vlad are 3-star splash rangers but are so slow and have so little health that half the time they don't make it to the battle before dying. If you happen to get them very, very early on, they might be useful to you. But once you can get Clara, I would not bother with either of them.
• Hunt the pirate fowl is a pretty interesting option. He is similar to Cony in that he is a speed ranger. At max level 60, he actually does damage that is not bad and he costs very little. I don't think he is worthwhile having in your main team but he is a nice option to keep in your back pocket for some specific stages that need a fast, low cost long range attacker. It's a very niche spot. 
• The single target James series (not including Prince James though) got buffed recently but I would still put them in the maybe category. There's just no clear reason to use them unless you don't have a better alternative for single target attack.

DON'T BOTHER

Alex, Frankie, Duncan, Jason, Lucas, Toti, Ryan, Walter, Becky, Clark, Jack, Jacob, Mike, Mummy, Rei, Ben, Simon, Ham, Jill, Joe, Merry, Ned, Puff, Sisi, Zac, Ron
These rangers are either so low stat or appear in the game out of sequence for their usefulness period that there are better options for your team. They are pretty much food for other rangers.

That about covers the rangers that I think are worth mentioning. If you are reading this and passionately disagree, comment and let me know why you do.

Which rangers did you keep on your team longest? Which rangers will you never eat/sell because they did so much for you?

Castle in the Sky Stages - New Videos Posted

I've been having fun with my new software the last 2 days so I haven't actually had a lot of time to play or level my rangers. Mostly trying to get the hang of recording video for the stages and maneuvering YouTube.

I managed to get videos posted for most of second half of Castle in the Sky. Stage 102, 103, 105 are up now, and I voice-overed 102 & 105. I did 103 with YouTube annotations only because it's a super tedious stage that has no critical points in time that are worth mentioning. 

Anyway I hope it is helpful. I'm not sure which I like better, writing or videos. I think I enjoy writing more, but players probably use YouTube more and find it more helpful than screenshots. Let me know what you find better. 

I don't know why Blogspot doesn't let me embed the video previews of my own videos. :( So here are the links instead:

[Update: new videos since ranger stats change in bold]

• Line Rangers 108 Cleared New Version - Free Rangers Sol Warrior Jessica Alice Witch Cony 
• Line Rangers Stage 104 Cleared - Just 2 rangers: Sol, Warrior Jessica, no items no Friends 

• Line Rangers 100 Clear free/Common (Ellin) - No voiceover
• Line Rangers Stage 100 Cleared free/common rangers - No voiceover, no Xan. Cleared with Sol, Jessica, Alice, Ellin, Fighter Moon
• Line Rangers Stage 102 Cleared - Common/Free Rangers - English 
• Line Rangers Stage 102 Cleared - Common/Free Rangers - No voiceover, and Sindy instead of Cobe in the team
• Line Rangers Stage 103 Cleared - Common/Free Rangers - No voiceover, just annotations
• Line Rangers Stage 104 Clear - Common/Free Team - No voiceover, just annotations
• Line Rangers Stage 105 Cleared - Common/Free Rangers - English 
• Line Rangers Stage 105 Cleared - Common/Free Rangers - No voiceover, and Sindy instead of Cobe in the team
• Line rangers Stave 107 Cleared - Free Rangers - Macho Moon & company

If you are looking for help with Stage 108:

• Line Rangers 108 Cleared - Free Rangers - Not my video, but incredible & worth watching. Explanation of this video is here.

Enjoy!

New Rangers Released + Castle in the Sky Thoughts

I woke up yesterday morning and it was all mayhem because all the obtainable rangers in boss stages were different. I woke up this morning and apparently the entire player community has gone amok because new and even more outrageously overpowered rangers have been released! And it's Bonus Ruby time and double chances on Premium Gacha time, and to top it all off it's Double Coin day. It's been a very unproductive day for me. Been playing Rangers all day.

My discussion of Castle in the Sky part one was very long in the making, but with the advent of the new rangers, the last half of the zone got obliterated in about an hour. I don't want to write up part 2 just yet, because writing how I beat it with the new rangers seems like a waste. This post will be just about the set of new rangers as well as some thoughts about how they are a good fit for tackling Castle in the Sky.

