Backyard Monsters Guide

Backyard Monsters is a real-time strategy game developed by KIXEYE aka Casual Collective. It is one of Facebook's most popular social games and is more hardcore than a lot of the other big name games on the platform. The general concept behind the game is for you to build a base or 'yard' for your monsters, protected by defensive structures. The idea is for these towers to attack any incoming enemies and prevent them from entering the yard. If the monsters do get into the yard, they will attack the buildings and steal resources from within. You are also able to build up an army and go and attack other players and AI teams of Wild Monsters.

Managing your own resources, army and defenses are all crucial facets to the game which has helped to make it so enduring after many hours of play.

The Basics, Shiny and Resources

Concept

The idea behind Backyard Monsters is to build up a Yard, essentially a main base with defenses, buildings to produce an army, and all-important resource collectors. Balancing these equates to unlocking the key to the game. To attack other players, you must 'hatch' monsters which you then launch across the map at other players. There are a variety of offensive units you can build to help you attack, each with strenghts, weaknesses and specializations, as well as defensive structures, such as walls and towers, to keep the enemy at bay.

Shiny

Shiny are the premium currency in Backyard Monsters. This means that you, generally, have to pay for them using real money. The game generously gives you 1,000 Shiny at the beginning of your adventure, but after that you either have to purchase more or earn them for completing surveys and participating in offers.

Shiny can be used for various things, generally to advance the game quicker than it would otherwise progress:

Resource Purchasing:
If you are short on any resources, you can buy more with Shiny. You can also buy more storage for resources, increasing the cap by 10 percent.

Protection:
You can buy Daily Protection from attacks for 32 Shiny, Weekly for 250 Shiny and Ultimate for 1,100 Shiny. As soon as you attack someone, your Protection ends and you do not get any Shiny back. For more on this, see our Protection section.

Workers:
You can buy more Workers to help out. The first additional one costs 250 Shiny, the next 500, the next 1,000, and the maximum fourth costs 2,000.

Decorations:
These are not really necessary, but are good for showing off all of your Shiny to your friends, and to help hide defensive towers or important structures.

Yard Expansions:
You can purchase more room for your buildings by buying expansions with your Shiny.

How to Earn Shiny

You can of course buy Shiny using your real money, but the game also gives you 1,000 when you are starting out.

It is possible to get free Shiny by picking mushrooms. You will have a chance of getting either 3 or 8 Shiny, but may not receive any.

Click the Earn Shiny option at the top of the screen to be able to earn Shiny by watching adverts or completing surveys. This will reward you with 10 or 20 Shiny per promotion.

You also receive 1,000 free Shiny for every month that you are a member of the D.A.V.E. club.

Resources

Twigs:

Twigs are probably the game's most frequently used resource. They are required to purchase items and you will need to use them with pretty much all buildings. Once you have built a Catapult, you can also use Twigs as ammunition for it.

To collect Twigs, you can either loot them from enemy Yards, or build Twig Snappers.

Pebbles:

Pebbles are, similarly to Twigs, quite an important resource in Backyard Monsters. They are primarily used to construct and upgrade buildings, and are used in many tasks. Pebbles can also be used in the deployment of Pebble Bombs.

Putty:

Putty is used for researching and unlocking new monsters and abilities in the Monster Academy and Monster Lab. It is also required for producing certain defensive buildings - not Blocks, but all others.

Goo:

Goo is for hatching Monsters in any of your monster Hatcheries. The cost of each Monster will increase as you research upgrades for them.

NOTE: If you get the Inferno Yard, you will open up the ability to earn different resources. See our Inferno Yard section for more information on this.

General Resources Tips:

The best way to get extra resources, faster, is to attack other players. See our section on Attacking for the best early strategies to do this.

Upgrade your Harvesters to increase their capacity. This will mean you do not necessarily have to log in as often to empty them and collect the rewards.

When attacking Harvesters, Brains, Bolts, Malphus and Grokus only damage those with resources in - emptying them. If they have run out of resources, they will go on to another target.

Quests

Access the Quests screen to collect the rewards from any quests which you may have completed along your journey through Backyard Monsters. You will not get the rewards unless you access this screen. Click the yellow Collect button to get your rewards.

You can also simply click into the Quest pane once a quest has been completed - you will see the tick next to it - and select Collect.

TIP: Quest rewards can be collected whenever you see fit - you can effectively store them until you need the rewards. It is therefore a good idea to keep them and only collect them when absolutely necessary.

Empire Points

Empire Points are the best way to determine the value of your empire. Essentially, it is the total value of your Yard and all of your Outposts. You can see it in the Leaderboard.

To get Empire Points, you should concentrate on taking over more outposts. A main Yard is generally worth roughly 15,000,000 Empire Points - no small amount. An Outpost is around 2,000,000. You can also purchase Kits with Shiny to dramatically increase your Empire Points.

Structures

To build a structure, select it from the Building menu. You can then place it anywhere in your yard. Once you do this, there will be a certain amount of time before it is completed and can begin functioning as desired. You can see this time by clicking on the building. This also allows you to Speed Up the build time. Click the 'Speed Up' time to do this.

Speed Up:

To Speed Up a building or upgrade that is in progress, simply click on it and select 'Speed Up'. You will then be given the following options:

Close Enough:
This allows you to complete the building or upgrade completely free of charge. You must be within 5 minutes of completion to facilitate this.

Reduce by 1 Hour:
You can pay 20 Coins to reduce the time remaining by 1 hour.

Reduce by 2 Hours:
You can pay 40 Coins to reduce the time remaining by 2 hours.

Finish Now:
This depends on the time remaining, but essentially you can pay a number of Coins to complete the building or upgrade instantly.

Resource Harvesters

Resource Harvesters stop working as soon as they are filled up. As a result, you want to make sure that you empty them regularly.

To collect from a Resource Harvester, simply click on it, and select 'Bank', meaning 'bank your resources'. On this pop-up window you will also be able to see what the Resource Harvester is currently producing, and how much time you have left, at the current rate, until the Harvester is full up, as well as a percentage representing this. Click Bank and the numbers will reset.

Obviously, once a Harvester is full, it will not be able to bank any more resources. You should, therefore, make sure that their capacity it as high as possible, by upgrading them, and that you collect the resource as frequently as you can.

