Advance Wars Dual Strike Campaign Guide
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Advance Wars Dual Strike Campaign Guide
Dwlr Tue Jun 24, 2014 7:24 am
I'm not going to concern myself normal too much so I'll just give a quick run through of recommended COs and general strategies if needed. I'm also not going to give you a day by day for the hard campaign, but I will explain major strategies, it's a guide not a walkthrough and the AI has some degree of randomization in it's actions, so you can't follow a day by day perfectly anyway.
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CO: Jake
Easy win.
Mission 2
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CO: Jake
Another tutorial mission, move the artillery that can't attack anything over to the right once to be able to attack on turn 2.
Mission 3
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CO: Max
Move the two copters closest to the black bomb as far as they can towards it and move everything else towards your other units, the black bomb should detonate on just the two copters. To preserve your tech score combined damaged the copters damaged from the bomb so nothing gets destroyed.
Mission 4
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CO: Rachel
Easy win.
*At this point you start to be able to pick your CO and skills (barring special circumstances) if you have COs above Rank 0, I'm going to assume you started with fresh characters and make my recommendations based on that. You'll want to start leveling the COs better suited for campaign mode in preparation for the hard campaign, since normal mode is that difficult you can easily get the 'good' COs decently leveled in normal even if a CO isn't necessarily optimal.*
Mission 5
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Recommended CO: Max (for exp) or Rachel (optimal)
Max isn't ideal for this mission, but he'll still work fine. Make sure you can line up an artillery unit on the bridge the same turn you put a tank on your upper city to kill the Md Tank other than that it's easy.
Mission 6
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CO: Colin
Pretty easy just dive the sub before going after the battleship.
Mission 7
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CO: Sasha
Forest hop and you'll be fine.
Mission 8
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Recommended CO: Sasha
Because you don't have a partner you're going to want to use Sasha's normal CO power to keep them from using a tag power. Don't let them get any of the bases or the airport.
Mission 9
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Colin; 2nd CO - Max
Set AI to defense for the first turn then set to strike and don't send your air units up until turn two.
Mission 10
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Recommended COs: Max and Sasha
The research lab to unlock black boats is located in the neutral city closest to you, if you capture it you will go to an optional level and you should take it.
*At this point Max should be level 1 atleast so don't forget to equip skills I won't be listing notable skills until the hard campaign guide though.*
Mission 11 (assumes obtaining map from last level)
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Rachel and Jake (Jake is for extra luck); Blue Moon - Sasha and Max (for exp) or Sasha and Colin (for extra luck on Sasha)
Don't buy anything with Sasha and use her normal CO power to keep the AI from using their tag power if they use it on turn 2 or 3 you can be in for some problems. Advance North with your tank, APC, Infantry, Mech, and a Recon and go for the win by capture it's easier, but you can win by rout it just might cost you some score if you're not careful.
Mission 12
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Rachel (required); 2nd CO - Max
Rush Grim with an APC if you claim the center silos and use them on advancing infantry so they can't 2 capture the airport you can keep them from getting it and win the main front before the second front gets into too much trouble, you do need to send the AA gun up though or the copters will wipe out Max.
Mission 13
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Sensei (taking 1 CO doubles exp gained); Blue Moon - Sasha and Max
There is a research lab in the neutral city surround by mountains, have Sensei grab it before you win. You can easily win this by rushing the bottom, towers don't give funds so you actually have the advantage resource wise especially if you have Sensei capture their cities in the northwest. If you take the airport they're rendered helpless so that should be your first move forcing them to build AA to deal with your copters.
Mission 14 (assumes obtaining map from last level)
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Recommended COs: Sensei and Max
Sensei's extra transport movement allows an APC loaded with an infantry to start capturing the Comm Tower in turn two for a quick boost, it's pretty simple as long as you free the black bombs, do note that Max can't free the black bombs with the rockets and would have to use the copter so you might want to hold off on switching over to Max especially since Sensei's copters have a 150% modifier versus Max's 120%. Try to break the seams before finishing the level for extra exp.
Mission 15
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Rachel and Max; Blue Moon - Sasha and Colin
Sasha doesn't get much money in this, but any money plus her power is enough to keep a tag power from being used and that's worth far more than the extra range Jake can get on his ranged units through his power since Javier can all but nullify all damage when he uses his power. Make sure you make for the comm towers with Blue Moon both to reduce Javier's defense and increase your attack. Orange Star doesn't need to do anything, but sit something on bottom city to keep Green Earth from escaping, the extra repair from Rachel comes in handy for this role. Pretty easy mission, just make sure you don't take too long since Javier can cause you to miss the deadline if you're reckless. It's easier to just capture the headquarters with Blue Moon once all his units start to move north.
Mission 16
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Recommended COs: Jess and Max
The last research lab is in the neutral city in the south east next to the comm tower. Winning this level is really easy if you ignore the research lab, but if you want the map it's a tad more difficult. To get the map I recommend advancing your range units to the left and once you punch through the topmost pipe immediately move an infantry to capture their north city set a Md tank there backed up by two artillery to hold the line, the other Md tank should be used to break through the pipes on the right side and pressure the pipe runners away from a mech unit sent south to capture the city. If you want to switch out Max with Javier for the ranged defense you have a better shot of being able to rush the city and try for it that way if you play somewhat smart. Don't be tempted by the bases you don't need them and it'll most likely just destroy you tech score.
Mission 17 (assumes obtaining map from last level)
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Recommended COs: Jess and Max
Rushing the airport is the wisest strategy, produce battle copters and tanks as the necessary and just make sure to combine damaged units to avoid losing your tech score. Do note that if you draw out this level it becomes much harder to win.
Mission 18
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Javier; 2nd CO - Max
Take the comm towers while you wait for Max to mop up the top screen. Hold off on sending those fighters and like usual set AI to defensive for the first turn and then set to strike.
Mission 19
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess and Javier; Blue Moon - Sasha and Max
Advance slowly using the woods and keep them from using their tag power with Sasha.
Mission 20
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess (for exp) or Grimm (for optimal); Blue Moon - Hawke and Lash (required)
This mission gives loads of experience and Jess can all she can get before hard campaign and her movement from her CO power can help so take her solo on Orange Star. Don't attack unless you can kill an Oozium all the way. Hawke and Lash gets some exp and that's not a bad thing they're a team (albeit 1 star) and Hawke is a solid CO for a lot of occasions. *If you can destroy the cannon and the seams in a timely fashion to still get 300 base point you can gain 2 levels for Jess multiplying the score by 2.*
Mission 21
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess and Max; Blue Moon - Sasha and Hawke
Pretty easy mission if you rush the Crystals and only worry about the things that can really hurt you, you don't actually need to destroy that many enemy units to get 100 Power just keep your injured units away. The bases are useless you can use the missile silos though to soften up targets after they heal off a bit. Don't worry about the comm towers you can win by day 4 and don't need them.
Mission 22
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess and Jake; Blue Moon - Hawke and Max; Green Earth - Sasha and Colin
This level can actually be fairly difficult to get an S rank on normal for some people due to losing units, so be careful especially with Orange Star and Green Earth. Blue Moon shouldn't lose anything at all they're just support for capturing the 3 silos on their side and maybe launching Hawke's CO power and if the map gets drawn out they can provide ranged support over the pipe, but you don't want to draw it out so they'll really only have to deal with themselves. Orange Star will need to destroy the black obelisk using ranged units it should be easy since they're only vulnerable from one area and the enemy won't attack the pipe seam and neither should you, Jake makes this mission much easier if you save his CO power for the increased indirect range you can shoot over the pipe and hit the obelisk with an artillery unit and while that won't end the match 2 volleys from his normal CO power which is easier to manage if you restrain yourself from using his CO power before the obelisk is vulnerable, alternatively you could just buy a rocket unit. Green Earth has it the worst by far they need to push to get to their silos, but it's not too bad if you bait the copters with and unloaded APC even if you have to sacrifice one or two units you can get 100 tech score still. You can ignore the cannon unless you have some free funds after making the obelisk vulnerable with either Blue Moon or Green Earth using a battleship or artillery respectively. Make sure you get to the missiles first, that's where the true difficulty lies.
