Strategy:Bloons TD 6

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Bloons TD 6 features a variety of game modes and events, such as Boss Bloon Events, Race Events, and Contested Territory Events. This article will primarily focus on the base game (i.e. playing the regular game modes on the official maps), with general tips for the variety of game modes present.

General recommendations

Progression

• It is recommended to beat easier game modes on many maps first before attempting harder game modes, such as Impoppable, Half Cash, and CHIMPS, for the first time. That way, more Tower upgrades, Monkey Knowledge upgrades, and player experience can be obtained first, greatly easing the difficulty of these game modes. Note that Monkey Knowledge is disabled in CHIMPS.
• Hard Standard is the ideal game mode for progression. It is relatively simple, being beaten easily on most maps with general recommendations listed in this article, and grants a large amounts of Player XP, Tower XP, and Monkey Money for the time spent beating it.
• Watch a few guides before or while attempting a game mode of unprecedented difficulty, such as CHIMPS. Take note of the guide maker's choices and attempt to modify and incorporate them later on.
• Experimenting with new strategies is key to progression. This can be done in Sandbox and Challenge Editor. Practicing can also be done in the latter.
• Attempt to obtain achievements, especially ones that grant Monkey Knowledge points, such as All for one and one for one.
• Proper hero choice is important in BTD6. The first recommended heroes to purchase are Sauda and Benjamin, with both being easy to use and a good option in most situations (except for CHIMPS in Benjamin's case). Geraldo and Corvus are the most powerful heroes, but also the most difficult to learn. Purchasing them is recommended once the player can defeat CHIMPS on Intermediate maps.
• Remember rounds that can easily cause a loss, and these rounds are listed below.

