Parallel 45 Games released Tower Dominion on 7 May 2025. It is a roguelike tower defence where you shape the ground as well as the defence: between waves you expand the map with new terrain zones, and the paths you carve decide where the alien waves walk toward your HQ. Three factions, the Iron Dragoons, the Lions of Ravelski and the Pargan Assault Group, field ten commanders each, and the run ends the moment HQ life reaches zero. Difficulty runs Recruit, Veteran, Elite and War, and clearing War unlocks the endless Frontier mode.
This guide covers everything you need: core mechanics, the best builds, equipment worth investing in, location progression, and the tips that actually make a difference.
Core Mechanics
Battlefronts and HQ entry points
A battlefront is one path running from the map edge to an entrance on your HQ, and a single battlefront can feed more than one entrance. Difficulty sets how many battlefronts you begin with, so raising difficulty is not only tougher enemies, it is more directions to cover with the same starting Supply. Funnelling several battlefronts into one killing ground is the central strategic decision of a run.
The expansion phase and terrain height
Between waves you place new zones onto the map, and Recon pays for rerolling the zones on offer. Elevation matters directly: an Advanced Mirador upgrade grants extra range, and community guidance is to sit Miradors at height 2 or 3 for the range bonus. Creating a dead end path forces a Pit to appear on that tile, so maze building has a built-in cost rather than being free.
Blueprints drawn three at a time
At the end of each wave you choose one blueprint from three offered. Every faction starts with two Miradors and one Sturdy Bunker; the Iron Dragoons add Officers Quarters and the Lions of Ravelski add The Stars Call. Because the draw is limited and random, a run is shaped as much by what never appeared as by what you built.
Doctrines and building doctrines
Doctrines are modifiers picked during the same reinforcement phase, split into three tiers by rarity and labelled with codes such as H33 imperial research, N37 advanced mirador and K38 immortal fortress. Building doctrines only appear once you have placed the matching structure and come as cost reduction or efficiency variants, and after collecting four of them an expertise doctrine can appear.
Supply, Tech and Recon
Supply is the general build currency, starting at 100 and earned from kills, commanders, buildings, neutral buildings and doctrines. Tech is deliberately scarce, starting between 6 and 10 depending on difficulty, and pays for the heavy upgrades on structures like Special Command, Plasma Fence and Mission Control. Recon buys zone rerolls during expansion plus a handful of buildings and upgrades.
For a deeper dive into how these systems interact, see our Tower Dominion combat guide.
Builds Overview
| Build | Tier | Playstyle | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sergeant Gurtag | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Tank Commander Beryt | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Archeologist Karia | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Techno-adept Jorg | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Captain Seculdi | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
For full build breakdowns with gear and stat priorities, see our Tower Dominion builds guide. For rankings, check the tier list.
Equipment Guide
| Equipment | Why It Matters | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Defender m5 | The weapon the basic Mirador mounts, and consequently the gun you will see more than any other. | Early wave coverage on Miradors before heavier positions are affordable |
| Durendal cannon | Mounted on the Durendal Position, with a Dual Durendal Cannon variant available through upgrades. | The primary killing ground where enemies are funnelled and stay in one firing arc |
| Pulse cannon | The Pargan energy line, with Super Heavy Pulse Cannon and Experimental Pulse Cannon variants further up the chain. | Late wave firepower on Pargan Assault Group runs with high ground available |
| Python missile launcher | A missile system among the game's sixty-plus weapon entries, and part of the answer to air units. | Air waves, which arrive on a schedule the three wave preview will show you |
| Light mortar b2 | The weapon on the Light Mortar Position, the entry point into the artillery line that continues through Medium Mortar and the Slovek Howitzer. | Hitting a path that your direct fire positions cannot see because of the terrain you built |
Defender m5: The weapon the basic Mirador mounts, and consequently the gun you will see more than any other. It is cheap and unremarkable on its own, but the Mirador can carry multiple weapons and engage several enemies at once, which makes early Defender coverage more valuable than its per-shot numbers suggest.
Durendal cannon: Mounted on the Durendal Position, with a Dual Durendal Cannon variant available through upgrades. It is a direct fire option intended for the main approach rather than area denial, and the dual version roughly doubles the position's output for a Tech investment.
Pulse cannon: The Pargan energy line, with Super Heavy Pulse Cannon and Experimental Pulse Cannon variants further up the chain. Techno-adept Jorg's Experimental version also generates Tech, which makes it one of the few weapons that pays for its own upgrades.
Python missile launcher: A missile system among the game's sixty-plus weapon entries, and part of the answer to air units. Air enemies resist standard weapons and are vulnerable to anti-air systems specifically, so having a missile option placed before the air wave arrives is not optional.
Light mortar b2: The weapon on the Light Mortar Position, the entry point into the artillery line that continues through Medium Mortar and the Slovek Howitzer. Indirect fire reaches over terrain, which matters once your maze has stacked height between the tower and the path.
Full breakdowns in our Tower Dominion weapons guide.
Location Progression
| Location | Level Range | Key Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Main headquarters | Waves 1 to the end of the run | Adjacency bonuses for close support buildings, the Iron Dragoons Officers Quarters buff, and the only life total that matters |
| Battlefront | Established at run start, extended during every expansion phase | Merged battlefronts create a single killing ground where every tower fires at every wave |
| Entry point | Waves 1 onward, with enemy tier rising every 10 waves | Advance intelligence via the wave preview, which is the cheapest defensive advantage in the game |
| Camp Alpha | Appears during expansion phases throughout a run | Free resource generation without spending Supply on construction |
| Classified site | Appears during expansion phases throughout a run | Resource contribution and map presence that does not consume one of your three blueprint choices |
Main headquarters: The structure the entire run defends. It has multiple entrances, each fed by a battlefront, and the run ends when its life reaches zero. Several buildings interact with it directly, including the Mirador's close support upgrade which gives bonus effects when placed adjacent to HQ.
