Dissonance is a second difficulty setting on top of tiers. You play a run with one workshop tab switched off, and the further you get, the larger the permanent boost you earn for that tier. A small share of every boost also echoes to all your other tiers and to tournaments. This guide covers what each run type takes away, exactly how the boost and Echo are calculated, and the order most players run them in. To plan your own numbers, use the Dissonance calculator and Echo Planner.
Updated
- Unlocks at
- Tier 4, Wave 90 button under Battle on the main menu
- Maximum boost
- 5x 3x for Utility (coins)
- Boost is capped at
- Wave 5,000 nothing is gained beyond it
- Echo rate
- 0.5% to 10.5% 20 Echo Lab levels per category
What a Dissonant Run is
A Dissonant Run is a normal run on a tier of your choice with one of four upgrade categories disabled. The disabled tab shows DISABLED on every upgrade, and workshop levels, enhancements, cards and modules that feed that category stop working or are heavily limited.
| Run type | What is locked | Permanent boost | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | Damage 1, range 30m, attack speed 1; every other attack upgrade off | Tower damage | 5x |
| Defense | Health 1, regen 1.00/sec, everything else in the tab off | Tower health | 5x |
| Utility | Cash, coins, recovery packages, free upgrades and Enemy Level Skips off | Coins | 3x |
| Ultimate Weapons | All Ultimate Weapons disabled | Ultimate Weapon damage | 5x |
The Defense boost multiplies health only, not regen or defense. The Utility boost is for coins; nothing indicates it affects cells.
Each boost belongs to one tier and one category. Clearing Wave 5,000 on an Attack Dissonant Run in Tier 8 gives 5x damage in Tier 8 only, and says nothing about Tier 7 or Tier 9. A high-tier clear does not credit lower tiers automatically. With 24 tiers and four categories there are 96 separate boosts to earn.
How the boost is calculated
The boost depends only on the best wave you have reached on that tier in that category: boost = 1 + (maximum - 1) x (wave / 5000)^1.75. The curve is continuous, so every wave counts and there are no 100-wave steps. Only your best run is kept; a shorter run later does not lower it.
| Wave | Attack, Defense, UW (5x) | Utility (3x) | Share of the full bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | 1.071x | 1.036x | 2% |
| 1,000 | 1.239x | 1.120x | 6% |
| 1,524 | 1.500x | 1.250x | 13% |
| 2,000 | 1.805x | 1.402x | 20% |
| 2,265 | 2.001x | 1.500x | 25% |
| 3,000 | 2.636x | 1.818x | 41% |
| 3,365 | 3.000x | 2.000x | 50% |
| 4,000 | 3.707x | 2.353x | 68% |
| 4,500 | 4.326x | 2.663x | 83% |
| 5,000 | 5.000x | 3.000x | 100% |
Calculated from the formula; the values match boosts reported by players at waves 250, 2,998, 3,392, 4,512 and 4,999.
- The curve is back-loaded. Half of the bonus arrives after Wave 3,365, and the last 500 waves are worth more than the first 1,500.
- Wave 5,000 is the cap. A run that ends on Wave 5,227 still shows 5.000x. Many players go to 5,001 to be safe and then end the run.
- 4,999 is not 5,000. Stopping one wave short leaves the boost at 4.9986x.
- Partial runs still count. If you cannot reach 5,000 yet, the boost you did earn is kept and echoes proportionally.
Dissonant Echo
Echo takes a share of each tier's boost and adds it to every other tier in the same category. Each tier sends (its boost - 1) x echo rate. The echo rate starts at 0.5% as soon as Dissonance unlocks, and each category has its own Echo lab that raises it by 0.5% per level, up to 10.5% at level 20.
- Echo is added, not multiplied. A tier at 3.000x that receives 0.150 of echo ends up at 3.150x.
- A tier does not echo onto itself. The echo a tier receives is the sum from the other 23 tiers. This is why the Echo Only view in game shows a higher number on a tier you have not run than on one you have maxed.
- Echo is based on the boost above 1x. A maxed 5x tier sends 4 x the echo rate: +0.020 at 0.5%, +0.420 at 10.5%. A maxed 3x Utility tier sends half of that.
| Echo Lab level | Echo rate | From a 5x tier | From a 3x Utility tier | Lab cost (base) | Lab time (base) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not researched | 0.5% | +0.020 | +0.010 | - | - |
| 1 | 1.0% | +0.040 | +0.020 | 1q | 20d 20h |
| 5 | 3.0% | +0.120 | +0.060 | 25.63q | 104d 4h |
| 10 | 5.5% | +0.220 | +0.110 | 1.48Q | 208d 8h |
| 15 | 8.0% | +0.320 | +0.160 | 85.22Q | 312d 12h |
| 20 | 10.5% | +0.420 | +0.210 | 4.91s | 416d 16h |
Each level costs 2.25 times the previous one and takes 500 hours more, before lab speed, discounts and relics. The full 20-level table is on the Dissonance calculator. The Echo labs unlock on Tier 17; the patch notes give Wave 60 and the milestone table Wave 90.
