Strategy:Boss Bloon Event

This article was last updated for: version 51.2

Here is the icon of the inactive Boss Bloon Event, which If a Boss Event is active, which changes to the featured boss when the event is active.

Boss Bloon Events spawn extremely challenging Boss Bloons that will easily overwhelm incoherent strategies, especially the Elite version. This article will be focused on the gameplay before and between Boss spawns, as the strategy while the Boss is present varies widely depending on the Boss. Farming is key to defeating Bosses, especially Elite ones, hence this article will mostly be about farming.

For strategies to defeat the Bosses themselves, consult the strategy page for each Boss Bloon:

• Bloonarius
• Lych
• Vortex
• Dreadbloon
• Phayze
• Blastapopoulos

Recommended Heroes

Heroes are crucial to victory, providing valuable support or income and greatly simplifying the Boss. Recommended Heroes are listed below.

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & how to use
Geraldo		When placing Geraldo early, Rare Quincy Action Figure can be afforded and sold in the 30s to obtain Monkeyopolis, the most efficient farm. In addition, Rejuv Potion allows for multiple ability usages against Bosses, Fertilizer greatly aids farms, Paragon Power Totem makes the obtaining of expensive, high-degree Paragons such as Goliath Doomship much cheaper, and most of his other items see use as well.
Benjamin		Ben's money generation greatly simplifies the early game by creating a snowballing effect that allows for quicker farming. In addition, Biohack is useful in the early-game, and his Level 5 buff to Monkey Banks speeds up the work towards an early Monkeyopolis. Note that at higher level gameplay, Benjamin should (ideally) be blocked by obstacles, to prevent his Trojan from stealing cash and pops, and if there is not a suitable spot, then it is recommended to sell him during between Tier 1 and 2, specially if the player goes for an XXXL Trap or needs the pops for a high degree Paragon later.
Early game Heroes		The listed heroes are not as powerful as Geraldo and Benjamin, but become useful when both of them are banned. All of them perform solid defense against Bloons before the Tier 1 Boss spawns, allowing more farms to be built.
Support Heroes		As with early game Heroes, these heroes see use when Geraldo and Benjamin are banned. They have support capabilities for towers that perform well against Bosses, such as Adora's for Sun Avatars, Brickell's for Destroyers, and Ezili's Sacrificial Totem, which is weaker than Adora's and Brickell's support but applies to all towers nearby.

Recommended Monkey Knowledge

High amounts of Monkey Knowledge upgrades are recommended before attempting Boss events, especially for Elite bosses. Recommended Monkey Knowledge points are listed below, with all of them aiding greatly in defeating the boss. They are not required, but lacking many of them makes defeating the boss far more difficult, especially the Elite boss.

Purposes	Monkey Knowledge	Reasoning
Early setup	More Cash, Hero Favors, Empowered Heroes	Most Boss Events start on early rounds, and certain MK make early-game much easier. More Cash's +$200 starting cash allows many more early-game options; income generators can be played earlier, making a snowball effect that exponentially increases farming. Alternatively, more Heroes can be purchased immediately with the increased starting cash. Combined with Hero Favors and Empowered Heroes, starter heroes become more efficient to carry the early-game and more cash can be used for farming.
Early defense	Bonus Monkey!, Cheap 'Rangs, Recurring 'Rangs, Military Conscription, Flanking Maneuvers	If Dart Monkeys are enabled, the Free Dart from Bonus Monkey! is an excellent starting tower, so less spending is needed right into the start of the game and income generators can be bought earlier without costing many lives. Cheap 'Rangs and Military Conscription reduces the cost of Boomerang Monkeys and the first Monkey Sub to complement the defense, while Recurring 'Rangs and Flanking Maneuvers increases their utility in the early game defense. If the player can spare Monkey Knowledge points, Mana Shield and Pre-game Prep can be used to delay the additional defenses before losing too many lives.
Income	Farm Subsidy, More Valuable Bananas, Bigger Banks, Inland Revenue Streams, Bank Deposits	These Monkey Knowledge points greatly increase the income generated by making Farms more efficient. Farm Subsidy allows the 1st farm to be purchased earlier by making it cheaper. More Valuable Bananas makes 0-2-3 Marketplace more cost-efficient than 2-0-3 if buying them immediately, while greatly improving late-game farming with 5-2-0 Banana Central + 4-2-0 Banana Research Facility spam. Inland Revenue Streams is beneficial when transitioning to Monkeyopolis + Bloon Trap, as well as Least Tiers if wanting to make income with as few tiers as possible. Bank Deposits and its pre-requirement Bigger Banks opens up a new method of farming: IMF Farming, which stands out for pre-T1 income generation. Deposit money into the IMF Loan until about $8,300 for the most efficient use of the short-term interest.
Selling	Flat Pack Buildings, Better Sell Deals	Selling is often required to get defense for the Boss or for better farms. By gaining more money from selling, it is easier to transition into expensive income generators, buy defense, and supply cash sacrifices for Paragon(s).
DPS	Veteran Monkey Training, There Can Be Only One, Paragon of Power	Paragons are far more efficient than most T5 towers against Boss Bloons. The extra attack speed for Paragons matters greatly, especially against Elite Bosses. The other Monkey Knowledge points improve the DPS of non-Paragons, such as There Can Be Only One, which makes Vengeful True Sun God a powerful alternative if Paragons are banned.

