Buffs are special abilities applied to towers, which make them stronger. Some towers can apply a certain Buff to all towers in its range, while some can only apply it to themselves, either passively or with an ability. There are also Debuffs, which make the towers weaker.
Firerate Buff

The Firerate Buff is a buff that decreases a tower's firerate, making them fire faster. While it may look like the firerate of a tower with the Firerate Buff is rounded up or down to the third decimal, this is only visual. Currently, the Firerate Buff is calculated as:
- Original Firerate Ć· (1 + Firerate Buff)
- where Firerate Buff is the buff supplied by the tower in decimal form (for example, 10% is 0.1).
The firerate of a tower with the Firerate Bug is calculated as:
- (Bugged Firerate - Firerate Bug Increase) Ć· (1 + Firerate Buff) + Firerate Bug Increase
- where Bugged Firerate is the firerate with the Firerate Bug.
Prior to the Entity System Update, the Firerate Buff was calculated as:
- Without the Firerate Bug:
- Original Firerate Ć (1-Firerate Buff)
- With the Firerate Bug:
- ((Bugged Firerate - Firerate Bug Increase) Ć (1 - Firerate Buff)) + Firerate Bug Increase
The following towers have the Firerate Buff:
- Gladiator (Warrior's Call ability)
The following towers or consumables can apply the Firerate Buff to other towers:
- Commander (Passive and Call to Arms ability)
- Cooldown Flag (Passive)
- Sugar Rush (Passive)
The following towers are either partially or fully not affected by the Firerate Buff:
- The Commander; the Commander cannot boost the firerate of other Commanders.
- Firerate of secondary attacks, like the Pursuit's missiles.
- Their main firerate can still be decreased.
- Tick of the Pyromancer, Toxic Gunner and Swarmer.
- The tick of the Accelerator can still be decreased.
- The rev-up of the Minigunner.
- Charge-up and cooldown of the Accelerator.
- The cooldown of burst towers like the Soldier or Toxic Gunner also cannot be decreased.
- Ability cooldowns.
- The Executioner; the firerate will not be decreased if the axe takes too long to return.
- The Archer; the Firerate Buff can decrease the time it takes for it to reload its bow, but it cannot decrease the time it takes it to aim at enemies.
- All Units.
Damage Buff

The Damage Buff is a buff that increases a tower's damage. The damage increased by the Damage Buff will always round down to the nearest integer. For example, a tower that deals 5 damage with a 50% Damage Buff will deal 7 damage, instead of 7.5.
The following towers or consumables can apply the Damage Buff to other towers:
- DJ Booth (Passive)
- Mercenary Base (Passive)
- Damage Flag (Passive)
The following towers used to have the Damage Buff:
- Golden Crook Boss (Passive)
- Golden Minigunner (Passive)
- Golden Pyromancer (Passive)
- Golden Scout (Passive)
- Golden Cowboy (Passive)
- John (Enraging Shout ability)
- Shredder (Knife Throw ability)
- Cowboy (Wildest of the West and Gold Rush abilities)
- Gladiator (Sharp Edge ability)
The following tower used to apply the Damage Buff to other towers:
- John (Enraging Shout ability)
The following removed towers had the Damage Buff:
- Platinum Crook Boss (Passive)
- Platinum Minigunner (Passive)
A full list of towers affected fully, partially or that are unaffected can be found below.
