Badge Dojo · Lightning 1-7

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.