1. Heal frigates are amazing. Early on, they're mostly on low HP ships like the snipers so you might be tempted to start ignoring them and just focus down what they're healing. This is a mistake. There will eventually be dozens of them in the later waves, and if you don't bring something to take them down, you're screwed. You need ships with AOE: Interceptor, Colossus, Aegis, Basilisk...etc.

2. Waves 1-12 are all pre-defined. Waves 13+ are chosen from presets. If you're having trouble dealing with the first 12 waves, try memorizing the ship order. I have a guide on how to deal with these waves below. This should inform what ships you pick and how you deal with the AI when they split lanes.

3. Pick your ship comp with a balance of DPS and survivability in mind. DPS is super important, a lot more than burst damage. Burst damage helps you get jump kills, but sustained DPS is how you burn down the heavies and bosses. Survivability takes a slight backseat to DPS in Last Stand, but you still don't want ships that die too easily (read: no light attack ships).

4. Holding the lane forward bases is important, but it's not the end of the world if you lose one. For some waves, it's going to be impossible to kill all the enemies before they swarm and take the FOB. Have a plan for when that happens. Take out as many heal frigates as you can before they jump because most damage you do will probably be healed if they still have frigates left when they enter your base.

5. The Swarm has no fear. They will jump straight into your base a couple seconds after take the FOB. Take advantage of this suicidal tendency to get some jump kills. Prioritize ships you can finish, because again, heal frigates might just outheal all your damage.

6. Turrets are super useful as damage sponges despite not being able to do substantial damage to the enemies in later waves.. Protect them. Once they go down, enemies are going to start shooting you and your core. Just keep in mind that the longer the turrets survive, the more buffer you have for your core.

7. Check the lanes before you enter them. Some ships are better at dealing with some than others. If you can coordinate with your team, you can assign people to certain ships. If you can't, just jump into lane with the ship you most counter. The point you select is vital. Don't jump into lane right next to 4 enemy bosses. Don't jump in behind when you should be rushing the enemy.

8. Focus fire enemy heal ships. This is also a PvP tip.

9. Know your bosses. Endeavor and Leviathan bosses are catastrophic threats. Gladiator and Destroyer are bad for your health if you get exposed for too long. Aegis and Colossus are just damage sponges. Avoid close range with the Brawler. Centurion boss is stupid: if it has enough energy and is shot, it will bring up its shield and refuse to jump into your base. Don't kill the shield, don't concuss/drain it, or else it will actually do a lot of damage to you.

10. Exercise as much aggression as you can without dying. Do not just sit in your FOB if you think you can straight up take on the enemies. Waves can have up to 3 spawn phases. If you sit and slowly wait for the 1st phase to reach you, you're in major trouble when the 2nd and 3rd spawn phases kick in. Ideally, push up and kill the 1st phase as soon as possible, and then go home and heal before the 2nd phase spawns.

* = boss
# = lane
- = next spawn phase

Wave 1:
# Protector, Pioneer x2

(EZPZ.)

Wave 2:
# Raider, Reaper
# Reaper
-
# Colossus*, Reaper

(EZPZ, do the first phase quickly, then kill Reaper, then Colossus boss.)

Wave 3:
# Watchman x2, Brawler

(How is this wave easier than the last?)

Wave 4:
# Brawler x2, Raider
-
# Leviathan*, Protector, Pioneer

(Don't jump into lane anywhere close to that Levi beam.)

Wave 5:
# Sentinel x2
# Sentinel
-
# Enforcer
# Enforcer
-
# Centurion*, Furion

(Split up to deal with the Sentinels. Switch lanes once done to help other lane. Split up to deal with the Enforcers, again help the other lane once you're done. Final phase, kill Furion as he charges at you, then deal with the Centurion. This is the first time you actually have to kill the heal frigates first.)

Wave 6:
# Protector, Hunter
# Guardian x2
(Have your worst offensive ship stall the Guardian while the other 2 kill Protector Hunter quickly. Then have them switch over to help against Guardian.)

