The game does not present a formal class system in the same way as a role-playing game. The classes below are practical tower and hero roles used to explain build decisions. Recommendations are editorial judgments, while named roster and patch details are verified from official Ironhide pages.
Fast answer
The answer before the background
Start with Paladin Covenant for a durable choke point, Royal Archers for dependable physical damage, Arcane Wizard for magic damage and Tricannon for area damage. Pair a frontline hero such as Grimson, Torres or Lumenir with a ranged or control hero such as Raelyn, Nyru, Stregi or Aurion. Upgrade the barracks enough to hold the lane, unlock the ranged tower’s best single-target option, then add magic and artillery before buying expensive final skills. This route is safer than stacking damage because it covers armor, swarms, flying enemies and boss phases without depending on one tower.
Verified foundation
How the classes work
Alliance officially offers 18 towers and lets you bring two heroes into battle. The useful way to classify them is by battlefield job rather than faction. A strong loadout normally includes a blocker, a physical damage source, a magic damage source and an area-damage or control source.
Barracks-class towers hold enemies in a chosen location and buy time for every other tower. Paladin Covenant is the safest general-purpose choice because it combines durable units with healing and defensive utility. Demon Pit and Grim Wraiths are better when you want more aggressive or unusual control, but they can demand more careful placement.
Ranged towers handle exposed targets, fast enemies and many flying threats. Royal Archers are a straightforward physical option, while Twilight Longbows reward builds that can protect their firing lane. Magic towers should be included whenever enemies have strong armor or when a stage contains high-health targets. Arcane Wizard, Elven Stargazers and Eldritch Channelers fill different versions of that job.
Artillery-class towers answer groups, clustered enemies and packed lanes. Tricannon is a practical all-rounder, while Surge Colossus is more attractive when bouncing attacks can reach several targets. The official roster also includes Dwarven Flamespitter, whose later balance changes allowed it to target flying enemies, making it more flexible than its original role suggested.
- Verified fact: the official site lists 18 towers, including Paladin Covenant, Royal Archers, Arcane Wizard, Tricannon, Surge Colossus, Necromancer and Dwarven Flamespitter.
- Recommendation: treat one tower as a job specialist instead of expecting every tower to cover every enemy type.
- Uncertainty: Ironhide does not label these as formal classes on the public game page, so the role names are a practical guide rather than official terminology.
| Role | Reliable starting choice | Stat priority | Main job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blocker | Paladin Covenant | Health, armor, healing and unit uptime | Keep enemies inside tower range. |
| Physical damage | Royal Archers | Damage, attack speed and range | Finish low-armor targets and cover air. |
| Magic damage | Arcane Wizard | Magic damage, range and cooldowns | Break armored or high-health enemies. |
| Area control | Tricannon | Splash damage, burn and ability cooldowns | Punish groups and stabilize difficult waves. |
A tower’s displayed damage is not its complete value. Range, target selection, crowd control, damage type, cooldown and how safely it reaches a choke point often matter more than its top-line attack number.
Recommended route
The safest general campaign build
Use this route when a stage is unfamiliar, when you are playing Veteran, or when the map contains mixed enemy types. Place the barracks near the bend or exit-facing choke point, not at the extreme front of the path. The goal is to keep enemies stationary long enough for ranged, magic and artillery attacks to overlap.
Step one is to establish the lane. Buy the cheapest reliable tower that prevents leaks, then raise the barracks to the first upgrade that improves survival or control. Avoid rushing a final ability before the lane can withstand a normal wave.
Step two is physical coverage. Add Royal Archers where the tower can see most of the route. Improve attack speed or range before buying a narrow specialist unless the stage clearly contains a single recurring threat. A ranged tower with broad uptime is usually more valuable than a stronger tower that loses targets around corners.
Step three is resistance coverage. Add Arcane Wizard once armored enemies or bosses begin absorbing too much physical damage. Place it so its range overlaps the barracks. If the stage has many weak enemies instead, delay the mage and fund artillery first.
Step four is wave control. Add Tricannon at the point where enemy paths overlap. Buy its crowd-control or burn-oriented skill when it prevents several enemies from reaching the choke point at once. Save a portion of your gold for emergency hero movement and a late-wave ability rather than spending every coin immediately.
For the final route, specialize each tower instead of making every tower mediocre. One blocker should receive durability, one damage tower should receive sustained single-target output, one tower should receive magic or resistance-breaking tools, and one should receive area control. This makes the build readable and easier to repair when a stage changes its enemy mix.
- Early waves: buy lane stability before expensive specialization.
- Middle waves: finish one strong physical tower and add a damage-type answer to armor.
- Late waves: purchase cooldown-based control for bosses, swarms and sudden leaks.
- If flying enemies are prominent, confirm that your selected tower can target them before committing to its route.
| Stage condition | Route adjustment | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy armor | Prioritize Arcane Wizard, then add physical support. | Magic damage prevents armored targets from stalling the lane. |
| Large swarms | Buy Tricannon earlier and value area skills. | Splash and control reduce the number of enemies reaching the blocker. |
| Fast or flying enemies | Improve Royal Archers and use a hero with reliable reach. | Fast targets punish short-range or slow-starting defenses. |
| Boss pressure | Keep one hero ability and one tower ability unused. | Separate cooldowns give you two emergency answers instead of one. |
The February 11, 2025 balance patch improved several previously weaker options, including Necromancer, Elven Stargazers, Twilight Longbows, Cannoneer Squad and Torres. Do not assume older guides still rank those choices accurately.
