Death Mode Guide

Welcome!
This page is the guide that leads to victory in Death Mode. Death Mode might be the most challenging game mode of all, and in every stage there are different obstacles, hence there are many different tips to give. All kind of useful tips and tricks can be found here; put them in practice to become a Death Mode expert!

General
The best character to use in Death Mode is clearly France. If you use him in midfield, he will always score no matter which obstacle is in the field. New Zealand works fine as well, because straight-line power shots usually won't go too high in the air but also won't hit objects that are on the ground, but unlike most other straight-line power shots New Zealand's is also good against CPUs. Roughly the same applies to Thailand. His air shot might work slightly less good though, but he also has a ground shot. This means that you can choose if you are going to use a high or low power shot. For the same reason, Serbia might work well for you. Mon-K's air shot is another one that will score most of the time in Death Mode. It can even surpass the Fort in Stage 6 and the Steel Spears in Stage 21 for example, if you use it on your opponent's side of the field. Austria is one that you can try out in Death Mode as well, just to see if it works for you. He might be the only character that has three power shots that can't cause own goals (this is because it is always shot in the same angle and the ball is always big and heavy, so it can't bounce away), so that gives some security. The power shots won't score in every stage though, because certain obstacles might block it time after time. All of his three power shots travel in a different angle, and usually at least one of them can still score, so  choose which if his three shots fits best in every situation. With Austria, you can focus on not conceding by activating your power shot every time the situation gets risky, and you will probably score with him, especially if you wear a good costume.

Stage 1
You can play with a character such as France here, while characters like India, Cyborg and Colombia are not very good, because the ball often gets blocked by the 100 Ton Weight and then it could end up in your own goal as well. You can see it when you play against Colombia, who is the boss of the stage. It happens a lot that the ball ends up in front of Colombia's goal, so be prepared to walk it in as fast as you can! However, characters with low power shots, such as Italy and Cyborg can be really trecherous opponents in this stage. Remember to always stay on the ground when they have their power shots ready, because if you're somewhere hanging in the air there's no way that you can stop them. Also, by riding the weight up in the air, you can get a great boost of height! This can be used to block air shots such as India's.

Stage 2
It is recommended to use France here because his shot goes underground and spikes will surely not be on your power shot's way. The same applies to Mon-K's air shot and most of the shots when you use them close to the goal, most noteworthy shots like Brazil's and straight-line shots. Ground shots such as India's are almost useless in this stage, due to one spike appearing after another, blocking the shot. France is also your opponent in the boss round, and you have to be prepared when he uses his power shot. Make sure you are in front of your goal in time to stop it!

Stage 3
You have to upgrade your jump until you can jump high enough to jump over the sawblades and a good SS rank Costume that gives you a good amount of extra jump points to avoid the sawblades. The best character to use here is any character with a non-straight-line shot like Chile or Brazil. France is also recommended. Characters with a very long power shot animation are useless in levels like this, as the anvil might have already gotten in the way of the power shot. Power shots that travel over the ground, like Nigeria's, will have to deal with the sawblades lying in the way and will usually not make it either. Characters like Romania, Colombia and Asura are worse because they start in front of their goal.

Stage 4
It is a little tricky to avoid the laser, due to its fast speed and randomness, with an almost instantaneous shot. Just dash away and make sure you are not under the laser when it stops! Also, your speed and dash stats are important as they're what get you away from the laser quickly. Practically every character could be used on this stage.

Stage 5
It always warns before electricity comes, so watch carefully when you see a circle appear on the place where you're standing and time your jumping. Also, if you go to your or opponent's goal, you can avoid getting electrocuted without jumping. You'd also want a highly upgraded jumping stat for this. Every power shot can be used here and most of them will even work better than usually, because the CPU could get electrocuted. When your opponent is under the effect, you can also easily kick him away.

Stage 6
You could use certain power shots even if the fort is in front of your opponent's goal. Even though they won't go in, they might make your opponent disappear or knock him out, so as soon as the fort is gone you can score. Watch out though, because if you do it wrong, it might bounce back into your own goal instead. You can also get rid off your opponent by means of the costume you are wearing. As long as the fort is in front of your opponent's goal, try not to concede yourself, because in this Stage it's quite hard to turn the game around. The best thing to do in this stage is keeping the ball with you and wait until the ford has disappeared into the ground and then shoot or use your power shot. What might work is jump over your opponent so you have kind of eliminted him, wait until the fort has disappeared and then you can kick it in! The best character by far to use in Stage 6 is France. It seems like his power shot is made for bypassing this obstacle: If you use France's Underground Shot around midfield, the ball will come up in the goal, behind the fort! Characters that do good in this Stage as well are USA if you use his shot right in front of the gate, Mon-K (his air shot only) and Australia, because he teleports the ball forward into the goal in his ground shot if you use it close to the fort. Maybe some other characters with power shots that make the ball start a bit in front of them are good to use here as well. For maximum defense, you can let the fort close you up inside your own goal and rush out to clear the ball when the fort is down, returning back to your goal just as the gate locks up the goal again.