KSM is picked on by his wife, but he only takes his anger out on Alien Army members

First things first, Sorcerer Cony has been overthrown by this fine gentleman as the most overpowered ranger in the game to date. Mr. KSM, you are a very mysterious fellow. Why is his name KSM? What does it mean and what does it stand for? My theory is KSM are his initials. I wish we could see the breast pockets of his robe because I bet KSM is embroidered there. Why does KSM have so much rage? What does his wife do to him? We'll never know...

Level 1 KSM, Level 1 Dancer King Boss destroying the Fart King

Mr. KSM is a splash ranger and he will be undoubtedly the most sought after ranger by everyone. At level 1 he costs 540 mineral to deploy which may seem like an astronomical amount of resources for one unit, but at level 1, his attack DPS is already 10500. Honestly, if you get him from GACHA, go ahead and use him right away, even if you don't have anyone to synthesize him with to level up. At level 1, he's already as good as Opera James at level 40. At level 41 to 50, KSM costs 740 to deploy, which may seem like a lot, but as you head into Castle in the Sky, all the stages lend themselves to splash damage a lot. At Stage 104 and beyond, the pathways are very short so KSM's Very Slow speed is not much of a problem, while his damage will knock everything out in a few hits. I was skeptical, but he is well worth the money. In addition, his max range is the same as Opera James, so he can safely dole out the pain from behind the fray. He can't avoid the unicycle or the ice cream enemies' splash damage, but (1) KSM has a lot of health and (2) if you deploy in the right order, you'll have enough KSMs out to obliterate them in no time at all. His cooldown (time before you can deploy him again) is very long, even longer than other splash rangers by a little bit, but I've been finding it ok because it takes a while to even regenerate that kind of cash.

Dancer King Boss has the master moves and a keen sense of style

Dancer King Boss is really awesome and not just because he hurls disco balls across the room. Dancer King overthrows Sindy as the ranger with the longest range and outperforms Lia, Alice, Sindy and Legend Boss as the highest single target DPS. Look closely at the picture below for the left-most Dancer King Boss and the left-most Sindy. That's how much further back Dancer King Boss can stand. In stage 104, Dancer King pops and remains at the foot of the home tower while damaging enemies standing at the foot of the enemy tower. Talk about far! Needless to say, he also out-ranges the ice cream splash damage, which will make him ideal for most stages in Castle in the Sky. To give you an idea of  how powerful he is, maxed out at level 70, Dancer Boss King deals over 100,000 DPS. He is very bit as OP as I make him seem, trust me.

Honey roasted peanut Bernard is kind of a beach bum. But who surfs with socks on? That's just weird.

Bernard is like the new Thunder Brown. Really, really slow, doesn't do a lot of damage, but his potbelly gives him about one million HP when he's at level 50. One. Million. He costs 820 mineral to deploy, but that's not my only problem with him. Bernard does not really allow himself to be the only tank in your team because his cooldown (time before you can deploy him again) is *insanely long* for a health unit. His cooldown is the same as KSM's, something like 12 seconds. 12 seconds for a splash ranger is acceptable because you will most likely be sending out other rangers in between, but for a health ranger to have such a long cooldown and at such cost is almost detrimental. One million HP is actually nothing when you're up against 10 Tylers (paper airplane enemy). He's also Slow move speed.

I don't think I will be using him much, just like I didn't end up using Thunder Brown much. They have a ton of health but because of their cost and speed, I just don't believe they're very functional for holding the front line. Maybe for Stage 97 and 98, but beyond that, I think I'll just use this guy...

Brown gets cooler every time we see him. Lightning kicks and tattooed fist. Eat your heart out.

Hip Hop Brown is amazing. Unique to Brown as a speed ranger, he gains a lot of HP as you level him and he has a 3 second cooldown just like Honey. He walks really fast and the best part is he only costs 210 mineral which means you can spam him like crazy and he's just as good at holding the front line as any tank. He walks faster than Honey, which is pretty fast for a big meaty ranger.

On a related note, if you logged in recently, you would have gotten a bonus 3 star ranger, Red Brown. He's like Hip Hop Brown's little brother. 3 star, so less meaty, but still very good and very cheap to deploy. Great for lower stages and only 120 minerals to deploy. 

Poor Songster Cony. She's a hipster and she has a bit of potential, but lacks talent indeed.

Songster Cony is kind of like Sorcerer Cony's baby sister. She joins the ranks with other 4-star ranged splash units, and she performs about as well. Where Opera James and Clara fall short in both move and attack speed, she excels. Her attack power at level 40 isn't terrible, but it's not great, either. Especially with level 60 Clara being so available to the public these days, Songster Cony seems to fall short for me in desirability. If Clara is your only other ranged splash unit, though, Songster Cony will do nicely to join your team. She has quite long range as well, just short of Sindy's. 