Mission 23
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Grit; Blue Moon - Eagle and Sami; Green Earth - Jess and Javier
Grit becomes instrumental in hard campaign so you want to build up his exp for the short time you have him in normal. Eagle is easily one of the best COs on land and in the air while Sami has uses on her own they work well together for using a super to instantly win, but that aside Sami has a 3 stars with Eagle making Eagle even stronger. Jess and Javier get a bonus together, but mainly you'll want Javier for a few select defensive missions in hard campaign. The match is pretty straight forward remember only fighters and other stealths can damage a cloaked stealth so take advantage of that just keep that APC close even with Eagle's reduced fuel consumption for air units you need to baby sit it in the snow. You can stop the snow by capturing the two enemy cities outside the their fortress, which is a good idea since if you started with normal campaign right away you won't be able to use skills to take advantage of the snow.
Mission 24
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Eagle and Hawke; Blue Moon - Sasha and Jess
This mission starts raining on Day 3 which turns it into a fog of war mission the largest threat is Drake's CO power considering how often he can get it so make sure you have APCs ready to refill your fuel on key units after he uses it. Use Sasha to keep down tag powers as much as possible and remember if either uses his normal CO power or Super CO power it's open season to bash whatever you want as Jugger nor Drake will receive and charge for their powers if either used their power. Play it like a normal fog of war mission keeping all this in mind. When using Hawke and Eagle together just know that their Tag Power will actually reduce each of their damage, so the idea is to use them as singular COs switching to Hawke when Eagle's firepower is reduced by his normal CO power.
Mission 25
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Grit; 2nd CO - Javier
Pretty straightforward, defend with Javier on top and attack with Grit bottom if you rush the airport on the bottom you can speed things up by using air units to mop up. This mission has the unique distinction of being easier on hard mode at least the bottom screen anyway.
Mission 26
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess and Jake; Blue Moon - Sasha and Eagle
You can make this mission so much easier if you have the Pathfinder and Prairie Dog skill available on a CO so you can move Orange Star's recon unit on the the north base. If not the map is still pretty easy, use Sasha to prevent tag powers and just make sure you take the bottom south and east before moving west, in the north you should just mech flood and combine units when needed to avoid low tech score.
Mission 27
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess and Javier; Blue Moon - Sasha and Grit; Green Earth - Eagle and Sami
This mission is really easy, bait their fighter with Eagle's fighter it's not that useful and then just dominate with a hidden stealth unit. Sasha helps delay Von Bolt's CO power a bit, but she won't be able to stop it completely due to the amount you have to fight to not get overran versus how little she actually fights. Orange Star can really advance pretty freely since Eagle and and Sasha both can kill the mini cannons easily. Don't forget to take the comm towers if nothing else to reduce his troops' power.
Mission 28
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Sensei; 2nd CO - Eagle
Sensei's strong battle copters and infantry make him ideal for making the bottom screen easy, but anybody can work. The final level in this edition of Advance Wars was woefully disappointing compared to the others.
Congrats you just beat normal campaign and gained some exp on key COs that can be used in hard campaign earlier since you get access to all your COs from the start in hard.
For hard campaign you're going to want to start utilizing the skills you gained from the normal campaign so I'll be listing skills and COs, skills trump COs in most cases since you should be able to find somebody close to the recommended CO for instance on a ground battle I might recommend Jess, but Max has the same damage for direct ground units if it's not ranged heavy they are practically interchangeable. Remember Conquerer, Gear Head, and Eagle Eye are available to even a level 1 character along with Mistwalker and Soul of Hachi when you complete the hard campaign. Skills listed as recommended refer to the primary army in multi-army maps and the bottom screen in DS battles, if there is a notable exception it'll be listed with the level strategies.
General tips
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It's usually a good idea to focus on a single CO meaning taking Synergy, Bodyguard, and Teamwork on your supporting CO and CO that has high affinity with your main CO. My recommendations will take into account affinity stars. The exception to the aforementioned guidelines are DS battles, it's a good idea to treat them as separate COs since skills tailored to their situation will make the second front go much more smoothly and you can usually use a tag power right after winning that second front.
If you're going for wallpapers pair the under leveled CO with a high level CO to minimize the penalty of losing good skills and just pass them around multiple higher level COs so they get much more use and level themselves, do note you don't need skills to win hard campaign it just makes life much easier.
Mission 1
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Recommended COs: Sami and Eagle
Recommended Skills: Gear Head, Slam Shield, Brawler, and Bruiser
The first level is pretty straight forward exercise in terrain tactics with Sami you can take the city in the north by the Md Tanks and the added firepower for the starting Mech units will give you an advantage from the start if you take the offensive right away. Remember combining doesn't hurt your tech score and that any excess is a full refund. (as a bonus you don't lose position on the map and the gas and ammo of both units combine, but cannot exceed maximum) There should be no problems here, it doesn't look it, but you have the advantage here. I'd recommend moving the mech unit on the far right onto the plain just to make sure the Recon Unit and the Md Tank combine don't kill the Mech unit on the city. Be sure to be wary of Rachel's Super CO power it could cost you some of your tech score, to guide the missiles away put high priority targets grouped together away from the fighting, her power can't kill anything so a few damage tanks clustered together will do the trick.
Mission 2
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Recommended COs: Grit and Max
Recommended Skills: Sniper, Star Power, Sharpshooter, Luck
This level is mind numbingly simple with Grit and with Max as support he has even more damage potential so you shouldn't lose this one just leave the tank on the city and shoot the largest threats in range of your artillery while advancing your Neotank towards your infantry.
Mission 3
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Recommended COs: Sensei and Sami
Recommended Skills: Brawler, Slam Shield, Bruiser, Slam Guard
With all those Battle Copters Sensei is the logical choice, he can go on the offensive and kill the Cannons in 3 attacks easily, a lot of COs can take 4. A secondary reason why Sensei is a good choice is that extra range for transports, you're going to want to sit back and wait for the enemy to attack get to the north and then sneak across the sea and capture their base, just remember to blow some stuff up for your power score.
Mission 4
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Recommended COs: Kanbei and Sonja
Recommended Skills: Brawler, Slam Shield, Bruiser, Slam Guard
Pretty straight forward, Kanbei has increased defense and attack making him one of the best choices to preserve your tech score and since it's predeployed he has no downside. Target the Bombers the best you can and you should be fine. For a little extra reassurance use your power for the added defense he's going to use his super.
Mission 5
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Recommended COs: Hawke and Andy
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Slam Shield, Slam Guard, Gold Rush
The ultimate healing duo a tag power with Hawke and Andy gets a fire power increase albeit a small one, but will heal your units 7 and hurt their units 2, this combination lets you be a little reckless which you'll definitely want the added speed. Secure the south before advancing north, you need to make sure you only fight a one front war and to do that you need to make sure Koal doesn't claim the lower base or airport, once you've done that you'll want to cut off their funding in the south east and claim the airport to deal with Neo Tanks. You might as well restart if you let them get the bottom base, mass producing Neo Tanks when they can attack two postions at a time or instantly kill you if you sit on the road spells game over for your Tech Score.
