Deep Forest — Map Guide
Deep Forest is Mission 05 — the point where Tangy TD stops being manageable with sloppy positioning. Multiple narrow paths cut through impenetrable ancient woodland, every single enemy carries a poison tick that damages adjacent towers continuously, and the Thorn boss punishes any player who lets their towers stand next to each other. Spread positioning is not optional here. It is the entire game.
Map Overview & Terrain
Deep Forest is set in the most ancient part of the game's woodland — massive root systems create permanent natural walls that divide the landscape into three distinct narrow corridors. Unlike Whispering Woods' single main path with one branch, Deep Forest has three fully independent narrow paths that converge only in a tight junction zone just before your base.
The paths are genuinely narrow — single-tile wide in most sections. This restricts Defender placement but also means enemies are always funnelled into killzones. The trade-off is that you need to cover three separate paths with limited resources, and the dense root walls prevent repositioning between paths mid-wave. Plan your path coverage before each wave starts.
The most important terrain rule on Deep Forest is spread positioning. Every enemy on this map emits a poison aura that deals damage to any tower within one tile. Standing two towers adjacent to each other means both take continuous poison damage from every enemy that passes the chokepoint. The map's narrow paths make this especially dangerous — the instinct to cluster towers at a single narrow point is exactly what the poison mechanic punishes.
Map Layout Diagram
Three paths enter from separate spawn points. Left and centre paths carry most enemy volume. The right path carries faster enemy types from Wave 3 onwards. All three converge at a narrow junction before your base.
Best Chokepoint Positions
Three paths require three coverage points. Unlike Bay Harbour where you could stretch one party to cover two paths, Deep Forest's root walls prevent any tower from having firing range across multiple paths. Each path needs dedicated coverage.
The left path carries the highest enemy volume — most waves send their heaviest units here. Your main party (Defender + Healer + Archer #1) belongs at Chokepoint A. Critical: keep Healer two tiles behind Defender to prevent simultaneous poison damage to both. The root walls on either side create a perfect one-tile block. Do not move from this position except during boss repositioning.
Centre path carries medium-weight enemies across all six waves. An isolated Archer #2 can cover this path alone for Waves 1–4 effectively. By Waves 5–6, the Poisoned Variants on the centre path deal enough damage that a Defender here reduces Archer #2's attrition rate significantly. If you can spare a second Defender, place it here for the late waves. If not, accept some Archer #2 HP loss and account for healing time between waves.
The right path carries fast but lighter enemies — Spore Runners and later Poisoned Spore Runners. These enemies have low HP but move quickly and bypass sluggish-firing Defenders. The right path requires an Archer, not a Defender. An Archer with high attack speed kills Spore Runners before they can stack damage at the chokepoint. A Defender here blocks enemies but struggles to kill fast units before they accumulate. Lone Ranger Archer is optimal. Keep this Archer two tiles back from the path edge — not directly on the chokepoint tile — to avoid poison aura stacking.
The bleed splash damage mechanic means any two towers within one tile of each other both take poison damage from every enemy at either tower's chokepoint. Across six waves with dense enemy counts, this adds up. No two towers should ever be adjacent on Deep Forest. Minimum two-tile separation between every tower on every path. This applies to Defender + Healer pairs: the Healer must be behind the Defender, not beside it.
Wave-by-Wave Breakdown
Six waves before Thorn. The poison tick mechanic is active from Wave 1. Waves 5 and 6 introduce Poisoned Variants — enemies that deal higher-intensity poison on contact and have enhanced poison aura range, extending to two tiles instead of one.
| Wave | Enemies | New Threat | Priority Action | Danger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Forest Crawlers (L) + Spore Runners (R) · Standard poison aura · All paths active | Poison aura introduced | Establish all three chokepoints. Verify all towers have minimum 2-tile separation from each other. Poison damage is low here but sets the pattern you must maintain all map. | Low |
| 2 | Thornback Goblins (L+C) + Spore Runners (R) · Higher HP | Thornback Goblins (physical resistance) | Thornbacks resist physical attacks. If Archer #1 on left path is running pure physical damage, expect slower kills. Use Cauldron to upgrade to any magic or hybrid item before Wave 3. | Low |
| 3 | Thornback Goblins + Root Elementals (L+C) · All paths · First elite unit | Root Elementals (very high HP, slow movement) | Root Elementals move slowly but absorb enormous damage. They are physical AND magic resistant. The Defender holds them; the Archer must sustain continuous fire for 8–10 seconds per Root Elemental. Verify Healer is outside 1-tile poison range of the Defender. | Medium |
| 4 | Root Elementals + Thornback Goblins + Fast Spore Runners (all paths) · Dense | Fast Spore Runner variant (right path, 2× speed) | Fast Spore Runners on the right path overwhelm a slow-firing Archer. Ensure Archer #3 at Chokepoint C has an attack speed item equipped. If it doesn't kill fast units before they stack at the chokepoint, the poison aura from stacking enemies will overwhelm the Archer rapidly. | Medium |
| 5 | Poisoned Thornbacks + Poisoned Root Elementals (L+C) · 2-tile poison aura · Very dense | Poisoned Variants — 2-tile poison aura range | Poisoned Variants extend aura to 2 tiles. Move your Healer to 3 tiles behind the Defender now. If your Healer was at 2-tile separation before this wave, it enters the extended aura range the moment Poisoned Variants stack at the chokepoint. Reposition before Wave 5 starts. | High |
| 6 | Poisoned Variants + Elite Root Elementals · All paths · Highest density · Pre-boss final push | Elite Root Elementals (triple HP, full resistances) | The heaviest pre-boss wave. Elite Root Elementals have triple HP and resist both physical and magic. They will sit at your Chokepoint A for a long time — sustained DPS is the only answer. Ensure your Archer has your highest-damage item equipped. After wave clear: full heal, Cauldron, Thorn pre-pull setup. | Pre-Boss |
Key Mechanics: Poison Tick & Bleed Splash
Deep Forest introduces two interconnected mechanics that both punish tower clustering. Understanding exactly how they work lets you position to negate almost all of their damage output.
