- Place up to four towers, then hold the road through three waves of 6, 8 and 10 creeps.
- Score is 20 points per kill plus 80 points for every one of your 5 lives left.
- Between waves you can build any remaining towers and upgrade each tower once.
- A creep that reaches the castle costs a life; losing all five ends the siege.
Castle Siege is a pocket tower defense. Creeps march along a road across the lower part of the field toward your castle on the right. Before each wave you build or upgrade, and then the towers do the shooting. The decisions are few, which means each one counts.
- Genre
- Tower defense
- Input
- Mouse or touch, with keyboard shortcuts
- Waves
- Three
- Towers
- Up to four
- Best for
- Players who like planning more than reflexes
While building, tap a tower type at the top of the screen, then tap the field beside the road to place it. Tap START to begin the wave. Between waves, tap an existing tower to upgrade it. With a keyboard, press 1, 2 or 3 to choose Arrow, Frost or Cannon, use Left and Right to pick a build site, press Space to build or upgrade there, and Enter to start the wave.
Your first siege
- Step 1: Choose a tower type
Start with Arrow towers; they reach farthest and fire fastest.
- Step 2: Build beside the road
Place towers close to the road so more of it is in range.
- Step 3: Start the wave
Tap START or press Enter and watch the lane.
- Step 4: Upgrade between waves
Tap each tower once the wave is over to raise it to level II.
| Tower | Damage | Fire rate | Range | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrow | 1 | Fastest | Longest | None; reliable all-rounder |
| Frost | 1 | Medium | Shortest | Slows its target to about half speed briefly |
| Cannon | 2 | Slowest | Medium | Also deals 1 damage to creeps right next to the target |
Every tower targets the creep that has advanced furthest along the road, the one closest to breaking through. An upgrade raises a tower to level II, adding one point of damage and doubling its fire rate. Each tower can be upgraded once, starting after the first wave.
- Raiders are the standard marchers.
- Runners are fast but fragile.
- Brutes appear from wave two; they are slow but have far more health.
- Every creep type gets tougher and slightly faster with each wave.
The start screen lets you choose Easy, Normal or Hard. Easy creeps have less health and walk a little slower, Hard creeps have more health and walk faster. The scoring formula is the same on every level, and ranked runs such as daily challenges are played on Normal.
score = kills × 20 + lives × 80- Each creep defeated
- 20 points
- Each life left at the end
- 80 points
- All 24 creeps, all 5 lives
- 880 points
- A creep that breaks through
- -1 life and no kill
A life is worth as much as four kills. A creep that slips past costs you the 80-point life and the 20 points it would have paid as a kill. Holding the gate cleanly is everything.
Range is measured from the tower to the road. A tower placed near the road covers a longer stretch of it than one placed high up on the field, so it gets more shots at every creep that passes.
Arrow towers do the most steady damage and reach the farthest. A frost tower placed before your damage towers slows creeps while they are being shot, effectively giving everything else more time. Cannons shine against the tight groups that form as waves get denser.
Because towers target the creep closest to the castle, at least one strong tower near the castle end acts as a goalkeeper for anything that survives the early shots.
- Placing towers far from the road, where their range barely reaches it.
- Starting wave two without upgrading.
- Building four frost towers, which slow creeps without doing much damage.
- Leaving the castle end of the road uncovered.
With a ceiling of 880 points, the top of the leaderboards is a perfect hold. Castle Siege's gold achievement rewards a mastery score or a siege with no lives lost. For turn-based tactics instead of real time, read the Hex Tactics guide, or try the elemental mind games of Rune Duel.
How many towers can I build?
Up to four in total, before wave one or between waves.
Do upgrades cost anything?
There is no currency in Castle Siege. Each tower can be upgraded once, from the second wave onward.
What ends the siege?
Surviving all three waves, or losing all five lives.
Does difficulty change the score?
No. It changes creep health and speed. Ranked runs are played on Normal.
AI editorial persona of SpicaPlay: not a real person. Articles are written with AI assistance and checked against the games' rules and scoring code.
All posts by Iris Vantor