Badge Dojo Lightning stage 1

The Lightning Dojo opens with eight stages on one grid, and every unit on it is a first form. Lineup 1 puts Sparkeet alone at the front of lane 1. In lane 2 sit Cheerling in row 1 and Voltfawn far back in row 4. Lane 3 carries Voltkit in row 1 with Fluffle behind it in row 2.

What makes these stages hard is not the enemies so much as the team. Five base-form units have little health and modest damage, so the board works only if each one does its own job. Three of them stand in the front row, which means every lane meets enemies at the same moment.

The plan is simple. The front row holds and chips at the waves, Cheerling heals and strengthens whoever is near it, and the two back units provide the reach. Voltfawn's spear covers the middle from the back of the board, and Fluffle's clouds cover lane 3.

The following pages go through the five units one at a time, then the weak spots and levels. If you are just starting, this grid is also a good place to learn which of your Lightning units deserve evolving first, because each of them reappears later in a stronger form.

The grid has not moved from 1-1, so this page looks at Sparkeet, the unit standing by itself in row 1 of lane 1.

Sparkeet is a tank that takes less damage while it is charged. Its main trick is connecting to nearby allies to raise their attack, and when nobody is close it attacks weakly on its own. That detail matters here. Sparkeet's only neighbour is Cheerling in row 1 of lane 2, so the connection runs across the front row rather than down a lane.

Alone in lane 1, Sparkeet is a wall more than a threat. Its own damage is low, so enemies in that lane die slowly, and they rely on help from the middle: Cheerling's dance and Voltfawn's spear from the back of lane 2.

The risk is the other end of that connection. If Cheerling falls, Sparkeet loses its partner and drops to its weak solo attack, and lane 1 starts to leak. Keeping Cheerling healthy is therefore part of keeping Sparkeet useful.

Sparkeet's evolved form is Buzzbeak. Even a few levels on Sparkeet help these early stages, because the extra health keeps lane 1 closed long enough for the middle to clean up.

On the third stage of the Lightning grid, the centre of attention is Cheerling in row 1 of lane 2.

Cheerling dances to hurt nearby enemies while healing nearby allies and raising their attack and defence. In this layout it stands in the middle of the front row, with Sparkeet on its left and Voltkit on its right, so the dance reaches the two front units that take the most hits. Few cells on the board touch as many allies as this one.

That makes Cheerling the most valuable unit on the grid, and also the most exposed. It is not a tank, yet it stands in row 1 with nothing ahead of it. Its healing keeps it alive as long as the middle lane stays light, and Voltfawn in row 4 behind it helps thin what arrives.

When a run fails, look at the order of losses. If Cheerling falls first, the two sides lose their healing at once, and Sparkeet loses its attack-raising partner as well. Cheerling is the unit to level first on this grid.

Its evolved form, Cheerlet, keeps the same dance and adds a one-time protection for allies about to fall. It becomes central in the next chapter.

Halfway into the opening grid, this page is about Voltfawn, the unit set far back in row 4 of lane 2.

Voltfawn fires a lightning spear that pierces and paralyses. Piercing is the reason it stands so deep. From row 4 its spear travels up the whole middle lane, through every enemy approaching Cheerling, and the paralysis stops some of them before they reach the front.

Voltfawn is the only real reach on the left half of the board. Sparkeet hits weakly and Cheerling's dance only touches what is close, so the spear does much of the killing in the middle and helps the enemies that drift toward lane 1.

Its position is also its protection. Three empty cells stand between Voltfawn and Cheerling, so enemies rarely get to it. If they do, the front row has already broken and the run is usually lost anyway.

The weakness is damage. A base-form spear does not kill quickly, so long waves pile up in the middle. If Cheerling keeps dying under pressure, a few levels on Voltfawn often fix it, because the enemies reaching the front arrive weaker and more often paralysed. Voltfawn's evolved form, Sparkdoe, throws a heavier spear and shows up through the next chapters.

The same grid continues, and the focus moves to Voltkit in row 1 of lane 3.

Voltkit is a guardian that strikes from the shadows for area damage. Unlike Sparkeet on the other wing, it hits groups, so lane 3 is the side of the front row that actually kills. It stands next to Cheerling, which means it also gets healing and the attack and defence raise from the dance.

The key to Voltkit's cell is the unit behind it. Fluffle in row 2 of lane 3 drops clouds onto the same space Voltkit is fighting in, so the two stack their area damage on the enemies held at the front. That pairing makes lane 3 the strongest lane on the grid, while lane 1 is the weakest.

Voltkit's job is to survive long enough for that damage to work. It is sturdier than Cheerling but not a true tank, so heavy waves in lane 3 can still break it. When that happens, Fluffle is next in line and has much less health.

Voltkit's evolved form is Voltling, whose area strikes also paralyse. That line keeps appearing in the Lightning Dojo, so it is a good one to invest in early.

On the sixth stage of the grid, this page covers Fluffle in row 2 of lane 3, the unit behind Voltkit.

