Strategy:Deflation (BTD6)

This article was last updated for: version 51.0

Deflation starts on Round 31 and ends on Round 60, thus limiting hero leveling and featuring more challenging rounds than in Easy Standard. It disables income generation, so the full setup can be obtained at the start. The lack of income also makes towers such as Merchantman, Favored Trades, and Rubber to Gold obsolete.

General gameplay recommendations

• The defense must be able to cover all Bloon types, including their Camo variants. For example, Camo Purples appear on Rounds 45 and 48, and Camo Leads appear on Round 59.
• The hero is important, despite them not leveling up as much, due to the limited cash. Utilize their abilities and use towers that they work the best with. All heroes can be used in Deflation, even including Benjamin (whose Bloon Trojan on MOABs and Biohack can prove somewhat useful).
• Attempt to not place down Tier 2 towers that are not Monkey Villages, as in general, a few strong Tier 3s and Tier 4s easily best many Tier 2s.
• Monkey Commerce's discount is extremely helpful in getting the initial setup. Purchase it first, attempt to put down the entire final defense (including Villages) in its range for discount, upgrade the defense into crosspathed Tier 3s, sell Monkey Commerce, and upgrade towers (if desired) into Tier 4s. Note that this is not recommended for Crossbow Master.
• Jungle Drums, Berserker Brew, and Stronger Stimulant are extremely worthwhile in nearly all situations.

Towers & heroes suited for Deflation

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & how to use
Crossbow Master or The Blazing Sun		With More Cash, Come On Everybody!, and Bonus Monkey!, a 0-2-5 Crossbow Master can be afforded, while 5-2-0 Blazing Sun only needs the former two MK. Both of these towers have enough power to solo up to round 60 and are able to damage any Bloon type, resulting in fast clears on most maps where they have range. Blazing Sun is more recommended in general due to its reduced dependency on straight lines, though Crossbow Master is favored on maps where range is needed to reach all lanes, such as on Tricky Tracks.
Neva-Miss Targeting		Three Neva-Misses, when given a 4-0-0 Stronger Stimulant, using the 2-0-3 crosspath, a 0-2-0 Village, and any Hero, easily defeats Deflation on practically all maps. The full setup requires Monkey Commerce, but two Neva-Misses also work on the vast majority of maps.
Bloon Area Denial System		The 0-2-4 Bloon Area Denial System, paired with a 3-2-0 Berserker Brew, easily coasts through Deflation on nearly all maps.
Destroyer, Aircraft Carrier		Destroyer, with the 3-2-0 crosspath, given a 3-2-0 Berserker Brew, and given Camo detection, does immense damage to all Bloons and blimps. If using them, Admiral Brickell is the hero of choice due to her Naval Tactics ability. Aircraft Carrier improves Destroyer's power further and does damage throughout the map, but the player can only place down at most 2, requiring cheap decamo options or Etienne to work around it.
Triple Guns, Armor Piercing Darts		Both Triple Guns and Armor Piercing Darts can obtain nearly map-wide coverage and Camo detection from 0-1-0 Desperados with the 2-0-3+ crosspath, and Berserker Brew maximizes their potential. As with Destroyer and Aircraft Carrier, Admiral Brickell is the best hero for Triple Guns and Armor Piercing Darts.
Robo Monkey		Provided the weaknesses of Camo and Purple Bloons are worked around, the 2-3-0 Robo Monkey can carry a Deflation defense on maps without line of sight blockers. This can be done with most decamo options such as a Signal Flare or Bloontonium Reactor.