A Guide to Growing Strange
Introduction
After completing Stories of Legend, the next obvious step to progression is beginning Uncanny Legends. The first stage in Uncanny Legends is An Ancient Curse, which generally needs new True formed units such as Slapstick cats, or Awakened Mina. These true forms require Elder Catfruit, with the most readily available source being from Growing Strange. Be warned, this stage can be quite annoying.
Unlike most of the other Growing stages, Growing Strange features a single stage, named An Elder Secret, costing 300 energy. However, this stage has no rewards (other than the initial clear rewards). Instead, you will be sent to a random continuation stage, picked randomly between seven choices, each featuring a different trait: Color of Blood (Red), Fear of Flying (Floating), Hearts of Darkness (Black), Holy Wrath (Angel), Galactic Threat (Alien), Clash of Steel (Metal), and Seas of Death (Zombie).
Upon clearing this continuation stage, you are guaranteed an Elder Catfruit Seed, with an 1% chance of obtaining an Elder Catfruit. Meaning, you usually have to grind this stage at least 5 times before you can TF a unit who requires 1 Elder Catfruit. Your lineup will usually be unable to clear all seven stages, so getting Clash of Steel 8 times in a row as a continuation stage with a lineup that only works for the six other stages is a possibility.
Lineup Breakdown
Disclaimer on Unit Levels
There is a decent chance that your units’ levels might not match the one provided here, or that you may lack a certain gacha unit. That is perfectly fine, as you don’t need to clear all seven continuations, and the lineup below can be customized with any other units you may own. Although this guide may use level 40 gacha units, having ubers or a higher eraser level can compensate.
Lineup
Note: Tags (e.g R/F) represents which units can be used on which stages.
- Color of Blood – R
- Fear of Flying – F
- Hearts of Darkness – B
- Holy Wrath – An
- Galactic Threat – Al
- Clash of Steel – M
- Seas of Death – Z
*Cameraman is talented with max survivor, with no other talented units.
This lineup shown above is unable to clear Angel and Alien.
Must Have Units
- Eraser Cat (All) – One of the three main meatshields you will be using throughout all the stages. Absolutely mandatory to have, with higher boosts making some of these stages a lot easier.
- Manic Eraser Cat (All) – Fills the same role as Eraser Cat. Level 40 is ideal, and is something you should already have if you’ve completed SoL.
- Ramen Cat (R/F/B/An/Al/M) – As there are a lot of pushing enemies in these stages, a third meatshield is required, with Ramen Cat having the extra role of being especially useful for Holy Wrath.
- Bombercat (B) – The main carry for Hearts of Darkness, freezing all threats.
- Cyborg Cat (F/B/An/Al/Z) – An AOE decent attacker with other ideal stats including speed and range. At higher levels, Cyborg can also replace Cameraman’s role as a main damage dealer in Fear of Flying, saving an extra slot.
- Waitress Cat (M) – Soba Cat is necessary to kill the Metal One Horn in An Elder Secret. She is also the most consistent unit as a critter for Clash of Steel.
Great-To-Have Units
- Shigong Cat (M/Z) – The main carry for Seas of Death, as well as providing extra value as a meatshield in Clash of Steel.
- Roe Cat (R) – The main carry for Color of Blood, being able to rush down Professor A., as well as helping in killing Berserkory in the first stage alongside Octopus Cat.
- Cameraman Cat (F) – With a lower level cyborg, or no ubers, Cameraman is essential for Fear of Flying, although providing not much value elsewhere.
- Octopus Cat (F) – Extremely helpful in An Elder Secret, being able to stall the Maawth + Berserkory ending phase alongside Roe Cat. Useful in Fear of Flying as well, as a tank and to prevent Pigeon de Sable’s wave attacks.
- Cyberpunk Cat (F/B/An/Al) – Though he works for many stages, he isn’t mandatory for any of them other than Galactic Threat, which is extremely long and tedious even while using him. Not essential to have, but makes certain strategies easier if you have the space for him.
Useful Ubers
Priority for replacing units with ubers is Cameraman Cat out -> Octopus Cat, with all of the other units being necessary in the lineup to clear most of the stages.
- Generalist Backliners – Units such as Shisalan Pasalan, Glorious Amaterasu, Mighty Lord Gao, etc. are all extremely valuable to have for this stage, being able to make strategies a lot more consistent through sheer brute force.
- Anti-Red Ubers – Though you won’t need them, Ubers such as Unit-02 Code 777, and Pai-Pai DX will help in Color of Blood.
- Anti-Floating Ubers – Headmistress Jeanne, Catman, and Divine Windy are all great choices for Fear of Flying.
- Anti-Black Ubers – Kasa Jizo, Sanada Yukimura, and Divine Twinstars are good picks for Hearts of Darkness. Just make sure if you choose a different option, that they don’t feed to Tackeys.