When attacking enemy bases, you can loot resources from Harvesters. This makes them a prime target for enemies attacking you as well.

Twig Snapper

The Twig Snapper is used to collect Twigs. Twigs can be used to purchase items and are necessary for the construction of virtually all buildings.

You can build up to six Twig Snappers in your main base. In outposts, you can have another four in each.

Level 1:

Production: 720 Twigs per hour
Capacity: 720 Twigs (Reaches Capacity in 1 hour)
Build Time: 15 seconds
Requires: Town Hall, 750 Pebbles
HP: 750

Level 2:

Production: 1,440 Twigs per hour
Capacity: 2,160 Twigs (Reaches Capacity in 1 hour 30)
Build Time: 5 minutes
Requires: Town Hall, 1,575 Pebbles
HP: 1,500

Level 3:

Production: 2,520 Twigs per hour
Capacity: 5,670 Twigs (Reaches Capacity in 2 hours 15 minutes)
Build Time: 20 minutes
Requires: Town Hall, 3,300 Pebbles
HP: 2,400

Level 4:

Production: 3,960 Twigs per hour
Capacity: 13,365 Twigs (Reaches Capacity in 3 hours 22 minutes 30 seconds)
Build Time: 1 hour
Requires: Level 2 Town Hall, 6,950 Pebbles
HP: 6,000

Level 5:

Production: 5,760 Twigs per hour
Capacity: 29,160 Twigs (Reaches Capacity in 5 hours 3 minutes 45 seconds)
Build Time: 2 hours
Requires: Level 2 Town Hall, 14,500 Pebbles
HP: 12,000

Level 6:

Production: 7,920 Twigs per hour
Capacity: 60,142 Twigs (Reaches Capacity in 7 hours 35 minutes 45 seconds)
Build Time: 5 hours
Requires: Level 3 Town Hall, 30,600 Pebbles
HP: 24,000

Level 7:

Production: 10,440 Twigs per hour
Capacity: 118,918 Twigs (Reaches Capacity in 11 hours 23 minutes 26 seconds)
Build Time: 12 hours
Requires: Level 3 Town Hall, 64,300 Pebbles
HP: 45,000

Level 8:

Production: 13,320 Twigs per hour
Capacity: 227,584 Twigs (Reaches Capacity in 17 hours 5 minutes 9 seconds)
Build Time: 1 day
Requires: Level 4 Town Hall, 135,000 Pebbles

Level 9:

Production: 16,560 Twigs per hour
Capacity: 424,414 Twigs (Reaches Capacity in 1 day 1 hour 37 minutes 43 seconds)
Build Time: 2 days
Requires: Level 4 Town Hall, 283,600 Pebbles

Level 10:

Production: 20,160 Twigs per hour
Capacity: 775,018 Twigs (Reaches Capacity in 1 day 14 hours 26 minutes 36 seconds)
Build Time: 3 days
Requires: Level 5 Town Hall, 600,000 Pebbles

Pebble Shiner

The Pebble Shiner is the tool used in Backyard Monsters to collect Pebbles. These are most useful in constructing and upgrading buildings. You can construct up to six Pebble Shiners in your Yard, and another four in each outpost.

Level 1:

Production: 720 Pebbles per hour
Capacity: 720 Pebbles (Reaches Capacity in 1 hour).
Build Time: 15 seconds
Requires: Town Hall; 750 Twigs.
HP: 750

Level 2:

Production: 1,440 Pebbles per hour
Capacity: 2,160 Pebbles (Reaches Capacity in 1 hour 30 minutes)
Build Time: 5 minutes
Requires: Town Hall; 1,575 Twigs
HP: 1,500

Level 3:

Production: 2,520 Pebbles per hour
Capacity: 5,670 Pebbles (Reaches Capacity in 2 hours 15 minutes)
Build Time: 20 minutes
Requires: Town Hall; 3,300 Twigs
HP: 2,400

Level 4:

Production: 3,960 Pebbles per hour
Capacity: 13,365 Pebbles (Reachs Capacity in 3 hours 22 minutes 30 seconds)
Build Time: 1 hour
Requires: Level 2 Town Hall; 6,950 Twigs
HP: 6,000

Level 5:

Production: 5,760 Pebbles per hour
Capacity: 29,160 Pebbles (Reaches Capacity in 5 hours 3 minutes 45 seconds)
Build Time: 2 hours
Requires: Level 2 Town Hall; 14,500 Twigs
HP: 12,000

Level 6:

Production: 7,920 Pebbles per hour
Capacity: 60,142 Pebbles (Reaches Capacity in 7 hours 35 minutes 37 seconds)
Build Time: 5 hours
Requires: Level 3 Town Hall; 30,600 Twigs
HP: 24,000

Level 7:

Production: 10,440 Pebbles per hour
Capacity: 118,918 Pebbles (Reaches Capacity in 11 hours 23 minutes 26 seconds)
Build Time: 12 hours
Requires: Level 3 Town Hall; 64,300 Twigs
HP: 45,000

Level 8:

Production: 13,320 Pebbles per hour
Capacity: 227,584 Pebbles (Reaches Capacity in 17 hours 5 minutes 9 seconds)
Build Time: 1 day
Requires: Level 4 Town Hall; 135,000 Twigs
HP: 65,000

Level 9:

Production: 16,560 Pebbles per hour
Capacity: 424,414 Pebbles (Reaches Capacity in 1 day 1 hour 37 minutes 43 seconds)
Build Time: 2 days
Requires: Level 4 Town Hall; 283,600 Twigs
HP: 105,000

Level 10:

Production: 20,160 Pebbles per hour
Capacity: 775,018 Pebbles (Reaches Capacity in 1 day 14 hours 26 minutes 36 seconds)
Build Time: 3 days
Requires: Level 5 Town Hall; 600,000 Twigs
HP: 165,000

Putty Squisher

The Putty Squisher is used to collect Putty. This is useful for constructing buildings and unlocking monsters and new abilities. You need it to build all defensive buildings except for Blocks.

You are able to construct a total of six Putty Squishers in your Yard, and, as with other resource gatherers, four in each Outpost.

