I'm not sure either but I think Harpy Sisters' mechanics have been changed since the last time I wrote the guide because the leaderboard has new record now.

True. I remember I lost a few times to Oakstout and Eleane before I bought full set of vinethorn gears from trade broker out of frustration. lol Tbh, I'm not sure if you can take them down before hitting lvl 65 and without vinethorn equipment and max stats pets because they hit hard and have a lot of HP too

Oakstout is possible (with max stats but no vinethorn). I'm fairly sure I beat Oakstout back then, but I also think I used green potions (so I guess it doesnt count). I didn't meet Elaine until I already had vinethorn (and even then it was tricky). The less said about my first lvl 60 forays against the captains, the better!

Oh, I never use those pots because they are too expensive for me. xD I mean I can afford some pots but I'm not willing to spend my gold for things that aren't permanent. lol

Before I bought vinethorn gears I spent like 2m gold to try different proficiency and stats combination when I was fighting nameds because I don't want to feel like cheating but it's either I lost miserably or the batte took too many turns for me to finish the battle (more than 100 turns). Now it only takes me around 20 or so turns to beat all nameds so it's really a big difference. Should have just thrown my pride and bought the vinethorn gears from the trade broker in the first place. lol

Lol, I found the potions came in handy at low levels, though they are expensive. They are a bit of a cheat for a dedicated battler, but I'm fine with using them when I need to. Vinethorn are cheap now, but when the lost grove was new vinethorn were insanely expensive!

I had an attacking team at first (no light pet), but at low levels these got thrashed in the lost grove. Then I switched to a defensive team, but the elite/named get too much of a power boost in long fights, especially the captains and Elaine. So I ended up choosing a balanced team with a healer. This was all before vinethorn. Also, some tips from 18eities helped (i.e. quick attack on captains full mana, etc).

But with vinethorn (even one piece made a difference!) its pretty straightforward.

I dont know how much of a grinder you are, but I've found proficiencies make an even bigger difference than vinethorn! Once my healer got high enough proficiency, I was able to make a light "tank" which (together with high proficiency cannons) blazes through elites like nothing.

I'm trying to raise the proficiency of some of my other pets (as the difference in ability is huge), but I dont really have a high stamina for grinding. So none of my pets are fully maxed out yet (unlike some!).

I think new gears will always have insane price due to low supply and high demand. I bet 1m for a vinethorn gear isn't rare to see back when the Lost Grove was just released.

I used 2 light healer and 1 shadow tank before and I could battle forever against normal monsters without need to use healing items but it's too weak against some bosses (ancient ent and captain and nameds version of them) because they have buff that gets stronger over time. After that, I tried to use 1 shadow tank, 1 light healer, and 1 air attacker and while this set up can finish most battle faster I often times need to switch their position after I fought 3 monsters at the same time in 1 battle. This set up was also not strong enough to beat Oakstout and Eleane. I used to grind a lot, especially during festival but not anymore now. Nowadays I only do 200-300 battles a day, (maybe more during festival). In fact it took me 2-3 weeks to get to lvl 70. lol

By proficiency, did you mean the proficiency point you get when you reach lvl 65 and 70? Or abilities rank (up to rank 4 atm)?

Yeah, that buff really breaks the "survival" strategy! But I found the shadow/light/air really worked for me... Normal mobs were fine, even 3, but I did use pots with named. I also used to use water/air/air. It worked well against the elites, but was very slow against regular mobs (I had to be really careful with health/blocking in every battle!)

By proficiency I meant the abilities rank (which you get from grinding). With light, after rank 3, it becomes much, much better... ^^

I could deal with 3 forest sprites but when 3 nightfall (2 battlemage and a brigandine is the worst combo for me, I can't even finish one battlemage even before the brigandine used taunting) appeared I usually need to switch my middle pets with other pet because it can't tank all the damage alone (never bought pots so I can't heal it using pots either). I think water is the weakest proficiency out of all elements. It doesn't deal a ton of damage like air, it also can't tank while draining hp like earth and shadow, it can't heal all pets like light, it doesn't have frequently used abilities (hotkey 1 or 2) that can attack all enemies like fire too. I want a setup that can finish a battle as soon as possible while having quite high survival at the same time and 2 air attackers and 1 light tank is my best choice as of now.

Iirc, by the time my pets reached rank 3 they have reached lvl 70 already but I already bought vinethorn gears before I reached lvl 65 so I can't make a comparison. xD

Yeah, water is slow and fiddly, but I did okay with it when I started. Shadow/light/air worked best for me at the start (all agi build for my tank). I played around with a light tank earlier, but even with vinethorn, it wasn't as good as my shadow. Once I got to rank 3 though, light became fantastic! Also, since I've levelled, light/air/air is swift and also what I use now... :D

*High five* for using same elements! lol

Lol. At our current levels, light/air/air really is the fastest choice. :)

But knowing Krin, future bosses/areas will have all sorts of weird requirements! :P

He did hint that all the elements will be useful in the lost grove...