Strategy:Boss Bloon Event

This article was last updated for: version 46.3

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 entire 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 is very useful. Note that at higher level gameplay, Benjamin should (ideally) be blocked by obstacles, to prevent his Trojan from stealing cash and pops.
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-game	More Cash, Bonus Monkey!, 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. If Dart Monkeys are enabled, the Free Dart from Bonus Monkey! is free defense, so even less defense is needed and income generators can be bought even earlier without costing 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 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 $8,490 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, Deadly Tranquility, 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.

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). To start, place a 0-0-0 Dart Monkey, then the Hero (start with them if possible), then additional defense 1 (referenced in the table): Monkey Sub (preferred with Military Conscription), Boomerang Monkey (preferred with Recurring 'Rangs), Engineer Monkey, or Druid. 1-2 more Dart Monkeys is also an option. Then, obtain two 2-0-0 Farms (is recommended to build them near a body of water if the farms will be sold later).

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, additional defense 2 (referenced in the table) can be obtained by upgrading one of following towers (if present): Engineer to 1-0-0, Boomerang to 1-0-2, or Druid to 1-0-0.

The Camo Bloon in round 24 is normally ignored, but Lead defense is needed for 28 and 30 (and 26 against Dreadbloon). The 0-0-0 Bomb Shooter, 0-0-0 Alchemist, and 1-0-0 Druid are common options. During the late 20's, before Bloon Trap is obtained, some towers can be upgraded to deal with the bloons, Engineer can be upgraded to 0-1-3 or 3-0-2, Boomerang to 2-0-2, Ninja to 1-0-2, Druid to 1-3-0 and Sub to 2-0-2 or 2-2-0. For dealing with Camo Bloons in Rounds 33, 36 and 37, 2-0-2 Ninja, 0-2-3 Crossbow or a 0-0-0 Spike Factory at the end of the track can be used.

Listed below is a quick summary of the early-game.

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		Engineer, Boomerang, or Druid are alternatives.	Free Dart Monkey		Engineer, Boomerang, or Druid are alternatives.	Free Dart Monkey		Skip if not available.	Free Dart Monkey		Engineer, Boomerang, or Druid are alternatives.
2	Geraldo		Geraldo can be delayed to ensure the Figure can be bought at most 2-3 rounds after placing him ($785 max).	Benjamin		Place him as soon as possible, even if mid-round.	Hero		Any Hero affordable with the starting cash.	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 Turrets, or any of the towers listed above also work.	2× Greater Production		Buy one farm first, upgrade it, then the second.	Additional defense 2		Alternatives listed above can also be used. Sometimes not needed.	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. Sometimes not needed.				Additional defense 2		Alternatives listed above can also be used. Sometimes not needed.
6	Additional defense 2		Alternatives listed above can also be used. Sometimes not needed.

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, upon reaching Round 30, an additional Engineer can be placed to be upgraded into 0-1-4 Bloon Trap to gain additional income and help with the defense in the late 30's, after that, more 0-0-3 Marketplaces can be placed (the crosspath can be delayed, specially if the farms will be sold). 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 (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 a 2-0-2 Farm.

When the Bank is nearly full (more than $9000 stored), collect it and upgrade to a 2-4-0 IMF Loan, sell the 2-0-2 Farm and deposit all the 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.

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 the Rare Quincy Action Figure reaches a value of around $10 000. If the farms were built near a body of water, place an 0-0-4 Favored Trades and upgrade the farms to 2-0-2. Sell the Figure and 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.

Both alternatives

Finish with an Engineer in the Monkeyopolis range and upgrade it to 0-1-3 Double Gun, then sell all remaining defenses and 0-0-2 villages 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 to 4 2-0-3 Marketplaces on the Monkeyopolis range, and place a 0-0-4 Rubber to Gold Alchemist which can 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 0-0-3 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, target as close to entrance as possible, obtain around Round 34, applies regardless of Hero or Monkey Knowledge.	IMF Loan		Collect the Bank when full, upgrade, sell the 2-0-2 and deposit all cash while the bank is filling.	Monkeyopolis		Sell the figure and the Farms, then build the Monkeyopolis under discount villages, absorbing a 0-0-0 Farm.
4	Marketplace		Spam until Round 38 (or 37 with a Favored Trades if planning to sell them)	Monkeyopolis		Collect the IMF when full, 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				Bloon Trap		Support it with a 0-0-4 Rubber to Gold and a 0-1-2 Glue Gunner.	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).

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. Favored Trades is recommended for selling farms for all other tiers as well. 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 will be limited during this time. After the Boss is popped, sell all Boss defenses and resume farming in earnest. Bloon Traps will perform the bulk of the defense, with 1 kept during the Boss and a 2nd one before Round 47. MOAB Maulers or a MOAB Assassin are recommended break MOABs. Obtain a Cleansing Foam for Camos, and target it above a location where Bloon Traps are dropped. It is best to get a Monkey City/Miniopolis to boost the income of all towers in range. Farming recommendations are listed below.

Farming progression recommendations

Step	On maps without abundant water			On maps with abundant water
	Name	Portrait	Notes	Name	Portrait	Notes
1	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 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.

When Banana Central is banned, replace the Marketplaces/Central Markets with BRFs.

Rounds 60-79 (pre-Tier 3)

Here, start to farm pops for Paragons by only using towers who will later be made into Paragons later as damage-dealers. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

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.
• 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.

Least Cash

• All towers and upgrades should be purchased under the range of 1 or more 0-0-2 Villages if possible.
• 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).
• A Support Chinook is a good tower to have around as it can move important towers around the map (ex. Super Brittle, Permanent Brew), 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.