Two Towers Trebuchet: the four attackers it answers

The Two Towers Trebuchet is the tower the title screen labels "Stones on a crowd", and that label is the whole idea. It throws slow stones a long way, and each stone hurts every attacker where it lands. This guide covers the four attackers the game's own tips send the Trebuchet after, the ones its stones cannot stop alone, and a simple way to choose the tower that guards the other side of the gate in Two Towers.

What the Two Towers Trebuchet does

Every run begins on the title screen. You pick one tower for the left of the gate and one for the right, from the same four: Archer Tower, Trebuchet, Ballista and Fire Tower. In a fresh browser the Trebuchet is already picked for the right of the gate, next to an Archer Tower on the left.

The Trebuchet trades speed for reach and spread. A stone takes time, so a single fast rider can run under it. But when a stone lands in the middle of a group, every attacker in that spot takes the hit. Most towers fight attackers one at a time. The Trebuchet fights the road.

Like every tower, it improves when you click or tap it, on the field or in its tab along the bottom. You can buy damage, fire rate, range or the tower's special, and each upgrade shows on the tower, from Plain through Trimmed, Fine and Grand to Masterwork.

The four attackers the Trebuchet answers

The game gives a one-line tip for every kind of attacker. Four of those tips name the Trebuchet. Here they are one by one. The first two are about the stone's spread, the third about its weight, and the last about its reach.

Peasants

The peasant levy is many and weak, armed with pitchforks. The tip: "Peasants win by numbers: a Trebuchet or Fire Tower hits the whole crowd at once." No single peasant is a threat. A crowd of them at the gate is. A stone that lands in the crowd hits many at once, which is exactly the trade the Trebuchet makes.

War hounds

Hounds are fast and light, and they come in packs of three. The tip: "Hounds run in packs: a Trebuchet stone or a Fire Tower catches the whole pack." Their speed would beat a slow tower if they came one by one. They do not. They run together, so one good stone can catch the whole pack.

Shieldbearers

A shieldbearer carries a tall shield that stops most arrows, while stones, bolts and fire still hurt him. The tip: "Shields stop arrows: Trebuchet stones and Ballista bolts get past them." If you picked an Archer Tower for one side, the Trebuchet is the side that deals with shields.

Crossbowmen

A crossbowman shoots the gate from further off than an archer, and harder. The tip: "Crossbowmen shoot from afar: Range upgrades and a Trebuchet reach them." The Trebuchet's reach is the answer here, not its spread. Buying Range on it makes that answer stronger.

Where stones fail, and what fills the gap

The same tips are clear about what the Trebuchet cannot handle alone. These attackers are fast, armored, or need to die first:

• Cavalry. "Cavalry ride fast: Fire rate and Archer Volley catch them before the gate." A slow stone is the wrong tool for a fast rider.
• Knights. "Knights' armor turns arrows: Ballista bolts and fire go straight through it." Stones are not named here.
• Monks. "Monks heal those around them: kill them first, with Archer Volley or a Ballista." You need to pick out one target, which is the opposite of what a stone does.
• Rams. "Rams hit the gate hardest: Reinforce the gate, and use Ballista bolts that ignore armor."
• Standard bearers and siege towers. Both tips name the Ballista: bring standard bearers "down first with a Ballista", and "stop them early with a Ballista and Damage" for siege towers.

Mangonels are a special case. Their tip is "Mangonels throw stones from far off: a hill tower with Range reaches them." That points past the gate to the hills, where you can buy a tower for 150 gold, and a second for 300. Our guide to what to build on West and East Hill covers those choices.

A worked example: choose the partner by counting tips

Here is a way to pick the Trebuchet's partner that uses only what the game tells you. You can do it on paper in two minutes.

1. List the tips that name the Trebuchet. Peasants, hounds, shieldbearers and crossbowmen: four.
2. List the tips that name another tower where the Trebuchet is not named. Knights, monks, rams, standard bearers and siege towers name the Ballista: five. Cavalry, monks and sappers name Archer Volley: three. Knights name fire, and the Fire Tower also shares peasants and hounds with the Trebuchet.
3. Pick the partner with the most new answers. On this count the Ballista covers the most attackers the Trebuchet does not. It also shares shieldbearers, so a wall of shields meets both towers.
4. Note what the pair still lacks. Cavalry. Neither tip for riders names the Trebuchet or the Ballista. That tells you where your gold goes: fire rate, so both towers shoot more often while riders are in reach.
5. Play and check. Pick the Ballista on the left and the Trebuchet on the right, and press Defend Greenvale. After each "Stage N held", read the warning. If it says "The enemy grows in number", that is a stage for the Trebuchet's damage. If riders keep reaching the gate, buy fire rate before anything else.

The count is not the only way to choose. If monks and cavalry are what break you, the Archer Tower's three answers matter more than the Ballista's five. The point is to choose from the game's own tips, not from a guess. Our Ballista guide covers the other half of this pair.

Spending gold on a Trebuchet

The game's general tip is "Spend your gold on Damage between stages, and Reinforce the gate." For a Trebuchet, damage is a good default, because a stronger stone multiplies across every attacker it lands on. Two changes follow from the tips:

• When crossbowmen are shooting the gate from far off, buy Range first, so the stones reach them sooner.
• When fast attackers slip past, fire rate helps more than another step of damage.

Keep gold for the gate too. A Trebuchet is at its best when the road is crowded, and a crowd at a weak gate can still break it. Press Space to pause and think when a big stage starts, and F for double speed in the quiet ones.

The Trebuchet in history, briefly

The game's Trebuchet takes its name from a real siege engine. The Royal Armouries calls the trebuchet the most common siege engine used during the Hundred Years' War, one of the large wooden devices used against everything from small earthwork forts to walled cities. How it worked, and how it differed from the mangonel, is a separate story. Our post on trebuchet vs mangonel explains it from the Royal Armouries' pages. In the game, the Trebuchet is a tower that guards a gate, not a machine that attacks one. The mangonels you face are on the other side.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Trebuchet good against in Two Towers?

The game's tips name it against peasants, war hounds, shieldbearers and crossbowmen. Its stones hit every attacker where they land, so it is strongest against crowds and packs.

Which tower goes well with the Trebuchet?

Counting the game's tips, the Ballista covers the most attackers the Trebuchet does not, including knights, monks, rams, standard bearers and siege towers. The Archer Tower is the other strong choice if cavalry and monks are your problem.

Is the Trebuchet good against cavalry?

Not on its own. The game says fire rate and Archer Volley catch riders before the gate, so buy fire rate or pair the Trebuchet with an Archer Tower.

Should I buy Range or Damage on the Trebuchet?

Damage is the default the game suggests between stages. Buy Range first when crossbowmen keep shooting the gate from far off.

Get started

Pick the Trebuchet for one side of the gate, count the tips to choose its partner, and buy fire rate when the riders come. Play Two Towers: it is free and plays in your browser on a computer or a phone.