21 — Stairway to Darkness

Front-loaded difficulty: the FIRST stage, with Pigeon de Sable waves over buffed R.Osts, may be the hardest thing here.

Not to be underestimated, though possibly easier than Silk Road depending on your roster. The difficulty is installed backwards: the opener, Safe & not Sorry, combines the new Pigeon de Sable with buffed R.Osts and may be the hardest stage of the six; Underground runs three Teacher Bun Bun variants at once and demands serious anti-Floating firepower.

Three debuts, all support-pattern enemies: Pigeon de Sable is feeble on paper but produces a guaranteed level-1 Wave Attack with every peck — en masse, the waves never stop; Dark Otter is an Otta-smack-u upgrade in Dark; Angelic Sleipnir is an Angel mid-ranger with a fast attack rate and a knockback chance, hampered only by slow movement.