KNOW YOUR SHORE
The island field guide.
The trail doubles back through Coral Reach. Think in terms of time spent in range: a tower near a bend can keep firing while enemies turn around it. The strongest defense combines steady damage, splash damage and slowing.
Choose your towers
| Tower | Cost | Damage / interval | Range | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolt | 70 gold | 12 / 0.52s | 150 | Fast single-target fire |
| Bomb | 110 gold | 29 / 1.60s | 160 | Hits groups within 65 range units of its target |
| Frost | 90 gold | 6 / 0.85s | 145 | Slows targets by 50% for 1.65 seconds |
Range uses game-world units and stays consistent at every screen size. Frost effects refresh rather than stack. Bomb damage affects every enemy in its blast, including armored raiders.
Upgrade with purpose
Each tower has three levels. Level 2 multiplies base damage by 1.7, extends range by 17 and shortens the firing interval. Level 3 multiplies base damage by 2.65, extends range by a total of 34, and fires faster again. Level 2 costs 85% of the tower’s base price; level 3 costs 125%, each rounded to the nearest gold.
On Coral Reach, try placing Bolt towers at B and C, then adding a Bomb tower near the central trail. A Frost tower near the middle bends helps nearby damage towers get extra shots. Selling a misplaced tower returns 70% of all gold spent on it, rounded down.
Know what is coming
- Shore raiders: ordinary crabs that arrive from the landing on the left.
- Runner lizards: long-tailed sand lizards appearing from wave 2. They spend less time in range, so slow them or cover a second bend.
- Armored turtles: heavy shellback turtles appearing from wave 3. They take only 65% damage from Bolt shots. Bombs and Frost deal their full damage.
- The Dreadclaw: the final creature in wave 12. It has 2,100 / 3,300 / 3,500 health on Standard / Veteran / Nightmare. It enrages below half health and charges a telegraphed slam. Use Tide pulse to interrupt. A boss escape ends the run.
Three habits that help
- Spend the first gold. A tower that is not built cannot earn gold. Two Bolt towers and a small reserve make a straightforward opening.
- Cover multiple bends. Concentrating everything at the landing can leave fast raiders unchecked near the lighthouse.
- Prepare before wave 12. Stop between waves to upgrade. A level-one defense can clear early waves but will struggle against the final boss.
Choose from three islands and three difficulties. Enemy health grows each wave. No purchases or matchmaking affect a run.
Try your strategy →Six towers and a one-screen battlefield
All six towers are visible together in the build dock. Drag directly or use keys 1–6. Storm sparks travel before chaining through up to three enemies within 92 units, retaining 67% damage per jump. Venom adds 10 poison damage per second for 3 seconds at level one; poison does not stack and bosses take half poison damage. Ballista bolts have 235 range, pierce up to three enemies with 70% damage retained per hit, ignore arrow armor resistance and can travel 100 units beyond their attack range. Bolts follow their launch direction; enemies outside the flight path can be missed.
Each tower has two optional level-three specializations. Commands, Statistics and Specializations use separate control pages. Wave intel and arrival forecasts have their own panel. The map fits the window and the launch controls stay at the bottom. Logbook opens saved records, the workshop and account links.
Difficulty and tactical skills
Veteran is the default. Standard is for learning counters; Nightmare demands tighter spending and skill timing. Choose a difficulty before a run or on the results screen. Workshop bonuses still apply.
| Difficulty | Lighthouse | Build time | Boss health |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 18 | 40s | 2,100 |
| Veteran | 16 | 35s | 3,300 |
| Nightmare | 12 | 30s | 3,500 |
First-wave and final-wave preparation are 60 seconds in every difficulty. Open wave intel to see the exact next roster and counter advice. Pause stops both build time and combat cooldowns.
Overdrive and priorities
Select a completed tower and activate Overdrive, or press E while a game control is focused: attack speed increases by 65% for 5 combat seconds, with a shared 24-second combat cooldown and no gold cost. Selling the boosted tower does not reset the cooldown. Front targets the leading enemy; Strong targets the highest combined health and shield; Support targets Tidecallers first. Keyboard 1 / 2 / 3 selects Bolt / Bomb / Frost.
