Nuke is a card that wipes out a large share of the enemies on screen when activated. It can be fired manually or set to trigger automatically as a last-resort save, and a lab upgrade lets it recharge between uses.
Description
Nuke destroys a percentage of enemies when it goes off. The exact share scales with the card's level, starting at 25% and rising to 100% at max level.
Use
You activate Nuke yourself by tapping the card. The best time to fire it is when dangerous packs such as Elites and Fleets are closing in, clearing them before they can break through and overwhelm your tower.
If you own Smart Nuke Automation, Nuke joins the lineup of effects that can save you from dying. When lethal damage would be taken, these triggers resolve in a fixed priority order where possible. Death Defy goes first and may activate instead. If it does not, Energy Shield spends a charge to absorb the damage. If neither of those is available, Second Wind activates. Next in line is Demon Mode, provided you have Smart Demon Mode Automation. Nuke sits at the bottom of the order: with Smart Nuke Automation, it fires only when lethal damage would be taken and none of the higher-priority saves are available.
An automated Nuke does not clear projectiles already in flight. However, since version 27.3 (18 December 2025), Smart Nuke Automation also grants 15 seconds of invulnerability when it triggers.
Recharge Nuke
Recharge Nuke is a lab research unlocked through Milestones at tier 14, wave 60. Once researched, Nuke recharges after a set number of waves instead of being a one-off, letting you use it repeatedly in a run. The research has 7 levels; the per-level recharge times are listed in the cost table below.
| Level | Time | Cost | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5d 4h 59m | 550,000,000,000 | 1,500 |
| 2 | 6d 14h 21m | 1,050,000,000,000 | 1,250 |
| 3 | 8d 54m 39s | 1,550,000,000,000 | 1,000 |
| 4 | 9d 23h 10m | 2,050,000,000,000 | 750 |
| 5 | 14d 1h 58m | 2,560,000,000,000 | 550 |
| 6 | 24d 19h 29m | 3,070,000,000,000 | 400 |
| 7 | 51d 8h 11m | 3,600,000,000,000 | 300 |