Damage Buff | |
---|---|
Tower | Status |
Scout | Affected |
Sniper | Affected |
Paintballer | Affected |
Demoman | Affected |
Hunter | Affected |
Soldier | Affected |
Militant | Affected |
Medic | Affected |
Freezer | Affected |
Farm | Affected |
Shotgunner | Affected |
Military Base | Partial[1] |
Rocketeer | Affected |
Trapper | Partial[1] |
Ace Pilot | Affected |
Pyromancer | Partial[2] |
Crook Boss | Partial[3] |
Electroshocker | Affected |
Commander | Partial[4] |
Warden | Partial[5] |
Cowboy | Affected |
DJ Booth | Unaffected |
Minigunner | Affected |
Ranger | Affected |
Gatling Gun | Affected |
Turret | Affected |
Mortar | Affected |
Pursuit | Affected |
Mercenary Base | Partial[6] |
Brawler | Partial[7] |
Necromancer | Partial[8] |
Accelerator | Affected |
Engineer | Partial[9] |
Gladiator | Affected |
Commando | Affected |
Slasher | Affected[10] |
Frost Blaster | Affected |
Archer | Partial[11] |
Swarmer | Partial[12] |
Toxic Gunner | Partial[13] |
Sledger | Partial[14] |
Executioner | Affected |
Elf Camp | Unaffected |
Jester | Partial[15] |
Cryomancer | Partial[16] |
Hallow Punk | Partial[17] |
Harvester | Affected |
Snowballer | Affected |
Elementalist | Partial[18] |
Firework Technician | Affected |
War Machine | Affected |
Mecha Base | Unaffected |
Range Buff

The Range Buff is a buff that increases a tower's range. The range of a tower affected by the Range Buff can be in decimal form, instead of being rounded down or rounded up to the nearest interger. For example, a tower with 5 range with a 50% Range Buff will have a range of 7.5.
The following towers or consumables can apply the Range Buff to other towers:
- DJ Booth (Passive)
- Ranger (Passive for 20 seconds at the beginning of each wave)
- Range Flag (Passive)
- UAV (Passive)
The following towers used to have the Range Buff:
- Golden Pyromancer (Passive)
- Golden Cowboy (Passive)
- Slasher (Old Knife Throw ability)
The following removed towers had the Range Buff:
- Platinum Pyromancer (Passive)
The following towers are either partially or fully not affected by the Range Buff:
- All units.
- The Shotgunner, as its bullets do not extend into the increased range.
- The DJ Booth cannot have its range boosted by another DJ Booth.
- Other range buff sources, like the Ranger, can still apply it.
- Circling range of the Pursuit and Ace Pilot.
- The radius in which towers gain hidden detection from the Ace Pilot also cannot be increased.
- These towers' attack range can still be increased.
- The Gladiator; enemies will not be damaged in the gained range if it is a number beyond 6.
- The Slasher.
- Its Knife Throw ability range can still be increased.
- The Sledger will hit less enemies in its gained range.
- The red and yellow range rings for the Engineer.
- The attack range (blue range ring) for both the Engineer and its sentries can still be increased.
- The chain range of the Electroshocker.
- The explosion radius from Splash Damage towers cannot be increased.
Discount Buff

The Discount Buff is a buff that decreases a tower's upgrade and ability usage costs. This does not decrease the placement cost of a tower. The upgrade cost is rounded down to the nearest interger. Towers that were upgraded while being affected the Discount Buff will give you less cash back when they are sold, in comparison to those that were not affected by it. The sell prices are permanently affected.
The following tower can apply the Discount Buff to other towers:
- DJ Booth (Passive)
The following towers cannot have their costs partially or fully decreased by the Discount Buff:
Firework Buff

The Firework Buff is a buff that gives the tower a chance to fire a firework at an enemy. This buff is activated upon enemy receiving damage from a tower with their main attack, in most cases this will give it a chance to activate it, though some towers can never activate it. There is a chance that the buff will activate itself, which is determined using the Firework Shot Chance Cap value from the Firework Buff giver and the Firerate statistic of the tower the firework is fired from. A tower has a chance to create a firework for each enemy hit, meaning that towers which can hit multiple enemies, like the Shotgunner, Hallow Punk or Electroshocker are capable of generating multiple fireworks at once. The chance is calculated as:
where Firework Shot Chance Cap is taken from the Firework Technician, and Firerate is taken from the tower that fires out the firework. Firerate in this case is the statistic displayed with the hour glass to the right of the tower. In most cases, this is the firerate statistic (time between each shot), though in some cases it may be the burst cooldown (time between bursts), like the Elementalist, the spawnrate, like the Military Base or just unrelated to any statistic it has, such as the Trapper.
