Strategy:Race Event

This article was last updated for: version 47.1

Race Event focuses on sending and defeating all Rounds as fast as possible while not losing. Therefore, enormous clumps of Bloons face the defense in all stages. Due to that, most towers that work well in regular gameplay will not work in Race Events, requiring a complete overhaul of the player's strategy to be specifically tailored to defeating large clumps of Bloons and blimps.

General tips

• Watch guides at the start of each race to get an idea about what to do. Then, optimize the guides' strategies if possible.
• If attempting to place high on the leaderboard, very high levels of Monkey Knowledge is required. Important Monkey Knowledge points include More Cash, Bonus Monkey!, Hero Favors, Empowered Heroes, and Mana Shield.
• Do not be afraid of leaking lives early, as extra lives little purpose when any leak during the fullsend involves losing hundreds to thousands of lives. In fact, in almost all cases, leaking lives early is required for a top score.
• Plan the strategy ahead of time to avoid the penalty that results from the need to pause more than once every 25 seconds to plan ahead in-game. Viewing towers' upgrades counts as pausing as well.
• Do not rely on strategies that have worked for other game modes. Race Events require completely different strategies that vary each week due to differing maps and restrictions.

Recommended Heroes

Heroes can be pivotal to getting a high leaderboard position, depending on the one allowed. Most weeks restrict the Hero choice to just one, but on weeks with many Hero options, the following are recommended.

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & how to use
Rosalia		Her Level 3 Scatter Missile ability is excessively powerful, wiping out extremely large clumps of Bloons and leaving only Black Bloons and Zebra Bloons behind. It is recommended to send to place her near a bend, send to Round 35 or 39 5-10 seconds before her ability comes off cooldown, use the ability on Close, sell her, and place a mid-game tower recommended in the mid-game subsection of the section below.
Gwendolin		Gwen's Level 3 Cocktail of Fire ability makes her a very solid option as well. Send to Round 20 or 24 (but not further due to Purple Bloons on Round 25) 5-10 seconds before the ability comes off cooldown, and target the ability to a bend before using it. She is not as powerful as Rosalia, but is somewhat more reliable.

On weeks where the Hero is restricted, it is still recommended to start with Sauda if she is the only option. Admiral Brickell, Benjamin, Geraldo, Striker Jones, and Pat Fusty become useful later on for strengthening the defense in preparation for the fullsend.

Gameplay recommendations

For the purposes of this article, the gameplay in Race Event will be divided into 5 sections: The start, mid-game, pre-full end, post-fullsend, and cleanup. Recommendations for each section are listed here.

The start

The start requires a cheap, powerful grouped popping to be purchased. If the Hero is among those recommended to start with in the section above, start with them. Otherwise, start by dropping one of the towers below. Then, send to somewhere between Round 10-20, depending on the map and modifiers.

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & how to use
Base Mortar		The base Mortar Monkey, with its 25 pierce and 2 damage, excels at grouped popping power for its cost. Target it initially at the entrance to immediately accumulate pops and earn cash, and move it back as clumped Bloons slowly go through the track. Upgrading to 1-0-0 is nearly always recommended, as it improves the pierce by 1.8x, and if desired, the Mortar can be upgraded up to 2-3-0 into the mid-game.
Base Bomb Shooter		The 22-pierce shots of the base Bomb Shooter, while only being 1 damage, are significantly faster and obtainable for a cheaper cost, making its efficiency roughly on par with the base Mortar. Two of them can be immediately placed with More Cash, and they are the most useful when placed near the entrance to immediately pop Bloons and generate money. The Tier 1 and 2 Bomb Shooter upgrades are not worth their costs, so unless Cluster Bombs or Really Big Bombs is desired, it is recommended to not upgrade the Bomb Shooter.
Spike-o-pult		The 18 pierce and 2 damage Spike-o-pult, with a significantly faster attack speed than the base Mortar, is also a solid option. Use the 3-2-0 crosspath, put it right behind a straight line near the entrance, and target Last for the best results.
Exploding Pineapple		Both the base Monkey Ace's darts and the pineapple have high pierce and very solid overall damage. Some micromanagement is needed to maximize the darts, but it is worth it for the high damage output. If Exploding Pineapple is banned, the base Ace is still a very solid starting option.
Super Range Tacks		The 4 pierce tacks of Super Range Tacks give it up to 32 damage per shot when placed near a solid bend, making it deal very high damage for its cost. From there, upgrading into any of its Tier 3s can work.