Additionally in high-level gameplay player might opt to not have Big Bloon Sabotage active, as it reduces the amount of pops available for Paragons during late-game due the reduced health of MOAB-Class Bloons.

Rounds 1-39 (pre-Tier 1)

Preparing to defend the Tier 1 boss features spending as little into defense as possible to defeat the Bloons so all the money can be put into income generation (farming). The specific build order depends mostly on the Hero selection, with 4 main variations: Geraldo, Benjamin, Early Hero or Late Hero.

• Geraldo: Start with the Free Dart Monkey and Geraldo with the starting cash, the two of them should be able to defend until the player is able to buy the Rare Quincy Action Figure around Round 8 and then a second tower to defend which we will call additional defense 1. On more difficult maps it might be needed to buy a Shooty Turret before the figure, but sell it to afford the figure earlier, even if that means losing a few lives on that round.
• Benjamin: Start with Free Dart Monkey and then buy Benjamin as soon as possible, then add additional defense 1.
• Early Hero: Free Dart + the Hero of choice once it can be afforded. Depending on the hero additional defense 1 can be skipped.
• Late Hero: start with Dart and additional defense 1. In this build order, the Hero can be delayed a lot or even not used at all, but make sure it can hit the desired level threshold later in the run.

The additional defense 1 is usually a Monkey Sub if they have Military Conscription (setting it to Last targeting with Flanking Maneuvers), otherwise, or if there is no water nearby, a Boomerang Monkey will also work. In the case either Darts, Boomerangs or Subs are not available, alternatives include more of the available towers, Engineers, or Druids and to a lesser degree Wizards and Ninjas. Geraldo can use Shooty Turrets instead of other towers, but the first Monkey Sub is usually cheaper than one Shooty Turret with Monkey Knowledge.

From this point all builds go for two 2-0-0 Greater Production Farms, building a 2-0-0 first, then the second one. If possible, they should be built in an open space with a nearby body of water, so they can be around a Monkey City Village and sold under the range of a Favored Trades Buccaneer.

After the player has two 2-0-0 Farms (or earlier if the defense is already being pressured), the player can save to place the Hero if it has not been placed. Otherwise, a third tower can be obtained, which we will call additional defense 2. Geraldo can use more Shooty Turrets until the player has 2 or 3 total, Benjamin and Late Hero strategies should get the missing tower between Sub and Boomerang and Early Hero can also skip this tower if it is powerful enough, otherwise, any of the additional defense 1 towers work.

Listed below is a quick summary of the early-game, generally setup is finished around rounds 10-15, depending on map and available cash.