Seems to me like KSM, Dancer King Boss are at the top of the wish list with Hip Hop Brown not far behind. The new rangers will surely make Castle in the Sky much easier for people. I'm still not sure why KSM wants to save Sally but we're lucky to have him on our side. If you have the cash to spare, now's the time to play the GACHA machine with double chances and bonus rubies. Good luck, everyone!

Challenges With The Altar of Flame

A few days into the new areas and I'm not a huge fan of the enemies in the Altar of Fire. They're about as frustrating as the ones in the Ancient Museum. The long ranged blondies wielding dolls (Judy) and the blowtorch guys (Hanabi) are insanely powerful. The range on the blondies are ridiculous. She'll whack my rangers from across the path. The blowtorch guys have a ton of health and their close range splash damage is absolutely horrendous. Koichi, the guy with the "Be Happy" t-shirt, has an absurd amount of health, but he attacks single targets only.

Of the stages I have laid eyes on, the ongoing theme seems to be that all the stages have a dense, continual stream of enemies with high-HP, high-damage enemies peppered in at various parts of the stage. The difficulty with this is you need to balance your team with the right kinds of damage in order to deal with each stage. More so than in any other zone before, I am finding that I need to choose different rangers to combat the various quirks of each stage here. Before, I mostly had a core team of 5 rangers and I pretty much used them for almost every stage. Can't really do that here anymore.

So far wherever I've gotten stuck, I find myself often going back to the basic battle strategies and coming up with ways to deal. Some stages afford you the time to powerlevel minerals while other stages require you to deal with the onslaught immediately. Not only do you need to think about how to spend your first set of minerals, you need to tactically plan out the order of the rangers you're deploying as your first line of defense.

The stages vary on how quickly the blowtorch guy pops out as well as how many of them pop out. Most of the stages in Altar of Flame will force you to pick your team based upon how you want to deal with the blowtorch guy because if you don't, he'll roast your entire team in 2 shots. So it is important to ponder: Do I need more single-target rangers to quickly kill a heavy-hitter? Do I need more (or in some stages, fewer) splash rangers to deal with the marching stream of smaller enemies? Do I need any tank/health rangers, or is it more economical to use lowbie(s) if the blowtorch guy is roasting everything?

I am getting a lot of use out of level 60 Sindy and Ellin these days. Their attack is high, attack speed is also quite good. I think if you have a Lucifer Cony, she would also be useful in some stages. I leveled up Legend Boss in case I needed a 3rd single target ranged attacker, but so far haven't gotten any good use out of him. Surprisingly, I got one team composition that could employ Sol. He's big and slow and attacks even slower, but he's really meaty. I used him just for fun for 85, and he works fine for that!

I am also personally finding that beyond 87, the use of at least one lowbie is almost mandatory unless you have some fancy rangers. In fact, even with fancy rangers, a lowbie may make life a lot easier. Fully upgraded mineral production, max, and missile power are absolutely must-haves as you step into this area because the demand of the amount of damage output you need to deal to keep the blowtorch enemies at bay is very intense -- and Sindy & Ellin are not cheap!

On the subject of cheap, don't be cheap with preparations. Spend the 500 coins to get all 4 of your Items. I don't think there was a single stage I cleared the first time without using 3 or 4 of the items. Spend the 500 coins on Sidekicks and use your Friends tactically. Deploying 3 extra power hitters at the right time can really mean the difference between a win or a loss.

It is a real bummer to be forced to go back to old zones to farm coins and grind levels but I've been doing exactly that. I've done 76, 80 and even 84 more times than I care to count, but as a result I have a big fat coin wallet. I've also found that 85 is quite farmable once I got the right team composition for the job to do it safely.

In case you were curious, the treasure for Altar of Flame is a Hermes Sandal. It increases ranger move speed. I still need a piece in the third section to activate it! I just got the 3rd star in the first section. Whoo! Although in general this treasure benefit doesn't seem to be anything worth writing home about.

This zone doesn't appear to be as insanely skewed towards using splash rangers, but in case anyone missed their opportunity to get their max level 60 Clara last week, she's now the 4-star ranger obtainable in boss stages here. Clara does really well as the token splash ranger in the team just to deal with the little enemies while your single target rangers are dealing with the bigger guys.

