Our Top Ten Starting Tips: Hometown Heroic Difficulty

Pause For Thought: Use the pause function liberally to assess situations, plan purchases, and strategize. The clock in Time Trial maps continues to run while paused, but otherwise, pausing is crucial for making informed decisions, especially when you have the exact amount of money needed to buy or upgrade towers, or to sell and replace weaker ones. Pausing is also vital for managing Sudden Death maps with numerous enemies and rapid money accumulation. Pausing also reveals the paths Fieldrunners will take from each entrance, allowing you to place towers to redirect them effectively.

Buy Back: Factor in the cost of towers at the start. While leaving a map full of Gatling/Machine guns might seem profitable, they may become ineffective as difficulty increases. Learn the sell-back value of each tower. Selling a tower while the game is paused returns its full purchase price (you lose no money). Selling a tower while the game is un-paused results in a reduced value. Keeping buy-back mechanics in mind allows for timely upgrades or replacements, essential for Time Trial and Sudden Death maps.

Unlock Better Towers Right at the Start: Replaying early levels on Heroic difficulty can significantly ease later challenges. After completing the tutorial, replay it on Heroic for an easy 2 stars. Completing the next map, 'Twist of Fate,' on Casual or Tough can earn enough stars to unlock useful towers like the Hive Tower, Tesla Tower, and Flamethrower, making Heroic difficulty more manageable. For iOS players, downloading both the free and paid versions unlocks the Polymorph Tower for free, a highly effective slowing tower available before playing any map.

Create Pincer Points and Bottlenecks: Funnel enemies into narrow paths lined with towers for maximum damage. While early maps have pre-defined choke points, you'll need to create them on later levels. Fieldrunners prioritize the shortest distance to their exit and tend to move upwards. Use towers to push them into confined spaces, ideally creating loops. Corners also slow enemies down, making them ideal spots to place slowing towers, followed by powerful area-of-effect towers on the corner itself.

Itemized: Don't dismiss using items due to their coin cost; they can be lifesavers. While not essential for simply beating a level, items are highly effective for achieving 3-star scores, especially in endless modes. Unlike towers, some enemies are immune to specific tower types (e.g., Hazmat runners to Gas Towers), but items affect all enemies. A varied item selection, like the Spanish Flu to counter Hazmat runners, simplifies achieving 3-star ratings.

Proper Item Use: Save items for critical moments rather than squandering their power in early rounds. The damage percentage of items remains constant regardless of enemy toughness. For instance, a Flame Fountain deals 100% damage to any Fieldrunner, making them ideal for endless modes where enemy health increases dramatically. Items can still defeat tank-like units when your towers are struggling.

PC Hot-Keys: Utilize keyboard shortcuts for faster tower and item selection, a significant advantage on PC, especially in Time Trial maps where the clock is always running. Keys 1-6 select towers in order from the bottom of the screen, and keys Q, W, and E select items.