Strategy:CHIMPS

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CHIMPS is arguably the most difficult game-mode in BTD6, especially if Powers are used in other game modes.

For purposes of clarity, the following definitions will be made for this article:

• Early-game = Rounds 6-40
• Mid-game = Rounds 41-80
• Late-game = Rounds 81-100

General recommendations

Preparation

• If attempting to defeat CHIMPS either for the first time or on a map with unprecedented difficulty, a good idea is look up guides to beat it and take notes about the strategies in those guides. Later on, for maps of similar difficulty and layout, attempt to incorporate elements of the guides into the run without directly copying them to improve skills and prospects for future runs.
• While attempting to incorporate new strategies into harder maps or the first CHIMPS run without guides, doing some practice runs where retrying last round can be used freely is good practice that can build on the player's ability to defeat CHIMPS on their own. For maps where all parts of the game are difficult, get through the whole CHIMPS game with a red badge before going for a Black Border.
• Experiment different strategies in Sandbox (BTD6) or Challenge Editor to speed up the testing process if only a few rounds are being the roadblock.
• Remember the rounds that frequently become a roadblock, and plan ahead for those rounds later on. Rounds that are frequently challenging to CHIMPS runs are listed below.

Rounds to watch out for

Round #	Bloons Spawned	Reasoning
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 x??? x???	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 them being fast-moving blimps as opposed to slow-moving ones with Super Ceramics as the main threat. They could easily brick an entire 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 simple on most maps, but difficult on maps with very separate Bloon & MOAB lanes, especially Cargo and Dark Dungeons. The Bloons-only lane(s) of maps that have one are the hardest to deal with out of any pre-Freeplay CHIMPS round, due to towers easily falling behind the spaced Super Ceramics when they are 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 can beat Round 95 face a dead-end on this round due to them based on group-popping power that falls off; the DDTs gain double health on this round, with MOABs and their Super Ceramic insides continuing to consume pierce from DDT-popping powers. Likewise, ability cooldowns are even more of a concern, as there's not enough time to recharge abilities before the Fortified DDTs arrive, especially because most abilities would be used for 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.

Gameplay

• In the early-game and mid-game, attempt to place down towers that can be upgraded into solid options later on. Attempt to not place towers that cannot upgrade into anything that does not become wasteful once Super Ceramics come on Round 81.
• Do not spam towers whenever feeling like doing so and leave them at low tiers into the late-game. Focus on a few, strong towers with support centered around them to have the best prospects late-game.
• Always recognize the importance of support. They include Jungle Drums, Berserker Brew, Giant Condor, MOAB Glue, Relentless Glue, Bloon Sabotage, and MOAB Press. They tremendously assist the main damage tower in many cases for relatively little cost.
• Use good save-up towers for the mid-game that allows for the accumulation of money for a strong, late-game tower and prevent the dropping of many towers that become redundant past Round 80. These save-up towers include Dragon's Breath, Bloon Area Denial System, and Destroyer.