Fluffle summons white clouds that keep zapping an area and moves them with lightning arcs. The clouds are slow damage that lingers, which suits a unit that stands one row behind a guardian: enemies held by Voltkit stay inside the clouds and keep taking hits.

Row 2 is close to the fight for a damage unit. Fluffle is covered only by Voltkit, and it has little health of its own, so it depends on lane 3 holding. In exchange, its clouds land early on every wave and catch enemies before they spread out.

Fluffle is also the board's only answer to crowds on the right. Voltfawn's spear goes up the middle lane, not lane 3, so if Fluffle falls, the right side is left with Voltkit alone. That is the usual way this lane collapses.

Two tips help. Level Voltkit before Fluffle, because Fluffle is only as safe as Voltkit is. And if you already have Nimbuzzy, the evolved form of Fluffle, its clouds also paralyse, which makes this lane much safer.

Late on this grid, the weak points of the layout start to matter more than the strengths.

The board is lopsided. Lane 3 has a guardian with area damage and a cloud unit behind it, while lane 1 has Sparkeet alone, a tank that hits weakly. The middle lane has Cheerling in front and Voltfawn far behind, with two empty rows between them. Enemies that reach lane 1 are slow to die, and enemies in the middle press straight onto Cheerling.

There is no back-up for the front row. The front units all stand in row 1, and apart from Fluffle in lane 3, nobody waits behind them to take over. On easier stages one break could be survived; here, losing any front unit usually opens a lane.

There are no recorded alternatives for this grid, so the fixes are levels and patience rather than a different layout. Put levels into the unit that falls first. In most runs that is Cheerling, because it stands in the middle of the front row without being a tank, or Sparkeet, because lane 1 has so little damage.

Losses here can also be partly luck. If a run fails narrowly with the front row intact until late, retrying before changing anything is reasonable.

The last stage on this grid is the toughest version of the board, and it is mostly a test of levels.

Every unit in Lineup 1 is a first form, so this stage rewards whatever you have put into them. A sensible order is Cheerling first, since its healing and attack and defence raise reach Sparkeet and Voltkit. Voltfawn comes next, because its piercing spear does most of the killing in the middle. Voltkit follows to keep lane 3 standing, then Sparkeet and Fluffle.

Reading the loss helps. If Cheerling falls early, it needs levels or the middle needs more damage from Voltfawn. If enemies slip through lane 1, Sparkeet is too weak to hold its lane alone. If the right side breaks, check whether Voltkit fell before Fluffle had done much.

Evolving changes this board more than levels do. Sparkeet becomes Buzzbeak, Cheerling becomes Cheerlet, Voltfawn becomes Sparkdoe, Voltkit becomes Voltling and Fluffle becomes Nimbuzzy, and most of those evolved forms are the core of the second chapter. Any evolved form you already own is worth using here as soon as it is ready.

The next two stages change the grid, starting with a second-form guardian in the middle lane.

The grid changes here, and the key addition is a second-form guardian in the middle lane. Lineup 1 keeps Sparkeet alone in row 1 of lane 1. Lane 2 is now a full column of three: Cheerling in row 1, Zapooch in row 2 and Voltfawn in row 4. Lane 3 has only Voltkit in row 1.

Zapooch is the unit to understand. It fires a quick burst of lightning that chains from one enemy to the next, and it is the final form of the Zapup line. In row 2 it stands directly behind Cheerling, so its chain lightning hits the enemies Cheerling is dancing against, and it sits within reach of the dance's healing and attack raise itself.

The cost is on the right. Lane 3 is now Voltkit by itself, with no cloud unit behind it, so its area strikes are the only damage on that side. Enemies that pile up there have nowhere else to go but into Voltkit.

The tip is to watch lane 3. If Voltkit falls, the right side is open, and Cheerling then takes pressure from two directions. Levels on Voltkit, or its evolved form Voltling if you have it, are the cheapest fix. Zapooch's chain damage does the rest from the middle.

The chapter ends with a very different shape: almost the whole team stacks into the middle. Lineup 1 puts Zapooch in row 2 of lane 1 and fills lane 2 from front to back with Voltkit in row 1, Cheerling in row 2, Fluffle in row 3 and Voltfawn in row 4. Lane 3 is empty.

The stack is built around Cheerling. In row 2 of the middle it sits directly behind Voltkit and level with Zapooch, so the dance heals and strengthens both front units. Voltkit takes the hits at the head of the column, and its area strikes, Fluffle's clouds and Voltfawn's piercing spear all land on the same stretch of lane 2.

Zapooch covers the left. Its chain lightning jumps between enemies, which suits a lane where it stands alone.

What makes this stage hard is the empty right lane. Enemies there have no unit to stop them and drift toward the middle, so Voltkit faces more than its share. If Voltkit breaks, the whole column is exposed at once.

The tip is to level Voltkit and Cheerling before anything else. If the run fails with enemies leaking down lane 3, the column is not killing fast enough, and Fluffle or Voltfawn need the levels instead.