Early game quick guide

Step	Geraldo			Benjamin			Early Hero			Late Hero
	Name	Portrait	Notes	Name	Portrait	Notes	Name	Portrait	Notes	Name	Portrait	Notes
1	Free Dart Monkey		Sub, Boomerang, Engineer, or Druid are alternatives.	Free Dart Monkey		Sub, Boomerang, Engineer, or Druid are alternatives.	Free Dart Monkey		Skip if not available, otherwise Sub, Boomerang, Engineer, or Druid are alternatives.	Free Dart Monkey		Engineer, Boomerang, or Druid are alternatives.
2	Geraldo		Buy Figure as soon as possible, on harder maps a Shooty Turret can be bought and sold in-between.	Benjamin		Place him as soon as possible, even if mid-round.	Hero		It should be afforded before the Dart gets overwhelmed.	Additional defense 1		Any of the towers listed above also work.
3	Rare Quincy Action Figure			Additional defense 1		Any of the towers listed above also work.	2× Greater Production		Buy one farm first, upgrade it, then the second.	2× Greater Production		Buy one farm first, upgrade it, then the second.
4	Additional defense 1		Shooty Turret if not available.	2× Greater Production		Buy one farm first, upgrade it, then the second.	Additional defense 1		Can be skipped if the Hero is powerful enough.	Hero		Can be placed earlier if defenses are being pressured.
5	2× Greater Production		Buy one farm first, upgrade it, then the second.	Additional defense 2		Alternatives listed above can also be used.				Additional defense 2		Can be skipped if the Hero is powerful enough.
6	Additional defense 2		2 or 3 Shooty Turrets are enough at this point.

Before we continue with the farming setup, we'll talk about the rest of the defense needed before Round 40. First, during the early 20's upgrading the Boomerang Monkey to 1-0-2 is heavily recommended, if not available, other towers can be upgraded like Sub to 0-0-1, Dart to 0-3-0, Engineer to 1-0-0, or Druid to 1-0-0 or 0-1-0.

The Camo Bloon in round 24 is normally ignored, but Lead defense is needed for 28 and 30 (and 26 against Dreadbloon). The 1-0-2 Boomerang is the preferred option, but 0-0-0 Bomb Shooter, 1-0-0 Sniper, 0-0-0 Alchemist, and 1-0-0 Druid are common alternatives.

During the late 20's and early 30's, before Bloon Trap is obtained, some towers might need to be upgraded to deal with the Bloons on harder maps, options include Boomerang to 3-0-2, Sub to 0-0-2, Engineer can be upgraded to 0-1-3, 2-0-2 or 3-0-0. Camos in Round 33 can also be ignored if lives are plenty, but usually Rounds 36 and 37 need defense, options include 0-0-3 Crossbow or a 0-0-0 Spike Factory at the end of the track. At a bit higher price range a 0-3-0 Cleansing Foam can also be used in preparation for an Overclock later. Geraldo can use more Shooty Turrets and See Invisibility Potion instead.

Returning to the farming strategy, after having two farms, there are two common strategies that can be used; Marketplaces and the Miniopolis (a Monkeyopolis win a single farm sacrifice). Beginners and players without Bigger Banks and Bank Deposits are recommended to use the Marketplace strategy as is the easier of the two and the MK is required for the strategy.

In the Marketplace strategy, two more 2-0-0 farms are obtained and then all of them are upgraded to 2-0-3, during the late 20's, an additional Engineer can be placed instead of upgrading other towers and be gradually upgraded into a 0-1-4 Bloon Trap before Round 34 to gain additional income and handle the defense, after that, more 2-0-3 Marketplaces can be placed, going for 0-0-3 if it can be upgraded intermediately or 2-0-0 first if not. If the defense for the Tier 1 Boss revolves around selling the Farms, the last farm should be placed in Round 37 and then finish with a 0-0-4 Favored Trades for the extra sell value, otherwise, the last farm can be placed in Round 38.

The Miniopolis strategy has two main variants, which depend on having Geraldo.

Monkeyopolis without Geraldo

Upgrade one of the 2-0-0 Farms to 2-2-0 and then the other to 2-0-2, and save cash until the sell value of the 2-0-2 farm plus the available cash is enough to afford Monkey Bank after the round ends (which is around $1100 with Monkey Knowldege), sell the 2-0-2 farm and get the Bank upgrade. After that, while the Bank is filling, place any defense needed for the late 20's and optionally get another 2-0-0 Farm.

When the Bank is nearly full (more than $9,000 stored), collect it and upgrade to a 2-4-0 IMF Loan, upgrade the 2-0-0 farm, if any, sell the 2-0-2 Farm and deposit all available cash into the IMF. All income generated during the next rounds while the bank fills and ability is recharging should be deposited in the IMF until the it has a balance of around $8,500.

