Strategy:Contested Territory (BTD6)

This article was last updated for: version 52.1

This article or section needs cleanup to improve the way it presents information and/or comply with the style guide. You can help out by editing this article. The editor who added this notice elaborates: Needs more general guidelines for gamemodes instead of only a list of recommended towers

Contested Territory is often regarded as the most difficult event mode to both understand and play, due to its unique restrictions and team-oriented focus. Competitive mode is no different, especially as multiple top level teams are vouching for at least a top 25 spot.

Contested Territory pits 6 teams against each other to grab tiles on a shared board, which each provide points to rank all teams on a global leaderboard. As battling local teams can hurt a team's leaderboard score, the team's focus is often a choice between top local or top global.

This strategy article should hopefully guide players whether they create or join a team to participate.

Team Recommendations

Preparation

• Finding players for your team or joining an already populated team is crucial to expanding on the CT board, especially on the first and last days of the event. While Team Tickets can be used to fill in some missed days, Team Tickets do not generate on the first day and the last day of tickets cannot be converted into team tickets. Thus, it is important that you also bond with players willing to play for the team.
• Try to find players with a mix of skills and timezones. Some people may despise doing specific tile modes, and ensuring that your team can handle threats at all hours of the day is important to gain an advantage.
• Ensure everyone is in the team at least 24 hours before the event begins, as signups will conclude and any empty slots will not receive personal tickets.
• Upon starting the CT event on Competitive, a teammate should briefly observe the medals and names of all teams in the lobby, and report to your team by external communication. Certain teams may be recognizable from previous weeks.
  • Teams with plenty of average-level medals have played for a long time and only play continuously to grind wins.
  • Teams who have at least one Team Global medal that is Top 25 or higher will likely know how to be competent at dominating the board.
    • If a team has top global medals but there's only a few players left, this is most likely an abandoned team.

Coordination

• Using an external communication platform is almost essential for focusing efforts on specific routes across the board, or to respond to threats.
• To ensure no team tickets are wasted, players should be observant of other players attempting other tiles, as capturing the same tile results in an overall loss of points. It might be useful to coordinate a claim system where players tell each other what tiles they are attempting to avoid this situation.
• To reach the banner tiles the fastest, teams may consider creating a route to follow for day 1 of the event in order to reach the important banner and relic tiles faster. This route should not just be a straight line to all the banners but also have many split paths to accommodate multiple players taking tiles at the same time.
• In order to score well on the leaderboards, teams should record the times at which banner tiles are taken, in order to maximize points received from them and to reclaim them when they stop producing points.

Player Recommendations

Time Management

• Speed is important when removing other teams from certain areas of the board, in order to take back tiles before they notice and counter. Additionally, only on Day 1, quickly capturing tiles is far more important than ruthless optimisations.
• Before beginning a certain tile, never simply just enter a tile; always check the tile's towers, heroes (if applicable), map, rounds, and game modifiers. If relics are available, find the best combination for the planned defense(s). Planning ahead saves much more time and effort than experimenting during the game, only to be stuck partway through.
• Regular Time Attack tiles on average take about 2-5 minutes to complete without extra retries. Non-regular Time Attack tiles may take longer, due to lacking MK and the rulesets are tougher on average.
• Least Cash and Least Tier tiles often don't require as much hands-on gameplay except for specific tough rounds or when micromanagement is vital.
• For Boss tiles, farming requires plenty of attention to optimise cash generation throughout the non-Boss stages. Once the Boss arrives, pay full attention to the boss battle, to avoid needing to re-load saves.
  • An exception is when Farm and Buccaneer are disabled but Engineer enabled on a non-simultaneous lane map; 0-1-3 Engineer solos the early-game, saving into Bloon Trap with ease, and only then must the farming stages be actively monitored.
• Typical daily sessions that consume 4 player tickets plus 6 team tickets should take about 60-120 minutes to complete. If there are plenty of uncontested Time Attack tiles, the session should be much shorter, but the other tiles each guarantee about 5-10 minutes on Fast Forward without re-loading saves.

