Orcs Must Die! 3: Complete Guide

A complete guide to Orcs Must Die! 3: how the trap economy and skulls work, which traps and weapons to unlock first, how to build killboxes, how War Scenarios and War Machines work, and how to approach Endless, Scramble, Weekly Challenges, and the DLC.

Researched September 2026 — current as of hotfix 1.2.5.6 (May 2024), the last listed update. Robot Entertainment's newer game, Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap, launched in early 2025, so OMD3 is no longer receiving content. Check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• Protect the rift, not your pride. Every orc that reaches the rift costs Rift Points. Lose them all and the level fails. Killing orcs yourself matters less than making sure none get through.
• Traps first, weapon second. Your hero can fight, but traps do the heavy lifting. Spend most of your build phase placing traps, then use your weapon to clean up.
• Funnel with Barricades. Barricades block paths and force orcs to walk the long way through your traps. Most great setups start with barricades.
• Build one killbox, not many weak spots. Concentrate traps where lanes merge or where orcs must pass through a corridor.
• Chain crowd control with damage. Tar Trap slows, Ice Vent freezes, then damage traps finish. Combos kill far faster than raw damage alone.
• Earn skulls and spend them. Skulls come from finishing levels (up to five per level, more for fast clears and no leaks). Spend them to unlock and upgrade traps. Upgraded traps are a big power jump.
• Replay early levels. If a level is too hard, replay older ones for skulls and come back with upgrades.
• Co-op is great but not required. The game was balanced as a solo experience. Two players share one trap loadout size, so co-op is more about coverage than extra power.
• Pick difficulty honestly. Start on a lower difficulty while you build up unlocks; Rift Lord is the hard setting for experienced players and pays out accordingly.

Core Loop

Each level has a build phase and a series of waves:

• Build phase: place traps using your starting Rune Coins (the in-level currency). Look at the spawn portals and paths the orcs will take.
• Waves: orcs come in waves. Between waves you get more coins to place more traps.
• Earn more coins by killing orcs, and more for killing them in combos (several kills in quick succession).
• End of level: you get skulls based on performance.

Resource | Where it comes from | What it buys

Rune Coins | Starting amount, kills, combos, wave clears | Placing traps and guardians during a level

Rift Points | Start of each level | Your life total; lost when orcs reach the rift

Skulls | End-of-level rewards | Unlocking and upgrading traps, weapons, and trinkets

Heroes and Story

The campaign follows two new War Mage apprentices, Kelsey and Egan, trained by the returning heroes of the earlier games. The story is set more than 20 years after Orcs Must Die! 2. The game first launched on Stadia (July 2020) and came to PC, PS4, and Xbox on July 23, 2021 (PS5 in June 2022). Story mode launched with 18 levels, and the Drastic Steps campaign (originally a Stadia-era expansion) is included free.

Traps

OMD3 has a large trap arsenal. These are the ones every loadout is built around:

Trap | Type | Why use it

Barricade | Blocker | Redirects orcs and creates longer paths. Orcs attack it, so put damage behind it

Spike Trap | Floor | Cheap, reliable damage. Early-game staple

Tar Trap | Floor | Slows enemies so other traps hit them longer

Wall Arrows | Wall | Long-range wall damage along corridors

Wall Blades | Wall | Strong melee damage along walls; great in narrow halls

Floor Scorcher | Floor | Fire damage over time

Ice Vent | Floor | Freezes enemies, setting up combos

Dart Spitter | Wall | Poison-style damage over time along walls

Boom Barrel Dispenser | Placed | Explosive barrels you can shoot to detonate

Swinging Mace | Ceiling | Knocks enemies back and kills in bulk

Ceiling Laser | Ceiling | Damage from above, great where floors are full

Grinder | Floor | Very high damage to anything that walks into it

Acid Geyser | Floor | Area damage

Shock Zapper | Placed | Electric damage and crowd control

Decoy | Placed | Draws enemies away from you or the rift

Wall Charger | Wall | Pushes and damages enemies passing by

Rip Saw | Floor | Line damage down a corridor

Lava Cauldron | Placed | Pours damage onto enemies below

Guardians

Guardians are allied units you place like traps:

• Guardian Archer shoots from range and is the standard placeable guardian
• Guardian Knight and Guardian Priestess appear as War Machine versions in War Scenarios (see below): a melee blocker and a magic user that fights from behind the line

Guardians work best in front of or next to a killbox, soaking attention while traps deal damage.

Starter Killbox Recipes

• Barricade maze + Spike Trap + Wall Arrows: cheap and effective early. Force orcs into a long path lined with walls.
• Tar Trap + Wall Blades: slow enemies right in front of wall blades in a narrow corridor.
• Ice Vent + Grinder: freeze, then shred.
• Swinging Mace into Tar: knockback enemies into a slow zone and keep them bouncing.
• Ceiling Laser over a choke: stacks with any floor trap.

Weapons and Trinkets

You bring a weapon and trinkets into each level alongside traps (they share your loadout).