Mission 6
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Recommended COs: Eagle and Sami
Recommended Skills: Seamanship, Backstab, Brawler, Sniper
Eagle may seem like an odd choice for a naval battle, but his normal CO power makes it worth it and with Seamanship it makes him neutral on the ocean and extends to his copters when they're above the water. The mission is pretty simple with not a lot of real threats just scare those cruisers with your rocket launchers until you get rid of the sub and then just use your Battleship, Md Tank, and Copters to clear the island for a capture victory.
Mission 7
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Recommended COs: Sonja and Kanbei
Recommended Skills: Eagle Eye, Scout, Brawler, Slam Shield
Pretty simple fog of war mission, just don't take to long to claim the center and there won't be any real issues. They have stranded ships in some of the reefs don't forget to check there if you're going for a rout win.
Mission 8
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Recommended COs: Sasha and Eagle
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Gold Rush, Fire Sale, Gear Head
You should be able to garner enough funds to completely shut down the opposing tag power, this is pretty important since you're outgunned and the Piperunner forces your hand a bit. Leave your tank on the west and move your AA gun with your infantry you want to start building another AA gun for your western front as soon as you can for the Battle Copter that comes that way other than that you're going to want to build and APC and get to that airport as soon as possible once you have that the level gets pretty easy and you can switch over to Eagle and mop up. You may want to build Eagle with the direct suite of skills rather than the generic support set since midway through the map Sasha becomes fairly irrelevant and you'll be using Eagle as your lead so the extra damage helps deal with AA guns on bases.
Mission 9
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Eagle; 2nd CO - Kanbei
Recommended Skills: Sand Scorpion, Star Power, Brawler, Bruiser
For Kanbei take Cannon Guard and the direct suite minus Slam Guard and you'll be double teaming Koal in no time, remember to set Kanbei to defensive for the first turn so you get the first strike which is critical. On the bottom front save your plane units at the very earliest until they detonate their Black Bomb on the second front, but you may want to hold onto them for a little while longer after that and I'd keep atleast 1 Bomber to one shot the crystal when you get to it. The Sand Scorpion skill giving you a permanent 20% attack makes this level pretty easy, just charge forward avoiding the location that gets bombed. You might as well bait their Fighter with one of your Fighters you won't lose the unit and it gets it out of the way quickly without getting your Bombers hurt and you're going to want to hang onto both your Bombers.
Mission 10
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Recommended COs: Eagle and Sami
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Brawler, Bruiser, Seamanship
Looks tougher than it is you can straight charge the Battleships with a dived sub and be find, don't forget to pick up the research map.
You'll want to capture the HQ on this level not because it's hard to kill anything, but because it could hurt your tech score.
Mission 11 - lab
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Grit and Max; Blue Moon - Sasha and Colin
Recommended Skills: Eagle Eye, Sniper, Slam Shield, Sharpshooter
Sasha will want to take Star Power and Seamanship instead of Slam Shield and Sharpshooter. The goal is the same get to the lab and capture it, but you have to watch out for the units coming down from the top this time around so be sure to use the woods and lure a Copter into range of your Missile Launcher to get it out of the way before it costs you a a full unit. You don't need to build anything but you absolutely have to stop them from getting the base, you can't afford to be stalled with everything that is coming from the south. It's even more important this go around that you stop their Tag Power, you can luck out and have Jugger use his Normal CO Power on occasion, but don't count on it.
Mission 12
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Colin; 2nd CO - Kanbei
Recommended Skills: Gold Rush, Slam Shield, Brawler, Star Power
You can rush Grimm and forsake Kanbei by just putting up a token defense on the second front or you can win the second front and then attack Grimm either way you choose you're going to want to load Kanbei out with the direct suite of skills minus Bruiser and add in Gear Head. Colin makes winning the second front much easier and also gives you the ability to rush Grimm if you so choose and you can think of Colin as a 110% offense against Grimm due to Grimm's lowered defense and the fact that the AI can't play Grimm to his fullest helps this mission that could be otherwise much more difficult. No matter the path you choose you want to send up one AA gun for the second front or you'll be easily wiped out by Sensei, the second AA gun can be saved until after you deal with Copter on the bottom front and then sent up. I think it's easier to focus just on the bottom field until you're firmly winning and then mopping up the top screen to get a Tag Power to mop up the bottom. When you take the island and if you can keep Grimm from getting the airport it's just a matter of time until you win, building Copters will start the AI making AA guns that can easily be dealt with by tanks giving you the firm advantage having much cheaper units.
Mission 13
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Recommeneded COs: Orange Star - Sami and Eagle; Blue Moon - Sasha and Colin
Recommended Skills: Conquerer, Invader, Icebreaker, Star Power
Both armies can take the same skills though you may find Sami doesn't need both capture skills so sub out for Pathfinder which will help you reach the lab. Play it much the same way as normal, rush the airport and start producing some Battle Copters to cheaply deal with their Md Tanks from the Blue Moon front, the Orange Star should be able to deal with the southern Md Tank.
Mission 14 - lab
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Recommended COs: Grit and Olaf
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Slam Shield, Slam Guard, Gear Head
Pretty straight forward Grit gives you a nice extra range for the initial assault and Olaf will give you some nice global damage with his super CO power. The Black Bombs on the west should be used right away, the Piperunner will otherwise destroy them which affects your Tech score whereas using does not.
Mission 15
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Sonja and Kanbei; Blue Moon - Grit and Jake
Recommended Skills: Eagle Eye, Sniper, Sharpshooter, Star Power
Sonja should use Eagle Eye, Scout, Slam Shield, and Gear Head as her skills since her main role is just to get something to the southern city, set it there, and hope it doesn't die. Kanbei has increased defense naturally so once you get to the city switch over to him. With Grit this level is pretty easy, Jake is along because it CO Power increases the range so it's the same as Grit's natural range which is nice when lining up shots, but Grimm for the power since Blue Moon won't get attacked much, and lastly you could go Max to improve Grit. Whatever you choose you want to have Blue Moon claim the Comm Towers that Javier has to reduce his defense. The computer will tend to combine units if you damage multiple of the same type of units, you can use this to your advantage and hold things from advancing and thus keep them in the range of your units in the back. Once enough things have moved north, just go over the mountains and capture their HQ.
Mission 16
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Recommended COs: Andy and Grit
Recommended Skills: Conquerer, Invader, Sniper Shield, Star Power
This level is so much easier if you ignore the lab, but I'm going to assume you want the lab and that's really what Grit is for. Push towards the Canons right away and make sure to destroy 2/3 and leave the third with low HP. At the start you can spare a Rocket Unit to break the seam farthest west which you can reach with Grit, that will keep the Piperunners from attacking your Infantry, but the Piperunners will run past it if you don't also use your Battleship. Grit should take Prairie Dog and Pathfinder to move the Rocket Unit freely which is fine since after you get rid of the seams you'll be using Andy. Andy is along to neutralize Hawke's CO power easily and to help ensure that you can 2 turn capture the lab and clear the level.
Mission 17 - lab
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Recommended COs: Jess and Jake
Recommended Skills : Conquerer, Slam Shield, Gear Head, Brawler
This level is considered one of the harder levels to get a good score on, but it's actually pretty easy if you know how to do it. Immediately drop everything and head for the airport using your Recon Units and the AA Gun to keep the Piperunners at bay while using the Tank and a few Artillery to deal with the Md Tank once you punch through. You have a decent while so you don't have to rush too much, but the more you dawdle the harder the level is and then you risk losing Speed and Tech points so keep a good pace Jake and Jess should both help you with their movement increase.