When the IMF is nearly full (more than $11 500 stored), collect it and place a 0-0-2 Village next to the bank, then place three additional 0-0-2 villages to obtain a triple discount on the first Village, start the next round and immediately use the IMF Loan ability, then upgrade the Village next to the IMF to a 0-0-5 Monkeyopolis absorbing the Bank. If the cash is not enough, try using 1 less 0-0-2 village.

Monkeyopolis with Geraldo

Keep placing 2-0-0 Farms until Round 30 (or when the sell value of the Rare Quincy Action Figure is around $10,000 if Geraldo wasn't placed on Round 1). Upgrade the farms to 2-0-2 (If the farms were built near a body of water, also place an 0-0-4 Favored Trades first). Sell all the Farms and place a 0-0-2 Village, then place three additional 0-0-2 villages to obtain a triple discount on the first Village and place a 0-0-0 Farm next to it, then sell 1 or 2 0-0-2 Villages and the Favored Trades to upgrade the Village to a 0-0-5 Monkeyopolis absorbing the Farm. If the cash is not enough, try using 1 less 0-0-2 village or wait an extra round.

All alternatives

Finish with an Engineer in the Monkeyopolis range and upgrade it to 0-1-3 Double Gun, then sell all remaining villages and defenses, except the Hero, to upgrade the Engineer to 0-1-4 Bloon Trap, place the trap as early in the track as possible in the edge of the Engineer's range, so it doesn't attack the Bloons before reaching the trap. Avoid getting camo defenses for 33, 36, 37 unless necessary.

Then build 2-0-3 as many Marketplaces on the Monkeyopolis range as the player can afford during the following rounds. During Round 37 place a 0-0-3 Lead to Gold Alchemist which can attack the Lead Bloons of the round and have cash to afford Rubber to Gold as soon as possible. The Alchemist should be able to attack the Bloons before they reach the trap, set its targeting to Last. The Alchemist effectiveness can be increased by placing a 0-1-2 Glue Gunner to slow down the Bloons before they reach the Alchemist. Keep building 2-0-3 Marketplaces, if planning to sell the villages last one should be placed in Round 37 and then finish with a 0-0-4 Favored Trades for the extra sell value, otherwise, the last Marketplace can be placed in Round 38.

The summary for the farming progression is shown below.

Farming progression recommendations

Step	Marketplace strategy			Miniopolis without Geraldo			Miniopolis with Geraldo
	Name	Portrait	Notes	Name	Portrait	Notes	Name	Portrait	Notes
1	4× Greater Production		4 total.	Monkey Bank		Upgrade one of the 2-0-0 farms to 2-2-0 and the other 2-0-2, then sell the 2-0-2 after saving $1100 cash.	Rare Quincy Action Figure		Keep it until it reaches about $10000 value.
2	Marketplace		Upgrade the 2-0-0 Farms to 2-0-3 until Round 30.	2-0-2 Farm		Optional, will produce extra income while the Bank is filling.	Greater Production		Spam while the figure increases in value.
3	Bloon Trap		0-1-4, place around Round 30 so it can be obtained before Round 34, target as close to entrance as possible.	IMF Loan		Collect the Bank when it has over $9,000, upgrade, sell the 2-0-2 Farm and deposit all cash while the bank is filling until it has around $8,500.	Monkeyopolis		Sell the figure and the Farms (under Favored Trades if possible), then build the Monkeyopolis under discount villages, absorbing a 0-0-0 Farm.
4	Rubber to Gold		0-0-4, place it around Round 37, add a 0-1-2 Glue Gunner to slow down Bloons.	Monkeyopolis		Collect the IMF when it has over $11,500, use the Loan ability and then build the Monkeyopolis under discount villages, absorbing the IMF.	Bloon Trap		Support it with a 0-0-4 Rubber to Gold and a 0-1-2 Glue Gunner.
5	Marketplace		Spam until Round 38 (or 37 with a Favored Trades if planning to sell them)	Bloon Trap		0-1-4, target as close to entrance as possible.	Marketplace		Spam until Round 38 (or 37 with a Favored Trades if planning to sell them).
6				Marketplace		Spam until Round 38 (or 37 with a Favored Trades if planning to sell them).	Rubber to Gold		0-0-4, place it around Round 37, add a 0-1-2 Glue Gunner to slow down Bloons.
7				Rubber to Gold		0-0-4, place it around Round 37, add a 0-1-2 Glue Gunner to slow down Bloons.

