General Overview and Tips

You know the scene: the path is finally curling into a lovely little alien traffic jam, then the reinforcement screen offers a building with the footprint of a banquet table and your only open platform is the size of a cracker. Worse, flying enemies just appeared in the threat display. Welcome to Tower Dominion. The fix is not to force the perfect build. Check the next danger, protect the Headquarters, and spend on the best answer your run actually gave you.

Your main job is to shape awkward terrain into a long kill zone. Artronids enter through entry points and follow connected roads toward the Headquarters, or HQ. A battlefront is one connected road network leading to one or more HQ entrances, and it can contain several entry points. If several spawn markers share one battlefront, they do not each need a separate wall of towers.

The Run Loop

Take reinforcements. After a wave, the offered rewards may include blueprints, doctrines, or resources. Blueprints let you place specific buildings. Doctrines add broader bonuses or rules to the run.
Expand the terrain. On expansion rounds, place and rotate a new terrain tile. Inspect how its roads connect before confirming it. Try to lengthen an existing route or improve firing space without stretching a battlefront you cannot defend.
Check platforms and elevation. Buildings need enough buildable space for their full footprint. A platform can be built upon and adds one height level. Higher spots often improve range, but a glorious perch is useless if the tower does not fit.
Build or upgrade. Spend only after checking the next threats. Place a new defense when it adds missing coverage. Upgrade when an existing tower already watches the right stretch of road.
Prepare, then launch the wave. Recheck routes, targeting, HQ coverage, and your resource reserve. Start the wave only when the defense answers what is coming, not merely what survived last time.

Know the Three Run Resources

Resource	Main job	Beginner rule
Supply	Builds and upgrades most defenses.	Keep enough for one useful reaction instead of spending to zero.
Recon	Rerolls terrain choices and pays for some buildings or upgrades.	Save some for a tile that creates a bad route, weak building space, or an exposed front.
Tech	Pays for certain powerful upgrades.	Treat it as rare. Do not spend it only because an upgrade button is glowing.

Inspect Threats Before You Spend

Select the skull-shaped wave counter in the upper-right corner before placing a blueprint or buying an upgrade. Read every threat currently revealed, including the farthest alert shown. Watch for flying, camouflaged, shielded, or splitting enemies. New threats are revealed before they arrive, giving you time to draft or upgrade a counter instead of discovering the problem while it is chewing on the HQ.

Open the wave display.
Find the first newly revealed enemy or trait.
Select the relevant towers and check their targeting, range, and upgrade choices.
Spend on the missing counter first. Improve general damage second.
Keep a small reserve if the needed blueprint or platform has not appeared yet.

Early-Run Coverage Check

Need	What good coverage looks like	If the draft refuses
Basic damage	At least one dependable defense fires across a long bend or repeated stretch of the main route.	Upgrade the best-placed general defense rather than scattering weak buildings across poor pads.
Anti-air	An air-capable weapon covers the central fight and the final HQ approach.	Reserve Supply and an open platform, then favor an air answer in the next reinforcement choice.
Detection	A building or upgrade with Detection covers the later part of the route, where camouflaged survivors are most dangerous.	Keep Supply free for the next Detection option and preserve HQ health as a short emergency buffer.
Shield removal	Shield-breaking fire reaches enemies before they enter the main damage cluster.	Strengthen sustained damage for survival, but keep drafting for a real shield answer.
HQ coverage	The last approach is watched even if the outer kill zone leaks.	Place or upgrade one compact defense beside the final route. It is the fire extinguisher, not the whole kitchen.

A simple layered defense should read like this:

ENTRY POINTS -> early shield removal -> overlapping main damage
                                      +-> anti-air and Detection
                                                   -> HQ backup

Do not fill every platform just because a blueprint is available. A tower on the right bend may fire for most of the wave; a fresh tower on a bad edge may barely join the fight. Upgrading the useful tower can strengthen the defense without consuming another scarce footprint. Hover over the building to preview its upgrade paths, compare the role each path adds, and choose the one that answers the revealed threat. Costs and exact effects can change with balance updates, so judge the current tooltip and battlefield rather than memorizing an old number.

Recovering a Wobbly Opening

If a lane starts leaking, pause the grand maze project. On the next terrain expansion, extend a route your current towers already cover instead of stretching a second battlefront beyond their reach. Upgrade the defense with the most firing time, protect the last approach to the HQ, and hold Recon for a safer terrain reroll. One ugly but covered lane is better than three elegant roads delivering Artronids directly to reception.

There is no single correct opening for every commander, faction, reward roll, or terrain seed. Build around the route and threats in front of you. For a specific blocker, continue with Battlefield Shaping, Pathing, and Pit Guide, Enemy Counters, or Reward Drafting, Economy, and Platform Planning. Use the progression section for commander and mode unlocks, then the War, Frontier, and Endless sections when a difficulty or late-run rule needs its own plan.