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Tower Defense & Upgrades

The central tower is your lifeline. If it falls, the run ends. Defending it requires a mix of stationed minions, active spell management, and long-term investment in permanent upgrades.

Defending the Tower​

You cannot rely purely on your exploring minions to return in time to stop a fast daytime wave. You need a dedicated defense force.

Leave two or three heavy melee units right next to the tower. When an alert sounds, these units will engage the incoming enemies while you use the tower's active spells to clear the wave.

Active Spells and Defenses​

Metaprogression upgrades unlock powerful tools that act as active spells (not passive structures) that you must manage directly. Spells cost mana, which regenerates slowly via burning parts in the Mana Extractor.

  • Meteor Repeater: A mid-tier active AoE defense that calls down meteors on targeted areas.
  • Lightning Coil: Highly prioritized for boss-killing. When paired with the Cooldown Reset Artifact, you can permanently stun-lock and execute high-HP targets like the Pope or the Slime.
  • Wind of Change (The Fan): Provides a massive burst of mobility, granting all units +100 Speed for 5 seconds. Highly effective but micro-intensive, requiring a healthy supply of low-level parts to burn for mana maintenance.
  • The Teleporter: A vital late-game macro tool. Allows you to instantly extract high-value units that have wandered into lethal territory or recall your entire army for base defense during overwhelming daytime waves.

The Meta-Progression (Gold Upgrades)​

Between runs, you spend the gold your minions collected on permanent upgrades.

Priority Upgrades​

  1. Starting Parts: The single most important upgrade. Starting a run with enough parts to immediately build three units sets the pace for the entire run.
  2. Gold Gain: Increases the amount of gold dropped by enemies and chests. This creates a snowball effect for future runs.
  3. Tower Health: Gives you a larger margin of error if a wave slips past your defenders.

Tower Toys: The Cat​

The Cat Bed costs 100 gold and unlocks the Cat companion. The Cat autonomously collects scattered body parts and resources near the tower, which is essential for automating the early game.

However, do not over-rely on the Cat in the endgame. The Cat's pathing logic, collection radius, and speed are completely inadequate to sustain the high mana economy required on the Master Disc. You will eventually need to actively deploy manual collection units (sweepers) to farm enough mana for advanced units.