So, you’ve reached the point in The Battle Cats where the game decides to stop being cute and starts being genuinely mean. We need to talk about Sweet Irony Battle Cats, specifically the "Cats' Day" event stage that features the horrifyingly tanky Super Metal Hippoe. It's a Merciless difficulty stage for a reason. If you walk in there with a standard "meatshield and high damage" strategy, you’re going to get absolutely shredded. Seriously. You’ll watch your expensive Ubers die in seconds while that metal beast just smiles at you.
Metal enemies are the ultimate "gear check" in PONOS’s weird little tower defense world. They only take one damage per hit regardless of how hard your Cat hits, unless you land a Critical Hit. Sweet Irony is basically a math problem disguised as a chaotic feline war. If you don't bring the right RNG (Random Number Generation) units, you aren't just losing; you're wasting energy.
What Actually Happens in Sweet Irony?
When you launch Sweet Irony, the stage layout looks deceptively simple. You start with some basic fodder, but the real nightmare is the Super Metal Hippoe. This isn't your garden-variety Hippoe. He has 8,000 HP. Now, 8,000 HP sounds like nothing when your Awakened Bahamut deals 85,000 damage per swing, right? Wrong. Because he's a Metal enemy, Bahamut is only doing 1 damage.
You literally have to hit him 8,000 times to kill him normally.
That’s never going to happen before the support enemies—usually a mix of high-pressure pushers—overwhelm your front line. The stage is designed to test your "Critter" roster. If you’ve been neglecting your Jurassic Cat or Crazed Whale, this is where the game punishes you. It’s a bottleneck. It’s frustrating. It’s honestly kind of iconic for how much it relies on luck if you don't have the top-tier anti-metal units like Nanaho or Paladin Cat.
The Enemy Composition is a Mess
The Super Metal Hippoe is the star, but the supporting cast makes it "Merciless." You'll see variations of the stage depending on when you play (it's often tied to the "Cats' Day" or special anniversary rotations), but typically, you’re dealing with:
- Super Metal Hippoe: 8,000 HP, 100% knockback chance. This knockback is the real killer. Every time he hits your units, he pushes your entire line back, making it impossible to stack attackers.
- Various Peons: Usually Snaches or Crocos to clog up your targeting.
- Heavy Hitters: Sometimes you'll get a backline threat that punishes you for taking too long to kill the Hippoe.
The "irony" in Sweet Irony Battle Cats is that the strongest cats in your inventory are likely the most useless here. Your massive Level 50 Almighty Ganesha? Useless. Your high-DPS Lasvoss? Total dead weight. You need fast attackers and high-probability critical hitters.
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Building a Loadout That Won't Fail
You need a specific composition. Don't even try to "generalist" your way through this. Honestly, your lineup should be about 40% meatshields and 60% anti-metal units or Cat Combos that boost your critical hit rate.
Meatshields are Mandatory
You need at least three. Eraser Cat and Crazed Wall are the gold standard. You need a constant stream of bodies to keep that Super Metal Hippoe from reaching your base. If the line breaks for even three seconds, the Hippoe’s area attack will clear your backline. It’s a dance. A very stressful, feline-themed dance.
The Critters (The Real MVPs)
- Jurassic Cat (Sitter Cat): This is your bread and butter. Cheap, spammable, and has a decent crit chance once you invest in talents.
- Crazed Whale / Island Cat: These guys are tanky. They can actually take a hit from the Hippoe and stay standing, giving them more chances to proc a critical hit.
- Waitress Cat: If you've cleared the "Dead on Debut" stage to get her, she is a guaranteed critter. She’s slow, her range is awkward, but that 100% crit chance is a godsend for finishing off a weakened Hippoe.
- Hurricane Cat: High attack frequency. Even though the crit chance is low, the sheer volume of hits means you're likely to trigger a few.
Use Your Cat Combos
Most people forget about combos. For Sweet Irony, you should look for "Miracle Performance" (Starry Sky + Sunny Day) or any combo that increases "Critical Move Percentage Up." Even a 2% boost to your crit rate can be the difference between a win and a wipeout. It feels like a small number, but when you're attacking ten times a second, it adds up fast.
