Welcome, new tower defense enthusiast! Stepping into the world of tower defense games can be exciting, but also a little overwhelming when you’re just starting out. As a seasoned player at level 51, with experience stretching back to the days before even the “Bugler” update, I’ve seen a lot of newcomers jump into the fray. That’s why I’ve decided to put together My Very Own Tower Strategy Guide, specifically tailored for beginners like you. This guide will walk you through the essential hotkeys, tower information, and some early game strategies to help you get your footing and start enjoying the game to its fullest.
Let’s dive right in!
Essential Hotkeys for PC Players:
Navigating the game on PC is much smoother with hotkeys. Here’s a quick rundown of the most important ones to get you started:
- Tower Selection (Slots 1-5): Quickly select your towers by pressing the number keys 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. These correspond to the order your towers are arranged in your loadout slots.
- Top Path Upgrade: Want to upgrade your tower’s top path? Just press F.
- Bottom Path Upgrade: Prefer the bottom path? Hit G for a bottom path upgrade.
- Sell Tower: Need to sell a tower quickly? Tap J twice in rapid succession.
- Change Targeting: Adjust your tower’s targeting priorities by pressing H.
- Cancel Hotkey: (Unfortunately, even after all this time, I still can’t recall the cancel hotkey! You might need to find this one in the game settings.)
Tower Insights: A Beginner’s Guide to Choosing Wisely
Now, let’s get into the meat of this guide – understanding your towers. Here’s a breakdown of some key towers, especially focusing on what’s useful for beginners:
1. Slinger:
The Slinger is often considered the most basic tower, and honestly, it’s not the greatest for damage dealing. Think of it as a very early game option. It also lacks the ability to attack flying enemies. If you have access to better damage per second (DPS) towers, you should definitely use those instead.
- Top Path: Focuses on support. Upgrading the top path makes Slingers buff other nearby Slingers, increasing their effectiveness if you decide to use multiple.
- Bottom Path: Aims for heavier, explosive damage, but still ends up being relatively low DPS overall.
Beginner Tip: While Slingers are cheap, try to transition to better towers as soon as possible. They are really only useful in the very, very beginning stages.
2. Crossbower:
Consider the Crossbower as the upgraded Slinger. The crucial advantage of the Crossbower is its ability to detect and attack flying enemies, which is essential as you progress in the game. They are also very cheap to purchase in the shop, making them accessible early on.
- Overall: Crossbowers are a decent early-game tower due to their cost and air attack capability. However, like Slingers, you’ll want to aim for stronger towers as you accumulate more resources.
Beginner Tip: Crossbowers are a solid early investment for handling both ground and air threats on a budget.
3. Freezer:
The Freezer tower can be a bit tricky for beginners to utilize effectively. It’s more of a strategic tower, and honestly, it shines more in the challenging Expert Mode.
- Important Note: The ability of the Freezer tower is currently bugged and does not work. Therefore, if you choose to use a Freezer, always go for the top path upgrades.
- Use Case: Freezers are designed to slow down enemies, giving your damage towers more time to attack. This crowd control can be valuable in later, harder stages.
Beginner Tip: Freezers are not recommended for brand new players. Focus on damage towers first. If you experiment with Freezers, remember to prioritize the top path due to the ability issue.
4. Sharpshooter:
The Sharpshooter is an excellent tower for beginners to get acquainted with. It offers reliable damage output, especially in the early to mid-game stages.
- Bottom Path: The bottom path is generally stronger for the early to mid-game phases. It provides a good balance of damage and attack speed.
- Top Path: If you’re aiming for higher DPS and the ability to pierce enemy defenses in later stages, the top path is the way to go. It sacrifices some early game power for more late-game potential.
Beginner Tip: Sharpshooters are a great all-around tower for beginners. Start with the bottom path to get a feel for the game, and consider transitioning to the top path as you face tougher challenges.
5. Demolitionist:
The Demolitionist tower brings some serious area-of-effect damage to the table. It deals good damage over a decent radius and, importantly, has defense piercing capabilities. This means it can damage enemies even if they have armor or resistances.
