Boss Challenge: Difference between revisions

{{Lede image|BTD6 Boss Challenge icon.png|Boss Challenge icon in the Events menu}}

 

'''Boss Challenge''' is a game mode in [[Bloons TD 6]] involving [[Boss Bloon|Boss Bloons]] introduced in [[Bloons TD 6 v40.0|version 40.0]]. In this mode, players can challenge [[Bloonarius (BTD6)|Bloonarius]], [[Lych (BTD6)|Lych]], [[Vortex (BTD6)|Vortex]], [[Dreadbloon (BTD6)|Dreadbloon]], [[Phayze]], or [[Blastapopoulos (BTD6)|Blastapopoulos]] on any map of their choice, including [[Protect The Yacht]] and [[Blons]]. This mode features no rewards but can be played for the challenge alone, to improve the player's own scores or can be used as practice for [[Boss Bloon Event|Boss Bloon Events]].

Players can choose any of the [[Boss Bloon|Boss Bloons]], the featured and [[List of maps in BTD6|Map]] for the challenge, the game mode is always set to [[Medium]] difficulty with almost [[Rounds (BTD6)|standard rounds]]. All [[Tower|Towers]] and [[Hero (BTD6)|Heroes]] can be used in this game mode.

{{BTD6 challenge rules

}}On round 40 the Boss spawns in a fixed point near the entrance (each Boss has a themed visual of its spawning point) and will start moving. While the Boss is on the screen there will not be breaks between rounds, even if Auto-start is off.

If the Boss is defeated, it will return again in Round 60 with much greater strength and and this will be repeated in Rounds 80, 100 and 120. Each of these five stages is known as a Tier. The tier will be indicated above the Boss' Health bar with some stars.

if there is a [[Boss Bloon Event]] active, the featured Boss cannot be selected in Boss Challenge and instead there will be a button in the Boss Challenge menu to go to the Boss Bloon Event.

Bloonarius, Phayze and Blastapopoulos have no further changes. [[Lych#Round changes|Lych]], [[Vortex (BTD6)#Round changes|Vortex]] and [[Dreadbloon (BTD6)#Rounds|Dreadbloon]] feature changes on other rounds as well (see the page of each boss for details).

The game is saved after every round like any other standard game mode, but only one save is conserved per Boss. In addition to this, the game will also conserve a checkpoint at Round 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 that the players can return to by paying some  some [[Monkey Money]]. The cost starts at {{BTD6 mm|25}} and increases by an additional {{BTD6 mm|25}} every 20 rounds. If the player is defeated they may also choose to restart the last round by paying twice the amount of the 20 round reset. Exiting the the game and returning only restarts the current round with no additional penalties, notice that if the Boss is active, the game will resume immediately upon loading.

File:BTD6 MapSelectLostCrevasseMapButton.png|[[Lost Crevasse]] - Center

File:BTD6 MapSelectWaterparkMapButton.png|[[Water Park]] - Lower

File:BTD6 MapSelectPolyphemusMapButton.png|[[Polyphemus]] - Top

File:BTD6 MapSelectQuietSteetMapButton.png|[[Quiet Street]] - Top Bloon path, it does not use the MOAB-Class Path.

File:BTD6 MapSelectBloonariusPrimeButton.png|[[Bloonarius Prime]] - Starts in the left doing the loop, then crosses over the rocks to the right path.

File:BTD6 MapSelectBalanceMapButton.png|[[Balance]] - Starts at the right, then enters to the center from the orange top right path before exiting through the blue middle left path.

File:BTD6 MapSelectEncryptedButton.png|[[Encrypted]] - Left

File:BTD6 MapSelectHauntedButton.png|[[Haunted]] - Left

File:BTD6 MapSelectErosionButton.png|[[Erosion]] - Middle, regardless of round number

File:BTD6 MapSelectMidnightMansionMapButton.png|[[Midnight Mansion]] - Top left to bottom right

File:BTD6 MapSelectSunkenColumnsMapButton.png|[[Sunken Columns]] - Right (starting from the middle left)

File:BTD6 MapSelectHighFinanceButton.png|[[High Finance (BTD6)|High Finance]] - Top right to bottom left

File:BTD6 MapSelectUndergroundButton.png|[[Underground]] - Top

File:BTD6 MapSelectProtectTheYachtMapButton.png|[[Protect The Yacht]] - Left  

The player can enable the Battle Mode by checking a box in the right side of the screen, by doing so the ruleset will also add a few more restrictions to match those of Ranked Mode in Boss Events. In addition to that, the player must select one of three scoring types: Fastest Time, Least Tiers or Least Cash. The game will keep track and record all 3 scoring types after beating each tier, but will only show to the player the selected one during the game.