New threats and counterplay
Shieldguards carry a shield worth 60% of their health and reduce arrow damage to nearby allies within 66 units by 35%. Bombs deplete shields twice as fast, and Tide pulse 2.5 times as fast. Tidecallers heal other living allies within 90 units every 3.4 seconds, restoring 5.5% of maximum health up to 36 health. Use focus fire or Support priority to stop healing.
The Dreadclaw gains 20% movement speed below half health. Its orange 150-unit slam warning lasts 1.8 combat seconds; an uninterrupted slam disrupts nearby towers for 1.8 seconds. A Tide pulse that hits the charging boss interrupts it. The warning, cooldowns and projectile movement remain visible in reduced-motion mode.
Islands, branches and battle reviews
Choose Coral Reach, Moonlit Marsh or Cinder Cove before a run. Each has its own route and twelve tower sites. Moonlit Marsh has a tight upper loop and a final causeway; Cinder Cove has long overlapping passes and enemies with 20% more health, including the boss. Follow the glowing opening sites and use Route preview to inspect the actual path.
At level 2, either keep the balanced level-three upgrade or choose one of two specialization branches for the same upgrade cost. The choice is permanent for that tower. Every branch has a trade-off; selling and rebuilding is the way to choose again.
| Branch | Effect and trade-off |
|---|---|
| Tempest coil | Chains to 5 enemies. 15% less damage; each jump retains 60% damage. |
| Thunder crown | 50% more damage and 2.5× shield damage, but chains to only 2 enemies and fires 15% slower. |
| Miasma vessel | Poisons a 48-radius area. 25% less direct damage and 20% less poison damage; poison lasts 3.5s. |
| Corrosive brew | 30% stronger poison lasting 4s and 2× shield damage; fires 15% slower. Boss poison resistance remains. |
| Tidal lancer | Pierces 5 enemies, retaining 80% damage per hit. 15% less shot damage and 10% longer firing interval. |
| Royal harpoon | 60% more damage, +30 range and 2.2× shield damage. Hits only one enemy and fires 20% slower. |
| Repeater | 30% shorter firing interval, 18% less damage and 12 less range. Fast draw. |
| Armorbreaker | Ignores armor and guardian arrow resistance. 2.2× shield damage; 18% more damage, 18% longer firing interval, +18 range. |
| Cluster mortar | 95 blast radius and three traveling bomblets. 22% less main damage and 10% longer firing interval. |
| Siege cannon | 50% more damage, 3.2× shield damage and +12 range. 45% longer firing interval; blast radius reduced to 38. |
| Glacier crystal | Freezes for 0.55s, or 0.2s on bosses. Each enemy resists another freeze for 3.2s. 30% less damage, 18% longer firing interval. |
| Mist crystal | Slows groups in a 70-radius area by 35% for 2s. 35% less damage; weaker slow than focused Frost. |
Glacier freeze does not interrupt a boss slam; use Tide pulse for the interrupt. A weaker Mist slow cannot extend a stronger slow. Cluster bomblets travel and apply damage when they land.
After a completed defense, open Review this defense to compare actual health damage, shield damage, kills, enemy healing and remaining health by wave. Sold towers keep credit for their damage. Advice is based on recorded leaks, coverage and skill use. The most recent report and island medals are saved on this device, separately from cloud progress.
The battlefield quick button shows the build countdown and starts the wave early. Launch controls and preparation tips fold away during combat and return between waves. You can still build, upgrade, mark enemies and use skills during a wave.
Continue your defense
Campaign and expedition checkpoints stay in this browser for the current player. Continue from the home page or the matching mode entry. Restoration starts paused. An interrupted wave replays from its preparation. Daily Challenge, Quick Defense and guided practice do not create battle checkpoints.