- Overall: Demolitionists are a solid choice for beginners, intermediate players, and even experienced players. They offer reliable area damage and defense penetration.
- Performance Note: However, be warned, especially for iPad or older device users: Demolitionists can cause significant frame rate drops (FPS) due to their explosive effects, potentially making the game laggy.
Beginner Tip: Demolitionists are powerful for clearing groups of enemies, especially armored ones. Be mindful of potential performance issues on lower-end devices.
6. Gunslinger:
The Gunslinger is a tower that can be effective in the early game, but it has some limitations you need to be aware of.
- Bottom Path: Generally, the bottom path is recommended for the Gunslinger because of its powerful ability.
- Top Path: The top path is an option, but often less impactful than the bottom path.
- Range Limitation: Gunslingers have a relatively short range. This means fast-moving enemies can pose a significant threat as they can quickly get past the Gunslinger’s effective zone.
Beginner Tip: Gunslingers can be decent early on, especially with the bottom path ability, but be prepared to support them with towers that have longer range to deal with faster enemies.
7. Sniper:
The Sniper is absolutely essential, especially as you aim to tackle the more challenging aspects of the game like Expert Raids. A well-placed Sniper can single-handedly carry you through Normal and Hard modes.
- Crucial Upgrade Path: ALWAYS aim for the 4-2 upgrade path (4th tier top path, 2nd tier bottom path) for Snipers. Avoid the 2-3 or 2-4 paths as they are significantly less effective for their cost.
- Expert Raid Necessity: Snipers are practically mandatory for succeeding in Expert Raids due to their long range, high single-target damage, and ability to target priority enemies.
Beginner Tip: Prioritize getting a Sniper and always aim for the 4-2 upgrade path. It’s a game-changer for mid to late-game content.
8. Market:
The Market tower is focused on economy rather than direct combat.
- Not for Beginners: As a beginner, you should probably avoid the Market tower initially. It’s more of an advanced economic tool for experienced players who are optimizing their coin income.
Beginner Tip: Don’t worry about the Market tower when you’re just starting. Focus on learning the combat towers first.
9. Techblade, Electric, and Mini Towers:
- Techblade: The Techblade tower is no longer obtainable in the game.
- Electric and Mini: These towers are often considered “Pay-to-Win” (P2W) as they are typically acquired through in-app purchases or premium means.
Beginner Tip: For now, focus on the core, readily available towers. You don’t need to worry about Techblade, Electric, or Mini towers to enjoy and progress in the game as a beginner.
Grinding for Coins and Experience: Your Path to Progression
So, how do you progress and get stronger? Here’s a simple grinding strategy to get you started:
- Early Game (Coin & XP Grind): Start by grinding Normal Mode stages until you can reliably obtain and upgrade Crossbowers.
- Mid Game (Hard Mode Focus): Once you have Crossbowers, transition to grinding Hard Mode. This will give you better coin and experience rewards.
- Sniper Goal: Save up your coins to purchase and upgrade Snipers. As mentioned, Snipers are incredibly powerful and will significantly boost your ability to handle harder content.
- Late Mid-Game (Electric Tower Aim): After Snipers, aim to save for the Electric tower (if you are willing to consider premium options or if it becomes more readily available). Electric towers are powerful damage dealers.
- Economy Boost (Market Consideration): Once you have a solid roster of damage towers like Snipers and potentially Electric towers, you can then consider investing in Market towers to further optimize your coin income for even faster progression.
- Beyond Beginner: After reaching this point – having Snipers, potentially Electric and Market towers – you’ve graduated from being a beginner! At this stage, experiment, explore different strategies, and really do whatever you find fun and effective in the game!
This my very own tower strategy guide is just a starting point. The best way to learn is by playing, experimenting, and finding what strategies work best for you. Good luck, and have fun defending your towers!
(I might add more to this guide in the future if you have suggestions or further questions!)
