March to Death (Merciless)

March to Death is the second stage in Dead by Encore. When clearing this stage, the player is guaranteed to unlock the True Form of Curling Cat, Green Shell Cat. This is a No Continues stage.

Stage Information
Energy:	200
Enemy Base's Health:	1,200,000 HP
Enemies:	- Metal Doge (Metal) (300%) - Metal One Horn (Metal) (300%) - Super Metal Hippoe (Metal) (300%) - Sir Metal Seal (Metal) (300%)
Enemy Boss:	- Daboo of the Dead (Zombie) (100%)
Treasure:	- Curling Cat's True Form (100%, 1 time)
Misc. Information
Restriction:	No Continues
XP earned:	3,800 XP
Stage Width:	6,000
Max number of Enemies:	10
Japanese Version Information
JP Name:	Death March Super Extreme
Script:	デス・マーチ 超極ムズ
Romaji:	Desu Māchi Chō Kyoku Muzu
Location Information
Event Map:	Dead by Encore
Difficulty:	Merciless
Prev. Stage:	Prisoner's Progress (Deadly)
Next Stage:	N/A

Battleground

• 1 Daboo of the Dead spawns as the boss after 16.67 seconds^500f.
• 1 Metal One Horn spawns after 0 seconds^0f.
• 1 Metal One Horn spawns after 6.67 seconds^200f.
• 1 Metal One Horn spawns after 10 seconds^300f.
• 1 Super Metal Hippoe spawns after 100 seconds^3,000f.
• 1 Super Metal Hippoe spawns after 103.33 seconds^3,100f.
• 1 Sir Metal Seal spawns after 183.33 seconds^5,500f.
• 5 Metal Doges spawn after 30 seconds^900f, delay 5~10 seconds^150f~300f.
• 5 Metal Doges spawn after 80 seconds^2,400f, delay 10~20 seconds^300f~600f.
• Infinite Metal Doges spawn after 180 seconds^5,400f, delay 30~60 seconds^900f~1,800f.

Strategy

The key to success here is killing the Metal Seal; do that while your base isn't about to be destroyed and you basically win. As for Daboo, dealing damage to him can wait, so any damage dealt before only serves to knock him back. High level Noodle Cat and Modern Cat are great meatshields, while two Soba Cats can take away most of Sir Metal Seal's hp.

Sniper, Rich Cat and an accounting combo are recommended, as well as the Holy Blast.

Recommended Ubers

• Paladin Cat: Low cost, short recharge and high critical hit chance make Paladin an extremely effective anti-metal Cat. This makes it ideal to bring along to improve your chances of winning. If you boost him enough he can even kill the Super Metal Hippoes in 1 hit, making the stage far easier.
• Hayabusa: Despite not being as consistent as Paladin, Hayabusa's higher damage can greatly help against the stage's metal enemies, especially Super Metal Hippoe and Sir Metal Seal, eating up huge chunks of their HP.
• Tesalan Pasalan: Very high risk, high reward Cat Unit. Low-ish critical chance, long attack animation, poor survivability and extremely long cooldown make it impractical if you have any of the other Ubers, but a single crit from it will one-shot even Sir Metal Seal.
• Greater Balrog Cat: High DPS melee unit; he can prove to be very useful at chipping Daboo's health down in between Metal enemy waves. Just take care he doesn't waste his attacks on Metal Doges or other metal enemies in general.
• Hades: Great wall that can be very useful at stopping Daboo from advancing; his massive health allows to stall Daboo for a very long time. If you have him in True Form, Super Metal Hippoe's knockback doesn't even work on him, though take care, as Metal Doge, Metal One Horn and Metal Seal can chip him down very fast if he has to directly tank all of their hits.

Strategy 1

Lineup: Doctor Cat (30), Manic Island (40), Island Cat (20+40), Miss Moneko (30), Corrupted Moneko (30), Metal Macho (20), Catasaurus (40, max crit talent), Mochi Cat (30), Waitress Cat (30+), critical-hitting Uber (Paladin is recommended; Cameraman with Talents may be an acceptable replacement)

Doctor Cat, Manic Island, Fish Cat, Moneko and Crazed Moneko are mainly present for their combos, Moby Dick and Miracle Performance.

Cat Cannon: Breakerblast or Normal

Items: Worker Cat Max, Sniper the Cat (both mandatory)

1. Spawn Catasaurus along with Metal Macho and Corrupted Moneko to kill the 3 Metal One Horns.
2. Summon few units sparingly to kill the Metal Doges.
3. Continuously spawn Metal Machos to stall Daboo at bay. If you are clearing Metal Doges with ease, then consider spawning a couple Islands to do minor damage to Daboo.
4. Very soon 2 Super Metal Hippoes will advance towards you; spam all of your anti-metal cats with the exception of Waitress and your Uber. The Hippoes will inevitably push towards your base and hopefully you kill one before Daboo gets close enough to strike your base. Time Waitress or your Uber to kill the other while there is an opening.
5. If you kill the Hippoes quick enough, spam Metal Macho, Manic Island and critters to damage Daboo and clear the peons. You should have pushed Daboo back to 1/2 - 1/3 of the way to enemy base with damage from cats and sniper the cat by this point.
6. Buffed Metal Seal will spawn. Spam everything except Waitress and your Uber. Let them land some critical hits and if you feel like Daboo is getting too close, spawn your Uber and pray it crits on its first hit. You may also spawn waitress just in case. If you are lucky, they will kill Sir Metal Seal.
7. Once Metal Seal is dead you need to send out Metal Macho + Manic Island + Island to take down Daboo while paying attention to your timing and adding the needed critters when Metal Doges get in the way.
8. Eventually, Daboo will die and you will win.

Reference

• https://battlecats-db.com/stage/s01205-02.html