Tower Defence: how to play, and how to win

The basics

Each level is a map with a road, a city at its end and a number of build slots, marked with a +, beside the road. Enemies come in waves. Every enemy that reaches the city costs lives, and the level is lost when the city has none left. Survive every wave and the level is won.

• Gold pays for towers and upgrades. You start each level with some, and every enemy stopped pays more. Gold belongs to the level you are playing.
• Waves start when you are ready: build first, then press Start. Between waves you can build, upgrade and sell in peace. Once every enemy of a wave is on the road, you can call the next one early.
• Lives: the city starts with 20. Most enemies that get through cost one life; bigger ones cost two, the Ironclad three and the Warlord ten.
• Stars: a win earns three stars if the city kept at least 90% of its lives (you lost no more than two), two stars if it kept at least half, and one star otherwise.
• Speed: play at 1x up to 5x, and pause at any time. The first level shows you around step by step, and the first three are gentle ones to learn on.

Your towers aim and shoot by themselves. The game is about where you build, what you build, and when you upgrade.

Towers and upgrades

There are six kinds of tower. Each can be upgraded twice: once to a stronger version, and then into one of two specialisations, so every tower ends up one of two quite different things. Prices are in gold.

Early levels offer only some of the towers: the first has Arrow Towers and Cannons, and Frost and Mage Towers follow on the next two. Tap a tower to see its upgrades, or to sell it. Selling returns 70% of what the tower cost, and everything spent on it since the current wave began, so a tower built by mistake can be taken back in full.

Aiming

Every tower shoots at the enemy in range that is nearest the city, unless you aim it otherwise. Select a tower and the Aim button above the panel says how it is aimed; tap it to choose the next way: first (nearest the city), last (furthest from the city), strongest (the most health left), weakest (the least health left) or closest (nearest the tower). A tower keeps its aim when it is upgraded, and a new tower starts aimed the way you last aimed one of its kind in that level.

Enemies

New enemies arrive as you travel further. Before each wave, the panel shows what is coming and what clearing it pays, with a warning when an enemy has a special ability.

Grunt

The common foot soldier. Nothing special, but they come in numbers.

Runner

Twice as fast as a Grunt, with little health. Fast-firing towers and frost catch them.

Brute

Slow and heavily armoured: armour takes a fixed amount off every hit, so many small hits do little. Cannons and mages deal with it. Costs the city two lives.

Flyer

Flies, so cannons and mortars cannot touch it. Arrows, mages, frost, Tesla Coils and the Flak Cannon can.

Healer

Heals the enemies around it. Kill it first, or its group takes far longer to bring down.

Swarmling

Tiny and quick, in large numbers. Blasts and lightning clear them.

Ironclad

A bigger, slower Brute with even more armour. Costs the city three lives.

Wyvern

A tougher flyer.

Shaman

A stronger healer that reaches further and heals more often.

Broodmother

Lightly armoured; when she falls, four Swarmlings burst out.

Warden

Halves the damage of magic: let arrows, cannons and lightning deal with it.

Burrower

Every few seconds it dives underground for a moment and walks on where nothing can hit it, then comes up again.

Phoenix

A flyer that turns to ashes when it falls, and rises again two seconds later with half its health. Kill it twice.

Leaper

A giant toad that crawls along, then every few seconds bounds far down the road in one leap, past towers that were waiting for it. Frost slows its crawl but not its leap.

Skeleton

Quick, frail bones, raised from the ground by a Necromancer. Blasts and lightning clear them.

Necromancer

A hooded sorcerer who raises two Skeletons behind it every few seconds, four times over. Strike it down first, and it raises no more: aim towers at the strongest, or drop a Meteor on it.

Aegis Knight

A soldier behind a tall shield, whose sea-blue aura gives every enemy near it three more armour. Magic goes straight through, and an Alchemist's acid eats the extra armour away.

Stone Golem

A lumbering heap of boulders. No single hit takes more than 30 off it, so big hits are wasted on it: arrows, Tesla Coils and other quick shots wear it down best.

Jungle Troll

A hunched, mossy brute that grows back a twenty-fifth of its health every second, unless it is burning or under an Alchemist's acid. Keep fire or acid on it, and focus your towers so that it falls before it heals.

