Difficulty

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Difficulty is a system on Candy Crush Saga Wiki to measure how difficult a level is. This system has been introduced in 2013, and is inspirational to many other game wikis (especially King games).

Table of all Reality levels by difficulty (Note: large page size)

Table of Difficulty Distributions and Episode Averages

Difficulty code usage

There are 12 types of difficulty, ten of them sequential, and two of them peculiar. They are:

	0	None
	1	Very easy
	2	Easy
	3	Somewhat easy
	4	Medium
	5	Somewhat hard
	6	Hard
	7	Very hard
	8	Extremely hard
	9	Nearly impossible
	V	Variable
	?	Impossible

Amendments to difficulty scales

There are two notable changes to the difficulty nomenclature throughout CCSW history.

2016 Difficulty System change

Since 2016, there were additions to the difficulty system:

Key Points

• The "Nearly Impossible" difficulty was introduced as the new top difficulty, above "Insanely Hard". This applies to levels which are almost unbeatable without the use of boosters. Special request is required for such a level to be regarded as "Nearly Impossible".
• The "Insanely Hard" difficulty was renamed to "Extremely Hard". This is the second-highest difficulty, below "Nearly Impossible" but above "Very Hard". However, "Extremely Hard" is nowadays strictly below the original definition of "Insanely Hard".
• Levels originally are "Insanely Hard" were changed to "Nearly Impossible", unless the level does not receive 70% votes for "Insanely Hard" ("Nearly Impossible"), which will result in an instant downgrade to "Extremely Hard".

Change map

The following tables illustrate the colour codes and changes for each difficulty rating.

• The first column shows the new colour codes, ie. those currently in effect.
• The second column tells you whether/how this difficulty colour was changed.
• The last column shows the old colour codes.

New Colours	change	Old Colours
undetermined none very easy easy somewhat easy medium somewhat hard hard very hard extremely hard nearly impossible variable impossible	(same) (same) (same) (same) (same) (same) (same) (same) (same) renamed from introduced (same) (same)	undetermined none very easy easy somewhat easy medium somewhat hard hard very hard insanely hard (new) variable impossible

Color change

Effective August 7th, 2015, the difficulty colour coding in the wiki was changed. The new colour codes used were thought to be more intuitive, as they form a gradual progression through the colour spectrum from light and cyan to dark and red.

Key points

• The new colour for hard (red) was previously used for very hard.
• The new colour for very hard (maroon) was previously used for impossible.
• No colour coding is added to levels whose difficulty is undetermined.

Change map

The following tables illustrate the colour codes and changes for each difficulty rating.

• The first column shows the new colour codes, ie. those currently in effect.
• The second column tells you whether/how this difficulty colour was changed.
• The last column shows the old colour codes.

New Colours	change	Old Colours
undetermined none very easy easy somewhat easy medium somewhat hard hard very hard insanely hard variable impossible	removed (same) (same) (same) new new new new new (same) new new	undetermined none very easy easy considerably easy medium considerably hard hard very hard insanely hard variable impossible

