User:Polavux/Strategy:Gwendolin (BTD6)

Gwendolin is a damage- and support-oriented Hero who's well-rounded enough to be serviceable in most modes, but she especially benefits strategies involving projectile-spam towers with low base pierce and damage. Her abilities can patch up weaknesses to dense Bloon rounds in the early-midgame, and her fast level rate and Lead-popping support allows other towers to handle DDTs even more effectively than Monkey Intelligence Bureau, which is a useful trait to have in modes that go up to round 100. However, her main attack is relatively weak until the lategame and she's weak to Purple Bloons until level 16.

General tips

Set Cocktail of Fire's target point to where it can cover as much of the path as possible, such as inside a small loop or bend, or at an intersection to cover Bloons on multiple paths at once.
To maximize Cocktail of Fire's duration for a specific target (like a blimp or long wave of Bloons), set the target point a short distance in front of the Bloons before activating the ability.
Because Cocktail of Fire counts as an attack and inherits any buffs Gwen currently has that affect projectiles (such as increased damage and pierce), using it while Gwen has an Acidic Mixture Dip and/or Berserker Brew buff creates a wall of fire that has boosted stats on every damage tick, while only consuming one charge from each buff.
Unless Gwen is in a state where she can damage Purple Bloons, avoid using Cocktail of Fire if Purple Bloons are on the way and you aren't going to pop their outer layers before they neutralize the wall of fire.
To take full advantage of Heat It Up, position Gwen somewhere that allows Heat It Up to reach ideal spots for towers and lets her attack constantly to keep cycling it.
Giving Gwen attack speed buffs lets her apply Heat It Up even more frequently.
Without any attack speed modifiers, her main attack shoots fast enough at levels 18+ that it can supply HIU with 100% uptime as long as she keeps shooting, so it's easier to save Firestorm for moments when HIU is needed but Gwen isn't able to attack.
Selecting a tower buffed by Heat It Up makes it easier to see when the buff expires. This tells you when to use Firestorm to reapply it.

Roles

Standard modes

Gwen is an earlygame damage dealer and Lead-popper who transitions into more of a support tower in the mid-lategame. Her earlygame is a lot better on maps where Cocktail of Fire can cover all active lanes, but her mid-lategame support works well on pretty much any map where she can attack constantly. She excels in the lategame of Impoppable and CHIMPS as a way to handle DDTs without MIB. While not affordable at the start in some modes, her fast level rate gets her to important level thresholds even if placed late.

In the earlygame, Gwen's main attack is lackluster for her cost, but it pops Leads and has significant power spikes at levels 6 and 8. Her main source of DPS early on is Cocktail of Fire, which has multiple use cases. It can thin out dense rounds; it can clean up stragglers by targeting the furthest point down the track; it can take out some early Camos if needed; and it can clean up Ceramics left by early MOABs. Heat It Up doesn't trigger frequently enough for it to be reliable until later in the run, but for extra optimization, it is possible to micro tower targeting and Bloon popping to get it to activate at specific moments, and the pierce buff and AoE can come in clutch.

Gwen's strength from the midgame onwards lies in HIU-buffing other towers, which Firestorm also does starting at level 10. Besides that, level 9 allows her main attack to deal decent DOT to blimps after a few levels of ramping up, and the cocktail remains useful for dense Ceramics if Alch-buffed. The main purpose of Firestorm is re-applying HIU to bridge its downtime when needed; its damage can help remove RBE from dense rounds, but it can't clear Ceramics out by itself and doesn't do much to MOAB-Class Bloons. It becomes much better at screen clearing and blimp damage starting at level 16, but it still doesn't work that well against Super Ceramics, and without Monkey Knowledge or extra XP from higher map difficulties, she usually reaches that level after Super Ceramics take over or only a few rounds before then.

In the lategame, Gwen usually reaches level 17 in time for the DDT rounds. HIU and Firestorm can negate the need for other DDT support, such as Monkey Intelligence Bureau or Glue Storm, both by allowing towers to damage DDTs and increasing the damage they deal to DDTs to pop them more quickly. Her main attack is fast enough to supply 100% HIU uptime starting at level 18, and it becomes fairly powerful for blimp damage at level 19.

Other modes

Mode	Tips
Rogue Legends
Race Event / Time Attack	If given a choice for a Hero, Gwen is one of the best options for getting a run started, by activating her level 3 ability and then selling her to get money back. Target the cocktail inside a bend or intersection, then send to round 20 or 24 shortly before it recharges (usually around 5–8 seconds, depending on the difficulty and length between the target point and the entrances) to maximize it. Normally, sending past round 24 early ruins the strategy because of Purple Bloons, but in CT Time Attack, it's possible to keep going with Royal Treatment. Rosalia can have higher highs in this role, but Gwen is easier to use, has full control over where the ability targets, and doesn't leave behind Black and Zebra Bloons. Which Hero is best depends on the map, mode, and other conditions. Firestorm is surprisingly underwhelming as a screen-clear and usually isn't worth keeping Gwen for.

