Finishing Empire of Cats is only the beginning of The Battle Cats. Into the Future introduces a much tougher set of stages, new enemy mechanics, and the Alien trait, which can make otherwise reliable teams feel completely ineffective.
The key to progressing through Into the Future is not simply leveling your strongest Cats. You need the right treasures, reliable anti-Alien units, effective crowd control, and a progression plan that also makes room for Stories of Legend. With the right preparation, you can clear all three chapters without relying on a collection of Ubers.
How Alien Strength Magnification Works
The biggest difficulty spike in Into the Future comes from Alien enemies and their Strength Magnification. Early in Chapter 1, these enemies can appear with extremely high boosted stats, making even ordinary opponents surprisingly dangerous.
Crystal treasures are the answer. Collecting the relevant Superior Treasures throughout Into the Future reduces the effective strength of Alien enemies, turning difficult stages into much more manageable fights. The general progression looks like this:
| CRYSTAL PROGRESS | ALIEN ENEMY STRENGTH |
| No relevant treasures | 700% |
| Chapter 1 crystal set completed | 500% |
| Chapter 2 crystal set completed | 300% |
| Chapter 3 crystal set completed | 100% |
The exact impact depends on the Alien type and the crystals you have collected, but the practical lesson is simple: treasures are part of your combat preparation, not an optional collectible.
Prioritize Superior Treasures
Whenever a difficult Into the Future stage starts feeling impossible, check your treasure collection before spending hours changing your lineup. Superior Treasure hunting can make a much larger difference than gaining a few extra levels. It is especially important before the major boss encounters at the end of each chapter.
Best F2P Anti-Alien Cats
You do not need a roster full of Ubers to complete Into the Future. Several Rare, Super Rare, and Normal Cats provide exactly what the campaign requires.
Rover Cat / Catellite
Rover Cat is one of the most useful early anti-Alien defensive units. It is inexpensive, can be deployed repeatedly, and is designed to absorb pressure from Alien enemies. After evolving into Catellite, it becomes even more valuable as a dedicated defensive option. Keep it in your lineup whenever an Alien-heavy stage threatens to overwhelm your normal frontline.
Psychocat / Neo Psychocat
Psychocat fills an entirely different role. Rather than simply absorbing damage, it helps control the enemy advance by slowing Aliens from a safer distance. Neo Psychocat is especially useful against dangerous pushing enemies because repeated deployments can maintain pressure on their movement. The unit becomes much more effective when protected by cheap frontliners.
Surfer Cat / Castaway Cat
Surfer Cat brings both offensive power and crowd control. Its chance to freeze Alien enemies can interrupt enemy pushes and create valuable windows for your attackers. Castaway Cat is the best counter when several dangerous enemies arrive together. Even when its Freeze effect does not consistently lock down a stage, the additional control can reduce the pressure on your frontline.
Macho Legs Cat
Macho Legs Cat is a useful Normal Cat option for players building a largely F2P lineup. Its effectiveness against Aliens gives you another source of sustained damage without consuming a premium roster slot. It is not a substitute for a dedicated boss killer, but it can provide reliable support throughout the campaign.
Paris Cat / Cyborg Cat
Cyborg Cat gives your lineup dependable ranged area damage. It is particularly useful for clearing weaker enemies that would otherwise protect stronger Alien targets. This becomes important in longer stages, where maintaining a clean battlefield allows your dedicated damage dealers and crowd-control units to concentrate on the main threat.
A Strong F2P Into the Future Team
A useful general-purpose team should cover three jobs: frontline defense, crowd control, and damage. You do not need to follow one fixed lineup, but the following setup provides a good foundation:
- Meatshield: Wall Cat or Eraser Cat
- Anti-Alien tank: Rover Cat or Catellite
- Additional frontline: Crazed Cat or another cheap meatshield
- Slow: Neo Psychocat
- Freeze and burst: Castaway Cat
- Mid-range damage: Macho Legs Cat
- Ranged attacker: Dragon Cat or King Dragon Cat
- Heavy attacker: Bahamut Cat
- Flexible slot: Ururun Wolf, Crazed Whale Cat, or an anti-Alien Uber
The most important part is not the exact number of units from each category. You need enough cheap Cats to maintain a stable frontline while your backline attackers and control units do their work.
Into the Future Chapter 3 Moon Guide
The Chapter 3 Moon is the major early-game checkpoint for many players. The final confrontation with Raging Bahamut Cat combines high damage, speed, and relentless pressure into one fight. Going into the stage without the required preparation can make the battle feel impossible.
