Hundreds of bad blocks, swords, axes and arrows! If this sentence conjures an image of yet another grisly war game in your mind, be prepared to be pleasantly surprised. A market leader in the word of tower defense games has just hit the App Store and is taking over by storm. Defend The Bits is the latest new product by the gaming powerhouse of PlaySide and completely delivers on what is promised and much more. Defend The Bits is available to download and play for $2.99 on iOS devices from the Apple iTunes App Store. The game comes in a reasonable package size of 152 MB and provides days and days of gameplay in that size unless you become so addicted that you manage to end the game in 24 hours. The game receives regular love from the developers and they pay close attention to the suggestions and criticism from players striving to always maintain and increase the standard of this game. The most recent version of Defend The Bits is version 1.0 which was released on 18 July 2017.
Defend The Bits is one of the most interactive tower defense games available for Apple operating devices in the market at the moment and completely immerses even a new player into the flashy battle mechanics. The game stems from browser versions of the game with the same concept that got immense popularity in a relatively short amount of time on the internet. Introduced in an age where flash gaming was the latest thing, the original tower defense games quickly gained a loyal and devoted player base through the unique and extremely addictive gameplay. The mobile game Defend The Bits basically continues upon the original legacy of strategy based browser games and incorporates all the elements of gameplay in addition to providing a beautiful looking and highly interactive user interface. Where the original tower defense browser based games were just mindless clicking games where the main objective was to kill as many creatures as you can, the mobile game builds upon an interesting storyline and takes you on an adventure as you compete with your friends on Facebook for the title of the Ultimate Defender!
The gameplay mechanics of Defend The Bits are fairly straightforward and the game is designed to be played by players of all ages and genders so naturally the difficulty level is quite low. However, earning the title of Ultimate Defender in the game is something reserved only for the most dedicated and passionate players. The game has an exponential reward rate but that comes coupled with an even more sharply increasing price rate for upgrades and power ups in the game.
Purchasing in game items or the Golden Coins and gems as they are referred to in Defend The Bits is also an alternative option for those players whose eyes start aching from staying in front of the screen too long or if you think keeping the screen awake for so long might be detrimental to the health of your smartphone. Therefore, if you are not a pay to play player, this guide includes some tips on how to proceed with your upgrades in order to level up the fastest and follow the fastest path to becoming the Ultimate Defender Of The Bits!
1. Know Your Defenders
In Defending The Bits, there is an ensemble of two different kinds of Defending blocks. “Melee” defending blocks are the characters which can only attack physically and from a very close range. These defending blocks usually wield weapons like swords, lances or axes and have a very high attack power and abilities. Their lack of range is usually compensated for by their large health points and good defensive as well as offensive skills plus they are able to kill most early bad blocks with a single blow which is the greatest skill you could ask for at the earlier stages. Similarly there are “Ranged” defending blocks in the game which can attack from different distances varying from character to character and how many levels you have upgraded their equipment and levels in the game.
The Ranged defending blocks are the first defending blocks that you get introduced to in the very first wave of the game by the in game tutorial. These ranged defending blocks have a fair bit of firepower at their disposal but unlike melee defending blocks, they are unable to kill bad blocks at the earlier stages with one hit and therefore should be placed at the very end of the line in order to wipe up any smaller bad blocks that managed to escape from the clutches of the melee defending blocks. Their range also allows them to attack enemy bad blocks and defend the area while staying at a safe distance. However these ranged defending blocks have much lesser hit points as compared to the stronger Melee defending blocks and therefore bad blocks are much harder to kill for them. They also usually have a lower attack speed and a slow turn rate so escape is usually easier for bad blocks if they manage to go forward unscathed by the Melee defending blocks.
Both Melee and Ranged defending blocks have their uses in different games and your chances of winning or losing are partially already decided while the defending blocks picking phase is under process. For example, if your team has only Melee defending blocks and does not have a single Ranged defending block, it will do very badly in the early game phases especially when there are a lot of enemy bad blocks rushing up against you. This defending block line up has great late game potential due to the immense damage per second output of an all Melee team but it will be actually very hard for the Melee defending blocks to reach a point that will enable them to upgrade items that will help them deal that much damage in the late game phase. Similarly an All-Ranged defending block team is a recipe for disaster because a single Melee defending block is always needed to at least one shot kill some of the bad blocks before the ranged defending blocks can start doing their job.
