Guide
The Crystal Plague is attacking: since the impact, the Scar has split the land – a bottomless crystal chasm. Above it, the Atlas holds the wound together; if it falls, the Scar tears open. The heart of the plague drives its power underground and bursts out in geodes, from which bigger, tougher crystal creatures crawl wave after wave. Build towers, sandbags and barbed wire, reroute them and hold the Atlas – alone or as a team.
Basics
- Everyone starts with 1,000 gold. Kills and wave bonuses earn more – in co-op, all income is split evenly.
- The Atlas has 20 lives. Every enemy that breaks through costs lives – bosses cost a lot.
- A countdown runs between waves. Calling a wave early earns faster – but is riskier.
- Selling and demolishing refunds 70% of the gold invested.
- The path can never be fully blocked – but with sandbags you can steer enemies through your kill zones.
Power & Power Pylons
Extends the power area: towers and Electric Fences only work there. The Atlas itself powers 8 tiles around it.
- Can only be built in the power area (Atlas 8 tiles, each power pylon 6 tiles).
- Powers all tiles within 6 tiles – exactly these tiles are highlighted while placing (bright = newly powered).
- Can only be placed on a powered tile (dashed line on the ground) – i.e. anywhere inside the power area, right up to its edge.
- Shared team quota: 6 pylons at start, +3 every 25 waves.
- Open ground only; blocks the path like a Sandbag.
- Anyone can demolish (refund 70% to the builder) – but only if all towers, fences and pylons stay powered afterwards.
- Sandbags, Wire and Oil need no power – they work anywhere.
Sandbags, wire, oil & power
Sandbag 10 gold
Blocks open tiles – use it to reroute enemies. The path must never be fully blocked.
- Any player can demolish Sandbags; the refund (70%) goes to the builder.
- Towers can be built directly on a Sandbag (replaces it).
- Not on the sand (gates, forecourts, bridge) – nothing can be built there.
- Sandbag Emplacement: A tower with at least 3 Sandbags directly around it gets +20% range (not the Depot).
Barbed Wire 30 gold
Slows ground enemies and wounds them. Never wears out. Open ground only – not on sand.
- Speed to 60%
- Damage 5 per second (light)
- Flyers unaffected
- Sitting Duck: Slowed enemies take 30% more armor-piercing damage (Sniper, AT Gun, .50 Cal MG).
Oil 40 gold
Accelerant: doesn't slow, but makes fire devastating. Open ground only – not on sand.
- Enemies on the oil stay oiled for 4 s (dark sheen).
- Built oil never burns by itself and never spreads fire – it only works while a flamethrower hits oiled enemies.
- Flyers unaffected
- Oil + Fire: Oiled enemies take 150% fire damage and keep burning 2× as long.
- Partners: Flamethrower (incl. Napalm), Mortar “Incendiary Shells”.
Electric Fence 90 gold
Electric shock: brief standstill (no damage), the bolt jumps to neighbors. Open ground only – not on sand.
- Stuns for 0.5 s (standstill), then immune to new strikes for 2 s.
- Deals no damage – pure stun. Combines with armor-piercing weapons (Sitting Duck).
- On the edge of a Puddle: if the strike hits an enemy in the water, the whole Puddle is electrified – everything in it is stunned.
- Power area only (Atlas or Power Pylon nearby).
- Chain: the current jumps from tile to tile as long as a ground enemy stands on the neighboring tile (diagonals too) – up to 2 tiles around the fence, at most 64 strikes per trigger. Enemies still immune aren't hit but still conduct.
- Flyers unaffected
- Sitting Duck: Stunned enemies take 30% more armor-piercing damage (Sniper, AT Gun, .50 Cal MG).
Terrain
Puddle
Natural terrain. Enemies walk through normally – but water conducts electricity.
- Nothing can be built – no towers, no Sandbags, no ground elements.
- Electrified: if an Electric Fence strike hits an enemy standing in the water, the WHOLE Puddle is electrified. Every ground enemy in it is stunned for 0.5 s (no damage), then immune for 2 s.
- How it works: build an Electric Fence right at the shore (on open ground). If an enemy walks over the fence while a second one stands on the water tile behind it, the current jumps over – a chain reaction across the whole water, no matter how far.
- At most once per Puddle per tick, up to 1,500 strikes. Enemies still immune aren't hit.
- Flyers unaffected
- Sitting Duck: Stunned enemies take 30% more armor-piercing damage (Sniper, AT Gun, .50 Cal MG).
Oil Field
Natural terrain. Enemies walk through normally and get oiled.
- Nothing can be built – no towers, no Sandbags, no ground elements.
- Enemies on the Oil Field stay oiled for 4 s.
- Fire (burning ground, incendiary shells, napalm, burning enemies) ignites it: a blaze for 5 s that spreads every 0.5 s to the next part of the same oil field – the whole field burns off.
- Then 10 s cooldown before it can burn again. The oil stays.
- Flyers unaffected
- Oil + Fire: Oiled enemies take 150% fire damage and keep burning 2× as long.
- Deflagration: Burning enemies take 50% more explosive damage (Mortar, Rockets, Artillery).
Crystal ground, splinters & crystal weapons
Crystal ground lies along the Scar, around the geodes and at crystal spires. You can build anything there (except in the geodes' exclusion zone). Towers on it show a purple glowing rim at their base. Ground enemies on crystal ground are armored: 20 % less damage (not against crystal weapons) – route paths over crystal or over grass? Enemies that fall on crystal ground also drop splinters (10 % of their kill gold); kills by a crystal weapon give another 10 % anywhere. With splinters, a specialized tower on crystal ground becomes a crystal weapon: 1.8× damage, crystal skin and crystal armor have no effect, plus its own effect per tower type. Every further crystal weapon you pay for yourself costs you 10 % more – your teammates' crystal weapons don't raise your price.
