Towers are the payload of Emberward's maze-building: blocks bend the path, towers turn path-length into damage. The catalog below separates three tiers of certainty: what the developer documented, what players count, and what players recommend.
How many towers are there
The community count for 1.0 is 55, from post-1.0 hands-on video. For scale: the Early Access launch in June 2024 carried 25 towers (a July 2024 press review counted), and the developer has added more across every major update since. Officially, no total has ever been published; the store and announcements name towers individually but never count them. We therefore carry 55 with a community-count label, and the gap between "officially named" and "counted" is exactly the gap a wiki exists to close, carefully.
What 1.0 added, reworked and removed
The 1.0 changelog is unusually generous with tower detail, which is why this page can be precise about it:
- Added: Volcano Tower (3x3): fires multiple magma orbs that explode on impact with a high chance to apply burning.
- Added: Sentry Tower (1x1): idles into Alert Mode, then greatly increases attack speed the moment a monster appears.
- Removed: Basic Tower: retired with honors ("it did a great job accompanying everyone through Early Access").
- Reworked or tuned, officially named: Torch, Magic Arrow, Laser, Dice, Giant Dice, Drone, Dart, Earthquake, Decimate, Landmine, Hammer, Chomp, Sniper, Frost Ray, Fan, Electro Gate, Bomb, Poison, Slime, Scrap, Barrage, Boulder, Froststorm, Thunder, Starfall, Cauldron, Missile, Lava, Scythe.
That last list is nearly thirty towers named by the developer in one patch note, alongside specific changes (Sniper gained 50 percent base crit and a price cut to 80; Boulder's red upgrade now rolls boulders along the monster path; Poison's damage jumped 25 to 35).
Tower sizes and why they matter
Towers occupy footprints from 1x1 up to 3x3, with special shapes in between (the Poison Tower's 1x3 archway spans a path tile). Size is a maze-planning decision, not just a stat:
| Size | Role in practice (community consensus) |
|---|---|
| 1x1 | Fill gaps, cheap coverage, spam-friendly |
| 2x2 | Control pieces: slows, gates, utility |
| 3x3 | The damage backbone; the maze exists to fit these |
One upgrade slot, two choices
Every tower has one upgrade slot with two options to pick from (confirmed by hands-on play on the current build; an older "only one upgrade choice" phrasing floating around community videos describes the slot limit, not the option count). Choices can change a tower's element or behavior, like the poison-to-fire conversion path players use to re-synergize mid-run. Pick wrong and the gold was still spent: there is no re-picking.
How the developer balances towers
The 1.0 notes contain a rare explicit balance philosophy, worth reading in compressed form: towers are balanced around the way each delivers its greatest value under normal circumstances, not raw DPS parity. Consequences the developer states directly:
- Unusual ranges, shapes or coordination requirements earn stronger numbers (Lava and Scythe get paid for the maze work they demand).
- Universally usable towers get weaker numbers (Missile's enormous flexibility pays a stat tax; Black Hole's power pays one too).
- A tower that works anywhere is priced in damage; a tower that works only in the maze you built for it is rewarded.
Community favorites
⚠️ Community content, unverified. The tier sense below is player opinion from Steam forums and Reddit, useful as a starting compass, not as data.
Names that recur in "favorite tower" threads and high-difficulty clear posts. The dice pair earns its seat honestly: the rolled numbers face of the Giant Dice mechanic, mid-battle:
The recurring picks: Lava ("strong enough to feel bad using" is about Thunder, but Lava is the reliability pick), Thunder with boost stacking, Boulder and Decimate as big guns, Starfall for AoE, Giant Dice for gamblers (d20-driven), Drone and Icicle as small workhorses, Flamethrower for cheap early coverage, Mine in crit builds. The 2024-era community tier list put Electric synergy at the top and Normal-type at the bottom; treat any specific ranking as that year's meta. For where towers meet runes and relics, see relics; for the heroes whose perks bend them, characters; for fundamentals, the tips page.
FAQ
What is the best tower in Emberward?
No official ranking exists and balance shifts by patch. Community consensus centers on Lava and Thunder for reliability, with run-specific synergies (relic plus rune plus element) mattering more than any single tower. All tier talk on this site is labeled community opinion.
How many towers are there?
The community counts 55 at 1.0. The official number does not exist: the developer names towers in patch notes without publishing a total.
Can you change a tower's upgrade after picking?
No. Each tower has one upgrade slot with two options; once chosen it is locked. Selling and rebuilding is the workaround, at the sell-price loss.
Where did the Basic Tower go?
Retired in the 1.0 update after serving as the Early Access starter tower. It is gone from the current build; guides referencing it predate September 2026.