The following towers can apply the Firework Buff to other towers:
- Firework Technician (Passive)
Multiple towers are not affected by this debuff, while some can create multiple fireworks. A full list of towers affected fully, partially or that are unaffected can be found below. Only accounts for the main attack and units.
Firework Buff | ||
---|---|---|
Tower | Status | Firework Amount |
Scout | Affected | Single |
Sniper | Affected | Single |
Paintballer | Unaffected | None |
Demoman | Unaffected | None |
Hunter | Affected | Single |
Soldier | Affected | Single |
Militant | Affected | Single |
Medic | Affected | Single |
Freezer | Affected | Single |
Farm | Unaffected | None |
Shotgunner | Affected | Multiple |
Military Base | Unaffected | None |
Rocketeer | Affected | Infinite |
Trapper | Unaffected | None |
Ace Pilot | Affected | Single |
Pyromancer | Affected | Multiple |
Crook Boss | Partial | Single |
Electroshocker | Affected | Multiple |
Commander | Partial | Single |
Warden | Affected | Single |
Cowboy | Affected | Single |
DJ Booth | Unaffected | None |
Minigunner | Affected | Single |
Ranger | Affected | Single |
Gatling Gun | Affected | Single Multiple (FPS) |
Turret | Affected | Single |
Mortar | Unaffected | None |
Pursuit | Affected | Single |
Mercenary Base | Unaffected | None |
Brawler | Unaffected | None |
Accelerator | Unaffected | None |
Engineer | Partial | Single |
Gladiator | Affected | Multiple |
Commando | Affected | Multiple Infinite (Missile) |
Slasher | Affected | Single |
Frost Blaster | Affected | Multiple |
Archer | Affected | Multiple |
Swarmer | Unaffected | None |
Toxic Gunner | Affected | Single |
Sledger | Affected | Multiple |
Executioner | Affected | Multiple |
Elf Camp | Unaffected | None |
Necromancer | Partial | Multiple |
Jester | Affected | Multiple |
Cryomancer | Affected | Multiple |
Hallow Punk | Affected | Infinite |
Harvester | Affected | Multiple |
Snowballer | Unaffected | None |
Elementalist | Partial | Single Infinite (Heatwave) |
Firework Technician | Unaffected | None |
War Machine | Affected | Single |
Mecha Base | Unaffected | None |
Hidden Detection Buff

The Hidden Detection Buff is a buff that grants all the towers affected by it hidden detection, meaning they can now attack Hidden enemies like the Shadow Boss or Soul. This buff can stack if a tower receives it from multiple sources, though this does not have any effects on the tower.
Units, the Railgun Tank, Body Guards 2 or War Machine Sentry are not affected by the Hidden Detection Buff, even if the unit or the tower that spawned it are in the range of the tower that applied the Hidden Detection Buff to them.
The following towers or consumables can apply the Hidden Detection Buff to other towers:
- Ace Pilot (Passive)
- UAV (Passive)
- Firework Technician (Passive at the start of the wave)
Flying Detection Buff
The Flying Detection Buff is a buff that grants all the towers affected by it flying detection, meaning they can now attack Flying enemies.
Units, the Railgun Tank, Body Guards 2 or War Machine Sentry are not affected by the Flying Detection Buff, even if the unit or the tower that spawned it are in the range of the tower that applied the Flying Detection Buff to them.
The following towers and consumables can apply the Flying Detection Buff to other towers:
- UAV (Passive)
- Firework Technician (Passive at the start of the wave)
Lead Detection Buff
The Lead Detection Buff is a buff that grants all the towers affected by it lead detection, meaning they can now damage Lead enemies.
Units, the Railgun Tank, Body Guards 2 or War Machine Sentry are not affected by the Lead Detection Buff, even if the unit or the tower that spawned it are in the range of the tower that applied the Lead Detection Buff to them.