Usage criteria and examples

Grading	Description	Concrete examples
None	Theoretically impossible to fail in any method save pressing the quit button or in a Dreamworld level, use lollipop hammers to unbalance the scale. You win 100% of the time no matter how you play. This is reserved for only a few levels. Levels which you can certainly guarantee a win should you play properly, but can be failed if you play improperly are not included. You will certainly win if you combine the already-supplied combo in level 4. You may still lose if you do not combine them. You will certainly win if you follow the tutorial on mobile level 606. You may lose if you refuse to use the candy frog or clear the candies through alternate methods.	*Almost exclusive to tutorials* Level 1 The level that is impossible to be failed unless you click the quit button.
Very easy (Episode means of 1–2)	Can be done in one (most of the time) or rarely two attempts. There is a high probability of succeeding the level. Your chance of winning is above 95%. Blockers should not be hindering the success of finishing a level or contributing the success of finishing a level. Episodes with this difficulty should take no more than 1 hour.	*Rare Difficulty Level in the high episodes* Level 236 Despite the mystery eggs, this level can almost always be done within 5 moves. Unfavourable outcomes are very rare. In fact, the mystery eggs will finish it for you in just one move if you are lucky!
Easy (Episode means of 2–3)	Can be done within 3 attempts, and often in a single try. There is a high probability of succeeding the level. Your odds of winning is around 5:4, or 80%. Blockers should not hinder too much the success of finishing a level. Episodes with this difficulty can take 1–6 hours.	*Uncommon difficulty level in high episodes* Level 52 Blockers can hinder your success in passing the level, but with abundant moves, it is easy to deal with the blockers. Level 504 There are islands in the level, but with the given Jelly Fish, it is possible to clear all jellies within 40 moves.
Somewhat easy (Episode means of 3.0–3.5)	Can be done within full set of lives. There is a moderately high probability of succeeding the level. Your odds of winning is around 3:2, or 67%. Blockers are starting (not too much) to hinder the success of finishing a level; some of them can be also quite difficult to clear. Episodes with this difficulty can take 6–18 hours.	*Common difficulty level*
Medium (Episode means of 3.5–4.0)	Can be done within 10 attempts, but usually require multiple tries. The probability of succeeding is self-explanatory in this case. Your odds of winning is around 2:1, or 50%. Blockers can be threatening here. They may hinder moderately the success of finishing a level. Episodes with this difficulty can take 1–3 days.	*Common difficulty level*
Somewhat hard (Episode means of 4.0–4.5)	Can be done within 15 attempts, but usually require multiple tries. The probability of succeeding is rather low. Your chance of winning is around 3:1, or 33%. Blockers are threatening here, so be sure to handle them as fast as possible. Episodes with this difficulty can take 3–5 days.	*Common difficulty level*
Hard (Episode means of 4.5–5.0)	Can be done within 20 attempts, and will usually consume a whole set of lives. The probability of succeeding is low. Your odds of winning is around 6:1, or 17%. Blockers are threatening and can be difficult to remove. The shape of the level can be awkward and hinder the success of finishing a level. Episodes with this difficulty can take 5–7 days.	*Common difficulty level*
Very hard (Episode means of 5.0–5.5)	May take up to 30 attempts, and will usually consume a few set of lives. There is a very low chance of passing the level. Your chance of winning is approximately 10:1, or 10%. Blockers are pretty challenging to remove and are threatening. Levels above this difficulty are frustrating enough to possibly make players quit. Episodes with this difficulty can take a few weeks to complete.	*Common difficulty level especially in high episodes* Level 70 (Pre-Nerfed Reality) The jellies are in an isolated portion of the level. If the liquorice locks aren't cleared after the chocolate is cleared, chocolate will take over, rendering the level almost impossible. Level 169 (First version) Six colours and difficult combinations and chocolate make this level no easy task. The target score is also very high.
Extremely hard (Episode means of 5.5–7.0)	May take up to 100 attempts, and will usually consume many sets of lives. The probability of succeeding is extremely low. Your odds of winning is approximately 30:1, or 3%. Blockers are an enormous hindrance. Without good understanding of the level along with good strategy and enormous luck, it can be nearly impossible to complete. Episodes with this difficulty can take up to a few months to complete!	*Rare difficulty level in the earlier levels, but very common in the later levels* Level 181 (Pre-Nerfed Reality) The ingredient columns are not connected to the main part of board, and the two islands consist of three-layer and four-layer icing, which make this level extremely hard.
Nearly impossible (Episode means of 7 and above)	Theoretically winnable. However, the chances are practically too low that it should be promptly nerfed. May take hundreds or even thousands of attempts without boosters. Your chance of winning is similar to getting a four-leaf clover! This will definitely take lots of tries: imagine odds of 300:1, or 0.33%. You have jackpot odds of winning this level. It is extremely frustrating without boosters. It only appears very lately; most former Nearly Impossible episodes have already been nerfed. Episodes with a Nearly Impossible difficulty only occurs very late in the game. Such episodes will have the overwhelming majority of the levels being at least Extremely Hard, and may take up to a year to complete!	*Rare difficulty level, often nerfed* Level 2290 Flash V1 and V2 It is almost impossible to get an insane points with a restricted space. Level 430 (Dreamworld) After buffing, you need to collect 8 more colour bombs and deal with 6 locked 10-move bombs in 16 moves even with some 4-move moon strucks. It's almost impossible to deal with.
Variable	Number of attempts may vary because of high difficulty and the impact of random chance. One may finish a variable level in 1 try while some may take hundreds. Usually assigned to levels whose outcome is based on its initial or near-initial board outcome, such that it is purely luck-based. The probability of succeeding is hard to tell but unfavorable, and is dependent on the frequency of getting unfavorable outcomes. Some may say a level in this difficulty is easy while others say it can be one of the hardest. Blockers may or may not hinder process, depending on where they are, and what they are. Some of these levels are easier on HTML5, as you can prevent the consumption of a life by quitting once you see an unfavourable starting outcome. This is the only difficulty rating that is not counted as part of the episode mean. This is a rare difficulty level. Only seven levels are Variable.	*Very Rare Difficulty Level* Level 645 Depending on where the ingredient is, the difficulty can be very easy ranging to extremely hard. Most of the time, however, will be at the hard end. You have only a 7:1 chance of getting a Very Easy outcome. Level 976 You have only five moves to clear two striped candies and two color bombs. The outcome of the candy colors and whether a suitable special candy can be formed and activated in the proper place is enough to either guarantee you a win or a loss. Unfortunately, the chance of a favorable board position is hard to tell and considerably low.
Impossible	Proven to be unwinnable without any boosters, cheats, and glitches. These levels are the result of design or mechanics errors which render the level unplayable through normal means. An update usually follows soon after by fixing the design error. The use of impossible levels is deprecated and it is not shown in the legends. They have an undefined difficulty value in calculating the average difficulty. If an impossible level exists in an episode, the entire episode is rendered unplayable. This is the rarest difficulty level. Only 2 levels ever had an impossible rating; only five are ever playable at one point, and most of them have been fixed immediately or shortly once identified.	*Extremely rare difficulty level* Level 578 and Level 380 (Dreamworld) (Before correction) There was a jelly behind the chocolate spawner, since you can't destroy a chocolate spawner; the only way to clear the jelly was to use a Jelly Fish booster. Early versions of level 615 (Flash only) and 1780 The order required colours that never spawned on the board, and there were no lucky candies to assist the order. These are caused by wrong colour scheme. Level 1352 (Before correction) The ingredient cannot slide into exit area since new candies always spawn from above. The only way to clear is to use a free switch to snatch the ingredient out of dead zone. A variation of 1535 on HTML5 (Before correction) An ingredient usually spawns in the area without exits. Unless in extremely rare circumstances, this version cannot be cleared even with boosters. A past version of 1601 on HTML5 (Before redesign) Due to different mechanic of magic mixers on HTML5, there will not be enough chocolate for the order within given moves, even at best scenario of clearing chocolate.

