Thornguard vs Random Ability Tower Defense
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Thornguard
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Thornguard is a tower defense roguelike where every run starts fresh. Choose a prophecy, build towers, draft abilities, collect relics, and see how far you can go. PROPHECIES Pick from 9 challenge tracks before each run. Four elemental prophecies throw themed enemy waves at you. Four tactical prophecies test specific strategies. One throws everything at you from wave one. Each prophecy has 6 difficulty levels with signature mechanics that intensify as you climb. Beat a level, earn a title. TOWERS Six tower types across four elements and two neutral. Fire beats Frost, Frost beats Lightning, Lightning beats Fire. Thorn plays by its own rules. Place your towers wisely โ the element matchup matters. ABILITIES Over 20 abilities to collect during a run. They cycle through a queue system โ draft them, wait for recharge, activate from your slots. Each ability has a branching upgrade tree from L1 through L3, so you can specialize your build as you go. RELICS After each wave, pick one of three relics. Over 60 relics across four rarities โ Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Legendary. They stack and synergize to shape your strategy. No two runs build the same way. BOSS FIGHTS 10 bosses with unique mechanics โ summoning minions, shifting lanes, shielding themselves, draining your towers. Beat them for extra gold. FEATURES - 9 prophecy tracks with 6 difficulty levels each - 6 tower types across 4 elements - 20+ abilities with branching upgrade trees - 60+ relics across 4 rarities - 10 bosses with unique mechanics - 40+ enemy types across elemental families - Fully offline โ no internet, no accounts, no ads - All progress stored locally on your device Built for quick sessions. No internet required. No ads. No accounts. Just towers and bad decisions.
Random Ability Tower Defense
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Random Ability Tower Defense (RATD) is a roguelike tower defense game where you don't place towers: you build one. Roll random abilities, upgrade them from rank F to EX, break the limit into a Super and find the combo that survives 100 waves. A random TD where every run is a new build. Enemies never walk past you. They circle your tower forever, and every lap they survive makes them tougher. Kill fast, or the ring fills up and you drown. It's a tower defense strategy game about the build, not the map. NEW: CAMPAIGN 12 handcrafted stages in 3 chapters, each with its own twist: only 3 slots, 3,000 starting gold, 15 life, fixed first offers. Earn up to 3 stars per stage and unlock the next. Plays fully offline. DAILY CHALLENGE Every day, every player gets the same waves and the same first rolls. How far can your build go? Share your wave in one tap and beat your friends. 28 RANDOM ABILITIES + SUPERS Stacking poison, chain lightning, fire dragons, tornadoes, summoned tanks, true damage, crits and crowd control. Every ability scales with your tower's strength, so synergies decide everything. EVERY RUN IS A NEW BUILD Random rolls and random ranks, like a roguelite deck builder for tower defense. Sell and reroll for free before wave 1, or switch to the Modern ruleset: pick 1 of 3 abilities and merge items. BOSSES, MUTATIONS AND UBER ENEMIES Fast, tough, guarded and shielded mutations, all-in-one Uber enemies from difficulty 4, and bosses that boost, heal and shield their army every lap. A MODE FOR EVERY SESSION Tutorial, Quick (50 waves, about 15 minutes), Classic (100 waves) and Endless, with 7 difficulty speeds from Super Slow to Super Fast. 2D OR 3D, YOUR CHOICE Classic top-down 2D, or a 3D voxel arena with an orbit camera, animated models, particle effects and full sound. Switch any time, even in the middle of a run. 3D is in beta and wants a faster phone; 2D stays light on any device. LAN MULTIPLAYER + WORLD MAP Race 2 to 8 friends on the same Wi-Fi with identical waves. Visit a friend's arena on the world map and watch their run live. No accounts: create a room, share the code and play. MAKE YOUR OWN MODS Built-in mod editor: draw pixel-art textures, edit 3D models, sounds and visual effects, rewrite any text or add a language, tweak the balance or write new abilities. Export and share .ratdpack files. FREE TO PLAY No energy, no timers. Optional ads unlock a revive, a free roll or 30 minutes without ads. Love tower defense games, random defense games, roguelikes or auto battlers? This TD is built for players who want every run to play differently. Available in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Solo, Daily and Practice play offline; LAN rooms need Wi-Fi. Roll it. Build it. Break the limit. Download Random Ability Tower Defense and survive all 100 waves.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Random Ability Tower Defense at none against Thornguard's 4. Thornguard's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 5 days). On price and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Thornguard sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Random Ability Tower Defense asks for nothing beyond the download.
Thornguard ships an update every 2 days, Random Ability Tower Defense every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Thornguard | Random Ability Tower Defense |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days โ better | Every 5 days |
| Ads | No โ better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No โ better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac โ better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 โ better | 15.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 104 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | NATHAN CARLISLE FOX | Pham Tuong Van |
In-app purchases
Thornguard
- Bronze Supporter$0.99
- Silver Supporter$2.99
- Gold Supporter$4.99
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- Champion$9.99
Random Ability Tower Defense
No in-app purchases