Waves, Bosses & Special Waves
Every 10th wave is a boss wave; exactly halfway between (5, then every 10 waves) comes a special wave with its own rule. The game never ends – waves keep getting bigger and tougher.
| Special wave | Type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Air Raid | Pure wave | Flyers only (Mica) – ground elements have no effect. |
| Sprinter Flood | Pure wave | Needle only: they sprint every 4 s at 250% speed. |
| Armored Column | Pure wave | Armored crystals only (Garnet and Quartz). |
| Mirror Rampart | Pure wave | Crystal skin only (Mirror and Bulwark): only 20 or 30% area damage. |
| Shard Rain | Pure wave | Agate only: each shatters into 3 × Shard on death. |
| Shield Wedge | Formation | Tight groups, one per gate: Garnet and Quartz up front, shields (Diamond) behind, healers (Healstone) at the rear. |
| Medic Convoy | Formation | Columns of 4 × Pyrite or Garnet with a healer (Healstone) right behind. |
| Air Cover | Formation | Ground columns with flying Mica right above them. |
| Storm Assault | Special rule | All enemies in this wave move at 130% speed. |
| Breakthrough | Special rule | The entire wave comes through a single gate (the front). |
| Reinforced Shields | Special rule | Twice as many shield bearers (Diamond); their shields block 60% instead of 40% of area damage. |
| Field Hospital | Special rule | Twice as many healers (Healstone), and each counts double: 16% instead of 8% of max HP per heal pulse (cap as usual at 24%). |
| Dense Wave | Special rule | All enemies arrive in 50% of the usual time. |
Orders & Radio
Charged by kills and combo hits (for the whole team up to 36 per minute, unused cap stores up to 60) and +80 per boss defeated.
Electroshock 80 radio · [Z]
Power surge across the whole field: all enemies freeze for 4 s (bosses shorter). Burning and all other effects keep running.
- Cost: 80 radio · Cooldown 120 s (per player)
- Arrives after 1 s
- Hits the whole field – no target needed, the order goes out immediately
- All enemies freeze for 4 s, bosses 50 % of that; burning, marking and slows keep running
- Stationary targets → Sitting Duck (+30 % armor-piercing)
Target Marking 60 radio · [X]
Marks a zone: enemies in it take 50 % more damage from everything – for 2 s after leaving it.
- Cost: 60 radio · Cooldown 60 s (per player)
- Arrives after 0.5 s
- Zone radius 3 tiles for 12 s: enemies in it take +50 % damage from all sources
- Percentage-based – grows with every tower upgrade; lingers 2 s, stacks with the Recon spec
Smoke/EMP Field 50 radio · [C]
Enemies in the zone move at only 40% speed; shields and healing don't work inside it.
- Cost: 50 radio · Cooldown 60 s (per player)
- Arrives after 0.5 s
- Zone radius 3 tiles for 8 s: enemies at 40% speed
- Shields (Diamond, Prism) and healing (Healstone, regeneration) don't work in the zone
Supply Drop 70 radio · [V]
Towers in the zone fire 100% faster and don't overheat.
- Cost: 70 radio · Cooldown 90 s (per player)
- Arrives after 1 s
- Zone radius 3 tiles for 15 s: towers inside +100% fire rate, no overheating
Atlas Upgrades
Upgrades are paid for together: anyone can pay any amount into the fund. Once it's full, the level takes effect immediately. Gold paid in stays in the fund.
Substation 300 gold · 600 gold · 1,200 gold · 2,500 gold · 5,000 gold · 10,000 gold
+3 pylons per level – more area to build on.
Atlas Guns 60 gold · 100 gold · 200 gold · 1,500 gold · 4,000 gold · 10,000 gold · 25,000 gold
From the start one MG in each of the Atlas's two gateways (10 shots/s, ground and air, targets whoever is closest to the Atlas first, overheats under sustained fire). From level 5 they become autocannons: armor piercing (AP), each level 2.2 times the damage. Level 8: crystal laser – a continuous beam without overheating hits every enemy on its line (up to 12) for 2,500 damage per second plus 10% of their full HP (bosses 2%), armor doesn't count. Range per level: 4.5 / 4.95 / 5.45 / 5.45 / 6.2 / 6.95 / 7.7 / 8.45 tiles.
Armored Gate 400 gold · 1,000 gold · 2,500 gold · 6,000 gold · 15,000 gold
+5 max lives per level (filled immediately). From level two the workshop repairs the gate after every wave without lost lives: 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 lives.
Searchlight 600 gold · 2,000 gold · 7,000 gold · 20,000 gold
Lights up a circle around the Atlas (radius 7 / 9 / 11 / 13 tiles per level; the searchlights on the pylons sweep across both banks). These tiles count as observed for the artillery, and enemies on them take +10 / 20 / 30 / 40% damage from all towers.
Command Center 800 gold · 2,500 gold · 8,000 gold
Orders last longer (125 / 150 / 175%) and recharge faster (85 / 70 / 55% cooldown); radio cap per minute 125 / 150 / 175%, radio maximum +50 / 100 / 150.
Protocol Zero 50,000 gold
A nuke beneath the Atlas. If lives drop to zero, it detonates instead of Game Over: all enemies within 28 tiles die (no gold/radio), bosses lose 50% of their full HP (a remainder stays). Afterwards lives are refilled to 50%; all upgrades and towers remain, and every further bomb costs 3 times as much as the previous one.
Co-op
How playing together works – invites, shared gold, pausing, being away: Co-op Tower Defense with Friends.