To see the full catalog, visit our list of the best Strategy games for iOS.
25. DomiNations
From designer Brian Reynolds, best known for his work on Civilization II comes DomiNations. Build Settlements and defend it from invaders. The main goal of this game is to evolve from the Stone Age to the modern era while conquering other tribes on the way. A lot of the gameplay revolves around regulating the gold you use to pay for buildings, food for your people, and crowns to speed up construction.
Watch your nation progress through historical eras and advance in technology in a game with a playscore of 8.28.
24. Bloons TD Battles
Keep those darn balloons at bay with Ninja Kiwi’s Bloons TD Battles. This time, you’re not competing with artificial intelligence, you’re competing with other human brains. There are over 20 different tracks where you can battle other players, 22 awesome monkey towers with 8 powerful upgrades each, including the C.O.B.R.A Tower.
This is a game that will truly challenge fans of the Bloons Tower Defense games. It has a playscore of 8.31.
23. Subterfuge
This is a great game for those looking for an in-depth strategy game -- and part of the strategy is going social. There are no safe sides in this game, so you have to make sure to build alliances with other players to avoid getting ganged up on by other players -- although this isn’t always a guarantee.
So, protect your queen, build up your army, and be careful who you trust. Snappy Touch's Subterfuge receives a playscore of 8.31.
22. Caravan War
When it comes to conquering the world, you’ll need to trade. You’ll need a caravan for that. Unfortunately, other players can ambush your caravan so they can get your loot. Ambush theirs first, tower defense style. This is where the bulk of the fun is at with Hiker Games' Caravan War. Make your base an impenetrable fortress while also managing your resources.
Caravan War gets a playscore: 8.35.
21. REDCON
Build your own battle fortress with HEXAGE’s REDCON. Obliterate your enemies with your most powerful artillery. You are a Strike Commander, tasked to command your soldiers and superguns against the treacherous General Kranz in a dystopian world where World War 1 never ended, and all humanity knows is war and chaos. Who knows, you might be the one who could end all wars.
This game has a playscore of 8.35.
20. CastleStorm - Free to Siege
Zen Studios' CastleStorm is free-to-play game that features not just one but three types of gameplay. First, you can fling things to attack your opponent like in Angry birds, then you have a hand-to-hand style combat mode, and lastly, a tower defense kind of tower defense where you make soldiers attack the enemy’s army. Sometimes, it’s all three of those gameplay styles all happening in one level, and it is awesome.
This very interesting game has a playscore of 8.37
19. Combat Monsters
This RPG style turn-based fantasy tactical card game from Rubicon is packed to the brim with potential fun. You can play this mobile card game either by yourself or with other people. For the single-player mode, you can do the daily challenge that changes every five hours, the solo quest which is the main single-player experience, skirmish, and pass and play, which is actually multiplayer but on the same device. That’s a lot. We haven’t even mentioned the online multiplayer mode.
This game packs a playscore of 8.37
18. Tic Tactics
Hidden Variable Studios brings us a clever twist to the classic game of Tic Tac Toe. Like the classic game, you must form three of your symbols in a row. Where Tic Tactics changes things up is now, not only do you have to win in the 3x3 board once, you have to also form your winning boards three in a row in the bigger 9x9 board.
This tactical twist to tic tac toe has a playscore of 8.4.
17. Hades’ Star
If you are a lover of all things extraterrestrial, then you will surely love this strategy game from Parallel Space Inc. Set in the newly discovered Hades Galaxy, you are an owner of a fleet tasked to conquer planets, gather valuable resources, build space stations, cultivate your economy, and defend yourself from the dangers of the star systems. This game’s multiplayer mode is more focused on coordination with other players as you face the mysterious Cerberus forces.
This out-of-this-world game has a playscore of 8.4
16. Heavenstrike Rivals - A Monster Tactical TCG!
In this Tactical Card Game from Square Enix, you are on the quest to prevent the world from being overrun by evil monsters. You summon characters to fight for you by using your pot of energy. After you have deployed your characters, there is no way for you to directly control them so you really have to think about how they will move after you have placed them. This is where your organizing and strategic skills come in to play.
This game receives a playscore of 8.4
15. Earthcore: Shattered Elements - Epic Card Battle Game
At its core, this game is a battle system. As the title suggests, the battles are built around elements: Earth beats Water, Water beats Fire, Fire Beats Earth, and all three beat dust. It’s easy enough so beginners can have easy access to this game. What makes this game different from other card games is that it uses a Risk system instead of the standard Attack/Health system. Each card can only fight once for each round. If it wins, it goes back to your hand, if it loses, it gets discarded.
This beautiful and clever game from Tequila Mobile has a playscore of 8.4
14. Really Bad Chess
This is not your usual run of the mill Chess game. Instead of the usual line up that you see in a typical chess game, you get, instead 2 queens, 4 rooks, 6 pawns or even 8 knights. The pieces are different for each game -- you don’t even get the same pieces with your opponent. In the beginning, your pieces are more powerful than the AI’s pieces. As you get better at playing, the game will start to get more difficult.
This really good game by Zach Gage has a playscore of 8.41
13. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
You don’t have to be a fan of Blizzard's World of Warcraft to love this card game. The goal is simple: beat your opponent by draining their life points using your 30 cards. These cards can represent spells, minions, and other magical stuff. Hearthstone games are quick and fun -- but they are also strategic. So collect cards and build up your deck to match with your playstyle.