Important rounds

Round #	Bloons Spawned	Reasoning
4	Red x35 Blue x18	In Hard Mode, it is hard to avoid losing lives from the dense clump of Blues without having sufficient pierce.
10	Blue x102	Instead of just spaced out Greens, Blues, and Reds, this round contains a dense clump of Blues near the end of the round. Sufficient pierce is important on this round; many towers that defeat the previous rounds lose to the Blue clump at the end due to lacking pierce.
15	Red x20 Blue x15 Green x12 Yellow x10 Pink x5	The spaced out swarms of Yellows and Pinks are problematic; most early-game defenses attempt to chase the bloons, or simply fail to keep up with them. This round is far more difficult than all rounds preceding it, making many players come to it unprepared.
24	Camo Green x1 Blue x20	The Camo Green is relatively easy to deal with, but not having a Camo tower and having no money to buy one could cost the entire game.
28	Lead x6	Without reliable Lead popping and enough money, this round could become a dead-end.
33	Camo Red x20 Camo Yellow x13	There are many more Camo Bloons than Round 24, requiring much more proper defense against them. Make sure to buy it before-hand or save enough money for one.
36	Pink x140 Camo Regrow Green x20	The three sudden Pink rushes may overwhelm defenses that rely heavily on slow-firing or stockpiling attacks. Camo Regrow Greens may pose minor difficulty for Camo detectors to focus on them.
40	MOAB x1	The MOAB is the hardest challenge of the early game. Without the entire early-game setup being prepared to deal good single-target damage and clean up the tight, high-RBE ceramics, this round could very easily be a dead-end.
54	Ceramic x35 MOAB x2	The constant, fairly packed ceramics with the two MOABs make it arguably the toughest round in the early part of mid game.
59	Ceramic x20 Camo Lead x50 Regrow Ceramic x10	This is the first Camo Lead round. While many options exist to defeat this round, forgetting to give Camo detection to a lead-popper or put down a lead-popper that sees Camo is a common cause of defeat on round 59.
63	Lead x75 Ceramic x122	This infamous round has 3 extremely tight Ceramic waves with 40, 40, and 42 Ceramics respectively. Unless the defense has been set up very adequately to deal with very dense Bloons, this round can pose massive troubles.
64	MOAB x6 Fortified MOAB x3	Nine MOABs, including 3 Fortified MOABs, spawn rapidly and can easily overwhelm defenses. Without reliable damage to groups of MOAB-class, this round can be a struggle, especially if all abilities are on cooldown from round 63.
75	Lead x14 Fortified Lead x14 Fortified MOAB x3 BFB x6	The 6 BFBs in 3 separate packs, especially the last dense pack of 3 BFBs, the fortified MOABs, and the Leads blocking many projectiles give this round a strong case of being the hardest mid-game round.
76	Regrow Ceramic x75	This round can become a dead-end if all abilities are on cooldown after being used to beat the difficult Round 75.
78	Rainbow x150 Ceramic x75 BFB x1 Purple x80 Camo Ceramic x72	Without a solid Camo popping power or reliable decamo, the densely packed Camo Ceramics will simply pass through unscathed.
82	BFB x6 Fortified BFB x5	The latter 5 fortified BFBs are difficult to break, but it is the fortified Super Ceramics from those BFBs that pose the greatest challenge, especially for towers that fall off against them, such as Crossbow Master and Bomb Blitz.
89	Fortified MOAB x20 Fortified BFB x8	The unprecedented amount of Fortified blimps and especially the Fortified Super Ceramics underneath them can become a significant roadblock.
90	Fortified Camo Regrow Lead x500 DDT x3	With preparations, the 3 DDTs are simple, but they still pose an unprecedented challenge to defenses, due to fast-moving blimps as opposed to slow-moving ones with Super Ceramics as the main threat. They could easily brick a run if no towers that can pop Camo, Black, and Lead have been placed before-hand.
91	Fortified Ceramic x100 BFB x20	This round is usually simple, but difficult on maps with very separate Bloon & MOAB lanes, especially Cargo and Dark Dungeons. On maps containing them, the Bloons-only lane(s) are the hardest out of any pre-Freeplay CHIMPS round, due to towers falling behind the spaced Super Ceramics when placed to deal with the BFBs first.
92	Fortified MOAB x50 ZOMG x4	Defenses that struggle to non-stop Fortified MOABs and especially their Super Ceramic insides will have severe trouble against this round. The Fortified MOABs could also divert attention from the ZOMGs, making towers not focus on them until it is too late.
93	Fortified BFB x10 DDT x6	The extra DDTs can pose extra challenge to towers that can beat Round 90. The Fortified BFBs may also take a long time to break and are especially problematic when towers spend a long time to deal with DDTs and let them get far.
95	Fortified Camo Regrow Lead x500 Camo Regrow Purple x250 Fortified MOAB x50 DDT x30	The extreme amount of DDTs on this round is a monumental challenge to many strategies, making many runs a dead-end. The Fortified MOABs and their Super Ceramic insides consume the pierce of projectiles that would have damaged the DDTs, posing further challenges.
97	Fortified ZOMG x2	Defenses that lack single-target damage will often fail to pop the Fortified ZOMG layers soon enough to deal with the insides. Commonly used towers that struggle against this round specifically include Prince of Darkness and Ultra-Juggernaut.
98	Fortified BFB x30 ZOMG x8	This round has the highest RBE out of any round in pre-Freeplay CHIMPS. The high amounts of health of the fortified BFBs and ZOMGs, but especially the absurd amount of Super Ceramics (including Fortified) that they contain, make this round completely stumble many strategies.
99	MOAB x60 Fortified DDT x9	Many strategies that beat Round 95 fail here due to them based on group-popping powers that falls off, as the DDTs gain 2x on this round, with MOABs and their Super Ceramic insides still consuming pierce. Unlike Round 95, ability cooldowns are a severe issue, due to the DDTs spawning right after the notorious Round 98.
100	BAD x1	Many strategies that revolve around stalling and/or grouped popping powers completely fail to Round 100 due to the BAD being immune to all slowdowns from towers and requiring single-target damage options to be dealt with.

Placement tips

• Instead of focusing on putting towers so that that their range covers as much of the track as possible, put them so that they can cover as many distinct sections of the track as possible. That is, put towers in a spot where Bloons pass through their range on as many occasions as possible, and an example of such a spot is the center of In The Loop.
• Cram towers as tightly as possible. It allows for better utilization of the best spots to place towers in, more towers able to be crammed into the range of Monkey Villages, and more buffs able to be fit inside each tower's range in the case of towers such as Shinobi Tactics.
• In general, place non-seeking, high-pierce towers so that they shoot down straight lines while still having good coverage. Example of such a spots include the spots in near the top-right of Resort, and towers that take advantage of such placements include MOAB Domination and Captain Churchill.
• Place low-range towers or towers with low-range projectiles inside bends/loops, such as Resort's top-right loop. These towers include Tack Shooters, Ice Monkeys (except Icicle Impale), and Sauda.