The following towers can apply the Lead Detection Buff to other towers:
- Firework Technician (Passive at the start of the wave)
Burst Buff
The Burst Buff is a buff that increases the tower's burst count, meaning they can fire more times during the burst, before having to wait because of its cooldown.
As of 13th of May 2022, this buff is no longer used in the game.
The following tower used to have the Burst Buff:
- Golden Soldier (Passive)
Cash Shot Buff
The Cash Shot Buff is a buff that decreases the Cowboy's cash shot. This means it takes the Cowboy less shots to generate money.
As of 13th of May 2022, this buff is no longer used in the game.
The following tower(s) used to have the Cash Shot Buff:
- Golden Cowboy (Passive)
Firerate Debuff

The Firerate Debuff is a debuff that increases a tower's firerate, making them fire slower. While it may look like the firerate of a tower with the Firerate Debuff is rounded up or down to the third decimal, this is only visual. Towers that are immune to stuns, such as the Medic or Gladiator are not immune to the Firerate Debuff. Currently, the Firerate Debuff is calculated as:
- Original Firerate + Original Firerate Ć (Firerate Debuff Ć· (1 + Firerate Debuff))
- where Firerate Debuff is the debuff supplied by the enemy in decimal form (for example, 10% is 0.1).
- Original Firerate + Original Firerate Ć (Firerate Debuff Ć· (1 + Firerate Debuff))
The firerate of a tower with the Firerate Bug is calculated as:
- (Bugged Firerate - Firerate Bug Increase) + (Bugged Firerate - Firerate Bug Increase) Ć (1 + Firerate Debuff Ć· (1 + Firerate Debuff)) + Firerate Bug Increase
- where Bugged Firerate is the firerate with the Firerate Bug.
Prior to the Entity System Update, Firerate Debuff was calculated as:
- Original Firerate Ć (1 + Firerate Debuff)
The firerate of a tower with the Firerate Bug was calculated as:
- ((Bugged Firerate - Firerate Bug Increase) Ć (1 + Firerate Debuff)) + Firerate Bug Increase
The following consumables can apply the Firerate Debuff to towers:
- Sugar Rush (Passive)
The following enemies can apply the Firerate Debuff to towers:
- Boomer (Weakening Bile ability, bypasses non-humanoid tower debuff immunity)
- Tanker (Toxic Fumes ability, bypasses non-humanoid tower debuff immunity)
- Elite Boomer (Weakening Bile ability, bypasses non-humanoid tower debuff immunity)
- Molten Warlord (Burning Jealousy ability, bypasses non-humanoid tower debuff immunity)
- Fallen Soul (Legacy version, Slash ability)
- Soul Stealer (Soul Steal ability)
The following removed enemies could apply the Firerate Debuff to towers:
- Frost Spirit (Nausea Stomp ability)
- Clown (Bombastic Performance ability, bypasses non-humanoid tower debuff immunity)
- Krampus (All stunning abilities, bypasses non-humanoid tower debuff immunity)
- Blight Walker (Spit Burst ability, bypasses non-humanoid tower debuff immunity)
- Primordial Drakobloxxer (Nightmare Storm ability, bypasses non-humanoid tower debuff immunity)
The following towers are either partially or fully not affected by the Firerate Debuff:
- All towers that are not humanoids.
- The XR500 is still affected, as the skin has a humanoid.
- Some enemies can bypass this immunity.
- All units.
- Firerate of secondary attacks, like the Pursuit's missiles.
- Their main firerate can still be increased.
- Tick of the Pyromancer, Toxic Gunner and Swarmer.
- The tick of the Accelerator can still be increased.
- The rev-up of the Minigunner.
- Charge-up and cooldown of the Accelerator.
- The cooldown of the Soldier, Golden Soldier and Toxic Gunner also cannot be increased.
- Ability cooldowns.
