Artillery Towers

Artillery are one of the four main tower types in Kingdom Rush, displaying the technological advances of Linirea's dwarven race. They launch large-caliber ordinances at the enemy, doing splash damage to all caught in the blast radius. In Kingdom Rush: Origins the artillery tower remains the same in terms of usage, but are referred to as Druids, which feature ancient beings throwing stones at enemies.

Tower Properties

Some characteristics shared by all Melee towers are:

Artillery Towers deal damage to a number of enemies at once
Artillery Towers cannot directly attack flying units, with the exception of a few towers
Artillery Towers are the slowest attacking towers, and the most expensive

Artillery towers only do physical damage, but they can still do major damage to armored troops . No need to fear when this tower is around: your enemies will soon rest in pieces.

There are five Melee Towers in all Kingdom Rush games:

Three non-specialized towers
Two specialized towers

The three non-specialised towers differ in each game but have the same purpose. Each upgrades a stage further before offering a split choice between two new towers with additional upgrades to further boost the towers offensive and defensive capabilities.

Tower Summary

Kingdom Rush

Towers (Level)	Damage	Fire Rate	Range	Build Cost	Specials
Dwarven Bombard (Level 1)	7-14	Very Slow	Average	125g	None
Dwarven Artillery (Level 2)	15-30	Very Slow	Average	220g	None
Dwarven Howitzer (Level 3)	30-60	Very Slow	Long	320g	None
500mm "Big Bertha" (Level 4.a)	50-100	Very Slow	Long	400g	Dragonbreath Launcher Cluster Launcher
Tesla x104 (Level 4.b)	60-110	Very Slow	Average	375g	Supercharged Bolt Overcharge

Armed with ludicrously-sized cannons, these dwarves are more than willing to launch their explosives at enemy hordes. They are the slowest and most expensive out of all the towers, so explosion-happy generals must plan carefully before putting themselves under the heavy money commitment.

At Level 4, the engineering prowess of the dwarves really comes into play. The 500mm Big Bertha siege weapon launches long-ranged rockets and other fancy ordinances at enemies, while the Tesla x104 harnesses the power of electricity to shock troops into submission.

Kingdom Rush: Frontiers

Towers (Level)	Damage	Fire Rate	Range	Build Cost	Specials
Dwarven Bombard (Level 1)	7-14	Very Slow	Average	125g	None
Dwarven Artillery (Level 2)	15-30	Very Slow	Average	220g	None
Dwarven Howitzer (Level 3)	30-60	Very Slow	Long	320g	None
DWAARP (Level 4.a)	25-45	Very Slow	Long	400g	Core Drill Furnace Blast
Battle-Mecha T200 (Level 4.b)	25-55	Very Fast	Short	375g	Wasp Missiles Waste Disposal

DWAARPs completely annihilate oncoming hordes of foes and burn them with Furnace Blast while the Battle-Mecha T200 blasts enemies into pieces with it's mortar and targets enemies with it's Wasp Missiles and slows enemies that get stuck in the garbage it produces.

Kingdom Rush: Origins

Towers (Level)	Damage	Fire Rate	Range	Build Cost	Specials
Stone Circle (Level 1)	7-12	Very Slow	Short	125g	None
Boulder Circle (Level 2)	18-30	Very Slow	Average	220g	None
Menhir Circle (Level 3)	30-50	Very Slow	Long	320g	None
Arch-Druid Henge (Level 4.a)	30-50	Fast	Long	375g	Sylvan Curse Runed Bears
Weirdwood (Level 4.b)	602-106	Very Slow	Great	400g	Fiery Nut Clobber

The Arch-Druid Henge blast enemies to pieces with fast shooting rocks of doom while keeping them in place with Runed Bears and applying horde destroying curses. Weirdwoods, the wrath of the forest, throw the biggest nuts known to man and even ones that have caught on fire while stunning and damaging the groups around it with it's big hands.

Tower Tactics

General Tips

Artillery Towers are most suitable for dealing with overwhelming groups of low-to-medium health ground-based enemies (The Tesla is an exception: Its strength lies more in damage and not so much 'overwhelming' amounts). Artillery are less effective against enemies with sheer high health (Swamp Things, Pillagers, Saurian Brutes) and are absolutely powerless to Bloodshells.
In original Kingdom Rush, a way to approach levels is to blitz Artillery and Barracks. The idea is for Artillery to make short work of enemies while Barracks hold them in one place. This means that you can focus few and strong towers in one area, especially good if you purchase the Field Logistics and Industrialization upgrades for artillery. Specialising tower types means you can purchase upgrades in fewer paths and make the most of your stars and money. However, Flying enemies are a major flaw, where Teslas are unlocked very late in the game and even then are incapable against Rocket Riders and Imps . The Javelin Throw Upgrade and Barbarians are the only way to compensate while practicing this strategy.
Artillery works best when enemies are grouped. Rally Barracks and Reinforcements in one place and place Towers in intersections to ensure effectiveness.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Related Upgrades

Kingdom Rush

Concentrated Fire (1 Star): Increases artillery attack damage.
Range Finder (1 Star): Increases artillery attack range.
Field Logistic (3 Stars): Artillery construction and upgrading costs are reduced by 10%.
Industrialization (3 Stars): Artillery special abilities costs are reduced by 25%.
Smart Targeting (3 Stars): Artillery suffers no reduction of splash and chain lightning damage.

Kingdom Rush: Frontiers

Smoothbore (1 Star): Increases artillery attack range.
Alchemical Powder (1 Star): Artilleries has a chance of dealing maximum damage with no splash reduction.
Improved Ordnance (2 Stars): Increases artillery attack damage.
Gnomish Tinkering (3 Stars): Reduces artilleries' special abilities reload times.
Shock and Awe (3 Stars): Artillery towers have a chance of stunning their targets on every attack.

Kingdom Rush: Origins

Hardened Boulders (1 star): Increases Druid attack damage.
Sharp Splinters (1 star): Increases boulder explosion area.
Earth Mastery (2 stars): Increases Druid attack range.
Heavy Load (3 stars): Boulder explosions ignore physical armor
Shocking Impact (3 stars): Boulder explosions slow enemies for a short time.