If these towers are all banned, some other solid options include the 0-1-1 Monkey Buccaneer, 1-0-0 Alchemist, and base Ice Monkey.

Mid-game

The mid-game features building more and more powerful towers specifically tailored to popping large clumps of Bloons, continuing to earn cash for more powerful options. Send to about Round 27 after obtaining one of the following towers or upgrading the Mortar (if present) to 2-3-0 or upgrading the Tack (if present) to Tier 3, around 39 after obtaining another one, and around 49 once a pre-fullsend tower can almost be obtained.

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & how to use
Wall of Fire		Wall of Fire has high pierce for a low cost, making it an optimal choice. The 0-2-1 crosspath is recommended, and in its case, generally stop at Round 24, as Round 25's purples will extinguish the fire.
Druid of the Jungle		Druid of the Jungle likewise has high pierce for its cost. If using it, set it to Last before purchasing it, and only send out rounds after purchasing it so that the Last targeting does not leak many Bloons.
Glaive Ricochet		Glaive Ricochet has high pierce, and its bouncing nature allows all of it to be used. The cheap price and its ability to pop Leads with the optimal 3-0-2 crosspath makes it among the best options here. Best used with the Extra Bounce Monkey Knowledge which grants 30 extra pierce.
Juggernaut		Juggernaut increases Spike-o-pult's attack speed, increases pierce, and adds a knockback, making it able to take on much larger Bloon sends and carry its power well throughout the game.
Cannon Ship		Cannon Ship's 2-damage and high-pierce bombs, their frags, and tripled Grape damage make it a very strong tower for its cost. Put it in a spot that is surrounded by the track on two opposite sides for both of its guns to activate, and set it to Last if Flanking Maneuvers has been obtained.
Cluster Bombs		Cluster Bomb's high-pierce attacks can pop many Bloons at once, making its damage potential extremely high for its cost. The 2-0-3 crosspath is the far better one, doubling Cluster Bomb's damage and greatly enhancing its pierce. Another tower is required to pop to Black Bloons and Zebra Bloons.

Here, the supporting Heroes listed far above that strengthens the defense in preparation for the fullsend can be purchased.

Pre-fullsend

The pre-fullsend involves obtaining very high power towers that can defend and earn large amounts of money in the first seconds after the fullsend, which is when the longest round and nearly all other rounds are sent out. These towers are listed below. One common practice here is to purchase a 0-2-0 Alchemist into a 3-2-0 Berserker Brew to buff a low-tier tower, sell Berserker Brew, and upgrade the tower into the desired tower. This practice is also used post-fullsend.

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & how to use
Ice Shards		Ice Shards is a very potent tower, with the shards dealing massive damage when triggered. It also decamos, but not very reliably, and its immense damage in general also faces reliably issues. Therefore, it is mainly recommended only for truly competitive scores that require luck regardless.
Bloontonium Reactor		Bloontonium Reactor's high pierce allows it to take down large clumps of Bloons at once with the 4-1-0 (4-2-0 if Leads are an issue) crosspath. It also reliably de-camos, benefits from the Berserker Brew tactic, and can reliably trigger Ice Shards.
M.O.A.R Glaives		MOAR Glaives greatly improves on nearly all of Glaive Ricochet's attributes, being nearly 4 times more powerful with maximized pierce and much more reliable. It can also pop all Bloon types except Camo which it needs another tower for.
Blade Maelstrom		Blade Maelstrom has extreme pierce, popping large amounts of Bloons at once, Fullsend immediately after purchasing it to maximize the money that it earns, and 2-4-0 and 0-4-2 are both functional crosspaths that can be used interchangeably. Purchase a 0-2-0 Alchemist, then upgrade it to 3-2-0 immediately after using the ability to allow it to pop Leads and maximize its damage.
Recursive Cluster		Recursive Cluster is an extremely potent damager, easily wiping out extreme clumps of Bloons. Another tower, such as MOAR Glaives, is needed to cover its weakness against Black Bloons and Zebra Bloons. Spamming it is a viable strategy post-fullsend.
Abyssal Warrior		Abyssal Warrior's extremely high pierce and pierce buff to other towers makes it one of the best race towers. As with Recursive Cluster, spamming it is viable post-fullsend. If doing so, it is recommended to get multiple of them for the pierce buff to work on each other, one of them to 4-0-1 for Camos, and the others 4-1-0 for even higher pierce. It still needs support, such as Berserker Brew (with Acidic Mixture Dip), to pop Leads.
Velociraptor		The Power 24 Velociraptor's extreme pierce allows it to pop all Bloons with ease and also take out clumped MOABs with multiple of them. Like MOAR Glaives, it pops all Bloon types except Camo. One Power 24 Velociraptor is prepared for the fullsend to Round 78 on long maps, while two are needed before the fullsend on shorter maps.