Mission 18
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Eagle; 2nd CO - Kanbei
Recommended Skills: Seamanship, Tower Power, Slam Shield, Star Power
Eagle's Lightning Drive is invaluable against the AI so you want to control him and Kanbei is pretty much the strongest around for aerial DS battles thanks to his 20% extra defense. Set Kanbei to defensive for the first turn and save 2 fighter on the bottom screen until you deal with their air units then send up a Bomber or whatever Stealths the top needs to speed things up, the bottom screen is pretty simple and you definitely don't need all the Stealths they give you down there.\
Mission 19
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Sonja and Kanbei; Blue Moon - Sasha and Grit
Recommended Skills: Eagle Eye, Scout, Prairie Dog, Pathfinder
Blue Moon can substitute Pathfinder out for Gold Rush if you want, but it doesn't make much of a difference really. Play it like the normal version just be extra cautious they have some Copters that will swarm Blue Moon early on and they have more Oozium that Orange Star has to deal with. Remember Sonja's Super CO Power gives you the first attack during counter-attacks so towards then end you can be reckless with minor damage on strong units like your Neo Tank or Mega Tank as long as the latter has ammo.
Mission 20
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Eagle; Blue Moon - Grit
Recommended Skills: Prairie Dog, Sand Scorpion, Brawler, Tower Power
Incredibly simple level, just more time consuming than the normal version if you go solo you should pull down 4800 exp (2x for hard and 2x for solo), that said you might want to take a unit with Prairie Dog at the very least or you'll cause undue effort to win. The recommended COs are just who I find optimal, but take anybody. Jess, Grit, Eagle, Hawke, Sami and Sasha are pretty universally good against the AI so if you plan on playing again and they're not high levels and are going for more varied wallpapers you might want to level the some of them that you still need.
Mission 21
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Kanbei and Sonja; Blue Moon - Eagle and Sami
Recommended Skills: Slam Shield, Sand Scorpion, Brawler, Slam Guard
Eagle will want Star Power over Slam Guard just to get that extra attacks in with his Lightning Drive. This level plays the same way as it does on normal, but you have to be more careful of not damaging extraneous enemies to not charge their power. Rush the Crystals that will heal their strong units first to cut off their healing and use Eagle's Lightning Drive to easily slip past the units preventing you from attacking the Crystals.
Mission 22
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Grit and Olaf; Blue Moon - Grimm and Sensei; Green Earth - Sasha and Colin
Recommended Skills: Slam Shield, Path Finder, Prairie Dog, Gold Rush
Sasha will want the Star Power Skill instead of Path Finder. The hardest part of this level is not letting them claim the Missile Silos without that it'd be a cakewalk. Grit ensures that you can always strike the Black Obelisk after the satellite is down with an Artillery from across the pipe and gives you extra leeway with damaging units in the choke point. You can use the eastern artillery to bombard the base in the south east with Grit too. Blue Moon is pretty pointless, but having Sensei over there will contribute to your produced units with his CO power letting you lose more units if need be and towards the end Grimm's firepower shooting indirect-fire over the pipe is the highest in the game so that's a nice bonus. Green Earth has it the worst with the Stealth Unit, the Bomber, and the threat of the Neo Tank looming in the north if Koal decides to use his CO Power without waiting for Kindle you can really get out of whack in your spacing. It's very important that you only move your AA Guns far enough that their range just reaches the first Missile Silo, if you don't you run the risk of the Stealth Unit hiding and then you're really in for some problems on the Green Earth front. After the initial onslaught the level becomes pretty repetitive, just make sure when the satellite is charging you hit it with a missile right away to stop it from charging and until you're comfortably positioned, be frugal with Green Earth so Sasha's power lowers more of their CO Power, them getting a Tag Power before you're ready will make you lose the map most of the time through them claiming a Missile Silo.
Mission 23
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Sensei and Grimm; Blue Moon - Eagle and Sami; Green Earth - Kanbei and Sonja
Recommended Skills: Slam Shield, Icebreaker, Brawler, Slam Guard
Pretty straight forward like the Normal version just a little tougher, but you have a better CO for Green Earth. Just don't be reckless and you should have high enough COs to use the snow to your advantage with Icebreaker so don't worry about capturing the bases and just use your APCs when needed it's not that big of a level and remember a Stealth Unit that is hidden can only be targeted by Fighters or other Stealth Units so you can use it to block a pipe just like in Normal.
Mission 24
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Eagle and Andy; Blue Moon - Sasha and Hawke
Recommended Skills: High and Dry, Eagle Eye, Pathfinder, Star Power
Pretty much the same as Normal, but you have Eagle Eye from beating Normal. Use High and Dry to gain a constant 20% offense bonus when it starts raining. Andy and Eagle unlike Hawke and Eagle get a bonus together and frees up Hawke to use with Sasha for some healing in both armies which can save some Tech Score when you get to their base. Remember a Mega Tank can destroy most things in one shot when it has high HP don't let it suck away your Tech Score.
Mission 25
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Grit; 2nd CO - Javier
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Sharpshooter, Sniper, Tower Power
Easier than normal mode if you use Grit thanks to the extra indirect units, take out their infantry to cut off their spawning ability and follow the same method as Normal. Take the airport to help with the mop up. It is possible to win the top screen with just the units intended for it i.e. the units that start on Grit's base, but you should have the main front pretty well handled so just worry about staying alive on the top front.
Mission 26
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess and Jake; Blue Moon - Sasha and Eagle
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Prairie Dog, Pathfinder, Slam Shield
Same method as Normal, but this time there should be no reason you can't cover the northern base with Orange Star's Recon Unit with Jess or one of the myriad of substitutes for her.
Mission 27
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Kanbei and Javier; Blue Moon - Sasha and Grit; Green Earth - Eagle and Sami
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Brawler, Slam Shield, Backstab
Orange Star will want Tower Power instead of Back Stab and possibly another defensive skill instead of Star Power and Blue Moon is just for delaying Von Bolt's power as long as possible once again. Aside from the Mega Tank at the end blocking direct-attacks on the Black Obelisk you can consider it pretty much analogous in difficulty as Normal IMO. Remember Kanbei will have weaker defenses than Javier, but will have more offense like Jess, since Orange Star doesn't need to build a lot of units to be successful here you can think of him as a straight improvement on Jess' role.
Mission 28
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Sensei; 2nd CO - Andy
Recommended Skills: Gold Rush, Fire Sale, Tower Power, Brawler
Andy keeps the AI units healthier than any other CO actually serving to speed up the top screen quite a bit. Set the AI to defensive for the first turn and then Assault for each subsequent turn to speed things up as much as possible. The initial onslaught of Infantry Units from Von Bolt is more of an annoyance than difficult, but make sure you are building the sturdier Mech Units to keep your Tech Score untouched and send a Battle Copter down south as fast as possible just like on Normal
Congrats you just beat hard mode and 2 quite frankly mediocre skills and a few things in the shop. Mistwalker gives your units first strike abilities during your Super CO Power mimicking Sonja's effect and Soul of Hachi lets you deploy units on allied cities during your Super CO Power, but doesn't give the cost reduction that Hachi's Power gives. The AI is smart enough to recognize Mistwalker and won't usually attack you, giving you the initiative on your next turn, but you're better off using a skill that's always active, it has uses against opposing players forcing their hand for that crucial turn and if they don't realize you have it on somebody like Kanbei it's downright lethal, it also can be good on the likes of Grimm who's decreased defense is a bigger flaw than some might realize. Soul of Hachi is really only useful on Pre-Deploy maps to let you be able to deploy units when you normally wouldn't be able to.
