Endless TD — Launch Day Patch Notes

March 9, 2026

Commanders,

Endless TD is officially live on Steam! 🎉

We’re launching as part of Tower Defense Fest, and to celebrate, we’re kicking things off with a limited-time Double XP Event the entire week of Tower Defense Fest! Jump in, level up faster, unlock rewards, and start climbing. ⚔️

This launch update includes new towers, a new Star Upgrade system, PvP additions, cosmetic expansions, weather upgrades, UI improvements, balance changes, and more.

🎉 Launch Event: Double XP

To celebrate launch, all Player XP earned is doubled until the end of Tower Defense Fest.

  • Earn 2x Player XP
  • Level up faster
  • Unlock cosmetics and progression rewards more quickly
  • Event status is shown directly on the main menu

⭐ New Feature: Star Upgrade System

Merged towers can now be upgraded even further with the new Star Upgrade system.

  • Combine 3 identical merged towers of the same star level to create the next star level
  • Star levels range from 0 to 3
  • Each star level grants major boosts to:
  • Damage
  • Attack Speed
  • Range
  • Health
  • Special effects

A fully upgraded 3-Star tower can reach:

  • +175% Damage
  • +50% Attack Speed
  • 2x Health

This adds a major new layer of late-game scaling and merge strategy.

⚔️ PvP: Send Empower System

Versus mode now has a new late-game pressure mechanic.

After Wave 100, players unlock Empower in the send shop.

  • Each level increases the HP of all sent enemies by +20% multiplicatively
  • Costs scale linearly
  • Creates a major strategic choice between defense and aggression

At high investment, sends become extremely difficult to stop. Use it wisely.

📘 New Versus Tutorial

A new tutorial has been added for players learning PvP.

  • Introduces core team-based Versus gameplay
  • Explains the Summoning Portal
  • Covers send economy and gold strategy
  • Includes side-aware tips based on your position
  • Can be disabled with “Don’t show again”

🔊 Tower Sound Effects

Every merged tower now has its own unique attack sound.

  • Added 26 tower-specific sound effects
  • Improves combat feel and tower identity
  • Makes merged towers more satisfying and distinct in battle

🌩️ Weather System Enhancements

Weather events now feel larger, louder, and more immersive.

Visual updates

  • Lightning bolts are now 50% wider
  • Lightning bolts are now 80% taller
  • Ash Storm fire boulder impacts now include:
  • Ground fire animations
  • Screen flash effects

Ambient improvements

  • Added ambient audio for weather types including:
  • Rain
  • Thunderstorms
  • Blizzards
  • Sandstorms
  • Toxic storms
  • More

Environment atmosphere

  • Added rolling mist effects in swamp and graveyard environments


🎨 Custom Icon Art Overhaul

The old emoji-style placeholders are gone. Endless TD now features fully custom hand-painted icon art across the game.

Added:

  • 40+ stat and effect icons
  • 21 powerup icons
  • 6 archetype icons
  • 6 weather icons
  • Full status effect icon coverage for buffs and debuffs

This improves both clarity and visual identity across the entire UI.

🌍 Multi-Region Servers

Global server support is live at launch.

  • US, EU, and Asia shards are now available
  • Automatic region-based matchmaking connects players to the closest server
  • Dynamic shard registration helps servers scale with player demand
  • Graceful deployment support improves live update stability

🛠️ Admin & Live Ops Tools

Launch also includes a full suite of live operations tools behind the scenes.

New capabilities include:

  • Real-time server announcements
  • In-game banner messaging
  • XP multiplier event controls
  • Maintenance mode with graceful server drain
  • Per-shard health monitoring
  • Room management tools
  • Multi-shard broadcast support

These systems help support smoother events, updates, and live service management going forward.

⚖️ Balance Changes

Several balance adjustments have been made for better pacing and healthier match flow.

  • Improved pacing in 2v2
  • Gold rewards rebalanced to reduce late-game snowballing
  • Gold decay now begins after Wave 50
  • Practice now starts with 175 bonus gold - similar to online experience

✅ Quality of Life

A variety of UI, presentation, and performance improvements are included in this launch build.

  • Streamlined main menu
  • Improved lobby UI
  • Better player card rendering across:
  • Lobby
  • Versus
  • In-game HUD
  • Performance optimizations for:
  • Sprite sheets
  • Shield domes
  • Portal animations
  • Aura effects
  • Steam app cleanup and build pipeline improvements

🚀 See You on the Battlefield

This is just the beginning for Endless TD.

Thank you to everyone jumping in on launch day and supporting the game during Tower Defense Fest. We’re excited to keep improving and expanding the game from here.

Good luck out there, Defenders!