Stage 7
If not playing against Georgia yet, just try to avoid the middle part of the stage. In the rounds with Georgia's henchmen, there's only one plug and the effect is very short, so you don't even have to pay much attention to it at all. Just play your game at your very best (because the plug is one of the stage obstacles that bother you the least), but you should definitely avoid the middle of the field while your opponent is performing his power shot. Most power shots can work with this stage, so it is easy to score a goal if not distracted by the plug. But, in the boss stage, make sure to stay out of the way of each plug. Power shots are still applicable, but make sure to be careful. A good SS costume will be useful to keep your opponents away from you, like the Sawblade Costume. Finally, be sure to watch out for Georgia's costume, which can hit you from far away. Luckily, the hat can be easily taken off from one plug.

Stage 8
Remember that when the wheel of the cannon is spinning, it is always aiming for you. When it stops, it has set out its direction and it will shoot the cannon ball a few moments later. You could walk towards your opponent's side of the field after a goal is scored, so you create a chance that the cannon ball hits the other player instead of you after a new kickoff. Good characters to use would be France, Brazil, or any other air/underground shot, since the cannonballs can waste ground shots, such as Nigeria.

Stage 9
Make sure you have a good costume or at least high walking stats, to quickly avoid the falling avalanche of rocks. Also, use air/underground power shots to effectively carry out a goal. If using a ground shot, like India, the little rocks on the ground might waste the shot. Also, watch out for the boss round. Thailand will wear the Antennae Costume and it will make him really fast and it charges his power shot much faster, so make sure to get rid of it.

Stage 10
It does not exactly matter what the power shot is/where it is activated, but make sure that you keep moving. If you stop for a little bit, then there's a higher chance of getting hit by a lightning bolt. Always pay a bit of attention to where the circles appear, so you know which place you have to avoid for a little while. After a goal is scored, there is a small period of time left before the new kickoff. In that time, you should walk towards your opponent's side of the field. When the circle appears on the ground just before kickoff, the lightning can hit your opponent right after kickoff and this will create an open goal chance! If you walk towards your opponent every time a goal is scored, it will give you one or two "free" goals on average. A good, speedy costume is also good for this stage.

Stage 11
France's power shot is very good in this stage, since the debris cannot interfere. If an air/ground power shot is put, there will be a chance that the debris blocks the power shot, ultimately put as a used-to-be chance of an easy goal. In other words, it will fail. Dashing the ball to score will mostly not work either in this stage, because of the debris constantly lying in the way. And be prepared for the boss match with Denmark, because all the rockets crossing the screen and the massive amount of debris on the ground will make this a chaotic match and it might sisturb your gameplay.

Stage 12
Try to stay out of the way from the magnets, and lure the opponent into them, for a chance for an open goal. Also, ground shots (at least, shots that travel quite low) would do very good, since there are no obstacles on the ground and sometimes your opponent is in the air. If you do air shots, it will sometimes be rebounded by the magnets. Also, do not worry about Croatia's Air Shot, since it will most likely miss the goal. Most of the time it even scores own goals, because the shot nearly alwas hits the one of the magnets.

