Enemy scaling is the spine of every tower defense. Lost Tower uses a tiered approach that replaced pure exponential scaling early in beta. Here is how it works and why we made the choice.
The principle
Scaling has to escalate challenge without making waves feel identical. Pure exponential scaling fails this test: late waves become numerically extreme but qualitatively indistinguishable. Pure linear scaling fails the opposite test: late waves are trivial.
Tiered scaling
Lost Tower groups waves into tiers of 10. Within a tier, scaling is gentle (HP ~1.18x per wave). At tier boundaries, scaling jumps (~1.55x). This produces a curve that feels challenging at every level without becoming absurd.
The tier boundaries also mark boss waves: 10, 20, 30, etc. Players feel the rhythm of "finishing tier 3" rather than facing arbitrary wave numbers.
Boss thresholds
Bosses test multiple aspects of a build. Phase 1 is usually a damage check; phase 2 a survivability check; phase 3 a positioning or special-mechanic check. This prevents the boss from being a pure HP wall.
Build interaction
Scaling has to interact correctly with progression layers. A player at base tower level 5 must not face wave 30 the same way a player at level 50 does. Our scaling is relative to your investment, not absolute. See the progression system page for how layers interact.
For the design history, see our devlog on enemy scaling.