Battlefront: Each battlefront is a distinct path from the map edge to the HQ. Starting count depends on difficulty, which is the main reason Elite and War feel disproportionately harder than Veteran rather than just numerically tougher.
Entry point: The specific tile where enemies enter the battlefield. Enemy composition is revealed three waves in advance, or five with Tank Commander Beryt, so the entry point plus the preview tells you exactly what is walking in and from where.
Camp Alpha: One of the neutral sites that can appear on an expansion tile rather than being built by you. Neutral buildings appear based on the Discovery stat and contribute resources including Supply and Recon, which makes rerolling for a tile that contains one a legitimate use of Recon.
Classified site: Another neutral structure found during expansion. Like other neutral buildings its appearance is governed by Discovery, and its value is that it arrives already built, which in a game where every blueprint slot is contested is worth more than the raw numbers.
See our maps & locations guide for detailed area breakdowns and our walkthrough for the optimal progression path.
Tips That Actually Matter
- Enemies are organised into tiers, with Tier 0 appearing first and a higher tier introduced every 10 waves. That means a defence that comfortably holds wave 19 can collapse at wave 21, so build for the tier break rather than the wave in front of you.
- Three enemy modifiers exist and each has a specific counter. Air units resist standard weapons and need anti-air, shielded units carry larger effective health and are weak to shield-countering weapons, and dividing units split on death and simply require more total firepower.
- You see the enemy composition three waves ahead by default. Tank Commander Beryt extends that to five, and certain doctrines extend it too, which converts the reinforcement phase from guesswork into planning.
- Building a dead end forces a Pit to appear on that tile. Long spiral mazes are therefore not free, and the usual answer is to merge battlefronts into a single long approach rather than building a labyrinth that spawns pits everywhere.
- Tech starts between 6 and 10 and there are very few sources of more. Commanders like Archeologist Karia, Techno-adept Jorg and Captain Seculdi generate it, and on any other commander you should treat your starting Tech as the whole budget for the run.
- Every faction starts with the same two Miradors and one Sturdy Bunker. The faction difference at the opening is only the extra blueprint, Officers Quarters for the Iron Dragoons and The Stars Call for the Lions of Ravelski, so early play is far more similar across factions than the faction descriptions suggest.
- Height is a real stat, not decoration. Community guidance for the Mirador specifically is to place it at height 2 or 3 for the range benefit, and the same reasoning applies to any direct fire position covering a long approach.
- Building doctrines only appear after you have placed the matching blueprint. If you want the cheap or efficient version of a structure you have to commit to the structure first, and collecting four building doctrines opens a chance at the stronger expertise doctrines.
- Upgrading a few buildings deeply beats placing many shallow ones. Blueprint offers are limited to one of three per wave, so a defence built on three heavily upgraded positions is easier to actually assemble than one that needs eight different structures to appear.
- Frontier mode unlocks by clearing War difficulty and runs endlessly with its own doctrine pool. Treat it as a separate discipline from the campaign, because a defence tuned for a fixed wave count will not scale into tier breaks that keep arriving.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Spreading towers evenly across every battlefront. The stronger play is merging paths so that one killing ground receives every wave, which lets a small number of upgraded positions do all the work.
- Hoarding Recon instead of rerolling. Recon exists to reroll the zones offered during expansion, and a run that never rerolls is accepting whatever terrain the game hands it, which is how battlefronts end up impossible to merge.
- Spending Tech early on a small upgrade. With only 6 to 10 points and few sources of more, Tech should go into the one or two structures your defence is actually built around, not into whatever looks appealing at wave 5.
- Building long mazes without accounting for Pits. Dead ends force Pits to appear, so the classic tower defence spiral is punished here in a way it is not in most games in the genre.
- Ignoring the wave preview. Enemy types are visible three waves out, so being surprised by an air wave or a shielded wave is a planning failure rather than bad luck.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I unlock Frontier mode?
Clear the campaign on War difficulty, the hardest of the four settings, and Frontier unlocks as an endless mode with its own doctrine pool. The four difficulties are Recruit, Veteran, Elite and War, and each raises starting battlefront count while lowering starting Supply and Tech.
How many commanders are there?
Thirty in total, ten each for the Iron Dragoons, the Lions of Ravelski and the Pargan Assault Group. They are referred to as commanders or heroes, and each provides two positive effects called Powers, with most unlocked through achievements rather than being available from the start.
Which commander should a new player pick?
Sergeant Gurtag of the Iron Dragoons is the usual recommendation, because his effect buffs the HQ and makes early leaks survivable while you are still learning where to place towers. Tank Commander Beryt is a good second choice since his extra wave preview teaches you to plan ahead.
Is Tower Dominion multiplayer?
No. The Steam feature list covers single-player, Steam Achievements, Steam Cloud and Family Sharing, with no cooperative or competitive modes. Progression between runs comes from achievement-based commander unlocks and building discoveries rather than from other players.
Does the official strategy guide change the game?
No. It is a separate digital book sold under its own Steam app containing lore, unit descriptions and concept art from the development team. It adds no in-game content, so treat it as a companion book rather than an expansion.
More Tower Dominion Guides
- Tower Dominion Best Builds
- Tower Dominion Tier List
- Tower Dominion Walkthrough
- Tower Dominion Beginner's Guide
- Tower Dominion Tips & Tricks
- Tower Dominion Weapons Guide
- Tower Dominion Combat Guide
- Tower Dominion Boss Guide
- Tower Dominion Maps & Locations
- Tower Dominion Crafting Guide
- Tower Dominion Classes & Characters
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