Talk:Level 421/@comment-4548194-20140412212510/@comment-4548194-20140413052338

I think the reason most people struggle with this level is because they don't put any strategy into it, as most levels in candy crush just require you to get good combos (color bomb + striped, wrapped + striped etc) in order to succeed. Here's some tips for those who're struggling.

1 If playing on mobile, enter and quit until you know you can make a striped + striped combo with one of the four striped candies. If you're playing the level with rules where the hammer doesn't destroy the striped candies in marmelade, destroy a cake bomb as soon as you can to make an easy striped + striped match when the upper candies fall to the bottom.

2. Get rid of the cake bombs ASAP. Don't try and make striped + striped combos before you've taken all four out unless you know you have a very good chance of doing so within 2 - 3 turns, or if you are unable to make any progress on a cake bomb. Use whatever special candies and combos you can to speed up the process. If you're lucky, you could be down to five combos by the end of this section.

Once all cake bombs are cleared... (You should have 30+ moves remaining and 5 - 6 combos left by this point)

3. Make striped candies. Try to focus making striped candies in the upper middle of the board, as combos to the side and bottom are difficult to form. If you have a choice between making a striped in the middle or outside, make the one in the middle first, as the tornado can interfere with your plans.

4. Make color bombs. This is a little risky, but can be well worth it. If you see a chance to make one, I'd say go for it. It's better to make these near the edges of the board (not including top) but you should take what you can get. Ridding yourself of a color will make creating spriped candies much more attainable. Don't combine this with striped - there's no good reason for this. Combine this with a wrapped candy if you have a chance and there are no other striped candies on the board.

5. Don't make wrapped candies. They can ruin your game if they are near any striped candies as unwanted cascades/the tornado can set them off unexpectedly. You will inevitably receive some on the board from cascades, so try to deal with them when they're isolated from striped candies.

6. Watch for the column that will fall because of the tornado. If your planning a combo, make sure that when the tornado moves that the column of candies that will fall down won't interfere with. If there are two swaps on the board that you can make to create a striped candy, see if either of them will be affected by the column falling due to the tornado. If one will be disrupted, make that one before the other.

7. Think. I know this sounds silly, but this board requires a lot of thought. Before each move, make sure that nothing catastrophic will be set off and that you can't make a better move. I'll give you one last example: If you're about to make a striped + striped combo, check and see if it will wreck any possible ways to create a striped candy or destroy a striped candy. Make those striped candies (if they won't be set off when you activate the combo) before the combo, or try to lower the combo so that it won't strike any striped candies in it's path.

There are some things you can't help (the board that you get, where the tornado lands,) but if you play it smart and not randomly I'd reckon this should take you less than 20 tries (if you're really unlucky.)

If you're wondering, this level took me somewhere between 5 - 10 tries (I never keep count.) Let me know if this helped you to finish this level, and if so, how many tries it took with this strategy!