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Normal campaign
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Mission 1Normal campaign
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CO: Jake
Easy win.
Mission 2
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CO: Jake
Another tutorial mission, move the artillery that can't attack anything over to the right once to be able to attack on turn 2.
Mission 3
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CO: Max
Move the two copters closest to the black bomb as far as they can towards it and move everything else towards your other units, the black bomb should detonate on just the two copters. To preserve your tech score combined damaged the copters damaged from the bomb so nothing gets destroyed.
Mission 4
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CO: Rachel
Easy win.
*At this point you start to be able to pick your CO and skills (barring special circumstances) if you have COs above Rank 0, I'm going to assume you started with fresh characters and make my recommendations based on that. You'll want to start leveling the COs better suited for campaign mode in preparation for the hard campaign, since normal mode is that difficult you can easily get the 'good' COs decently leveled in normal even if a CO isn't necessarily optimal.*
Mission 5
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Recommended CO: Max (for exp) or Rachel (optimal)
Max isn't ideal for this mission, but he'll still work fine. Make sure you can line up an artillery unit on the bridge the same turn you put a tank on your upper city to kill the Md Tank other than that it's easy.
Mission 6
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CO: Colin
Pretty easy just dive the sub before going after the battleship.
Mission 7
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CO: Sasha
Forest hop and you'll be fine.
Mission 8
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Recommended CO: Sasha
Because you don't have a partner you're going to want to use Sasha's normal CO power to keep them from using a tag power. Don't let them get any of the bases or the airport.
Mission 9
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Colin; 2nd CO - Max
Set AI to defense for the first turn then set to strike and don't send your air units up until turn two.
Mission 10
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Recommended COs: Max and Sasha
The research lab to unlock black boats is located in the neutral city closest to you, if you capture it you will go to an optional level and you should take it.
*At this point Max should be level 1 atleast so don't forget to equip skills I won't be listing notable skills until the hard campaign guide though.*
Mission 11 (assumes obtaining map from last level)
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Rachel and Jake (Jake is for extra luck); Blue Moon - Sasha and Max (for exp) or Sasha and Colin (for extra luck on Sasha)
Don't buy anything with Sasha and use her normal CO power to keep the AI from using their tag power if they use it on turn 2 or 3 you can be in for some problems. Advance North with your tank, APC, Infantry, Mech, and a Recon and go for the win by capture it's easier, but you can win by rout it just might cost you some score if you're not careful.
Mission 12
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Rachel (required); 2nd CO - Max
Rush Grim with an APC if you claim the center silos and use them on advancing infantry so they can't 2 capture the airport you can keep them from getting it and win the main front before the second front gets into too much trouble, you do need to send the AA gun up though or the copters will wipe out Max.
Mission 13
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Sensei (taking 1 CO doubles exp gained); Blue Moon - Sasha and Max
There is a research lab in the neutral city surround by mountains, have Sensei grab it before you win. You can easily win this by rushing the bottom, towers don't give funds so you actually have the advantage resource wise especially if you have Sensei capture their cities in the northwest. If you take the airport they're rendered helpless so that should be your first move forcing them to build AA to deal with your copters.
Mission 14 (assumes obtaining map from last level)
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Recommended COs: Sensei and Max
Sensei's extra transport movement allows an APC loaded with an infantry to start capturing the Comm Tower in turn two for a quick boost, it's pretty simple as long as you free the black bombs, do note that Max can't free the black bombs with the rockets and would have to use the copter so you might want to hold off on switching over to Max especially since Sensei's copters have a 150% modifier versus Max's 120%. Try to break the seams before finishing the level for extra exp.
Mission 15
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Rachel and Max; Blue Moon - Sasha and Colin
Sasha doesn't get much money in this, but any money plus her power is enough to keep a tag power from being used and that's worth far more than the extra range Jake can get on his ranged units through his power since Javier can all but nullify all damage when he uses his power. Make sure you make for the comm towers with Blue Moon both to reduce Javier's defense and increase your attack. Orange Star doesn't need to do anything, but sit something on bottom city to keep Green Earth from escaping, the extra repair from Rachel comes in handy for this role. Pretty easy mission, just make sure you don't take too long since Javier can cause you to miss the deadline if you're reckless. It's easier to just capture the headquarters with Blue Moon once all his units start to move north.
Mission 16
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Recommended COs: Jess and Max
The last research lab is in the neutral city in the south east next to the comm tower. Winning this level is really easy if you ignore the research lab, but if you want the map it's a tad more difficult. To get the map I recommend advancing your range units to the left and once you punch through the topmost pipe immediately move an infantry to capture their north city set a Md tank there backed up by two artillery to hold the line, the other Md tank should be used to break through the pipes on the right side and pressure the pipe runners away from a mech unit sent south to capture the city. If you want to switch out Max with Javier for the ranged defense you have a better shot of being able to rush the city and try for it that way if you play somewhat smart. Don't be tempted by the bases you don't need them and it'll most likely just destroy you tech score.
Mission 17 (assumes obtaining map from last level)
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Recommended COs: Jess and Max
Rushing the airport is the wisest strategy, produce battle copters and tanks as the necessary and just make sure to combine damaged units to avoid losing your tech score. Do note that if you draw out this level it becomes much harder to win.
Mission 18
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Javier; 2nd CO - Max
Take the comm towers while you wait for Max to mop up the top screen. Hold off on sending those fighters and like usual set AI to defensive for the first turn and then set to strike.
Mission 19
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess and Javier; Blue Moon - Sasha and Max
Advance slowly using the woods and keep them from using their tag power with Sasha.
Mission 20
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess (for exp) or Grimm (for optimal); Blue Moon - Hawke and Lash (required)
This mission gives loads of experience and Jess can all she can get before hard campaign and her movement from her CO power can help so take her solo on Orange Star. Don't attack unless you can kill an Oozium all the way. Hawke and Lash gets some exp and that's not a bad thing they're a team (albeit 1 star) and Hawke is a solid CO for a lot of occasions. *If you can destroy the cannon and the seams in a timely fashion to still get 300 base point you can gain 2 levels for Jess multiplying the score by 2.*
Mission 21
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess and Max; Blue Moon - Sasha and Hawke
Pretty easy mission if you rush the Crystals and only worry about the things that can really hurt you, you don't actually need to destroy that many enemy units to get 100 Power just keep your injured units away. The bases are useless you can use the missile silos though to soften up targets after they heal off a bit. Don't worry about the comm towers you can win by day 4 and don't need them.
Mission 22
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess and Jake; Blue Moon - Hawke and Max; Green Earth - Sasha and Colin
This level can actually be fairly difficult to get an S rank on normal for some people due to losing units, so be careful especially with Orange Star and Green Earth. Blue Moon shouldn't lose anything at all they're just support for capturing the 3 silos on their side and maybe launching Hawke's CO power and if the map gets drawn out they can provide ranged support over the pipe, but you don't want to draw it out so they'll really only have to deal with themselves. Orange Star will need to destroy the black obelisk using ranged units it should be easy since they're only vulnerable from one area and the enemy won't attack the pipe seam and neither should you, Jake makes this mission much easier if you save his CO power for the increased indirect range you can shoot over the pipe and hit the obelisk with an artillery unit and while that won't end the match 2 volleys from his normal CO power which is easier to manage if you restrain yourself from using his CO power before the obelisk is vulnerable, alternatively you could just buy a rocket unit. Green Earth has it the worst by far they need to push to get to their silos, but it's not too bad if you bait the copters with and unloaded APC even if you have to sacrifice one or two units you can get 100 tech score still. You can ignore the cannon unless you have some free funds after making the obelisk vulnerable with either Blue Moon or Green Earth using a battleship or artillery respectively. Make sure you get to the missiles first, that's where the true difficulty lies.
