The zombie gaming genre has become full of painfully average games that reuse the same gameplay mechanics. However, one mobile zombie game that manages to do something completely different and new is Rushero – Zombies Tower Defense.
Instead of throwing you into a world overtaken by zombies and having you shoot your way with overpowered weapons, this game actually requires strategy, a little like Dead Ahead: Zombie Warfare. Players need to think on their feet to complete the missions and survive the zombie apocalypse.
To ensure you can learn the ins and outs of Rushero, we’re here with this complete guide on the game. Not only will you find information on the gameplay mechanics, but we’ll also be going through some tricks and tips that are sure to help you get far in the game’s battle mode.
Credit: Alda Games
How Rushero Works
Credit: Alda Games
Starting off, how does Rushero gameplay work? Well, instead of giving you multiple strong guns, you have to fill the shoes of a strategist. You don’t get your hands dirty; instead, you manage the positioning and roles of other characters.
As soon as you start a battle, you’re thrown into a vertical battlefield with a total of twelve cubes at the bottom of the screen. The aim of the game is to use the cards you have to defend your base against the zombies that will try to get to you.
Credit: Alda Games
Your base is signified by the wall directly in front of the cubes where you place all of your characters, and you lose the battle if it gets destroyed.
On the other hand, if the red bar at the top of the screen gets filled, you complete the battle and can move on to the next one.
Filling the Cubes
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No battle starts until you tap the blue mana icon at the bottom left corner of the screen. By tapping it, a random character in your deck spawns at tier 1 and the enemy zombies start charging at you. Once a zombie passes the white line, your characters start shooting at them.
In the middle of the bottom section of the screen is a number that represents how much mana will be required to spawn another character. While the first character will cost 10 mana, the cost will continue to increase as you spawn more characters on the screen.
Credit: Alda Games
One thing to remember is that you can’t control which character spawns at what time. Every time you tap the spawn button a random character from your deck is spawned, and the tier of that character is always tier 1.
Merging and Strengthening
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Now, you might be wondering what more there is to the game if the characters you spawn are completely random.
Well, the main gameplay mechanic that makes Rushero so unique is how you can drag and drop one character into a character of the same type and tier to merge them.
Every time you merge two characters, their tier is increased. The higher the tier of a character is, the faster that character shoots.
However, the number of characters on the board also decreases, so you have to strategize properly to ensure you don’t merge at the wrong time and get overwhelmed by zombies.
Credit: Alda Games
Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that merging two characters doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get a character of the same type.
While the tier of that character will certainly increase, the character type will also be randomized, adding another element of randomness to the game.
Credit: Alda Games
Additionally, if you try to merge two characters that are of the same type but their tiers are different then the merging will be unsuccessful. The same is true if you try merging different character types that are of the same tier.
Conserving Mana
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Remember, you have to spend mana if you want to spawn new characters in Rushero, but that doesn’t mean you have an unlimited amount of it. At the bottom left of the screen, you can see how much mana you have at all times.
Credit: Alda Games
Fortunately, gathering more mana in Rushero isn’t difficult at all. Every time you defeat an enemy zombie, you get a set amount of mana. By killing enough of them, you can gather enough to spawn more characters.
Know All of the Zombie Types
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Finally, the last thing you should know about the gameplay of Rushero is that not every zombie is of the same type. While most zombies look the same and are defeated fairly easily, there are some unique exceptions.
One example is the giant boss zombie you’ll encounter near the start of Rushero. Instead of the red bar getting filled, it gets replaced by the health of the boss zombie, and depleting it ends the battle. So, it’s important to be ready for anything the game throws at you.
More Than Just a Zombie Game
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Oh, did you think zombies were all there were in this game? Not at all! Rushero features several different types of enemies that you go up against depending on which chapter you’re playing.
Although the first chapter is dedicated entirely to zombies, you can expect to tackle enemies like aliens and mythological monsters in the later chapters.
Credit: Alda Games
So, how do you progress through the chapters in Rushero? Every chapter has a set amount of battle missions and bosses. When you clear all of them, you unlock the next chapter and then you have to repeat the process.
Understanding Waves
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While some battles will have a constant stream of enemies trying to take you down, others have several waves.
No, we aren’t talking about the other zombie game called Zombie Waves. After you complete one wave, you get the chance to stock up on mana before another stream of enemies starts charging at you.