All in all, I'm finding Altar of Flame quite tough. I haven't finished it yet, either. It's a big gear shift from the style of play that we have gotten used to in Temple of Ice, but so far I've found it a great deal more playable for the average person as long as you play strategically. Wish you all good fun and good luck here.

Stage 84 - Strategies and Thoughts

[Update: April 18, 2014] This stage has been revised and the strategy below is not necessarily out of date, but it is no longer the preferred way to clear this stage. Please see this new post about Stage 84.] 

Stage 84 is the current end-game stage of Line Rangers as of April 12, 2014. I finally beat it today despite what little hope I had when I first advanced to it. I'll discuss the only known method of winning this stage today, how I personally did it with my team, and why certain team compositions work and why I speculate some do not. Keep in mind this post, like most of my others, are based on my own opinion after reading and researching what others have tried on the internet as well as personal experience. Your mileage may vary. Hopefully there's something here that's helpful, but if not, no angry messages please.

The Enemy

I'll start with what we know about the stage. 84 has some "trash" enemies (the ones you have to kill on the way to the big bosses). Pretty much the guy in the red jacket, Adi, is the annoying jerk who is between you and the enemy tower. After about 8 to 10 seconds have passed, Akira and Ryoko will pop. If you remain at the enemy tower for a few seconds more, a second Akira will pop along with some other enemies. From previous stages you already know Ryoko has a ton of HP but he moves and attacks slowly so he's not a huge threat. Akira moves extremely fast and he does a (suspiciously flatulent looking) splash attack that hits everyone in the front line for a ton of damage. 2-3 hits will kill everything in melee range. He also has the most HP of any enemy we have ever seen in the game so far.

Goal

The strategy that is currently prominent (because it is the only known method at the moment) is gaming the tower defense mechanic by using splash rangers. As long as the enemy that your splash ranger is attacking is right outside the enemy tower, the tower will also take damage. This means that the strategic goal is to fight all the enemies at the foot of the enemy tower and use as many splash rangers as possible to cleave the tower down before the enemies kill you. The goal is to kill the tower without killing the bosses.

My Team

Having Sorcerer Cony makes this stage a great deal easier so many people including myself have tried their hand at the 3-5 star Premiums GACHA. I do not currently have Sorcerer Cony and you do not need her in order to win this stage. I'll repeat it for emphasis: You do not need Sorcerer Cony to clear Stage 84. You do need splash damage rangers but Cony isn't the be-all and end-all of this stage. Plenty of people have beaten it with other splash rangers, most notably Clara, who is currently being practically given away with the Friendship Points Event.

On my team, I used:

• Level 52 Fighter Moon (4 star)
• Level 54 Clara (4 star)
• Level 50 Charismatic Jessica (5 star)
• Level 50 Hero Jessica (3 star)
• Level 40 Warrior Jessica (4 star)

Also important to note, I made sure to have Meteor, Ice Shot and Tornado available.

Unless your rangers are godly, it helps if you have a friend or sidekick along for the ride. Bonus if you choose someone who is confirmed to have a splash damage ranger on their team. Sorcerer Cony would be helpful, but honestly, so would any Jessica, Clara and Cobe. Don't skimp on this. Having a friend/sidekick by your side this fight can make or break you. Even if they don't have any splash damage, they can help you quickly kill the trash which will get you to the tower faster.

Small note but worth mentioning that all my Treasures are at 100%.

The Method

This whole fight is over in about 30 seconds, win or lose. I spent no money on mineral upgrades. You won't have time or minerals to waste on that. Everything is going into ranger deployment.

1. Deploy 1 Fighter Moon, Charismatic Jessica and Hero Jessica. Only 1 Fighter Moon is used this whole stage. His purpose is to prevent the trash enemies from killing my Jessicas.
2. When they walk about 1/3 of the way down the road, I deploy my Friend's help. I deploy Warrior Jessica and Clara as soon as I have enough minerals. 
3. As soon as the first enemy comes face-to-face with my rangers, I release the meteor on them. Deploy Hero Jessica and Clara as soon as minerals and cooldowns allow. 
4. In a couple seconds, Akira pops out and snowboards over. Right before he gets to my rangers, I hit tornado. 
5. As soon as everything is pushed back to the enemy tower, throw down Ice Shot. Deploy any and all splash rangers with minerals remaining. Hope that the tower has collapsed before Akira defrosts and kills all my cats.