Stage 13
In the matches with the minions, there is only one trident so you should be good if you avoid the middle. In the boss match however, there are three of them, which makes it much harder to avoid and you will also not be able to score a lot of goals. You should pay attention more than usual to not conceding in this boss round, because once you're behind with only one or two goals, catching up will only succeed with a lot of skill and - seeminlgy more important - luck. Avoiding the tridents is the key tip to succeed. Therefore, stay in a place on the field where none of the tridents come down, because once you get pierced by one of them, you are immobile for such a long amount of time that your opponent is very likely to score before you finally come down. Especially because there also occurs a mistake after you got picked up by a trident. When you come down, you won't be able to dash and jump until a goal is scored or you have used your power shot, so make sure one of the two will happen as soon as possible. Anyway this is another good reason to not get picked by the tridents. There's yet another mistake in this stage, that you can solve with the tips from this guide. The tridents are not only able to take the players up, but also the ball. When that happens, there is only one way to free the ball from the trident: Get yourself taken by the trident and activate your power shot. It takes a while before you use it: only when the trident is high in the air, you'll use it. This probably wastes your power shot, but it's the only way to get the ball back in play. Besides, someone has to do it, and your opponent mostly won't. Unless if you want to waste the time away when you're up of course, then it's okay to leave the ball there. The best character to use in this Stage is France, because his shot can always bypass the tridents. A disadvantage is that you have to use France's shot in the middle of the field, in the position where the trident is, so always watch out for that. Remember that the tridents, even their handles, stop the ball and most other power shots. That means that you shouldn't use a power shot when one of the tridents is on the ground, because it won't score but instead might bounce into your goal.

Stage 14
Make sure not to keep the ball in the air, or it will just stay there for the entire match. Make sure not to use air shots, either, or it will most likely be wasted. In the boss round, be extra careful. It will stay for the entire match if caught in the axes. Pluto's Power Shot has a lower chance of making it, but you still need to be careful, because when it comes through, the axes make it harder for you to jump and block/counter it. Watch out right from the start to concede a goal in the boss mission, as Pluto will always immediately walk towards the ball, and it happens a lot that he heads it against the scythe, and via the scythe the ball lands in the goal. When this happens, you are already 1-0 behind while there's still 1:00 on the clock. In this particular boss round it's very hard to come back from behind, so don't let this happen to you. In this Stage, the characters that work best are France when you use his shot around midline, and Mon-K provided that you use his air shot on your opponent's half of the field.

Stage 15
Use the same tips and tricks as for Stage 8.

Stage 16
This is a hard obstacle. Try to make them hit your opponent, not you. But they will sadly more often hit you, because they are always aiming in your direction. You must upgrade your jump to the maximum and have a costume that enables you to jump high to avoid the stick, otherwise, try to "trick" the slimes by walking erratically around them.

Stage 17
Every power shot works here as long as it isn't high in the air, like Chile, India, Spain or Portugal. Of course you must avoid the spider silk that's on the ground and if you let your opponent step in it, you will have a good chance to score. Very occasionally, the spiders will come really low, which is something to keep in the back of your mind.

Stage 18
You should pretty much just keep moving and don't pass the plants too often. If you do so, the plants are not going to eat you. On first three Minion stages, you can also try to keep in the middle of the field, however this doesn't work for the Boss round. When you have lost your costume, after a goal is scored, walk towards the plant next to your goal and let it eat you. After the new kick-off there is a chance that the ball will bounce off the bones thrown by the plant and fall into opponent's goal. Furthermore, the plant will be still chewing then so you have more time to dash away. China's second power shot (the Buddha Shot) doesn't work at all in this stage. This is because he will always shoot it at the place where the plant is. It will usually eat China before he can shoot the ball. The ball disappears and respawns in the center of the field, so for that reason don't use China here. Also for many other characters applies that you mustn't use their power shots right where the plant can eat them.

Stage 19
It's not one of the hardest obstacles to avoid, but it can get tricky the more landmines are on the pitch. Always make sure that during the match you don't step on them. Notice they usually don't explode after jumping on their top. If you stand on a landmine that is upside down, or jump close to a landmine that is on top of your goal, nothing will happen as well. The landmines only explode if you touch the sides. A good thing, however, is that your opponent might step on them, too! You can also kick the landmines away. Use the time in between the goal and the kickoff wisely by kicking the landmines from your half to the opponent's, or, a bit more risky, make them explode by touching their sides. This way, you can focus on the ball rather than worrying about the mines.

Stage 20
Of course you must avoid the fire geysers, but they will also create chances for you, as CPUs don't mind walking into the fire. In the matches against the henchmen, you'll start off every kickoff on a fire geyser. If you know that the geyser will activate soon and you're in that starting position, it's better to walk back instead of forward, reducing the chance that you will get burned down. In the boss round you should stay in between the geyser close to your goal and the one on midline most of the time, and walk away from the fire geysers quicky after every kickoff!

