betty's oldies
Forum Expert
There's some posts out there that cover common mistakes in TD but they're buried deep in the forums. I figured that since most new players still can't crack this nut, I'll put several common mistakes and how to fix them.
1. Out of grid/bad tower placement. Suppose we have a 6x6 area and a player wants to place a 3x3 tower. A 6x6 area can have up to 4 towers in that slot, but the builder decides to place 1 tower in the center of the 6x6 area. His tower blocks room for the other 3. This is called out-of-grid placement, where towers aren't placed properly.
Side note: archer towers work based on line of sight. That means if a tower is blocking their view of the track, they can't fire!
How to fix: measure the dimensions of the building space (look at the length and width of the building area). This tells you where you can place your towers. Place towers at the ends first to help you out. As for building optimally, this will come naturally as you experiment with what and where to place your towers. You'll need a basic understanding of how each tower works, what they counter, and any tower combinations to make the most out of defense.
2. Mage/ice/quake/poison stacking. This is when we have 2 of the same tower within close proximity. These 4 towers do not stack with others of the same kind (so 2 mages won't stack together). These don't stack because the effect duration is neither reset nor added on (so no extra damage if 2 mages are next to each other). Like out-of-grid placement, this means less space to place towers. Example: suppose we have 2 mages, spaced 10 blocks apart. Both mages have a range of 15 blocks. This creates overlap where mobs cannot get extra burn, allowing them to potentially survive the burn instead of dying.
How to fix: as a general rule, spacing mages and similar towers of the same kind 24-30 blocks apart is optimal (24 for quake, 27-30 for the other 3 towers). Every 3 blocks = 1 3x3 tower length. For simplicity, in order words: spread 2 of the same types of towers 9-10 3x3 tower spaces apart to maximize ice, fire, poison, and quake.
3. Not sending mobs every 15 seconds. Self-explanatory. Every 15 seconds, you can send in a new wave. This means you can send in 4 waves per minute. The more you send, the sooner you get your XP for your gold mine and your mobs for Armageddon. Even if you may not have the money to send in, say a full wave of caves for XP, at least send in zombies (a partial wave is okay if you cannot even afford a full wave of zombies). Not sending mobs can cost you your offense, defense, and your gold mine. The sooner you get your gold mine, the more coins you get; inversely, the more you delay it, the more coins you lose.
How to fix: hold the chest in your hand at ALL times unless you are building or upgrading your gold mine. The XP bar is a timer (15 seconds). When you send in your first wave, prepare the next one and send the new waves as soon as that XP bar is filled up.
4. Buying swords and bows. For their price and damage per cost, it's not worth it. It's 2k coins for a stone sword, 3k for an iron one, 2k for the first bow, and 5k for the second bow! The damage per cost of a turret tower is much better than those personal weapons, but still worse than that of the other towers. For the money and effort spent buying these, the money is better off put into towers that deal more DPS than you can alone. Swords are rarely, if ever, used in the mid-late game but are sometimes used early to help your towers. 2k coins can often make a big difference where you could've gotten extra towers or mobs!
How to fix: there really isn't. Just don't buy the swords and bows at all, no questions asked. This minigame emphasizes on commanding and building your defenses up, not on usual PvP you'll have in eggwars.
5. Sending air units or giant early. Although they may get through initially, the opponent will usually respond just as fast as soon as they see those come by. Tons of archers will pop up before you know it if you sent air and several zeus or necromancers will come up if you sent a giant. Worse, it takes minutes for your offense to destroy the castle, giving the other team plenty of time to kill your attack wave! Once your wave fails, you're broke because you spent all of that money on a way too early push.
How to fix: most players will send their all-in attack at or a little before Armageddon. This is because by the time Armageddon starts, both bases will have 20% of their current HP and lose both castle guards.
6. Not scouting. It's important to pay attention to what the enemy has sent at you or has at their disposal. If you blindly send in a giant but realize that they have necromancers after sending it, you're in trouble. If you however send in a giant after looking at their defense (i.e. you see they have a weak anti-ground), then your offense will be in better shape. You must also keep track of what mobs they've sent in order to properly respond using the correct towers and potions.
How to fix: for offense, before you send in an offense, look at what towers they have and keep track of any potions they have used. For defense, keep track of what mobs they have sent and any offensive potions they've used. For example, if you've stopped a single blaze rush, then they may send blazes again (with another blaze rush at the same time) or several giants.
7. Not supporting your offense or defense. Potions are VERY important as they can tip the odds to your side. Normally, most can't stop a full blaze rush but with several potions and well-placed archers, it's possible to stop their attack. The same is true for your offense: without support, your offense may fall but you may have a higher chance if you have potions.
How to fix: if you're defense, unlock and buy the freezing potions. I'd suggest unlocking meteor shower against air units and zeus against giants. If you're offense, the regen potion is a must. Speed is important as well if you're sending blazes.
8. No communication. It's important to communicate with your team too in order to coordinate what and when you'll send your offense as well as warn them what the enemy has. How can a team function without communication? It can't.
How to fix: this one may be out of your hands if your teammates won't talk. Be a team player who will talk to teammates and help them out.