Level 1:

Production: 720 Putty per hour
Capacity: 720 Putty (Reaches Capacity in 1 hour)
Build Time: 20 seconds
Requires: 525 Twigs; 224 Pebbles
HP: 750

Level 2:

Production: 1,440 Putty per hour
Capacity: 2,160 Putty (Reaches Capacity in 1 hour 30 minutes)
Build Time: 5 minutes
Requires: 1,102 Twigs; 470 Pebbles
HP: 1,500

Level 3:

Production: 2,520 Putty per hour
Capacity: 5,670 Putty (Reaches Capacity in 2 hours 15 minutes)
Build Time: 20 minutes
Requires: 2,315 Twigs; 902 Pebbles
HP: 2,400

Level 4:

Production: 3,960 Putty per hour
Capacity: 13,365 Putty (Reaches Capacity in 3 hours 22 minutes 30 seconds)
Build Time: 1 hour
Requires: 4,862 Twigs; 2,086 Pebbles
HP: 6,000

Level 5:

Production: 5,760 Putty per hour
Capacity: 29,160 Putty (Reaches Capacity in 5 hours 3 minutes 45 seconds)
Build Time: 2 hours
Requires: 10,210 Twigs; 4,375 Pebbles
HP: 12,000

Level 6:

Production: 7,920 Putty per hour
Capacity: 60,142 Putty (Reaches Capacity in 7 hours 35 minutes 37 seconds)
Build Time: 5 hours
Requires: 21,441 Twigs; 9,160 Pebbles
HP: 24,000

Level 7:

Production: 10,440 Putty per hour
Capacity: 118,918 Putty (Reaches Capacity in 11 hours 23 minutes 26 seconds)
Build Time: 12 hours
Requires: 45,027 Twigs; 19,298 Pebbles
HP: 45,000

Level 8:

Production: 13,320 Putty per hour
Capacity: 227,584 Putty (Reaches Capacity in 17 hours 5 minutes 9 seconds)
Build Time: 24 hours
Requires: 94,557 Twigs; 40,524 Pebbles
HP: 65,000

Level 9:

Production: 16,560 Putty per hour
Capacity: 424,414 Putty (Reaches Capacity in 1 day 1 hour 37 minutes 43 seconds)
Build Time: 2 days
Requires: 198,570 Twigs; 85,102 Pebbles
HP: 105,000

Level 10:

Production: 20,160 Putty per hour
Capacity: 775,018 Putty (Reaches Capacity in 1 day 14 hours 26 minutes 36 seconds)
Build Time: 3 days
Requires: 416,997 Twigs; 178,716 Pebbles
HP: 165,000

Goo Factory

As you might expect, the Goo Factory produces...Goo. This is an important ingredient at your Hatchery for producing monsters. You are able to have six Goo Factories in your Yard and another four in each outpost.

Level 1:

Production: 720 Goo per hour
Capacity: 720 Goo (Reaches Capacity in 1 hour)
Build Time: 20 seconds
Requires: 247 Twigs; 577 Pebbles
HP: 750

Level 2:

Production: 1,440 Goo per hour
Capacity: 2,160 Goo (Reaches Capacity in 1 hour 30 minutes)
Build Time: 5 minutes
Requires: 520 Twigs; 1,212 Pebbles
HP: 1,500

Level 3:

Production: 2,520 Goo per hour
Capacity: 5,670 Goo (Reaches Capacity in 2 hours 15 minutes)
Build Time: 20 minutes
Requires: 1,090 Twigs; 2,546 Pebbles
HP: 2,400

Level 4:

Production: 3,960 Goo per hour
Capacity: 13,365 Goo (Reaches Capacity in 3 hours 2 minutes 30 seconds)
Build Time: 1 hour
Requires: 2,290 Twigs; 5,348 Pebbles
HP: 6,000

Level 5:

Production: 5,760 Goo per hour
Capacity: 29,160 Goo (Reaches Capacity in 5 hours 3 minutes 45 seconds)
Build Time: 2 hours
Requires: 4,810 Twigs; 11,231 Pebbles
HP: 12,000

Level 6:

Production: 7,920 Goo per hour
Capacity: 60,142 Goo (Reaches Capacity in 7 hours 35 minutes 37 seconds)
Build Time: 5 hours
Requires: 10,108 Twigs; 23,585 Pebbles
HP: 24,000

Level 7:

Production: 10,440 Goo per hour
Capacity: 118,918 Goo (Reaches Capacity in 11 hours 23 minutes 26 seconds)
Build Time: 12 hours
Requires: 21,227 Twigs; 49,529 Pebbles
HP: 45,000

Level 8:

Production: 13,320 Goo per hour
Capacity: 227,584 Goo (Reaches Capacity in 17 hours 5 minutes 9 seconds)
Build Time: 1 day
Requires: 44,580 Twigs; 104,012 Pebbles
HP: 65,000

Level 9:

Production: 16,560 Goo per hour
Capacity: 424,414 Goo (Reaches Capacity in 1 day 1 hour 37 minutes 43 seconds)
Build Time: 2 days
Requires: 93,600 Twigs; 218,427 Pebbles
HP: 105,000

Level 10:

Production: 20,160 Goo per hour
Capacity: 775,018 Goo (Reaches Capacity in 1 day 14 hours 26 minutes 36 seconds)
Build Time: 3 days
Requires: 196,584 Twigs; 458,696 Pebbles
HP: 165,000

Storage Silos

The Storage Silo increases the capacity of all of your Twigs, Pebbles, Putty and Goo. You can have a maximum of six storage silos.