Heroes and skills
Build hero pairs by function
Two heroes are strongest when they solve different problems. A frontline hero occupies enemies, interrupts a dangerous unit or protects a tower. The second hero should add ranged pressure, healing, control or a reliable answer to a stage mechanic.
Grimson is a natural frontline choice when you need a durable body at the choke point. Torres is useful when defensive structures, summoned workers or turret support fit the map. Lumenir offers a more defensive and supportive style. For the second slot, Raelyn and Nyru are sensible ranged or control-oriented choices, while Stregi brings disruption and Aurion can contribute stronger burst and support in the current Dragon Wars balance context.
Spend hero skill points according to the job you assigned. A frontline hero normally wants survival, self-healing or control before pure damage. A ranged hero should favor range, attack reliability and the skill that improves damage against the stage’s most common target. A support hero should buy the ability that affects the whole lane before a low-frequency burst skill.
The latest official Dragon Wars notes specifically improved Aurion’s early Worthy Foe damage, Solar Cleansing healing and Solar Stones damage. That does not make Aurion mandatory everywhere, but it supports using the hero when you need an aggressive support option with early-game relevance.
Tower skills deserve the same discipline. Buy an ability early when it changes the number of enemies you can handle, when it adds a missing damage type or when its cooldown can answer a known wave. Delay abilities that only improve a tower already doing its job unless the next wave demands more damage.
- Frontline route: survival, healing or control first, then damage.
- Ranged route: uptime, range and target access first, then burst.
- Support route: team-wide value or crowd control first, then personal damage.
- Never spend every hero ability before a boss wave if the map has an unpredictable mechanic.
| Pair style | First hero job | Second hero job | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anchor and marksman | Hold the choke point | Kill priority targets | Most campaign stages. |
| Anchor and support | Survive and stall | Heal, buff or disrupt | Veteran and boss maps. |
| Control and artillery | Slow or disable enemies | Punish clustered waves | Swarm-heavy stages. |
| Two damage heroes | Burst dangerous targets | Clean up survivors | Only when the towers already provide blocking and control. |
Official pages list the hero roster and recent changes, but they do not publish a complete public comparison of every hero’s level-by-level statistics. Use the in-game Encyclopedia for exact values and treat this section as role-based advice.
Practical testing
How to adjust a failed build
When a build loses, identify the first failure rather than replacing everything. If enemies reach the exit untouched, you lack blocking, range overlap or control. If the blocker survives but enemies take too long to die, add the correct damage type. If only flying enemies leak, improve a tower or hero that can actually target them. If a boss destroys towers or disables a lane, reserve abilities and spread important upgrades instead of concentrating the entire defense in one location.
Test one change at a time on the same stage. Move the barracks first, then compare the result. Next, change the order of tower upgrades. Finally, swap one hero or one tower. This prevents confusing a better route with a stronger roster choice.
Do not copy an exact gold order from a different difficulty without checking the map. Enemy health, available income, tower locations and campaign mechanics can change the breakpoints. The official March 2026 update also changed Dragon Wars tower costs, cooldowns and boss behavior, so DLC-specific routes should be checked against the current version.
- Record the first wave that causes trouble.
- Check whether the failure is armor, air, speed, swarm, range or crowd control.
- Change one tower route or hero skill at a time.
- Recheck the in-game Encyclopedia after an update.
The latest official patch I could verify is build 7.00.60 on Steam and build 7.00.62 on iOS, Android, macOS and Apple Arcade, published March 12, 2026. If your platform reports a newer build, prioritize its displayed stats over this guide.
FAQ
Common questions
What is the best all-purpose tower combination?
Paladin Covenant, Royal Archers, Arcane Wizard and Tricannon are the safest general combination because they cover blocking, physical damage, magic damage and area control. Replace one slot only when the map has a clear specialist requirement.
Should I bring two damage heroes?
Usually not. One frontline or control hero plus one ranged, support or burst hero gives the towers more time to work and is more forgiving when a wave behaves unexpectedly.
Which stats matter most when upgrading towers?
Prioritize survival and unit uptime for barracks, attack speed and range for ranged towers, magic damage and cooldowns for mages, and splash, burn or control for artillery. Raw damage is valuable, but only after the tower can consistently reach its targets.
Are older tier lists still reliable?
Use them cautiously. Official patches changed several tower and hero values in 2024 and 2025, and the March 2026 Dragon Wars update added more balance changes. A tier list without a patch date may describe a different game state.
Where can I verify exact skill values?
Use the in-game Encyclopedia and the tower or hero inspection screens. Ironhide’s public pages confirm the roster and patch changes, but they do not expose every level-by-level stat for every unit.
Sources
What we checked
Official listings establish current availability and product facts. Community pages are used for mechanics and build history, then labeled separately.