Stage 21
Even if a Steel Spear is coming out your opponent's goal, you can still score. There is a small gap in between the crossbar and the spear. However, the ball doesn't fit in between the small space between the ground and the spear. Also, when the spears emerge, you should make sure to be on top of them. Then, (but this is hard) get the ball under control, and walk the ball in the goal carefully - and keep it low - to score. When the spears are in the field, you won't have to worry for a while about conceding goals, because CPUs will only in exceptional cases be able to score. Instead, focus fully on scoring yourself. Georgia works well here, because his air shot will always go in if you jump high in the air, even if the steel spear comes out of your opponent's goal. When you use a straight-line power shot with maximized jump, it will probably go in as well. France, of course, works really good here as well.

Stage 22
Always avoid the tornadoes and make sure the ball doesn't get caught by a tornado, because the tornado might launch it towards your goal and the ball will be very hard to control. Remember, in the rounds against the henchmen, there will be one tornado and it will usually start on midline. To block the ball when it gets launched towards your goal by the tornado, stay close in front of your goal. In the boss round, however, there will be two tornadoes and they will usually start close to both goals, so on the sides of the screen, and you can avoid them by staying in the middle. Also don't use power shots containing a small ball when a tornado roams the field, because it will waste your power shot. However, the bigger the ball in your power shot, the less it is affected by the tornadoes! While small balls change direction dramatically, big footballs only go up a little bit on their way to the goal.

Stage 23
Listen to the traps. They are a bit noisy so you can hear when one of them opens and you just start to jump if you are close to a goal. Power shots that travel really high won't work here, as the pipe will block them. Also, avoid the trapdoors, especially when your opponent is performing a power shot!

Stage 24
It's a good idea to activate your power shot when you and your opponent are dragged into the black hole. If you are able to pick up the ball, you can activate your power shot. It won't go in, but it will hit your opponent (unless he counters it, which is always possible) and make him disappear. Then, when the black hole vanishes, you and the ball fall down on the ground and you can score! Another good thing to do is using a power shot that scores even when you're high in the center of the field, like France and Serbia's air shot. In this Stage, costumes such as the Dragon Costume might be of great help too! This particular costume will quite often burn your opponent down while you both are stuck in the black hole, and when the black hole has vanished, you can score in an empty goal! This costume works the best because of its good and relatively long effect, but of course it works the same with some other costumes, most noteworthy the Wolf Costume.

Stage 25
Beware if the wol(f/ves) come at you and you are close to your own goal and you have the ball. You will hardly be able to jump over them. So don't let yourself get enclosed and jump over them when necessary, but to do this your jumping stats must be upgraded to the maximum. Also, only use power shots that go high, because otherwise the wolf will probably block them and this might cause own goals.

Stage 26
Because there are arrows in the ground almost the whole match, ground shots usually don't work, so try to use power shots that travel higher in the air. They can be used as ramps, so be careful when Ecuador counter attacks, because you'll pass over and he scores. When you play against Sweden and he uses his Viking Boat Shot, you must jump, because the arrows on the ground will block the ball when it is shot low.

Stage 27
It is not hard to avoid the Lasers, and they are considered to be one of the easiest obstacles of all of the 5-round stages. Just avoid it until it stops shooting the lasers. It is a bit harder in the last round. The movements of the lasers are a bit slow. You can see when the laser is about to shoot; the upper part lights up. In the boss match against Nepal, walk backwards immediately after the starting whistle, because the laser cutters are sometimes aimed for you at the beginning of this match and will shoot almost immediately.

Stage 28
It might be hard to avoid when an earthworm emerges from your side of the screen and dives into the ground in a curved arc. When you feel like the worm might hit you, walk backwards (to your goal) instead of forwards. That is proven to work better. They can also come from the goal, but only in the boss round, so dash as far and fast as you can, without losing control of the ball as you move to the opponent's goal. Finally, they come from the ground. This is very hard, as it can separate and block you from the ball, block power shots or eat you.

Stage 29
Since all Obstacles are random here, you must look at the sections of the other stages in this page to know what to do. The obstacles of the stages 1 to 28 can appear here.

Stage 30
You'd want almost max stats for your characters here. The dragon, unlike any previous obstacle, can attack you from anywhere on the screen. Make sure to dash away during his attack instead of jump due to the low distance covered when you jump. You can see when the dragon will use his lasers. Before he uses them, he will tilt his head toward you. If you want to make your opponent get hit rather than you, walk to your opponent on the other side of the field and stay there until the dragon's head stays in place. Then, walk back to your own half and watch as your opponent gets destroyed. To avoid his fists, quickly walk away from them and stay in your goal, although midline works only sometimes. Remember that the fists can block power shots and this will cause own goals.