Chapter 8 teams: stages 8-10 to 8-80

Ask around about 8-10 and everyone names the same support, the evolved Cheerling that Lineup 1 runs as Cheerlet. One player said they had yet to see an underlevelled clear without it, and their advice for anyone missing it was to take Ashlarva to T2 as a substitute and save up. Here it sits in the middle of lane 3 between Swaystroll and Frostpaw, where its healing, attack and defence boosts and its emergency invincibility keep the penguin's shield up long enough to charge a real burst.

The two right lanes do the controlling. Lane 4 lines up Turtuff in front handing out Shell Shields, Droppit's mist slowing behind it and Capypapa healing from the back. Lane 5 pairs Electroar's knockback with Maskfry's pull, so enemies get shoved and dragged around while Sparkdoe's lance pierces them.

Lane 1 serves as a four-unit wall of Snoozebo, Cobbledon, Stalkerix and Frugagon. Pyrohound and Ignisnap alone hold lane 2; Kitjitsu or Pyropup have replaced Pyrohound, and Azurion has replaced Ignisnap. From 7-80, the visible change is Maskfry replacing Boldclaw in lane 5.

8-20 is RNG-heavy, and the player who shared a clear said as much, with five seconds left on the clock. Don't read a narrow loss as a bad lineup; rerun it before you start swapping.

The damage leans on lane 1, the busiest column on the board. Boldclaw at the front slows with its bubble wave, Turtuff throws its shell and shields, Embertail's mines catch whatever gets through, and Sparkit fires small fireballs from the back. Rockfu has been used in place of Sparkit there.

Lane 3 is a familiar trio: Swaystroll at the front, Capypapa healing it from right behind so the shield holds and the burst charges, and Frostpaw slowing at the back. Waddledo can stand in for Swaystroll if your penguin hasn't evolved.

Lane 4 runs Electroar, Cheerlet and Sparkdoe front to back, the knockback buying time for the lance while Cheerlet heals and buffs both. Stalkerix leads lane 2 ahead of Ignisnap and Cluckeroo; Manteeny has replaced Stalkerix, and Azurion has replaced Ignisnap. Lane 5 is just Cobbledon and Frugagon, with Punchimp swapped in for Frugagon in one clear.

8-30 stacks a full fire column down lane 3, five deep. Pyrohound's pillar opens it, Tindercub dashes in or retreats to meditate, Sparkit and Ignisnap fire from the middle, and Cluckeroo sits at the very back healing with its seed. Ignisnap's burn is what makes the lane deadly, since every fireball it lands keeps enemies burning while the others chip away.

The cost is that the other lanes run lean. Lane 1 is just Cobbledon and Turtuff in the front rows, and that Turtuff is the cell clears change most often: Snoozebo has gone in instead several times, and Rockhog once. If lane 1 is where you're leaking, try swapping in Snoozebo's self-healing thorns there first.

Lane 2 puts Stalkerix in front, Cheerlet behind it with heals and buffs, and Frugagon's exploding fruit at the back; Cactobud and Frugatoad have each replaced Frugagon. Lane 4 is Swaystroll and Frostpaw, and Capypapa or Snowcub have been swapped in for the penguin.

Lane 5 is built for control, Electroar knocking back, Droppit slowing and Sparkdoe piercing from the rear. Cragolin has been tried in place of Droppit.

8-40 trades in Taptail at the back of lane 3, and it's worth knowing how it fights. It fires a few slow sound waves, then a rapid burst of several, so its damage comes in surges. Behind Cobbledon, Cheerlet and Turtuff it's well protected, and Cheerlet's attack boost makes each surge count.

The rest of the board barely moves from 8-30, with the lanes reshuffled. Lane 1 pairs Swaystroll with Frostpaw and Ignisnap behind it, and that front cell has gone to Firecoil instead of Swaystroll in a couple of clears, trading the shield burst for a flame ring that heals and boosts. Waddledo has also been used instead of the penguin.

Lane 5 looks odd, with Frugagon at the front and Stalkerix behind it, but Frugagon's fruit explodes often and slows, which softens enemies before they reach anything. Frugatoad has been used in place of it twice, and Goonbug or Capobeetle instead of Stalkerix.

Lane 2 keeps Pyrohound, Tindercub and Cluckeroo, with Kitjitsu or Firecoil replacing Tindercub in some clears. Lane 4 is home to Electroar knocking back ahead of Punchimp and Sparkdoe; Snoozebo has replaced Punchimp.