Level 1:

Capacity: 7,500
Build Time: 20 minutes
Requires: 3,010 Twigs; 1,855 Pebbles
HP: 750

Level 2:

Capacity: 15,000
Build Time: 30 minutes
Requires: 7,421 Twigs; 3,710 Pebbles
HP: 1,400

Level 3:

Capacity: 30,000
Build Time: 45 minutes
Requires: 14,843 Twigs; 7,421 Pebbles
HP: 2,550

Level 4:

Capacity: 60,000
Build Time: 1 hour 7 minutes 30 seconds
Requires: 29,687 Twigs; 14,843 Pebbles
HP: 4,750

Level 5:

Capacity: 120,000
Build Time: 1 hour 41 minutes 14 seconds
Requires: 59,375 Twigs; 29,687 Pebbles
HP: 8,800

Level 6:

Capacity: 240,000
Build Time: 2 hours 31 minutes 52 seconds
Requires: 118,750 Twigs; 59,375 Pebbles
HP: 16,250

Level 7:

Capacity: 480,000
Build Time: 3 hours 47 minutes 48 seconds
Requires: 237,500 Twigs; 118,750 Pebbles
HP: 30,000

Level 8:

Capacity: 960,000
Build Time: 5 hours 41 minutes 43 seconds
Requires: 475,000 Twigs; 237,000 Pebbles
HP: 55,600

Level 9:

Capacity: 1,920,000
Build Time: 8 hours 32 minutes 34 seconds
Requires: 950,000 Twigs; 475,000 Pebbles
HP: 105,000

Level 10:

Capacity: 3,840,000
Build Time: 12 hours 48 minutes 52 seconds
Requires: 1,900,000 Twigs; 950,000 Pebbles
HP: 190,000

TIP: You can also purchase the 'Improved Packing Skills' upgrade, which increases your maximum storage by 10 percent.

TIP: You can further increase your storage capacity by building outposts.

Protect Your Silos:

Whenever one of your Silos is destroyed, you will instantly lose 5% of your total resources. This means you should focus on defending the weaker, less-upgraded Silos, those otherwise most likely to be destroyed.

General Buildings

Monster Locker:

This is used to research and unlock new monsters to produce in the Hatchery. Every Monster type except Pokeys are unlocked here.

TIP: Once you have researched all of the monsters currently available, you can consider recycling the Monster Locker as it would no longer serve a particular purpose.

Requires: Level 2 Town Hall; 1,800 Twigs; 2,300 Pebbles; 10 minutes.

Radio Tower:

The Radio Tower is set up to send you email alerts about incoming attacks if you are away from your yard.

Requires: Town Hall; 2,000 Twigs; 2,000 Pebbles; 2,000 Putty; 5 minutes.

Monster Academy:

Use the Monster Academy to upgrade your Monsters.

Requires: Level 3 Town Hall, Level 2 Monster Locker; 100,000 Twigs; 100,000 Pebbles; 3 hours.

Hatchery Control Center:

This allows you to manage all of your monster Hatcheries from this one location. Whichever of your Hatcheries becomes available first will be the one to produce the next monster in the queue.

Requires: Level 3 Town Hall, Level 2 Hatchery (three Hatcheries); 4,000,000 Twigs; 4,000,000 Pebbles; 4,000,000 Putty, 1 day 1 hour.

Catapult:

The Catapult is a siege weepon, which allows you to throw Twigs at the enemy. These Twigs will damage enemy buildings, assisting any monsters that may be attacking and also being a drain on enemy resources.

Requires: Level 3 Town Hall; 75,000 Twigs; 75,000 Pebbles; 75,000 Putty; 1 hour 30 minutes.

Monster Lab:

This is the location where you can research and unlock top secret abilities to equip your monsters with.

Requires: Level 5 Town Hall, Level 3 Monster Locker, Level 2 Monster Academy; 100,000 Twigs; 100,000 Pebbles; 3 hours.

Wild Monster Baiter:

You can use this handy building to attract Wild Monsters, which may not sound ideal, but it is a good way to be able to test out your defences before they are really put under pressure! Don't worry though, you can use the building's built-in siren to scare them off if it all starts to go wrong.

Requires: Level 4 Town Hall, Monster Locker; 25,000 Twigs; 25,000 Pebbles; 15,000 Putty; 5 hours.

Yard Planner:

The Yard Planner lets you see your yard from a top-down, birds-eye view. You can then reorganize all of your structures as you see fit.

Requires: Level 3 Town Hall; 250,000 Twigs; 250,000 Pebbles; 12 hours.

Monster Juicer:

You can use the Monster Juicer to 'recycle' any monsters that you no longer have use for. This can free up space in your Housing, and give you some perhaps much-needed Goo supplies.

Requires: Level 3 Town Hall, Housing; 1,000,000 Twigs; 1,000,000 Pebbles; 1,000,000 Putty; 12 hours.

Housing:

This allows you to store the creatures that you produce in the Hatchery.

Requires: Town Hall; 2,160 Twigs; 2,160 Pebbles; 5 minutes.

General Store:

The General Store lets you spend Shiny on upgrades designed to save you time.

Requires: Town Hall; 1,080 Twigs; 720 Pebbles; 10 seconds.

Flinger:

The Flinger is used to launch your monsters into other players' yards. It requires the Map Room to allow you to pick out targets. You need this building if you wish to attack other players.

Requires: Town Hall; 1,000 Twigs; 1,000 Pebbles; 500 Putty.

Map Room:

The Map Room allows you to pick out targets to launch your monsters at, using the Flinger. You can also use it to locate Friends to assist, and just to look around the game world generally. This grants you access to the Map.

Click on the Map option once you have purchased and completed the construction of a Map Room to examine the game world.

Requires: Town Hall; 2,000 Twigs; 2,000 Pebbles.

Hatchery:

The Hatchery converts Goo into monsters! You can produce any monster that you have unlocked from the Monster Locker.

Requires: Town Hall, Housing; 2,000 Twigs; 2,000 Pebbles.

NOTE: You can queue different types of monsters to be produced in the Hatchey. At first you can queue 40 monsters. Upgrade the Hatchery, however, and you can add another two to that.

Defensive Buildings

Sniper Tower:

The Sniper Tower is a long-range defensive building which deals high damage to any incoming units. They are useful for protecting a large area, but are slow to reload.

Requires: Town Hall; 1,5000 Twigs; 2,000 Pebbles; 500 Putty.

Cannon Tower:

The Cannon Tower is another high-damage tower, but only functions at short range. It's other chief benefit is that the cannon shots explode on impact, so can damage entire groups of enemies.

Requires: Town Hall; 2,000 Twigs; 1,500 Pebbles; 500 Putty; 30 seconds.

Booby Trap:

As the name suggests, the Booby Trap is designed to remain hidden on the ground. When a monster steps on it, the Booby Trap explodes, damaging anyone within a small radius. A good idea is to build your defences so that you funnel the enemy into tiny areas where you have placed the Booby Traps.

