Chapter 23 teams: stages 23-10 to 23-80

23-10 opens chapter 23 and it's tight on time. One player at level 400 finished with a second left and warned that the second lane might need a rerun to survive, another beat it with four seconds to spare. The lanes named as hard are the far left, the middle and the one right of the middle. The good news is that one player said this lineup took them from 23-10 to 23-19 without changing anything.

Lineup 1 leaves lane 5 almost empty. Azurion stands alone in the last row, throwing burning fireballs from as far back as it can, so everything else has to hold.

Lane 2 turns out to be the one to watch. Clawzor leads it from the second row with Charflutter, Trippet sits behind them, and Rockfu is at the back. Putting a guardian behind the damage is unusual, and it means Rockfu's clones show up late in the lane rather than taking the first hits. Trippet's attack speed spores and Charflutter's healing ring are what keep Clawzor standing, which is probably why players saw that lane die when the run went badly.

Lane 1 contains Serrabloom, Sunfleur and Humbleetle, lane 3 is Zappur, Voltfawn, Synthhog and Tideon, and lane 4 is Turtuff, Cheerlet and Ripplewing. On the grid, Rockwu or Rockhog can replace Sunfleur, and Waveflutter or Rattlecoil can go in for Ripplewing.

23-20 comes down to a coin flip on sleep. Players said you have to win the butterfly's sleep roll, so expect to replay it. One version was adjusted from an earlier one at level 408, and another was reported to cover 23-20 through 23-25 at level 449 with dojos at 4-4-3-3-4.

The butterfly in question is Ripplewing, at the back of lane 3 behind Serrabloom and Trippet. Its water bombs slow and sometimes put enemies to sleep, and those that wake take damage. When the sleep lands, the lane gets breathing room; when it doesn't, Serrabloom is holding alone. Frugagon is listed as an alternative there if you'd rather have steady slows than gamble.

The new unit is Grillhog in lane 2. Charflutter leads that lane with Grillhog, then Azurion and Pandaroot. Grillhog spends its own HP to hurl patties, hitting harder the more it spends, gives allies a shield that damages enemies over time, and heals those nearby when it's knocked down. Charflutter's ring of fire heals it back up, and Pandaroot at the back plants bamboo that slows and grows stronger.

Lane 5 fields Rockfu and Frostique, and that's the cell with the most listed swaps: Rockwu, Maskfry, Flametail or Ospisces in place of Rockfu. You can swap Sizzribb in for Kitjitsu in lane 1, Flametail can go in for Hellhound, and Waveflutter for Grillhog.

23-30 is a notorious wall, and the boss that throws barrels is the reason. The advice that keeps coming up is to keep the lion alive and accept a lot of resets. One player at level 411 with dojos at 4-4-3-3-3 reset more than twenty times just to keep the monkey, the deer and the fourth lane alive, and another failed for hours between 404 and 411 before clearing at 416. Putting more damage into the boss's lane helped, and people have cleared it without a lightning badge, without a T3 deer and without the monkey, but after many tries.

The lion is Zappur, leading lane 3 from the second row with Surgehoof behind it. Surgehoof is new: its shock wave splashes on hit, and it splashes more when it hits a water enemy. Ripplewing and Voltfawn fill the back of that lane, so the knockback, the splash and the sleep are all stacked in one column.

Voltling is the other new face, leading lane 1 with Zapooch. Its shadow attack hits an area and paralyses, a good fit ahead of Zapooch's chain lightning.

Look at lane 5: Boldclaw and Frostique, and it's the lane most often swapped. If it dies, one player fixed it with the penguin plus Maskfry, and Swaystroll is the most common replacement for Boldclaw. Rockwu can stand in for Rockfu, and Solaflora or Nimbuzzy for Zapooch.

23-40 is a boss stage, and the fix players shared for it is a healer swap: one player said it worked after they replaced Pyroprawn with Charflutter. That's the cell you see in lane 2 here, the moth's ring of fire sitting behind the monkey with Tideon at the back.

Lane 3 is where the lineup puts its weight, and it's full from the front row to the back. Kitjitsu leads it with Sizzribb, then Trippet, Ripplewing and Sparkrow. Sizzribb spits flames that burn and then consumes that Burn for follow-up damage, and Kitjitsu dashes in and heals when it hits burning enemies, so the two at the front of that lane feed each other. Sparkrow, the base of the Scorchwing line, fires bursts of fireballs from the back before resting.

The edges are thin. Lane 1 is Capypapa and Frostique in the third and fourth rows, and lane 5 is Serrabloom on its own in the second row, holding with continuous Fragile strikes. If lane 1 needs more than a healer, Swaystroll, Ospisces or Armorjaw are listed in Capypapa's place, and Armorjaw's pull can stun when it gathers several enemies.

