You finally beat The Face. You’ve stomped through Stories of Legend. Then you hit Uncanny Legends and everything feels... wrong. Suddenly, your high-tier Ubers are getting shredded. Your specialized tankers are melting like butter. That’s because of one specific mechanic that basically flips the entire game on its head: an ancient curse battle cats. It’s the signature move of the Relic enemies, and honestly, if you aren't prepared for it, you’re going to spend a lot of energy watching your Cat Base explode.
Most players think they can just power through with raw stats. They're wrong.
An ancient curse battle cats isn't just a debuff; it is a fundamental shift in how the game's math works. When a Relic enemy hits your cats, they get "cursed." For a set duration, all those fancy "Massive Damage," "Strong Against," or "Resistant" abilities just... vanish. Your Catman stops doing 3x damage. Your Ramen Cat loses its massive health pool against Angels. It turns your specialized army into a bunch of basic, vanilla units. It’s brutal.
The Relic Wall: What Actually Happens When You Get Cursed
The mechanic debuted with the introduction of the Relic trait. The first time you encounter Sir Relic or the dreaded M. Ost, you’ll notice a purple, swirling icon above your cats' heads. That's the curse. While that icon is active, your units lose their "Abilities against certain traits."
Wait, let's be clear about what stays and what goes.
Passive stat boosts like Strengthening (at a certain HP%) or Survival (Lethal Strike) usually stay. However, anything that targets a specific trait—like Red, Floating, or Black—is instantly disabled. If you’re using a unit like Chronos the Infinite to freeze enemies, and she gets hit with an ancient curse battle cats, her multi-hit freeze stops working entirely. She just becomes a very expensive, very slow attacker.
The duration of the curse varies. Some enemies, like Oldhorn, have a curse that lasts for 10 seconds. Since many Relic enemies attack frequently, they can effectively "perma-curse" your front line. This makes meatshielding a nightmare. You can't rely on trait-specific resistances anymore. You need raw, unga-bunga HP and damage.
Why M. Ost is the Literal Worst
If you’ve played through the early stages of Uncanny Legends, you know M. Ost. It’s an ostrich. It looks silly. It will ruin your life. M. Ost is the perfect example of why an ancient curse battle cats is so dangerous. He has a high attack rate, long range, and a 100% chance to curse.
Because he attacks so fast, your units are basically cursed the moment they enter his range. This invalidates almost every specialized defensive unit in the game. You're forced to use units with high base stats, like Slapstick Cats or the specialized "Anti-Relic" units you unlock later. Honestly, seeing that purple swirl on your units for the first time is a rite of passage. It's the game telling you that the "easy" days of power-creeping with Ubers are over.
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How to Fight Back: The Curse Immunity Meta
So, how do you deal with an ancient curse battle cats? You can't just dodge it. You have to build for it.
The most obvious solution is the "Curse Immunity" talent. Once you start gathering NP (Talent Points), you’ll notice that many older units have a hidden talent that makes them immune to the curse. This is expensive. It’s a grind. But for units like Roe Cat or Greater Balrog, it’s a total game-changer.
Then there’s the Curse ability for your own cats. Yes, you can give them a taste of their own medicine.
Units like Urs & Fenrir or the legendary Meow-la-la can inflict curse on enemies. Why does this matter? Because some Relic enemies have their own "hidden" abilities, like savage blows or knockback, that can be disabled if you curse them first. It becomes a tactical arms race. Who curses who first?
The Evolution of the Meatshield
In the era of an ancient curse battle cats, your meatshielding strategy has to evolve.
- Mohawks and Erasers are still king because they are cheap.
- Future Cat (the true form of Cyber Academy) is the MVP. It has natural resistance to Relics and doesn't rely on a "Resistant" ability that can be cursed away—its base stats against Relics are just tuned differently.
- Researcher Cat is another must-have.
If you try to use Ramen Cat against a Relic/Angel hybrid stage, and a Relic Doge hits him, Ramen loses his 4x-5x effective HP against the Angels. He dies instantly. You have to be incredibly careful with your timing.
Beyond the Purple Icon: E-E-A-T and Strategy Nuance
If you look at the community discourse on the Battle Cats subreddit or the Discord servers, the consensus among veteran players (the ones who have cleared the 4-star Uncanny Legends) is that "Curse" is the best balancing mechanic PONOS ever added. It forced players to stop relying on "Win Buttons" like Mitama the Oracle or Kasli the Bane.
Actually, let's talk about Kasli.
Dasli (Gothic Mitama’s counterpart) is famous because she inflicts curse. She is arguably the best unit in the game because she can neutralize the entire gimmick of an enemy. If you have her, an ancient curse battle cats becomes a lot more manageable. But for the 90% of players who don't have a top-tier Fest Uber, the strategy is all about Legend units.
Meow-la-la and Urs are your best friends. They are free. They are hard to get, but they are designed specifically to handle the Relic meta.
Common Misconceptions About Curse
People often think Curse disables everything. It doesn't.
- Critical hits still work.
- Base damage remains the same.
- Speed and Range are unaffected.
- Wave and Surge attacks still trigger.
The curse only targets the "vs [Trait]" part of the unit's code. Knowing this allows you to pick units that aren't "trait-reliant." This is why Awakened Bahamut is still a god-tier unit even in the Relic era. He doesn't have any trait abilities to lose. He just hits hard.
Actionable Steps for Beating the Curse
If you're stuck on a Relic stage, stop banging your head against the wall with your standard loadout. Follow this progression to neutralize an ancient curse battle cats:
Prioritize True Forms and Talents
Get Future Cat as soon as possible. The "Zero Legends" and "Uncanny Legends" content is balanced around him. If you have spare NP, look at units that have high raw DPS rather than trait-specific multipliers.
Focus on "The Legends"
Don't ignore the Elder Masque stages. Getting the True Forms of your Legend units (Urunrun, Li'l Nyandam) gives them the stats they need to survive the Relic onslaught.
Manage Your Range
Relic enemies usually have a "sweet spot" range. Use units like Cyberpunk Cat to slow them from across the map where the curse can't reach. If the enemy can't hit you, they can't curse you. It sounds simple, but it’s the most effective way to keep your abilities active.
Invest in Research Combo
Since your units will be dying faster due to the loss of "Resistant" buffs, you need to replace them faster. A Large Research Combo (like Kimono Champs) is almost mandatory in high-level Relic stages to keep the meatshield wall constant.
An ancient curse battle cats is a wall, but it’s not an indestructible one. It’s the game's way of asking if you actually understand the mechanics or if you’ve just been lucky with your gacha pulls. Once you master the timing and the "Vanilla Unit" strategy, the purple swirl becomes just another icon to manage on the battlefield.