Requires: Town Hall; 1,000 Twigs; 1,000 Pebbles; 1,000 Putty; 5 seconds.

Block:

The Block lets you construct defensive walls that can protect important buildings and channel enemies into easy-to-defend confined spaces, such as those guarded by towers. You can also upgrade the blocks so that they are harder for the enemy to break down - in Stone, Metal, Gold and Black Diamond varieties. It starts off simply as wood.

Requires: Level 2 Town Hall; 1,000 Twigs; 5 seconds.

Tesla Tower:

This Tower uses electricity to shock and electrocute the attacking enemies within range.

Requires: Level 4 Town Hall; 187,500 Twigs; 250,000 Pebbles; 62,500 Putty; 5 hours.

Laser Tower:

This Tower uses Plasma to incinerate any enemies within range.

Requires: Level 4 Town Hall; 500,000 Twigs; 250,000 Pebbles; 100,000 Putty; 5 hours.

Aerial Defense Tower:

This Tower uses its upwards-facing turrets to defend your yard from incoming enemy air units. It's only require once you get to the stage that air combat starts to become an issue.

Requires: Level 4 Town Hall; 215,000 Twigs; 280,000 Pebbles; 62,500 Putty; 5 hours.

Monster Bunker:

Monsters can use this to defend your base from incoming hostiles.

Requires: Level 3 Town Hall, Housing; 250,000 Twigs; 187,500 Pebbles; 62,500 Putty; 6 hours.

Railgun:

This is another electrical defensive building which has limited range but an infinite line of fire and very high damage.

Requires: Level 5 Town Hall; 2,000,000 Twigs; 2,400,000 Pebbles; 1,600,000 Putty; 12 hours.

Champion Cage:

This Cage allows you to hatch a monster of your very own. You can then evolve it into a Champion Monster, which can be used to attack the enemy and defend your base.

Requires: Level 4 Town Hall; 500,000 Twigs; 500,000 Pebbles; 250,000 Putty; 1 day.

Champion Chamber:

You can use this building to keep Champions effectively in storage while you use a different one as your active Champion. You can store multiple Champions in here and, even if the building is completely destroyed, your stored Champions remain safe.

Requires: Level 4 Town Hall, Champion Cage; 500,000 Twigs; 500,000 Pebbles; 250,000 Putty; 1 day.

Heavy Trap:

The Heavy Trap is like the Booby Trap as it remains invisible to enemies until they have stepped on it. It is more closely targeted than the Booby Trap, however, in that it only detonates when monsters of a certain power step on it.

Requires: Level 4 Town Hall; 50,000 Twigs; 50,000 Pebbles; 50,000 Putty; 5 seconds.

Building Upgrades

When you have clicked on a building, you can often upgrade them. You should see an Upgrade option if that is available. You will normally have to purchase this with Coins.

Once you have clicked on the Upgrade button, you will see what effect the upgrade will have on your Building. You then need to confirm the upgrade. If you click on the building while it is upgrading, you can see the amount of time remaining before it will be completed, and, if desired, Speed Up the upgrade.

Speed Up:

You can Speed Up the upgrades by clicking on a building while waiting for its upgrade to be completed.

TIP: Be sure to upgrade any buildings which take hours and hours overnight. While you are playing, you can concentrate on the shorter upgrades which are minutes rather than hours.

Outposts

An Outpost is similar to a Town Hall but is not as large and cannot be upgraded. If it is destroyed, you will lose 5% of your total resources. You will lose control of the Outpost itself (the Yard with the Outpost in it) if an enemy does 90% damage to the buildings within and chooses to take it over.

As a result, you should aim to fortify your Outpost as early as possible to remain as a stronghold against enemy attacks.

Requirements:

You can only get an Outpost once your Map Room has been upgraded to Level 2 - which reveals the World Map. The easiest way is to also upgrade your Flinger and Catapults to be able to reach a Wild Monster Tribe. If you destroy them, you will be able to purchase their Yard for a certain amount of resources. If it's another player's Yard, you must destroy 90% of their buildings first.

Relocating your Main Yard:

If your Main Yard is being too-regularly plundered, you can move it to one of your outposts. You have to give up your main Yard which will then become a Wild Monster Tribe. Another player (normally a friend) can also invite you to take over one of their outposts. You can only move your Main Yard once every 8 days.

Attacking

To attack another tribe, you must first purchase and build both the Map Room and the Flinger. With these in hand, you can access the Map option and click on any tribes you wish to attack. The Attack option will then appear.

While attacking you will be able to see all of the opponent's base. You must use the options on the left to add attackers to your army. Click the and - icons to do this. You can see the time remaining in the attack for your Flinger to be able to continue aiming. You also have the option to end the attack by clicking the End Attack option in the lower right corner.

You need to pick an area to fling your monsters into, preferably away from buildings and any defences. Click to confirm and your monsters will appear in the enemy base. The idea is to destroy the enemy Town Hall. With that done, you can return your monsters to your own base.

Monsters

To produce Monsters, you first need to build some Housing for them. Then, you require a Hatchery. Any Monsters that you have researched in the Monster Locker can be purchased using your Goo resource. Click on the Hatchery and select 'View Hatchery'. You are then able to select any of your unlocked Monsters to build, assuming you have the resources.

Pokey:

Pokeys are described as being like a swarm of ants. If you send enough to attack an enemy they can easily be overwhelmed, not discriminating over what to attack.

Level 1:
Speed: 1.2kph
Health: 200
Damage: 60
Goo Cost: 250 Goo
Housing: 10 Spaces
Time: 15 Seconds
Unlock: Available from the start

Octo-ooze:

This draws in enemy fire to allow other mosnters to be able to attack. It is best used against enemy defensive towers.

Level 1:
Speed: 1.4kph
Health: 1,000
Damage: 15
Goo Cost: 500 Goo
Housing: 10 Spaces
Time: 15 Seconds
Unlock: 8,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 1

Bolt:

Bolts are like Usain of the same name - very fast and used as an early attack to bypass enemy defences and strike at the heart of the enemy yard. They are strong against Harvesters, Town Halls and Silos - all buildings that are often past the line of enemy defences.

Level 1:
Speed: 2.5kph
Heatlh: 150
Damage: 15
Goo Cost: 350 Goo
Housing: 15 Spaces
Time: 23 Seconds
Unlock: 16,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 1

Fink:

The Fink specializes in incredibly accurate attacks and is reasonably strong against all targets.

