How to use this guide
Eight pages, written in a deliberate order. Read them in sequence the first time, then use the index to jump back to the one page you need mid-stage.
Beginner
Controls, your first stage, the four towers in plain English, and the mistakes that quietly cost you lives. Read this before anything else.
Core mechanics
Lives, stars, the 60% sell refund, call-early bonuses, armor and magic resistance, blocking, and the six upgrade trees you spend stars in.
Every tower, every branch
Four base towers, three tiers each, then a binary branch into eight advanced towers — what each one is actually good at, and when it is worth the gold.
Heroes
Every hero in this Flash build, what their skill actually does in a wave, which tower line they pair with, and where each one earns their 15 stars.
Enemies
Armor, magic resistance, shields, flyers and summoners — how to read a wave preview and pick the damage type before you spend a single coin.
Campaign walkthrough
Every world, what each map's road is trying to teach you, where to build, and how to spend your stars the moment a stage ends.
Bosses
How boss fights differ from ordinary waves, what regen and armor do to a damage plan, and how to keep a board standing while a boss walks.
Endless mode
Why endless is a different game from the campaign, how to build a board that scales instead of one that collapses, and where to stop upgrading.
What is in the build this site runs
The original Flash game, running in your browser. Every screenshot and piece of art on these pages comes from the game file itself, not from a wiki or a fan render.
One button, one campaign
START opens the campaign map, and the campaign is where the game is actually balanced. Everything else is optional extra.
The in-game encyclopedia
It lists every enemy you have met, with its armor and resistances. Use it mid-stage instead of guessing from the sprite.
Ironhide Game Studio, 2011
Kingdom Rush was made by Ironhide Game Studio and released in 2011. This site is an independent guide, not an official one.
Questions people actually ask
Can I play Kingdom Rush in the browser?
Yes. The build on this site is the original Flash game running through Ruffle, which translates it to WebAssembly. No install, no sign-up. The first load takes a moment because the game is around 32 MB.
Is this guide about the original Flash game or the mobile apps?
The original Flash build. That version has exactly nine heroes and charges 15 stars for each one. Kingdom Rush Frontiers, Origins and the later releases changed both the roster and several tower behaviours, so numbers and unlocks from those games do not transfer.
How many heroes are there?
Nine in this build: Sir Gerald, Alleria, Malik, Bolin, Elora, Ignus, Magnus, King Denas and Ingvar. There is no tenth — the extra characters you may have seen belong to the later commercial releases.
Why do my archers not hit flying enemies?
They do — archers are one of only two tower families that reliably attack air, along with artillery. Barracks and mage towers hit almost nothing in the air, so a wave of flyers punishes a board built only from those.
How do I get more lives in a stage?
You cannot buy them. Every stage starts with 20 lives and each enemy that reaches your gate takes one away. Calling waves early pays a gold bonus instead, which is almost always the better gamble.
Is this site official?
No. This is an independent fan guide. Kingdom Rush was made by Ironhide Game Studio; everything about the game here is for reference, and no affiliation is claimed.
Play while you read
The full game runs in the page. Nothing to install.