Garden Tower Defense Tier List

Classic Mode Unit Breakdown

Our Classic mode rankings evaluate every Garden Tower Defense unit on endgame viability, speedrunning potential, and squad performance. Units are rated on AoE damage, boss utility, support value, and cost efficiency across all Classic maps.

S Tier Units — Classic Mode

The best units in Classic mode. These are core picks for endgame, speedrunning, and squad play.

• Bouncing Shroom — Very strong in Classic mode; highly recommended and one of the best-performing AoE units.
• Earth Dragon — Still heavily used in Classic mode (Dojo, Graveyard); strong map-specific utility.
• Astraflora — Best support in the game; gives ~40% damage boost and provides stun.
• Festive Glowthorn — Can be used from early game to endgame; works on almost every map.
• Seedmill — Essential in squads; provides ~20% more seeds and is always used in team play.
• Iced Prismflower — Performs similarly to Tesla/Winter in most Classic scenarios.
• Rangeleaf — Top-tier support for squads; best-in-class range booster.
• Potato — Top-tier DPS unit (explicitly marked S-tier, used in main loadouts).
• Teslaflora — Top-tier DPS; core endgame unit used in most runs.
• Timekeeper — Strong utility unit; part of optimal loadouts.
• Witchleaf — High-value unit used in standard meta setups.
• Winterray Flower — Top-tier unit; core pick alongside Tesla and support units.
• Champions Bee Stinger — Improved stats + passive; very strong for bosses, solo, and duo.
• Masters Banana Peel — Same tier as Champ Beastinger; upgraded version of Banana.

A Tier Units — Classic Mode

Strong alternatives that shine in specific scenarios or serve as reliable secondary picks.

• Auranji — ~40% slow; very useful for players struggling with bosses.
• Banana Peel — Strong unit with good stun; comparable to Rafflesia.
• Beehive — Recently buffed; spawner units are very strong in Classic mode and easier to use.
• Black Clover — Clearly strong (placed easily in A tier).
• Blazewood — Decent and reliable unit.
• Bloomnova — Still used even in Winter Wonderland; strong AoE option.
• Corrupted Stem — Solid unit with good performance.
• Cryolesia — 60% slow, ~10s cooldown, and ~60k damage over time; very strong stacking potential.
• Deathesia — A tier normally, but S tier in Winter mode.
• Egg Plantinum — Has a useful ability that helps in runs.
• Enchanting Rose — Good stall unit with some added damage.
• Frankensprout — Good AoE + stun combination.
• Frost Golem — Strong and reliable utility unit.
• Galaxiflora — Good replacement if you don’t have Tesla/Winter Ray.
• Gold Lawnmower — Strong starter option.
• Iris of Thorns — ~16k DPS + fast (~1.5s) ability; strong but still single-target.
• Kaboom Shroom — Great for hard waves; reusable burst every ~30 seconds.
• Prismleaf — ~360 DPS early; used heavily for speedrunning.
• Rafflesia — Strong general-use unit.
• Shadestool — Highest single-target DPS for bosses.
• Speed Sprinkler — Good replacement-type unit (solid overall).
• Subzero Stem — Strong slow + good single-target damage.
• Lava Flower — Strong ability-based unit with good performance.

B Tier Units — Classic Mode

Decent units that fill a role but are generally outclassed by higher-tier options.

• Aethervine — Not great single-target DPS; underwhelming overall.
• Bee Stinger — Decent, but clearly weaker than Champion version.
• Bloominator — Average-performing unit.
• Bubble Plant — Basic mid-tier unit.
• Candycane Bloom — Solid but not standout.
• Chomp Man — Decent mid-tier DPS.
• Doompetal — Good starter unit.
• Dream Petal — Basic usable unit.
• Floral Overseer — Mid-tier performance.
• Frostshade — Has slow utility; decent.
• Garden Wizard — Good stall option.
• Gnomebang — Explosion is decent.
• Budstrike — Balanced unit.
• Hellroot — Better than most mid-tier units; AoE makes it more useful.
• Ice Dragon — Strong but expensive and harder to use on multi-lane maps.
• Juggercorn — ~12.5k AoE DPS but not competitive with top units.
• Lucky Clover — Outclassed now.
• Mango Cluster — Decent but not meta.
• Mudmauler — Recently buffed; now viable.
• Obsidian Rose — Decent unit.
• Octoshroom — Needs buff; still usable.
• Ooga Booga — Mid-tier AoE.
• Plant In The Box — Good slow and cost efficiency.
• Regeneration Flower — Good starter; used for macros.
• Rosebeam — Has stall utility.
• Rocketroot — Decent AoE.
• Splitjaw Flytrap — Mid-tier DPS.
• Sporefang — Solid but not standout.
• Star Fruit — ~14k DPS; slightly weaker than Regen Flower (~15k).
• Stickpetal — ~50% slow utility.
• Super Sprout — High range.
• Venus Flytrap — Solid unit but not top-tier.
• Voltshade — Outdated but still usable.
• Watering Can — Decent unit.
• Zapseed — Pretty good overall.
• Toxic Mushroom — Borderline; placement debated.

