ScrapTD/Guide

Some information may be outdated as a very old version of ScrapTD has been taken into account and the game hasn't got many active players left. This guide will help from the beginning of ScrapTD, over the unlock of things like the first barrels and defenses through higher levels of the game. It's written and maintained by the wiki admin elmenda452, but anyone is welcome to fix errors and making it a bit better.

For the case you already played quite a bit of the game, you can directly jump to the Midgame part or Lategame part. The earlygame part includes obtaining all Barrels and Defenses, the midgame part until Player Level 10 and the lategame part everything after that.

1. The overlay
Recommended articles for this chapter of part 1: ScrapTD

First, download the game, if you haven't done this yet. Every time you start it, you get to the main menu, where you get to three "sections": This is the overlay of the game.
 * The first Tab contains a list with your current Barrels and Defenses you'll use to attack other Players. Most of them are locked and must be purchased with Bricks.
 * The second one is a tab where you can see some Statistics, such as your current Player Level, the Trophies, your Energy and more useful information. It has got an Options section as well.
 * The third Tab is the Team Tab, which remains locked until you achieve Level 3.

The next thing you should do now is starting your first Match against other Player.

2. Your first Match
Recommended articles for this chapter of part 1: ScrapTD, Scrap, ScrapTD Barrels, Defenses, Match

After a few seconds, the game will have found an opponent for you. You will find three main Sections: Matches always begin with 200 Scrap and 100 Scrap/second production. You can start by sending some Circle Blue barrels (the first, blue Barrel). You will see how the Barrels automatically try going to the other side of the enemy Base, this way you'll remove Health from an enemy (displayed under the opponent's Name). You will get subtracted 200 Scrap every time, but the Barrel will add some Scrap to your production, essential for advancing in a Match. Not much later, you can go to the Defense Tab and place your first Defense. It will automatically shoot the enemy Barrels once placed.
 * Defenses, which will repel enemy Barrels.
 * Barrels, which will be used against your Opponent.
 * Emotes, just to send some emote to your opponent.

Later on, you'll be able to deploy a Square Pink barrel (the second, red Barrel). You will see how it subtracts you 2000 Scrap, but it will give you 10 times as much bonus Scrap Production. Continue fighting the opponent until you either win or lose. In the end of a Match, you'll be rewarded Bricks, and extra Magnets if you win. You can watch an Ad to double the Rewards. A more in-depth guide on how to spend these essential Resources will be found later on in this article. Congratulations! You've finished your first Battle! Head out to get new Defenses and Barrels (don't upgrade them for now, Section 1.4 talks about the Shop) or start another Match.

3. Match Basics
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Now that you finished your first Match, it's time to introduce you to some basic tips to improve your Battles.

3.1 Basics
Every Barrel and Defense costs Scrap to be used, which is generated every second. You start out at 200 Scrap and generate 100 Scrap/second, and each Barrel or Defense you deploy in the battleground will grant you with 8% of its cost to your Scrap Production, essential to progress through more advanced Barrels and Defenses.

A few advices:
 * Don't try to use very expensive Barrels/Defenses, as that will slow down your way during the game. Stick with those you can get in a reasonable amount of time.
 * Don't use very cheap Barrels/Defenses either, as you'll just be wasting time. If something is 5x cheaper than your current Scrap Production, just ignore it unless it's an emergency (normally defensive emergency, though don't abuse spamming Defenses as that'll worsen your situation later on).
 * Some barrels are airborne and won't be hit by your first two Defenses. The third Defense (and some latter ones) can hit them. You'll need Defenses which can hit air enemies.

3.2 Offense
Every Barrel has got its unique characteristics which can mean a win or a defeat.

All Barrels have got a Scrap Cost, a different Health, some Damage dealt to your opponent when they get through the way, a Speed at which they get through the opponent's way, and can be terrestrial or airborne.

Here's the overview for the first 5 Barrels, as you'll probably not find yourself against any more Barrels for now: Note how the last Barrel isn't a Ground unit, so it won't be hit by your current defenses (unless you have got the third Defense).

3.3 Defense
As with the Barrels, Defenses have got their own characteristics which help them to repel the enemy Barrels for them to don't get through your way.