Wave 7:
# Hunter x2, Persecutor x2
-
# Aegis*, Protector, Reaper

(This is the first challenging wave for most players. You'll want to kill the first phase quickly or else the second wave is going to come into your base uncontested and bring in a bunch of heals. If you're having a lot of trouble with this wave, you either don't have enough reliable DPS in your team comp or you're just letting the mobility ships dodge too much of your shots. This is the first wave where you can really evaluate whether your team composition is good or toast. Usually the Hunters in the first phase will blink in faster than the Persecutors, and they are bigger slower targets, so focus those first. The Persecutor will nuke twice which is a lot of damage, so if you're having trouble with the first spawn phase, you can try to huddle in your FOB and just try to heal after you get hit by those. Once you kill them, you'll want to quickly swap to the lane for the second spawn phase and kill the Protector as they jump in even if you can't stop the entire wave. The remainder should be easy to pick off once the heal frigates are dead.)

Wave 8:
# Reaper, Punisher, Sentinel
-
# Colossus
# Colossus
-
# Guardian*, Protector, Raven

(Start by pushing into the first phase. You should be able to go toe to toe with them, so you want to really close in and finish them ASAP. Then, split for Colossus, kill those heal frigates, and kill them ASAP as well. Speed is paramont. Don't take forever to kill the Colossus or his team might come in behind him for the third spawn phase and just heal him up to full. You can take your time on the final phase. Kill heal frigates, kill Protector/Raven whichever is closer, and then finish out the Guardian last.)

Wave 9:
# Gladiator*, Ghost x2

(Unless you have a comp that specifically deals with this, someone is almost definitely going to die in this wave. Have your highest survivability ship be at the front of your formation, but take cover against the Gladiator boss. Something with shield or just lots of HP/heals is super useful. When the Ghosts reveal themselves, the cannon fodder's job is to survive just long enough for the other 2 ships to kill them. Then, dismantle the Gladiator boss by rotating in and out of cover.)

Wave 10:
# Raven x2, Paladin, Aegis
-
# Endeavor*, Persecutor, Protector

(A lot of teams get eliminated on this wave. The most critical thing in the first phase is to get rid of the heal frigates and Paladin, in that order, before they jump into your home base. If the second wave comes in and you still haven't killed the frigates and Paladin, you're in big trouble because the enemy team will have the Paladin and Protector healing each other and the healing frigates keeping both alive. The name of the game is kill heals.)

Wave 11:
# Venturer x3
-
# Enforcer x3
-
# Brawler*, Watchman

(Triple Venturer might seem tough but it's actually not that difficult to take apart especially if you survived the last wave. They'll each pop heals, then shield, if they take enough damage. You'll want to collectively whale on the one you can do the most damage to, and just keep shooting it until they waste their heals and then shield on it. Make sure to kill the shield buoys as they come out. Triple Enforcer is brutal, so don't try to take on them alone. Deal with them together in lane as a team, or just wait until they're close to it, jump in, do as much damage as possible as they jump to your base, and then jump back behind them to finish them off. The final phase is easy if you've already dealt with the previous two and hairy if not. Focus the Brawler, don't get too close, and ignore the Watchman until last.)

Wave 12:
# Hunter*, Hunter x2, Persecutor x2

(This is actually one of the most difficult waves, more so than a lot of the later ones. The trick is to kill the Hunter boss aka KNIFE first. He's going to blink straight into your team, temporarily AWAY from his heal frigates. You have about 10-20 seconds to kill him before the rest of his team arrives. Once you kill him, take out the heal drones first before you kill everyone else. Because they are all mobility ships, they might already be jumping to your base as you take out the heal drones. Take advantage of that and kill as many of them as possible. It's quite okay to finish this wave at your home base by cleaning up any stragglers that you didn't kill in lane.)

Reference video of me + robertpdot + joedabrave clearing Wave 20[www.twitch.tv]

Special thanks to everyone at KS3 whose collective knowledge I've harnessed & gathered into this guide.