Gameplay recommendations

General

• The hero is extremely important to all game modes. Never forget to place them down, and utilize their abilities and synergies with towers.
• Perform save-ups, and do not simply purchase a new tower or random upgrade whenever money is there for it. Instead, save money for a tower more powerful than those on the screen.
• Focus on a few strong towers rather than spamming low-tier ones, especially in the mid-game and late game. Exceptions include Permanent Brew and Destroyers or Full Auto Rifles, which are powerful strategies that involve spamming.
• Supporting towers are extremely important in BTD6. In particular, Jungle Drums, Berserker Brew, and Stronger Stimulant are pivotal regardless of the game mode. Camo support, such as Radar Scanner, Submerge and Support, Signal Flare, aid greatly by allowing powerful towers that cannot detect Camo to be used. Other supporting towers, such as Giant Condor, MOAB Glue, Relentless Glue, Bloon Sabotage, MOAB Press, Symphonic Resonance, gain great importance when the game goes to Round 81 or more. Other support towers are useful in certain situations, for example Overclock (with a >$35,000 tower, especially a Tier 4) and Shattering Shells (for towers struggling specifically with Round 98).
• Towers recommended for each stage of the game are listed at the next main section.

Early game (rounds 1-40)

• Attempt to save up for the hero as early as possible. Sell a one or two towers if possible and the hero can be afforded by doing so.
• After the hero is obtained, end the spamming of Tier 0 and Tier 1 towers, and start saving up for a Tier 2-Tier 3 tower that retains its value throughout the early-game.
• Start farming around Round 20 if the game goes to Round 80 or more (unless playing on Half Cash), depending on the difficulty, as farms are forced to be dropped later if playing on a very hard map on a challenging game mode. Attempt to obtain a 2-0-0 Farm by Round 30.
• Watch out for Round 24's Camos and Round 28's Leads.
• In the 30s, make the defense able to take care of all Bloon types, eespecially in Apopalypse and Alternate Bloons Rounds.
• During the late 30s, save up for a proper mid-game tower.
• End the early-game farming before Round 38 to save up money for defense against the MOAB.
• Selling may be required for the MOAB on Round 40, which poses a daunting challenge. Save the hero's abilities/inventory for this round, and buy a defense that pops the MOAB with good single target damage and cleans up the Ceramics with solid grouped popping power.
• The MOAB marks the end of Easy and Primary Only, so everything can be sold to go all-out on the MOAB in these modes.

Mid-game (rounds 41-80)

• All towers obtained must either be or be upgradeable to towers that have strategic importance later on in the mid-game and/or in the late-game.
• The hero becomes very important in the mid-game, and utilizing their abilities/inventory when needed is crucial.
• Berserker Brew/Stronger Stimulant should be purchased for the strongest mid-game tower(s). Their damage, attack speed, and pierce buffs can multiply the tower's power multiple times.
• Outside of Half Cash, Jungle Drums becomes extremely worth it in the early mid-game as well.
• For rounds 41-60, focus on getting a tower that breezes through the mid-game and saves up large amounts of money for a late-game tower.
• The BFB on Round 60 is the end of Medium, Reverse, Military Only, and Apopalypse. Therefore, the player can go all-out on the BFB.
• Continue farming until the mid-50s if the game ends on Round 80, but keep farming until the mid-game ends if playing on Impoppable.
• During Rounds 61-80, save up for a win condition, which is a strong and relatively expensive tower that excels in either damage or support.
• Watch out for Rounds 63, 75, and 78, the hardest mid-game rounds. Make sure to have solid grouped popping powers for these rounds.
• Round 80 marks the end of Hard, Alternate Bloons Rounds, Magic Monkeys Only, Double HP MOABs, and Half Cash. Therefore, go all-out on the ZOMG unless going into Freeplay.

Late game (rounds 81+)

• Super Ceramics appear on Round 81, having 60 HP (120 if Fortified) and only spawning 1 Bloon, severely limiting the capability of many towers. These towers include Recursive Cluster, Ring of Fire, Crossbow Master, and The Big One.
• One win condition should be obtained by Round 85, the last round to grant 0.2x income instead of 0.1x, regardless of the price.
• Utilize many of the support towers listed in the General subsection.
• Strong tower(s) that pop Lead, Black, and Camo must be obtained by Round 90 for DDTs.
• In the 90s, a second win condition can be obtained if possible. The second win condition must cover the weaknesses of the first win condition.
• If relying on abilities, careful management of them is essential in the 90s. Attempt to leave at least one ability without cooldown at the start of every round.
• The defense must be able to pop spaced DDT rounds and clumped ZOMG + BFB rounds.
• Preparation for Round 100 is essential, and do not have no money going into Round 100 with a stall or grouped-popping reliant defense (in which case a First Strike Capability or Spike Storm is needed).

Towers suited for most game modes and maps

Early game and mid-game

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & how to use
Destroyer		The plain 3-2-0 Destroyer easily wipes out the early game, with the exception of Camos. With a 3-2-0 Berserker Brew and given Camo support, Destroyer performs exceptionally in the mid-game as well, wiping out most rounds in the early mid-game with ease. Admiral Brickell's Naval Tactics ability and Level 8 +1 pierce buff both greatly benefit Destroyer.

