Tank game with boss waves: how to survive longer

If you want a tank game with boss waves that runs in your browser, Tank City Zero Day is built around exactly that: endless waves, an upgrade after each one, and a boss every fifth wave that breaks through the walls. This guide turns the game's own rules into a plan, so your runs last longer and score more. Every number here comes from the game's code and its page, not from guesswork.

A tank game with boss waves, in your browser

Tank City Zero Day is the second game on Tank City Reboot, a free site that plays in your browser on a computer or a phone, with no account. The page sums it up as "Tank City, modernized: 8-way moves, dashes, upgrades and a boss every fifth wave."

You guard a CPU core. Your tank moves and fires in eight directions and can dash. Every wave is a freshly generated arena, so you cannot memorise a map. You learn the rules instead, and the rules are what this guide is about.

If you prefer the classic stage game, the first game is covered in our guide to the retro tank game in your browser.

How a run works

You start with 3 lives and a core integrity of 3. The goal on the page is plain: "Survive as many waves as you can. The run ends when the core's integrity or your last tank is gone." That gives you two things to protect, and losing either one ends the run.

Each wave follows the same loop:

1. Fight. Clear every threat in the arena.
2. Core bonus. The game adds 250 times the wave number times the share of core integrity you still have.
3. Patch Tuesday. Pick one of three upgrades with up and down, then Fire.

Every fifth wave, the fight is a boss.

Know the threats in the order they arrive

The threats do not all show up at once. Knowing when each one appears tells you which upgrades to take early.

• Botnet drone (from wave 1): one hit, 50 points. Fast, comes in threes, and hunts you, not the core. Drones are a danger to your lives.
• Worm (from wave 1): two hits, 100 points, then it splits into two halves worth 50 each. Plan for three kills, not one.
• Ransomware (from wave 3): armored, three hits, 200 points. Its shots lock firewall into silicon, which changes the map around you.
• Cryptominer (from wave 4): a turret with five hits, 250 points, that fires rings of shots.
• Zero-day boss (every fifth wave): 2,500 points. It takes 40 hits on wave 5 and 15 more on each later boss, so 55 on wave 10. It breaks through any wall, and it arrives with groups of three drones: one group on wave 5, two on wave 10.

Each threat's name is a real security idea, explained on the page. The boss is named after a zero-day, a flaw nobody has patched yet. The drones are named after a botnet.

Guard the core: the bonus is bigger than it looks

One of the game's tips says: "Keep the core whole: the wave bonus grows with its integrity." Here is how much.

Say you clear wave 4. With the core at full integrity, 3 out of 3, the bonus is 250 times 4, which is 1,000 points. If the core took one hit and sits at 2 out of 3, the bonus is 250 times 4 times two thirds, about 667. One stray shot on the core cost you 333 points, more than a whole cryptominer is worth.

The bonus also grows with the wave number. On wave 10 a whole core is worth 2,500, the same as a boss. So from the middle of a run, protecting the core is worth as much as killing things.

Two upgrades help directly. RAID raises core integrity by 1 and repairs it fully, and you can take it twice, from 3 up to 5. Hot patch makes the wall around the core silicon at the start of every wave, and you can take it once.

Dash and chains: how to score more

The dash is your best defence. Press Shift, K or X. A dash lasts a fifth of a second, and the page is clear: "You cannot be hit mid-dash." It then needs 1.5 seconds to recharge, and each level of the Overclock upgrade cuts that by 30%. Use it to slip through a ring of cryptominer shots, not just to move fast.

Chains multiply every kill. Each kill made within 2.5 seconds of the last one adds to your chain. The multiplier starts at x1 and gains one for every three kills in the chain, up to x8 at 21 kills. Losing a life resets the chain to zero.

A small example: you destroy three drones in a row. The first two score 50 each at x1. The third lifts the chain to three kills, so it scores 100 at x2. Keep the chain alive into the boss, and at x8 the boss alone is worth 20,000 points.

The game's other tips help keep chains going: hold fire to keep shooting, diagonal shots break firewall too, and your shots cancel enemy shots.

A worked example: a plan for your first five waves

Patch Tuesday offers three different upgrades each time, chosen at random, so you will not always see the one you want. Here is a plan with fallbacks.

1. Wave 1: learn the dash. Only drones and worms. Hold fire and practise dashing through shots. Pick Cache (fire 30% faster) or Multithreading (more shots per volley, in a spread) if offered. Both help with drones that come in threes.
2. Wave 2: chain the worms. Hit each worm twice, then catch both halves inside 2.5 seconds to build the chain. Take Sandbox if offered: a shield that stops one hit and recharges after 12 seconds.
3. Wave 3: watch the walls. Ransomware arrives. Its shots turn firewall into silicon, so keep your routes open. Pipelining makes shots faster and break deeper, and at level 2 they break silicon.
4. Wave 4: respect the turrets. Cryptominers fire rings of shots. Dash through the gaps rather than trading hits. Take RAID or Hot patch now, before the boss.
5. Wave 5: the boss. It takes 40 hits and breaks through any wall, so walls will not keep it away from the core. Clear its three drones first, because drones hunt you, then keep firing at the boss and dash when its shots get close.

Now and then Two-factor fills one of the three cards. It gives one extra life and never runs out, so take it when you are down to your last tank.

Upgrade limits worth knowing

Each upgrade can only be taken a set number of times. Once it hits its limit, it stops appearing, which makes room for others.

• Up to 3 levels: Multithreading and Cache.
• Up to 2 levels: Pipelining, Load balancer, Encryption, Sandbox (its shield recharges in 8 seconds at level 2), Overclock and RAID.
• Once: Hot patch.
• No limit: Two-factor.

Your best score is saved in the browser you play in, so play on the same one to keep your record.

Frequently asked questions

How often do boss waves come in Tank City Zero Day?

Every fifth wave: waves 5, 10, 15 and so on. Each boss takes more hits than the last, 40 on wave 5 and 15 more each time after.

What is the best first upgrade?

Early waves are drones and worms, so faster or wider fire (Cache or Multithreading) helps most. Before wave 5, try to take RAID or Hot patch to protect the core.

How does the score multiplier work?

Kills within 2.5 seconds of each other build a chain. The multiplier goes up by one for every three kills, up to x8, and resets if you lose a life.

Can I play it on a phone?

Yes. It plays in the browser on a computer or a phone, with touch buttons for move, fire and dash.

Get started

Play Tank City Reboot: it is free, plays in your browser on a computer or a phone, and needs no account. Open Tank City Zero Day from there and try the five-wave plan.