If you have any more mistakes to add, feel free to put them below!
1. Out of grid/bad tower placement. Suppose we have a 6x6 area and a player wants to place a 3x3 tower. A 6x6 area can have up to 4 towers in that slot, but the builder decides to place 1 tower in the center of the 6x6 area. His tower blocks room for the other 3. This is called out-of-grid placement, where towers aren't placed properly.
Side note: archer towers work based on line of sight. That means if a tower is blocking their view of the track, they can't fire!
How to fix: measure the dimensions of the building space (look at the length and width of the building area). This tells you where you can place your towers. Place towers at the ends first to help you out. As for building optimally, this will come naturally as you experiment with what and where to place your towers. You'll need a basic understanding of how each tower works, what they counter, and any tower combinations to make the most out of defense.
2. Mage/ice/quake/poison stacking. This is when we have 2 of the same tower within close proximity. These 4 towers do not stack with others of the same kind (so 2 mages won't stack together). These don't stack because the effect duration is neither reset nor added on (so no extra damage if 2 mages are next to each other). Like out-of-grid placement, this means less space to place towers. Example: suppose we have 2 mages, spaced 10 blocks apart. Both mages have a range of 15 blocks. This creates overlap where mobs cannot get extra burn, allowing them to potentially survive the burn instead of dying.
How to fix: as a general rule, spacing mages and similar towers of the same kind 24-30 blocks apart is optimal (24 for quake, 27-30 for the other 3 towers). Every 3 blocks = 1 3x3 tower length. For simplicity, in order words: spread 2 of the same types of towers 9-10 3x3 tower spaces apart to maximize ice, fire, poison, and quake.
3. Not sending mobs every 15 seconds. Self-explanatory. Every 15 seconds, you can send in a new wave. This means you can send in 4 waves per minute. The more you send, the sooner you get your XP for your gold mine and your mobs for Armageddon. Even if you may not have the money to send in, say a full wave of caves for XP, at least send in zombies (a partial wave is okay if you cannot even afford a full wave of zombies). Not sending mobs can cost you your offense, defense, and your gold mine. The sooner you get your gold mine, the more coins you get; inversely, the more you delay it, the more coins you lose.
How to fix: hold the chest in your hand at ALL times unless you are building or upgrading your gold mine. The XP bar is a timer (15 seconds). When you send in your first wave, prepare the next one and send the new waves as soon as that XP bar is filled up.
4. Buying swords and bows. For their price and damage per cost, it's not worth it. It's 2k coins for a stone sword, 3k for an iron one, 2k for the first bow, and 5k for the second bow! The damage per cost of a turret tower is much better than those personal weapons, but still worse than that of the other towers. For the money and effort spent buying these, the money is better off put into towers that deal more DPS than you can alone. Swords are rarely, if ever, used in the mid-late game but are sometimes used early to help your towers. 2k coins can often make a big difference where you could've gotten extra towers or mobs!
How to fix: there really isn't. Just don't buy the swords and bows at all, no questions asked. This minigame emphasizes on commanding and building your defenses up, not on usual PvP you'll have in eggwars.
5. Sending air units or giant early. Although they may get through initially, the opponent will usually respond just as fast as soon as they see those come by. Tons of archers will pop up before you know it if you sent air and several zeus or necromancers will come up if you sent a giant. Worse, it takes minutes for your offense to destroy the castle, giving the other team plenty of time to kill your attack wave! Once your wave fails, you're broke because you spent all of that money on a way too early push.
How to fix: most players will send their all-in attack at or a little before Armageddon. This is because by the time Armageddon starts, both bases will have 20% of their current HP and lose both castle guards.
6. Not scouting. It's important to pay attention to what the enemy has sent at you or has at their disposal. If you blindly send in a giant but realize that they have necromancers after sending it, you're in trouble. If you however send in a giant after looking at their defense (i.e. you see they have a weak anti-ground), then your offense will be in better shape. You must also keep track of what mobs they've sent in order to properly respond using the correct towers and potions.
How to fix: for offense, before you send in an offense, look at what towers they have and keep track of any potions they have used. For defense, keep track of what mobs they have sent and any offensive potions they've used. For example, if you've stopped a single blaze rush, then they may send blazes again (with another blaze rush at the same time) or several giants.
7. Not supporting your offense or defense. Potions are VERY important as they can tip the odds to your side. Normally, most can't stop a full blaze rush but with several potions and well-placed archers, it's possible to stop their attack. The same is true for your offense: without support, your offense may fall but you may have a higher chance if you have potions.
How to fix: if you're defense, unlock and buy the freezing potions. I'd suggest unlocking meteor shower against air units and zeus against giants. If you're offense, the regen potion is a must. Speed is important as well if you're sending blazes.
8. No communication. It's important to communicate with your team too in order to coordinate what and when you'll send your offense as well as warn them what the enemy has. How can a team function without communication? It can't.
How to fix: this one may be out of your hands if your teammates won't talk. Be a team player who will talk to teammates and help them out.
If you have any more mistakes to add, feel free to put them below!
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