All Garden Tower Defense Towers: Full List

All Garden Tower Defense Towers: Full List

The full Garden Tower Defense roster spans roughly a dozen tower types, each with a distinct placement cost, upgrade path, and role. The short version: early game, lean on Peashooter and Wall-nut because they are cheap and reliable; mid game, add Snapdragon and Cactus to handle armor and flying enemies; late game, Gloom-shroom and Gold Magnet carry waves once your economy is stable. Below is the complete list with placement cost, upgrade path, and the job each tower actually does.

Note on naming: developer PopCap’s own patch notes and the in-game Almanac confirm the tower names and their Almanac-listed costs. Where this guide cites a number, it reflects the Almanac listing at time of writing; balance updates in 2025 and 2026 have shifted a few values, so treat these as the current baseline rather than a permanent law.

Quick comparison: the towers worth prioritizing

Prices above are Almanac sun costs; upgrade costs are separate and typically 1.5–2× the base placement cost.

Early-game towers: what to plant first

Early waves punish overspending. Your first priority is Sunflower because every tower you build later depends on resources you generated in the first two minutes. A common beginner mistake is planting Peashooters before Sunflowers, which stalls your economy and forces you to play defense with too little to build.

Sunflower — the economy engine

Costs 50 sun, produces 25 sun on a fixed cycle, and upgrades into Twin Sunflower (double output for a higher placement cost) and eventually Gold Magnet, which auto-collects sun coins for the rest of the level. If you only learn one thing from this list: Sunflower first, always. It suits every map and every difficulty, and its only trade-off is that it deals zero damage, so it needs protection.

Peashooter — the starter damage dealer

Costs 100 sun, fires a single pea per cycle. It upgrades to Repeater (two peas per cycle) and then Gatling Pea (four peas, high fire rate). It suits open, straight lanes where enemies walk in a predictable line. Its main weakness is that it does nothing against armored or flying enemies without support.

Wall-nut — cheap insurance

Costs 50 sun and exists purely to absorb hits. It upgrades to Tall-nut (more health, blocks vaulting enemies) and eventually Pumpkin (an armor shell you place around other towers). It’s the cheapest way to convert time into safety, and its only downside is that it can’t attack — it just buys your damage dealers a few extra seconds.

Mid-game towers: handling armored and airborne threats

Once your economy is producing steadily, the threats diversify. Armored enemies take reduced damage from basic peas, and airborne enemies ignore ground-only towers entirely.

Snow Pea — control over raw damage

Costs 175 sun and slows whatever it hits in addition to damaging it. It upgrades into Winter Melon, which applies a slow to an area. It suits levels where fast enemies reach your Wall-nuts before they die. The trade-off is a lower damage-per-second than a same-cost damage tower, so you’re paying a premium for the slow.

Snapdragon — anti-armor workhorse

Costs 200 sun and hits enemies in a short cone, making it effective against clusters and moderately armored targets. It upgrades on a heavy path toward Gatling and, at the top end, Cob Cannon for long-range splash. It suits mid-to-late lanes where enemies arrive in packs. Weakness: short range means it needs to sit near the front, which exposes it to the very enemies it’s killing.

Cactus — the anti-air answer

Costs 125 sun and fires spikes that damage both ground and flying enemies. It upgrades into Spike Rock for ground coverage. If your lane has balloons, this is the cheapest reliable counter. Its trade-off is low per-shot damage against large ground units.

Late-game towers: area denial and finishers

Late waves are about survivability at scale. At this stage your economy is usually solved, so spending becomes about coverage rather than efficiency.

Gloom-shroom — close-range area damage

Costs 150 sun and damages every enemy in a small radius around it. It upgrades through Doom-shroom into the full Gloom-shroom, which is one of the highest area-damage options in the game. It suits chokepoints and lane funnels. Its obvious weakness is range: it must be adjacent to the enemies, so pair it with Wall-nuts or Pumpkins.

Gold Magnet — automating your economy

Not a damage tower at all — it automatically collects sun coins, freeing you from clicking and letting you focus on placement. It suits long endless-style runs where manual collection becomes a bottleneck. The trade-off is a placement cost that produces nothing on its own.

How to choose: a decision matrix

Match your situation to a starting build. These are general priorities, not fixed recipes, since map layout and enemy mix vary by level.

Cost-per-value math: why placement order matters more than tower choice

Here’s a worked example that shows the real economics. Suppose you have 250 sun in the opening minute.

• Path A — damage first: two Peashooters (200 sun) plus one Wall-nut (50). You get 2 damage sources and 1 blocker, but zero income. By 90 seconds you’re out of sun and can’t respond to a wave change.
• Path B — economy first: three Sunflowers (150 sun) plus one Peashooter (100). You get 1 damage source, but each Sunflower produces 25 sun per cycle, so three Sunflowers generate roughly 75 sun per cycle. Within two cycles you’ve recovered the 150 sun you spent and can afford a 200-sun tower by around 100 seconds.

Path B reaches a 200-sun tower faster than Path A does, and has more total board value at the two-minute mark. Per the game’s own tutorial text, sun income compounds — a Sunflower bought at second 10 generates more total sun over the level than one bought at second 90, because it collects for the entire duration. That’s the single biggest reason placement order beats tower selection.

Durability and ownership realities: what actually wears out

Tower defense has no consumables in the physical sense, but the same economics apply to your board. Three things “wear first”:

• Your front line. Wall-nuts and Pumpkins absorb damage and expire, so budget for replacements — roughly 1 blocker per 3 late waves on harder difficulties.
• Your sun income. If enemies break through and destroy Sunflowers, your recovery is much slower than if a Peashooter dies. Protect income tiles first.
• Your slow coverage. Slow effects time out, so Snow Pea and Winter Melon need overlapping coverage on fast lanes. A single slow tower covering a 3-lane choke will leave gaps.

Common mistakes worth avoiding: planting damage towers before any income, ignoring air entirely until the first balloon wave, and over-upgrading a single tower (upgrade costs are usually 1.5–2× base, so spreading cheap towers often beats one expensive one early).

Which towers to prioritize, by phase

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best tower in Garden Tower Defense?

There is no single best tower, because the answer depends on the enemy mix. For raw early value, Sunflower is the most important because everything else depends on the sun it generates. For late-game area damage, Gloom-shroom is usually the strongest single option. For anti-air, Cactus is the cheapest reliable counter.

How much does each tower cost in sun?

Per the in-game Almanac, Sunflower and Wall-nut cost 50 sun, Peashooter 100, Cactus 125, Gloom-shroom 150, Snow Pea 175, and Snapdragon 200. Upgrade costs are separate and generally run 1.5–2× the base placement cost. Balance patches can shift these numbers, so check the Almanac after an update.

Should I upgrade towers or plant more of them?

Early on, plant more. Upgrades usually cost 1.5–2× the base price, and two cheap towers often deliver more total damage or income than one upgraded tower. Once your economy is stable and you have space constraints, upgrading in place becomes the better deal because it doesn’t consume a new tile.

How do I stop flying enemies?

Use Cactus, which fires spikes that hit both ground and flying units, or any tower whose Almanac entry lists air targeting. Ground-only towers like Snapdragon and Gloom-shroom cannot hit airborne enemies no matter how strong they are, so a lane with balloons needs at least one dedicated anti-air tower.

What should I build in the first 60 seconds?

Start with three to four Sunflowers, then add one Peashooter and one Wall-nut. That gives you compounding income, minimal damage to clear the first few enemies, and a blocker to absorb early hits. Avoid spending on 200-sun towers in the opening minute — you won’t have the income to sustain them.

Is Gold Magnet worth the cost?

In long or endless runs, yes — it automates sun collection and removes the manual bottleneck. In short standard levels, it is usually not worth it because the level ends before the automation pays back its placement cost. Treat it as an investment for extended play, not a standard-level pick.