Mid-game

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & how to use
Aircraft Carrier		Aircraft Carrier transitions well from Destroyer, wits its planes and main attack doing solid damage to Bloons and blimps. It carries Destroyer's power further into the mid-game, and likewise pairs well with Admiral Brickell.
Bloon Area Denial System		BADS easily wipes out most mid-game rounds, especially when given Berserker Brew. It saves up well to its powerful Tier 5, Bloon Exclusion Zone, in which case the 2-0-4 crosspath is the best option. However, if not going for its Tier 5, 0-2-4 is more optimal due to its increased amount of Buckshot knockback and innate Camo detection.
Artillery Battery		Artillery Battery easily clears nearly all Bloons that pass through its target, in addition to doing some blimp damage. With its Bombardment ability, it wipes out hyper-dense clumps of Bloons (such as those on Round 63) and blimps. When significant amounts of Bloons or blimps get past its target, re-target it to focus on them.
Comanche Defense		Comanche Defense can take out most of the mid-game with ease, particularly excelling on maps with one lane per round (where most towers decline in usability), such as Infernal. It also transitions well into its Tier 5, Comanche Commander.
Spectre		Spectre easily solos the first 80 rounds on nearly all maps with a 2-2-0 Monkey Village, thus making it optimal to simplify Hard mode and Alternate Bloons Rounds. It still holds up relatively well in the 80s, but falls off in the 90s while requiring MIB for DDTs. It also transitions well into its Tier 5, Flying Fortress, which is a simple guaranteed win in Impoppable (and affordable with farming) but generally unaffordable in CHIMPS.
Monkeyopolis		The Monkey Commerce discounts, Monkey Town increase to cash per pop, Monkey City buffs to surrounding money-makers, and production of $1200 per round when absorbing one 0-0-0 Banana Farm make Monkeyopolis the most efficient money-maker and allows for a trivial late-game. It is especially useful in Impoppable, and is useful in game modes that end in Round 80 as well. Attempt to place all towers in Monkeyopolis's range, and the 2-0-5 crosspath is optimal to increase its range and grant Jungle Drums. The best way to obtain Monkeyopolis is to buy 3 0-0-2 Monkey Commerces close together, buy a Monkey City discounted by all 3, sell one Monkey Commerce, get a 0-0-0 Banana Farm discounted all 3 villages left, sell the other two Monkey Commerces, and finally upgrade the Monkey City into Monkeyopolis.

Mid-game and late game

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & how to use
Carrier Flagship		Flagship easily wipes out with the entire mid-game and early late-game, while remaining strong into the 90s. In addition, its ~17% buff to water towers is very useful for water-based strategies. Use 5-2-0 if the main Destroyer attack can be utilized, and use 5-0-2 otherwise. Admiral Brickell is recommended for Flagship, as her Naval Tactics and Mega Mine abilities both help greatly.
The Bloon Solver		Solver easily wipes out all Bloons and low-tier blimps in the mid-game, and remains extremely powerful for its cost during the late-game. It wipes out Ceramics and Super Ceramics with ease, with its puddles dealing massive damage to everything else. Pair it with Carpet of Spikes, which pops high-health blimps and DDTs and spawns their insides that Solver can take out and trigger its puddles. 5-2-0 is the optimal crosspath for Solver, as it grants extra pierce for the puddles to take down more blimps.
Pirate Lord		Pirate Lord easily clears the latter part of mid-game, in addition to doing good overall damage in the late-game for its cost. Its power somewhat declines in the 90s due to its relatively low single-target damage, but it remains powerful due to its hook ability that can hook to 6 DDTs or 6 BFBs or 2 ZOMGs. Pair it with Admiral Brickell for her Naval Tactics and Mega Mines abilities.
Glaive Lord		Glaive Lord is a simple yet powerful and versatile tower. It completely wipes out the mid-game, retaining great power into the late-game. On easier maps, the rotating glaives wipe out low-tier blimps in tandem with the ricocheting glaives, while on harder maps, the long distance between tracks allow the ricocheting glaives to repeatedly bounce around the map and wipe out everything in sight. Glaive Lord is best placed near a bend for its rotating glaives, but it can still prove powerful without bends when placed near the track, thanks to its ricocheting glaives. Crosspath with 5-2-0 if other towers also need de-leading or MIB and use 5-0-2 if de-leading and MIB are not needed for anything else.

