So what are we supposed to use until then, oh wise ones?
The addition of the new 3* enemies have certainly made battles tougher for many players, particularly in lower chapters.
But it's also worth remembering that several newish features have significantly changed the meta-game (particularly for battling) since a year ago. Generally I feel these have rebalanced advantages that earlier/mid chapter players had at that time in tournament play at that time - particularly in Woodelves, where the main offensive barracks troops are all at 3* and the training speed is very fast. With these changes, more advanced players (with their 2* and 3* specialists) definitely have more options and some advantages for dealing with these badass enemies.
But the answer to tesla's question is really "cannon fodder". Yes, I'm losing way more troops. Without well levelled AWs, a lossless battle becomes rare, and sometimes even losing 1.5 squads feels like a low loss.....But countering that difficulty, I can also make many more replacement troops than before. I can feed a brown bear and use time boosters and supplies instants to make troop numbers that would have taken weeks before. Both of these resources are more abundant through crafting and the spire than they were. Plus earlier chapter players have more opportunities to gain troop booster buildings through crafting (plus the dwarven armorer if they actively play the spire): pre-crafting, these used to be rare prizes from events. And of course given the last Phoenix event, many players who started cities a year ago should have the fire phoenix, which is effectively a super-AW for troop stats boosts. So overall, I think the greater difficulty of battles in provinces 10+ offsets some of the gains we have had in making battles easier through the additional boosters. How they sustain this balance for newer players, who started post-phoenix remains to be seen: there need to be more opportunities to gain the artifacts required to evolve a crafted phoenix for example.