If the players selects Battle Mode the menu will show the the highest tier beaten and best scores for Fastest Time, Least Cash and Least Tiers scoring types. On all three types a lower score is considered better, however any score on a higher boss tier will always be considered better one of a lower tier, regardless of the specific score, for example, beating a Tier 2 Boss with a 20 minutes Fastest Time score will always be considered better than a 10 second Tier 1 score.

Defeating a Boss Bloon is a difficult task for players used to the regular game modes, specially on Elite difficulty, as it requires a different approach to handle their health and abilities. In general heavy farming and starting as early as possible is a requirement because expensive towers, [[Paragon|Paragons]] and tower spam strategies are common ways to defeat the Bosses.

Before Tier 1 farming is handled by spending as little [[cash]] as possible to defend the regular rounds to use all the cash for farming setups with [[Marketplace (BTD6)|Marketplace]] spam and [[IMF Loan (BTD6)|IMF]] / [[Monkeyopolis (BTD6)|Monkeyopolis]] being common strategies supported by towers like [[Bloon Trap (BTD6)|Bloon Trap]], [[Rubber to Gold (BTD6)|Rubber to Gold]] and [[Hero|Heroes]] like [[Geraldo (BTD6)|Geraldo]] and [[Benjamin (BTD6)|Benjamin]] for extra income. These strategies are enough to afford towers like [[Elite Defender (BTD6)|Elite Defender]] or [[The Blazing Sun]] to defeat the Tier 1 Boss.

After that, the usual farming progression involves selling the Boss defense to afford an [[Overclock (BTD6)|Overclocked]] [[Banana Research Facility (BTD6)|Banana Research Facility]] and use it to progress into a [[Banana Central (BTD6)|Banana Central]] or [[Merchantman (BTD6)|Merchantman]] + [[Central Market (BTD6)|Central Market]] setups on water-heavy maps, ability-based income from [[Support Chinook (BTD6)|Support Chinook]], [[Jungle's Bounty (BTD6)|Jungle's Bounty]] or [[Monkey-Nomics (BTD6)|Monkey-Nomic]] can also be used if the player can stall the rounds.

Usual towers which can defeat the Tier 2 Bosses include [[M.A.D (BTD6)|M.A.D]] or [[Avatar of Wrath (BTD6)|Avatar of Wrath]] without forgetting tower spam strategies like [[Overdrive (BTD6)|Overdrive]], [[Plasma Monkey Fan Club (BTD6)|Plasma Monkey Fan Club]], [[Destroyer (BTD6)|Destroyer]] or [[Spike Storm (BTD6)|Spike Storm]], all of those with helped with usual support towers like [[Embrittlement (BTD6)|Embrittlement]], [[Glue Strike (BTD6)|Glue Strike]], [[Cripple MOAB (BTD6)|Cripple MOAB]], [[Stronger Stimulant (BTD6)|Stronger Stimulant]] or [[Jungle Drums (BTD6)|Jungle Drums]] and [[Call to Arms (BTD6)|Call to Arms]] (and higher upgrades).

Farming for Tier 3 and higher is achieved by filling the map with Banana Reseach Facilities and constantly using Overclocks on them and for the defense Paragons are heavily recommended, ([[Apex Plasma Master]], [[Glaive Dominus]] and [[Crucible of Steel and Flame]] can usually be afforded for Tier 3, [[Navarch of the Seas]], [[Nautic Siege Core]], [[Ascended Shadow]] and [[Master Builder]] for Tier 4, and finally [[Goliath Doomship]], [[Magus Perfectus]], [[Mega Massive Munitions Factory]] or even a [[VTSG]] can be used for Tier 5. In most cases Tier 5 Normal and Tier 4 Elite Bosses can require a two Paragon defense and Tier 5 Elite needs 3 or even 4, depending on the map and the Paragon degree.

Consult the Strategy section of [[Boss Bloon Event#Strategy|Boss Bloon Event]] for more advice, as both game modes are extremely similar, what works in events is very likely to be useful for Boss Challenge as well. If looking for information for a specific Boss consult their strategy pages: [[Strategy:Bloonarius (BTD6)|Bloonarius]], [[Strategy:Lych|Lych]], [[Strategy:Vortex (BTD6)|Vortex]], [[Strategy:Dreadbloon (BTD6)|Dreadbloon]], [[Strategy:Phayze|Phayze]] and [[Strategy:Blastapopoulos (BTD6)|Blastapopoulos]].

File:BTD6 Boss Challenge menu with tier 3 scores.png|Ongoing run of of Elite Dreadbloon in [[Another Brick]], showing the partial scores obtained up to Tier 3.