Level 1:
Speed: 1.3kph
Health: 200
Damage: 300
Goo Cost: 1,500 Goo
Housing: 20 Spaces
Time: 1 minute 40 Seconds
Unlock: 32,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 1

Eye-ra:

The trick with the Eye-ra is to get it as close as possible to enemy walls. Then, when they are killed, they explode. So fling them at enemy walls.

Level 1:
Speed: 2kph
Health: 600
Damage: 4,000
Goo Cost: 5,000 Goo
Housing: 60 Spaces
Time: 25 minutes
Unlock: 64,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 2

Ichi:

For the Ichi, it's specialty is having very high health, allowing it to get up close to enemy defensive towers and damage them.

Level 1:
Speed: 1.2kph
Health: 2,000
Damage: 50
Goo Cost: 5,000 Goo
Housing: 20 Spaces
Time: 1 minute 40 seconds
Unlock: 128,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 2

Bandito:

The Bandito has great accuracy and decent health, making it good for picking off hard-to-reach targets. It is good against a variety of enemy targets.

Level 1:
Speed: 1kph
Health: 500
Damage: 200
Goo Cost: 2,500 Goo
Housing: 20 Spaces
Time: 3 minutes 45 seconds
Unlock: 256,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 2

TIP: Banditos are a great Monster to build. They are strong and economical but do not take up as much housing as other high-level Monsters.

Fang:

Fangs have toxic venom inside them which turns any target into liquid when bitten. It can do this to anything, so doesn't have any particular strengths.

Level 1:
Speed: 1.1kph
Health: 400
Damage: 600
Goo Cost: 18,000 Goo
Housing: 300 Spaces
Time: 7 minutes 30 seconds
Unlock: 512,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 2

Brain:

The primary purpose of the Brain is to loot enemy resources. Use it against Harvesters, Town Halls and Silos for the greatest effect.

Level 1:
Speed: 2kph
Health: 600
Damage: 100
Goo Cost: 12,000 Goo
Housing: 30 Spaces
Time: 5 minutes 42 seconds   
Unlock: 1,024,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 3

Crabatron:

Crabatron can be used against Defensive Towers and its massive health allows it to get up close to them and snap them with its claws.

Level 1:
Speed: 1kph
Health: 4,000
Damage: 100
Goo Cost: 30,000 Goo
Housing: 40 Spaces
Time: 12 minutes 30 seconds
Unlock: 2,048,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 3

Project X:

If Project X sounds like a secret weapon, that's because it is, or was. Now it can be used by you to attack enemy Towers.

Level 1:
Speed: 0.9kph
Health: 800
Damage: 1,200
Goo Cost: 60,000 Goo
Housing: 70 Spaces
Time: 23 minutes 4 seconds
Unlock: 4,096,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 3

Zafreeti:

Zafreeti can be an essential addition to any squad of monsters. It's specialty is to heal your damaged monsters, so keep it safe in battle and let it do its thing. Be warned, it is painfully slow, so make sure it doesn't get left behind.

Level 1:
Speed: 0.75kph
Health: 8,000
Damage: 400 (Healing)
Goo Cost: 120,000 Goo
Housing: 200 Spaces
Time: 40 minutes
Unlock: 6,192,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 3

Teratorn:

The Teratorn flies above the enemy and fires down attacks upon them. It can attack anything with ease.

Level 1:
Speed: 2.5kph
Health: 1,600
Damage: 300
Goo Cost: 70,000 Goo
Housing: 70 Spaces
Time: 30 minutes
Unlock: 4,096,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 4

Wormzer:

The Wormzer is an expert at evading enemy attacks. It can burrow underground and emerge to attack enemy buildings in otherwise inaccessible locations. Once under the enemy walls, Wormzer is effective against anything really.

Level 1:
Speed: 3kph
Health: 600
Damge: 300
Goo Cost: 20,000 Goo
Housing: 70 Spaces
Time: 23 minutes 4 seconds
Unlock: 4,096,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 4

D.A.V.E:

D.A.V.E. is the powerhouse unit of Backyard Monsters, it can completely destory enemy bases and should be the focus of any top-level army.

Level 1:
Speed: 0.8kph
Health: 8,000
Damage: 1,500
Goo Cost: 150,000 Goo
Housing: 160 Spaces
Time: 1 hour
Unlock: 8,192,000 Putty; Monster Locker Level 4

Champion Monsters

There are five Champion Monsters in Backyard Monsters. These are the stronges of all the monsters in the game. To be able to build a Champion, you must first construct a Champion Cage. You can only have one active Champion Monster at a time, and must use the Champion Chamber to freeze them and allow you to change.

Drull:

Drull has very high attack damage, the highest of any of the Champions. It is also supremely fast.

Level 1:
Speed: 2kph
Health: 12,000
Damage: 3,000

Gorgo:

Gorgo has the highest health but is slow and has low attack statistics.

Level 1:
Speed: 1kph
Health: 40,000
Damage: 1,000

Fomor:

Fomor is the only Champion that can fly, once it reaches Level 3. It can therefore avoid certain defensive towers. It has low damage.

Level 1:
Speed: 1.2kph
Health: 15,000
Damage: 70 (per shot, 5 shots per second)

Korath:

Korath is able to attack targets in the air and is skilled in numerous areas with relatively well-balance statistics. It must be unlocked by completing te

Level 1:
Speed: 1.4kph
Health: 28,000
Damage: 2,000

Krallen:

Krallen is similar to Korath. It specializes in looting resources. You must unlock it by completing the Hunt for Krallen weekly event. It is, uniquely, a side champion, meaning you can use it in conjunction with another champion.

Level 1:
Speed: 2.2kph
Health: 5,000
Damage: 800

General Attacking Tips

A good early attacking strategy is to use Octo-ooze and Pokeys to attack enemy Towers and Silos. If the enemy emplacements are right in the center of their Yard, you can use Bolts to reach them more easily. Once you have ready access to them, use Ichi and Brains to attack. Large armies made of of Crabtron are also very effective. Attacking gains you plenty of additional resources.