Mission 23
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Grit; Blue Moon - Eagle and Sami; Green Earth - Jess and Javier
Grit becomes instrumental in hard campaign so you want to build up his exp for the short time you have him in normal. Eagle is easily one of the best COs on land and in the air while Sami has uses on her own they work well together for using a super to instantly win, but that aside Sami has a 3 stars with Eagle making Eagle even stronger. Jess and Javier get a bonus together, but mainly you'll want Javier for a few select defensive missions in hard campaign. The match is pretty straight forward remember only fighters and other stealths can damage a cloaked stealth so take advantage of that just keep that APC close even with Eagle's reduced fuel consumption for air units you need to baby sit it in the snow. You can stop the snow by capturing the two enemy cities outside the their fortress, which is a good idea since if you started with normal campaign right away you won't be able to use skills to take advantage of the snow.
Mission 24
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Eagle and Hawke; Blue Moon - Sasha and Jess
This mission starts raining on Day 3 which turns it into a fog of war mission the largest threat is Drake's CO power considering how often he can get it so make sure you have APCs ready to refill your fuel on key units after he uses it. Use Sasha to keep down tag powers as much as possible and remember if either uses his normal CO power or Super CO power it's open season to bash whatever you want as Jugger nor Drake will receive and charge for their powers if either used their power. Play it like a normal fog of war mission keeping all this in mind. When using Hawke and Eagle together just know that their Tag Power will actually reduce each of their damage, so the idea is to use them as singular COs switching to Hawke when Eagle's firepower is reduced by his normal CO power.
Mission 25
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Grit; 2nd CO - Javier
Pretty straightforward, defend with Javier on top and attack with Grit bottom if you rush the airport on the bottom you can speed things up by using air units to mop up. This mission has the unique distinction of being easier on hard mode at least the bottom screen anyway.
Mission 26
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess and Jake; Blue Moon - Sasha and Eagle
You can make this mission so much easier if you have the Pathfinder and Prairie Dog skill available on a CO so you can move Orange Star's recon unit on the the north base. If not the map is still pretty easy, use Sasha to prevent tag powers and just make sure you take the bottom south and east before moving west, in the north you should just mech flood and combine units when needed to avoid low tech score.
Mission 27
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess and Javier; Blue Moon - Sasha and Grit; Green Earth - Eagle and Sami
This mission is really easy, bait their fighter with Eagle's fighter it's not that useful and then just dominate with a hidden stealth unit. Sasha helps delay Von Bolt's CO power a bit, but she won't be able to stop it completely due to the amount you have to fight to not get overran versus how little she actually fights. Orange Star can really advance pretty freely since Eagle and and Sasha both can kill the mini cannons easily. Don't forget to take the comm towers if nothing else to reduce his troops' power.
Mission 28
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Sensei; 2nd CO - Eagle
Sensei's strong battle copters and infantry make him ideal for making the bottom screen easy, but anybody can work. The final level in this edition of Advance Wars was woefully disappointing compared to the others.
Congrats you just beat normal campaign and gained some exp on key COs that can be used in hard campaign earlier since you get access to all your COs from the start in hard.
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Hard Campaign
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Hard Campaign
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For hard campaign you're going to want to start utilizing the skills you gained from the normal campaign so I'll be listing skills and COs, skills trump COs in most cases since you should be able to find somebody close to the recommended CO for instance on a ground battle I might recommend Jess, but Max has the same damage for direct ground units if it's not ranged heavy they are practically interchangeable. Remember Conquerer, Gear Head, and Eagle Eye are available to even a level 1 character along with Mistwalker and Soul of Hachi when you complete the hard campaign. Skills listed as recommended refer to the primary army in multi-army maps and the bottom screen in DS battles, if there is a notable exception it'll be listed with the level strategies.
General tips
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It's usually a good idea to focus on a single CO meaning taking Synergy, Bodyguard, and Teamwork on your supporting CO and CO that has high affinity with your main CO. My recommendations will take into account affinity stars. The exception to the aforementioned guidelines are DS battles, it's a good idea to treat them as separate COs since skills tailored to their situation will make the second front go much more smoothly and you can usually use a tag power right after winning that second front.
If you're going for wallpapers pair the under leveled CO with a high level CO to minimize the penalty of losing good skills and just pass them around multiple higher level COs so they get much more use and level themselves, do note you don't need skills to win hard campaign it just makes life much easier.
Mission 1
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Recommended COs: Sami and Eagle
Recommended Skills: Gear Head, Slam Shield, Brawler, and Bruiser
The first level is pretty straight forward exercise in terrain tactics with Sami you can take the city in the north by the Md Tanks and the added firepower for the starting Mech units will give you an advantage from the start if you take the offensive right away. Remember combining doesn't hurt your tech score and that any excess is a full refund. (as a bonus you don't lose position on the map and the gas and ammo of both units combine, but cannot exceed maximum) There should be no problems here, it doesn't look it, but you have the advantage here. I'd recommend moving the mech unit on the far right onto the plain just to make sure the Recon Unit and the Md Tank combine don't kill the Mech unit on the city. Be sure to be wary of Rachel's Super CO power it could cost you some of your tech score, to guide the missiles away put high priority targets grouped together away from the fighting, her power can't kill anything so a few damage tanks clustered together will do the trick.
Mission 2
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Recommended COs: Grit and Max
Recommended Skills: Sniper, Star Power, Sharpshooter, Luck
This level is mind numbingly simple with Grit and with Max as support he has even more damage potential so you shouldn't lose this one just leave the tank on the city and shoot the largest threats in range of your artillery while advancing your Neotank towards your infantry.
Mission 3
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Recommended COs: Sensei and Sami
Recommended Skills: Brawler, Slam Shield, Bruiser, Slam Guard
With all those Battle Copters Sensei is the logical choice, he can go on the offensive and kill the Cannons in 3 attacks easily, a lot of COs can take 4. A secondary reason why Sensei is a good choice is that extra range for transports, you're going to want to sit back and wait for the enemy to attack get to the north and then sneak across the sea and capture their base, just remember to blow some stuff up for your power score.
Mission 4
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Recommended COs: Kanbei and Sonja
Recommended Skills: Brawler, Slam Shield, Bruiser, Slam Guard
Pretty straight forward, Kanbei has increased defense and attack making him one of the best choices to preserve your tech score and since it's predeployed he has no downside. Target the Bombers the best you can and you should be fine. For a little extra reassurance use your power for the added defense he's going to use his super.
Mission 5
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Recommended COs: Hawke and Andy
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Slam Shield, Slam Guard, Gold Rush
The ultimate healing duo a tag power with Hawke and Andy gets a fire power increase albeit a small one, but will heal your units 7 and hurt their units 2, this combination lets you be a little reckless which you'll definitely want the added speed. Secure the south before advancing north, you need to make sure you only fight a one front war and to do that you need to make sure Koal doesn't claim the lower base or airport, once you've done that you'll want to cut off their funding in the south east and claim the airport to deal with Neo Tanks. You might as well restart if you let them get the bottom base, mass producing Neo Tanks when they can attack two postions at a time or instantly kill you if you sit on the road spells game over for your Tech Score.
