A FEW GOOD
DECISIONS.

01 / YOUR FIRST RUN

Protect the actual objective.

Choose a chapter and difficulty, then look at its marked approaches. Ground infected follow their routes toward the objective. They attack at its border instead of disappearing at a finish line; ranged enemies can attack from farther away. Flying enemies need weapons capable of targeting air.

1. Read the next wave. The wave preview tells you what is incoming. Press Tab to inspect approaches.
2. Cover the most exposed route. Start with a general-purpose tower where its range covers useful travel distance or more than one approach.
3. Keep scrap for repairs. Spending everything on a distant upgrade can leave an uncovered edge and no way to recover.
4. Watch the objective. Enemy health is useful, but train, relay, generator, or bus health decides the run.

Automatic waves are available; switch them off for preparation time or press Space to start the next ready wave immediately. Clearing the chapter opens a success screen before the next level.

02 / PLACEMENT

Build where the ground is marked.

Choose an available tower in the build bar, then hover a marked foundation. Inspect the preview and range before placing it. Build pads are fixed to the map’s floors and platforms; there is no free placement on water or scenery.

Click a built tower to manage it. The panel shows upgrade cost and wave locks. Sell uses a second confirmation, so an accidental first click does not remove a critical defense. Right-click closes an open context card.

Five tiers, earned over the run

Tier two unlocks at wave 4, tier three at 12, tier four at 24, and tier five at 38. Each upgrade increases damage, range, and firing rate; tower-specific equipment and shot effects change as tiers rise.

Damage increases by 60% of tier-one damage per additional tier, range by 0.65 per tier, and firing rate by a factor of 1.12 per upgrade. The Gatling adds piercing ammo at tier four and every-third-shot splash at tier five. Arc gains an extra chain target each tier.

03 / ECONOMY

Your reserve is part of the defense.

Scrap pays for construction, upgrades, and emergency bonuses. Enemy kills and wave rewards fund the next decision. Dex’s construction discount is already included in the wiki’s build prices. A tower’s upgrade price uses its undiscounted base cost.

Upgrade multipliers for transitions to tiers 2–5 are 1×, 2×, 3.5×, and 6× the base tower cost. Selling returns 60% of the actual scrap invested. Check the live panel for rounded prices and availability.

Rifle shots use no ammunition. Shotgun uses one supply per shot; rockets use three. Powered highway weapons also consume the shared grid: Solar Lance uses 8 power per shot and Cryo uses 3. Keep ordinary guns in the battery if power is drained.

04 / CREW

Support the towers.

The four portraits represent defenders visibly stationed around the protected territory. Select a portrait or use F1–F4. Press the ready skill button or T to activate that defender’s ability. Auto Skills lets useful ready abilities trigger automatically.

• Rook: short-range piercing cover fire for 4.5 seconds.
• Mara: a small ground fire patch for 3.5 seconds.
• Dex: clear jams, +25% tower damage for 6 seconds, and +4 ammunition.
• Iris: restore 12 objective HP; automatic use waits until healing helps.

Heroes have limited reach, cooldowns, and reduced effectiveness against bosses. Use them to rescue a weak spot, interrupt a threat, or support a battery. Your tower layout provides the sustained damage.

05 / BOSS FIGHTS

Read. Counter. Capitalize.

Bosses change phase at 66% and 33% health. Watch the marked special-attack wind-up and its displayed counter type. Damage of the wrong type does not cancel the cast.

1. Build the matching counter before the boss reaches the objective.
2. Apply that damage type during its cast to fill the interruption threshold.
3. An interrupted boss becomes exposed for 3.5 seconds and takes 35% more damage. Nearby escorts stagger for 2 seconds.
4. Use the exposed window for tower pressure, and preserve enough scrap to survive the next cast.

Electric fire counters the Signal Eater and the Hook of Winter. Piercing fire counters the Excavator King. Explosives counter the airborne Ashwing, while Sonic Speakers interrupt the High Score. The wiki records each authored appearance and counter.

Open the boss field guide →

06 / WINDOWS CONTROLS

Mouse first. Shortcuts when useful.

Tower shortcuts appear in the build interface. Only defenses available for the current chapter can be selected.

07 / DISPLAY

Keep the pixels clear.

Display settings include windowed, borderless, and fullscreen modes; desktop, Full HD, 2K, and 4K output choices; quality presets; VSync; and a frame limit. Output resolution does not create extra detail inside the original pixel artwork.

Native Pixels / Expanded keeps the playable artwork at a whole-pixel scale and fills the surrounding view with additional scenery. Pixel Perfect keeps whole-pixel scaling with borders. Full Screen / Sharp fills the view using the alternate sharp scaling treatment. Choose the framing that looks best on your screen.

Steady Camera keeps the camera stable while retaining world effects. Atmosphere choices let you adjust motion separately. Music and sound have individual controls.