- Anti-Angel Ubers – The One-Hit Wonders, Mami & Cat, and Colossal Benkei are ideal for Holy Wrath, being able to outrange Winged Pigge’s omnistrike while dealing good damage.
- Anti-Alien Ubers – Megaphrodite, Gigavolta, and Bazibastra are useful to have for Galactic Threat.
- Anti-Metal Ubers – Paladin Cat and True Kyosaka Nanaho are good choices over Soba, and helps make clearing Clash of Steel a lot easier.
- Anti-Zombie Ubers – Eva Unit-01, Ganglion, and Mighty Drednot can replace Shigong for Seas of Death. You should only use Anti-Zombie Ubers if they provide value in other stages as well (e.g. The One-Hit Wonders).
An Elder Secret
Stage Design
The stage starts off with a few Ginger Snaches and Mr. Angels. Upon hitting the base, enemies of varying traits are spawned including Metal One Horn, Heavenly Hippoe, Pigeon de Sable, Zory, Shadow Boxer K, Maawth, and Berserkory are spawned one after another once the low enemy limit has cleared, with a few more Ginger Snaches and Mr. Angels in between.
Strategy
For the early peons, dual Erasers and a single Cameraman is enough, being able to defend without pushing hard. Level your wallet to 3 before hitting the base.
Once you’ve hit the base, spam dual Erasers, Ramen, and Cameraman, with Cyborgs as well if you have enough money. When Metal One Horn reaches the enemies’ frontline, deploy Waitress, which should be able to take care of it. After this, you will be most likely left with two enemies, which are Maawth and Berserkory. Spamming Octopus and Roe Cat should be enough for both of them, albeit it will take a decent amount of time. Use Breakerblast for this phase whenever possible, or you could alternatively save it if they push onto your base. Once Berserkory dies, there are no more threats, as Maawth alone is not an issue.
Color of Blood
Stage Design
This stage starts off with a single Shy Boy. Upon hitting the base, Professor A., Hackey, and a single Capy spawn immediately, with two more spawning over time. Ginger Snaches are spammed throughout the battle.
Strategy (Roe Stack)
When Shy Boy spawns, spam Roe cats with no other units. After deploying 8 or 9 Roe Cats spam dual Erasers and Ramen. You should have a decent stack of Roe cats at this point, and when you hit the base, use Breakerblast once your Roe cats are in front of Capy. They should be able to hit Professor A., which then you just keep spamming dual Erasers, Ramen, and Roe, until Professor A. is dead. Afterwards, it should be a mostly easy victory, as the other enemies are not much of a problem.
Fear of Flying
Stage Design
There are three Pigeon de Sables at the start of the stage as well as infinite Brollows, respawning about every 30s. Once the base is triggered, a total of 15 Li’l Bun Buns are spawned in waves, with Brollows and Pigeon de Sables as support, and a buffed The Face at the back, preventing you from rushing the stage.
Strategy
Start off the stage with an Octopus Cat when the first peons arrive. You should be focusing on leveling your wallet as much as you can after this, while only sending Camera and MEraser when Octopus Cat dies. Focus on stalling the Brollow, allowing your Cameraman to die if possible. Your main objective is to only hit the base when you have full cash and a max level wallet.
Before hitting the base, spam dual Erasers, Ramen, Cameraman, and Octopus Cat. The battlefield will be filled, allowing you to successfully defend against the initial Brollows and Li’l Bun Buns. After this point, this stage is pretty easy, with all you have to do is just spam Meatshields, Cameraman and Octopus Cat. Once all the Li’l Bun Buns have died, the rest is just chipping at The Face.
Hearts of Darkness
Stage Design
The stage begins with a single Dark Otter and Tackey. Upon hitting the base, Dark Ottas and Shadow Boxer Ks are spawned one after another as the enemy limit of 6 clears, with two Tackeys as support. Eventually, Razorback is spawned.
Strategy (Bomber Stack)
The main strategy is to stall Dark Otter and Tackey to build up money, as well as a desynced stack of Bombercats before hitting the base. However, Bombercat has high speed but not so high damage, so after these two initial peons are dead, they will push forward and hit the base, and then will sync up once the base is triggered. To work around this, we spawn Roe cats in hope of avoiding this problem.
Stall the initial Dark Otter using Bombercat, and it should also stall Tackey due to his LD. Level your wallet to max before doing anything else. Once you have max money, Spam dual Erasers, Ramen, Bombercat, and Cyborg, which should be able to kill Tackey, and will start the actual fight.
