Every tower you build is a 5-card poker hand. The hand decides two things at once: how strong the tower is, and what kind of tower it becomes. This page breaks down both.
One tower per turn. You click a spot, get dealt 5 cards, reroll what you don't like, then lock it in. Two rules turn those cards into a weapon:
Only 8 ranks — 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A — in four suits. Crucially, duplicates are allowed: each of your 5 cards is drawn independently, so the same card can appear more than once. That's why hands like Five of a Kind and Five Flush exist, and why the rankings differ from real poker.
Each hand maps to one of four archetypes. Each plays differently — match the tower to the wave. (Multipliers are applied on top of the hand's base damage; cooldown is the gap between shots, so lower = faster.)
Built by the of-a-kind hands: Three, Four & Five of a Kind.
Slow, hard-hitting single shots. The high per-hit damage punches through enemy shields better than anything else.
Best vs armoured & shielded enemies.
Built by Full House and every flush: Flush, Straight / Back / Royal Flush, Five Flush.
Longest range on the board (×1.35) with steady, high single hits. Place it to cover the most track.
Best for map coverage & long lanes.
Built by Pair, High Card, Two Pair, and every straight: Straight, Back Straight, Mountain.
Fast single-target shots (3.31/s). Great sustained DPS against fast, low-shield swarms.
Best vs fast / speed waves.
Built only by Q High — a rare hidden hand. The board's only crowd-control tower.
Light, fast hits (2.84/s) — and every shot SLOWS the target.
Slows enemies 50% for 1.2s. Use it to buy your other towers more kill-time.
All 16 hands, ranked by how rare they are in this duplicate deck — rarer means stronger. DPS is an illustrative Level-1 figure for the lowest-rank version of that hand (real damage scales with the deciding card's rank and your global upgrades). Hidden hands stay locked as “???” in-game until you first build one.
| # | Hand | Mult | Tower | Lv1 DPS | How / notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pair1P | ×0.7 | Rapid | 51 | Two cards of the same rank. The most common hand — and the weakest. |
| 2 | High CardHC | ×0.85 | Rapid | 62 | No combo at all. Rarer than a pair in this 8-rank deck, so it edges out Pair. |
| 3 | Two Pair2P | ×1.25 | Rapid | 91 | Two separate pairs. First hand that breaks past 1×. |
| 4 | Three of a Kind3K | ×2.4 | Heavy | 154 | Three of one rank. The big step-up — the skilled workhorse tower. |
| 5 | Full HouseFH | ×3.1 | Sniper | 136 | Three of a kind + a pair. |
| 6 | Four of a Kind4K | ×5.8 | Heavy | 371 | Four of one rank. Easier here than in real poker (duplicates allowed). |
| 7 | StraightST | ×3.4 | Rapid | 247 | Five in a row, e.g. 7-8-9-10-J. Builds a fast Rapid tower. |
| 8 | FlushFL | ×4.6 | Sniper | 202 | Five of one suit. Stronger than a Full House here — flushes are rarer with duplicates. |
| 9 | Back StraightBShidden | ×6.2 | Frost | 329 | Hidden. The wrap-around straight 7-8-9-10-A (Ace plays low). |
| 10 | MountainMThidden | ×5.2 | Heavy | 333 | Hidden. The top straight 10-J-Q-K-A. |
| 11 | Five of a Kind5Khidden | ×8.5 | Heavy | 544 | Hidden. Five of one rank — only possible because duplicates are allowed. |
| 12 | Straight FlushSF | ×10 | Sniper | 438 | Five in a row, all one suit. |
| 13 | Back Straight FlushBFhidden | ×12 | Sniper | 526 | Hidden. 7-8-9-10-A, all one suit. |
| 14 | Royal FlushRFhidden | ×14 | Sniper | 614 | Hidden. 10-J-Q-K-A, all one suit. |
| 15 | Five Flush5Fhidden | ×17 | Sniper | 745 | Hidden. Five identical cards — same rank AND same suit. The apex hand. |
| 16 | Q HighQHhidden | ×1.1 | Frost | 58 | Hidden. A high-card hand topped by exactly a Queen. A quirky find. |
With duplicates allowed, full houses are easier to land than flushes — so the Flush ranks higher here (×5.0 vs ×3.1).
In an 8-rank deck a pair turns up more often than a clean high card, so High Card edges ahead (×0.85 vs ×0.70).
