War Tortoise Beginner Tips and Tricks

Check out these tips to help you get far in the new mobile game, War Tortoise!
Check out these tips to help you get far in the new mobile game, War Tortoise!

War Tortoise is a mobile game available for iOS and Android that plays like a mix between shooter, tower defense, and rogue-like games. This strangely addictive game gets pretty deep the more you play it, and there are things that aren’t obvious or even known by simply playing.

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I’m going to help you by explaining all you need to know and provide some tips that will have you blasting through to higher waves!

This guide will go over getting started and general tips in War Tortoise including:

  • The Basics – How the game is played and what everything means.
  • Build Order and Next Generation – Tips on what to buy first and when to do next generation.
  • Useful Perks – What kinds of perks you should pick when you get the chance.
  • Tips for Reaching Higher Waves – Things to keep in mind if you want to reach higher waves.

The Basics

You start with an armored tortoise that shoots a machine gun.

  • You can aim the target at any of the enemies and the machine gun will fire and destroy that enemy.

As you destroy enemies and complete waves, you gain money and advance to new levels.

  • You can spend money on upgrading your machine gun, upgrading the health and armor of your tortoise, add new weapons to the tortoise, and build support units to help you attack or get extra money.
Next Generation

Once you make it past level 5 the first time, you can select Next Generation and get access to auto-battle.

Next Generation starts you over at the beginning, but you keep any perks you got previously. You also get a damage boost each Next Generation. Think of it as getting better each time you die at a certain time.

You also get a permanent bonus to your starting money each time you do next generation.

Build Order and Next Generation

There are 2 methods to keep in mind when choosing what to build first. The general idea remains the same, but the very first thing you build is different depending on how many generations you have done.

War Tortoise support units

Early Generations

This is for when you are new to the game and only have a few generations, or even your first time through.

  1. Machine Gun – This is your main gun, so you want this to get more powerful to easily take out enemies.
  2. Mouse Assault Squad – This is cheap, and also helps take out enemies.
  3. Mining Tower – Got to get that money, right? This lets you get money faster and increases the amount you get.
  4. Sniper – This is really helpful in early generations because it can kill the strong enemies like the Rhinoceros Beetle.
  5. Upgrade Machine Gun – You want to make sure your gun is doing more damage at this point.
  6. Gun Tower and general support – This makes you do a lot of damage and will push you into higher waves.
Late Generations

This is for when you have done multiple generations, like 10 or more, and have multiple perks and starting money.

  1. Mining Tower – After you’ve been playing a while and unlock higher level support, they cost tons of money. You should be strong by now and can easily solo everything in the first few levels with only the stock auto-battle.
  2. Lower cost Support Units – I like to get some support units up early because they help the most in the long run. I usually go for Gun Towers or Bumblebee Drones first, since they have a long range.
  3. Machine Gun and Gun Carriage secondary weapon – You still want to power up your tortoise and the gun carriage adds a lot.
  4. Health and Armor for your tortoise – You still want damage the most, but as you get into higher waves, you will die instantly if you don’t upgrade your health and armor.
  5. Howitzer – This does incredible damage and even though the sniper is decent, I generally kill most things with just machine gun and support at higher generations. This is used for when I really need to kill something quickly, then go back to normal shooting.
  6. Higher Cost Support – This is when I start to get the support that costs a lot, like the Sparrow Squadron and Biggin’ Mouse Squad.
When to go to Next Generation

At the beginning, I suggest going to next generation after you reach the goal. You can see the goal by going to the buy menu and looking at the top middle of the screen.

When you get to the goal level, you get 2 of the red star currencies, which can be used to buy a new perk, or saved for something in the shop.

If you happen to die multiple times, the time it takes to try again keeps going up. I usually go to next generation after a couple deaths unless I’m close to the next goal.

Useful Perks

These are more of a preference, but I would say the most important perk is Support damage. This increases the damage of all of your support, which already does much more damage for you and it counts for everyone. Here are a few others to watch for:

  • Range increase – This is great for gun towers and Gun Carriage.
  • Machine Gun Damage – This is still your main attack, so permanently increasing the damage is a good idea.
  • Money Earned – Some people may not say this matters as much, but it just works. I wouldn’t go crazy and pick it every time, but picking a couple certainly helps. 
    • The faster you get money, the faster you can buy expensive support and can start upgrading everything.

War Tortoise Perks

Tips for Reaching Higher Waves

This is the general help section and can save you time and money in the long run.

  • There are multiple upgrade options
    • I didn’t know this at first, but you have more than just damage to upgrade. For example, you can also upgrade critical hit rate and rate of fire on the machine gun.
    • Just tap the icons next to damage to change the category, then click on the money amount to buy.
  • Always attack the enemies with a yellow exclamation point
    • These are enemies that usually will cause damage to you and is the most dangerous at the moment.
    • Sometimes, you will want to shoot long range enemies like snipers and gunners no matter what.
  • Focus on upgrading before buying new things
    • There are a lot of things you can buy, and all are helpful, but they won’t matter if they haven’t been upgraded. 
    • I would buy a few different support and tortoise additions, then focus on upgrading them a bunch before buying new things.
  • Don’t forget Health and Armor
    • Nothing to worry about at the beginning, but when you start getting to wave 20 and more, you could die from a single hit if you haven’t upgraded health and armor.
    • I try to keep my health and armor around the same level as the one I’m fighting in, or at least a few levels lower.
  • Mouse Assault Squad is extremely important
    • They may seem weak and useless when you get to higher waves at first, but they can actually save you from certain death.
    • Make sure you upgrade their health and armor, and make sure their unit size is 3+.
    • Even if they die, they will stay alive long enough to distract the enemy while you kill them from a distance.
  • Beat the Boss every time it is available
    • Bosses are can be hard, but you get free money and red star currency.
    • Make sure you make it to around the same level as the boss so it won’t be so hard.
  • Try to complete the Next Goal before Next Generation
    • Since you get free perks, it is good to aim for this each time. As you get further in the game, the goal needed goes up a lot. If things get too difficult, just start Next Generation.

That’s it for my War Tortoise Beginner Tips and Tricks. Let me know if you have any questions or tips of your own, and I’ll be happy to reply!


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Author
Synzer
After gaming for 25 years, Synzer leveraged his vast knowledge of RPGs and MMOs into a job as a games journalist, covering the games he loves. Five years later, he's still writing about Kingdom Hearts, Pokemon, and Knights of the Old Republic. Synzer has a bachelor's degree in English and creative writing. You can see him in action on his YouTube channel (https://bit.ly/2F97BrR) and Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/synzergaming).