Tesla

Stats

Base Cost

2,000

Base Damage

15

Damage Type

Chain, Splash (Level 2+)

Fire Rate

2

Flying Detection

Level 0+

Immune

None

Lead Detection

Level 0+

Placement

Ground

Placement Limit

2

Range

17, 12 (Chain Range)

Role

Defense

Selling Price

666

Unlock Cost

6,000

Description

The Tesla is a mid-late game advanced tower which attacks enemies with chain lightning, temporarily immobilizing them. It can be bought for 6,000 Coins. The Tesla fires lightning at enemies in its range. This lightning will extend to as many enemies as its max hits will allow it to, hitting the closest enemy to the initial target in a range of 12 at Level 0. These enemies will be stunned when hit, which stops them from moving. Boss and Stun Immunity enemies will only get slowed down instead. At Level 2+, it gains smite, an ability activated when its meter seen in the upgrade menu is filled up by hitting multiple enemies. This will unleash thunder on the targeted enemy, dealing explosion damage to it. This being an explosion, it will deal less damage to enemies the further away they are from the center of the explosion. Additionally, it can bypass Defense. The Tesla is an excellent option for stalling over a pretty large area, as its electric shocks can hold large crowds in place and give other towers more time to attack them, on top of dealing decent damage itself. The Tesla has a placement limit of two per player.

Statistics

To see all the previous statistics of this tower, see the history page.

Strategy

The Tesla can be an effective mid to late-game AOE tower due to its chaining. While its range is rather average, its lightning has a high chain range, allowing it to chain to enemies that are very far away, though it still needs an enemy to attack in its main range for that to happen. Its shock allows it to keep enemies in its and other tower's range for longer, allowing it to deal more damage to them. The Tesla is essentially a larger version of the Electroshocker, with a much higher chain radius. However, the Tesla has slightly less single target DPS and worse single target value compared to the Electroshocker, while being able to hit more enemies. This means that the Tesla is much more effective against hordes. Moreover, the Tesla has a much higher shock time, making it more better for stunning enemies and crowds than the Electroshocker. At Level 2, the Tesla unlocks smite, which unleashes thunder on the targeted enemy once a damage meter is filled up. This thunder creates an explosion, meaning it bypasses Defense, making the Tesla more effective against such enemies. While the smite does have a small explosion radius, the shock applied by its main attack will help with keeping enemies close to each other, allowing the Tesla to hit more enemies at once. The Tesla shocks enemies when they are hit by its lightning, allowing it to be used as a stalling tower. Do note that enemies with the Stun Immunity or Boss are only slowed down instead. The Tesla can detect Flying and Lead enemies, making it useful against hordes of such enemies.

Update History

For previous cosmetic variations, see the gallery page.

Patch history

The Level 1 has two references: The upgrade cost is a reference to Nikola Tesla's birth year. The upgrade name "Kite in the Wind" is a reference to Benjamin Franklin's Kite experiment. The Level 3 upgrade name is likely a reference to the final upgrade for the Codebreaker in the Terraria Calamity mod. In addition, the overall color scheme resembles auric material from the mod. The Level 4 upgrade name is a reference to Kimat's Bite from Call of Duty series. The Tesla tower was originally set to release in September of 2025, but was delayed to November of 2025, later being delayed to its current release date of 28th of January 2026. Stated reasons for the delays were the developers not being satisfied with the design and balancing of the tower and making sure it is unique from Electroshocker. As stated by the developers, the Tesla tower was originally meant to be an intermediate tower. It was likely shifted to advanced due to its uniqueness and higher damage as opposed to the Electroshocker. The Tesla tower is likely inspired by earlier versions of Electroshocker which used a tesla gun at later levels. The trailer for the Tesla tower refers to the tesla it is using as something which has been catching dust for a while, implying that the Tesla tower is potentially using the Electroshocker's old teslas. Strangely, Tesla's tooltips refer to Smite as an active ability even though the ability happens automatically.