Capture Priority

• The amount of points given is based on the tile captured. Banner tiles give the most points, with regulars behind a little. Try to avoid capturing relic tiles if they do not contribute any good relic or it's late into CT's duration.
  • If your team has access to a "map" of all relics this week, guide the team towards vital relics, especially if you suspect that other teams are expected to be hyper-competitive.
• Depending on the locals given, capture priority can change dramatically. If your team is given an opportunity to sweep the board with little resistance, relic tiles should not be captured as they provide less points than regular tiles. If other teams are active and also pushing for the middle of the board at the same time, try to prioritize relics in order to maximize your chances at capturing tiles with a lower score.
• Banner tiles should be refreshed every 24 hours after capture to regain control and keep the flow of team points. Relic tiles don't need to be refreshed unless someone captures them; the team still keeps the relic even after the tile expires.
• In local fights, attempt to capture other team's tiles first over neutral tiles to gain a points advantage. In cases where opposing locals have "died off" and understand one team has full control over the board, it can be good sport to avoid capturing their regular tiles to give them points.
• When on the losing end of a team dominating the board, the same can be true; aggression against key relics or banners can lead to a coordinated team attempting to spawnlock your team, capturing tiles around spawn with unbeatable low scores, thus preventing any usage of tickets until the spawn tiles expire. Be mindful of "poking the bear" and weave around regular tiles to avoid disruption.
• Some players like to lure opposing teams to capture a tile early before sneaking in another capture a few minutes later, especially if they have the relic advantage. If you suspect an opponent is trying to bait the tile capture, avoid the tile and find a different one to capture.

• On Least Cash and Least Tiers, a tile's round ending in 0, 1, or 2 and starting with 4, 6, or 8 take very short to capture after reaching a checkpoint.

Relic Strategy

Main article: Strategy:Relic Knowledge

This strategy section is empty or incomplete. See the strategy guidelines for more information on how to write strategy sections. The editor who added this notice elaborates: more tips on general relic tips that aren't specific to certain tile rulesets

Relics are an important asset for successfully capturing a tile. Some relics are vital for decreasing score far below the reach of any non-relic users. However, for high skill gameplay, not every relic tile must be captured, unless it is to drive off any rival teams from reaching more important relic or banner tiles.

For strategy about the optimal usage of each relic, rather than general strategy of all relics, refer to Strategy:Relic Knowledge.

• Relics that negate Bloon properties are often game-changing. Alchemist Touch, Camo Trap, Royal Treatment, and Sharpslosion are usually the strongest of these types of relics.
• Damage-boosting relics are very strong for fast-attacking, high-projectile towers. MOAB Clash stands out in most situations, whereas other damage-boosting relics are niche.
• Don't underestimate Power Relics. While they do have limited uses per game, most except Tech Bot may be game-changing on all except Time Attack (which ban Powers).
  • If gaining Team Trophies is not an issue, always buy the Daily Power, with exception of Tech Bot which are often unnecessary.
• Store Relics are always enabled once bought. In general, they're always a major upgrade, with only niche cases being a downgrade. So, if gaining Team Trophies is not an issue, it is almost always worth buying all Store Relics once available.
• Certain relics have no real strategic value for capturing tiles. Tech Bot is merely for convenience of activated abilities, and El Dorado only serves as an additional challenge for extra in-game currency.

Tile Strategy

Least Cash

• If a Hero is available, centralizing a defense around the hero is usually the most cost-efficient.
• Saveups for affording defense should focus largely on early-game.
• Cash-related relics are pointless on Least Cash, unless there's no better relics available.
• Only discount if it will save more money than a cheaper defense. Note that certain maps (e.g. One Two Tree) do have built-in discounts that could be used.
  • However, in edge cases, maximizing discounts may be necessary through Relics or hero-specific buffs (e.g. Rosalia's Level 6+). Otherwise, don't bother with discounts.