Battles with waves usually have more enemies than battles without them, so if you feel like your current army isn’t strong enough then it might be a good idea to get that extra mana.
Perfecting Your Deck
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At the core of every successful battle is a strong deck of characters who can take down whatever enemies they come up against.
Fortunately, Rushero gives players multiple ways to find new characters and level up the ones they think have the potential to truly strengthen their deck.
To edit your deck, all you have to do is go to the main menu, tap the ‘cards’ option at the bottom of the screen, select the card you want to add to your deck, and then place it on your team by removing another card from your deck.
Credit: Alda Games
Your total health is determined by the health and defense of the cards in your deck. This is exactly why, before any match starts, you’ll see a short animation showing how your health is being allocated.
Knowing the Type of Cards in Rushero
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Just like how there are multiple different types of enemies, there are also different types of cards. From survivors to scientists, every card is different on a fundamental level.
While some may use machine guns and have very good range and rate of fire, others might use shotguns, making it so they deal devastating damage to enemies at close range.
Of course, cards have different rarities too. While you’ll start off with a deck of cards filled with common rarity characters, you’ll eventually get the opportunity to get higher rarity cards. The higher a card’s rarity the more likely it is to be stronger.
Credit: Alda Games
Some characters also target multiple enemies at once, so it’s important to take a look at every card in your possession before crafting your team.
It’s crucial that you have different card types to ensure every base is covered and your team is ready for anything the game might throw at you.
How to Find New Cards
The best way to find new cards in Rushero is by opening chests. Chests can be found in multiple ways like buying them from the store, using a silver key to get one, completing objectives, and more.
Almost every chest is guaranteed to have at least one character, so no chest is truly ever wasted.
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Of course, there are other ways to acquire new cards too in Rushero, like buying some mystery cards from the store which will give you a set amount of random cards that may or may not have you cheering with happiness.
Upgrading Your Cards
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Not every card you’ll find will be a new character as getting duplicate cards is more common than you might think, but fortunately, no duplicate card goes to waste.
When you go to the card screen, you’ll see a number at the bottom of every card indicating how many duplicates of that card you have. You’ll also see a number indicating how many cards you need to upgrade that specific card.
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Once you have enough cards to upgrade a character, simply tap that character’s card and then tap the upgrade button.
You do require silver to upgrade your characters, and the amount of silver required increases or decreases depending on the character’s level and rarity.
By upgrading a character you’ll increase several stats including that character’s damage done and defense, so be sure to try and upgrade characters you actually use as you don’t have an unlimited amount of silver.
Getting Experience
One more thing you can do by upgrading your characters is gather experience. By collecting enough experience you can eventually level up your profile. By leveling your profile up you can acquire things like gold, resources, and keys to open chests.
Credit: Alda Games
Alternatively, you can also unlock new features and Rushero gameplay mechanics by leveling up. For example, when you get to level five you’ll unlock the achievements mechanic.
Through it, you can get chests and other goodies by simply playing the game and completing achievements that require you to do things you would’ve done anyway.
Profile Upgrades
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Speaking of leveling up, by getting to level eight you’ll unlock the upgrades feature. While we’ve already covered how you can upgrade specific character cards, this feature allows you to upgrade your profile, giving you permanent buffs that alter the course of Rushero.
To go to the upgrades screen once you’ve unlocked it by reaching level eight, simply tap the upgrades option at the bottom of the screen.
Here, you’ll see two different upgrade paths. The one on the left requires you to spend resources (silver) to upgrade your profile.
Credit: Alda Games
Although these start off cheap and rather minor, like a 1% increase in your health, you’ll eventually be using over 10,000 resources for a single upgrade. These upgrades are like a snowball rolling down a cliff; the impact keeps getting bigger.
Credit: Alda Games
The path on the right, meanwhile includes upgrades that can instantly change how you play Rushero, like a free upgrade roll at the start of every match. Because these upgrades are so major the currency used for them is batteries, which aren’t easy to come across.
Conclusion
This was everything you need to know before you jump into Rushero – Zombies Tower Defense for yourself. This game might seem easy at first, but the more you progress the more you’ll have to find yourself actually strategizing to ensure you take the best course of action.
If you’re looking for similar strategy games such as Rushero then we recommend trying out both Rise Up and The Lord of The Rings: Rise to War. Alternatively, you can also check out the 10 Best Tactical and Strategy RPGs on Android.