If neither Reactor nor Submerge and Support is enabled, a Radar Scanner can be purchased here to solve Camos. If using a supporting Hero, it is recommended to use their ability during the fullsend.

Post-fullsend

The post-fullsend (gameplay immediately after fullsend) requires extreme amounts of grouped popping power. Spamming towers in the section above often works, but in some cases, a concentrated, powerful tower is required. Such towers are listed below, with Stronger Stimulant and Jungle Drums recommended for all of them.

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & how to use
Ultra-Juggernaut		Ultra-Juggernaut is able to utilize all of its pierce, with its main Juggernaut ball easily exploding, dealing immense damage to all towers on the screen. The 5-2-0 crosspath is better for extra attack speed, despite its need for external Camo support.
The Bloon Solver		Solver's immense pierce and puddle chain effect easily wipe out Bloons and blimps. The 5-2-0 crosspath is always preferred due to the increased pierce to both the glue attack and the puddles, and Camo support makes Solver a guaranteed victory with a fullsend up to Round 80.
Super Maelstrom		While the Blade Maelstrom is active, upgrading to Super Maelstrom will extend, albeit not reset, the ability's duration, granting at least 6 seconds of extra ability duration that will wipe out nearly all Bloons on the screen. Re-apply Acidic Mixture Dip to grant it renewed Lead popping power, and give it Radar Scanner for Camos.
Lord of the Abyss		Lord of the Abyss greatly improves on Abyssal Warrior's attack in every way, while also granting extra pierce buffs to towers surrounding it. Purchasing it, with Lead support still on the screen, effectively guarantees victory.

Cleanup

The cleanup necessitates a tower that performs solid grouped blimp popping power to erase most blimps and allow the towers to clean up the screen before the last Bloon spawns, in addition to a tower that instantly pops the last Bloon to spawn. These towers are recommended below.

Name	Portrait	Reasoning & how to use
Ground Zero, Tsar Bomba		Ground Zero completely wipes out all blue MOABs and damaged BFBs from the screen, clearing up large amounts of RBE and allowing other towers to clean up better. Tsar Bomba performs even better, completely wiping out BFBs and also one-shotting ZOMGs if they have been damaged halfway. In addition, Tsar Bomba can be timed to one-shot the last Bloon if Round 65's BFBs spawn last, which would be the case for races that end between the rounds of 65 and 73.
Tech Terror		Tech Terror functions the same way as Tsar Bomba but with a cheaper price, in a limited range, and with the addition of a decent main attack. It can also be used to one-shot the final BFBs if Round 65 is the last round to spawn.
Deadly Precision		If the race ends on Round 78 or more, Deadly Precision can one-shot the final Rainbow Bloon, saving a good amount of time. Two Deadly Precisions are required for full reliability against their attack cooldowns. 3-0-2 is the recommended crosspath; external camo detection would be very affordable, and shrapnel messes up one-shots.
Bloon Trap, XXXL Trap		Bloon Trap is useful for cleaning rounds ending with a Ceramic or below, most notably Round 48 if Deadly Precision is banned, and XXXL trap is recommended for Races that end in higher rounds due to Bloon Trap's limited capacity. Crosspathing with Larger Service Area is recommended to target the trap at the entrance to instantly capture the last Bloon.
Pop and Awe		Pop and Awe occupies both the rules of Tech Terror and Deadly Precision, with its ability completely wiping out large amounts of Bloons and blimps (especially when utilizing its main attack's bonus damage to stunned targets) and instantly popping the final Bloon that spawns if it is the Round 78 Rainbow.