If Monkeyopolis is present, all defense and income generators are ideally placed in its range, which applies later on as well. Before the Tier 1 Boss spawns, sell Marketplaces if needed. If possible, obtain a Favored Trades near them before selling them, and in most cases, a second Favored Trades is still worth its value for the second stack of the sell value bonus. However, the third stack has heavily diminished returns. Favored Trades is recommended for selling farms for all other tiers as well and if the cash is not enough to buy more than one, start by selling the cheapest towers until the player has enough for the additional Buccaneers. If Monkeyopolis is banned, replace it with Marketplace spam or build a Banana Research Facility instead.

Rounds 40-59 (pre-Tier 2)

The early 40s require focus on defending the Boss, so farming may be limited during this time, the player can either choose to sell all the farming setup to beat the Boss quickly before too many rounds pass or keep it to generate more income, but taking longer to defeat the Boss. Regardless of this decision, after the Boss is popped, all towers used to defend the Boss should be sold and the recovered cash is used to resume farming in earnest. If the farming setup was sold, rebuild a Monkeyoplolis absorbing a 0-0-0 Farm under at least two discount Villages and add again a Bloon Trap, 1-0-4 Rubber to Gold and a 0-2-2 Glue Gunner.

Until Round 60, two Bloon Traps will perform the bulk of the defense, the second one should be obtained before Round 47. To handle Camo Bloons, it is recommended to use Cleansing Foam , and target it above a location where Bloon Traps are dropped. If the player is using Geraldo, he can use an Invisibility Potion on a Trap Engineer instead, also if the player is used Benjamin and is line of sight is not blocked, it is recommended to sell him as the Bloon Trojan will lose more money than its generation until very late game.

After Round 50 0-3-2 MOAB SHREDR, MOAB Maulers or a MOAB Assassin are recommended break the outer layer of MOABs so the Ceramics can be captured by the traps, make sure that the Bomb Shooters can't hit regular Bloons before they enter the trap or the Spike Factory is targeted off-track so it also is only able to hit MOABs due their larger hitboxes. Ideally all these towers should be in the range of a Monkey City / Monkeyopolis to boost the income of all towers in range. However, at some times, some Bloons might be able to get past the traps by pierce-capping them or during the redeploy time, at this point it might be useful to place a relatively inexpensive tower without global range that will later be sacrificed to a Paragon as a last line of defense.

For farming, after the boss is defeated, the player should sell all defensive towers and marketplaces if any there are any remaining on the map, preferably under the influence of a Favored Trades (which is also sold at this point). From this point there are two strategies to follow:

• Banana Central: This is the main strategy, after having a Monkeyopolis with Bloon Trap setup ready, the rest of the cash obtained by selling the Tier 1 defense is used to buy a Banana Research Facility and an Overclock and start using its ability on the BRF constantly, the rest of the space around the Monkeyopolis is filled with 2-0-3 (or 0-2-3) Marketplaces that are then upgraded to Central Markets and a Favored Trades. When the sell value of the Overclock, Buccaneer, the Markets combined plus the cash in hand is enough to afford the Banana Central upgrade for the BRF, wait until the Overclock ability is recharged, use on the BRF, sell the previously mentioned towers and get the Banana Central upgrade. Continue with two Overclocks for it (due the reduced duration on Tier 5 towers) and start purchasing more BRFs and an Overclock for each, until the end of Round 58. When Banana Central is banned, replace the Marketplaces/Central Markets with BRFs.
• Merchantmen: This can be used on maps with enough water surface to place 21 Buccaneers, here the Monkeyopolis should be in a place where it can cover as much water area as possible. Start by buying 16 Merchantmen and upgrade one of them to Trade Empire, get 5 more Merchantmen to achieve maximum buff stacks and then finish by alternating between buying a Central Market Farm and upgrading two Merchantmen to Favored Trades until Round 58. Bloon Traps with support can be considered if the trap can be placed in a spot where it can absorb Bloons before the Boats have a chance to attack them.