Early Attacks:

The idea of waiting for Protection to end is a sensible once, you can play it safe in that manner. However, there is always something to be said in strategy games for early attacks. You can get the jump on other players who are in a similar position to yourself and launch your Pokeys at a weak target. If you succeed, you will get a massive resource boost that can then be used to accelerate your progress.

Low Level Attacks:

If you want to attack other players early on, before you have levelled up too much, you should try to use Ichi. Because of its high health, it can concentrate on the defensive towers, drawing their fire away from your other attacking monsters. Pick another monster with high attacking stats to then go for resources through the gap. The Eye-ra is also a useful Monster to send along as it is good at destroying walls.

Attacking Low Level Enemies:

To attack low level enemies, you can use Ichi and Fink. Once you have removed enemy towers, the Ichi will destroy absolutely everything. This makes it a perfect Monster to build in bulk.

Attacking Evenly Matched Enemies:

For an enemy at around the same level as yourself, Ichi are again a good choice, or you can try Crabatron for attacking defensive towers. Bandito or D.A.V.E. are the ones to pick for dealing with the main bulk of the enemy forces.

Picking a Target:

When picking an enemy to target, make sure you view their Yard first using the Map Room. If they have recently been attacked, you should just finish them off with some Pokeys rather than sending your entire army.

Defending, Town Hall and Defending Tips

While attacking may be the most fun, it is important to make sure you have a solid defensive foundation in Backyard Monsters. The first week of play is crucial for this, as no one can attack you during this time. You will see a counter in the top right-hand corner of the screen. During this time you should make sure you are fully prepared for any potential attack. This will involve structures mentioned earlier like Blocks, Towers and buildings to house your Monsters.

Town Hall

The Town Hall will be the focus of enemy attacks. Should it be destroyed, your camp is effectively finished. It is useful as upgrading it will allow you to build more structures and unlock new technologies.

Level 2:

At Level 2, the Town Hall will unlock the following:

Monster Locker
Block
Booby Trap

It allows you to build more:

Twig Snappers
Pebble Shiners
Putty Squishers
Goo Factories
Storage Silos
Hatcheries
Cannon Towers
Sniper Towers

And lets you upgrade the following:

Twig Snappers
Pebble Shiners
Putty Squishers
Goo Factories
Storage Silos
Cannon Towers
Sniper Towers

Level 2 requires 7,000 Twigs; 7,000 Pebbles; 10 minutes.

Protection

Understanding Protection, when it is triggered and how to activate it, can be crucial to surviving in Backyard Monsters. Once activated, you will be protected from any attacks, whether from other players or wild monsters. Remember that Protection is automatically removed as soon as you attack anyone else. When attacking another player, you can see if they are in Damage Protection in the Map Room.

How to Get It:

To get Damage Protection, you can always purchase it using Shiny. This is filed under the Combat section of the store. Usually, however, Damage Protection is triggered under certain circumstances. This is to prevent players from being completely wiped out, and to give anyone in dire straits a window of opportunity to get back into the game. To purchase Damage Protection with Shiny, you can refer to the values below:

Daily Protection:
24 Hours Protection for 32 Shiny. Can only be used once every 5 days.

Weekly Protection:
7 Days Protection for 250 Shiny. Can only be used once every 14 days.

Ultimate Protection:
28 Days Protection for 1,100 Shiny. Can only be used once every 28 days.

TIP: When purchasing Damage Protection, bear in mind when you may conceivably want to attack another player. If you've paid for 28 days protection but attack someone after a week, you've wasted a heck of a lot of Shiny.

You can see the trigger points for Damage Protection below - remember that your main Yard and outposts have different triggers:

Main Yard:

7 Days Protection:
As soon as you first start the game - so play as much as you can!

1 Hour Protection:
If you have been attacked 4 times in 1 hour.

18 Hours Protection:
If you have taken 25-50% Total Damage.

36 Hours Protection:
If you have taken 50% Total Damage.

2 Days Protection:
If you have been attacked 10 times in 24 hours.

Outposts:

12 Hours Protection: As soon as you capture a new Outpost:
8 Hours Protection: If you have taken 25% Total Damage in your Outpost.

NOTE: Blocks and Traps do not contribute to the damage statistic.

TIP: One of the most important things when getting started with Backyard Monsters is to play regularly while your Yard is under protection. Make sure you have decent defenses and have enough Silos and resource collectors to keep things coming in when you're away.

General Defending Tips

Towers are vital in Backyard Monsters. They are the primary way that players defend their Yard and should be the focus of your defensive strategy. Upgrade your Towers as early as possible - try to do this before your period of protection expires.

Position your buildings so that enemy monsters have to take as long a route as possible to get to them. This will buy you more time in the heat of battle.

The main priority in building a base is to make sure that your resource collectors are safe. If you lose those, you can't hatch more monsters and will surely end up losing.

Keep buildings such as Silos, Resource Collectors, Hatcheries and Housings in the center of your Yard, protected as well as possible by Blocks and Towers to keep enemy monsters away from them. Any other buildings can be used to distract enemy monsters and draw them away from your most crucial areas. You can use the Town Hall, less important Resource Collectors and other buildings for this. Be sure to use Walls and Towers to surround the inner sanctum of important structures. It helps if your base is square or circular, simply because you can end up with rings of defences and the vital heart of your Yard in the middle.

Separate Resources:

There is something to be said for separating your resources. Although grouping them together in a highly-defended area is a valid tactic, splitting up resources into at least a few areas will mean if you do get overrun, you won't lose all your resources at once - the enemy won't be able to attack all your parts at the same time.

Inferno

Inferno is a world that was added to Backyard Monsters in early 2012. You can access it as soon as you have a Level 5 Town Hall, and defeat Moloch and his army.

Once you have the Level 5 Town Hall you will be able to build the Inferno Cavern. Moloch and his army will then attack you on five different occasions. After the fifth one, you are able to enter the cavern and destroy Moloch himself. This will grant you the ability to have an Inferno Yard.

The Inferno Yard has different Monsters and Buildings, but they share similarities with the above-ground items.

Buildings

Bone Cruncher:
This is the equivalent of the Twig Snapper.

Coal Extractor:
This is the equivalent of the Pebbles Shiner.

Sulfur Swirler:
This is the equivalent of the Putty Squisher.