Iconless Firerate Debuff
Multiple enemies apply an iconless firerate debuff. This does not appear on the tower, though other effects may appear. This also bypasses the debuff immunity that non-humanoid towers have. This type of Firerate Debuff is calculated as:
- Original Firerate Ć (1 + Firerate Debuff)
The firerate of a tower with the Firerate Bug was calculated as:
- ((Bugged Firerate - Firerate Bug Increase) Ć (1 + Firerate Debuff)) + Firerate Bug Increase
The following enemies can apply this Firerate Debuff:
- Patient Zero (Mustard Gas ability)
- Necrotic Skeleton (Gooey Demise ability)
The following event enemies can apply this Firerate Debuff:
- Titus (Techno-Vampirism ability)
The following enemies used to apply this Firerate Debuff:
- Boomer (Weakening Bile ability, formerly)
Cost Debuff
The Cost Debuff is a debuff that increases a tower's placement and upgrade costs. In some cases, only the upgrade costs are increased. The placement and upgrade costs are rounded down to the nearest interger. Towers that were placed down or upgraded while being affected the Cost Debuff will give you more cash back when you sell them, in comparison to those that were not affected by it.
The following gamemodes apply the Cost Debuff to towers:
- Hardcore Mode (Placement and upgrade cost)
The following gamemodes used to apply the Cost Debuff to towers:
- MEGA Servers (Placement and upgrade cost)
The following towers used to have the Cost Debuff:
The following removed gamemodes could apply the Cost Debuff to towers:
- Halloween 2020 Event (Upgrade cost only)
Range Debuff

The Range Debuff is a debuff that decreases a tower's range. The range of a tower affected by the Range Debuff can be in decimal form, instead of being rounded down or rounded up to the nearest interger. For example, a tower with 5 range with a 50% Range Debuff will have a range of 2.5.
The following enemies can apply the Range Debuff to towers:
- Nuclear Monster (Blindly Shooting ability)
- Gunslinger (Time's Up ability)
- Wox the Fox (Game Over ability)
The following event enemies can apply the Range Debuff to towers:
- Conserver (Soul Eruption ability, bypasses non-humanoid tower debuff immunity)
The following towers are either partially or fully not affected by the Range Debuff:
- All towers that are not humanoids.
- The XR500 is still affected, as the skin has a humanoid.
- All units.
- Circling range of the Pursuit and Ace Pilot.
- The radius in which towers gain hidden detection from the Ace Pilot also cannot be decreased.
- These towers' attack range can still be decreased.
- The red and yellow range rings for the Engineer.
- The attack range (blue range ring) for both the Engineer and its sentries can still be decreased.
- The chain range of the Electroshocker.
- The explosion radius from Splash Damage towers cannot be decreased.
Iconless Debuff
One enemy applies an iconless range buff. This does not appear on the tower, though other effects may appear. This also bypasses the debuff immunity that non-humanoid towers have. This type of Firerate Debuff is calculated as:
- Range Ć Range Debuff
The following enemy can apply this Range Debuff:
- Boomer (Weakening Bile ability)
- Tanker (Toxic Fumes ability)
- Elite Boomer (Weakening Bile ability)
Notes
- ā 1.0 1.1 Only splash damage damage is increased.
- ā Burn damage is not affected.
- ā Unit damage is not affected.
- ā Gunner APC damage is not affected.
- ā Increase for the crit damage is the same as regular damage.
- ā Only Grenadier has increased damage.
- ā Final hit damage is only increased by the same amount as regular damage. Reposition damage is not affected.
- ā Unit damage is not affected.
- ā Regular unit damage is not affected.
- ā For bleed damage, while it is affected, it is affected far more than its regular damage. First, its base bleed damage is boosted and not rounded down, and then the actual damage dealt to an enemy is boosted.
- ā Burn damage is not increased.
- ā Bee damage is not increased.
- ā Poison damage is not increased.
- ā Increase for the freeze bonus damage is the same as regular damage.
- ā Poison and burn damage is not increased.
- ā Chillness damage is not increased.
- ā Burn damage is not increased.
- ā Unit and burn damage is not increased.