There is simply no defined criteria for choosing the line-up for your team as the process of bad blocks coming out of the factory is not under your control and the game throws random bad blocks at you during the higher stages and at high speeds as well. However at the higher levels, it is prudent to actually plan during the extra time before picking any defending blocks and aim for combination line-ups. This is an excellent strategy in most cases and creates great synergy between the carefully placed defending blocks regardless of whether they belong to the melee or ranged factions or even a mixture of both types. A team that is entirely focused on killing bad blocks or a team that includes many high attack defending blocks will surely be able to end the game much faster than a team which has defending blocks fighting solo on each level. Remember, Defend The Bits is a strategic tower defense effort and you can win a game only and only if you synergize your plans with the requirements of each particular level.
2. Defense By Attack
So you have decided to become an Aggressor! This is the chosen path of warriors, the true men who never hesitate to give their all in the quest to rise above the usual pile of simple tower defenders. Beware of the dangers that will beset you when you take this path for they are not few and certainly not easy to overcome. The first and foremost requirement of following the path of the Attacker is to make sure your fingers are very well rested and you are not in a family gathering or public event where you could be scolded for the extreme shouting behavior that you will most certainly go through while playing this way. You begin with no defending blocks and only blank spaces in the center of the screen of your smartphone. Click on a blank space a little bit away from the entry point of the bad blocks and you will be able to select from arrow shooting defending blocks to place on the empty tile.
No extra perks or benefits are available to you at the start of the game but as you progress to the higher levels more and more defending blocks become available to you along with many upgrades and power ups that start to unlock. Remember, you have chosen the path of the Aggressor so it is best to invest your earnings and rewards into upgrades and perks that increase the power of both your melee and ranged defending blocks.
Try to get as many levels as possible into the “increase your hit power” upgrade as this will be your bread and butter for baking delivering much more damage in the game. Getting many levels into this upgrade will be quite difficult as the coin requirement for each successive upgrade exponentially increases. However, it is also not a wise idea to halt upgrades of your defending blocks as they are the only things standing between you and certain defeat.
Another core tip for all players who have decided to follow the path of the Attacker is to avoid spending golden coins and gems on additional features like “Random Spin” or the “The Wheel of Fortune”. Both of these features eat up your gold coins very fast and you will not be able to save up for the later perks which give you a really huge boost and are very necessary for your continued survival in the game.
At the end it all comes down to how much time you can spare for this epic time wasting game. Be mindful of the fact that playing and upgrading with defending blocks is a very addictive experience and you will find yourself unable to think about anything else while you are senselessly watching bad blocks get chopped away on the screen of your smartphone. Therefore choose with caution and do not let Defend The Bits take over your life and the human Universe!
3. Devise Effective Strategies
It seems like the passionate path of the Attacker was not one destined for you. No matter, wizards and magicians have always been one step ahead and even stronger than many legendary warriors so fret not. Rejoice in the knowledge that this path requires much less physical effort and can potentially save you from embarrassing yourself in a crowd or an important meeting. Unlike the path of the Aggressor, you do need any physical strain for this path but you do need a good amount of mental concentration and decision making ability. Needless to say this path is for those clever players who have found the way to make the game work for them while they sit back, relax and watch the magic happen on the screen of their smartphone.
Once you have chosen the path of the “Strategist”, the first thing you need to make sure of is to follow the objectives given to you by the game for at least the first 5 waves. This will ensure that you get a handsome collection of Defending blocks, Upgrades and Perks. You need to mainly focus upon increasing the upgrades available to your defending blocks so that you can easily crush all the bad blocks and deal with the much more intense bad block factories that come after the 25th wave. Upgrades like the “Axe Crusher”, “Speed Up”, “Blazing Arrows” and “Ultimate Cannon” are a few initial perks to increase your auto attack powers. DO NOT try to upgrade the initial few perks beyond a level of 5 because they start to cost too much in gold coins and provide only a little increase to your attacking power.