Rounds to use abilities on if needed

Default roundset

15: Use cocktail when the first Yellows come in range of the target point to pop them and the Pinks.
24: Use cocktail to pop the Camo if needed.
36: Use cocktail to break down two waves of Pinks.
- Which waves to cover depends on the strategy; using it for the second two waves pops more Bloons on its own, but using it for the first two waves helps save abilities and attacks that build up over time (like Spike Factories) for the third wave.
40: Use cocktail to break up the insides of the MOAB after it pops.
- If necessary, to save cooldown time, use the ability before the MOAB pops and target the point where it will be when it spawns the Ceramics.
63: Cocktail → Firestorm → Cocktail covers all three Ceramic waves.
76 and 78: Cocktail is usually good enough for the Ceramic waves if it can cover all paths, but Firestorm covers the entire map.
90, 93, 95, 99, and 100: Use Firestorm for the DDTs when needed.
- Note that without stalling or Monkey Knowledge, Firestorm may not recharge in time for the start of 98 if used for the DDTs on 95, and if used late on 98, it may not recharge in time for the DDTs on 99.

ABR roundset

This section is incomplete. You can help out by expanding it.
The editor who added this notice elaborates: More specific ABR rounds especially those that differ from standard gameplay

6: Drop in advance for the Black Bloons if needed.
24: Use cocktail to pop the Camo Lead if needed.

Towers to support

Towers with high projectile counts, low base pierce, low damage, and a weakness to DDTs benefit the most from Heat It Up. Unsurprisingly, most of the towers she synergizes with also benefit a lot from Berserker Brew and Glue Strike. Gwen also passively buffs some towers with Pyrotechnics Expert, but it's very situational because most of the towers it benefits are ones that don't benefit much from HIU, and its stat buffs are very minor until level 18.

Just like Gwen, many of these towers benefit a lot from attack speed buffs and need support for Camo Bloons, so rounding out the defense with a 2-2-0 Monkey Village (or a 2-0-2 Village and a 0-2-2 Village if the space allows for it) is recommended.

Strategy	Notes
M.O.A.R Glaives	Heat It Up is one of many damage buffs that allows 4-2-0 M.O.A.R Glaives spam to continue having serviceable DPS in the lategame against Super Ceramics, and also provides Lead-popping for DDTs. Outside of Lead-popping, HIU doesn't really help M.O.A.R Glaives until it unlocks its damage buff at level 17, since M.O.A.R Glaives doesn't benefit much from its pierce buff. M.O.A.R Glaives spam can carry the midgame without much help, but depending on the map difficulty and Monkey Knowledge, there may be several rounds after Super Ceramics start spawning before Gwen reaches level 17. Mixing this strategy with towers that can handle or provide support for Super Ceramics, or towers that benefit a lot from both pierce and damage buffs, can help bridge this gap.
Inferno Ring	Inferno Ring is the only tower that benefits a lot from both Heat It Up and Pyrotechnics Expert. The pierce and attack speed buffs mainly benefit the meteor attack, and the radius buff allows its main attack and meteor explosions to cover more ground. Position Berserker Brew so it prioritizes buffing Inferno Ring over Gwen if needed.
Overdrive / The Tack Zone
Sky Shredder	Heat It Up patches Sky Shredder's pierce issues and improves its DDT matchup in the lategame, allowing its darts to damage them and, once Gwen reaches level 17, deal double damage to them without the Spy Plane crosspath. While Sky Shredder usually excels on maps with alternating disconnected paths (such as Muddy Puddles and Ravine) due to its global range, this synergy isn't as consistent on those maps because Gwen has short range and needs to keep attacking to supply HIU.
Comanche Commander	Heat It Up isn't the strongest Hero buff for ComCom, but it alleviates the need for MIB or Glue Storm (Glue Strike is usually sufficient). Since Alch buffs don't affect the mini-Comanches, Berserker Brew isn't as useful in a ComCom-focused strategy compared to other Gwen synergies.
Signal Flare	Pyrotechnics Expert makes Signal Flare a little more reliable as a source of decamo. Signal Flare can work as the sole camo support in Gwen strategies, though it still requires a lot of micro on maps with multiple disconnected paths. Gwen also buffs Shattering Shells and Blooncineration, but the former doesn't really need her buffs to do its job of removing fortification, and the latter is difficult to use as a win condition without Striker Jones.
Shinobi Tactics + Grandmaster Ninja	Heat It Up and Cocktail of Fire help with dense Bloons and Leads before the Shinobis really ramp up, but Gwen's main role is buffing Grandmaster Ninja for DDTs in the lategame. It may be worth getting Berserker Brew before Bloonjitsu and placing it near Gwen for its synergy with cocktail and HIU. Unlike most other Gwen strategies, Shinobi armies don't need support for Camo Bloons. For extra optimization, Shinobis can decamo and distract Bloons for Gwen so she gets more value out of cocktails and cycles HIU more consistently, especially during Camo-only stretches.