Timing is crucial for this to work. Youtube has some fantastic examples of how people nailed the deployment and item usage. 

I finally won! Friend gave me 1 Cony and 1 Clara, I didn't see what the 3rd ranger was. Notice I pretty much did no damage on the bosses. You're not meant to!

Things That Can Go (And Have Gone) Wrong

• Sometimes I'd start the stage and forget that I'm not supposed to upgrade minerals. If I spend any money on minerals, I lose one ranger which is almost sure to mean I won't kill the smaller enemies in time to push further down the pathway.
• Deploying rangers in the wrong order (Moon, then Charismatic, then Hero, then Clara, then Warrior) at the start can really mess things up too. It is really important who Aki (the enemy) takes head on as that unit is most likely to lose HP or die.  You don't want that unit to be a very valuable/expensive splash ranger.
• Deploying Friend too late caused the trash to die slower, which meant the entire team was stuck in the middle of the path, never making it to the foot of the tower in time to deal enough damage before Akira defrosted.
• Throwing meteor too late also causes the trash to die slower. Akira always pops out at the same time so if your team is still stuck trying to kill the trash, they won't be further along. (The trash being alive isn't so much the problem since they all get blown back to the end anyway. The point is if they're still alive, your team is still very far away from the enemy tower. The faster the trash is gone, the earlier your team can progress to the tower. The earlier you get to the tower, the more time you have while Akira is frozen to cleave the tower.)
• Using tornado to blow Akira back but using ice shot about a second too early. Try not to use tornado and then immediately hit ice shot. It takes 1-2 seconds for them to reach the end of the path, and you have a split second before the enemies start walking. Hitting ice shot at the last possible second buys you more time to run to the tower.
• Using tornado, then using ice shot a second too late causes you to be unable to splash damage at the tower at all because Akira has moved forward an inch. After the ice wears off I sadly watched my rangers die as the tower remained at full health.

Other Teams

I have read and confirmed these teams have cleared (unfortunately do not have the the Ranger levels) :

Clara, Cobe, Charismatic Jessica, Warrior Jessica, lowbie

Opera James, Warrior Jessica, Clara, Cobe, Jessica

Clara, Opera James, Charismatic Jessica, Thunder Brown, lowbie

Clara, Cobe, Vlad (!), Honey, lowbie

Fighter Moon, Sorcerer Cony, Cobe, Honey, lowbie

Sorcerer Cony, Opera James, Cobe, Honey, lowbie

Cobe, Opera James, Sorcerer Cony, Warrior Jessica, Macho Moon

So all of these teams have one thing in common and that is they have 3 or more splash rangers to do the job. You will have to experiment with the rangers you have available to see what works for you. Questions I asked myself when I kept losing: Are the trash enemies holding me up or are they alive too long? Are my rangers making it to the enemy tower in time? Are they walking too slow? Am I timing my items to maximize my time at the tower? Am I deploying my rangers in the correct order to push forward most efficiently? 

The stage goes by so fast that it is hard to capture everything you're doing but it's important to know what the plan is and how your execution is deviating from the plan, and why. Most of my issues came from ranger deployment order (some walk faster, some walk slower, some have more HP than others) and timing my items and friends (getting meteor to do the most damage to the most enemies on the field will save your team a lot of time getting to the tower). You'll have to figure out what works and what doesn't for you. 

For instance, in my team, I found that I absolutely have to deploy Moon first, then Charismatic Jessica before Hero Jessica. My cats were getting slaughtered by the small enemies because they run fast. Hero Jessica walks faster than Charismatic Jessica, and she also has the least HP so my Hero Jessicas were not making it to the end because she'd die. Deploying Moon first gives him a head start so he can tank the enemies while the cats kill them. Similarly, I could not use Opera James in my team because he walks much too slowly in my ranger lineup. I couldn't squeeze him into the first bunch of rangers to be deployed because of mineral cost, and if I deploy him later he wasn't useful because he never got to the enemy in time. That said, many other people have figured out combinations where they worked Opera James in and he was really helpful taking down the enemy tower. It's really up to your specific team and how you play them.

Sorcerer Cony is really desirable this fight because she runs at a decent speed, deals the most damage of all the splash rangers, she reloads her attack very quickly and she attacks from a far distance. While the other rangers are taking hits for her, she's in the back bombing the enemies away. When Akira defrosts, he's busy killing the front line, which allows her to continue attacking the tower for several seconds -- seconds count for a lot in a 30 second fight! Clara can attack an extra few seconds after Akira defrosts also, but note that Clara's attack speed is "Very Slow" vs. Cony's "Fast". Sorcerer Cony also deals higher damage, level for level, than Clara. 

