Countryball tower defense

Tower defense is a strategy genre about holding a line. Enemies march toward your base in waves. You place defenders that attack them automatically, and between waves you spend what you earned on upgrades. You never steer the defenders yourself; you make the decisions: what to build, where, and what to make stronger. Let too many enemies through and you lose.

One popular branch is lane defense, where enemies come straight down lanes toward you instead of along a winding path. Plants vs. Zombies made lane defense famous in 2009. Countryball Defenders belongs to that branch, with a stone wall where the lawn ends.

1. The lawn is the battlefield. Balls from the country you are visiting hop down it toward your wall.
2. Your towers are countryballs. Three of them stand on the wall and attack on their own, each with its country’s weapon.
3. You draft instead of build. Every level-up offers three cards: add a ball, grow a ball, teach it a skill, or fix the wall. Every battle builds a different team.
4. The last wave brings a boss. Each stage ends with the country’s champion, who throws its weapon at your wall and knows a couple of tricks. The big ones switch tricks halfway through.
5. Between battles, you build up. Level your balls with cards and coins, and buy Base upgrades like Bonk Gym and More Bricks.

• The lawn and the wall
• The level-up draft

The result plays fast: no grid to fill, no menus mid-fight, just a quick choice every level-up and a lot of bonking. Our beginner’s guide walks through a whole battle.

Every ball attacks in its own way, so think of them as tower types:

Every ball also learns a twist and an ultimate in battle. See all 205 on the balls page.

In most tower defense games, enemies differ by type. In countryball tower defense they differ by country too.

Ball types

• Tiny balls are quick and fragile. Big balls are slow and tough.
• Shields make the first hit bounce off. Some grow back, some cover their friends, and some balls sit in a bubble that only a direct hit pops.
• Sprinters dash forward every few seconds. Some stop to catch their breath, some can’t be hit mid-dash, and some drag their friends along on a rope.
• Splitters pop apart when bonked, each country its own way: three tiny balls, two runners in two lanes, a puddle of goo, or two halves that hug back together.
• Throwers stop short of the wall and throw at it. Some lob slow stuff you can shoot down, some freeze a ball on your wall, and some hide behind cardboard copies.
• Every kind comes in country flavours, so the big balls of one country munch their friends while the next country’s back up and ram your wall.
• Divers and diggers go out of reach for a moment, then pop up closer: with a splash on water stages, or through a tunnel under stone.
• Medics heal their friends, and some stand fallen ones back up. Drummers pump up the crowd around them: faster feet, harder hits, or nerves that shrug off stuns.

Country traits

Monaco’s tiny, rich balls come in pairs. The UK’s locals queue politely in long lines. Egypt’s mummies get back up once. Japan’s ninjas blink forward. Canada’s skaters weave, Australia’s hop like kangaroos, and India brings the biggest crowds. The new kinds of local arrive one act of the tour at a time, so there is always something new at your wall.

Stage twists

Some stages bend the rules a little: Tiny Swarm, Big Bois, Espresso Rush, Slow & Sturdy, Party Bus, Great Breakup, Shield Wall, Sprint Olympics, Catapult Club, Free Clinic and Marching Band. They keep stage 160 from feeling like stage 6.

Endless waves: the Solar Trial

Many tower defense fans love an endless mode, and so do we. In the Solar Trial the waves never stop, they only get tougher, and you see how far your deck can go. Every day it moves to a new world of the solar system, from the Sun to Neptune, with its own locals and a boss like King Sol or Grandpa Gale. Your best run goes on a daily ranking with prizes.

1. Mix jobs. One crowd-clearer, one control ball and one big hitter beat three of the same kind.
2. Pop shields with quick hits. Shields stop only the first hit, so Monaco’s coins, Mongolia’s arrows and Japan’s shuriken clear them fast.
3. Answer splitters with area damage. Poland, Italy and India clean up the pieces.
4. Slow the sprinters. Canada’s syrup, France’s strike and Nepal’s freeze stop dashes and hops.
5. Bonk the medics and drummers first. One medic keeps a whole crowd alive, and one drummer makes it faster.
6. Bring damage to champions. They shrug off most stuns and pushes. Curses like Peru’s Llama Spit help. A new champion’s card shows its tricks the first time you meet it, so give it a read.
7. Protect the wall. Take Duct Tape when it is under half. China’s Great Wall patches it too.
8. Upgrade between battles. Bonk Gym first, then More Bricks.
9. Replay for three stars. Keep 80% of your wall; three-star stages fill chests and can be swept.

Because there is nothing to install. Countryball Defenders runs in any modern browser, on a phone in one hand or on a big screen. Your save lives on our server, so you can switch phones with a save code, and our server replays every battle, so the world ranks stay honest. Battles are short enough for a bus ride, and the tour is long enough for a whole season.

• Beginner’s guideA whole battle, step by step.
• All 205 ballsEvery tower type, in detail.
• Countryball gamesOther kinds of countryball games.
• What are countryballs?Where the balls came from.