All Defenses have got a Scrap Cost, a different Damage done to enemy Barrels, an Attack Speed which sets how fast the Turret will fire at the enemy barrels, an Attack Range, which determines how far a Defense can shoot enemy Barrels, and the ability to hit Ground or Air enemies.

Here's the overview for the first 3 Defenses, as you'll probably not find yourself against any more Defenses for now:

Important: Note how the third Defense is able to shoot Air enemies, so it will be able to assist with Ground enemies as well. This is true for any Air Defense.

3.4 Conclusions
Scrap related: Barrel related: Defense related: Pro tip: the more Scrap you got, the higher the amount of Bricks you'll win from a Match. This is usually used between teammates to win optimal amounts of Bricks, more information on this can be found later on.
 * Try to get more Scrap to produce enough to use better Barrels and Defenses. This is difficult at first and needs quite a bit of practice, but it's the foundation of the game and therefore the biggest difference between the beginner and the experienced.
 * Don't attack with Barrels which can be very easily wiped out by the enemy Defense
 * As stated before, don't use overly expensive Barrels which take a lot to recruit.
 * Don't use very weak Defenses later on as they'll do near to nothing.
 * As stated before, don't use overly expensive Defenses which take a lot to deploy.
 * Put a reasonable amount of Defenses but don't put an unnecessary amount of them, because you will have less space to place better Defenses. Don't put too few Defenses either, if you really feel your defense needs another Defense of a kind, don't hesitate to place it.

3.5 Energy
You need Energy to obtain any Resources from a Match. For now you have got a max of 4 Energy, and you get 1 Energy replenished every 2 Hours. If you got no Energy, you can still play, but no Resources will be awarded.

4. The end of a Match. Bricks and Shop.
Recommended articles for this chapter of part 1: ScrapTD, ScrapTD Barrels, Defenses, Bricks, Magnets

You'll probably have realized by now that you have got some Bricks (and Magnets if you have won any Match, but those aren't as important) from your matches. I hope you were watching an ad every time to make them x2 every time... because now it's time to use these bricks to unlock new Barrels and Defenses!

To find the Shop, you need to go to the first Tab in the Main Menu, found in the bottom-most part. There, you'll be able to see different sections for Barrels, Defenses, and other cool things you'll unlock later on, such as Upgrades to spend your Magnets on. But for now, head to either Barrels or Defenses and get yourself new Defenses or Barrels. Each Barrel costs 100 Bricks to unlock and each Defense needs 200 Bricks. Don't upgrade them yet because the benefit of obtaining a new Barrel is quite higher than upgrading an already owned one. Only start upgrading them when you get them all.

Also note you'll get some Player Experience when purchasing or upgrading Barrels and Defenses. This sets your maximum Health in a Match. A full list of Barrels can be found at ScrapTD Barrels, and a full list of defenses at Defenses.

5. Teams
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When you get to Player Level 3, you get to unlock Teams. They're located at the third tab of the bottom-most part of the main menu. You can either join or create one at a cost of 500 Magnets. For now, you should join a team. Not a totally inactive one, but not one of the best teams.

At the same time, you unlock Team Leagues, which reward weekly Bricks depending on how many won matches your Team has had throughout the week with a limit at 500 Wins, so you should definitely help your Team getting more Wins, as every 25 Wins the amount of Bricks gets increased.

Congratulations, once you unlocked all Barrels and Defenses you hit the Midgame part!

Part 2: Midgame
Important: This section considers you have got all Barrels and Defenses. If you don't, stay aside!

If you have got all Defenses and Barrels but feel you don't exactly get the basics of the game, feel free to practise as much as you want.

1. Upgrading Barrels and Defenses
Recommended articles for this chapter of part 2: ScrapTD, Barrels, Defenses, Bricks, Player Levels Once you got all the Barrels and Defenses and so the Midgame part, you can upgrade these Barrels and Defenses for them to get an improvement of some stats using Bricks! Doing this is simple, you can upgrade Barrels just like you purchased your weaponry before. Every level makes weaponry 1.03x stronger (exponential). The maximum Level for any Barrel or Defense is 20, and they take increasing amount of Bricks to Upgrade the higher the Level, but give as well more Player Experience, important to unlock more advanced features such as Abilities (Player Level 7, more on that later).

1.1 Upgrading Barrels
You can Upgrade your Barrels to increase their Damage to deal more damage to the enemy when they reach to the end, and their Health to resist more Defenses upon them.