Least Cash - Regular

This strategy section is empty or incomplete. See the strategy guidelines for more information on how to write strategy sections. The editor who added this notice elaborates: more least cash stuff

• Like all Regular tiles, always maximize MK to get the best advantage on Least Cash Regular tiles.
• If custom Heroes are enabled, the best hero for extremely low scores include Gwen and Rosalia. (Sauda and Corvus are banned.)
  • On Beginner maps, a single hero can solo all rounds if given appropriate relics.
  • For a safer score, add cheap defense that covers the hero's main weaknesses. For example, one 0-0-0 Spac for Rosalia, to catch leaks and Camos.
• If a Hero is not enabled, try to aim between $2000-$4000 score on most maps. With proper relics, it is possible to reach lower than that.
• Wall of Fire on intersections can deliver a lot of damage to oncoming bloons as long as you can overcome its Purple weakness.
• Base Mermonkeys have high pierce and can support a defense that has strong single target damage, especially with Sharper Prongs.
• Cannon Ship with crosspaths covers all rounds on Beginner Maps with good water coverage, on certain maps even solo the MOABs.
• On more difficult single-lane maps (like Chutes or Firing Range) that lack good LC towers like Wizard/Buccaneer or Heroes, Razor Rotors is a simple but beatable solution for any pre-R43 tile without needing Relics. Once relics are obtained, more options become available to beat with cheaper, especially as relics like Super Monkey Storm can defeat the MOAB and allow weaker towers to clear.

Least Cash - Non-Regular

This strategy section is empty or incomplete. See the strategy guidelines for more information on how to write strategy sections.

• Observe the final round number and prepare in advance for difficult rounds. If it ends on Round 81 and beyond, the cheap combination of defenses must be able to handle both the mid-game Bloon rushes and Super Ceramics.
• Churchill, Silas, and Gwendolin are more effective here due to their potential to carry a basic defense.
• Plasma Accelerator is cheaper than Spectre and Apache Dartship, and can solo to round 80 assuming proper relic support to save up to it.
• Abyssal Warrior has plenty of raw damage and a cheap camo crosspath, and aside from lack of Lead damage, it can go to the early 70s.
• Artillery Battery can also be used to clear up to the late 70s with proper targeting micro and decent bends, provided another way to clear camos is used.
• Arctic Knight and Juggernaut on maps with walls can clear many rounds of dense Bloons.
• Juggernaut is also generally a strong mid-game support and grouped damage.

Least Tiers

• If a hero is available, centralizing a defense around the hero is usually the most tier-efficient.
• Have a saveup plan for affording defenses, especially if it involves an expensive T5.
• Avoid unnecessary crosspathing as each upgrade counts towards the tier total.

• If this is unavoidable, upgrade the tower that is carrying the rounds to make it more effective.

• Try to avoid panic buying any new towers. If a defense is failing, use a Power instead as they cost no tiers.
• Check for possible towers that can deal with many Bloon types as a tier 3 or 4 instead of a tier 5. Super Monkeys are a good example of this, as it has powerful tier 3 upgrades compared to other towers.