Lane 4 is Zappur, Cheerlet, Azurion and Voltfawn, the knockback-and-burn column the last few stages have relied on.

23-50 has one known failure point: the boss surviving. The fix players shared came from a version where the seal sat behind the monkey in the middle lane, and replacing it with the dung beetle was enough. Another player said that at higher levels the fox could hold the left lane alone. One lineup was used from 23-50 through 23-55, and another covered 23-50 and 23-51 at level 449 with dojos at 4-4-3-3-4.

In Lineup 1 the middle lane is Turtuff, Punchimp, Tideon and Mudrump, so the monkey has Tideon's slowing mist behind it and Mudrump's mud balls at the very back.

The new cell is Capobeetle at the back of lane 1, behind Azurion. It turns invincible and dashes forward, hitting an area and inflicting Fragile, so the beetle charges through the lane and Azurion's fire lands on whatever it softened. If you'd rather keep lane 1 static, Kitjitsu, Frugagon or Solaflora are listed in its place.

Lane 4 starts in the front row, with Voltfawn there and Charflutter, Cheerlet and Trippet stacked behind it. That's the healing column, and it's what keeps the deer standing so far forward. Waveflutter can replace Ripplewing in lane 2, where it sits behind Synthhog.

23-60 is a boss stage, and one player finished it with a slot to spare and suggested putting the extra unit in whichever lane is weakest for you. One version is a slight adjustment of an earlier one at level 416, and the same lineup was reported to cover 23-60 through 23-65 at level 449 with dojos at 4-4-3-3-4.

Lineup 1 leaves lane 1 to Azurion alone in the fourth row. That's the obvious place for a spare unit if your left side keeps falling.

Lane 5 ends up being the long lightning column. Voltling leads it with Synthhog, then Voltfawn and Capypapa at the back. Voltling's shadow attack paralyses, Synthhog scouts and inflicts Fragile across a wide area, and the deer's lance pierces through what's been marked. Capypapa's oranges keep that column alive from the last row. Also, Zapantler is listed in place of Voltfawn if you have the evolved deer.

Lane 3 lines up Clucky at the back, behind Serrabloom, Trippet and Tideon, as the chicken-line healer. Cluckeroo is listed instead if yours is evolved. Lane 2 fields Hellhound, Charflutter and Ripplewing, and lane 4 is Zappur, Cheerlet and Zapooch, with Blitzmane as the usual replacement for Zappur.

23-70 is another boss where the run can end with the boss standing. The concrete changes players reported came from level 454: they used the monkey in place of Boltskipper and Frugagon in place of the fire moth, and both of those show up in the grid here, the monkey leading lane 1 and Frugagon behind Kitjitsu in lane 5.

Lane 3 is built around Ospisces at its head. Its waves pull enemies together into a whirlpool, and once several are pulled the whirlpool stacks Weak on them. Trippet sits right behind with its attack speed spores, then Capypapa healing and Ripplewing at the back trying to sleep the gathered pack.

Lane 1 carries Punchimp, Voltfawn and Surgehoof, so the monkey's clones hold the front while the lance pierces and Surgehoof's shock waves splash, harder against water enemies. Lane 2 fields Serrabloom and Cheerlet with Tideon two rows back, and lane 4 is Zappur and Charflutter with Azurion at the back.

Blitzmane is the swap players reach for most, in place of Zappur. Ripplewing can be swapped for Waveflutter or Cheerlet, Solaflora can go in for Tideon, Pandaroot for Cheerlet, and Stalkerix for Serrabloom.

23-80 is the barrel boss again, and this time it has a move that bombs your units' health. Players said a healer besides the moth helps for that reason, and they pointed out that the far-right lane is all electric enemies. In other lineups the lion is the key unit for pushing the boss back. One suggestion was to move the right lane up a row so that its units get the moth's buff.

Lineup 1 answers the health bomb with healers spread across the board: Clucky behind Serrabloom in lane 1, Cheerlet in lane 2, Capypapa in lane 3, and Charflutter in lane 4.

The new unit leads lane 2. Snoozebo is a rock tank that fires piercing thorns while it dozes and snores, recovering HP as it goes. Cheerlet behind it dances to heal and boost, and the first time an ally nearby falls into danger it grants Invincibility, which is exactly the kind of save a health bomb calls for. Voltfawn and Tideon complete the lane.

Lane 5, facing those electric enemies, is Turtuff, Punchimp and Humbleetle, a rock column. Gemsnail is the most listed swap for the monkey there, with Rockwu or Rattlecoil as alternatives. Cheerspring or Firecoil can replace Charflutter, and Frugagon can replace Clucky.