1.2 Upgrading Defenses
You can Upgrade Your Defenses to increase their Damage to deal more damage to the enemy Barrels. Defenses are more expensive to Upgrade than Barrels if at same level, but give even more Player Experience as well.

1.3 Upgrade Breaks
Even though this is a community-coined term, they can help you decide which Barrels and Defenses to Upgrade, as not all of them are as effective. This happens because Upgrades cost a lot of Bricks and the stat increases are rather low, making it necessary to invest your Bricks wisely into the proper Upgrades. They're mostly decided by the most popular strategies, best barrels, most killing barrels and most killing strategies.

Current Upgrade Breaks list (Click)

(Upgrade breaks outdated, please update them when an updated list gets released)

For example, there are Barrels you should directly avoid to Upgrade (though Defenses are generally good to go), such as Inception or Christmas, as they're either not effective killing the player or just cost too much Scrap for their low Stats. In contrast, Barrels such as Banana Hole, Swiss or Thor are good to be thrown on a lot of Bricks because of their potential to make the enemy's life much harder and making you more prone to winning.

For the Defenses, it's generally accepted that one should upgrade most the Defenses which defend against the most killing Barrels.

2. Intermediate Match Tactics
Recommended articles for this chapter of part 2: ScrapTD, Barrels, Defenses, Scrap, Player Levels Given you know now the basics of the game, such as obtaining a higher Scrap Production, or defending against certain Barrels, it's now time to give you, the player, some good tactics and good practices to improve the way you play.

2.1 Barrel - Defense Relationship
You'll probably have realized by now that certain Barrels and Defenses appear quite often together. This is true in almost all Matches, unless you're either battling against a lesser skilled opponent or you kill your opponent before reaching last Barrels. No need to memorize them, they're pretty common to come across by, you'll get used to them. For example, Blue Square (Def. #1) deals well with Circle Blue (#1), struggles more to deal with Square Pink (#2), and becomes useless when Banana Hole (#3) comes into play, and Gatling Gun (Def. #2) needs to be used.

Summarizing in a table:

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2.2 Barrel Skipping
There are some barrels (such as Inception) which can be ignored with near to no loss in offensive capabilities, the so-called "Useless Barrels". Even using them is generally a waste of time as they add little to nothing in strategic sense. Most of these Barrels have got upgrade breaks near to level 1 because of this. It's just better to move on to stronger Barrels which can create bigger difficulties to your opponent.

2.3 Ad Tokens
Note: Only for Player Level 6 and above! Recommended articles for this chapter of part 2: ScrapTD, Ad Tokens You can watch Ads while not on a Match to get Ad Tokens and not having to watch an Ad in the end of a Match to get the x2 Rewards. Each Ad viewed will award the player 1 Token, which can be used to get x2 Resources once. This is useful to protect yourself in the case an ad didn't want to load in the end of a Match, most advanced players use them.

2.4 Abilities
Note: Only for Player Level 7 and above! Recommended articles for this chapter of part 2: ScrapTD, Abilities Abilities are a helpful feature to help you out on tough Matches. When effectively used, they are so useful they can turn a defeat into a win. You can equip three of them, but without repeating any. You can find a list with the 9 Abilities at its corresponding page.

Important: Abilities can't be used against anyone who hasn't got Player Level 5 or above.

It's said the best abilities are Double Barrels, Defense Removal (because of last Defenses), Stronger Defense and Faster Barrels.

2.5 Trophies and Arenas
Recommended articles for this chapter of part 2: ScrapTD, Match, Trophies, Arenas In the end of a Battle, you get (or lose) a certain amount of Trophies. The trophies you win from defeating Opponents or the ones you lose from being defeated by Opponents is set by the difference of Trophies between the Players in a Match.

Players with the same amount of Trophies can win/lose 30 Trophies each, but bigger differences will make you be able to either win (in most extreme cases) 5 or 60 Trophies (or lose them). If you are the Player with the lowest Trophies, you'll win/lose 60/5 Trophies, and if you're the highest, you'll win/lose 5/60 Trophies. These cases are rather rare and only more common on very high Trophy areas.

There's currently no way to know the amount of Trophies of a certain Player in a Match, but the Player's Level (hint: the Player's Health indicates their level as well) can be a hint. If a player got much more Health than you, you probably won't lose many Trophies, and viceversa.

