Beginner Guide
TetoWar is turn-based: a match-3 puzzle phase alternates with a tower-defense phase. Day and night take turns. Get comfortable with the core loop before anything else.
1. Day phase — build your defenders
The board drops recruit tiles — Archer, Spear, Gunner, Guard, Mage, Sniper, and Medic recruits — plus Treasure Chests. You can swap any two adjacent tiles, and the swap counts even if it doesn't make a match (it still costs one move). Diagonal swaps are supported too.
Here's which tile becomes which defender. Tap a tile to jump to that captain's page.
→ 
Rion Archer Team (Archer / omnidirectional) 
→ 
Seris Spear Team (Spear / mid-line) 
→ 
Mira Gunner Team (Cannon / straight line) 
→ 
Alden Heavy Guard (Guard / blocker) 
→ 
Lyra Mage Team (Mage / area) 
→ 
Kael Sniper Team (Sniper / long range) 
→ 
Selene Medic Team (Medic / support) 
→ Treasure Chest An installation, not a captain — open it to pick an upgrade skill or extra moves - Line up 3 of the same recruit in a straight line to form a tier-1 unit (it doesn't attack yet)
- Merge 3+ tier-1 units to reach tier 2 — this is when it starts attacking
- Keep merging to reach tier 3, 4, and 5, multiplying its stats up to x4.0
- Tap a Treasure Chest to choose an upgrade skill or extra moves. Merging chests before opening increases the reward
A standard run gives you 5 moves per day by default. Permanent upgrades in the Wisdom Tree can raise that.
2. Night phase — auto-battle
Once you run out of moves (or choose to end the day early), the Dusk Legion advances from its lanes. Defenders on the board fire automatically at anything in range — no input needed. If an enemy reaches the castle it drains Ember (your castle's HP) and retreats. Run out of Ember and the run ends.
Only the Heavy Guard can block enemies. An enemy directly ahead of a Heavy Guard (same lane, facing it) stops moving and keeps getting hit by everything nearby. Without a Heavy Guard in the way, enemies simply walk through. See Unit Roles Explained for details.
3. Building a roster
You can bring up to 4 unit kinds into a run. All 7 kinds (Archer, Spear, Cannon, Guard, Mage, Sniper, Medic) are unlocked from the start and can be freely mixed. The default roster is Medic / Guard / Spear / Mage — a solid mix of tank, support, and damage. See the captain list for full stats.
4. Run types
- Standard run — a 20-day campaign, with bosses on day 10 and day 20
- Endless mode — keep going past day 20 as a score-attack; the deeper you go, the faster Ember Shards accumulate
- Daily Challenge — a fixed board that changes every day
See Endless Mode & Ember Shards for details.
5. If you're stuck
If your Ember runs out, an optional rewarded ad can refill it to full and let you continue — once per run. There are no forced full-screen ads or gacha in TetoWar; you can play the whole game without watching a single ad.