How to play
Pocket LTW is tower defense for two – or up to 12 in a tournament – only turn-based. You make your move whenever it suits you. Then it's the next player's turn.
A turn in five steps
- 1
See what's coming
The wild wave – the same for both of you – plus everything your opponent sent last turn. Sent monsters carry a pennant. You see it all in advance – no nasty surprises.
- 2
Pick a mission
Three cards, the same for both of you. Complete the mission to earn bonus gold.
- 3
Build your maze
Walls and towers. Anything you build this turn can be sold back for the full price right up until the wave starts.
- 4
Watch the wave
The monsters run for the village gate. Every monster that gets through costs you lives.
- 5
Send monsters
Buy monsters for your opponent. They'll face them on their next turn.
Done! Now it's your friend's turn. When your turn comes around again, you'll see their wave as a replay – and how your monsters did.
The maze
Walls force the path into a zigzag. Towers stand where the monsters have to pass.
- Monsters always take the shortest path from the cave at the top to the village gate at the bottom.
- You can never block the path completely. If you try, the tile glows red.
- A wall costs just 5 gold. Walls don't shoot, but they force the monsters to take detours.
- The longer the path, the longer the monsters spend in range of your towers. Straight through is 13 tiles.
- A wall can be turned into a tower later – you only pay the difference.
- Towers from earlier turns sell for 70% of what you spent on them.
Send and earn
- You get your income every turn. Everyone starts at 20 gold per turn.
- Every monster you send raises your income – for good. Cheap monsters give the most income per gold.
- Monsters you send face your opponent on their NEXT turn. They see them coming and have time to build against them.
- You can't send on the last turn – the monsters wouldn't arrive in time anyway.
- You can make at most 9 purchases on turn 1, and 3 more on every turn after that.
- When a sent monster dies, the defender collects its bounty. A bad send pays for your opponent's towers!
- Reinforcement: each level gives every monster you send +15% health.
| Monster | Send cost | Income |
|---|---|---|
| Gnome | 10 | +2/drag |
| Wisp | 8 | +2/drag |
| Ghost | 16 | +3/drag |
| Troll | 28 | +4/drag |
| Nightmare | 18 | +3/drag |
| Huldra | 24 | +4/drag |
| Giant | 95 | +9/drag |
Counters
Armor
TrollsTrolls and giants have armor that's subtracted from every hit (at most 75% of the damage). Poison and the Armor piercer go straight through it. A few hard hits beat lots of small ones.
Flyers
NightmaresNightmares fly straight over the maze. The Cannon can't reach them – but Arrow, Frost, Poison, Lightning and Sniper can.
Healers
HuldrasThe huldra heals the monsters around her. Take her out first – with a Sniper or Ball lightning.
Swarms
GhostsGhosts come four at a time, with little health each. The Cannon's splash, Plague cloud or Lightning's chain clears them out.
Speedsters
WispsWisps dash past before your towers can take aim. A long path and frost are the cure.
Level 3 – pick a branch
Every tower can be upgraded twice. At level 3 you pick one of two branches – Longbow or Repeater, for example. You can't undo the choice, so think about what's coming.
- Damage
- 34
- Shots/s
- 1,2
- Range
- 4
- Damage
- 18
- Shots/s
- 2,8
- Range
- 2,8
Missions
Every turn, 3 mission cards are drawn – the same for both of you. Pick one. Complete it and you get bonus gold when your turn is done. No card is impossible.
Kill at least 15 monsters
+12Make the path at least 26 tiles long
+15Send at least 5 monsters
+12How to win
- You each start with 20 lives.
- There is no turn limit – you play to the death. Whoever runs out of lives first loses, and the match is decided on the spot.
- The waves grow every turn without a cap, so sooner or later someone falls.
- Only if nobody has fallen after 40 turns (it practically never happens) is it decided on lives, then income, then monsters killed.
Underdog bonus
If your opponent's income is at least 30% higher than yours, you get an extra 15% of your income every turn. Both of you can see it.
Rocks on the board
Every match has 4 mossy boulders on the board – the same for both of you. They block like walls, so no single maze works every time.
Lives change hands
Lives your opponent loses to your monsters become yours (up to 30). A good send both hurts them and heals you.
Tournament
3–12 players in a ring. Everyone plays the same round at their own pace and has 24 hours to do it (the host can pick 1 or 48 hours instead, or an evening tournament with 10 minutes per round where everyone plays at the same time) – anyone who runs out of time gets an automatic move. You face what your neighbor on the left sent, and you send to your neighbor on the right. It's played by the same rules as every match: the waves grow without limit and lives change hands, but nothing counts until the round closes. Anyone left with 0 lives then is out, and the ring closes up. Last one standing wins.
No rush
You have plenty of time for every turn. Play several matches at once, and practice against the computer while you wait.