C Tier Units — Classic Mode

Outdated or niche units with limited utility. Only worth running if you lack better alternatives.

• Astral Blossom — Has a small debuff but otherwise weak.
• Ballistic Banana — ~12 AoE; somewhat useful.
• Beamstalk — Outdated.
• Big Mushroom — Only 1 AoE attack; limited value.
• Bloodvine — Weak performance.
• Blossom Barrage — Low effectiveness.
• Candycane Supernova — Unreliable unless actively used.
• Carrotastrophe — Nothing notable.
• Corn — Weak.
• Dual Blasterbud — Underwhelming.
• Elemental Bloom — Average.
• Fan Flower — Pure stall; no damage.
• Festive Bulbpetal — Weak starter-type unit.
• Fungal Barrage — Not very good.
• Ghost Shroom — Nothing special.
• Gnomatic Saw — Weak.
• Fisherman — Good stall but limited.
• Golem — Basic.
• Icebuds — Decent slow.
• Infinity Petal — Expensive (~12k) for value.
• Mummified Pepper — Rarely used; unclear value.
• Nightspire — ~10k DPS but still mid-tier.
• Petalray — Good cost efficiency but still weak.
• Seed Mech — Basic economy unit.
• Rosemire — Surprisingly decent but still mid-tier.
• Snowblossom — Average.
• Snowspore — Cheap with infinite placement; still mid-tier.
• Solarian Bloom — Weak.
• Spider Lily — Hard to upgrade/use.
• Stretch Plant — Weak.
• Tiki Tower — Weak overall.

D Tier Units — Classic Mode

Severely underperforming units that need buffs. Avoid in competitive play.

• Atomic Pepper — “Disgustingly terrible.”
• Aurabloom — Very weak.
• Blackberries — Poor unit.
• Cursed Fruit — Clearly bad.
• Electric Beetroot — Needs rework; should be endgame but isn’t.
• Electroleaf — Outclassed.
• Old starters — Worse unless speedrun (exception: Prism Leaf).
• Alien unit — Very weak.
• Sunflower — All placed in D tier.
• Grapes — Very weak.
• Grave Crawler — Weak.
• Laser Plant — Weak.
• Lil Stump — Weak.
• Diamond Nightshade — Very bad; unclear mechanics.
• Octo Laser — Weak.
• Peas in a Pod — Bad.
• Hot Shade — Outdated.
• Pyro Petal — Very outdated.
• Rainbow units — Mostly weak (exceptions noted).
• Pairworker — Weak.
• Robo Flower — Bad.
• Thornzilla — Weak.
• Toxibud — Weak.
• UFO Seedling — Weak.
• Walnut — “Trash.”

Survival Mode Unit Breakdown

Survival mode changes the meta significantly. Long waves make AoE damage essential, travel time penalizes slow-moving units, and economy support stays critical. Some Classic S-tier units drop hard here, while RNG-based units like Potato become much stronger.

S Tier Units — Survival Mode

The dominant Survival mode units. These excel at late-game AoE, support, and wave clearing.

• Iced Prismflower — Top-tier DPS; core survival unit for late-game performance.
• Festive Glowthorn — Strong early + late unit; especially useful on newer maps.
• Teslaflora — #1 unit for Survival; highest overall DPS performance.
• Witchleaf — Extremely strong for boss damage (“boss melting”).
• Rangeleaf — Essential squad support for increasing range.
• Festive Garden Bell — Best damage support unit; core for boosting team DPS.
• Banana Peel — Extremely cost-effective, especially on Dojo/Winter maps.
• Repair Worker — High-value unit (top tier placement implies strong scaling/utility).
• Potato — S-tier due to RNG “map wipe” procs; huge impact potential.
• Timekeeper — Strong utility unit used in top builds.
• Seedmill — Required for squads; increases seed economy significantly.

A Tier Units — Survival Mode

Highly effective units that scale well into late Survival waves.

• Frost Golem — Strong utility unit for slowing and control.
• Corrupted Stem — Reliable DPS option.
• Mango Cluster — Solid AoE unit with good performance.
• Lava Flower — Strong ability-based DPS unit.
• Blazewood — Consistent AoE damage.
• Bloomnova — Strong AoE burst damage.
• Speed Sprinkler — Reliable support/DPS hybrid.
• Galaxiflora — Best beginner unit; acts as an S-tier replacement.
• Regeneration Flower — Cost-efficient starter with good scaling.
• Black Clover — Strong general-purpose unit.
• Kaboom Shroom — Excellent in squads; strong burst damage for waves.
• Bamboo — Solid mid-to-late game performer.
• Frankensprout — Strong AoE + stun; improved ranking.
• Juggercorn — Moved up; strong AoE DPS option.