Late game

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & how to use
Late-game support towers		The support towers listed in the Gameplay Recommendations section's General subsection are all incredibly cost-efficient. It is not needed to get all of them every game, but they all greatly aid the defense, while costing many times less than another win condition does.
Perma-Spike		Perma-Spike is extremely versatile on nearly all maps and is simple to use. When put near the exit, it tanks tremendous amounts of leaks, and effectively guarantees victory in most runs. The 1-0-5 crosspath with Jungle Drums and 3-0-1 Berserker Brew (in combination giving it over 40% more tanking power) is the optimal setup. On multi-lane maps where the lanes are distant enough to prevent Perma-Spike from reaching all lanes, its power is reduced, but can still be utilized (but with more difficulty) using Support Chinook. Perma-Spike works best with towers that have solid grouped popping power, such as Glaive Lord and Orca, to reduce its stress under high-RBE rounds such as Round 98.
Comanche Commander		Comanche does both solid damage and some support with its shoving capabilities. It especially shines on single-lane, alternating maps such as Bazaar, where many towers fall off. Geraldo and Glue Storm work well with Comanche, as the former covers aids against dense rounds with Sharpening Stone, Genie Bottle, and Blade Trap, while the latter gives a powerful +2 debuff to all ability-glued Bloons and blimps, puts solid slowdown on Super Ceramics, and de-leads DDTs. Use the 2-0-5 crosspath, as Quad Darts greatly improves Comanche's damage and Pursuit reduces the need to micro.
Bloon Exclusion Zone		The 2-0-5 crosspath BEZ with Camo detection, Stronger Stimulant, and Lead popping, clears the late-game with absolute ease on nearly all maps. The high cost of BEZ is not a massive issues, as when given Berserker Brew and Camo detection with the 2-0-4 crosspath, Bloon Area Denial System is a solid Tier 4 that saves up well to BEZ with the help of a few solid mid-game towers, such as Dragon's Breath.
Pop and Awe		When used with stuns such as Relentless Glue, Super Glue, and Striker Jones's Concussive Shell ability, Pop and Awe trivializes the late-game. If needed, retarget occasionally to catch leaking Bloons and clumps of blimps that get far. Striker Jones, with his buffs to Mortars, Concussive Shell, Artillery Command ability resetting Pop and Awe's ability and granting it double damage at Level 20, and Target Command ability easing micro, is the optimal hero for Pop and Awe. Perma-Spike complements Pop and Awe well, covering its slight weakness against DDTs and catching any leaks that micro mishaps create. Solid BAD damage options, such as Spike Storm, should be obtained to cover Pop and Awe's BAD weakness.
Super Glue		Super Glue is an extremely effective stalling tower on almost all maps. It stuns massive amounts of Bloons and blimps at once with its splats, effectively locking many rounds in place. It pairs especially well with Sauda and Pop and Awe, both dealing massively increased damage to Bloons and blimps stunned by Super Glue.
Avatar of Wrath		On most maps, Avatar of Wrath can wipe out most rounds in the late-game. Generally, the 0-1-5 crosspath with 5 Poplusts and a Stronger Stimulant maximizes its power. The best heroes for Avatar of Wrath are Geraldo and Obyn, as both grant solid buffs and Geraldo's Gerry's Fire can be buffed by Poplusts. For DDT rounds, use MIB or Embrittlement or Glue Storm. Perma-Spike pairs well with Avatar of Wrath, due to the latter struggling against DDT rounds and the end of rounds (due to few Bloons on the screen) and Perma-Spike being well-suited for these situations.
Sky Shredder		Sky Shredder is unimpeded by line-of-sight blockers on many difficult maps, thus it retains its power on practically all maps, from Beginner to Expert. Its missiles do good damage to the outer layers of high-health blimps, and its darts can clean up the insides. Sky Shredder fits well within a wide variety of strategies, and cleanup towers such as Perma-Spike complement Sky Shredder well, as they tank the leaks that Sky Shredder's somewhat unreliable darts can leave. Stronger Stimulant maximizes Sky Shredder's damage.
Orca		At Power 64, Orca one-shots ZOMGs and DDTs, while dealing massive damage to everything else surrounding it with its thrash. It wipes out the vast majority of most rounds, especially when paired with Overclock, which has full uptime on it thanks to Orca being Tier 4. Set Orca on Strong so that it gets the most amount of thrash time, switch to First if many Bloons/blimps are to its front, and reposition it if many Bloons/blimps exit its range. The best way to obtain a Power 64 Orca is to get two Power 24 Great Whites (which are far more cost efficient than additional Orcas) for the mid-game to get a smooth save-up, and then merge them into Orca on Round 80. Orca's tendency to leak stray Bloons makes towers such as Perma-Spike and Prince of Darkness great pairings.