New accounts start with Scout, Sniper, Garry's Dance, the Flex sticker, and GG. The lobby also offers a daily login reward. Join the Paradoxum Games group before you queue if you want the advertised +$100 starting cash. The group bonus is added on top of the mode's own starting cash.
Tutorial and Boot Camp
A new player is offered a Tutorial objective that can be accepted or declined. The Tutorial map can also be replayed from Settings. Older help text still lists a first clear as 600 Coins and 200 EXP. The tutorial reward note says that payout ended when the tutorial was folded into Boot Camp, and that replaying it from Settings does not grant the old reward. Follow the objective text you see in game. Do not buy anything on the assumption that 600 Coins are still attached.
After a first triumph, the lobby tutorial used to walk you to a matchmaking statue. That lobby segment has been removed and re-added in past patches. If a green arrow is on screen, follow it. If it is not, use the Play button above the loadout or walk to a statue.
Queue
Party sizes on the matchmaking statues are solo, duo, trio, and quad. That is four players, not five. The party owner can invite, kick, and disband. Party lock defaults to on. Level filters default to 0–1000. If the party is not full, matchmaking can fill the empty seats.
Ten survival elevators and three Hardcore elevators sit in the elevator area. The extra building holds Challenge Trials elevators and the PVP matchmaking statue. An event portal is not always open.
Vote and place
In a survival match the vote is Easy, Casual, Intermediate, Molten, Fallen, and Frost, from easier to harder. The winning vote is the mode with the most votes. A tie selects the easiest. If nobody votes, the wave timer does not start. Ready under the mode list cuts the timer to five seconds.
You start with mode cash, plus $100 if you are in the group. Easy through Frost and Pizza Party start at $500. Hardcore and Voidcore start at $900. Badlands II starts at $800. Polluted Wasteland II starts at $850.
Path arrows show the route at the start. Enemies stay on that path. Place a tower only when its main range circle is white. Scout and Soldier use ground tiles. Sniper and Ranger use cliff tiles, which highlight while you place them. Keys on PC: 1 through 6 select a tower, R rotates, Q cancels, E upgrades the main path, T upgrades the bottom path, X sells. The fifth loadout slot is locked until level 15. The placement cap is 40 towers solo, 30 in a duo, 25 in a trio, and 20 in a quad.
Base health starts at 100 unless a skill, map, or the HP Locked modifier changes it. A skip-wave vote pays the wave reward early and starts the next wave early. Triumph and defeat both return you to the lobby with Coins or Gems and EXP.
What to buy next
Open Coins and the first tower purchases after the first win. The store path is the inventory: select an unowned tower and press Buy, then Equip it into a free loadout slot. Four preset loadouts can be saved, or six with VIP.