8-50 is another stage where players call Cheerling hard to replace; one said flatly that nothing can. Lineup 1 runs Cheerlet in the second row of lane 3, and the reason it matters is who it's covering: Maskfry in front pulling enemies in, Dumbopus behind it, and Capypapa at the back. Its heals and attack and defence boosts reach all of them, and the one-time invincibility saves whichever neighbour gets into danger first.

Dumbopus is the new unit. It launches water orbs, sometimes a larger splashing one, and can summon an Octobuddy that deals area damage when knocked down, so it rewards being kept alive in the middle of that support stack.

If you want to build further around this, the seal and Tideon were named as good supporting picks to swap in on this stage.

Lane 2 is lightning-heavy, Electroar knocking back ahead of Zapooch's chain strikes and Sparkdoe's lance, with Frostpaw slowing at the back. Lane 4 is the fire lane with Pyrohound, Tindercub and Ignisnap spaced out; Bubbit or Kitjitsu have replaced Tindercub. Cobbledon and Turtuff hold lane 1, and Stalkerix and Frugagon sit at opposite ends of lane 5.

8-60 is a level check before anything else: one player recommends tatari level 161 or above. Under that, the usual failure is a front line that keeps dying, and the advice given to someone losing their far-left lane was blunt. Their front unit, a sheep, had lower defence than the units behind it, so swap it for a sturdier rock unit such as the turtle or Rockzilla.

Lineup 1 avoids that problem with guardians up front. Nekowatt leads lane 3 with electrified punches that hit harder the closer enemies get and speed up with every strike, Fluffle's clouds hover behind it and Boltskipper binds from the back. Kitjitsu leads lane 4, healing off Ignisnap's burns, with Sunfleur at the rear healing and granting attack and defence.

Lane 2 holds Cobbledon, Cheerlet and Humbleetle, whose lingering dung slows too; Rockfu has replaced Humbleetle twice. Lane 5 counts as the deepest: Boldclaw, Zapooch, Capypapa and Frostpaw. In an alternative lineup, Rockzilla's exact tile matters, placed to start hitting once lane 2's front units fall. The left lane is said to want the beetle, and results swing with level and luck.

8-70 has a tidy layout, one job per lane, and the stage's real talking point is buffs. Players pointed out that even the T1 form of the Cheerling line raises attack and defence, while a T2 sunflower adds health on top. If you swap in a sunflower here, putting it next to the Cheerling line was suggested so the two boosts stack and the sunflower heals more.

In Lineup 1, Cheerlet does that buffing job alone from the middle of lane 2, between Electroar's knockback and Sparkdoe's lance. It's the one cell clears here kept stable; Surgehoof has gone in instead once, and Cheerling in its unevolved form too.

Lane 5 works as the water lane, Swaystroll in front with Bubbit's Fragile mist right behind and Frostpaw slowing from the rear. Tikowl and Boldclaw have each replaced Bubbit, and Waddledo the penguin.

The rest is straightforward. Pyrohound, Ignisnap and Cluckeroo hold lane 1, Cobbledon, Turtuff and Rockfu make lane 3 a rock wall, and Stalkerix, Snoozebo and Frugagon fill lane 4. Taptail has been swapped into lane 3 in place of Rockfu.

The 8-80 boss keeps coming back. One player counts three forms, another complained about beating it four times in a row, and both point the same way: stack damage in the middle lane. Lineup 1's middle is lane 3, Swaystroll in front, Bubbit's mist making enemies Fragile behind it and Frostpaw slowing from the back, so everything that reaches the boss there hits harder.

Shotgun enemies are the other trap. The suggestion was to push the fire lane forward so it meets them directly, move the other lanes back, and use the water unit that pulls enemies instead of Bubbit. Droppit has also replaced Bubbit in a couple of clears.

Ashlarva is the weak spot. It's T1 in lane 2 between Pyrohound and Tindercub, and one player said not having the T2 butterfly was wrecking their runs. Azurion has been swapped into that cell twice. A clear at level 165 finished with five seconds left.

Lane 4 runs Stalkerix, Cheerlet and Ignisnap; lane 5 pairs Zappur's knockback with Gibber's shell and Sparkdoe's lance. Cobbledon, Cluckeroo and Frugagon hold lane 1, and Snoozebo or Tikowl have replaced Cluckeroo.