Warlord

The boss, from Warlord's Gate on: enormous health and armour, and no Sentinel can hold it up. It costs the city ten lives if it gets through, and pays five credits when it falls.

Behemoth

The boss at the end of every level from Ash Valley (level 27) on: a horned beast, tougher than the Warlord, that no Sentinel can hold up. Each time it loses a quarter of its health it roars, and the towers near it stop firing for two and a half seconds. Spread your towers along the road so that one roar cannot silence them all. It costs the city ten lives if it gets through, and pays six credits when it falls.

The Sentinel

From level 11, you can tap your castle to hire a Sentinel for 70 gold: a soldier who guards the road and holds up to four enemies while your towers shoot them. Tap the road to choose where it stands; by default it guards the stretch your towers cover best. A fallen Sentinel comes back after a few seconds. On a map with two roads you can hire one for each.

The Sentinel upgrades to a Veteran (110 gold, tougher, holds five), and then into a Shield-bearer (180, holds a whole crowd at bay) or a Lancer (180, hits hard, holds three).

Captain Bram, the hero

Once you have won the first country (level 5), Captain Bram joins you: a knight in a blue and gold tabard with a red plume, free in every level from then on, endless games and Heroic and Iron included. He is not in the daily and weekly challenges, which stay the same for everyone.

He starts each game at the city gate. Tap him, or his button in the top bar, then tap a point on the road: he walks there and holds up to three enemies while your towers shoot them, and grows back his health while nothing touches him. If he falls, he is up again at the gate 15 seconds later, and the number on his button counts down until then.

His Shield Bash (the shield button beside his) hurts every walking enemy around him and stuns it for a second and a half; a Warlord only takes the blow, and flyers are out of his reach. It is ready again after 25 seconds.

Every game he plays in gives him experience: 10 for each wave held out and 50 more for a win, up to 300 a game. He goes from level 1 to level 10, a little tougher and harder-hitting each time: from 600 health and 30 damage a blow at level 1 to 1500 and 75 at level 10. The end of a game tells you when he reaches a new level.

Powers

From level 4 you can call a Meteor down on the map during a wave: tap its button in the top bar, then tap where it should fall. A moment later it lands and takes over a third of the health of every enemy in its blast, though far less of a Warlord. It is ready again after 30 seconds of play; the number on its button counts down until then.

From level 6 there is also the Frost Nova: it freezes every enemy in a wider circle solid for two and a half seconds, all but the Warlord, and is ready again after 40 seconds. Powers are the same for everyone, in the challenges and the hall of fame too. The last items of Tactics research make them stronger.

The eleven countries

The game has 55 levels in eleven countries, five levels each, and each country brings something new.

The Meadows
levels 1–5

Where it starts: Grunts and Runners, then Brutes, Flyers and Healers, and the first Warlord at Warlord's Gate.

The Autumn Hills
levels 6–10

Swarmlings, Ironclads and Wyverns, and longer levels. Research starts to matter here.

The Highlands
levels 11–15

The Sentinel joins you, and so does the Shaman. Crystals glow here and there: a tower in their light fires a quarter faster. From level 13, fallen rocks block some slots: you can clear them for 30 to 50 gold.

The Frozen North
levels 16–20

The Broodmother, the Tesla Coil (from level 17) and the Warden. Enemies cross frozen lakes 50% faster, and from level 18 towers on rocky high ground reach a fifth further. The Winter Throne has a second road.

The Desert
levels 21–25

Burrowers, and quicksand that slows enemies to 60% of their speed: a natural place to concentrate your fire. The Alchemist joins you from level 22.

The Fire Mountains
levels 26–30

The Phoenix, and from level 27 the Behemoth. Towers cannot aim into drifting smoke, and from level 27 towers built beside a glowing forge hit a quarter harder.

The Marshes
levels 31–35

The Leaper, and roads that fork: the road splits in two round an island and joins again, and the enemies of a wave take each way in turn. Towers on the island can cover both. On levels 32 to 34, the tide floods shallows on the road for eight seconds in every twenty, and enemies wade through them at half speed.

The Shadowlands
levels 36–40

The Necromancer, and the gloom: every tower reaches less far, except in the warm light around a brazier, so the slots near one are worth the most.

The Storm Coast
levels 41–45

The Aegis Knight, and the tide: every 20 seconds the sea comes in over the shallows the road runs through, and for eight seconds enemies wade through them at half speed. Towers that reach the shallows get the most shots.

