Stonewatch guide: tower defense tips and strategy
RetroGM Stonewatch is a free tower defense game in low poly 3D, in your browser: build towers along the road, hold the castle against waves of goblins, orcs and trolls, and earn stars across a campaign of three maps. This guide covers each tower, each enemy and the habits that win on Hard.
The basics
You start with gold and 20 lives. Build on the plots beside the road; every enemy that reaches the end costs lives (a brute 2, the troll 10). Killing enemies pays gold. Calling the next wave early pays a bonus for the time you skip, and a tower sells for 70% of what you spent on it. Play at 1 to 3 times speed, pause any time, and save in the middle of a battle.
The four towers
Each tower has three levels, then two branches to choose from.
- Archers: cheap and fast, they hit flying enemies. Branches: Rangers (very fast shots) or the Crossbow fort (three bolts at three enemies).
- Barracks: soldiers who block the road and hold enemies in place under your other towers. Move their rally point to where you want the fight. Branches: Knights (heavy armour) or Paladins (four warriors who heal).
- Mages: magic goes through armour. Branches: the Storm mage (lightning that jumps to three more enemies) or the Frost mage (halves the speed of what it hits).
- Mortar: slow, area damage against groups, but it cannot hit flying enemies. Branches: the Fire mortar (burning ground) or the Great bombard (the biggest blast).
Tip: The best spot is where the road bends: soldiers hold the enemies at the corner, and every tower in range of both legs fires the whole time.
Know the enemy
- Goblin: weak and many; mortars and archers.
- Orc: tough with light armour.
- Wolf rider: fast, runs past slow towers; soldiers stop it.
- Armored brute: arrows barely scratch it. Use magic.
- Giant bat: flies over the soldiers and mortars cannot hit it; archers and mages can.
- Shaman: heals the enemies around it and resists magic, so kill it first with arrows.
- Mountain troll: the boss, huge and slow, and it heals itself. Save your powers for it.
The captain and the powers
Your captain fights on the road, levels up as he fights and comes back a few seconds after he falls. Send him to plug a leak. Two powers recharge on their own: Arrow rain (five volleys on a spot of the road) and Reinforcements (two militiamen for 20 seconds).
The campaign, stars and the workshop
Three maps open one after another: Greenvale, Twin Fords with two roads, and Ashen Pass at night with the troll. Each has three difficulties. Win while losing at most two lives for three stars, and on Hard for a crown. Stars buy permanent upgrades in the workshop (stronger arrows, tougher soldiers, stronger magic, bigger shells, a veteran captain, more gold at the start, faster powers), and you can refund and rearrange them at any time.
Endless, the weekly and the daily challenge
Win a map and its endless mode opens: the waves keep coming, bigger each time, with a troll every fifth wave, and your record is kept. The challenge of the week and the challenge of the day are the same for every player, each on one map with one rule (no barracks, no archers, no magic, an iron horde, the last wall with five lives or a war chest). Achievements reward all of it.
Quick checklist
- Barracks first at a bend, then damage towers in range of it.
- Mages for brutes, archers for bats and shamans, mortars for crowds.
- Call waves early when your defence is ahead: the gold adds up.
- Upgrade before you spread out: a level 3 tower beats two level 1s.
- Keep Arrow rain for the troll and the leaks.
Play it now
RetroGM Stonewatch is free in your browser, on a phone or a computer, with no account and no download. Your save stays on your device and the game works offline.