Practical Strategy: The "Slow Build"
Don't rush. If you send out everything at once, you’ll hit the enemy limit or, worse, your cats will die before the Hippoe even spawns.
Start by stalling the initial peons with a single Eraser Cat. This lets you max out your worker cat level. You want a full wallet before the boss emerges. Once the Super Metal Hippoe comes out, start the spam. You should be hitting the deploy button as fast as the cooldowns allow.
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Watch the Hippoe’s animation. He has a slight wind-up. If you see your units getting knocked back constantly, it means your meatshielding is too thin. You need a "wall" so that your critters like Jurassic Cat can get close enough to actually swing.
The "Mercy" of RNG
Sometimes, you just lose. You can have a 50% crit chance across your whole team and still go thirty seconds without a single critical hit. That’s just The Battle Cats. If the Hippoe reaches your base, don't waste your Cat Food on a continue unless he’s visibly shaking (which indicates he’s near death). Just quit, tweak your lineup, and try again.
Why People Struggle with Sweet Irony
The biggest mistake is over-relying on Ubers. Many players think "I'll just bring my Legend Rare" and then realize that unit only attacks once every 12 seconds. In Sweet Irony Battle Cats, attack speed is king. A Rare cat that attacks fast is ten times better than a Mega-Ultra-Super-Rare that takes forever to swing.
Also, check your levels. If your Jurassic Cat isn't at least Level 30 (preferably with the "Crit Rate" talent unlocked), his 5% base crit chance is going to feel like 0%. You need to stack the deck in your favor.
Beyond the Basics: Advanced Tactics
If you're still hitting a wall, it’s time to look at your "Crowd Control" (CC) units. Metal enemies can be slowed, frozen, or knocked back.
- Lollycat: Can slow metal enemies. It’s niche, but keeping the Hippoe in place is huge.
- Puppetmaster Cat: A decent budget option for weakening or slowing.
- Cyberpunk Cat: If you can protect him, his slow field works on everyone, including metals. This gives your critters more time to walk up and do their job.
There is a specific nuance to the timing here. Since Super Metal Hippoe has a 100% knockback on his hits, your cats are constantly moving backward. This resets their attack animation. This is why "Fast Attack" cats are so vital. If a cat has a long "foreswing" (the time before the hit lands), it will literally never land a hit because the Hippoe will hit it first and reset the animation.
Is it Worth the Grind?
Yes. Beating these Merciless stages usually rewards you with rare Cat Tickets or essential evolution materials. More importantly, it’s a gateway. Once you master the "Metal Stage" mechanics in Sweet Irony, you’re prepared for much worse things later in the Uncanny Legends or Heavenly Tower.
The drop rates for the rewards can be stingy. Use a Treasure Radar if you're feeling confident, but honestly, don't use a Radar until you've beaten the stage at least once without items. There's nothing worse than wasting a Radar on a loss.
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Actionable Steps for Your Next Attempt
- Talent Check: Go to your Jurassic Cat. If you have NP to spare, dump it into the "Critical Hit Rate" talent. It moves it from a measly 5% up to 12%. That is a massive jump in consistency.
- Order of Operations: Let the first few enemies come to your half of the screen. Don't fight at the enemy base. Fighting near your own base gives your spawned units a shorter walk to the front line, which keeps your meatshield wall tighter.
- The "Whale" Stack: If you use Crazed Whale and Island Cat together (the "Double Whale" strategy), you have two high-HP units that can survive the Hippoe's hits. This is the most reliable way to beat the stage for mid-game players.
- Item Usage: Bring a Sniper the Cat. It sounds counter-intuitive, but the Sniper's knockback can interrupt the Hippoe's attack animation, potentially saving your stack of attackers from a wipe.
- Speed Up: Only use this if you’ve already won and are farming. The timing is too tight to leave it to the AI or high-speed visual clutter.
Stop trying to overpower the stage with raw damage numbers. Embrace the RNG, refine your critter stack, and keep that meatshield line unbreakable. Eventually, the math will swing in your favor, a crit will land, and that 8,000 HP will vanish in a single glorious "shatter" sound effect. That's the real sweetness in the irony.