B Tier Units — Survival Mode

Usable units that contribute but are typically outclassed by S and A tier.

• Cryolesia — Decent slow + damage unit, but outclassed.
• Subzero Stem — Solid slow + single-target DPS.
• Winterray Flower — Usable DPS unit.
• Multisawflower — sawflower — Moderate AoE, not optimal.
• Lucky Clover — Outclassed support unit.
• Mudmauler — Viable but not top-tier.
• Rocketroot — Decent AoE option.
• Chomp Man — Mid-tier DPS.
• Toxibud — Usable but weak scaling.
• Splitjaw Flytrap — Average DPS unit.
• Bouncing Shroom — Still usable but less effective than in Classic.
• Floral Overseer — Situational utility.
• Candycane Bloom — Decent support/DPS mix.
• Venus Flytrap — Solid but not meta.
• Iris of Thorns — Good single-target DPS, but less useful in Survival.
• Bubble Plant — a-box — Decent slow + cost efficiency.
• Champions Bee Stinger — Still strong but less dominant in Survival.
• Shadestool — Strong boss DPS but less valuable overall.
• Aethervine — Average DPS.
• Dream Petal — Usable mid-tier unit.
• Deathesia — Good but outclassed here.
• Ooga Booga — Average AoE.
• Voltshade — Outdated but usable.
• Obsidian Rose — Balanced DPS.
• Enchanting Rose — Moved up due to strong endgame damage.

C Tier Units — Survival Mode

Situational or weak units that struggle in longer Survival runs.

• Blossom Barrage — Underwhelming performance.
• Infinity Petal — Expensive with low impact.
• Beamstalk — Outdated unit.
• Gnomatic Saw — Weak AoE.
• Zapse Seed — Outclassed DPS.
• Dual Blasterbud — Weak overall.
• Fungal Barrage — Poor damage.
• Toxic Mushroom — Weak or inconsistent DPS.
• Ballistic Banana — Limited AoE usefulness.
• Bee Stinger — Outclassed by upgraded version.
• Beehive — Too slow for Survival pacing.
• Budstrike — Weak scaling.
• Corn — Low DPS.
• Carrotastrophe — No standout strength.
• Inferno Bloom — Underperforming DPS.
• Bloodvine — Weak unit.
• Big Mushroom — Limited AoE.
• Rosebeam — Weak overall.
• Hellroot — Less effective in Survival.
• Egg Plantinum — Low impact here.
• Octoshroom — Weak vs grouped enemies.
• Astral Blossom — Weak DPS + minor debuff.
• Solarian Bloom — Weak.
• Earth Dragon — Too slow; travel time reduces effectiveness.
• Ghost Shroom — No standout value.
• Watering Can — Weak support.
• Seed Mech — Low value economy unit.
• Doompetal — Weak starter.
• Frostshade — Weak slow unit.
• Rafflesia — Moved down; outclassed.
• Super Sprout — Moved down; underperforming.

D Tier Units — Survival Mode

Poor performers that lack the scaling or AoE needed for extended waves.

• Snowblossom — Weak DPS.
• Spider Lily — Hard to use effectively.
• Gnome — Weak unit.
• Stickpetal — Poor performance.
• Peas in a Pod — Weak/outdated.
• Golem — Low impact.
• Auranji — Weak in Survival compared to Classic.
• Tiki Tower — Underperforming.
• Passion Shooter — Weak DPS.
• Grapes — Very weak.
• Mummified Pepper — Low value.
• Nightspire — Weak DPS.
• Elemental Bloom — Underwhelming.

E Tier Units — Survival Mode

Very weak units with minimal impact in Survival.

• Bloominator — Very low effectiveness.
• Stretch Plant — Poor performance.
• Star Fruit — Weak compared to alternatives.
• Ion Iris — Low impact.
• Robo Flower — Ineffective.

F Tier Units — Survival Mode

Completely unviable for Survival. These units offer no meaningful value.

• Ice Dragon — Not viable in Survival.
• Icebuds — Weak slow unit.
• Diamond Nightshade — Very poor.
• Candycane Supernova — Unreliable.
• Electroleaf — Outdated.
• Maze Creeper — Useless in Survival.
• Garden Wizard — Weak stall unit.
• Festive Bulbpetal — Poor starter.
• Bubble Plant — Very weak.
• Sporefang — Ineffective.
• Nightshade — Very poor performance.
• Prismleaf — Useless in endgame Survival.
• Fisherman — Weak stall.
• Lawnmower — No meaningful value.
• Pesticider — Weak ability.
• Stun Flower — Poor DPS.
• Stunflower — Weak stall.
• Confusion Plant — Ineffective mechanic.
• Electric Beetroot — Very underpowered.
• Lil Stump — Weak starter.
• Atomic Pepper — Extremely weak.
• Rainbow Tomato — Very poor performance.