Phone controls
Tap a built tower once for large Upgrade and Sell buttons. Selling pauses for an exact-refund confirmation. Fullscreen requests landscape on supported phones. If rotation is unavailable, turn the phone sideways and disable portrait orientation lock. Home Screen launches can use a standalone view; checkpoints are not cloud battle saves.
Optional challenges
Choose a challenge before a run. Iron convoy adds Shieldguards from wave 3. Last lantern gives the lighthouse only one health, ignoring wall upgrades. Short supply starts with 180 gold before workshop bonuses and allows at most six towers, including construction sites. Cancelling or selling a tower frees a slot. Start with Standard difficulty when learning these rules.
Aim a Road snare
During a wave, select Road snare or press G, then tap the road ahead of enemies. Invalid placement spends no charge. The anchor flies for 0.45 seconds and unfolds for 0.25 seconds before it can trigger. An armed snare lasts 18 combat seconds and needs an enemy to step within 27 units; its net affects enemies within 90 units. Nearby snares must be at least 100 units apart. Escape or selecting the skill again cancels aiming.
Road snares root enemies for 0.8s, or bosses for 0.2s, and disrupt Tidecaller healing for 2.5s. They do not interrupt boss slams. Two charges refresh each wave; launch cooldown is 3 combat seconds.
Snares deal no damage. Pause freezes flight, arming, expiry and cooldown. Untriggered snares disappear when the wave ends. The battle report shows snares placed, triggered and enemies hit. Challenge victories earn a separate medal for the selected island and difficulty on this device.
Relocate and read your aim
Select a completed tower and use Relocate (M). Drag it onto an empty site, or choose a destination with A–L / arrows and Enter. Transport costs 30 gold and takes 1.4 simulation seconds. The tower cannot attack, upgrade or sell in transit. Levels, specialization, priority and damage credit stay with the tower; transport costs are not refunded when selling. The crew recovers for 8 seconds after landing. Pause stops transport and recovery. Escape cancels aiming for free.
Skill previews show enemies currently inside the aiming circle, not guaranteed future hits. Pulse highlights a charging boss it can interrupt; snare previews describe coverage before the anchor lands. Enemy movement can change the result. The exit warning is now a button: activate it to mark the living raider furthest along the final 340 units of the route. Towers still need the target in range.
Select a skill, hold and drag on the battlefield to inspect the live coverage, then release to cast. A simple tap still casts. Escape, a cancelled touch gesture or releasing outside the battlefield spends no charge. You can re-aim before trying again; casting does not pause combat.
Read your defense before spending
Use Defense view (V) to inspect approximate coverage of the visible road. Red has no ready tower in range, amber has one, and green has overlapping range. Construction, transport and disrupted towers are excluded. This is range coverage, not a damage or victory guarantee. Selecting an empty site or dragging a tower previews added coverage in blue. A relocation preview removes the original tower before evaluating its destination; dashed red marks lost coverage. Viewing a plan spends no gold and does not stop the countdown.
Wave intel shows the next five arrivals and their estimated entry times in game seconds. Pausing freezes the times; 2× combat advances them faster. Sending a wave early changes the forecast immediately. Counts and order use the selected difficulty and challenge roster.
Inspect a tower to compare its current stats with the next balanced upgrade. Branch options show their own level-three parameters. Live contribution separates actual health damage, shield damage and kills, including shots already in flight. Use those numbers together with coverage before relocating.
During a boss slam warning, orange tower rings show which current positions are inside the blast. Moving towers are evaluated at their current transport position; the threatened count updates as they travel. Tide pulse remains the interrupt. Combat numbers can be toggled with D or in the in-game guide; reduced motion keeps readable numbers with less movement.
Practice and launch timing
Choose Learn by doing on the welcome screen for a separate Standard practice on Coral Reach with 210 gold and 18 health. Use real controls to build two towers, hit an enemy with Tide pulse, upgrade a tower, deploy a valid Road snare and clear at least two waves. Missing with the pulse does not complete its goal. Snare deployment is required; a trigger is reported separately. The drill can continue beyond two waves until the goals are met.