On both strategies, if the player can stall the rounds or has spare cash, another sources of income can be considered like Special Poperations, upgrading a Engineer to XXXL Trap, get the other Tier 5 Farms or upgrading an Overclock to Ultraboost and using it on the Banana Central. The next table shows a quick guide for the farming recommendations:

Farming progression recommendations

Step	On maps without abundant water			On maps with abundant water
	Name	Portrait	Notes	Name	Portrait	Notes
1	Monkeyopolis		Rebuild if sold for Tier 1 defense with a 0-0-0 Farm sacrifice.	Monkeyopolis		Rebuild if sold for Tier 1 defense with a 0-0-0 Farm sacrifice, build it on a spot it can reach the largest water area possible.
2	Bloon Trap + Support		Add 1-0-4 Rubber to Gold and 0-2-2 Glue Gunner. Two traps are required for Round 47+, use Cleansing Foam for Camo.	Bloon Trap + Support		Only if it can absorb Bloons before the boats have a chance of sniping them. Add 1-0-4 Rubber to Gold and 0-2-2 Glue Gunner. Two traps are required for Round 47+, use Cleansing Foam for Camo.
3	1x BRF, 1x Overclock		Obtain after the Boss is defeated, BRF to 4-2-0, and overclock the BRF.	16x Merchantman		Obtain after the Boss is defeated.
2	Marketplace, Central Market		When Marketplaces occupy all space near Monkeyopolis, upgrade them to Central Markets.	Trade Empire		Upgrade one of the Merchantmen to Trade Empire.
3	Banana Central		Overclock a BRF, sell Central Markets and Overclocks, all in range of a Favored Trades, and upgrade the overclocked BRF.	5x Merchantman		Stop when the Merchantmen have 20x stack.
4	2x Overclock		2 Overclocks are needed for Banana Central due to shorter uptime on Tier 5s.	10x Central Market		Stop on Round 58 if 10 of them have not been obtained. It is best to alternate between buying Central Markets and Favored Trades.
5	BRF, Overclock		Spam until Round 58, 1 Overclock for each BRF.	Favored Trades		Upgrade the Merchantmen to Favored Trades. It is best to alternate between buying Central Markets and Favored Trades.
6	Additional income		If the player can stall rounds and has enough cash, other income generators can be used like Special Poperations, otherwise player can upgrade an Engineer to XXXL Trap or get one of the other Tier 5 farms.	Additional income		If the player can stall rounds and has enough cash, other income generators can be used like Special Poperations, otherwise player can upgrade an Engineer to XXXL Trap or get one of the other Tier 5 farms.

Rounds 60-79 (pre-Tier 3)

Here, once the Tier 2 Boss spawns, players start to farm pops for Paragons by only using towers who will later be upgraded as damage-dealers in addition to the regular defense. The farming strategy here is straightforward, featuring the spamming of BRFs with 1 Overclock for each. If using Trade Empire+Merchantmen, finish the setup by getting 20 Favored Trades and 10 Central Markets if needed, and spam the rest of the map with Merchantmen that are later to be upgraded to Favored Trades (adding the Tier 5 farms is also worth their footprint). In open spaces, obtain Monkey Cities and place BRFs/Favored Trades in their ranges. Energizer (with Lord of the Abyss if on a land-only map) can be used here to reduce the cooldowns of Overclocks and any ability-based income generators, and Ultraboost can be obtained in the early 70s to further boost the income of first Banana Central and then several BRFs.

It is generally worth it to get an XXXL Trap in the range of a Monkey City to defend and generate additional income, specially If the player intends to get a Master Builder so it starts to get pops towards the Paragon, complementing it with a Rubber to Gold Alchemist. It is also recommended to get at least one Bounty Hunter with its targeting set to Strong in the back of the track and also in the range of a Monkey City and use the Marked to Pop Ability constantly before MOAB-Class Bloons enter the trap, the combined effects of all those towers can stack to get more than 10× more Cash than if popped normally.

If many Farms need to be sold, it becomes worth it by Round 79 to use Special Poperations's Door Gunner to carry a Favored Trades to sell Farms around the map more efficiently, while also being a decent farming tower on its own using the Supply Crate ability. If no water is on the map, use Lord of the Abyss to place down a Favored Trades for Special Poperations to carry. Use this selling strategy if needed for Tiers 4 and 5 as well.

40 Merchantmen setup

On maps which can fit over 40 Merchantmen and 10 Central Markets / Monkey Wall Street, it might be worthwhile to go for a temporal Navarch of the Seas setup as it provides a boost to 40 Merchantmen which stacks with Trade Empire.