Least Tiers - Regular

• Like all Regular tiles, always maximize MK to get the best advantage on Least Tiers Regular tiles.
• If custom Heroes are enabled, the best hero for extremely low scores is Rosalia, with Adora being a close second. (Gwen, Churchill, Sauda, Geraldo, and Corvus are banned.)
  • On Beginner maps, a single hero can solo all rounds if given appropriate relics.
  • For a safer score, add low-tier defense that covers the hero's main weaknesses. Aim for up to 4 extra tiers with a single T3, if possible. For example, one base Spike Factory for Rosalia, to catch leaks and Camos, counting an extra 1 tier.
• Razor Rotors is often a very tier-efficient single non-hero tower that is easy to use, worth 4 tiers (6 with 3-2-0). Most maps enabled on Regular tiles, except Spring Spring and Rake, allow Razor Rotors to solo all rounds before Round 43, assuming camos are handled.
• Wall of Fire on intersections can deliver a lot of damage to oncoming bloons as long as you can overcome its purple weakness. Likewise, Dragon's Breath can solo all rounds if placed in a good bend, except Purple and Camo.
• Hydra Rocket Pods covers all bloon types (including MOABs thanks to the recent buff) and can be afforded before the round 28 leads, though it may require some targeting in order to save up to it.
• Druid of the Jungle has many weaknesses but can be considered an option with proper relics.
• Pat targeting into an intersection and a 0-0-0 Spike Factory is a map-dependent way to clear most rounds, and can be upgraded to Bigger Stacks (or, alternatively, a second Spike Factory) with little penalty to clear the 40s with proper Roar ability timing.
• Super Monkey as an expensive tower is deceptively difficult to use, having many weaknesses and an expensive saveup. A hero that can cover weaknesses such as Ezili or Brickell can offer a 2 or 3 tier solution.
• Some 4th tier upgrades can be considered niche as many strong tier 3s exist, but sometimes they are the only option.
  • Spiked Mines can be afforded on longer maps using Monkey Boost on rounds 35 and 36, which can comfortably last until 52.
  • Bloon Liquifier has solid attack speed but lacks pierce, often requiring Durable Shots and many powers to save up to and take out dense rounds.
  • T-Rex needs proper repositioning but is otherwise a smooth attacker without proper Camo detection.
• Three 1-score heroless options are possible (with optimal MK and Relics):
  • Ace is the easiest of them. It only needs a long map and sufficient micromanagement of its flight targeting options. Recommended relics: Durable Shots, Flint Tips, Camo Trap, either Monkey Boost or SMS, and Alchemist Touch.
  • Super is only possible with immense saveup from Road Spikes and life restoring relics, and Power relics like SMS and Glue Trap to overcome its low pierce.
  • Mortar is only possible on maps which are favorable to it, such as Moon Landing, and will need dealing with camos as well as Sharpsplosion, alongside intense mortar micro.

Least Tiers - Non-Regular

• Try to clear all the rounds with 1 or 2 tier 5's instead of placing more towers.
• Certain single towers that carry the mid-to-lategame will require a tier-efficient saveup tower in the early-game. This usually happens when saving up for expensive base towers such as Heli or Super.
• Spirit of the Forest, Glaive Lord, Pirate Lord, Spectre, Plasma Accelerator, Prince of Darkness, Pop and Awe, and many others can solo rounds up to round 80, provided you account for their weaknesses.
• Artillery Battery (with good bends), Abyssal Warrior, and 0-2-5 Elite Defender can do the same but can struggle past 62.
• Apache Dartship is an easy method of excelling the midgame without a T5, provided the map lacks simultaneous lanes. It only struggles to beat rounds with multiple Fortified MOABs (especially R64), and rounds from R75 and beyond.
  • If Etienne is enabled, he can be used to give Camo detection to a tower that excels at everything else, like an Apache Dartship/Prime, resulting in a 6-7 score.
• Observe the final round number and prepare for difficult rounds, especially if wanting to reduce score by cutting out certain crosspaths.
• On rounds going beyond 90, having at least two towers is almost always necessary. Flying Fortress is an easy carry, provided Spectre's Super Ceramic weakness is dealt with.
• On low round tiles, Hydra can be an easy solution with some micro, but make sure to add Relics that support its early-game, and in some cases also Fortified damage.

Time Attack

Main article: Strategy:Race Event

• Most Time Attack tiles play the same as Race Events, with key differences: retries are unlimited until the player's team tickets are all consumed, no upgrade limitations, and relics can be enabled.
• Towards the cleanup stages, restart if necessary to avoid finishing times too late and wasting tickets.
• Be aware of what the longest round in a given Time Attack tile is.
• Any tile with Bomb will have a much easier time for Sharpsplosion to carry the tile due to Cluster Bombs and Recursive Cluster.

Time Attack - Regular

This strategy section is empty or incomplete. See the strategy guidelines for more information on how to write strategy sections.

• Most regular Time Attack tiles can easily cut below 3 minutes, even without any relics.

Time Attack - Non-Regular

This strategy section is empty or incomplete. See the strategy guidelines for more information on how to write strategy sections.