As you begin to move ahead to the higher levels you will notice that you can now place defending blocks with cross disciplinary abilities like melee warriors with a small arsenal of ranged cannons and area of effect abilities up their sleeves. These combo warriors will form the cornerstone of your strategy for the level and as a Strategist you have to take into account all the different abilities that they possess in order to make the most lethal combination possible. Some of these abilities might not be coincident with each other and you have to take precautions to make sure that the spells at any level do not backfire upon your own summoned army rather than decimating the bad blocks in front of you.
4. Placing Your Defenders Perfectly
Defend The Bits is a game that pits your skill against the talent of thousands of players from all around the world. In order to prove yourself worthy of being called a Champion Defender, you have to practice as much as you can in this game. An essential part of being called a pro player in Defend The Bits is to have killer reflexes and an extremely short reaction time. This is a game in which fights during a wave take at most ten to fifteen seconds and in that limited time you have to make split second decisions about which skill to use or which upgrade to perform and save your defending blocks from dying unnecessarily. This perfect timing that you will notice in many pro games and competitions is a product of sheer hard work and countless hours devoted to practice in the game.
In the first few levels of the game you will be falsely led to believe by the in game tutorials that there is plenty of time available for you to easily tap your way out of every level. However do not trust the developers on this because they have made sure that you are forced to try hard to even barely survive during the later levels. During the higher levels, you will instantly feel pushed by the need to make decisions as fast as you can because if you don’t the enemy bad blocks will run you over and you will lose.
The combo defending blocks are the most expensive yet the most useful and deadly type of blocks available to you in Defending The Bits. You can place your first combo defending block when you reach the tenth wave of bad blocks and it is pertinent to mention that you must have at least 1000 gold coins to place your first block. Therefore, if you do not have enough coins by the ninth wave, you should either look towards purchasing an in game coin pack or exchanging some gems in order to get the required amount of gold coins. Getting a combo defending block by the tenth wave is absolutely necessary for your continued survival because these are the only type of blocks that can hit two bad blocks at the same time and destroy much larger bad blocks with one hit.
All other types of blocks, even the stronger melee defending blocks require at least two hits to destroy the larger bad blocks that start coming out in large numbers after the tenth wave and you need a legion of combo defending blocks in your army with much greater firepower at their disposal in order to deal with these abominations. It would be wise to keep in mind that the combo defending blocks are costly initially but their upgrades do not increase as exponentially as their simple melee and range counterparts. Therefore, it is a huge advantage to keep these combo defending blocks placed at the entrance and preferably near the first corner of the level which will provide you with a greater range of firing spread as well as getting more benefit from the upgrades that you will be making to the combo defending blocks. The most optimum way to deal with any kind of wave and beat the game completely is to place combo defending blocks at all six corners and make an alternate arrangement of melee and ranged defending blocks as this will decimate any kind of wave effortlessly and you can get a real shot at defeating the huge bad blocks factories that roll out after the 50th wave and who knows you might finally beat the game if you follow all the tips and strategies correctly.
A key reflex that you need to focus on developing is the use of your skills. Instead of trying out a new defending block every other day, choose a single defending block that you like or you think you can play well after placing it into battle. Give two to three hours of practice to fully understand what each skill of that defending block does. Some new players get exasperated when a fight starts and begin to spam all of the block skills. This is the main cause of those team fights with the enemy bad blocks ending badly for your side. Each of your defending block skill has a defined Area of Effect and using it beyond that area will net you no damage on the enemy bad blocks. The combo defending blocks have a separate stamina and power ratio as compared with the normal blocks and therefore you have to keep these ratios in mind before you mindlessly start placing a large number of combo blocks as they are the most expensive type of defending blocks in the game and have the highest cost of upgrades.
Another reaction that you need to master is the sixth sense of detection in this game. This sense only comes with time as you play more and more games. Having a good sense means you literally get a gut feeling that something is wrong and you might be need to summon more defending blocks to combat an enemy ambush at times. Use this sense to your advantage and become the Ultimate Defender in Defend The Bits.