This free, purely online game has a playscore of 8.43.
12. Summoner’s Greed - Idle TD
In this game from developer PIXIO, you are a selfish little mage who took all of the king’s loot. So now, the king’s army of heroes is coming at you hoping to take back what you stole. Not if you can help it! Build up your defenses and strategically place your towers and cast powerful spells to keep those pesky heroes out.
This game greedily takes the 12th spot with a playscore of 8.47
11. Plants vs. Zombies Heroes
This game is PopCap’s version of a card game riding on their most popular franchise Plant vs. Zombies. Before you discount this game like something you have already seen before, let us tell you that PopCap has changed up the formula. There are five lanes. Some cards have a special bonus depending on where you place them. You can either play as the plants or the zombies and each side don’t play the same.
Revisit Plants vs. Zombies in a new way with a game that has a playscore of 8.49
10. World of Tanks Blitz
Capture your enemy’s bases in Wargaming’s World of Tanks Blitz. If the name seems familiar to you, you might be thinking that this is a port of the PC game. It’s not, but they do have a lot of similarities. In this game, you will choose a tank from different countries and enter an online multiplayer battlefield to take down the tanks from other teams while also securing checkpoints. This game also plays well for an online multiplayer game on the ios.
If you are a lover of tanks, then you’ll be happy to know that this game receives a playscore of 8.5.
9. Super Tribes
Choose a tribe, all of which has its advantages, then choose how many opponents you want to go against at which difficulty. The goal of the game is to get the highest score from building structures or gathering resources. The game ends in the 30th round. It’s simple enough for newcomers to understand. Best of all is that it is completely free -- there are no in-app purchases whatsoever.
This simple, yet challenging game from Midjiwan receives a playscore of 8.51.
8. Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol
2K Games’ turn-based strategy game is set in World War 1. You control up to four planes piloted by humans who, at first are rookies, but then earn skills, medals, and special moves as you progress in the campaign. In each turn, you can select a move for each of your pilots. Be careful though, if your planes get shot down, your pilots will have to skip missions to be in the hospital. The plane will also need to be repaired depending on its damage.
This refreshing strategy game has a playscore of 8.57
7. Clash Royale
If for some odd reason you’ve never heard of this game, Clash Royale is a collectible card game where your cards are representative of real-time strategy game units. These units are then dropped onto a battle arena like multi-lane battlefields. Sounds complicated? Don’t worry, the actual game isn’t so. As long as you utilize your units quickly and intelligently, nothing can stop you.
This gem from Supercell has a playscore of 8.59
6. Vainglory
Are you a lover of MOBAs like League of Legends or Dota, but you’re always on the go? Vainglory is a good approximation of that kind of game specifically designed for your ios mobile device. Developer Super Evil Megacorp has done an amazing job designing this game from the simple yet very interesting map top the 10 heroes you play as. This game might just soothe your MOBA itch long enough till you get back to playing Dota or LoL on your PC.
It has a playscore of 8.62
5. Castle Doombad: Free to Slay
Castle Doombad is a Free to play tower defense, or in this case, castle defense game from Adult Swim. Instead of playing the night and shining armor rescuing the princess, you are the villain who kept the princess as a prisoner and preventing the knight from saving her. There are so many exciting characters from the selfie addicted tanker to Dr. Lord Evilstein to keep you smiling while setting traps around your game.
This creative spin to the usual Tower Defense game has a playscore of 8.64
4. Arena of Valor
If the other MOBA games from this list haven’t convinced you to become a MOBA fan, Tencent's Arena of Valor, also known as King of Glory in some regions, just might persuade you. This game from Proxima beta has a huge player base, reactive controls, and quick matches for those of us mobile players with short attention spans. The game rewards players got just playing the game. This makes it easy for the player to quickly unlock heroes they can play in this awfully fun little game.
This game has a playscore of 8.78
3. Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links
To celebrate this long-running series, Konami put together a game that works both as a tribute and a great jumping point for new players. You can duel people in a swift fashion through a format called Speed Duel, perfect for bite-sized gaming on the mobile. This game not only has awesome gameplay and easy user interface, but older fans of the anime are also treated with the original characters like Yami Yugi, Seto Kaiba and Joey -- complete with full voice acting from the original voice actors.
This satisfying game has a playscore of 8.93
2. Plants vs. Zombies
From the very beginning, it seemed that Plants vs. Zombies would work so well played on a touch screen device. If you live under a rock and have never heard about this game, it’s another zombie apocalypse game. This time, however, instead of hoarding ammo and food, you defend yourself by letting your garden fight for you. Everything from the desktop game can be on your mobile phone: all the original 50 levels, 49 adorable plants and 26 types of zombies.
If you haven’t already, grab yourself a game that has a playscore of 9.21
1. Kingdom Rush
This top of the line title has all the ingredients of a great tower defense strategy game. Despite its familiarity, Ironhide's Kingdom Rush is absolutely fantastic. Unsurprisingly set in a medieval setting, there are four recognizable tower types that you’ll find in this game: arrow towers, magic towers, artillery, and scarcity. Each level of the game can last to 20 minutes, sometimes, even more, giving you, the player hours and hours of fun-filled tower defending.
This epic game has a playscore of 9.23