The Crystal Caves
levels 46–50

The Stone Golem, and crystals: a tower built in a crystal's cool glow fires a quarter faster, so the slots near one are the place for your quickest towers.

The Jungle
levels 51–55

The Jungle Troll, and the monsoon: every 25 seconds the rain pours down for nine, and while it does every tower reaches a fifth less far. Build where towers still cover the road in the rain.

Gold: spending and saving

Spending everything at once is not always best. The game rewards a little patience:

• Interest. Gold you have not spent when a wave is cleared earns 10%, up to 40 gold a wave.
• Carry-over. When you win, a quarter of your unspent gold (up to 100), plus a tenth on top, is added to your starting gold on the next level.
• Another try. Lose a level and you start it again with a tenth more of its starting gold, for each defeat in a row up to five. Where the game shows ads, watching one after a defeat adds a quarter more.
• Wave rewards. Clearing a wave pays gold on top of what the enemies paid.
• Luck. Each try's gold varies a little, up to 5% either way (not in the challenges).
• A full defence. Once the gold in hand would build every slot to the top, waves and enemies pay no more: there is nothing left to buy.

Research can raise all of these: more interest, a bigger carry-over, more gold per wave, cheaper towers and upgrades.

Credits and research

Credits are the currency you keep. Every level pays credits for the waves you survived, win or lose, with a bonus for a win; later levels pay more. A level you have already won pays less, so new levels are worth more than replaying old ones; the first win of a level pays about enough for one more item of research. Achievements, a daily reward and the challenges pay credits too. Your first win also brings a gift of 20 credits for your first research.

Credits buy research: lasting improvements, bought in order in four branches. You can open research from the level select, between two waves of a level, and after a defeat. Resetting it is free and returns every credit, so you can try another plan at any time (though not in the middle of a game).

Difficulty and ways to play

Easy, Normal and Hard

You choose the difficulty each time you start a level. The enemies are the same on all three; what changes is your gold. Every level is measured for the gold a typical player needs to beat it. Normal gives you 10% more than that, Easy 20% more, but pays fewer credits and at most one star: useful when a level has you stuck. Hard opens on a level once you have won it on Normal: you get just the gold it needs, and it pays 50% more credits.

Endless

Win a level and you can play it endlessly: the waves keep coming, stronger each time round, until the city falls. How long can you hold out?

Heroic and Iron

Win a level on Normal (or Hard) and two challenges more open on it, played on Normal's gold with your research: Heroic, where the city has a single life, so one enemy through loses the level; and Iron, where only one kind of tower may stand at a time, so choose well, as not every tower can hit every enemy. Each earns its own star on the level the first time you win it, and pays like a first win; a heart and a little tower beside the level's stars show which you have won, and four achievements count them. A try left part-way through is kept: start it again from the level to continue. Research and hints are closed during them, and they do not go to the hall of fame.

Daily and weekly challenges

Once you have won level 3, a new daily challenge waits every day: one level with a twist, such as tough enemies, swift enemies, half the gold, no upgrades, only two kinds of tower, or a quarter of the lives. Everyone plays it with the same research, so it is a fair contest. The weekly challenge runs from Monday to Sunday with two twists at once, and pays twice as many credits per wave.

Hall of fame

Sign in with Google and choose a name and a country to join the hall of fame: lists for the most stars on Easy, Normal and Hard, the longest endless game, and the daily and weekly challenges, for the whole world or one country. Every score is checked on our server by replaying the game before it counts.

The Overall list ranks all three difficulties together. Each level counts once, by its best result: a star on Easy is worth 1 point, on Normal 2 and on Hard 3. So a level won with three stars on Hard is worth 9, and winning it on the other difficulties as well adds nothing more.

Achievements, records and the daily reward

39 achievements, such as winning every level of a country, pay credits when earned. Coming back on consecutive days pays a daily reward that grows from 10 to 40 credits over a week. In Halloween week and Christmas week, the first level you win each day (on any difficulty, or in Heroic or Iron) earns that day's pumpkin or present and 20 credits, and three of them earn the season's achievement; the maps are dressed for the season too. Beside the achievements, Records counts up your games, waves survived, enemies and Warlords defeated, towers built (and your favourite) and powers called.

