Bug Heroes: Tower Defense is a typical tower defense game but with a bug theme. We control heroes of various insect classes, each with its own specialty and power, to protect our food stash from enemy bugs.
Though it’s a Tower Defense game like any other, Bug Heroes introduces some mechanical innovations, such as recycling upgrades on towers and controlling multiple heroes in stages, referred to as houses here.
In this Bug Heroes – Tower Defense: Ultimate Game Guide, we want to give you the best tips on how to command your insect army and protect your food.
Place your Towers
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As obvious as it may be, we must place our towers to defend ourselves in a Tower Defense game.
It’s necessary to use junk as a resource to build new towers in Bug Heroes. By tapping on one, we choose its position on the grid, look at its shooting radius range, and install it.
The ideal placement involves putting high-range towers away from the road, while those with a shorter range, like melee towers, should be placed close to the road. If you can position them on curves, ensuring the tower hits two chunks of the road, even better.
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Moreover, some towers are strong against specific types of enemies, so it’s always worth paying attention to the bugs you’ll face during the subsequent waves, as we explain ahead.
Upgrade your Towers
The most practical and cost-effective way to strengthen your defenses isn’t by filling the map with towers but by evolving those already placed.
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Upgrading in Bug Heroes: Tower Defense has a unique twist compared to other tower defense games. Instead of following a standard evolution path, we have to acquire new means of evolving, which can change the entire dynamics of the gameplay.
Initially, every tower starts with a handful of upgrades. As we acquire more, we must choose which upgrades to invest our junk in. This is especially crucial because there’s a limit to upgrades for each tower, indicated by stars.
For example, we might get a level 3 upgrade for the Machine Gun that increases damage by 100%, costs 55 junks, and occupies 3 stars.
Meanwhile, a level 1 upgrade increases damage by 25%, costs 25 junk, and occupies 1 star. Our math-savvy friends told us that the level 3 upgrade is much more advantageous in all aspects.
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Initially, each tower will have a few upgrades, so it’s possible to buy them all and still have space for more. But as the game progresses, choosing only the most crucial and highest-level upgrades is necessary, strengthening the tower to the maximum with the least cost possible.
There are also the so-called Global Upgrades, enhancements for your Food Stash. Although they cost an absurd amount of junk, you can acquire Global Upgrades for free as you progress through the waves.
These bonuses vary and have a general effect, such as increasing the damage of Autocannon Towers or creating a shield for the Food Stash.
Browse the Stage
Defeating enemies in Bug Heroes causes junk to drop, our essential resource for buying new towers and upgrades. We have a worker ant that collects all the scattered junk, although they are particularly slow.
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Initially, it’s not worth manually collecting them. However, some upgrades increase the amount of junk collected if you pick them up with your hero, promoting movement on the stage.
There’s also a power-up box that appears randomly and can provide even more junk or instant upgrades. Since they are shiny golden boxes, quite enticing, we believe all players will be seduced by them.
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If you’re confident, you can speed up the next wave and acquire more junk by being bold. Once the enemies are dwindling, a fast-forward icon will appear in the top left corner. Tap on it to activate the next wave immediately.
Check the Enemies List
Before starting the waves in Bug Heroes, tap where the remaining wave quantity is located in the top left corner. You’ll be able to see an enemy list according to the waves.
If it’s a new enemy, you can only see its silhouette, but if it’s a known one, you can strategize how to deal with it. This way, you know which towers to invest in beforehand and don’t waste junk.
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For example, the Flea Shielder has an armored shield that is easily destroyed by the Autocannon tower but is resistant to the Machine Gun. Taking the time to analyze the enemy list is always a good idea and can ensure victory before the battle begins.
Use your Bug Hero
In addition to towers, we have our bug heroes in Bug Heroes! Our small but mighty heroes assist in defense with their unique and particular ability set, whether it’s their long-range pistols or a massive club that hits multiple enemies simultaneously.
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Each Bug Hero has a specialty, and we must use them accordingly. The Beetle is more of a tank, so placing it in the middle of the road to hold a wave while your tower fires is a great tactic. The Ant shoots powerfully but is weak, so keeping it farther from enemies is suggested.
Upgrade Bug Hero
Like the towers, Bug Heroes also have upgrades, and new ones can be acquired through the game. They are more expensive than usual but are worth it.
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Still, we suggest focusing on only one hero because trying to evolve both is counterintuitive, at least initially, and very costly. Gold coin management is a powerful skill in Tower Defense, and Bug Heroes is no different.
Swap Bug Hero Mid Combat
As we can bring two heroes for each stage, we suggest taking advantage of both to the fullest. Swapping the Bug hero mid-combat is just a tap away. Since each wave is different in Bug Heroes, it’s worth using the appropriate hero.
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There’s an important strategy as well. Each hero can have up to three active skills with cooldowns.
The thing is, if you use a skill and switch heroes, the cooldown is still rolling. Therefore, it’s highly suggestive of switching heroes, using a skill, switching again, and using more skills, rinse and repeat.
