Archer Castle Merak Hill Stage Defense Guide

To clear the Merak Hill stage in Archer Castle, deploy at least two primary area-of-effect (AoE) damage heroes in centralized positions and stagger frontline crowd-control units near the entrance path. Success on this stage relies on preventing high-density enemy waves from reaching your fortress walls through wide lane coverage, staggered control skills, and tower buff stacking.

Core Team Composition and Hero Placement

• AoE Damage Focus: Include at least two dedicated AoE damage heroes in your roster. Place them in central formation spots so their skill coverage spans multiple lanes rather than peripheral edges.
• Frontline Crowd Control: Position utility units equipped with stuns, slows, or knockbacks at the front of your formation. Staggering enemies upon entry prevents dense mobs from rushing your walls simultaneously.
• Tower Buff Stacking: Position your core damage dealers within the buff radius of supportive defensive towers to maximize their base attack power during dense waves.

Skill Cycling and Wave Countermeasures

• Stagger Ability Usage: Manually or strategically time crowd-control skills sequentially rather than triggering them all at once. Continuous, overlapping control keeps enemy groups slowed or stunned longer.
• Adjusting for Heavy Waves: If armored or high-health enemy variants stop your push, temporarily swap a utility unit for an armor-piercing or high-DPS hero to maintain wave clear speed.

Progression Bottlenecks and Gold Farming

• Gold Investment Priority: Direct your gold income into leveling your main AoE attackers before attempting difficult Merak waves. Insufficient base damage is the primary cause of castle defeat against large swarms.
• Farming Efficiency: If your defense reaches a progression wall, retreat to complete earlier stages. Farming gold on easier maps to raise core hero levels is more efficient than repeatedly failing high-difficulty waves.

Note: Strategy recommendations for the Merak Hill stage (二つ目の星が見える丘（メラク）) stem from Japanese strategy source data updated August 23, 2022.