When this level begins, you can pick two traps. Since you only have two from which to choose, select both. The shooter and the brain freezer can be used through all ten levels and work well together. After selecting the traps, you can place them. This first level requires you to defend a single stack of ducklings. Look for the purple arrows to see where the enemies will travel. There are two enemy doors from which enemies enter. However for the first wave, they will only come out of the enemy door on the left side. You have 600 points to spend on traps. This lets you either place a couple shooters or two brain freezers and a single shooter The latter is a better idea. While shooters cause damage, an enemy wave can quickly walk by them without taking a lot of damage. Therefore, place a brain freezer across the path in a narrow area and then place a shooter right behind it. Then, when the enemies are frozen by the brain freezer, the shooter can fire on them while they are immobile. Put another brain freezer in another narrow area—a choke point—to slow down more enemies that get past your shooter. Once you have your traps set, it is time to begin the first wave.
It is always a good idea to put a shooter near your ducklings since the collectors will always head towards this location and stop to attack it. Then put brain freezers along the two narrow passageways that are near the ducklings to slow down the collectors. You can always sell these traps back and reposition them after the first wave.
When the first wave begins, you have a bit of time. Quickly grab a townsperson and throw him into the door. You get enough money to buy an extra shooter when you get to place more traps after the first wave is defeated. After taking care of one of these little guys, check out the ducklings. The collectors have most likely been slowed down by the brain freezers and some may be destroyed by the shooter while frozen. However, the LT-422s can bypass the brain freezers and are not affected by them (although shooters can fire at flying enemies). You will need to use a ranged attack to hit these drones.
Saving townspeople is a great way to score some extra money for traps. Just don’t neglect the enemies for too long.
The LT-422s will get to the ducklings first since they are not affected by the brain freezers.
Try to stay near the ducklings since you know that is where all enemies will eventually end up. Plus you need to make sure the ducklings are protected. If your character has some area attacks (such as a special move) that can affect several enemies at once, wait until there is a large group of enemies and then release it. Remember that you have to collect purple Sparks to charge up special moves. There are some purple capsules in the level to help you do this. Once the first wave is defeated, you have a few seconds to gather up any remaining coins before preparing for the next wave.
Defend near the ducklings. While you can engage away from the ducklings at the beginning, you don’t want enemies to get to the stack of ducklings to attack it with no defenses around.
After each wave, you can spend the money you have collected by defeating enemies and throwing townspeople into the door on more traps. If your first traps were not in a good position, sell them back and then start over. This time the enemies will still come from the same enemy door. There are two paths that lead directly to the ducklings. By now you should have enough to purchase a couple shooters to place near the ducklings and brain freezers along the paths. The shooters near the ducklings can also fire on the flying LT-422s and help eliminate those threats. When you are ready, start the second wave.
Position more traps near the ducklings at the start. Then begin placing them along the pathways leading to the enemy doors.
A group of frozen enemies makes for an easy target. Jump up in the middle of them, and then press the attack button to come down with a ground slam to damage all of them.
The third wave comes from both enemy doors. Keep your traps in the narrow parts of the path where you know enemies have to travel. There are a total of six waves. Each subsequent wave is a bit more difficult. However, if you have been diligent about collecting coins, by the final wave, you should have traps all over the pathways to the ducklings. Stay near the ducklings because there are so many collectors in the later waves that many will still get through your traps. That is why it is good to have several shooters surrounding your ducklings.
