Tap Defense, the iPhone version of Tower Defense, has some variations that makes it interesting. The path of the enemies are pre-defined, and the towers are built along side the path. To get high scores, I’m talking about network leaderboard worthy high scores, the key is to conserve cash, and to build the minimum of what it takes to get through a level. Sometimes, you’ll just have to let some monsters like the Devil pass through to conserve money and economize.

My highest score on Classic, Basic Map, Original level pack was a shade over 200K, but I was stupid and greedy enough to get rid of every last remaining tower before the level cleared that I accidentally pressed the wrong button so my score didn’t save. My current best on the same setup is 187,960. I also achieved a leaderboard score on This is Sparta, Basic Map, and Original level pack, my score is 16,555.

To play the game and play it well, the first key is to use arrow towers for as long as you can. The second key is to exclusively research interest rate upgrades. A third key is, at the end, all you need are ice and storm towers (maybe 3 ice and 3-4 storm), with maybe a few of level 3 cannon or arrow towers.

With the Original level pack on basic map, you should be using level 1-2 arrows and only arrows until level 20, where your arrows would be too weak for Firecats. And before then, you should research only interest rate upgrades. In the beginning, you should be using only level 1 arrow towers and adding 1-2 towers per level depending on how resistant the enemies are. A few might go through, but you should have 13-16 lives left before level 20. When the first tough devil level comes, that’s when you need to upgrade a few arrow towers to level 2. Try to upgrade a couple, and feel the devil out while pausing the game. Then, upgrade a couple more as needed. You might not defeat the devil, and if you don’t, don’t sweat it. But your upgrade here should get you through the next few levels without building more towers. You might want to build more level 1 arrows, but it is probably more economical to upgrade a few to level 2. Why? Simple economics. It costs 25 gold to get a level 1 cannon tower with an attack power of 12. Even with splash power considered, a level 2 arrow tower is still a better choice, because for only 5 gold, its attack rate and power are higher.

On level 20, you might have a few Firecats get through. That’s ok. You’d rather have that then to chase killing them all with a big build up, which would come back and bite you in the rear later. After level 20, you should have gone through most of the interest rate research upgrades, and you can start building ice towers. Ice towers don’t have a lot of coverage, so build ice towers at places where it can inflict the most damage. Build one at the very beginning, where the enemies come out, and upgrade it to level 3. This way, it can hit them twice (once in the very beginning and once in the middle path). If needed, you can build another one at the corner at the beginning of the middle path. In total, you shouldn’t need more than 3 level 3 ice towers.

Soon, you can start building level 3 storm towers gradually, but you won’t need more than 3-4. And as you are building ice and then storm towers, you should be selling off your arrow towers. Try to sell as many as you can, so you can have as few towers as possible to beat each level. You should concentrate your firepower in the beginning and should aim to kill all the enemies before they get past the middle path. The reason is that, at the end, when you are selling off your towers for extra cash, you’ll be able to manage it quicker.

Magic, Earthquake, and Water towers are worthless to me, and most likely than not, they are worthless for you as well. So don’t waste your money and research points on them whatsoever.

Some of the game play is by feel. After a few times through the game, you’ll get a much better feel for where to place each tower, and how to maximize your attack. Generally, you should position your towers so that the enemies are continually getting hit and getting slowed down.

Alright! That’s about all you need to play the game well.

If you have more questions, comment on the post or look up Muse Games on Twitter