Template:DifficultyCodeChangePast

Trivia

• It originated from the List of Levels, which the difficulty of levels were once graded as "considerably hard for some", "considerably hard", "hard", and "extremely hard".
• No-one really knows who actually created this difficulty system.
• The colour of "Medium" was once between blue and purple, but the colour is too similar to purple, so it is changed to the colour salmon. Now, the colour of medium is gold.
  • This happened again on "Variable", where it was formerly yellow. It was changed to green to make it easier to see on a white background. Now, the colour of variable is purple.
  • It also happened with "Impossible". The former colour of impossible was white (it was specially designed for April Fools). However, once this difficulty was officially implemented, for the glitched Level 578, it was changed to dark red. Now, the colour of impossible is gray.
• Before, there was no "Impossible" difficulty. It was first given out to Level 1 as an April Fools Joke, represented by the colour white.
  • In the same year all Very Easy levels were reassigned "extremely hard" and all the rest levels reassigned to "Very Easy".
  • When Level 578 was found out to be impossible without Jelly Fish, it was still white at the time the Impossible difficulty is handed out.
  • Level 276/Dreamworld was once given the Impossible rating.
• The first "very hard" level was Level 30, but it got downgraded afterwards. The first one currently is Level 92.
• The first "extremely hard" level was Level 35, but then it got downgraded and then redesigned. The first one currently is Level 305.
• The hardest levels (and impossible levels) in the game are shifting during the process of making this game. First having level 35, then moving on to level 65. After that, the infamous level 147 was released and maintained to be the hardest level in 2013. Since then, level 350 appeared to take over level 147. However, between the release of Dreamworld episode Cookie Cabana and the nerf of level 147/Dreamworld, it became the hardest level in the game. With the nerf taken place to level 350 on May 28, level 578 became the hardest level in the game, and initially it was even impossible without using boosters. With the nerf of level 578, level 276/Dreamworld became the hardest since getting 300 blue candies with limited moves and blockers is an excruciatingly difficult job, which is almost impossible. Then, these two levels received another nerf and possibly the hardest level in the game became level 289/Dreamworld as there are almost no extremely hard levels in reality and level 289/Dreamworld became the only level that most players agree that it should be extremely hard. However, then Level 380/Dreamworld took place because it is impossible without boosters like 578 in reality. However, after the nerf of 380, its place was taken over by Level 677 (pre-nerf), because like level 276 of Dreamworld, was almost impossible without boosters. Then it was taken over by Level 1330 until an incredibly hard level took its place, Level 2069, that level is currently the one that holds the title of the hardest level, because of its incredibly low amount of moves. In Dreamworld, more new extremely hard levels were released alongside some quite challenging episodes starting with Funky Fortress, which continues until Snoozy Slopes (and Rambunctious Riffs is excluded from this). What's even worse is that later episodes of Reality contain tons of extremely hard levels. Level 147 pre-nerf was the first Nearly Impossible level.
• There is clearly an upward trend of level and episode difficulties as you climb up to the high levels. The most recently released levels are almost always at least Very Hard, and usually reside at Extremely Hard or even Nearly Impossible range. It has also made polls more irrelevant than in the past.
• Mostly, the attempts may not always be true as a person is lucky.