Quote Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
Hard mode requires smart play. Keep your girls spread out so AoE attacks don't wipe them. Pick them up before they get hit by a ranged attack to keep them safe. Send ones low on health to the back if you can't heal them immediately. Level up their skills and use them appropriately, including using manual targeting when available. I've cleared stage 58 this way, and my team is Helen, Althea, Nuka, and Luna. (Stage 59 has two necromancers at the end that keep spamming skeletons which my team keeps prioritizing instead of the totem, causing time to run out.)

The nice thing about hard mode is the equipment drop rate on the later stages. Stage 53 is best with a 70% and 68% (IIRC) for two rares.
IME you can't pick up a girl to avoid ranged attacks, it just follows the girl? I've only been able to avoid AoE's by picking a girl up.