The jump from Two Pair (×1.25) to Three of a Kind (×2.40) is the biggest early power spike — aim for trips.
For the curious — exactly how a tower's damage, range and fire rate are computed.
Damage dealt = max(hit × 0.12, hit − shield). 12% always pierces, but big single hits (Heavy) beat shields far better than weak rapid fire.
Frost / diamond shots slow the target to 50% speed for 1.2s — not for damage, but to buy your other towers more time to fire.
Towers target the enemy furthest along the track that isn't already going to die from shots in flight, so fire isn't wasted.
Every one of the 50 waves and the exact enemy it sends. HP ea is the average per-enemy health (each spawns at 0.78–1.28× variance); Spd is pixels/second; Spawn is the gap between spawns. One type per wave, cycling Speed → Shielded → Armoured → Balanced from wave 6. Every 5th wave is a boss wave (the boss spawns last, mixed into the trash) — a boss reaching the exit is an instant loss.
Speed waves swarm: 1.9× the listed count, 2.4× movement speed and a far tighter spawn gap, but zero shield. From wave 41 (the Inferno Trials) HP and shield growth ease off slightly — the curve stays brutal but finite, so a maxed elite deck can still clear wave 50.
| Wv | Type | Count | HP ea | Shield | Spd | Spawn | Boss (every 5th wave) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Balanced | 4 | 54 | 4 | 52 | 0.55s | — |
| 2 | Balanced | 8 | 91 | 5 | 54 | 0.55s | — |
| 3 | Balanced | 18 | 142 | 7 | 55 | 0.54s | — |
| 4 | Balanced | 22 | 191 | 8 | 57 | 0.53s | — |
| 5 | Balanced | 27 | 259 | 10 | 59 | 0.53s | The Brute ×1 · 8,625 hp / 11 sh |
| 6 | Speed | 61 | 204 | 0 | 146 | 0.22s | — |
| 7 | Shielded | 36 | 394 | 32 | 63 | 0.51s | — |
| 8 | Armoured | 39 | 916 | 24 | 53 | 0.50s | — |
| 9 | Balanced | 43 | 725 | 25 | 66 | 0.50s | — |
| 10 | Balanced | 46 | 857 | 31 | 68 | 0.49s | The Warden ×1 · 21.3k hp / 177 sh |
| 11 | Shielded | 46 | 842 | 78 | 70 | 0.48s | — |
| 12 | Armoured | 49 | 1,764 | 59 | 59 | 0.48s | — |
| 13 | Balanced | 51 | 1,319 | 61 | 73 | 0.47s | — |
| 14 | Speed | 101 | 904 | 0 | 180 | 0.19s | — |
| 15 | Balanced | 58 | 1,881 | 95 | 77 | 0.46s | The Courier ×2 · 33.4k hp / 84 sh |
| 16 | Armoured | 59 | 3,576 | 143 | 65 | 0.45s | — |
| 17 | Balanced | 62 | 2,858 | 149 | 81 | 0.44s | — |
| 18 | Speed | 124 | 2,065 | 0 | 198 | 0.18s | — |
| 19 | Shielded | 69 | 3,777 | 466 | 84 | 0.43s | — |
| 20 | Balanced | 74 | 5,552 | 291 | 86 | 0.42s | The Colossus ×2 · 244k hp / 832 sh |
| 21 | Balanced | 75 | 6,550 | 344 | 88 | 0.41s | — |
| 22 | Speed | 150 | 4,483 | 0 | 215 | 0.17s | — |
| 23 | Shielded | 82 | 7,753 | 958 | 91 | 0.40s | — |
| 24 | Armoured | 85 | 16.7k | 678 | 76 | 0.39s | — |
| 25 | Balanced | 90 | 12.7k | 667 | 95 | 0.39s | The Phantom ×2 · 336k hp / 1,614 sh |
| 26 | Speed | 175 | 8,692 | 0 | 232 | 0.16s | — |
| 27 | Shielded | 95 | 15.0k | 1,856 | 99 | 0.37s | — |
| 28 | Armoured | 98 | 32.3k | 1,314 | 82 | 0.36s | — |
| 29 | Balanced | 102 | 24.6k | 1,293 | 102 | 0.36s | — |
| 30 | Balanced | 108 | 29.1k | 1,525 | 104 | 0.35s | The Titan ×3 · 1.5M hp / 5,704 sh |
| 31 | Shielded | 108 | 29.1k | 3,600 | 106 | 0.34s | — |
| 32 | Armoured | 112 | 62.7k | 2,549 | 88 | 0.34s | — |
| 33 | Balanced | 115 | 47.7k | 2,506 | 109 | 0.33s | — |
