Field manual · Basics

How to play Battle Tower

One lane, two castles. Yours is on one side, the enemy's on the other, and everything you send walks toward the other keep and fights whatever it meets on the way.

The goal

Bring the enemy castle's health to zero before yours gets there. Troops do that work: castles shrug off 90% of spell damage, so no amount of fireballs razes a keep on its own. Castles also defend themselves with turrets, and can start a battle pre-fortified depending on the rules chosen.

Controls

• Tap a unit card along the bottom to send that troop. Each card has a gold price and a short cooldown before it can be sent again.
• Tap the battlefield to cast the selected spell at that spot. Hold to preview the blast ring, release to cast.
• Hold a card to read what the unit does and to buy its upgrades.
• Swipe the card row, or use the arrows above it, to flip between the ages you have unlocked.

Battles against the AI can be paused, and pause on their own when you switch apps.

Two resources

Gold pays for troops, upgrades and advancing your age. It arrives as steady income and as bounty for every enemy you kill. Mana pays for spells; it regenerates on its own at a flat rate and every spell also runs its own cooldown, so a full bar opens with one of each spell rather than the same spell three times.

Advancing your age

A standard battle starts in the Medieval Age. Pay 700 gold to enter the Modern Age and 1500 more for the Advanced Age. Advancing adds a whole new page of units beside the ones you already have and raises your spell damage. It is also the biggest tempo gamble in the game: the gold you save to advance is gold your opponent is spending on troops right now. Both sides pay the same prices and both sides' ages are shown on screen.

Upgrades

Every unit has its own upgrade track. Each level adds 12% HP and damage to every future spawn of that unit, for the rest of the battle. At levels 1, 3 and 5 you pick one of two permanent specializations — Fire Arrows or Frost Arrows for archers, Trample or Duelist for knights, and so on. Levelled troops show it on the field with gilded weapons, plumes and auras.

Your first battles

1. Send a few swordsmen and an archer straight away. An empty lane lets the enemy walk to your wall.
2. Keep one spell's worth of mana in reserve. Lightning on a flier or Frost on a breakthrough saves more than it costs.
3. Hold the card of whatever is beating you and read it. Every description names its own counter.
4. Upgrade the unit you send most. Levels compound; a spread of level-0 units does not.
5. Advance when your line is winning, not when it is losing.

Guests and accounts

Guests play the Medieval Age on Easy against the AI, offline, with no sign-up. A free account (email and password) opens the Conquest ladder, the speed boards and everything online, and carries progress to any device. See modes for how the ladder opens up.