The Ant hero, our first one, possesses the Porta Turret, which installs a turret in a nearby location. Using it whenever possible is a great strategy, as the cooldown continues running during the waves.
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According to your Bug Hero, there are numerous different skills – they learn new ones as they level up – and it’s up to the player to use them to the max.
Finally, each hero has an extremely powerful ultimate that recharges as you use them. A simple blue bar below the hero’s portrait indicates the gauge’s size.
A blue aura envelops the hero’s portrait upon filling up, signaling readiness. However, the player can only unleash the ultimate if all heroes have the gauge, promoting this constant swapping of characters.
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When using the ultimate in Bug Heroes, a Team Attack unfolds, applying all bonuses simultaneously, acting as a boost for the towers or an insanely powerful area attack. We reserve Ultimates for appropriate moments, such as facing a boss.
If, by chance, your hero is on the brink of death, bring them near the Food Stash. It may consume some of the stash’s health, but each tick will restore a significant amount of your hero’s HP, proving worthwhile in the long run.
The Boosts
Eventually, you’ll unlock some potent boosts in the middle stage in Bug Heroes, providing you with a considerable edge. If you don’t have one in stock, you’ll need to spend gems to acquire them.
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There are four in total: Energy Shield, Junk Drop, Fly Swatter, and Coffee Bean.
- Energy Shield: Protect the Food Stash from all Damage for 30s.
- Junk Drop: Call in an airdrop containing 400 junks.
- Fly Swatter: Splat all enemy bugs at a location.
- Coffee Bean: Revive all Heroes, then recharge all Abilities for immediate use.
Each boost costs 10 gems, which isn’t recommended to buy unless you’re genuinely struggling in a particular stage or against a boss.
Accept and Complete Quests
Checking the left corner often reveals quests within the stages that provide more resources for building towers and upgrades. You need to activate some quests before completing them and reaping the rewards.
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You can refresh the quest objectives a few times before choosing your preference. We suggest doing this before starting the waves since sometimes you can complete the quest right at the beginning and use the rewards to ease your defense.
Increase the Bug Rank
As you complete waves, your Bug Rank increases, unlocking new items like gems, keys, gold coins, and, more importantly, upgrades, known as Big Rank Rewards.
Bug Heroes provides two to three upgrades with each Big Rank Reward, and it’s up to the player to decide which to choose. We suggest picking an upgrade that strengthens the type of Tower you’re already focusing on or your higher-level towers.
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For example, there’s an upgrade that increases the radius of all Slammer towers by 2x, which would significantly empower this type of tower and make your defense specialized in crushing enemy bugs.
Since upgrades are usually cheaper than building new towers, you’ll save gold and remain fortified.
Unlocking New Houses
In Bug Heroes: Tower Defense, stages are called houses. You need keys to unlock new houses and continue with the gameplay.
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Initially, you receive plenty of keys, making the unlocking process more accessible. However, if you want to invest keys to open houses with special rewards, such as new heroes, you must accumulate a bunch of them.
If, by any chance, you run out of keys, unfortunately, you’ll have to wait for the daily rewards to acquire more and continue playing. But this only happens later in the game.
Check the Stores Daily
Daily, the Bug Heroes: Tower Defense store offers free rewards for those who watch a video ad. These include coins, gems, and even free upgrades for your towers and bug heroes.
But our favorite is the Surprise Box, which provides three surprise items. Gold, upgrades, and even experience to level up a tower or hero are among these. Furthermore, watching ads increases your VIP rank, ensuring extra bonuses for your account.
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And, of course, for those super engaged and interested, you can invest real money to buy more gems and acquire some unique heroes from the current season, undoubtedly refreshing the gameplay.
The Season Pass
As usual, every mobile game must have a Season Pass, and it’s no different in Bug Heroes: Tower Defense. Fortunately, it’s a way to slightly reward free-to-play players.
By completing missions, both daily and seasonal, you gain experience. This experience accumulates and raises your Season Pass level, unlocking various bonuses.
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Of course, most of the bonuses are reserved for those who purchase the Battle Pass, but still, it’s better not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
These missions are simple, especially the daily ones, so you’ll complete them just by playing. But some require killing several enemies with a specific hero, so it’s worth paying attention.
The Move Stick in Bug Heroes
This tip is more of a preference than a necessity, but it immensely helped our gameplay. By default, we move our Bug Heroes using a fixed move stick on the screen.
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However, while scrolling through the stage, we often bump into the move stick or even miss it, failing to move our hero at the ideal moment.
If you go into the options, accessible by clicking the pause button in the upper left corner, you can go to controls and remove the move stick. This changes the Bug’s movement to a tap system. Where you tap, it will move to.
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This simple change significantly improved the dynamics and movement of the heroes. It’s not perfect because you can tap to move your hero and accidentally click on a tower. Still, it was better than the move stick.
Conclusion
Bug Heroes: Tower Defense is your run-of-the-mill tower defense, but much more fun and thematic. Acquiring new upgrades is an amusing driving force to return daily to defend our food stash.
So, are you playing the game? If so, share with us your best tips and your highest-level bug!
Check out these games before you leave: Tower Defense and Maze Defenders.