Practice does not award pearls, add runs or wins, add recorded combat time, replace your last report, or award medals. Map, difficulty, challenge and workshop choices for real runs are preserved. You may leave or restart the drill. Ordinary setting changes still save normally.
From wave 2 onward, manually launching early grants one gold for each five seconds still on the preparation clock, capped at four gold. The first wave and automatic launches grant no timing bonus. Construction continues after launch, so taking the bonus may leave less time to finish your defense. The exact award appears when the wave starts and in the final report.
Precise tower commands
Finish priority attacks the in-range enemy with the lowest combined remaining health and shield; ties go to the front enemy. This is not an armor-adjusted time-to-kill prediction. A manually marked enemy still takes precedence when in range. Front, Strong and Support retain their existing behavior.
Select a tower to see its actual current target and shot-preparation ring. The dashed line is a target guide, not a damaging beam. Turning, drawing and reloading are shown separately. Readiness does not guarantee an immediate shot: a live target must remain in range and the weapon must finish turning.
On touch and narrow screens, tap the selected tower again to open nearby balanced-upgrade, Overdrive and Details controls. They disappear while aiming skills, dragging a build or relocating. U performs one balanced upgrade per press; level-three specializations are chosen in Details. Holding U does not queue upgrades.
Selling a completed tower pauses the game and asks for confirmation with the exact refund. Keep this tower or Escape cancels without spending. Cancelling unfinished construction remains immediate with a full refund. Battle reviews record the final target priority of each tower; older reports show Not recorded.
Learn from each wave
First encounters offer a short explanation and a Mark this enemy action. Marking changes focus only; towers still need the enemy in range. Dismiss a hint with its close button. Hints hide during aiming and boss slam warnings. Between waves, one suggestion uses the last wave’s actual leaks, healing and skill use. A suggested tower button selects a card; drag it onto a site to build.
Recognize the island creatures
Shore crabs scuttle sideways. Runner lizards enter from wave 2, with long tails and a fast four-leg stride. Armored turtles arrive from wave 3; their plated shells resist ordinary arrows. Shieldguard golems also arrive from wave 3, carrying a visible shield that protects nearby allies while charged. Tidecaller jellyfish float in from wave 4, trailing tentacles and healing nearby allies. The final Dreadclaw remains a giant crab with its charged slam warning. These distinct bodies show existing combat roles; movement follows actual path progress, so slowing, roots, freezing and pause affect their animation.
Plan with the field guide
Select a creature on the home page to inspect its behavior, suggested towers and limits. Counter buttons preview a tower without starting a run or spending gold. Specialization previews show the build cost plus both upgrades.
Tactical pause
Pause shows available gold, lighthouse health, enemies on the road and arrivals still waiting to spawn. Resume and mark continues combat and marks one living enemy; towers still need range. Hiding the page pauses both preparation and combat. Returning requires Resume.
Daily defenses across three islands
Daily Challenge v2 rotates nine authored defenses. Preview each wave before starting with 210 gold and 8 lighthouse health, without workshop bonuses. Share links fix the UTC date and rules version. Old date-only links keep the original v1 rules and separate records.
Tactical Expedition
Defend Moonlit Marsh for five waves with 240 gold and 12 lighthouse health. After waves one and three, preview three tactics and confirm one. Every tactic has a trade-off. All timers pause while choosing. Existing and future towers receive the selected tactics for this run only. The expedition keeps a separate browser-local best and awards no campaign pearls or medals.
Read and respond to marked enemies
Mark an enemy to see its health, shield and current control or healing state. Tap its title to inspect it. Counter buttons prepare skill aim without spending a charge; adjust on the battlefield and tap or release to cast. The boss charge meter uses combat time and freezes while paused.
Review a wave before rebuilding
Open Wave recap between waves to review stops, leaks, lighthouse health lost, healing and skill uses from that wave only. Preparation pauses while the recap is open. Previewing a suggested tower spends no gold and builds nothing; you can also inspect the next wave.