Strategy for Burning Plain:

I see what you mean. I haven’t tried to beat cave 3 yet with 3 characters cause I’m still trying to figure out which 2 of my birds are the best to use against ninjas. When fighting ninjas before I’d use something like Rainbird or Mage, Druid, and Samurai or Rogues. Mage won’t work as well now because some ninjas can dispel. Thunderbird might be the best bird to have, but I don’t have enough saved up to buy it. I’m going to grind to max out my potions and rage chili and buy or make a bunch before attempting to beat these final levels because it is quite clear that the only way to beat these levels is to use tons of potions and chili, get a bunch of set items and/or wait for the level cap to be raised.

The walkthrough is worthless because the enemies in it are a much weaker variety and only around level 20-22. Also the birds in the walkthrough are level 41 with only set items.

A strategy that might work for you that won’t work for me is if you have a friend with a good bird to borrow you can use the priest. When using the priest’s spirit link and the rage chili for Mathilda’s medicine it can heal all birds about 70% (link to the bird with the highest health for the best healing) and if you have 2 spirit links then it heals all birds 100%.

Ninjas first show up in burning plains which cave 5. You first see them in cave 5 level 3.

I used Rogues, Rainbird and Piggy McCool to beat the ninjas. Having another healer like the priest or paladin would be much better than using Piggy McCool, but you have to have facebook friends with good birds. The level 30 birds I can hire are weaker than my level 25 birds. Rogues are the best for DOT against ninjas and against the Shogun I can use both cupcake trap and egg surprise to take them out. My rainbird and rogue will make the affected ninjas take 508 damage/round and they don’t have any set items. Piggy McCool can occasionally damage the Shogun with a critical hit. Rainbird just heals and dispels when you are down to fighting only the Shogun. The easiest way to take the Shogun out is to kill everything else first using the Rainbird’s speed of light in the first round then 2-3 rounds later after everything is dead just use egg surprise to stun every round so you can get your birds to full health by the time you finish the Shogun off and start the next wave.

I’ve done most of these levels with 2 birds — Lightning Bird and Marksmen — and lots of potions. I still have #9 and #10 to go, but need to stock up on my potions.

Details:
Both birds were Elite class, Level 25
Chuck used a Tidal Wand and Lightning Tome, both received at level 25
Blues used Laughing Horn and RC Robot, both received at level 25
Overall, Chuck had 361/899 and Blues was 469/869 (attack/health)
Lighning bird did 163 damage to all; Blues did 2×164

Note that these configurations were set to be int he sweet spot, where damage is below the Ninja’s Dodge, but above the Ironclad threshold. I actually had to downgrade Chuck’s wand to get where I wanted.

Strategy
Always start a stage with either full health or full rage chili

Use Blues to target the enemy you want targeted most, then unleash Chuck’s rage ability. Remember to use Blues first, as each of Chuck’s 3 strikes will deal an additional 117 of damage to your target. With my configuration, that’s a minimum of 1168 damage on the first turn to the key enemy. For each additional time Blues hits the key enemy, you can add another 562 damage. If you’re lucky enough to have a friend with a Samurai that’s in the sweet spot, you can get another 3 attacks, with each one dealing another 117 additional damage.

Hopefully, you’ll knock out a lower level pig or two after the first rage chili. This makes the attack from the Ironclad pig more bearable, as you get fewer attacks. I’ve also observed that when he’s heavily damaged he’ll attack rather than use his debuff ability, which is another plus.

For additional rounds, look at your health. With this combo, health isn’t your strong point. If you are low, suck potions. Otherwise, suck rage chili potions.
When down to a final opponent, use Chuck’s debuff ability to get a second attack out of Blues, as it’s much more potent. I’ll suck a lot of potions on these levels, usually 2 per turn, so ~40-50 over the entire 10 stages (2-3 rounds per stage).

One other thing to watch is the Mandarin…the -20% attack penalty is enough to take me below the Ironclad threshold. When I had this effect on, I would try to take a long time to dispatch the smaller guys (thank you, ghosts), giving me time to get over the effects. You don’t want to go to the next stage with this effect on and find that you’ve got the ironclad pig and can’t damage him.

I’m not on Facebook so you can’t add me. I wish they’d add Game Center support since I use that instead. However I will definitely spend 25 LC soon to open a Friendship Gate so I can get the Marksmen.

Thanks MysticalFire for the dispel tip. The cowboy comes with, & re-arm Manny, Moe and Jack.

I sent you a facebook friend request.

I can beat most of these levels with just Rainbird and Rogues and generally do it without any potion or cake use, but I’m level 29 with good items. Get your birds to the elite level, gain some more levels and stock up on healing potions and veggie cakes if you are having difficulty.

I like rogues because they do so much damage and can use cupcake trap for the iron clad enemies. The samurai is also good since he can use heroic strike to take out the iron clad enemies. Combine the samurai with the marksmen and you’ll do a lot of damage. Add chuck’s speed of light attack and you’ll do a ridiculous amount of damage. There are many bird combos and strategies that work.