Towers suited for most maps

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & How to Use
Perma-Spike		Perma-Spike is extremely versatile on maps of all difficulty, and it is one of the few beginner-friendly options that does not fall off terribly on Expert maps. It tanks tremendous amounts of leaks that can easily occur with many strategies, and effectively guarantees victory in most runs. Use the 1-0-5 crosspath, and give it a Jungle Drums village and 3-0-1 Berserker Brew (which in combination give it over 40% more tanking power. When used on multi-lane maps where the lanes are distant enough to prevent Perma-Spike from reaching all lanes at once, its power somewhat falls off, but can still be used in a more complicated manner with Support Chinook. Combine it with towers that have solid grouped popping power, such as Glaive Lord, to reduce its stress under high-RBE rounds such as Round 98.
Glaive Lord		Glaive Lord, unlikely almost all other towers, is both a relatively simple win condition on Beginner maps and a solid option on Expert maps. On easier maps, bends allow the rotating glaive to shine (with the ricocheting glaives also contributing significantly), while on harder maps, the long distance between tracks allow the ricocheting glaives to deal massive while repeatedly bouncing all over the map. Generally, Glaive Lord is best placed near a bend, where its rotating glaives perform the best, but it can still prove powerful without bends when placed near the track, thanks to its ricocheting glaives. Use 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.
Sauda		On Beginner maps, Sauda is easy to use, as she sweeps through the early-game with ease. The early-game is very difficult for new CHIMPS players, who tend to drop many towers that become redundant later on, so she is very useful for beginners due to her early-game power despite falling off late-game on easier maps. However, she gains significant late-game power on Expert maps, thanks to her synergy with stuns such as Relentless Glue and high power boosts from faster leveling on these maps, while still retaining solid early-game power despite not being able to be placed on Round 6 on many of those maps. Place her on a bend to maximize her main attack's damage.
Geraldo		Despite many nerfs, Geraldo remains versatile through his shop making him viable with an extremely wide array of strategies and maps. For example, Pickle works with low-damage towers such as Tack Zone, Sharpening Stone greatly aids low-pierce towers such as Tack Zone and Comanche Commander, Blade Trap covers dense rounds, and Genie Bottles are solid with all strategies. Almost all other items have uses as well. It takes some time to learn his shop and capabilities, but the effort is well worth it for having a versatile hero who is powerful on almost every map.
Corvus		Corvus has been made much simpler to use by the version 44.0 buffs. He now reaches Level 20 with much fewer need for Nourishment micro, especially on harder maps. He trivializes the early-game with Spear, simplifies Round 40 with Ancestral Might, saves up tremendous amounts of money with Trample for dense rounds and Repel & Frostbound & Ancestral Might for blimps in the mid-game, and is powerful in the late-game with Ancestral Might and Overload. As with Geraldo, it takes time to learn him, but it is worth it due to his versatility coming from his spellbook working with a wide variety of strategies and carrying his strength across nearly all maps. Place him at the start of the track so that he can constantly farm mana, and move him there with Spirit Walk if needed.
Comanche Commander		Comanche does both solid damage and decent support with its shoving capabilities. It especially shines on single-lane, alternating maps such as Bazaar, where many towers fall off. Compared to its competitor, the Apache Prime, it does worse against hyperdense rounds such as Round 98, but its lower price, greatly improved performance against DDTs, and smaller susceptibility to chasing more than makes up for it. Use Geraldo and Glue Storm, as the former covers its weakness against dense rounds with Sharpening Stone, Genie Bottles, and Blade Traps, while the latter gives powerful debuffs, puts solid slowdown on Super Ceramics, and grants Camanche DDT popping power. Use the 2-0-5 crosspath, as Quad Darts greatly improves Comanche's damage and Pursuit is a good quality-of-life upgrade.
Carrier Flagship		Flagship wipes the floor with the entire mid-game and early late-game, saving up titanic amounts of money while retaining strong powers into the 90s. In fact, on many Beginner and Intermediate maps, Flagship and Admiral Brickell, the best hero for Flagship due to Naval Tactics granting a large attack speed boost and DDT popping power and Mega Mines dealing solid damage, can defeat CHIMPS on their own. Use the 5-0-2 crosspath, as it greatly improves Flagship's pierce.

Early game (rounds 6-40)

This section is incomplete. You can help out by expanding it. The editor who added this notice elaborates: Add more information about early rounds, including the R9-24 stage, R25-39 stage, and R40 stage. Also add more stuff about R6-8 combos

• Rounds 6-8 revolve around the starting combinations of towers. After those rounds, save up for upgrades, more towers, or the selected hero.
  • For most maps, the first few rounds can be completed with three 0-0-0 Darts, with at least one on Strong.
  • Dart + Sniper works well on maps where a lack of range is a problem. Sniper on Strong to chip the Greens, and Dart to clean up.
  • Maps containing water can use Dart + Sub, Dart on Strong to chip away the Greens, and Sub to clean up the remaining bloons.
  • Dart + Engi can be used similarly to three 0-0-0 Darts, the main difference is that Engi is more "concentrated" damage than two Darts.
  • Certain maps (e.g. Water Park, Infernal) may support a Boomerang start, usually 0-1-1 into 0-1-2.
  • All Beginner Maps and most Intermediate Maps, and several Advanced and Expert Maps, can support a hero start. Quincy or Sauda are the best choices to beat first few rounds. Sauda is generally easier to start, while Quincy is more versatile because of his decent range.
  • Specific map formats may support other starting combinations. For example, the middle barrel of Spillway offers a reliable Ninja start into 1-0-0 and 1-0-1.

Strategies for harder maps

Many Advanced and Expert maps have layouts or gimmicks that prevent many aforementioned strategies from working. For more information on the strategies of those maps, see the Strategy section on their pages.