In this case, save up cash after building the main setup and additional income generators like Tier 5 farms until the player has $980,000 available (including the sell value of all other towers on the map, with the exception of the Hero, Trade Empire and Central Markets and optionally Banana Central and Ultraboost) or until the Tier 3 Boss appears if the player has enough cash for the Paragon, at this point use an Special Poperations with a Door Gunner Favored Trades to sell all the towers, with the exception of the ones mentioned earlier, and then build a Degree 1 Navarch of the Seas which should be able to defend Tier 3 Boss by its own on most cases and help for Tier 4. Use the remaining money to re-buy a Trade Empire and 40 Favored Trades and conserve them for the rest of the game.

During the Tier 5 defense sell the Navarch of the Seas and build another one, this time sacrificing the Favored Trades that spent many rounds generating boosted income, this will result on a Degree 60+ or even Degree 80+ Paragon. This setup is not recommended if the player needs to stall rounds for income generating abilities, or if pops are needed for other towers as the Navarch will steal most pops and anti-stall the rounds or if Navarch of the Seas has a bad Boss or map matchup.

Rounds 80-99 (pre-Tier 4)

Pre-Tier 4 farming features continued farming, with BRFs+Overclocks or Favored Trades continuing to fill the map. By Round 99, with optimized farming, the map can generally be completely filled with income generators. At this point it might be also preferred to switch the Merchantmen setup for a BRF setup if the player does not intend to use Navarch of the Seas for the Tier 5 defense as it has higher returns, using 0-4-1 Ice Monkeys to create platforms over the water.

It is recommended to get Master Builder and/or Nautic Siege Core for Tier 4, as they can be made to not steal pops when the Boss is inactive (the former by placing it away from the entrance and the latter by submerging), allowing them to be kept. In addition, Master Builder takes up to 20 rounds to achieve maximum attack speed, making its early purchase even more important if desired for Tier 5. Therefore, prioritize farming pops for them during this portion of the game.

Megaopolis

It is recommended to sell the current Monkeyopolis and obtain a Megaopolis, or Monkeyopolis absorbing many farms, after beating the Tier 3 boss. To do so, sell the current Monkeyopolis, put a Monkey City in an open space, put another Monkey City near it to buff its range (and income later on), overclock the first Monkey City, cram as many 4-2-0 BRFs as possible in the first Monkey City's range, and upgrade it to Monkeyopolis. It is recommended to use an Overclock and a Take Aim ability from a Deadeye to extend its range and absorb more farms just before purchasing the update, to go even further, a Sun Temple with $50,000 in Support sacrifices (which also acts as a powerful supporting tower for the Tier 4 and Tier 5 bosses) can be placed to boost the first Monkey City's range further, but is usually overkill.

Rounds 100-119 (pre-Tier 5)

By now, the entire screen has ideally been filled with income generators, so generally keep them until Round 119. If going for Vengeful True Sun God, start ultraboosting the base Super Monkey that will be upgraded to it in the early 100s. If Nautic Siege Core has been obtained, submerge it after the Tier 4 Boss has been popped to prevent it from stealing pops. Flying Fortress is recommended for the defense here, as it reliably accumulates pops for Goliath Doomship, the most powerful Paragon. If Goliath Doomship is banned, accumulate pops for other Paragons to be obtained for Tier 5 by only using the towers that turn into these Paragons.

Sell all farms at the end of Round 119 to obtain the strongest possible defense. Four Paragons (each at Degree 40+) is enough for nearly all Bosses, including Elite Bosses, but on Boss Events with extreme modifiers, stronger defense is needed. Goliath Doomship and Nautic Siege Core are the most powerful Paragons for their cost, so they are always recommended when not banned. Another combination is Master Builder with Magus Perfectus which become the highest temporal source of damage in the game by using the Power Glove ability on the Wizard Paragon just before activating the Arcane Metamorphosis ability. Cheaper Paragons like Dart, Tack or Boomerang are not recommended on Elite Bosses unless they are on extremely favorable conditions.

Guidelines for Ranked Mode

The strategy presented in this article was written for just clearing the event, and is not optimized for Ranked Mode play because, depending on the specific scoring type, the amount of farming and the choice of defensive towers will be different. It is impossible to write a guide which can cover all cases as they will differ a lot depending on the boss, map, available towers and challenge modifiers applied, but certain guidelines can be used as a starting point.