Every 500 Trophies a Player gets into a better Arena (up to Arena 7, 3000 Trophies). Every higher Arena has tougher Players, but the Player gets higher Rewards as well from every Match. Every Arena (starting from Arena 1, which has 1x Bricks and 10 Magnets) provides x1.1 Bricks (exponential) more than the previous Arena, and usually +1 Magnet (a notable exception is Arena 6, with +2 Magnets than Arena 5).

3. And most importantly, perseverance
It's recommended to try pushing for higher Arenas to get more Bricks to upgrade your Barrels and Defenses. It will take some time until you are in the highest Arenas, but if you don't give up you'll reach them. With every Barrel Upgrade you're obtaining you're getting closer to this goal. Even if you have reached Level 10 and you're still not on Arena 7, don't worry as it's a rare thing to be able to achieve that.

3. Lategame
This section considers that the Player has already obtained sufficient knowledge to be self-capable of deciding approximately which Barrels and Defenses to use, and has a Player Level of at least 10.

1. Advanced Match Tactics
Recommended articles for this chapter of part 3: ScrapTD, Barrels, Defenses, Scrap, Player Levels These are the ones which really separate beginners from experienced ScrapTD assassins in Arena 7 in the battleground.

1.1 The convention in the "Perfect Strategy"
There isn't any possible strategy to make you win absolutely 100% of the Matches, but there are some tips which can help you to play with a very efficient strategy. Here are a few Tips: Note some Players might tweak a bit this Strategy to better fit their playstyle. What's more, the optimal strategy usually changes every Update so it's good to keep yourself informed about the bleeding edge strategies and dominate the arena.
 * As mentioned before, there are many barrels which can be skipped like Not Black, Inception, Christmas and Hot Stuff.
 * Two Square Blues on a moderate level should be able to handle Circle Blue without any problems, and three Square Blues can handle Square pink until you can afford one Gatling Gun which can destroy all Square Pink.
 * Placing four Double Pain defenses will destroy Lurid Layered and some of It's Alive! while you are waiting for Tesla Tower. Three Blue Laser defenses can destroy all Danger Zones. Five or six Tesla Towers should be enough to stop any air enemy from destroying you.
 * Fill the rest with Gatling Gun II, as it's the most powerful defense in terms of DPS and can stop Chrome when you got enough of them. Thor is unstoppable as of now and thus the ultimate Killer Barrel.

1.2 Player and Barrel/Defense Levels

Don't forget about this little forgotten variable. Even with a great strategy it can be difficult to fight against another player if they got generally higher levels than you.

2. Brick Farming
Recommended articles for this chapter of part 3: ScrapTD, Bricks, Teams, Scrap, Barrels, Defenses Getting more Scrap in a Match derives into getting more Bricks, so Teams often use this in their favour to obtain the most amount of Bricks possible with a single unit of Energy, as Energy is precious for obtaining Resources. You might be missing on Magnets, but Magnets hardly do anything currently. The meta is still obtaining Bricks.

Important: Don't kill your teammates while stretching out the match until a Draw (15 minutes for a Match to be declared a Draw), as they might not trust you anymore to farm Bricks with you. Here are the steps to Brick Farming:
 * At first, you put two Square Blues and then spam Circle Blue until you can afford Gatling Gun.


 * Then, put 1-2 Gatling Guns and spam Square Pink until you can afford Airstrike.
 * Put 2 Airstrike towers and spam Banana Hole, one every 2 seconds, until you can afford Double Pain.
 * Put a Double Pain and carefully spam Billboard until you can afford a Tesla.
 * Then put 2 Teslas and spam Danger Zone until you can afford Gatling Gun v2.
 * Fill the rest of the defense with Gatling Gun v2.
 * In the end, you only have to spam Chrome (don't spam it every second if your teammate's Gatling Gun v2 is quite low) until you get the Draw! window.
 * As usual, double your bricks and you will see a huge amount of bricks to your eyes. You won't get any Magnets from this.

3. More perseverance
It's going to take a very long time until you can upgrade all the Barrels and Defenses to the max level (20). Meanwhile, you really should try getting to Arena 7 for the highest Brick rewards you can get in the game. Other than that, now you're ready to fight against the toughest and most experienced players in the game.