how in hell
it's easy
note that in the first stage, if the dupes shoot really high, or if you decide that it should be enough, you should probably count how many it takes for them to delete
if it's over five, continue until it's not
further note that if you do it correctly, the lesser one should almost never have to be cloned in the second stage, rather that it will always be smashed at least once until the difference between the elements obtained from smashing other elements is no longer proportionally negligible, that is when there are two different, definitely periodic elements, then the lesser may need to be cloned.