All Tiles serve a vital role in Loop Hero and can all be classified into a few different categories. Roadside Tiles are those that can be played only adjacent to the Road, the path The Hero travels, and come in a wide variety.
Some purely beneficial while others spawn enemies and need to be farmed in order to take advantage of their boons. There are 16 Roadside Tiles in total that the player can make use of in their many Loops around the map. While getting progressively deeper into this wonderful and addicting game, it is advised to experiment with the positioning of The Hero's Tiles to find the combination that works the best for one's playstyle and build.
16 Spider Coccoon
These tricky Tiles spawn a single spider every day, which may not seem like much, but since it takes at least 2 or 3 days to make a single Loop, The Hero will often have to fight multiple spiders per Spider Cocoon every round trip. This can be difficult, especially in later chapters and on higher Loop Levels, however, Spider Cocoons give out some of the best loot, making the frequent battles with arachnids arguably worthwhile.
15 Vampire Mansion
In addition to spawning the annoying vampire enemies, Vampire Mansions are one of the Roadside Tiles that have the most synergy with other Tiles. They transform regular Villages into Ransacked Villages (which later upgrade to Count's Land) and also cause the horrid vampire mages to spawn on Abandoned Bookeries. It is also worth noting that the healing effect that Vampire Mansions give enemies can be inverted to deal damage if they are next to a Swamp Tile.
14 Battlefield
The most notable trait of the Battlefield Tile is that they spawn a treasure chest full of desirable loot, like gear and resources, at the start of every Loop. However, the downside is that enemies that were slain on adjacent Tiles have a small chance to return as ghosts in battle.
13 Shipwreck
Placing a River Tile on the map next to a Battlefield will cause it to transform into a Shipwreck, which will also spawn a treasure chest at the start of every Loop and result in the appearance of ghosts.
In addition, they also spawn a single siren enemy every Loop, which can make them a bit more dangerous to have around.
12 Road Lantern
Things can get pretty crowded on the Road as the Loop Level increases and The Hero places more Tiles down. Road Lanterns are a way to balance this crowding by reducing the total number of enemies that can be on Tiles adjacent to them by 1. Generously, the effects of separate Road Lanterns can stack for greater crowd control.
11 Goblin Camp
Every time the player places 10 Mountain Tiles, a Goblin Camp will appear to sullen one's journey. They populate the Road 1 goblin every day, meaning that a posse of 2 or 3 will usually be lurking in wait for The Hero on every Loop. While not very strong, goblins have a high attack speed and can lay waste to one's HP on higher Loop Levels.
10 Goblin Lookout
While Goblin Camps are annoying, Goblin Lookouts are a higher level of anger-inducing, as they will add a goblin archer into every battle that takes place on adjacent Tiles. Thankfully, Goblin Lookouts only get created when The Hero places a Swamp next to a Goblin Camp, which makes them fairly easy to avoid.
9 Bookery
As The Hero fills up more and more of the map, they will begin to acquire cards in their hand that they do not wish to play. The game will dispose of the oldest ones as The Hero's hand fills up, replacing them with new cards, however, a Bookery can help one out in this manner in a far more efficient manner.
Passing through one of these structures will give the player a handful of new cards instantly, though, a Bookery will become abandoned after 20 passes.
8 Abandoned Bookery
After a Bookery gets used up when The Hero passes through it 20 times, it will become an Abandoned Bookery Tile. This will no longer exchange cards in the player's hand and will only spawn tome enemies in battles that occur adjacently. These flying books are tough foes who will give other enemies magic armor and possibly increase their damage by 200%, so be wary when placing Bookeries.
7 Blood Grove
Despite the sinister name, a Blood Grove Tile is much more beneficial than harmful in the majority of situations. In every battle on spaces adjacent to a Blood Grove, enemies will get instantly killed when their HP drops to 15% or less. This effect will also stop scorch worms from fleeing, ghouls from leaving a corpse behind after they die, and will also prevent ghosts from spawning due to the effects of Battlefields and Shipwrecks. The trade-off is that Blood Groves will spawn a powerful flesh golem enemy on occasion.
6 Hungry Grove
While not necessarily being an upgrade of Blood Groves, Hungry Grove Tiles perform all the same feats while killing enemies with 20% HP or less instead of 15%. To create one, The Hero will need to separate a Blood Grove from all Groves and Forest Tiles. Be wary, however, as Hungry Groves will occasionally attack the player during battles.
5 Bandit Camp
Similar to the pesky Goblin Camps, Bandit Camp Tiles will spawn automatically when certain criteria are met. For every 2 Villages that are placed, 1 Bandit Camp will spawn next to the most recently placed Village.
The bandit enemies that spawn are nimble and evasive, making them tricky to deal with, however, only 1 will spawn every 2 days.
4 Reed
These marshy fens are created when The Hero places a River Tile next to a Wasteland Tile (the basic Tiles that compose the Road). It is advised to be careful with Reeds, as they spawn a fishman enemy once every 3 days, which may not sound too terrible, however, these semi-aquatic foes are quite strong in battle due to their combat abilities that increase their damage and evasion when backed up by other enemies.
3 Outpost
Outposts are a kind of Tile whose effects vary depending on the type of character The Hero appears as. Warriors will be aided in battle by assistants that spawn on adjacent Tiles as well, as providing archer support, at the cost of having to donate all yellow and orange items dropped from the conflict. The same happens for Rogue players, though the Rogue's greedier traits will nullify the cost. However, Necromancer characters will be attacked on sight, making this a hostile Tile for such builds.
2 Smith's Forge
These Tiles are pretty handy most of the time, therefore players seeking better armor and weapons should place a few of these here and there. Every time The Hero passes through a Smith's Forge, two of the items in their inventory will get swapped for new ones, though, the better effect of this is that such exchanges grant up to 30% (10% per item exchange) damage reduction for the next 10 received hits. There is a downside, however, in that every 6 exchanges will spawn a living armor enemy; one of the strongest normal foes in the game that has incredibly high defense.
1 Chrono Crystals
Chrono Crystals can be a bit tricky to understand at first, as their effect only pertains to Tiles that have effects tied to the passage of time; this means that only Tiles which trigger from the passing of days will get boosted, not Tiles that are affected by completing or starting a Loop. Chrono Crystals double the effects of such Tiles that sit adjacent to them, making these blue rocks excellent for farming certain enemies.