Magma Pump:
This is the equivalent of the Goo Factory.

Resource Pod:
This is the equivalent of the Storage Silo.

Magma Tower:
This is the equivalent of the Tesla Tower.

Quake Tower:
This is unique and can be built above ground once you have unlocked it. You need Inferno resources to be able to build it either way).

Sharpshooter:
This is the equivalent of the Sniper Tower.

Blast Tower:
This is the equivalent of the Cannon Tower.

Infernal Academy:
This is the equivalent of the Monster Academy - except you obviously train Inferon monsters with it.

Compound:
This is the equivalent of Housing, a Monster Bunker and a Flinger all rolled into one.

Incubator:
This is the equivalent of the Hatchery.

Strongbox:
This is the equivalent of the Monster Locker, except with Inferno Monsters.

Under Hall:
This is the equialent of the Town Hall.

Monsters

Spurtz:

Spurtz are very similar to Pokeys, only stronger.

Level 1:
Speed: 1.2kph
Health: 400
Damage: 160
Magma Cost: 500 Magma
Housing: 15 Spaces
Time: 15 seconds
Unlock: Level 1 Strongbox

Zagnoid:

Zagnoid is strong against defensive towers, doing double damage on those. It also has high health, making it hard for the enemy to destroy.

Level 1:
Speed: 1.8kph
Health: 1,500
Damage: 80 (double versus defensive towers)
Magma Cost: 2,500 Magma
Housing: 15 Spaces
Time: 15 seconds
Unlock: 16,000 Sulfur; Strongbox Level 1

Valgos:

Valgos is like Eye-Ra, focusing on enemy Blocks. But it doesn't suicide against them and deals double the damage when attacking them.

Level 1:
Speed: 2kph
Health: 2,000
Damage: 490 (double versus Blocks)
Magma Cost: 31,000 Magma
Housing: 30 Spaces
Time: 7 minutes 30 seconds
Unlock: 38,400 Sulfur; Strongbox Level 2

Malphus:

Malphus is similar to Bolt and Brain, with low damage and fairly average health. It can jump over walls, however, in order to get at the resources beyond.

Level 1:
Speed: 3.2kph
Health: 450
Damage: 100
Magma Cost: 3,000 Magma
Housing: 15 Spaces
Time: 1 minute 40 seconds
Unlock: 76,800 Sulfur; Strongbox Level 2

Balthazar:

Balthazar specializes in attacking bunkered monsters and champions, getting three times the damage points in those situations. It is the fastest monster in the game.

Level 1:
Speed: 4.5kph
Health: 3,200
Damage: 600 (triple versus bunkered monsters and champions)
Magma Cost: 88,000 Magma
Housing: 40 Spaces
Time: 30 minutes
Unlock: 614,400 Sulfur; Strongbox Level 3

Grokus:

Grokus is a very slow monster with high health. You can use it to lumber through enemy defences and set off any traps lying in wait.

Level 1:
Speed: 1.3kph
Health: 7,600
Damage: 400
Magma Cost: 80,000 Magma
Housing: 50 Spaces
Time: 30 minutes
Unlock: 1,228,800 Sulfur; Strongbox Level 3

Sabnox:

Sabnox is similar to D.A.V.E. in terms of its attack against defensive towers. It also gets double damage points when fighting these.

Level 1:
Speed: 1.7kph
Health: 1,120
Damage: 700 (double versus defensive towers)
Magma Cost: 60,000 Magma
Housing: 80 Spaces
Time: 23 minute 4 seconds
Unlock: 2,457,600 Sulfur; Strongbox Level 4

King Wormzer:

As you might expect from the name, King Wormzer is basically a better version of the Wormzer. It can still burrow underground, but now deals additional splash damage to anything surrounding it whenever it emerges. It is the most powerful monster in the game.

Level 1:
Speed: 2.5kph
Health: 6,200
Damage: 1,200
Magma Cost: 425,000 Magma
Housing: 100 Spaces
Time: 45 minutes
Unlock: 4,915,200 Sulfur; Strongbox Level 5

General Tips

Attacking can be a crucial part of Backyard Monsters. If you really want to excel, you will need to combat other players and stay on the offensive. This will reward you with important resources by farming other players Yards and can provide a huge boost to your own economy.

Conversely, if you are able to concentrate on upgrading all of your buildings (see our guide to the game's buildings and the relative Hit Points assigned to them) so that they are as strong as possible, you will become an insurmountable target for your potential enemies. With a successful defensive infrastructure, you could go through the entirety of Backyard Monsters without ever attacking another player. Offensive buildings such as the Map Room, Flinger, Yard Planner, Monster Lockers, and Monster Hatcheries are not strictly necessary in getting yourself set up. Instead, you can focus on defenses like Towers and Blocks. Then, once you are able to defend yourself with ease, you can build up your armies and wipe the enemy off the map.

Upgrade the Town Hall:

A strong tactic in general for succeeding at Backyard Monsters is to focus on upgrading your Town Hall as fast as you can. If you can do as much of this as possible while your Yard is still under Protection, you will have an advantage over other players. Other buildings to concentrate on are Silos and Resource Gatherers. You should max out the capacity of these depending on the level of your town hall. This will allow you to collect as many resources as possible and avoid wasting any. All your Silos and Resource Gatherers can be placed around the Town Hall. They are important structures that you should try to protect. Walls and Towers can surround these and then you can have your less-important things on the outside.

HP:

You should pay careful attention to the HP of your buildings. This obviously indicates how much damage a certain structure can take before it will be destroyed, but is also important in planning which buildings to use to distract enemy attacks, and where to focus your defences.

Cheats

The best way to gain an 'unfair' advantage in Backyard Monsters is to purchase Shiny using your own money. There is no way to get Shiny completely for free, except for the ways explained earlier in this guide. That is, completing surveys or viewing offers, and the Shiny that you get at the start of the game.

If you see anyone asking for your account details or offering software to download or links to click to get free Shiny, be very wary. Often they are just trying to gain access to your computer or to compromize your Facebook account.

The economies of Backyard Monsters are delicately balanced, and people hacking the game and getting Shiny completely for free jeapordize that. As a result, there are no 'official' cheats or even exploits that are available in the game - instead, use this guide and develop your own strategies for succeeding at the game.