Poison tick aura (all regular enemies)
Every enemy on Deep Forest emits a constant poison aura with a 1-tile radius (2 tiles for Poisoned Variants). Any tower inside this radius takes 8 poison damage per second regardless of the enemy's attack state. This is passive, always-on, and cannot be blocked by the Defender. A queue of 5 enemies at a chokepoint means any tower within 1 tile of the chokepoint takes 40 poison damage per second. The solution: keep your Healer, Archer, and any support tower at least 2 tiles from the chokepoint itself — and 3 tiles during Waves 5–6 with Poisoned Variants.
Bleed splash from adjacency
When two towers are within one tile of each other, any poison damage one receives splashes to the other for 50% of its value. Two adjacent towers at a Poisoned Variant chokepoint both receive the direct poison damage (8/sec) plus the splash from the other (4/sec) = 12 effective damage per second each, before the enemy queue multiplier. This doubles the healing demand on your Healer. The fix is simple: no adjacent towers. Ever. On this map, the instinct to place the Healer beside the Defender is punished more severely than on any other map in the game.
Recommended Tower Setup
This three-path setup handles all six waves with the spread positioning required by the poison mechanics. Minimum two-tile separation enforced at all positions.
Item Priorities for This Map
Deep Forest rewards poison resistance items and magic damage items heavily. Physical damage is partially resisted by Thornbacks and Root Elementals. The Healer needs throughput items more than any previous map.
Priority items for this map
Antitoxin Flask on your Defender reduces incoming poison damage by 40%. Since the Defender sits closest to the poison aura source, this is the single highest-value item slot on this map. It directly reduces how fast the Defender drains and how much healing the Healer needs to output.
Shadow Quiver on your primary Archer provides magic damage output to bypass Thornback and Root Elemental physical resistance. Combined with an attack speed item, this is the only configuration that clears Root Elementals before they overwhelm the chokepoint with stacking poison auras.
Purification Salve on the Healer increases healing output against poisoned targets and removes one poison stack per heal cycle. Against the Poisoned Variant aura in Waves 5–6, this effectively halves the net damage the Defender sustains.
Thorn — Boss Phase
The Thorn boss is located in the deepest part of the forest, past the three-path convergence zone. It is an organic entity made of compressed root matter and ancient bark — think of it as a living version of the Root Elementals from the regular waves, but with active abilities and far higher HP.
Thorn's defining mechanic is its Spike Burst — a radial ability that sends thorns in all eight directions simultaneously. Any tower hit by a thorn takes both physical and bleed damage, and the bleed splash mechanic means adjacent towers both receive the thorn impact. Spread positioning from the regular waves is mandatory for the boss fight too.
Full phase-by-phase breakdown of Thorn including attack timings, safe positioning zones for each phase, how to handle the Spike Burst without losing towers, and the fastest kill routes. The boss guide also covers the specific item interactions that make Thorn significantly easier.
→ Read the Thorn Boss GuideCommon Mistakes on This Map
Placing the Healer beside the Defender
The most costly mistake on Deep Forest. Healer beside the Defender means both towers take full poison aura damage simultaneously, and the Healer itself needs healing it cannot provide to itself. The Healer behind the Defender on the same axis — at least two tiles, three tiles for Waves 5–6 — is the correct formation and it requires consciously fighting the instinct to cluster them.
Forgetting to move the Healer back before Wave 5
Poisoned Variants in Wave 5 extend aura range to 2 tiles. If your Healer was at 2-tile separation during Waves 1–4, it is now directly inside the aura of every Poisoned Variant queuing at Chokepoint A. Move the Healer to 3-tile separation before Wave 5 starts — the inter-wave pause is exactly when you should be making this adjustment.
Using physical damage items against Root Elementals
Root Elementals (Wave 3+) resist physical and magic damage. Players who carry their Bay Harbour physical damage loadout to Deep Forest find Root Elementals taking far longer to kill than expected. The Shadow Quiver's magic bypass overcomes resistance; standard physical Archers drag kill times out long enough for poison stacks to overwhelm the Defender's sustain.
Not spreading on the right path
Players who correctly spread their main party on the left path sometimes place the right-path Archer immediately beside the path chokepoint tile — within 1 tile — because the path is narrow and the alternative seems awkward. The right-path Archer takes as much poison damage as the left-path Defender. Give it 2 tiles of clearance from the chokepoint. Fast attack speed kills Spore Runners before they stack; you don't need the Archer pressed against the enemy path to get kills.