Prepare Before Fighting Raging Bahamut Cat
- Finish Your Crystal Collection: Do not treat the Chapter 3 Moon as a stage where you can simply overwhelm the boss through raw damage. Your Into the Future treasures directly affect how manageable Alien enemies are, so completing the relevant Superior Treasure sets should be one of your first priorities.
- Bring Consistent Crowd Control: Neo Psychocat and Castaway Cat are valuable because they give you ways to interrupt the enemy advance rather than simply trading damage. However, crowd control only works when the units behind it remain alive. Protect them with a steady stream of cheap Cats instead of deploying expensive attackers too aggressively.
- Keep Your Frontline Stable: Continue sending meatshields even when the battlefield looks clear. A sudden wave of smaller enemies can reach your control units and destroy the formation that was keeping the boss contained. Use Eraser Cat, Catellite, and other inexpensive defenders to create a buffer between Raging Bahamut and your backline.
What You Get for Clearing Chapter 3 Moon
Defeating Raging Bahamut completes the final chapter of Into the Future and allows Bahamut Cat to evolve into Awakened Bahamut Cat after meeting the required conditions. Awakened Bahamut is one of the most useful offensive tools available at this stage of the game.
Its speed and damage make it excellent for quickly punishing exposed enemies, finishing weakened targets, and creating openings in difficult stages. This is one of the most important progression rewards in the early game, making Into the Future Chapter 3 a major milestone.
Into the Future or Stories of Legend?
A common mistake is treating Into the Future as a linear campaign that should be pushed from Chapter 1 directly through Chapter 3. You will generally make faster overall progress by alternating between the main story and Stories of Legend.
Stories of Legend provides additional experience, Cat Food, useful rewards, and access to important special Cats. More importantly, its stages give you an opportunity to strengthen your roster before returning to a difficult Into the Future chapter.
Why Stories of Legend Matters
The early Stories of Legend stages are useful because they let you improve your account without constantly fighting against the heavy stat scaling found in later Into the Future stages. You can use these stages to earn additional XP and resources, build up your general Cat roster, collect useful rewards, and obtain Ururun Wolf later in the progression.
Ururun Wolf is a very useful unit, obtained from The Great Escaper in the Jail Break Tunnel section of Stories of Legend. Ururun Wolf provides strong ranged offensive support and can become a valuable addition to an early-to-mid-game roster. However, the drop is not guaranteed from a normal clear, so obtaining it may require repeated attempts or a Treasure Radar.
Recommended Early-to-Mid Game Progression
There is no single mandatory route, but the following order creates a good balance between story progress and roster development.
- Finish Empire of Cats: Complete the three Empire of Cats chapters and prioritize collecting the available Superior Treasures. Entering Into the Future with a weak economy and underdeveloped Cats makes the next difficulty spike much harder than necessary.
- Start Stories of Legend: Work through the early Legend stages while improving your roster. Use them to gather XP, Cat Food, and other rewards rather than spending all your energy on a single campaign.
- Begin Into the Future Chapter 1: Once you have a functioning lineup, start Chapter 1 and immediately begin working on its crystal treasures. Pay attention to which Alien enemies give you trouble and adjust your lineup accordingly.
- Build Your Anti-Alien Core: Rover/Catellite, Psychocat/Neo Psychocat, and Surfer/Castaway are especially valuable foundations for an F2P Into the Future roster. Level and evolve the units that fit your team instead of spreading all your XP across every Cat you own.
- Alternate Chapters With Stories of Legend: After clearing Into the Future Chapter 1, return to Stories of Legend when the next chapter becomes too difficult. Use the additional stages to strengthen your roster before tackling Chapter 2. The same principle applies before Chapter 3.
- Finish Into the Future Chapter 3: Once your treasures, levels, and lineup are ready, return to Chapter 3 and prepare for the Moon stage and Raging Bahamut Cat.
The Best Way to Approach Into the Future
Into the Future becomes much easier when you stop thinking of it as a simple level-by-level campaign. Treasures reduce the overwhelming Alien stat bonuses, anti-Alien Cats give you the tools needed to control the battlefield, and Stories of Legend provides an important source of additional progression. Together, these systems let an F2P player build a roster capable of reaching Chapter 3 without depending on a powerful Uber collection.
The most important rule is to prepare before pushing forward. Collect your treasures, strengthen your frontline, build a reliable crowd-control core, and use Stories of Legend whenever your main-story progress starts hitting a wall. By the time you reach Raging Bahamut Cat, the battle should feel like the final test of your preparation rather than an impossible difficulty spike.
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