BW3S Trail Blazers - The Best Place for BW3S Strategy and Game Play

Good morning trishbanda,

Yes, the game is getting harder because the logic strategy changed about 4 months ago for all levels. I am still working up a strategy plan and have the owl level's figured out. Just posted the updated strategy guide on this thread. The ghost levels are also requiring a minimum of three Bubble Beams straight up the middle in order to clear the levels with the limited numbers of wand bubbles provided.

Most of the rest of the levels are requiring looking ahead and not concentrating on the bubbles to be destroyed that are close by. My original play strategy without the game costing a boat load of gold bars or boosters is still the "hat trick" posted in this thread. I have reposted it below:

The "hat trick is a pretty good one. It is where you already have a "Gold Hat" in reserve and then go on to almost earn another "Gold Hat". That way when you get to a tough level you can play other levels to get to the point where you have a "Blue Hat" and are about to reach another "Gold Hat". At that point go to your hard level, get Star cat Leo's multiplier, and launch your first "Gold Hat" to collect the multiplied points. You should then have the maximum number of points needed to obtain the three white stars for completing the level and continue playing. About halfway up you will earn another "Gold Hat". Use that second "Gold Hat" only when you absolutely need too.

I find that if you can keep the second "Gold Hat" after completing that level, you can restart the game and still have enough time left on Leo's point multiplier to get to the same point again for a second time. That way you can clear two levels without having to use any boosters. It's a great way to make game progress and not get frustrated at levels that are more difficult. I use that method everyday. Collecting boosters playing "Wake up the Tree" also helps and you can earn a minimum of two sets of boosters or a maximum of eight sets per day. Just depends on the Teams assigned. I just completed maximum of 12 sets last Friday which I believe is a record.

Hope this helps you in your game play. Good luck and keep crushing it!

OWL Strategies for Today

Here are three strategies worth considering when you tackle these levels:  

Strategy: Seek and destroy

This is the most obvious strategy - hunt the Owls down with extreme prejudice! When doing this, you want to focus on creating matches that free Owls with as few moves as possible by taking advantage of Owls that are already next to colors that they match with.

Another important part of this strategy is to destroy Owls that are as high up the board as possible. Focus on matches that increase the chance of Bubbles falling into the Vortex to make the board move up and reveal more match possibilities.

Be sure to use any special orbs as efficiently as possible. 

The seek and destroy method is best used in simpler levels, especially Golem levels – as long as you pay attention to Golem patterns and maximize creating matches with chains of Golems.

It can also work well with levels that contain Spider webs, but it is more effective if the Owls are at the center of the Spider web.

Strategy: Rope-a-dope

When a level is a little more devious and contains a mixture of Golems, Spider webs, and Black Bubbles, it can be useful to simply ignore the owls for as long as possible.

With the Rope-a-dope, you actively avoid destroying the Owls until you have no choice. The focus is on getting to the top of the board as quickly as possible and destroying obstacles. Aim high, aim true and focus on knocking branches of Bubbles into the Vortex with as few moves as possible.

It might sound crazy but there is method to the madness! By destroying the Bubbles an Owl is perched on, the Owl will fly away and find somewhere else to perch. In these situations the Owl tends to fly to Bubbles or other Owls of the same color. The more Owls you have looking for new homes the greater the chance that they will all clump together. Like the old phrase goes, “birds of a feather, flock together”.

This method takes advantage of gathering larger chains of similar colored Owls and Bubbles which you can then clear with a cleverly placed Bubble. It also means once you get higher up the board, you will be less likely to be left without potential match options.

Word to the wise: keep an eye on your move counter and the number of Owls left on the screen in order to strike at the right time! 

Strategy: Nothing to see here…

Sometimes it is best to ignore the Owls and play the level as if they weren’t there. This may seem like strange logic but many players have found that by simply getting into the “clear the Bubbles” mentality, great results follow!

Good luck and good blasting! 

Good question trishbanda. It not points that matter it is the number of time you play a level to reach the hats.

For example, if you start at Card 1 Level 1 and complete that then go to Card 55 Level 1075 and complete that you will earn the brown hat. You can get through Level 1075 in about 6 - 8 shots.

With the brown hat go back to Level 1 and play 3 times, then go to Level 1075 and you will earn a blue hat.

Go back to level 1 and play that level 4 times be sure to watch the countdown meter as it descends. Before reaching the 5th time go back to Level 1075 and you will earn a gold hat.

The lower levels are really the key to earning the hats and really help playing "Wake up the Tree". see previous postings on this thread.

Have fun and blast away.