The lobby counter shows Coins and Gems. In a match you spend a separate cash balance on placements and upgrades. That cash comes from damage you deal, wave rewards, and economy towers such as Farm and Cowboy. Selling returns only the amount on the sell button.
Coin order that matches the shop
| Tower | Price | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|
| Paintballer | 100 | First coin tower |
| Demoman | 200 | Groups of enemies |
| Soldier | 350 | Cheap ground tower |
| Freezer | 650 | First intermediate price |
| Militant | 800 | Or the optional Starter Bundle |
| Shotgunner | 850 | Required before code 1MILCOMMUNITY |
| Hunter | 1,000 | Plain intermediate purchase |
| Ace Pilot | 1,500 | After the sub-1,000 row |
| Farm | 2,000 | Economy, before more damage |
| Medic | 2,000 | After Farm, if stuns are the problem |
| Commander | 4,000 | Once damage towers are worth buffing |
| Minigunner | 8,000 | After Intermediate or Molten feels stable |
Crook Boss waits for level 30. Warden waits for a Pizza Party triumph. Cowboy waits for a Badlands II triumph. Those two maps open at level 25. Saboteur waits for a Polluted Wasteland II triumph at level 50. Pursuit waits for level 100. Gatling Gun waits for level 175. Turret, Mortar, and Mercenary Base are level 50, 75, and 150 with no coin price on the table.
Gems
At level 50 the Hardcore row is Brawler 1,250, Necromancer 2,250, Accelerator 2,500, Engineer 4,500, and Hacker 5,500 Gems. Engineer and Hacker also list Robux alternatives of 1,690 and 2,249. Evolutions then add 4,500 to 6,000 Gems plus 15,000 Coins after the base tower is level 20.
Use the coin calculator to subtract coins you already have from a store price. The default example is Farm at 2,000. Change the price before you trust the result for any other tower.
Level EXP is documented as three bands: from 0 to 10, 45 + (next level × 3.5); from 10 to 40, current level × 8; above 40, 260 + (next level × 1.5). The middle band is easy to misread in text, so use the level bar in game if a number disagrees.