• Certain tiles may have terrible tower choices and/or on a difficult Race Event map. Check what towers and upgrades have the most cost-efficient combination of pierce and damage for these tiles if opting for a high score. Starting cash on non-regular tiles also vary, which alters possible starting options.
  • Any tile with Boomerang, Bomb, Tack, Ice, or Ace will on average have faster times than those without.
• Account for additional rules, especially faster Bloon speed or Double HP MOABs, to slow down on certain rounds.
• Some difficult maps with Time Attack include Rake, Water Park, Quiet Street, Bloonarius Prime, and Lost Crevasse.

Boss

Main article: Strategy:Boss Bloon Event

• Since money is everything when taking down timed bosses, try to greed out as much as possible using income generators like Banana Farms and Merchantmen.
  • If multiple income generators are enabled, the typical priority list of towers for starting income generation is: Farm, Buccaneer (Merchantman), Engineer (Bloon Trap), Alchemist (Lead to Gold, Rubber to Gold), Druid (Jungle's Bounty), Village (Monkey Town), Heli (Support Chinook), Sniper (Supply Drop). Desperado's income generation (Bounty Hunter) is not worth the investment.
• Bloon-dependent income like Bloon Traps are almost always worth it when placed down early enough.
• Cash-related relics such as Rounding Up and Thrive are beneficial for snowballing income. Starting Stash allows early-game snowball to begin sooner, same applies for Box of Monkey for defense (and earlier Merchantman if no Farms, and Bloon Trap if no Farms and Boats).
  • For use of Thrive on 1 Tier Boss tiles, use Thrive on R34-R35 and R38-R39 for the most income per pop. On 2 Tier Boss Battles, R49-50 and R54-55 give the most income per pop.
• If all Heroes are enabled, heroes with income generation are often the best. Benjamin is the simplest and gives the most profit. Geraldo has more utility but a less flexible income generation. However, Sauda is still a great choice for cheap early-game defense.
• Unless a hero is planned ahead for their Level 7, or has income generation, it is best to hold off placing the hero until affording at least the first income generator, if possible.
• Before the Boss begins, turn off Auto Start one round before (R39, R59), for better preparation.
• Shorter maps and harder difficulties (Bloons move faster on Hard than Medium or Easy) allow the player to get away with leaking the Round 24 Camo Green without a time penalty.

Boss - 1 Tier

• With a max Farm cap, it's safe to rush a Monkey Bank for its cost effectiveness, then fill the rest of the slots with Marketplaces. The first bank can be gotten around round 20 by using a 2-2-0 and a 2-0-2 farm, then selling your Salvage farm to upgrade to bank at around $1100.
• With a max tower cap, it's ideal to spend as little tower slots for defense and use almost all of your towers for farming. Place a bunch of 2-0-0 farms and then upgrade them to marketplaces when you get the money.
• Stop buying income generation at round 38, especially without Favored Trades, as it will not make you more money before the boss arrives.
• Avoid Supply Drop and Support Chinook as income generators, as they'll not profit before the T1 Boss begins. If the boss is Dreadbloon on Easy, Monkey Town may profit if opting for a greedy strategy, but other income options are preferrable.
• If all other options are unavailable, a lone Jungle's Bounty can make a profit on Easy mode provided it is the only defense.
• Selling all income generators for Boss defense is often the best choice if killing the boss faster than about 3 minutes is possible.

Boss - 2 Tier

• After the tier 1 boss, sell portions of your defense for more income generation once again. If farms are enabled, buy a single 4-2-0 farm with the rest being marketplaces, and Central Markets if you have extra money or limited slots.
• Ability based generation becomes a lot stronger when there are 2 tiers, as it provides more time to use abilities as well as Elite Sniper and Special Poperations being strong at defending the rounds, though they lose a slight amount of efficiency when getting the tier 5.
• Stop buying income generation at round 58, especially without Favored Trades, as it will not make you more money before the boss arrives.
  • For ability based generation, stop buying more at about Round 54, as there won't be enough time for the abilities to pay off, unless planning to keep them when the T2 Boss comes.