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In Nordhold, becoming skilled at this distinctive tower defense game requires understanding various mechanics. The game blends base management, resource allocation, and turn-based strategy. Since it’s easy to overlook certain mechanics, familiarizing yourself with all of them is essential!
Making poor choices can lead to defeat. The game incorporates roguelike features, meaning losses are part of the experience until you find yourself in a frustrating deadlock. That’s why it’s important to gather helpful tips and strategies for better gameplay.
Earn Honor to Advance
As a roguelike game, expect to stumble often. After each wave, you earn Honor, and defeating a boss wave yields even more. Honor can be spent to unlock various perks.
Some perks can benefit you in future attempts, such as reducing tower costs or increasing resource acquisition. By selecting the Eternal Glory perk, your Honor earnings will rise, while the Heritage perk grants an extra worker on every run.
Honor also allows you to unlock new towers, enabling experimentation with diverse play styles and builds. Even a lackluster run can yield rewards through Honor gains.
Focus on Your Economy
A strong economy is crucial for surviving more waves, as resources are needed to construct additional towers. You will always begin with a Woodcutter’s Hut, but you must build more structures to gather different resources.
Food is required for creating more workers, and to obtain it, you will need to construct a mill. Additionally, some towers require stone and gold, so be sure to build a Quarry and a Goldmine to collect these materials.
Some structures can boost your resource generation alongside your workers. The Tavern increases worker productivity, and if you add a brewery, that output will go up even more—just remember, it will need food to function.
Don’t Hesitate to Take Damage in the Initial Waves
When an enemy reaches your gates, damage is inflicted, and your instinct will be to prevent that. However, taking damage can sometimes be a strategic decision, provided you plan for it. It can be a valid tactic to skip building towers in the first couple of waves.
To maximize your economy, you may want to forgo tower construction initially to conserve resources for economy-focused buildings. The Shield Wall perk can provide extra health, making this approach easier.
Limit Yourself to One or Two Tower Types
As you unlock various towers, you might feel inclined to try them all. While that’s fun, consider using only one or two types. This is beneficial because the game encourages you to focus on a few tower types to amplify their effectiveness.
Progressing through waves brings banners that strengthen your towers. These banners appear randomly, but only for the towers you’ve constructed. By using a single tower type, you can consistently receive banners specifically for that tower.
This focus can lead to formidable builds, as all buffs you get from banners will target that one tower. You might explore using only Runestone Towers or combine them with the Raven Tower for a simple yet effective strategy.
Optimize Your Banners with Banish
Now that you know a singular tower can help you secure the banners you want, consider utilizing Banish. Banish removing a banner will make it unavailable later, increasing the likelihood of spawning the banners you do want.
The ‘Strategic Mind’ perk from the Castle grants you additional banishes. Use these to permanently eliminate unwanted banners while tailoring your build.
For example, if you’re aiming for a Shock Tower Crit Build, banish the Lightning Surge banner as it won’t aid your strategy. If you stick to single-tower builds, the right amount of banishments ensures you get the needed banner every time.
Establish Priority Targets
When selecting a tower, you’ll notice the Focus Priority option next to the upgrade window. Here, you can set specific targets for the tower to pursue, offering a range of options! Adjusting the focus gives you control over which enemies the towers engage.
For instance, the Raven Tower can be set to focus on bosses and enemies with high HP. Simultaneously, the Magma Tower can be directed to target clustered enemies for maximum impact!
Utilize Terrain for Strategic Advantage
Keep an eye on the terrain elevation, as taller towers can cover more ground. This is particularly vital for towers with a shorter range, such as the Runestone Tower.
As you navigate through the waves, notice the different symbols on terrain hexes. Hovering over a tower on such hexes reveals bonuses, which can include enhanced range or damage—so remain vigilant.
Try to position your towers so they cover the most path. The more area a tower can engage, the greater the damage output!
Establish Passive Resource Income
When you reach the later waves, you can unlock passive income upgrades for your resource-producing buildings. This can significantly boost your early-game economy, allowing for a shift toward merely generating gold and wood to get upgrades quickly.
You can even unlock perks that raise the maximum Passive Income possible from each building!