Five tower defence mistakes that quietly ruin your run

Most people lose tower defence games not to a single bad move but to a slow drift of small ones. The first is overbuilding. Packing the start of a map with towers feels smart, but it leaves you broke when the hard waves land.

The second is ignoring upgrades. Three upgraded towers almost always beat six basic ones, because damage scaling usually outpaces coverage. Spread your money thin and you'll watch enemies walk through.

Third is forgetting about range overlap. Towers sitting too close waste their coverage on the same tile. Spacing them so their circles barely touch stretches your defence further than cramming them together.

Fourth: not reading enemy types before a wave. Most games show you what's coming. Armoured waves need pierce, fast swarms need splash, and guessing wrong wastes a whole gold cycle.

Fifth, and the one I still do, is panic-selling towers mid-wave. It feels like saving money but it opens a hole right when you can least afford it. Hold your line and adjust between waves instead.