Mission 6
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Recommended COs: Eagle and Sami
Recommended Skills: Seamanship, Backstab, Brawler, Sniper
Eagle may seem like an odd choice for a naval battle, but his normal CO power makes it worth it and with Seamanship it makes him neutral on the ocean and extends to his copters when they're above the water. The mission is pretty simple with not a lot of real threats just scare those cruisers with your rocket launchers until you get rid of the sub and then just use your Battleship, Md Tank, and Copters to clear the island for a capture victory.
Mission 7
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Recommended COs: Sonja and Kanbei
Recommended Skills: Eagle Eye, Scout, Brawler, Slam Shield
Pretty simple fog of war mission, just don't take to long to claim the center and there won't be any real issues. They have stranded ships in some of the reefs don't forget to check there if you're going for a rout win.
Mission 8
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Recommended COs: Sasha and Eagle
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Gold Rush, Fire Sale, Gear Head
You should be able to garner enough funds to completely shut down the opposing tag power, this is pretty important since you're outgunned and the Piperunner forces your hand a bit. Leave your tank on the west and move your AA gun with your infantry you want to start building another AA gun for your western front as soon as you can for the Battle Copter that comes that way other than that you're going to want to build and APC and get to that airport as soon as possible once you have that the level gets pretty easy and you can switch over to Eagle and mop up. You may want to build Eagle with the direct suite of skills rather than the generic support set since midway through the map Sasha becomes fairly irrelevant and you'll be using Eagle as your lead so the extra damage helps deal with AA guns on bases.
Mission 9
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Eagle; 2nd CO - Kanbei
Recommended Skills: Sand Scorpion, Star Power, Brawler, Bruiser
For Kanbei take Cannon Guard and the direct suite minus Slam Guard and you'll be double teaming Koal in no time, remember to set Kanbei to defensive for the first turn so you get the first strike which is critical. On the bottom front save your plane units at the very earliest until they detonate their Black Bomb on the second front, but you may want to hold onto them for a little while longer after that and I'd keep atleast 1 Bomber to one shot the crystal when you get to it. The Sand Scorpion skill giving you a permanent 20% attack makes this level pretty easy, just charge forward avoiding the location that gets bombed. You might as well bait their Fighter with one of your Fighters you won't lose the unit and it gets it out of the way quickly without getting your Bombers hurt and you're going to want to hang onto both your Bombers.
Mission 10
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Recommended COs: Eagle and Sami
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Brawler, Bruiser, Seamanship
Looks tougher than it is you can straight charge the Battleships with a dived sub and be find, don't forget to pick up the research map.
You'll want to capture the HQ on this level not because it's hard to kill anything, but because it could hurt your tech score.
Mission 11 - lab
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Grit and Max; Blue Moon - Sasha and Colin
Recommended Skills: Eagle Eye, Sniper, Slam Shield, Sharpshooter
Sasha will want to take Star Power and Seamanship instead of Slam Shield and Sharpshooter. The goal is the same get to the lab and capture it, but you have to watch out for the units coming down from the top this time around so be sure to use the woods and lure a Copter into range of your Missile Launcher to get it out of the way before it costs you a a full unit. You don't need to build anything but you absolutely have to stop them from getting the base, you can't afford to be stalled with everything that is coming from the south. It's even more important this go around that you stop their Tag Power, you can luck out and have Jugger use his Normal CO Power on occasion, but don't count on it.
Mission 12
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Colin; 2nd CO - Kanbei
Recommended Skills: Gold Rush, Slam Shield, Brawler, Star Power
You can rush Grimm and forsake Kanbei by just putting up a token defense on the second front or you can win the second front and then attack Grimm either way you choose you're going to want to load Kanbei out with the direct suite of skills minus Bruiser and add in Gear Head. Colin makes winning the second front much easier and also gives you the ability to rush Grimm if you so choose and you can think of Colin as a 110% offense against Grimm due to Grimm's lowered defense and the fact that the AI can't play Grimm to his fullest helps this mission that could be otherwise much more difficult. No matter the path you choose you want to send up one AA gun for the second front or you'll be easily wiped out by Sensei, the second AA gun can be saved until after you deal with Copter on the bottom front and then sent up. I think it's easier to focus just on the bottom field until you're firmly winning and then mopping up the top screen to get a Tag Power to mop up the bottom. When you take the island and if you can keep Grimm from getting the airport it's just a matter of time until you win, building Copters will start the AI making AA guns that can easily be dealt with by tanks giving you the firm advantage having much cheaper units.
Mission 13
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Recommeneded COs: Orange Star - Sami and Eagle; Blue Moon - Sasha and Colin
Recommended Skills: Conquerer, Invader, Icebreaker, Star Power
Both armies can take the same skills though you may find Sami doesn't need both capture skills so sub out for Pathfinder which will help you reach the lab. Play it much the same way as normal, rush the airport and start producing some Battle Copters to cheaply deal with their Md Tanks from the Blue Moon front, the Orange Star should be able to deal with the southern Md Tank.
Mission 14 - lab
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Recommended COs: Grit and Olaf
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Slam Shield, Slam Guard, Gear Head
Pretty straight forward Grit gives you a nice extra range for the initial assault and Olaf will give you some nice global damage with his super CO power. The Black Bombs on the west should be used right away, the Piperunner will otherwise destroy them which affects your Tech score whereas using does not.
Mission 15
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Sonja and Kanbei; Blue Moon - Grit and Jake
Recommended Skills: Eagle Eye, Sniper, Sharpshooter, Star Power
Sonja should use Eagle Eye, Scout, Slam Shield, and Gear Head as her skills since her main role is just to get something to the southern city, set it there, and hope it doesn't die. Kanbei has increased defense naturally so once you get to the city switch over to him. With Grit this level is pretty easy, Jake is along because it CO Power increases the range so it's the same as Grit's natural range which is nice when lining up shots, but Grimm for the power since Blue Moon won't get attacked much, and lastly you could go Max to improve Grit. Whatever you choose you want to have Blue Moon claim the Comm Towers that Javier has to reduce his defense. The computer will tend to combine units if you damage multiple of the same type of units, you can use this to your advantage and hold things from advancing and thus keep them in the range of your units in the back. Once enough things have moved north, just go over the mountains and capture their HQ.
Mission 16
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Recommended COs: Andy and Grit
Recommended Skills: Conquerer, Invader, Sniper Shield, Star Power
This level is so much easier if you ignore the lab, but I'm going to assume you want the lab and that's really what Grit is for. Push towards the Canons right away and make sure to destroy 2/3 and leave the third with low HP. At the start you can spare a Rocket Unit to break the seam farthest west which you can reach with Grit, that will keep the Piperunners from attacking your Infantry, but the Piperunners will run past it if you don't also use your Battleship. Grit should take Prairie Dog and Pathfinder to move the Rocket Unit freely which is fine since after you get rid of the seams you'll be using Andy. Andy is along to neutralize Hawke's CO power easily and to help ensure that you can 2 turn capture the lab and clear the level.
Mission 17 - lab
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Recommended COs: Jess and Jake
Recommended Skills : Conquerer, Slam Shield, Gear Head, Brawler
This level is considered one of the harder levels to get a good score on, but it's actually pretty easy if you know how to do it. Immediately drop everything and head for the airport using your Recon Units and the AA Gun to keep the Piperunners at bay while using the Tank and a few Artillery to deal with the Md Tank once you punch through. You have a decent while so you don't have to rush too much, but the more you dawdle the harder the level is and then you risk losing Speed and Tech points so keep a good pace Jake and Jess should both help you with their movement increase.
