How to Play 8 Bit Tower Defense: Your First Battle, Step by Step

Quick answer

Pick a unit from the bottom bar, tap a lit spot beside the road to place it, then press START to send the first wave. Your units attack the enemies marching toward your outpost — spend the cash they drop on upgrades and clear every wave to win.

• Units only go on highlighted (lit) spots beside the road, and each unit attacks anything inside its circle.
• Every defeated enemy pays cash: tap one of your placed units and press UPGRADE to spend it.
• The tutorial's training match ends with 'VICTORY - TRAINING COMPLETE' once you clear Wave 4.

Your first match in 8 Bit Tower Defense is a short, readable loop: set up units along the road, send the wave, earn cash from every kill, upgrade, and repeat until the last enemy falls. The game's own on-screen tutorial walks you through exactly this, and the same moves carry you through every story act after it.

How a battle works

Every battle plays out along a road that leads to your outpost. Enemies follow that road toward it, and everything you do in a match exists to stop them from getting there. You defend with units placed beside the road: each one automatically attacks anything inside its circle, so units keep fighting on their own while you manage money and placements.

The match moves in waves, and you control the start — pressing START sends the first wave. A wave counter such as 'WAVE 0/8' shows the current wave out of the match's total. Clear the last wave and the match is won; the tutorial's training match, for instance, ends on a 'VICTORY - TRAINING COMPLETE' screen after Wave 4.

Your first battle, step by step

Checklist

• Pick a unit from the bottom bar

  Your available units line the bottom of the screen. Tap one to select it for placement.

• Tap a lit spot beside the road

  Only highlighted spots accept a unit. As the tutorial puts it: 'Now tap the lit spot beside the road. Your unit attacks anything inside its circle.'

• Place more units the same way

  The tutorial follows your first placement with the Honey Bee and the Dart Dragonfly on other lit spots.

• Press START to send the first wave

  START releases the first wave onto the road.

• Earn cash and press UPGRADE

  Every defeated enemy pays cash, and matches begin with starting cash (one observed match starts at $1,000). Tap one of your placed units, then press UPGRADE to spend it.

• Clear every wave to win

  Keep placing and upgrading until the final wave is dead. The training match ends with 'VICTORY - TRAINING COMPLETE' after Wave 4.

The tutorial replays these exact steps with you during the training match, so you can simply follow along the first time.

Placing units: lit spots and attack circles

Placement has one hard rule: units can only go on the highlighted (lit) spots beside the road. Pick a unit from the bottom bar, tap a lit spot, and the unit holds everything that passes inside its circle. Where you put a unit decides how much of the road its circle covers, which is why the tutorial walks you through three placements in a row instead of one.

As the match goes on you keep using the same move: the cash your defense earns funds new placements, so your line grows a unit at a time as money allows.

For placement specifics, see the how to place units guide, and the defense strategy guide for how to read a map.

Upgrading: battle cash vs. permanent levels

Two upgrade systems run side by side, and they use different currencies.

Inside a match, every enemy your units kill pays cash, and you also start each match with some in the bank — the observed example opens at $1,000 with 'WAVE 0/8' on the counter. Tap one of your placed units and press UPGRADE to spend that cash on strengthening the unit for the rest of the match.

Between matches, gold from battles levels units up permanently. On the UNITS screen in the hub, press LEVEL UP: each level adds damage, and squad units also gain XP from every match you play.

Comparison

Comparison

Question	UPGRADE — in a match	LEVEL UP — between matches
What you spend	Battle cash (starting cash plus cash from defeated enemies)	Gold earned from battles
Where it happens	Mid-match, by tapping one of your placed units	The UNITS screen in the hub, between matches
What it does	Strengthens that unit for the current match	Each level adds damage; squad units also gain XP from every match
How long it lasts	That match	Permanently

The tutorial makes your first leveling pass easy: at that step it grants 500 gold and 2 Trait Rerolls as a one-time starter gift. Trait Rerolls belong to the unit-trait side of the game — the traits guide covers them.

More on both upgrade tracks: unit upgrades and how to level up.

Boss waves and the end of a match

Story acts finish with a boss wave: after the regular waves, a large boss enemy with high health comes down the road to close the act. The specific boss changes from act to act, so treat the final wave as the match's real exam — it is the wave your upgrades have been paying for all along.

You beat it the same way as everything else: units inside their circles, cash into upgrades. The bosses guide goes deeper on the bosses themselves.

After your first win

A win pays out twice. Immediately, you receive gold for unit leveling — the same gold the LEVEL UP screen spends — and you can summon more units to widen your squad (see how to get units). Then there is the next battle itself: Open Story from the play menu lists every world and act so you can pick your next fight. Clearing one act opens the next — your campaign starts at world 1 of 6 — and pressing Play on your choice starts the wave.

A fuller route through the campaign lives in the story mode guide.

Where the game goes from there

The official description compresses the whole loop into one line: "Place your units, upgrade them, unleash their abilities and take down every boss." Around that loop sits a full collection game: 50+ collectible units across five rarities (Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythic and Secret — see the unit rarities guide), six story worlds from Greenfield Outpost to the Hollow King's Ashen Citadel (worlds list), Normal, Nightmare and Legend difficulties (difficulty levels), co-op raids for up to 4 players, Expedition, Infinite mode and rotating challenges (game modes).

None of that changes your first battle. The road, the lit spots, START, cash, UPGRADE and the final wave are the entire loop at small scale — play it once and you know how 8 Bit Tower Defense works.