Fastest Time

• In the early game, the player might need to have stronger defenses earlier than normal to avoid the Penalty Timer.
• In general the farming setups will look pretty similar to what is expressed on this strategy guide.
• Before the Boss appears, a common strategy is to sell most, if not all the farming setup to buy a defense that will defeat the boss extremely quickly, and afterwards sell the defenses to recover the farms.
• As the Penalty Timer is not applied when the Boss is on the screen, players can stall the regular Bloons to make rounds as slow as possible to more time for regular farming, but caution is advised as the Penalty Timer can start immediately after the boss is defeated if the round has gone for long enough.
• If the player intends to use some ability to defeat the Boss from towers that start on cooldown (ex. First Strike Capability), is recommended to place them one or two rounds before the boss so they can be available on time. Paragons with long ability cooldowns like Magus Perfectus or Nautic Siege Core should be place even earlier.

Least Cash

• All towers and upgrades should be purchased under the range of 1 or more 0-0-2 Villages if possible and use Support Chinook to move them to their final locations.
• To provide more power to a Paragon is recommended to use a combination of pops and tiers (usually from 25 towers with the 4 cheapest upgrades) and not using the cash slider at all.
• On many weeks it is possible to beat the Normal boss with no farming at all.
• Quantity over quality, many Tier 3/4 towers can provide the same amount of damage than a Tier 5 tower for less cash.
• If the player is not playing against Lych, towers that provide buffs to other towers are usually worth their cost (ex. Permanent Brew, Call to Arms).
• While the Boss is on the screen, use a Support Chinook to move important towers around the map (ex. Super Brittle, Permanent Brew), this also applies to Least Tiers.
• If farming is needed, a combination of end-of-round and ability-based income is recommended. Examples include Special Poperations and a Sun Temple with only $25,000 of support sacrifices. Rounds can be safely stalled for abilities as the penalty timer will almost never matter, this also applies to Least Tiers.

Least Tiers

• During the early game, players should avoid placing towers that are not intended to have a place in the mid- and endgame setup as they are only wasting tiers. For example, if the player is trying to use a Master Builder for the late game, placing a Engineer at the start of the game is more efficient than the Free Dart Monkey.
• Also prefer towers that will become Paragons later for the early boss defense, for example, using a Spike Storm instead of an Elite Defender on a Tier 1 defense.
• Do not crosspath towers if is not needed.
• To provide more power to a Paragon is recommended to use a combination of pops and cash slider and not using extra sacrifices.
• Quality over quantity, placing, Least Tiers defenses concentrate all the defensive setup on a small number of towers with many upgrades and buffs.
• At high level play, is also important to beat the Boss as soon as fast as possible, as the chances of having tied scores are much higher than in Least Cash.

General recommendations for all Bosses

• Letting a few Bloons leak during the early game is fine to place a farm or get some of their upgrades a little earlier. If the player has Mana Shield and/or Healthy Bananas and planning to build Marketplaces / Central Markets, being more greedy can payoff. However, if the Boss is Lych, the players should be more conservative with the lives to avoid losing to Lych-Soul. The best way to recover lives is by using Special Poperations.
• During a Boss battle, certain occasions may benefit from stalling or anti-stalling rounds. Stalling allows more time for ability-based farming, while anti-stalling generates more money from Bloons and non-ability Farms to allow for faster defense purchases while the Boss is active.
  • For earlier tiers, a 0-1-2 Glue Gunner with Gyrfalcon is recommended for stalling while the Boss is not active, while Downdraft is recommended when the Boss is on the screen. Downdraft becomes the only early stall recommended in Least Tiers. Towards the late-game, blimps gain greatly increased health; rounds can be stalled with Bloon Crush near the start or a 4-0-1 Maim MOAB on Last to try to target a ZOMG.
• Debuffs that increase the damage that Bosses take (including Super Brittle, Cripple MOAB, and Glue Strike / Glue Storm), alongside towers that buff damage dealers (such as Support Sun Temple, Overclock, Call to Arms / Homeland Defense, and Permanent Brew, with the latter 4 not recommended against Lych), steadily gain importance starting on Tier 2, with Sun Temples seeing use starting on Tier 3.
• Watching the boss timer in steady intervals can help time certain abilities. A notable example is Level 20 Adora's Blood Sacrifice; each minute in the timer since the starting second marks each time the ability must be refreshed.