Rescue Rush is a fast-paced blend of army management, tower defence, and collectable troop progression. At first, it feels simple — summon soldiers, defend, and upgrade — but there’s a surprising amount of depth hidden behind its cheerful visuals.
If you’ve just started playing, this Rescue Rush Beginner Guide will teach you how the game works, which troops to invest in, and how to progress efficiently without wasting your resources.
Rescue Rush Beginner Guide – Troop, Recommended Team
1. Basics
At its core, Rescue Rush is about defending your base and clearing each stage with a “Perfect Clear.”
You deploy troops to fight waves of enemies that appear from both ground and air.
Each troop has a unique role — some specialize in shooting air units, others in ground combat. Winning battles grants recruit items, shards, and equipment, all of which feed into your army’s growth.
The two main goals for new players:
- Beat stages consistently without losing troops.
- Perfect clear earlier chapters to unlock bonus dossiers and recruit materials.
2. How Combat Works
Each level starts with a set number of deployment slots. You spend these to summon troops on the field.
Once placed, troops attack automatically — there’s no manual targeting.
You can tap and hold a troop to view its attack range.
Upgrades appear between rounds; you can select one to strengthen a specific troop or unlock an additional copy on the field.
Winning depends on choosing the right combination of troops and upgrades for the enemy types you’ll face.
3. Ground vs. Air Units
Knowing what each troop can hit is key to survival.
Here’s how they break down:
| Troop | Effective Against | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rifleman | Ground & Air | Versatile and consistent. Great starter troop. |
| Sniper | Air | Extremely effective vs. helicopters and air bosses. Long range, high single-target damage. |
| Rocketeer | Air | Deals splash damage — best for grouped flying enemies. |
| Tanker | Ground | High health and heavy damage. Essential for defending lanes. |
| Zapper | Ground | Delivers massive burst damage in close combat. |
| Howitzer | Ground | Area-of-effect damage — excellent when enemies group up. |
| Machine Gunner | Ground & Short Air Range | Rapid fire but short range. Works best with multiple copies. |
Rule of thumb:
- If the stage has helicopters or air bosses — bring Snipers and Rocketeers.
- If it’s ground-only — bring Tankers, Zappers, and Howitzers.
- For mixed waves, build a balanced lineup with one of each type.
4. Team
When you begin, your troop options are limited — focus on upgrading a core group of 3–4 units instead of spreading resources thin.
Recommended Starter Team
- Rifleman: Reliable DPS that hits anything.
- Sniper: Long-range air counter.
- Tanker: Ground anchor and damage sponge.
- Rocketeer or Howitzer: For splash or heavy burst.
As you unlock rarer troops, you can adjust, but early on this lineup can carry you through the first several chapters.
5. Upgrading and Leveling Units
Progress depends heavily on upgrades. You’ll strengthen troops in three ways:
- Leveling Up – Uses coins and materials. Increases base stats.
- Starring Up (Shard System) – Requires unit shards, obtained from duplicate recruits. Raises overall power and unlocks new caps.
- Breakthroughs – Unlock new level caps after reaching a limit (e.g., Level 10). Needs special materials like Assault Rifle Modules from Plains Ambush and Razor Ops dungeons.
Pro Tip: Only invest in units you plan to use long-term — resources are limited, and swapping focus costs efficiency.
6. How Recruitment Works
Rescue Rush features two main recruit types:
| Recruit Type | Cost | Prime Chance | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Novice Recruit | Standard Dossiers | ~0.5% | Cheap, easy to farm, great for shards. |
| Ace Recruit | Premium Dossiers | ~4% | Higher prime and elite drop rates. |
Even low-cost Novice recruits can drop Prime units, so always use both.
When you summon duplicates, they convert into shards, which are essential for starring up your troops.
Tip: Save up for 10x or 30x pulls — these often trigger better pity rewards and increase your odds of higher-rarity recruits.
7. Perfect Clears and Rewards
When you beat a stage without losing any units, you earn a Perfect Clear.
Perfect Clears give extra dossiers, premium loot boxes, and upgrade items.
You can revisit any cleared stage and reattempt it to achieve a Perfect Clear — this is one of the fastest ways to build up resources early in the game.
8. Redeem Codes and Free Gifts
The developers frequently share redeem codes that provide bonus resources.
To use them:
- Tap your avatar (top left corner).
- Open Settings → Code.
- Enter the code exactly as shown — capitalization matters.
Example working codes (as of the video reference):
RescueRush88RUSHREADY2025RescueRushOB
Claim rewards from the Mailbox after redeeming. They often include shards, dossiers, and rare “Fang” unit items.
9. Equipment and Gear Management
Your soldiers can equip gear that boosts their stats.
- Use Quick Equip to automatically assign the best available items.
- Only enhance high-rarity gear (Epic, Legendary, Mythic) — don’t waste resources on common gear, as it’s quickly replaced.
- Enhancing improves a single item, not the slot, so upgrades don’t transfer. Replace low-tier gear when you get better versions.
10. Commanders and Talents
Commanders provide passive boosts to your army.
- Unlock new commanders through story progression or events.
- Leveling and starring them up improves team-wide stats.
- Check the Commander tab whenever you hit a difficulty spike — it’s easy to forget these upgrades, but they can significantly improve DPS and survivability.
Rescue Rush rewards strategic unit choice and focused upgrades more than sheer grinding.
By combining a small team of well-upgraded troops, claiming your perfect clears, and using redeem codes regularly, you’ll build a strong foundation early on.