With every tier maxed and the lab at level 20, a tier reaches 5 + 23 x 0.42 = 14.66x for damage, health or Ultimate Weapon damage, and 3 + 23 x 0.21 = 7.83x for coins.
Dissonance in tournaments
The base boost of a tier never applies in tournaments, because a tournament is not played on a tier. Echo does apply, and it comes from all 24 tiers with nothing excluded: tournament boost = 1 + the sum of (boost - 1) x echo rate over every tier.
- Ten tiers maxed at the 0.5% base rate give 1.20x damage, health and Ultimate Weapon damage in tournaments.
- All 24 tiers maxed with a level 20 lab give 1 + 24 x 0.42 = 11.08x.
- For tournament players this makes Attack and Ultimate Weapon runs on every tier you can clear worth doing, including tiers you never farm.
Which runs to do, and in what order
- Start with your farming tier. Your own boost on a tier is far larger than any echo. The 3x coin boost on the tier you farm is the single most valuable Dissonance reward.
- Start each run from your normal setup for that tier, then change only what the locked tab forces you to change.
- Leave Utility for last on a hard tier. It removes Enemy Level Skips as well as cash, so it feels much harder than the others. Do the tabs your build relies on least first and let those boosts carry the rest. A health build typically goes Attack, Ultimate Weapons, Defense, Utility. A glass cannon goes Defense, Attack, Ultimate Weapons, Utility.
- Then sweep the other tiers from Tier 1 upward for echo. Low tiers are quick to clear, and each one adds to every other tier and to tournaments.
- Retry later. Come back to runs you could not finish after you have grown stronger; many players wait about a month between attempts.
Whether low-tier echo is worth the time before you have Echo labs is debated. At the 0.5% base rate one maxed Utility tier adds +0.010, which is a third of a percent more coins on a tier already at 3x. With labs researched the answer is clear and players run every tier. A full run to Wave 5,000 takes roughly four to seven hours depending on your Intro Sprint and Wave Skip masteries.
| Run type | Play style | Exceptions that still work |
|---|---|---|
| Attack | Tank everything. You have no projectiles, so Ultimate Weapons, Thorns and orbs do the killing. | Death Penalty is the only Cannon module effect that still works. |
| Defense | Glass cannon. One touch kills you, so crowd control is everything. | Extra Orbs card (and Negative Mass Projector with it), Orbital Augment, and the Death Wave Health lab up to 13 HP. |
| Utility | Your normal build without income. Starting Cash is the only cash you get. | Workshop levels in the other tabs. Recovery packages after bosses still trigger package effects but give no health. |
| Ultimate Weapons | Health or bullet build with no Ultimate Weapons. Range becomes your crowd control. | Space Displacer and Magnetic Hook still spawn Inner Land Mines, which deal no damage but can stun with the stun lab. |
From the wiki's Dissonance page and its community Dissonant Runs Guide, which also has full card, module and perk ratings for each run type.
Frequently asked questions
What wave do I need for the maximum Dissonance boost?
Wave 5,000. That gives 5x for Attack, Defense and Ultimate Weapons and 3x for Utility. Going further adds nothing, and Wave 4,999 falls just short.
Does Dissonant Echo apply to the tier itself?
No. A tier receives echo from every other tier but not from its own boost. Its total is its own boost plus the echo from the other 23 tiers.
Does the Dissonance boost work in tournaments?
Only the echo does. Tournaments get 1 plus the echo from all 24 tiers and never the base boost of any tier.
Do I need the Echo Lab for echo to work?
No. A 0.5% echo is active as soon as Dissonance unlocks at Tier 4, Wave 90. The Echo labs on Tier 17 raise it to a maximum of 10.5%.
Why does a tier I have not run show more echo than my maxed tier?
Because a tier does not echo onto itself. The unrun tier receives echo from all of your completed tiers, while each completed tier receives it from one tier fewer.
Which Dissonant Run should I do first?
On your farming tier, do the tabs your build depends on least first and Utility last, since earlier boosts make the later runs easier. Then clear other tiers from Tier 1 upward for echo.
Is a 20% echo a 20% increase?
Only on a tier with no boost of its own. Echo is added to the tier's boost, so +0.200 on a tier already at 5.000x is a 4% increase.
Sources and credits
The numbers on this page come from the community-maintained The Tower - Idle Tower Defense Wiki and were reorganized and rewritten for Towerstats.org. Wiki text is available under CC BY-SA.