Mission 18
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Eagle; 2nd CO - Kanbei
Recommended Skills: Seamanship, Tower Power, Slam Shield, Star Power
Eagle's Lightning Drive is invaluable against the AI so you want to control him and Kanbei is pretty much the strongest around for aerial DS battles thanks to his 20% extra defense. Set Kanbei to defensive for the first turn and save 2 fighter on the bottom screen until you deal with their air units then send up a Bomber or whatever Stealths the top needs to speed things up, the bottom screen is pretty simple and you definitely don't need all the Stealths they give you down there.\
Mission 19
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Sonja and Kanbei; Blue Moon - Sasha and Grit
Recommended Skills: Eagle Eye, Scout, Prairie Dog, Pathfinder
Blue Moon can substitute Pathfinder out for Gold Rush if you want, but it doesn't make much of a difference really. Play it like the normal version just be extra cautious they have some Copters that will swarm Blue Moon early on and they have more Oozium that Orange Star has to deal with. Remember Sonja's Super CO Power gives you the first attack during counter-attacks so towards then end you can be reckless with minor damage on strong units like your Neo Tank or Mega Tank as long as the latter has ammo.
Mission 20
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Eagle; Blue Moon - Grit
Recommended Skills: Prairie Dog, Sand Scorpion, Brawler, Tower Power
Incredibly simple level, just more time consuming than the normal version if you go solo you should pull down 4800 exp (2x for hard and 2x for solo), that said you might want to take a unit with Prairie Dog at the very least or you'll cause undue effort to win. The recommended COs are just who I find optimal, but take anybody. Jess, Grit, Eagle, Hawke, Sami and Sasha are pretty universally good against the AI so if you plan on playing again and they're not high levels and are going for more varied wallpapers you might want to level the some of them that you still need.
Mission 21
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Kanbei and Sonja; Blue Moon - Eagle and Sami
Recommended Skills: Slam Shield, Sand Scorpion, Brawler, Slam Guard
Eagle will want Star Power over Slam Guard just to get that extra attacks in with his Lightning Drive. This level plays the same way as it does on normal, but you have to be more careful of not damaging extraneous enemies to not charge their power. Rush the Crystals that will heal their strong units first to cut off their healing and use Eagle's Lightning Drive to easily slip past the units preventing you from attacking the Crystals.
Mission 22
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Grit and Olaf; Blue Moon - Grimm and Sensei; Green Earth - Sasha and Colin
Recommended Skills: Slam Shield, Path Finder, Prairie Dog, Gold Rush
Sasha will want the Star Power Skill instead of Path Finder. The hardest part of this level is not letting them claim the Missile Silos without that it'd be a cakewalk. Grit ensures that you can always strike the Black Obelisk after the satellite is down with an Artillery from across the pipe and gives you extra leeway with damaging units in the choke point. You can use the eastern artillery to bombard the base in the south east with Grit too. Blue Moon is pretty pointless, but having Sensei over there will contribute to your produced units with his CO power letting you lose more units if need be and towards the end Grimm's firepower shooting indirect-fire over the pipe is the highest in the game so that's a nice bonus. Green Earth has it the worst with the Stealth Unit, the Bomber, and the threat of the Neo Tank looming in the north if Koal decides to use his CO Power without waiting for Kindle you can really get out of whack in your spacing. It's very important that you only move your AA Guns far enough that their range just reaches the first Missile Silo, if you don't you run the risk of the Stealth Unit hiding and then you're really in for some problems on the Green Earth front. After the initial onslaught the level becomes pretty repetitive, just make sure when the satellite is charging you hit it with a missile right away to stop it from charging and until you're comfortably positioned, be frugal with Green Earth so Sasha's power lowers more of their CO Power, them getting a Tag Power before you're ready will make you lose the map most of the time through them claiming a Missile Silo.
Mission 23
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Sensei and Grimm; Blue Moon - Eagle and Sami; Green Earth - Kanbei and Sonja
Recommended Skills: Slam Shield, Icebreaker, Brawler, Slam Guard
Pretty straight forward like the Normal version just a little tougher, but you have a better CO for Green Earth. Just don't be reckless and you should have high enough COs to use the snow to your advantage with Icebreaker so don't worry about capturing the bases and just use your APCs when needed it's not that big of a level and remember a Stealth Unit that is hidden can only be targeted by Fighters or other Stealth Units so you can use it to block a pipe just like in Normal.
Mission 24
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Eagle and Andy; Blue Moon - Sasha and Hawke
Recommended Skills: High and Dry, Eagle Eye, Pathfinder, Star Power
Pretty much the same as Normal, but you have Eagle Eye from beating Normal. Use High and Dry to gain a constant 20% offense bonus when it starts raining. Andy and Eagle unlike Hawke and Eagle get a bonus together and frees up Hawke to use with Sasha for some healing in both armies which can save some Tech Score when you get to their base. Remember a Mega Tank can destroy most things in one shot when it has high HP don't let it suck away your Tech Score.
Mission 25
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Grit; 2nd CO - Javier
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Sharpshooter, Sniper, Tower Power
Easier than normal mode if you use Grit thanks to the extra indirect units, take out their infantry to cut off their spawning ability and follow the same method as Normal. Take the airport to help with the mop up. It is possible to win the top screen with just the units intended for it i.e. the units that start on Grit's base, but you should have the main front pretty well handled so just worry about staying alive on the top front.
Mission 26
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Jess and Jake; Blue Moon - Sasha and Eagle
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Prairie Dog, Pathfinder, Slam Shield
Same method as Normal, but this time there should be no reason you can't cover the northern base with Orange Star's Recon Unit with Jess or one of the myriad of substitutes for her.
Mission 27
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Recommended COs: Orange Star - Kanbei and Javier; Blue Moon - Sasha and Grit; Green Earth - Eagle and Sami
Recommended Skills: Star Power, Brawler, Slam Shield, Backstab
Orange Star will want Tower Power instead of Back Stab and possibly another defensive skill instead of Star Power and Blue Moon is just for delaying Von Bolt's power as long as possible once again. Aside from the Mega Tank at the end blocking direct-attacks on the Black Obelisk you can consider it pretty much analogous in difficulty as Normal IMO. Remember Kanbei will have weaker defenses than Javier, but will have more offense like Jess, since Orange Star doesn't need to build a lot of units to be successful here you can think of him as a straight improvement on Jess' role.
Mission 28
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Recommended COs: 1st CO - Sensei; 2nd CO - Andy
Recommended Skills: Gold Rush, Fire Sale, Tower Power, Brawler
Andy keeps the AI units healthier than any other CO actually serving to speed up the top screen quite a bit. Set the AI to defensive for the first turn and then Assault for each subsequent turn to speed things up as much as possible. The initial onslaught of Infantry Units from Von Bolt is more of an annoyance than difficult, but make sure you are building the sturdier Mech Units to keep your Tech Score untouched and send a Battle Copter down south as fast as possible just like on Normal
Congrats you just beat hard mode and 2 quite frankly mediocre skills and a few things in the shop. Mistwalker gives your units first strike abilities during your Super CO Power mimicking Sonja's effect and Soul of Hachi lets you deploy units on allied cities during your Super CO Power, but doesn't give the cost reduction that Hachi's Power gives. The AI is smart enough to recognize Mistwalker and won't usually attack you, giving you the initiative on your next turn, but you're better off using a skill that's always active, it has uses against opposing players forcing their hand for that crucial turn and if they don't realize you have it on somebody like Kanbei it's downright lethal, it also can be good on the likes of Grimm who's decreased defense is a bigger flaw than some might realize. Soul of Hachi is really only useful on Pre-Deploy maps to let you be able to deploy units when you normally wouldn't be able to.
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