| 34 | Speed | 224 | 32.7k | 0 | 267 | 0.14s | — |
| 35 | Balanced | 125 | 66.5k | 3,490 | 112 | 0.32s | The Leviathan ×3 · 4.0M hp / 15.4k sh |
| 36 | Armoured | 125 | 122k | 4,942 | 92 | 0.31s | — |
| 37 | Balanced | 128 | 92.5k | 4,859 | 112 | 0.30s | — |
| 38 | Speed | 249 | 63.3k | 0 | 269 | 0.13s | — |
| 39 | Shielded | 135 | 110k | 13.5k | 112 | 0.30s | — |
| 40 | Balanced | 141 | 152k | 7,983 | 112 | 0.30s | The Sovereign ×3 · 11M hp / 42.2k sh |
| 41 | Balanced | 141 | 175k | 9,021 | 112 | 0.30s | — |
| 42 | Speed | 276 | 117k | 0 | 269 | 0.13s | — |
| 43 | Shielded | 148 | 197k | 23.0k | 112 | 0.30s | — |
| 44 | Armoured | 151 | 412k | 15.6k | 92 | 0.30s | — |
| 45 | Balanced | 157 | 306k | 14.7k | 112 | 0.30s | The Devourer ×3 · 21M hp / 64.7k sh |
| 46 | Speed | 300 | 204k | 0 | 269 | 0.13s | — |
| 47 | Shielded | 161 | 344k | 37.6k | 112 | 0.30s | — |
| 48 | Armoured | 164 | 721k | 25.5k | 92 | 0.30s | — |
| 49 | Balanced | 168 | 535k | 24.0k | 112 | 0.30s | — |
| 50 | Balanced | 174 | 615k | 27.1k | 112 | 0.30s | The Inferno King ×3 · 46M hp / 101k sh |
Boss roster in order: The Brute (w5), Warden (w10), Courier (w15), Colossus (w20), Phantom (w25), Titan (w30), Leviathan (w35), Sovereign (w40), The Devourer (w45) and The Inferno King (w50, spawns ×3). HP/shield shown already include each boss’s own multipliers.
Gold is the only currency, and it comes only from missions — there is no bounty for kills. Spend it on the global ×1.5 upgrade (cost rises with each level). Most missions also grant draw tokens (extra rerolls/redraws, shown as tk). Payouts scale with difficulty: 3g for the easy ones, up to 10g for the Inferno Trials (the wave 41–50 super-hell tier) — so chase the hard objectives.
| Mission | Objective | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| 3 goldEasy · straightforward objectives once a few towers are up · 12 missions | ||
| Rainbow Pairs | Build Pair towers of 4 different ranks | 3g |
| Stacked Decks | Build 3 different Two Pair towers | 3g |
| First Blood | Defeat your first boss (wave 5) | 3g · 1tk |
| Triple Up | Build 3 Three of a Kind towers | 3g |
| Overclocked | Upgrade a tower to Lv 6 | 3g · 1tk |
| Card Sharp | Build 20 different tower variants | 3g · 2tk |
| Unbreakable | Clear wave 20 | 3g |
| Broadway | Build 10-, J-, Q-, K- and A-key towers | 3g · 2tk |
| Face Cards | Build Q-High, K-High and A-High towers (no J-High exists — 7-8-9-10-J is a Straight) | 3g · 2tk |
| Lady Luck | Build the rare Q High tower | 3g · 2tk |
| Narrow Escape | Build 16 Pair + Two Pair towers combined | 3g · 3tk |
| Unlucky Collector | Build 5 towers keyed to the lowest rank (7) | 3g · 2tk |
| 4 goldStandard · core mid-game challenges — the bulk of your income · 18 missions | ||
| Straight Shooter | Build 7 Straight towers | 4g |
| Flush Funds | Build 5 Flush towers | 4g |
| Hidden Master | Discover 4 hidden hands | 4g · 3tk |
| Full Boat Fleet | Build 3 different Full House towers | 4g · 1tk |
| Flush Spectrum | Build Flush towers of 4 different top ranks | 4g · 2tk |
| Legend | Clear wave 25 | 4g · 3tk |
| Pocket Aces | Build 7 Ace-key towers | 4g · 2tk |
| Seven-to-Ace | Own a tower keyed to every rank: 7,8,9,10,J,Q,K,A | 4g · 3tk |
