Like gems? Yeah, well so do the big bad uglies coming up the garden path. And, not to point fingers, but someone forgot to close the gate. Luckily, in Keeper of the Grove, a ferociously cute new tower defense game from Booblyc, you'll have a whole cornucopia of plants, rocks, and water elementals to throw at 'em.
You have three choices of base towers. Sprouts are cheap, but fast and can shoot far away. Aqua towers are more expensive, but worth every penny in upgrades to slow the creep onslaught. Most expensive and powerful are rock towers, but you'll have to wait awhile before you can upgrade these bad boys. After a few levels, you'll unlock the ability to research better towers, which you'll have to do again at each new map. Sounds simple, right? Not even close. From these three base towers you can research 9 more, creating a lot of strategic possibilities with a load of replay value. But, without a doubt, your best weapon is the [spacebar], which puts the game in slow-mo and gives your addled nerves a breather.
Don't be fooled by Keeper of the Grove's Sunday afternoon Candyland exterior; underneath all that cute lies a monster of a tower defense game that will keep you up at nights... unless you remember to choose Normal difficulty on the opening screen, which is what you'll want to do if you are just looking for a nice walk in the park.
Walkthrough Guide
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Keeper of the Grove Strategy Guide
General Tips
Like many tower defense games, you can revisit earlier levels if you didn't get max rating on them first time around. The rating you receive at the end of a level is the number of upgrade points awarded, so you'll want to go back and get as high a rating as possible in order to progress.
Each achievment also gives you an upgrade point. Some of the achievements are very simple, allowing you to start out with a few extra upgrades.
If you use Purge Towers, place them near the start of the level - allowing every other tower to be more effective.
Similarly, poison or fire towers should be placed early on in levels to allow the statuses to take full effect.
And of course, there's no point putting slowing towers at the end of a path unless there are high damage towers nearby to take advantage of the extra time the enemies spend onscreen.
Different stages favor different types of tower. You can reset your skills at no cost and redistribute them before any level if needed.
Defenders
Each tower can be upgraded twice before conversion to a Senior Tower. Senior Towers can be upgraded three times.
Sprout
A basic tower with a long range attack, quick reloading, and reasonable damage. Upgrades to Purge, Flower of Annoying, or Poison Ivy.
Reload time:1 => 1 => 1
Damage: 20 => 30 => 46
Range: 110 => 120 => 130
Purge
Although damage isn't high, the Purge can remove the abilities that enemies come with, such as poison immunity. Purge towers are best placed near the start of a map in order to allow other towers to be most effective.
Special ability: chance to remove all abilities from target.
Reload time: 1 => 1 => 1 => 1
Damage: 65 => 70 => 75 => 80
Range: 130 => 130 => 130 => 130
Purge Chance: 15 => 25 => 35 => 45
Flower of Annoying
The Flower of Annoying comes with high damage and a stun ability, making it one of the strongest towers in the game on damage alone.
Special ability: Uses roots to stun enemies.
Reload time: 3 => 3 => 3 => 3
Damage: 155 => 245 => 365 => 535
Range: 130 => 130 => 130 => 130
Stun Time 3 => 4 => 5 => 6
Poison Ivy
At max level, the Poison Ivy can potentially deal 635 damage to a target. However, because it needs a clear 10 seconds for the poison to finish dealing damage, these shouldn't be placed near the level exit.
Special ability: target takes additional damage for 10 seconds.
Reload time: 1.5 => 1.5 => 1.5 => 1.5
Damage: 105 => 120 => 160 => 235
Range: 130 => 130 => 130 => 130
Poison Damage (per second): 10 => 20 => 30 => 40
Aqua Tower
A basic slowing tower. Upgrades to Sprinkler, Freezer, or Big Bubble
Reload time: 1.5 => 1.5 => 1.5
Damage: 15 => 25 => 35
Range: 100 => 105 => 111
Slow duration: 3 => 4 => 5
Sprinkler
A better slowing tower that can attack three targets at once. Damage is low, but the slow duration is quite lengthy.
Special ability: Attacks three targets at once
Reload time: 1.5 => 1.5 => 1.5 => 1.5
Damage: 40 => 60 => 90 => 110
Range: 110 => 110 => 110 => 110
Slow Duration: 6 => 8 => 10 => 12
Freezer
The freeze attack stops an enemies it hits right where they stand. The low damage and short stun duration mean many situations are better with a slowing attack, although for crowd control the area or attack can be useful.
Special ability: Area of effect attack that stuns targets. No effect against rogues.
Reload time: 4 => 4 => 4 => 4
Damage: 60 => 80=> 110 => 140
Range: 120 => 130 => 140 => 150
Stun Time: 1.5 => 1.5 => 1.5 => 1.5
Big Bubble
The middle ground between the Freezer and the Sprinkler. Damage is low, but any enemies caught in the splash are slowed for 6 seconds.
Special ability: Area of effect slowing attack.
Reload time: 3 => 3 => 3 => 3
Damage: 40 => 60 => 80 => 100
Range: 110 => 110 => 110 => 110
Slow Duration: 3 => 4 => 5 => 6
Stone
The most powerful of the basic towers. Range and reload times are quite long, but the damage throughput - with splash damage - makes up for this. Upgrades to Chain Lightning, Critical Shock, or Volcano.
Reload time: 3 => 3 => 3
Damage: 60 => 90 => 150
Range: 90 => 90 => 90
Chain Lightning
Chaining attacks lowers the damage per target but is a great way to increase the range of what's already a powerful tower. Can be useful in levels where there are areas towers can't usually reach, as the chained lightning is able to jump longer distances.
Special ability: Lightning bolt attack jumps between targets. Each jump halves the damage to that target.
Reload time: 3 => 3 => 3 => 3
Damage: 240 => 320 => 440 => 600
Range: 90 => 90 => 90 => 90
Bolt Jumps: 2 => 3 => 4 => 5
Critical Shock
Using this tower is a bit of a gamble - the damage is less than other tower types for 3 shots out of 4, but a 1 second reload and the potential for critical hits of over a thousand damage can take down high powered enemies quickly.
Special ability: 25% chance for a critical hit on target.
Reload time: 2 => 1.6 => 1.3 => 1
Damage: 225 => 225 => 225 => 225
Range: 120 => 120 => 120 => 120
Critical attack multiplier: 2 => 3 => 4 => 5
Volcano
Low range and high damage, the Volcano relies entirely on splash damage, and is difficult to use against fast units who are able to run right past it before it can get a shot fired. On the other hand, against strong, slow monsters, it's a very effective unit.
Special ability: Area of effect attack that can set targets on fire. Ineffective against fast units.
Reload time: 3 => 3 => 3 => 3
Damage: 180 => 225 => 300 => 400
Range: 90 => 100 => 110 => 120
Burning damage per second: 10 => 20 => 30 => 40
Spells
Fireball: drops a single fireball where you click. Sets monsters on fire.
Defender Rush: Bonus damage, range, and reload speed to all towers.
Mutilation: Damage all onscreen monsters.
Freeze: Freezes all onscreen monsters.
Liquid Fire: Sets all onscreen monsters on fire.
Slow motion: Slows all onscreen monsters.
Skills
Orange
Increase Flower attack damage by 10%
Increase Flower attack range by 15%
Reduce costs of Flower construction and upgrades
Increase Flower magic abilities by 20%
Blue
Increase Aqua attack range by 15%
Reduce costs of aqua towers by 10%
Increase Aqua attack damage by 10%
Increase Aqua magic abilities by 20%
Red
Reduce costs of building or upgrading Stone towers by 10%
Increase Stone attack damage by 10%
Increase Stone attack range by 15%
Increase Stone magic abilities by 20%
Green
+2 crystals per level
+10% gold at the start of each level
Improves all magic spells
Increase coin value by 10%
Achievements
Strategist: Complete a level with a 3 jewel rating.
Exelent Defense: Complete 5 levels with a 3 jewel rating
First Defense: Kill 100 monsters
Catch them All: Kill 500 monsters
I'll Take Care Of It: Visit the sponsor link from the title screen
The Builder: Build 20 towers total
Constructor: Build 150 towers total
Steer Clear: Kill a boss
Do not Hesitate: Launch 3 waves early
Go Go Go: Launch 5 waves early
Mage: Use 10 spells
Wizard: Use 30 spells
Keeper: Build 3 senior defenders in one level
Creator: Build every senior defender in one level
Job's Done: Complete every level
Conservationist: Complete every level with max rating
Posted by: Ben
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May 26, 2012 11:05 PM