Weapon | Role

Crossbow | Accurate ranged damage; good default

Bladestaff | Melee sweeps; strong against groups

Broadsword | Heavy melee

Flamethrower (Cold as Eyes) | Close-range area fire

Hand Gatling (Tipping the Scales) | Sustained ranged fire

Longbow | High-damage ranged shots

Elven Short Swords | Fast melee

Stone Staff | Staff with area abilities

Wind Belt | Knocks enemies around, pushes them into traps

Alchemist Satchel | Throwable area effects

Flame Bracer | Fire spellcasting

Tornado in a Box | Crowd control

Snow Blower | Frost damage and slows

Trinkets add passive bonuses or extra effects. Examples include the Ring of Storms, Reptilian Carapace (Tipping the Scales), and Cyclopean Gaze (Cold as Eyes). The Trap Reset Trinket resets your traps faster.

Tip: A knockback weapon like the Wind Belt is excellent for pushing orcs into lava, pits, or grinders, which is often faster than damage.

Enemies

Enemy group | Notes

Orcs (light, medium, heavy, archers) | The bulk of every wave

Ogres and other heavies | Tanky; need sustained damage and slows

Cyclopean (Medium, Heavy, Shaman, Mesmerizer; Cold as Eyes) | Casters and bruisers; the Mesmerizer tracks War Mages with an arcane ray

Tuatara (Light, Heavy, Ranger, Assassin; Tipping the Scales) | Reptilian units, some very fast

Flyers (added with Drastic Steps) | Ignore floor traps; need ranged traps or guardians

Fire Fiend | Fire-based enemy; not fully immune to fire damage since a patch

Some enemy names you will see in newer write-ups (for example several orc variants introduced in Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap) are not in OMD3, so check the level preview for what you will actually face.

Flyers and fast units are the classic killbox breakers. Always include some ranged coverage (Wall Arrows, Guardian Archer, your weapon) near the rift.

War Scenarios and War Machines

War Scenarios are the headline feature: huge outdoor battles with hundreds of orcs at once. You get access to War Machines, oversized traps built for crowds:

War Machine | What it does

Boom Barrel Launcher | A mountable launcher that lobs explosive barrels

Giant Flip Trap | A huge flip trap that launches groups of orcs

Bowling Boulder | Rolls a giant boulder through the horde

Giant Killer Beehive | Unleashes swarms on enemies

War Outpost | A fortified position

Guardian Knight and Guardian Priestess (War Machine versions) | Heroic allied units

Tips:

• War Scenarios reward thinning the horde early; do not let everything reach your walls.
• Mount War Machines during the biggest waves.
• Place ordinary traps behind the walls as a second line of defense.

Other Modes

• Endless: Survive as long as possible. Leaderboards track your best.
• Weekly Challenges: A rotating level with fixed rules and a leaderboard.
• Scramble: A roguelite-like mode where orcs gain increasingly nasty modifiers each level, and you earn your own modifiers to fight back.

DLC

DLC | Released | What you get

Drastic Steps | November 6, 2020 on Stadia (included free in the PC/console release) | A new story campaign, 5 scenarios, an endless map, flying enemies, war guardians, new weapons and traps

Cold as Eyes | November 9, 2021 | 3 scenarios, the Cyclopean enemies, the Flamethrower, Molten Gold trap, Cyclopean Gaze trinket

Tipping the Scales | April 7, 2022 | 5 scenarios, the Tuatara enemies, the Hand Gatling, Briar Patch trap, Reptilian Carapace trinket

Patch 1.2.0.0 also added more Endless maps (Abandoned Passage, Order Enclave, Slag Field).

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Spreading traps across every lane. Funnel orcs into one or two killboxes.
• Forgetting flyers. Floor traps do nothing to them.
• Not upgrading traps. Skulls spent on upgrades are worth more than spreading them across unlocks you never use.
• Standing in your own killbox. Some traps hurt you or you block the orcs' path in bad ways.
• Ignoring combos. Combo kills give more coins, which lets you build more traps.
• Placing barricades that fully block paths. Orcs need a route; if you block it entirely they will attack barricades instead.

Advanced Tips

• Knockback + hazards: Swinging Maces, Wall Chargers, and the Wind Belt are all ways to shove orcs into lava or pits for instant kills.
• Slows are force multipliers. Tar Trap or Ice Vent in every killbox multiplies the damage of everything around it.
• Build out from the rift. Your last line of defense matters most; the first killbox can be cheaper.
• Use guardians as tanks. Enemies stop to fight them, which keeps them in range of your traps.
• Upgrade your two or three core traps first. Barricade, your main damage trap, and your slow.
• Adapt per level. Check which enemy types appear (the level preview shows them) and swap in counters before starting.

FAQ

Is Orcs Must Die! 3 co-op? Yes, two-player online co-op in every mode.

Should I play Orcs Must Die! 3 or Deathtrap? Deathtrap (2025) is the newer roguelite-style entry with up to four players. OMD3 is the more traditional campaign-driven game with War Scenarios. They are different enough to play both.

How many levels are there? Story mode launched with 18 levels, plus Drastic Steps and the two DLC scenario packs.

What is the best trap? There is no single best trap, but Barricades plus a strong slow (Tar Trap or Ice Vent) plus a high-damage trap (Wall Blades, Grinder) is the core of almost every winning setup.

How do I get more skulls? Beat levels on higher difficulties, avoid leaks, and clear fast. Replay levels where you earned fewer than five skulls.

Is the game still updated? The last listed patch was hotfix 1.2.5.6 in May 2024 (a DLC availability fix for the Epic Games Store). No further content is expected.

Sources

• Orcs Must Die! 3 on Steam
• Steam news for Orcs Must Die! 3 (hotfixes, Deathtrap posts)
• Orcs Must Die! 3 on Wikipedia