Not able to get her on my team, however, I was very lucky to have all 3 Jessicas available. Somehow I got tons of Hero Jessicas and they were a huge eyesore for a long time until I decided to use her for 84. Because of the 80% stat increase from combining, a maxed out level 50 Hero Jessica (3 stars) does very respectable damage compared to a level 50 Charismatic Jessica (5586 vs 8140) at a fraction of the mineral cost (260 vs 320). By the way, level 40 Hero Jessica narrowly beats out level 40 Warrior Jessica in damage and is cheaper than Warrior Jessica! Don't throw out your 3 stars just because they're 3 stars. The 80% bonus is significant when at max level.

So that's all I've got for Stage 84. Sorry, no game breaking tips and tricks this time around. This stage is extremely frustrating, not only because of its sheer difficulty, but also because of how it corners you into having a splash-heavy team. I think if the game developers didn't think it was a bad idea when they made this end-game stage, they should know by now that it's frustrated and angered many players. I sinecerely hope they don't design anymore stages like this. The game should be challenging and force you into thinking of interesting ways to apply your ranger team, but it shouldn't penalize you for not paying to get special rangers. I understand it's a for-profit operation, but when it affects the fundamental playability of the stage, it's bad game design in my opinion. Here's hoping Stage 85+ is coming soon and will be a breath of fresh air.

Also - *spoiler alert*

Sally is in another castle.

Good luck, everyone!

Friendship Points Event - Giving Away Clara

If you've logged into the game today you will see that this weekend Line Rangers is practically giving away free Clara rangers. She's a 4 star, what's the big deal? Clara is one of only a handful of splash damage rangers worth having on your team. What she lacks in attack speed she more than makes up for in move speed and attack power.

[Update: Clara is now also farmable from boss stages 40, 44 and 48. For full list of rangers obtainable by stage, click here.]

Since friendship points have also been increased during this event to 50 points a pop (double if you claim help points within an hour of receiving them!), getting some playtime on the Gacha Machine should not be hard for anyone. This means you have very good odds for getting yourself a max level 60 Clara. Unless you're very lucky or very rich to get Sorcerer Cony, this free Clara event is your best shot at a decent chance to beat the later levels of the Temple of Ice where splash damage will be enormously helpful.

Remember, this event starts and ends according to local Japan time so schedule your game play appropriately! This is not to be missed!!

Obtaining 5 Claras this weekend will benefit from the "combined ranger stat increase" feature. Clara may not look like much now, but at level 60, she's very powerful.

I have a feeling that the game developers are seeing just how horribly unfair stage 84 is to players who don't spend an exorbitant amount of money to play the Gacha Machine. This may be an attempt to boost the player base to a place that's at least remotely competitive for stage 84. The end stage of the current release is simply impossible right now without splash damage, and lots of it. Even Clara maxed out at 60 (you'll need 5 Clara rangers in all) by herself will not be the silver bullet. If you have an Opera James, Cobe, Jessica (3 star or higher), it's time to take them off the bench. You'll need them for 84!
[Update: Please note that Stage 84 has been changed as of the release of Altar of Flame & Castle in the Sky. Clara will still help a lot, but the stage no longer requires you to use an all-splash ranger team to win.]

[Post-Event Update: April 16, 2014]

During the event, I had 106 turns at the Friendship Point Normal GACHA Machine and I obtained 8 Clara rangers, or a 7.5% chance to get Clara. Worthy to note that of the other 98 turns, a very small number were 3-star rangers. The vast majority (I would guess about 85%) were 1-star rangers. So, chances were slim but not terrible by any means.

I speculate that if you wanted to obtain Clara on the Premium GACHA machine, the chances are much, much lower. The chance of obtaining 4-star rangers is probably about 10-15% ("guesstimate" based on personal experience), chance of 5-star being much less. So within the 10-15% for 4-star, there are so many that you can possibly get so your chances of obtaining a useful ranged splash attacker is even a fraction of that (Only Opera James and Clara are 4-star ranged splash attackers, Cobe and Jessica are melee splash. So that's 12% of your 15% chance to get 4-star. I mean, you do the math -- it's miniscule). The Friendship Point Event was really a good deal, if you think about it that way. And what else are you doing with Friendship Points anyway? Nothing...