Once you’ve hit the base, you should be constantly spamming meatshields, because your stack of Bombercats will quickly die without them. Spam dual Erasers, Ramen, as well as Cyborg only if you have enough money. If you don’t, it’s perfectly fine to stop sending out Cyborg for some time to rebuild your cash. Breakerblast should be used to push into Tackeys’ blindspots. Once Razorback spawns, if your stack of Bombercats is still alive he should not be a threat. Once he dies, the difficulty should reduce significantly.
Holy Wrath
Stage Design
At the start of the stage, Heavenly Hippoe is spawned, alongside infinite Gabriels, respawning about every 30 seconds. Upon hitting the base, Winged Pigge is spawned, alongside Cala Maria and more Gabriels. Eventually, a second Winged Pigge is spawned, with a Chickful A spawning shortly after.
Strategy
For uberless players, skipping this stage is a good idea. There are many threats here, with the combination of Winged Pigge constantly killing your Erasers, Maria chipping away at your Ramens, and then eventually everything pushing forward killing your Cyborgs makes this one hell of a stage if you’re using level 40 units. Cyberstacking is possible, but even with this, it’s still an unreasonably difficult stage.
At the start of the stage, stalling to level 8 wallet is quite important to have if you plan to use Cyborg as your main damage dealer. Send out Ramens while trying not to have more than 2 on the field at once. This should be able to effectively stall the early peons. Spamming Ramen Cats will work for stalling, but will also kill the Heavenly Hippoe a lot faster.
When you hit the base, keep spamming dual Erasers, Ramen, and Cyborg. There’s not much strategy aside from just managing your money, as you always should when using Cyborg. This part of the battle is mainly just hoping your units are strong enough. If you’ve killed the two WPigges, then you’ve beaten the stage.
Galactic Threat
Stage Design
Two Scissoroos are spawned at the start of the battle, with around a 30 second delay between them. Once the base is hit, Kroxos, more Scissoroos, two Ursamajors, and Elder Sloth are spawned.
Strategy
The main problem with this stage is the fact that Ursa Major has the same range as Cyborg, and there’s also Elder Sloth constantly killing them. The “easiest” way to clear this stage is by stacking 4-5 Cyberpunks at the start of the stage. Luckily, it isn’t too difficult, but there’s the chance of them syncing up upon hitting the base, as well as the possibility of your units simply being unable to deal enough damage to hold everything off.
The first two Scissoroos can be permanently stalled by simply spamming dual Erasers. You can use this time to stack practically anything you want. You should also level your wallet to max during this time. If you get pushed on to your base, make sure to use Breakerblast, otherwise your run will fail.
Once you’ve hit the base, spam dual Erasers, Ramen, Cyborg, as well as any other useful units you’ve brought. Breakerblast can be used to keep the Scissoroos away from your units if you are getting pushed. Aside from this, if your units are strong enough, simply spamming them with meatshields will work.
Clash of Steel
Stage Design
The stage starts off with a singular Metal Doge. After a bit of time, Metal One Horn alongside a few more Metal Doges are spawned. When the base is hit, Sir Metal Seal, Super Metal Hippoe, and a Metal One Horn are immediately spawned, with another Metal One Horn spawning 20 seconds later.
Strategy (Soba Stack)
A +37 Eraser makes this stage a lot easier, because he tanks an extra hit from a Metal Doge. Level 40 Waitress can also be replaced with level 30 Soba Cat.
Start off the stage by leveling your wallet to 2. When the first Metal Doge arrives, stall him with MEraser, deploying them only after the Metal Doge kills the current one. When the Metal One Horn spawns, spam dual Erasers, Ramen, Shigong and Waitress. You should be able to effectively stall, and defend against the Metal One Horn and Doges. While killing the Doges, since you are not using any other critters, you should have around 2 or 3 Waitress Cats on the field before hitting the enemy base.
When you hit the base, spam dual Erasers, Ramen and Waitress, but if you run low on money and there are no Waitress Cats on the field, stop sending out Ramen for a while so you can rebuild money to buy another Waitress Cat, allowing you to get another crit on SMS. Use Breakerblast when the enemies either reach your base, or to keep Waitress Cats alive.
Seas of Death
Stage Design
Coffin Zoges and Zoges are spawned at the start of the battle, with the Zoges spawning infinitely throughout this stage. Zamelle is spawned shortly after, with some other threats including Zackie Pengs, Zomboes, and a single Zang Roo.
Strategy
This stage is definitely one of the easiest. You can pretty much spam dual Erasers and Shigong until Zang Roo spawns. Ideally, you can use Breakerblast to interrupt its burrow, but if that fails, you should still be somewhat okay. Spam Cyborgs (and Cameras if you brought her) to defend against the Zang Roo as well as other peons, and you should be able to successfully kill everything. Zamelle can be soon chipped afterwards with Shigong.
Be the first to comment