New things, and the encyclopedia

The first time a level brings something new (a tower, a power, an enemy, a kind of ground such as ice or smoke, or a structure such as a forge), the game pauses on a card that shows it and says what it does. Every card you have seen stays in the Encyclopedia on the level select: towers with their upgrades, powers, enemies and terrain, and a question mark, with the level it comes on, for what you have not met yet.

Hints

Stuck between two waves? A hint looks one wave ahead and tells you what to build. Each game allows three hints (four with the Scouts research), at 10 credits each; where the game shows ads, you can also watch one instead. A hint costs a star in the hall of fame (or two waves in an endless game), but nothing in your own progress.

Tips for three stars

• Build where the road bends. A tower beside a bend, or between two stretches of road, has enemies in range for much longer than one beside a straight.
• Mix your towers. Arrows for speed and flyers, cannons for crowds, frost to slow, mages for armour. A single kind of tower always meets an enemy it is bad at.
• Slow, then hit. A Frost Tower just before your strongest towers multiplies their damage: enemies spend longer in range.
• Know your armour. Armour takes a fixed amount off each hit. Against Brutes and Ironclads, a few heavy hits (cannons, Sniper, Archmage) beat many light ones, and magic ignores armour altogether.
• Healers first. A Healer or Shaman in a group undoes your damage. Towers with range reach them; the Wildfire research stops healing on burning enemies.
• Keep some gold back. Up to 400 gold left unspent earns the full 40 gold of interest each wave. Spend when a wave needs it, not before.
• Upgrade the right tower. One well-placed tower at its third tier often beats two new towers in poor spots.
• Save the Meteor for a crowd. It takes a share of each enemy's health, so it does most where enemies bunch up: at a bend, behind a Sentinel, or frozen by the Frost Nova just before.
• In the gloom, build by the braziers. A tower in a brazier's light reaches as far as ever; one in the dark falls short. Put your longest reaches there.
• Break the shield wall with magic. Aegis Knights add armour to the enemies around them, which blunts arrows and cannons. Mage towers ignore armour, so they hit the shielded crowd at full strength.
• Aim to suit the tower. A Sniper or an Archmage aimed at the strongest enemy spends its big hits where they count; a tower near the start of the road aimed last picks off what slips past the others; a quick tower aimed at the weakest finishes off what the others have hurt.
• Use the map. Put frost on the ice, your strongest towers on high ground and beside forges, and a killing zone at the quicksand. In smoke, make sure your towers cover the road on either side of it.
• Plan for Burrowers, the Phoenix and the Leaper. Burrowers can only be hit above ground, so cover a long stretch of road. A Phoenix rises again from its ashes: keep towers behind the point where it falls. A Leaper jumps clean past a short killing zone, so spread your fire along the road.
• Stuck? Replay earlier levels for credits and buy research, try the level on Easy first, or take a hint.

Controls

On a phone or tablet, tap a + slot to build, tap a tower to upgrade or sell it, pinch the map to zoom in and drag to look around. On a computer, use the mouse, and the keyboard if you like:

Space

Start the next wave, or pause and resume during one.

+ −

Faster or slower.

N

Call the next wave early.

T

Aim the selected tower the next way.

1 2

Call the Meteor or the Frost Nova; then click where it should strike.

H

Pick Captain Bram; then click the road where he should go.

B

Captain Bram's Shield Bash.

Esc

Open or close the menu.

The browser's Back button works too: in a level it opens the menu, and pressed again it saves the game and returns to the level select.

Questions and answers

Is Tower Defence free?

Yes. It is free to play, with ads in the browser version. There is nothing to buy.

Do I need to download anything?

No. It plays in any modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer. If you like, you can install it as an app: on Android and in Chrome on a computer, choose "Install app" on the level select; on an iPhone or iPad, use Safari's "Add to Home Screen". Once installed, it starts even without a connection.

Is my progress saved?

Yes, on your device, from the first level, without an account. A level you leave part-way through can be continued later. Sign in with Google to keep your progress in an account and carry it to your other devices.

Which languages does it speak?

41, from English, Chinese, Hindi and Spanish to Turkish, Swahili and Vietnamese. It starts in your browser's language when it has it, and you can change it on the level select.

Something is wrong, or I have an idea

Write to support@brookmoon.com.