| All-In Aces | Build 6 different Ace-keyed towers | 4g · 3tk |
| Queen’s Court | Build Q High, Q Pair and Q Two Pair towers | 4g · 2tk |
| Queen’s Suite | Build Q High, a Q-high Straight and a Q-high Flush | 4g · 3tk |
| Top of the Mountain | Build a Mountain (10-J-Q-K-A) straight | 4g · 2tk |
| Nosebleed | Build Q-, K- and A-high Flush towers | 4g · 2tk |
| Royalty | Build a Royal or Back Straight Flush | 4g · 2tk |
| Perfect Five | Build Five of a Kind or Five Flush | 4g · 3tk |
| Dealer’s Choice | Build Pair, High Card, Trips, Full House, Straight, Quads and a Straight Flush | 4g · 3tk |
| Hope | Build 5 Pair and 5 High Card towers | 4g · 3tk |
| Hoarder | Build 8 High Card towers | 4g · 2tk |
| 5 goldHard · demanding multi-tower and high-rank builds · 13 missions | ||
| Full House | Build 6 Full House towers | 5g |
| Collector | Build High Card, Pair, 2P, 3K, FH, 4K, ST & FL (one each) | 5g · 1tk |
| Maxed Out | Upgrade a tower to Lv 10 | 5g · 3tk |
| Quad Trinity | Build Four of a Kind of 3 ranks | 5g · 2tk |
| Grandmaster Deck | Build 30 different tower variants | 5g · 3tk |
| King’s Ransom | Build a K-high Straight, K Quads and a K-full Full House | 5g · 2tk |
| Queen Bee | Build 3 of the rare Q High towers | 5g · 3tk |
| Straight Ladder | Build all 5 straights: Back, J-, Q-, K-high & Mountain | 5g · 3tk |
| Aces Full | Build an Ace Full House and Ace Four of a Kind | 5g · 3tk |
| High Roller | Own a Full House, a Four of a Kind and a Straight Flush | 5g · 3tk |
| Three-Cushion | Build 3 top-class towers (Straight Flush or better) | 5g · 3tk |
| Hidden Adept | Build 7 hidden-hand towers (duplicates count) | 5g · 3tk |
| Lucky Day | Build 2 elite towers (Five of a Kind or better) | 5g · 2tk |
| 6 goldEpic · the toughest objectives in the game — chase these · 6 missions | ||
| Quad Squad | Build 4 Four of a Kind towers | 6g |
| Immortal | Clear wave 40 — win the game | 6g · 4tk |
| Royal Court | Own a Mountain, a Royal Flush and a Q High at once | 6g · 3tk |
| Suited Ladder | Build 3 different Straight Flushes | 6g · 4tk |
| Five Alive | Build both a Five of a Kind and a Five Flush | 6g · 4tk |
| Full Set | Build every one of the 15 hand types (Pair → Five Flush) | 6g · 4tk |
| 8–10 goldInferno Trials · waves 41–50 super-hell endgame — brutal grinds for the biggest payouts · 12 missions | ||
| Fifteen Aces | Build 15 Ace-keyed towers | 10g · 2tk |
| King’s Legion | Build 15 King-keyed towers | 8g · 2tk |
| Full House Dynasty | Build 12 Full House towers | 8g · 2tk |
| Quad Nation | Build 8 Four of a Kind towers | 8g · 2tk |
| Straight Flush Syndicate | Build 3 Straight Flush towers | 10g · 2tk |
| High Court | Build 5 towers of Straight Flush, Back SF or Royal Flush | 10g · 2tk |
| Suit Supremacy | Collect 25 towers of a single suit | 8g · 2tk |
| Ascended | Reach global upgrade level 22 | 10g · 2tk |
| The Gauntlet | Reach wave 45 | 8g · 2tk |
| Pair Ladder | Build a Pair tower of all 8 ranks (7 through Ace) | 8g · 2tk |
| Two-Pair Ladder | Build a Two Pair tower of all 7 high ranks (8 through Ace) | 10g · 2tk |
| Trips Ladder | Build a Three of a Kind tower of all 8 ranks (7 through Ace) | 10g · 2tk |
Hell Poker Defence gives you direct tactical agency over active combat states via a core active ability: