Bloons TD 6 Tower Tier List - v39.X
The best Bloons TD 6 towers / monkeys - and their build paths - for the current BTD6 patch. Data from BTD6 Index.
Towers
Each BTD6 tower - and their skill paths - ranked for CHIMPs mode.
S+
S+
Alchemist
Best Path:
4/2/0Notes
Stronger Stimulant provides a slightly stronger buff over Berserker Brew, but it's mainly exclusive to a main DPS tower. To maximize buff uptime on multiple towers, purchasing multiple Berserker Brew Alchemists is cheaper and better. Permanent Brew is to expensive for CHIMPs.
Stronger Stimulant
About
Extra strong berserker brew has even more powerful effect on the target. Lasts even longer.
Effect
Improves brew to provide further attack speed, pierce, and range. For the duration of the improved brew, gives +15% range, +17.6% attack speed, +3 pierce, and +1 damage. Lasts for 40 shots and lasts up to 12 seconds.
Perishing Potions
About
Attack potions deal more damage to MOAB-class Bloons and strip Fortified off smaller Bloons. Buff potions last longer.
Effect
Acid now can strip Fortified off non-blimp bloons, and attacks deal 5 damage to MOAB-class, 20 damage to Fortified MOAB-class. Also increases duration of Berserker Brew and Stronger Stimulant, decreases downtime of expired brews, and improves shot counts of all Alchemist buffs except Permanent Brew.
Path Closed
S
S
Glue Gunner
Best Path:
0/2/5Notes
Relentless creates a chain reaction of stuns that is very good at holding back MOABs and DDTs. It's good at activating Sauda's weakness and harming.
Path Closed
Glue Splatter
About
Splatters glue across up to 6 Bloons per shot.
Effect
Converts glue attack into a splash attack, gluing up to 6 bloons per shot (equivalent to +4 pierce).
Super Glue
About
Glue so strong it temporarily immobilizes all affected Bloons!
Effect
Improves the glue slowdown greatly. Locks MOABs, DDTs, and non-MOAB-class bloons in place, while slowing down BFBs by 95% and ZOMGs by 90%. Increases base pierce by 6. Also can rehit the same glued bloon. Popped bloons now stun nearby BFBs and ZOMGs as well for full duration.
S
Ninja Monkey
Best Path:
0/4/0Notes
Bloon Sabotage is one of the best abilities in the game, especially against DDTs. If you choose the maximum middle path upgrade: Grand Saboteur greatly improves Gerry's Fire on shinobis, and can take out entire rounds when combined with the spawn damage and slow.
Path Closed
Bloon Sabotage
About
Sabotage ability: Lasts 15 seconds. During the sabotage, all Bloons move at half speed.
Effect
Ability slows down all bloons on screen and any incoming bloons by 50% for 15 seconds. Cannot soak through MOAB-class layers nor affect BADs and bosses.
Path Closed
S
Beast Handler
Best Path:
0/2/4Notes
The best crosspath depends on the map. Giant Condor now requires 29 power to grab the second BFB. Upgrading from Golden Eagle 24 brings the Condor to 32, which is sufficient. Pouākai is a powerful global T5, but it needs more support than before as it struggles to deal enough damage in the late game.
Path Closed
Adasaurus
About
The sharp teeth of Adasaurus deal high short range damage that can tear through Lead.
Effect
Transforms the Microraptor into an Adasaurus. Adasaurus can pop Frozen and Lead Bloons, and changes appearance at max Beast Power. Base Beast Power becomes 3 with 3 damage, 8 pierce, and 1.0s attack speed. Max Beast Power becomes 6, with 6 damage, 20 pierce, and 0.6561s attack speed.
Giant Condor
About
The huge talons of the fearsome Giant Condor can pick up smaller MOAB-Class Bloons.
Effect
Transforms the Golden Eagle into a Giant Condor. Ceramics consume 2 pierce, and MOABs consume 10 (from 15). Can pick up to BFBs, which consume 30 pierce. If made able to pop Lead, Condors can grab DDTs, which consume 50 pierce. Base Beast power becomes 16, with 2 damage, 13 MOAB-class damage, and 30 pierce. Max Beast Power becomes 64, with 6 damage, 23 MOAB-class damage, and 90 pierce.
S-
S-
Boomerang Monkey
Best Path:
2/0/4Notes
MOAB Press is very potent against dense and slow bloons. Use it with a Middle Path Glue Gunner and other slowing towers to maximize its effectiveness. MOAB Domination is a good tier 5 for its price range that functions on many maps.
Glaives
About
Throws glaives instead of boomerangs. Glaives are bigger and faster, hitting more Bloons with each throw.
Effect
Gains +5 pierce on top of the previous upgrade, equivalent to 13 pierce for most upgrades. Also gives +50% knockback for MOAB Press.
Path Closed
MOAB Press
About
Heavy Kylie boomerangs hit MOAB-Class Bloons multiple times per throw and sometimes knocks them back a short way along the path.
Effect
Throws a powerful knockback boomerang at MOAB-class bloons every once in a while, dealing 1 damage to Bloons in its path, and 5 to MOABs, while pushing them backwards by a set amount of distance. These boomerangs have 200 pierce and can redamage Bloons after 0.1 seconds. Path 1 upgrades increase pierce and knockback distance.
S-
Ice Monkey
Best Path:
2/4/0Notes
Arctic Wind can freeze water on maps such as Flooded if you need the space. Snowstorm's ability has a huge freeze slow on MOABS. Absolute Zero is a decent T5 that slows down the game dramatically.
Cold Snap
About
Can freeze and pop Lead Bloons and Camo Bloons.
Effect
Detects camo and can freeze and pop Lead Bloons.
Snowstorm
About
Snowstorm Ability: Freezes all regular Bloons on screen, briefly freezes White, Zebra, and Camo, and slows MOAB-class.
Effect
Increases range from 20 to 30. Ability will freeze all bloons on screen, including White and Zebra, except Leads unless given lead-popping power. MOAB-class, White, Zebra, and Camo are frozen for only 3 seconds, while all other affected bloons are frozen for a full 6 seconds. Ability freeze soaks through 2 non-blimp layers.
Path Closed
S-
Monkey Ace
Best Path:
5/0/2Notes
Sky Shredder is one of the best T5 towers, as it has amazing MOAB DPS, decent Ceramic Bloon cleanup, and global range. Centered Path gives the ace a lot more mobility and microability.
Sky Shredder
About
The bloons will wish they had never come.
Effect
Attacks 33% faster, pops any bloon type, and shoots 32 darts per volley. Darts deal 3 damage plus another +2 to Ceramics. Anti-MOAB missiles deal 150 damage and up to 6 blimps.
Path Closed
Centered Path
About
New central flight path for maximum map coverage.
Effect
Gains the Centered Path flight path, which moves the Ace along a unified path in a circular formation. This flight path can be adjusted so it flies around a different central point.
S-
Mortar Monkey
Best Path:
2/5/0Notes
Pop and Awe is amazing when paired with Striker Jones' ability reset and stunning capabilities. Pop and Awe gained a massive amount of attack speed while keeping its large bonus to stunned bloons. One ability can take out the majority of the rounds in the game. You can use this tower very effectively with Engineer Monkey's Overclock as well.
Bloon Buster
About
Smash through 3 layers of Bloon at once!
Effect
Explosions deal 3 damage instead of 2.
Pop and Awe
About
Pop and Awe has permanent rapid attack speed and enhances the BAD and Boss damage of all Artillery Batteries. Pop and Awe Ability: rains explosions over the whole screen, damaging Bloons and stunning them periodically.
Effect
Ability stuns all bloons on screen repetitively every 1 second for 8 seconds. Main attack gains its previous Bombardment ability permanently. Bonus damage to stunned bloons increased from +2 to +10 and bonus BAD and Boss damage from +4 to +10. Also now grants all Artillery Batteries +6 to BADs and Bosses damage on screen.
Path Closed
S-
Spike Factory
Best Path:
2/5/0Notes
Spike Storm can wipe the screen of MOABs during the midgame, or handle DDTs and the BAD during the late game. While Carpet of Spikes is weak against Ceramic Bloons, it deals incredible damage to MOABs across the entire map. It easily takes out the BAD, DDTs, and a decent chunk of dense rounds.
White Hot Spikes
About
Cuts through Lead Bloons and Frozen Bloons.
Effect
Can pop Frozen and Lead Bloons.
Carpet of Spikes
About
Regularly sets a carpet of spikes over the whole track.
Effect
Every 15 seconds, produces an automatic Spike Storm. Spikes also deal incredible damage to bloons and MOAB-class, gains increased attack speed and range for main attack, and storm spikes last for 20 seconds instead of 10 (30 instead of 15 with Long Reach).
Path Closed
S-
Spike Factory
Best Path:
2/0/5Notes
Both crosspaths of Perma-Spike work.
White Hot Spikes
About
Cuts through Lead Bloons and Frozen Bloons.
Effect
Can pop Frozen and Lead Bloons.
Path Closed
Perma-Spike
About
High damage spikes become almost permanent.
Effect
Spike piles have 10 damage per spike, 50 pierce per spike pile, total active rounds increased from 3 to 4, and lasts for 300 seconds instead of 140. Reduces production speed to every 6.06s, but increases start-of-round duration to 10s.
A
A
Bomb Shooter
Best Path:
2/5/0Notes
MOAB Eliminator is a premium T5 that eliminates entire ZOMGs and can also skip the BAD similar to First Strike when doubled with Striker Jones’ Level 20. Use with strong cleanup towers. All middle bombs pair well with Primary Mentoring.
Heavy Bombs
About
Heavy duty bombs can smash through 2 layers of Bloon at once and pop more Bloons.
Effect
Explosions deal +1 damage and can pop an additional +10 bloons.
MOAB Eliminator
About
Massive damage to MOABs and Assassinate ability deals 6x damage with a short cooldown.
Effect
Ability targets the strongest blimp on screen and deals an instant 4500 damage to the first blimp hit with 3x faster ability cooldown. Main attack deals 100 damage to MOAB-class and gains normal damage type.
Path Closed
A
Sniper Monkey
Best Path:
4/2/0Notes
Maim MOAB is incredibly strong utility in the midgame and carries into the lategame well. Run alongside Bloon damage towers such as Bouncing Bullets.
Maim MOAB
About
Deals much more damage and immobilizes MOAB class bloons for a short time.
Effect
Bullets temporarily stun MOAB-class bloons and deal 30 damage instead of 20. With Shrapnel Shot, each shrapnel piece deals 6 damage instead of 4 and can stun MOAB-class bloons.
Shrapnel Shot
About
Damaged bloons spray out a cone of sharp shrapnel.
Effect
If a bloon is damaged, it will spray out a cone of sharp shrapnel in the same direction as the bullet. Shrapnel improves damage potential with Path 1 upgrades. Shrapnel cannot hit the bloon which spawned it.
Path Closed
A
Monkey Sub
Best Path:
5/0/2Notes
Submerge and Support is the best de-camo option on many maps with water. Energizer is a premium T5 that can be used with Heroes that have powerful high levels, especially Admiral Brickell for the additional cooldown reduction. Pairs well with other water towers for the cooldown reduction.
Energizer
About
Reduces ability cooldowns everywhere by 20%. While in radius, heroes earn XP 50% faster and water Monkey ability cooldowns are halved.
Effect
Submerging allows its damage zone to deal 5 damage per cycle instead of 1, +5 versus Ceramics, reduces ability cooldowns of all towers on screen by 20%, gives nearby heroes with 50% more XP, and nearby water-based towers gain 50% reduced ability cooldowns instead of 15%.
Path Closed
Airburst Darts
About
Airburst darts split into 3 on impact for massively increased popping power. Further enhances Bloontonium Reactor.
Effect
Main dart now splits into 3 darts on impact, and the attack speed of Submerged Subs and Bloontonium Reactors further increases.
A
Monkey Sub
Best Path:
0/4/0Notes
First Strike is one of the best BAD damagers, usually used to pop the BAD on maps with water and blast away groups of MOABs before that with the splash damage. Pre-emptive Strike pairs well with Sub Commander and can instantly kill all DDTs alone, but it is not necessary and does little on other rounds.
Path Closed
First Strike Capability
About
First Strike Ability: A devastating missile strike targeting the largest bloon on screen, plus splash damage.
Effect
Ability shoots a large missile that deals 10,000 damage onto the strongest bloon on screen plus a splash with 350 damage onto up to 80 bloons.
Path Closed
A
Monkey Buccaneer
Best Path:
2/5/0Notes
Monkey Pirates is a decent midgame T4 that deals good damage to MOABs. Pirate Lord is a premium T5 that is one of the most cost efficient towers in the game. Place between 2 parts of the track to utilize the double-sided attack such as #Ouch and Quad. On simultaneous lane maps, the hook can change which path will trigger Admiral Brickell's Mega Mines, maximizing their potential.
Double Shot
About
Increases ship weapons fired.
Effect
Increases the number of darts and grapes by +1, for double the straight-sprayed darts and a total of 6 grapes per shot (requires the Grape Shot crosspath).
Pirate Lord
About
Greatly increased attack speed for all attacks and can shoot 3 grappling hooks at once, plundering extra cash from each MOAB-class Bloon taken down.
Effect
Ability now shoots 3 grappling hooks at once, and can pull ZOMGs down with 2 hooks. Hooked blimps grant +100% more cash than would have been obtained by popping them normally. All attacks are 2x faster, and improves damage of grapes and bombs. Grapes deal 10 damage with 10 extra damage to Ceramic bloons with additional increased burn damage, and bombs deal massive damage to MOAB-Class.
Path Closed
A
Monkey Ace
Best Path:
0/5/0Notes
Ground Zero is a lesser midgame tower as it is now too expensive to reliably save up to with early game towers. However, its lategame cleanup is still good. Tsar Bomba is a premium T5 that deals a single instance of extreme damage, pairs well with slows, and somewhat stalls for itself with the stun on ZOMGs.
Path Closed
Tsar Bomba
About
A very, very large bomb. Someone put a stop to craziness!
Effect
Ability nuke deals 3000 damage, affects up to 5000 bloons on screen, and stuns all survivors of the blast except BADs. Has a shorter ability cooldown. Main bomb explosions pop any bloon type.
Path Closed
A
Heli Pilot
Best Path:
0/3/2Notes
Downdraft is the global option for ceramic stalling as it is able to rotate to another lane easily. Chinook enables a much larger variety of towers to be used on maps such as Geared and Muddy Puddles; however, it’s usually useless. Special Poperations is an average T5 with good cleanup.
Path Closed
Downdraft
About
Blows Bloons away from the Heli, back toward the entrance.
Effect
Periodically blows back 2 bloons or 1 Ceramic at a time at a rate of 4.44 blowbacks per second. Can blowback even faster with Faster Firing.
Faster Firing
About
Faster attack speed for all Heli attacks.
Effect
Attacks +25% faster (0.80x attack cooldown).
A
Heli Pilot
Best Path:
0/2/3Notes
MOAB Shove is a strong yet cheap midgame support which can clump or create gaps between MOABs. Comanche Defense is a solid midgame option that holds well by itself on single lane maps. Comanche Commander has many low damage projectiles and is a natural combo with Glue Storm, but it basically needs Geraldo or Gwen’s pierce and damage buffs to function.
Path Closed
IFR
About
Allows Heli Pilot to detect and shoot Camo Bloons.
Effect
Allows the Heli to detect and attack Camo Bloons.
MOAB Shove
About
Can collide with and shove MOAB-Class Bloons, reversing or slowing their movement. Shove is amplified by Bigger Jets and IFR upgrades.
Effect
Shoves back against MOAB-class bloons close to it, pushing them backwards or slowing down their movement. Improves shove effect with the Bigger Jets upgrade. Also adds a slow firing missile attack.
A
Mortar Monkey
Best Path:
0/2/3Notes
Signal Flare is a decent de-camo option that can be moved across the map. Shattering Shells is a decent support against rounds like 96 and 98, but very expensive for the job it does. Blooncineration is a good T5 for the lategame for both single and multi-paths, but requires knowledge of how to micro it. Blooncineration pairs well with Striker Jones or any hero that does strong Ceramic DPS.
Path Closed
Rapid Reload
About
Even faster reload.
Effect
Gains another +39% attack speed (an equivalent value from 0.72x attack cooldown), for a total of +85% attack speed (0.54x attack cooldown).
Signal Flare
About
Camo Bloons popped by flares lose their camouflage permanently.
Effect
Explosions produce wide non-damaging secondary flares that strip camo properties off any bloon hit, including Camo Blacks, Camo Zebras, and DDTs. Can detect Camo Bloons.
A
Dartling Gunner
Best Path:
2/0/5Notes
Buckshot shouldn’t be used alone due to its slow attack rate. 2 / 0 / 3 is even worse. Bloon Area Denial System is a strong mid game tower that even performs well in some of the hardest maps. Laser Shock greatly amplifies the tower’s damage, but sacrifices camo and knockback. Bloon Exclusion Zone with Laser Shock is a premium T5 tower that needs little help to take out lategame. Use Acidic Mixture Dip Alchemists to give the tower the ability to pop Lead Bloons.
Lazer Shock
About
Laser tipped shots shock bloons into popping again 1 second after being struck.
Effect
Every point of damage applies an extra electric shock damage-over-time onto affected Bloons. Dartling Gunners with this upgrade also deal bonus damage to shocked Bloons.
Path Closed
Bloon Exclusion Zone
About
Upgraded to 6 barrels and massively increased damage. Bloons are excluded from existence.
Effect
Further upgrades into 6 barrels for even faster attack speed and gains even more buckshots per cannon. Buckshots deal 8 damage instead of 4, and pierce 6 bloons instead of 4. With Laser Shock, improves Laser Shock to deal 6 damage per tic instead of 3, and take +6 extra damage from Dartling Gunners with Laser Shock.
A
Super Monkey
Best Path:
2/0/3Notes
Pierce nerfs have made Dark Knight into mainly a MOAB attacker before Round 80. The knockback and good DDT damage makes it an effective lategame tower as well. Dark Champion is an expensive - but now viable - lategame DPS option. Dark Knight can save into it easily.
Plasma Blasts
About
Super fast plasma vaporizes almost everything it touches.
Effect
Attacks 1.5x faster and pops Lead Bloons. Cannot pop Purples.
Path Closed
Dark Knight
About
Dark blades increase knockback and pierce and deal extra damage to MOAB-class Bloons. Gains Darkshift ability to shift to a nearby location.
Effect
Gains +2 MOAB-class damage, Leads and Ceramics slowed by 90%, and gains +3 pierce. Can teleport onto any valid land location within range with a new ability.
A
Spike Factory
Best Path:
4/2/0Notes
Spiked Balls are a failsafe against small amounts of Ceramics and MOABs. They're a decent tank for DDT rounds despite being unhelpful without other DDT damagers. Spiked Mines is an even stronger midgame backline, consistently taking down large clumps of Bloons with the high damage explosions. Super Mines is difficult to save for - and on Expert maps, not a viable option.
Spiked Mines
About
Spiked mines explode violently when they lose all their spikes.
Effect
Increases Ceramic damage bonus from +3 to +6, and Fortified damage from +1 to +3. Pierce of each spike pile increases from 12 to 20. Mines produce explosions that deal 10 damage (+2 to Ceramics, +3 to Fortified) with 30 pierce upon depletion of its spikes or by expiration, plus a burning effect that deals 10 damage per 2 seconds for up to 6 seconds. If expired by time, explosions deal double damage (20 damage).
Even Faster Production
About
Increases production rate even more.
Effect
Produces spikes +42% faster (0.70x attack cooldown).
Path Closed
A
Beast Handler
Best Path:
0/4/2Notes
Ensure your T-Rex is at 64 power. T-Rex takes out regular Ceramics with ease, but requires 43 power to one-shot Super Ceramics. The max power T-Rex layerskips through MOABs with its attacks, making it a good option. Giganotosaurus is unusable unless at max power, which is virtually unobtainable.
Path Closed
Tyrannosaurus Rex
About
The Tyrannosaurus Rex's huge jaw and sharp teeth deal a ton of damage with each bite. T Rex Stomp ability: Stuns up to ZOMG Bloons in a wide area.
Effect
Transforms the Velociraptor into a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Changes appearance twice at Beast Power 36 and 64. Gains Stomp ability which stuns up to 400 bloons within range, including ZOMGs and DDTs, for 6 seconds, dealing 150 damage, and has a 35s cooldown. At max Beast Power, ability deals 214 damage, stuns up to 436 bloons, reduces cooldown to 17.5s, and damage and stun carry over from MOAB-class to their children. Base Beast Power becomes 16, with 32 damage, 8 bonus damage to stunned bloons, 24 pierce, and 30 range. Max Beast Power becomes 64, with 96 damage, 29 bonus damage to stunned bloons, 60 pierce, and damage carries over from MOAB-class to their children.
Horned Owl
About
The Horned Owl is strong enough to grab Ceramic Bloons, and has keen eyes that can detect Camo Bloons.
Effect
Transforms the Gyrfalcon into a Horned Owl. Can detect camo and pick up more bloons. Can pick up Leads (if given Lead-popping) equal to pierce minus one; Fortified Leads consume 2 pierce each and Ceramics consume 6. Base Beast Power becomes 3, with 1 damage, 6 pierce and 0.7s attack speed. Max Beast Power becomes 6, with 2 damage and 18 pierce.
A-
A-
Dart Monkey
Best Path:
2/5/0Notes
Triple darts is a cheap early game skill that works fine on Ravine or Dungeons. Super Monkey Fan Club is expensive, lacks mobility, and doesn't have enough damage. Plasma Monkey Fan Club is a great tower for lategame burst DPS given you have something to stall or cover downtime. Pairs well with Primary Mentoring's cooldown reduction and free tier 1 upgrades.
Razor Sharp Shots
About
Can pop 2 more bloons per shot.
Effect
Gains +2 pierce, for 5 pierce by default. With Crossbow Master, gains +7 pierce instead.
Plasma Monkey Fan Club
About
Elite membership of this club grants the Dart Monkeys even more power.
Effect
Ability now transforms the club leader and up to 20 of the nearest non-special Dart Monkeys into Super Monkeys that shoot plasma blasts instead of darts. The plasma attacks twice as fast, deals 2 damage per hit and has 5 pierce.
Path Closed
A-
Tack Shooter
Best Path:
2/0/4Notes
Tack Sprayer is not a good skill. Overdrive, however, does great MOAB damage - and it's even better when paired with Embrittlement and Alchemist buffs. The Tack Zone can be used on non-Expert maps as a main damage tower, and is typically used with Pat Fusty or Geraldo.
Even Faster Shooting
About
Shoots tacks even faster.
Effect
Attacks an additional +33% faster (0.75x attack cooldown). Blade Maelstrom ability gains a further +40 pierce (for a total of +80), and Super Maelstrom ability gains a further +100 pierce (for a total of +200).
Path Closed
Overdrive
About
Shoots incredibly fast.
Effect
3x attack speed and +1 pierce.
A-
Glue Gunner
Best Path:
5/2/0Notes
Bloon Dissolver is not a good skill. Bloon Liquefier doesn't quite have the pierce or puddle damage to handle all Ceramics. The huge buff to Bloon Solver's puddles enables it to start a chain reaction that can pop up to BFBs and Fortified MOABs. It's still weak to DDTs and ZOMGs, however, and requires another tower to cover for it.
The Bloon Solver
About
Bloons a problem? Here's the solution.
Effect
Corrosion rate increases versus Ceramics and MOAB-class to 8 damage per 0.1s for Ceramics and 6 damage per 0.1s for MOABs. Glue attack becomes a twin splatter attack with 6 pierce per splash, greatly increased damage to popped blob of glue on the track, spreading glue even further. Attacks 3x faster.
Glue Splatter
About
Splatters glue across up to 6 Bloons per shot.
Effect
Converts glue attack into a splash attack, gluing up to 6 bloons per shot (equivalent to +4 pierce).
Path Closed
A-
Glue Gunner
Best Path:
0/5/2Notes
Glue Strike helps a bit during the midgame (and for round 100 if you need extra DPS). Glue Storm's debuff now consistently catches Ceramics and slows them immensely. It pairs very well with any strategy that needs Lead coverage and more damage.
Path Closed
Glue Storm
About
Glue Storm Ability: Pelts the whole screen with glue for 20 seconds.
Effect
Ability improved, allowing the ability to glue all bloons currently on screen every 1.0s until the ability expires. Alongside effects from its predecessor, ability glue now has double slowdown and gains double lifespan.
Stronger Glue
About
Slows down Bloons even more.
Effect
Slows down bloons by 75% instead of 50%.
A-
Monkey Buccaneer
Best Path:
3/2/0Notes
Destroyers have high DPS and are a good saveup where it uses the double-sided attack. Aircraft Carrier and Carrier Flagship suffer from numerous problems, including price, lack of DPS, and unreliability. Carrier Flagship is mainly used on Flooded Valley due to lack of land availability. All of them pair well with Admiral Brickell or Pat Fusty.
Destroyer
About
Attacks super duper fast!
Effect
Darts attack 5x faster, and grapes gain 5x attack speed.
Hot Shot
About
Burning hot grape shot can pop Lead Bloons and set Bloons on fire.
Effect
Converts grapes into hot grapes of fire, popping Lead Bloons and applying napalm. Hot grapes can no longer pop Purples.
Path Closed
A-
Wizard Monkey
Best Path:
0/3+/2Notes
Dragon's Breath is a powerful early to mid game tower that deals decent damage to MOABs. Summon Phoenix is an expensive mid game tower, but it is strong enough to easily save to Wizard Lord Phoenix. Doesn't hold as well against late game Ceramics anymore due to the main attack nerf. Wizard Lord Phoenix is a strong lategame T5 that can deal lots of damage over a long duration.
Path Closed
Dragon's Breath
About
Spews endless flames at nearby Bloons and enhances Fireball and Wall of Fire.
Effect
Rapidly spews flames at bloons. Flames deal 2 damage and sets affected bloons on fire for more damage. Fireball deals 9 damage and 14 blast radius, Wall of Fire spawns every 4.5s and gains +10 pierce, and increases tick rate of Wall of Fire.
Monkey Sense
About
Increase range slightly and allows the Wizard to hit Camo Bloons.
Effect
Wizard gains +10 range, camo detection and can access Camo Prioritization.
A-
Super Monkey
Best Path:
0/3+/2Notes
Robo Monkey can serve as a good mid game option which has enough late game DPS when paired with Geraldo's Sharpening Stone and the Glue Gunner's Glue Storm. Tech Terror is a good mid-to-late game tower and can one-shot Fortified BFBs and knock back ZOMGs on Round 98, removing nearly all the danger of the round. The Anti-Bloon is likely not affordable on CHIMPs.
Path Closed
Robo Monkey
About
Half Super Monkey, half killer robot of death. Shoots from 2 guns at once and can crit!
Effect
Gains +3 pierce and shoots from both arms at once. Arms have independent targeting and cannot both have the same target priorities. Does Crits every 15-20th shot that deals 10 damage.
Ultravision
About
Enables Super Monkey to shoot slightly further and to see Camo Bloons.
Effect
+3 range, gains camo detection and deal +1 damage to Camo Bloons. With the X-Ray Ultra MK, allows the Super Monkey to see and shoot through any blocking objects.
A-
Ninja Monkey
Best Path:
5/0/2Notes
Bloonjitsu Ninjas benefit greatly from Geraldo's Sharpening Stone or Pat Fusty's Rallying Roar, and is a very competent mid game with Shinobi Ninjas. Builds into any T5 Ninja Monkey with ease. Grandmaster Ninja is a strong black border strategy when buffed with Shinobi's, notably on #Ouch and X Factor. Also greatly benefits from Geraldo or Pat.
Grandmaster Ninja
About
Throws incredibly fast, 8 shurikens per shot!
Effect
Throws 8 shurikens at once, with 2 damage and +222% faster (0.31x attack cooldown). Also gains +10 range.
Path Closed
Caltrops
About
Throws out spiked caltrops onto the track nearby.
Effect
Regularly throws out caltrops onto nearby track. Pops up to 6 bloons per caltrop. Lasts for 1 round or 70 seconds, whichever comes first.
A-
Alchemist
Best Path:
0/5/1Notes
Unstable Concoction does a lot of damage for its cost, but is hindered by creating 'conc rushes', which are the massive Ceramic or MOAB rushes it leaves behind. Perma-Spike and Snowstorm make 'conc rushes' much more manageable. Total Transformation is an interesting T5 for late game DPS - run with damage increasers and Druids (but Ninjas, Ices, and Snipers are all possible).
Path Closed
Total Transformation
About
Transforms five Monkeys nearby into crazy attack monsters for 20 seconds.
Effect
Ability now affects up to 5 nearby monkeys up to Tier 3 into laser-shooting monsters. Ability cooldown is decreased. Most transformed monkeys can inherit tower-exclusive buffs on top.
Faster Throwing
About
Throws potions and attacks faster.
Effect
Attacks and throws potions +25% faster (0.80x attack cooldown).
A-
Druid
Best Path:
1/5/0Notes
Druid of the Jungle is a strong early game option on single lane maps such as Geared and Muddy as a global alternative to Wall of Fire. Use its targeting system to your advantage by maximizing damage while not dying to leaks. Spirit of the Forest's rework makes it a great option for single lane maps, but it still handles multiple lanes decently if you control when each side breaks apart.
Hard Thorns
About
Hard thorns can pop 2 bloons each and can pop all bloon types.
Effect
Druid thorns gain +1 pierce, and all thorns pop Frozen and Lead. For Druids of the Jungle and Spirit of the Forest, on-track vines now pop all bloon types.
Spirit of the Forest
About
Grows thorned vines along the path that deal constant damage plus bonus damage to ceramics. Vines nearest the Spirit of the Forest do more damage. Activated ability generates lives and more cash.
Effect
Continually grows thorned vines starting from its direct location and grows more vines outwards every 0.5s. Thorned vines deal constant damage to bloons passing through, and deal more damage if closer to the Druid. Also greatly strengthens most attacks. Ability also provides 25 lives per use. Gives 1000 cash every round. Also with the monkey knowledge 'Vine Rupture' the Druid gains an ability to explode all the vines in the screen, after about 5 seconds the vines will regrow.
Path Closed
A-
Druid
Best Path:
0/1/5Notes
Druid of Wrath synergizes well with Total Transformation, as you get the extra attack speed for great late game DPS. Poplusts can boost speed even more. Unlike Grandmaster Ninja, Avatar of Wrath still has a lot of power by itself, as it can be run with just an Alchemist and a strong hero. Obyn isn't actually the best for his pierce buffs. Often significantly weaker on rounds 92, 95, and 99 due to there being not much RBE on screen. Speed buffs pair well with Gerry's Fire, but Psi and Adora also cover weaknesses.
Path Closed
Thorn Swarm
About
Shoots 8 thorns per shot instead of 5.
Effect
Self-explanatory
Avatar of Wrath
About
The more bloons there are, the more damage it does!
Effect
Attack speed twice as fast, +5 range and deals 4 damage per thorn by default, plus another +1 damage every 3000 RBE on screen, capped at +30. Also gives equal damage-ramping for lightning if given the Heart of Thunder upgrade.
A-
Engineer Monkey
Best Path:
0/4/0Notes
Cleansing Foam is a good option for de-camoing DDTs - target it slightly off track to avoid Ceramics. Overclock is decent on a few towers, especially the highest DPS T5 towers; however, it is generally expensive compared to other supports such as slowdowns. Ultraboost takes far too long to stack up considering its high price.
Path Closed
Overclock
About
Overclock Ability: Target another tower to supercharge its attack speed for a short time.
Effect
Ability temporarily increases attack speed of tower, range of a Monkey Village, or production of a Banana Farm. Ability duration depends on tier of the selected tower. Main attack gains more pierce.
Path Closed
B
B
Boomerang Monkey
Best Path:
0/5/2Notes
Bionic Boomerang is consistent but there are much better options. Turbo Charge is a good mid game and can save to its T5 upgrade, but is not a lategame tower. Perma Charge is a decent and affordable T5 that can survive the late game. Both Turbo and Perma Charge pair extremely well with Gerry's Fire, multiplying its DPS during the ability.
Path Closed
Perma Charge
About
Perma Charge has a permanent super fast attack speed. Ability increases the lethality even more.
Effect
Permanently gains Turbo Charge attack speed and deals 4 damage by default. Ability now deals +8 damage for 15 seconds. With Red Hot Rangs, its attacks deal another +4 damage, and the ability damage is further increased by +2.
Red Hot Rangs
About
Allows boomerangs to pop Frozen and Lead Bloons and do more damage to all.
Effect
Pops any bloon type and main attack and Glaive Lord's glaive orbitals deal +1 damage. Gives even more damage with Perma Charge.
B
Ice Monkey
Best Path:
4/2/0Notes
Ice Shards is relegated to races. Embrittlement can provide a Monkey Intelligence Bureau skip and is a good de-buffer in a small area. With Bloon Sabotage, it can consistently hit all DDTs. Pairs well with pretty much every low damage tower but especially with Overdrive Tack Shooters. Super Brittle is effectively the same as the above, except other damage increasers means the higher potency is not as preferable.
Embrittlement
About
Can hit MOAB-class Bloons. All hit Bloons become brittle, take extra damage while frozen, and lose Camo properties.
Effect
All bloons, including Lead and MOAB-class affected, will become temporarily vulnerable to damage from sharp and freezing attacks, temporarily take +1 damage, and permanently lose Camo and Regrow properties. Can target MOAB-class bloons, as well as decamo DDTs and temporarily cause DDTs to become brittle.
Deep Freeze
About
Increases pierce, freezes an extra layer and freeze lasts longer.
Effect
Freezes through 2 layers of Bloon and freezes bloons for 2.2s instead of 1.75s. Pierce increases from 40 to 45.
Path Closed
B
Ice Monkey
Best Path:
0/2/5Notes
Cryo Cannon is heavily nerfed and is a cheap but weak Ceramic catcher. Icicles is generally only purchased if mid game help is needed, or if running Impale. Icicle Impale is a heavy stall T5 which requires another tower to deal damage. Pairs well with MOAB Press due to strengthening its MOAB pushback, and anything with high pierce due to its clumping capabilities. For dense rounds, Deep Freeze is an important upgrade to increase pierce and freeze duration.
Path Closed
Deep Freeze
About
Increases pierce, freezes an extra layer and freeze lasts longer.
Effect
Freezes through 2 layers of Bloon and freezes bloons for 2.2s instead of 1.75s. Pierce increases from 40 to 45.
Icicle Impale
About
Shoots huge icicle spikes that do huge damage to MOAB-Class Bloons and freezes them.
Effect
Ice blasts deal 50 damage to MOAB-class bloons and can freeze them. Attacks slightly faster.
B
Sniper Monkey
Best Path:
0/5/2Notes
Bouncing Bullets have been greatly weakened but are usable as a mid game attacker. Don’t stop at Supply Drop, the extra bounce is not worth it. Elite Sniper is a very easy to use midgame, and its buff to snipers is amazing for sniper builds. Very good when paired with Maim MOAB, as that covers for spaced MOABs. Potent with Geraldo, as his Sharpening Stone provides huge bonuses for this path.
Path Closed
Elite Sniper
About
Supply Drop gives much more cash and activates Supply Drop for other snipers. Grants Elite targeting prio and faster reload to all snipers.
Effect
Ability gives $3000 cash when deployed cash crate is collected, and activates the abilities of all other Supply Drop Snipers that are not on cooldown. Attacks +150% faster (0.4x attack cooldown) and gives all other Snipers +33% attack speed (0.75x attack cooldown).
Even Faster Firing
About
Shoots even faster!
Effect
Gains a further +42% attack speed (0.70x attack cooldown).
B
Sniper Monkey
Best Path:
2/0/5Notes
Semi-Automatic takes out Zebras and Leads but is too expensive to be used early. Full Auto can deal some MOAB damage and break open Ceramics in the mid game. 2/0/5 Elite Defender is a decent mid game that can break open ZOMG and DDT layers and help against the BAD. Geraldo's items can also act like a mini Permanent Brew and make 0/2/5 barely viable.
Large Calibre
About
Shots can pop through 7 layers of Bloon.
Effect
Bullets deal 7 damage instead of 4. With Shrapnel Shot, each shrapnel piece deals 2 damage instead of 1.
Path Closed
Elite Defender
About
Fires super fast and does more damage to MOAB-class Bloons. Fires faster the further the Bloons are along the track. Gains 4x attack speed briefly on losing lives.
Effect
2x attack speed on top of previous upgrades, as well as attacking an additive percentage amount faster depending on how close the Bloons are nearing the exit. If lives are lost, attacks 4x faster for about 7 seconds (on top of other attack speed bonuses). Bullets deal +4 damage to MOAB-class Bloons.
B
Monkey Sub
Best Path:
2/0/5Notes
Triple Guns is a good early game tower that can upgrade into Armor Piercing Darts for mid game MOAB damage. Sub Commander is weak to Super Ceramics in the late game, especially on simultaneous lanes. Contrary to popular belief, Sub Commander is better when run with Ballistic Missiles. Pair with Pat Fusty or Admiral Brickell for their water tower buffs.
Advanced Intel
About
Allows long range targeting of Bloons in radius of your other towers.
Effect
Allows the Monkey Sub to target any bloon within the range of any tower on screen. Can target Camo Bloons detected in the range of any tower with direct camo detection.
Path Closed
Sub Commander
About
Adds extra pierce and damage to Commander and all Subs in its radius.
Effect
All Subs within range, including itself, deal double damage and gain +4 pierce. Also, the Sub Commander gains 2x attack speed.
B
Heli Pilot
Best Path:
5/0/2Notes
Razor Rotors is decent but not good enough to save into Apache on its own. Apache Dartship is generally consistent enough to save up to Apache Prime and gets a decent benefit from Geraldo, but is still weak as a standalone tower. Apache Prime does good DPS on single lane maps, but is very expensive and very weak to DDTs. Microing the Heli behind the Bloons maximizes rotor and machine gun damage.
Apache Prime
About
The Apache Prime leaves most Bloons wishing they'd never been inflated.
Effect
Quad dart replaced with lasers, dealing 6 damage and having greatly increased pierce. Machine gun replaced with plasma dealing 5 damage, and more pierce, and missiles deal 17 damage to MOAB class Bloons instead of 2. Further improves rotors to double its pierce and damage.
Path Closed
Faster Firing
About
Faster attack speed for all Heli attacks.
Effect
Attacks +25% faster (0.80x attack cooldown).
B
Mortar Monkey
Best Path:
5/2/0Notes
Shell Shock with Burny Stuff is a decent early that can burn through Rainbows. The Big One with Burny Stuff is good for Ceramic damage, but lacks MOAB damage. The Biggest One is a high-pierce MOAB DPS that struggles to deal point damage. The Biggest One can now be run without Overclock, but still requires another tower to handle ZOMGs and the BAD. MOAB Eliminator is the prime choice as both towers benefit from Striker.
The Biggest One
About
Blasts deeply through Bloons and layers over a huge area, plus powerful Burny Stuff damage.
Effect
Creates gigantic explosions (60 to 75) that deal 25 damage per main explosion, plus +25 to Ceramics and +20 to MOAB-class, and pops 200 bloons instead of 85. Shockwave explosion deals +20 damage to Ceramics. When given Burny Stuff, deals 45 damage per tick instead of 5. In addition, Shockwave explosion now can stun MOAB-class bloons for short time.
Rapid Reload
About
Even faster reload.
Effect
Gains another +39% attack speed (an equivalent value from 0.72x attack cooldown), for a total of +85% attack speed (0.54x attack cooldown).
Path Closed
B
Wizard Monkey
Best Path:
5/0/2Notes
Arcane Mastery is a good early game that is usable on many maps. Arcane Spike works fine in the midgame but isn't the main reason to use the tower. Archmage has been buffed many times and deals good damage with a fine saveup. The increased range from Monkey Sense gives these upgrades even more map control.
Archmage
About
A true master of magical wizardry. Attack faster and does more damage to MOAB-Class Bloons.
Effect
Even higher damage bolts deal 7 damage and 26 MOAB-class damage and attack twice as fast as Arcane Spike. Additionally gains Dragon's Breath and Shimmer attacks, and all additionally attacks also gain twice as fast speed and deal double damage to MOAB-Class Bloons (including crosspathing path 2 Fireball and Wall of Fire).
Path Closed
Monkey Sense
About
Increase range slightly and allows the Wizard to hit Camo Bloons.
Effect
Wizard gains +10 range, camo detection and can access Camo Prioritization.
B
Wizard Monkey
Best Path:
0/2/5Notes
The best crosspath for Prince of Darkness varies from map to map. Shimmer is a weak decamo option due to tendency to whiff and lack of consistency. Necromancer is a decent Ceramic damager that saves to Prince of Darkness, but should not be used alone. Prince of Darkness received its range back, meaning it can handle split lanes pretty well again. Pairs well with any tower that does not stall (since damage is greatly reduced without graveyard).
Path Closed
Wall of Fire
About
Creates a super hot wall of fire across the track to roast the Bloons as they pass.
Effect
Creates a blaze of fire onto the closest region of bloon track. The blaze will regularly damage bloons as they pass through. Crosspathing with Guided Magic allows Wall of Fire placement to be manually adjusted, and also lasting 6.5 instead of 4.5s making 100% uptime.
Prince of Darkness
About
Reanimate even more powerful Bloon servants to obliterate the enemy and enhances all other Necromancers.
Effect
Expands its personal graveyard greatly, Undead Bloons last longer, and can now also summon Undead MOABs and Undead BFBs that deal even more damage and pop more bloons. Improves damage and lifespan of all Undead Bloons on screen including its own. The Wizard's other attacks can now gain up to +10 damage with a full graveyard. Also gains a massive range of 80.
B
Super Monkey
Best Path:
3/0/2Notes
Sun Avatar is a decent saveup tower for its cost and can be used as a late game attacker. Range helps it deal more damage, but knockback is better at controlling Ceramics. Becomes far stronger when buffed by Permanent Brew or Geraldo's Pickles. Sun Temple would be very hard to save to, and True Sun God isn't viable to save to in CHIMPS.
Sun Avatar
About
Channels power from the core of the Sun.
Effect
Shoots three waves of sunbeams per shot. Each sunbeam pops up to 6 bloons. Can't pop Purple Bloons, unless the player has the Strike Down The False MK enabled.
Path Closed
Ultravision
About
Enables Super Monkey to shoot slightly further and to see Camo Bloons.
Effect
+3 range, gains camo detection and deal +1 damage to Camo Bloons. With the X-Ray Ultra MK, allows the Super Monkey to see and shoot through any blocking objects.
B
Druid
Best Path:
3/0/2Notes
Druid of the storm is now able to function without straight lines, but is still inconsistent. Ball Lightning can handle mid game Ceramics due to the damage increases. Can be used with Poplusts as an Avatar of Wrath saveup; however, it's generally unnecessary. Superstorm is very difficult to save up to and struggles with DDTs and the BAD.
Druid of the Storm
About
Gusts of wind blow Bloons off the track away from the exit.
Effect
Creates small tornadoes that home towards Bloons, blowing away up to 30 Bloons backwards.
Path Closed
Heart of Vengeance
About
Gains 10% attack speed and 1% for every life lost from the starting value after the upgrade. Maxes at 100% and diminishes if lives are restored.
Effect
Self-explanatory
B
Monkey Village
Best Path:
3+/2/0Notes
Primary Training is useful for many Primary towers, especially ones with low pierce. Primary Mentoring is mainly bought for Primary towers with Abilities, but can also be bought to discount upgrades or provide extra range. Primary Expertise is below average for cleanup, but +3 pierce and further cooldown reduction is especially nice on certain towers, like Perma Charge.
Primary Training
About
All Primary Monkeys in radius get more range, pierce and projectile speed.
Effect
All Primary Monkeys in the radius of the Village gain +10% further range, +1 pierce, and around +25% projectile speed.
Radar Scanner
About
Allows all Monkeys in the radius to attack Camo Bloons.
Effect
Grants all towers in range camo detection.
Path Closed
B-
B-
Bomb Shooter
Best Path:
4/2/0Notes
Despite recent buffs, Really Big Bombs is still terrible. Bloon Impact can now not die to Ceramics exiting the range, but is still pretty expensive. Better radius, rate, pierce, and duration makes it a more powerful Cryo Cannon. Bloon Crush is a free pass to Round 100 on single lanes, but is very expensive and range limited.
Bloon Impact
About
Explosions become so violent Bloons are stunned for a short time when they are hit. Range is increased and frags are even more effective.
Effect
Explosions stun affected bloons for 1.4s. Gains +3 range. With Frag Bombs, improves frag pierce, count, and lifespan.
Missile Launcher
About
Exchanges bombs for missiles, which fire faster, fly faster, and increase range.
Effect
Attacks +36% faster (0.7333x attack cooldown) on top of the previous upgrade, gains +4 range, and gains +50% projectile speed.
Path Closed
B-
Tack Shooter
Best Path:
4/0/2Notes
Hot Shots is bad. Ring of Fire has good bloon DPS mid game and can take down weakened Super Ceramics. Inferno Ring is a below-average lategame win condition, doing enough DPS while relying on meta support. Pairs really well with an Alchemist and Monkey Village to increase the low pierce of the meteor.
Ring of Fire
About
Damages many more Bloons with a deadly ring of flame instead of tacks.
Effect
Instead of tacks, creates bursts of flame that deal 5 damage per shot against up to 30 bloons. Attacks +100% faster (0.315s attack cooldown) but can no longer pop Purples.
Path Closed
Even More Tacks
About
Shoots out 12 tacks per shot and increases Ring of Fire damage further.
Effect
Shoots 12 tacks per shot instead of 10. Ring of Fire gains an extra +1 damage (total +2). Blade Maelstrom ability duration increased by a further 0.5 seconds. Super Maelstrom ability duration increased by a further 1.5 seconds.
B-
Tack Shooter
Best Path:
0/5/2Notes
Blade Shooter is bad. Blade Maelstrom can be used to cheese Rounds 63, 76, and 78, but is quite expensive at this job. Super Maelstrom is an insanely price-efficient burst damage tower when paired with damage buffs such as Pat Fusty's roar. Extra duration allows it to chump through longer rounds.
Path Closed
Super Maelstrom
About
Even more powerful Maelstrom ability and lasts longer.
Effect
Ability distributes four waves of higher damage blades in a clockwise direction for 9 seconds. Can pop Frozen and Lead. Ability can also be sped up slightly.
Even More Tacks
About
Shoots out 12 tacks per shot and increases Ring of Fire damage further.
Effect
Shoots 12 tacks per shot instead of 10. Ring of Fire gains an extra +1 damage (total +2). Blade Maelstrom ability duration increased by a further 0.5 seconds. Super Maelstrom ability duration increased by a further 1.5 seconds.
B-
Dartling Gunner
Best Path:
4/2/0Notes
Laser Cannon is an overly-expensive early-mid game tower. Plasma Cccelerator can serve as a decent mid game tower with high MOAB DPS, but it completely falls off past Round 80, requiring Downdraft or other Ceramic cleanup. Synergizes with Ezili's hex since the hex removes the insides of MOABs. Ray of Doom is too expensive for CHIMPS.
Plasma Accelerator
About
Concentrates a powerful beam of energy to a single point.
Effect
Generates a powerful beam of energy towards a single point instead of shooting fast lasers, popping bloons that make regular contact with them. Any remaining pierce from the beam itself is used to inflict greater damage at the endpoint. Affected bloons additionally will be affected by an even longer-lasting Laser Shock effect.
Faster Barrel Spin
About
Makes gun fire much faster.
Effect
Attacks +50% faster (0.66x attack cooldown).
Path Closed
B-
Dartling Gunner
Best Path:
1/4/0Notes
Hydra Rocket Pods is underwhelming as a standalone. Rocket Storm is a good tower for the mid game, as it's able to save up large amounts on single lanes; however, it's now outclassed by a variety of other towers. MAD is a powerful MOAB DPS tower paired with Snowstorms and Downdraft. Difficult to handle. All of the upgrades in the path pair well with an Alchemist due to it multiplying the explosions.
Focused Firing
About
Increases accuracy of the Dartling Gun.
Effect
Decreases angular deviation from 23° to 9.6°, reducing projectile deviation by 60%. Also increases projectile lifespan for all Buckshot projectiles by +40%.
Rocket Storm
About
Rocket Storm ability: Launches a powerful storm of rockets in a wide cone.
Effect
Ability generates waves of erratically moving rockets that deal 5 damage per shot onto up to 8 bloons per explosion. Main attack gains more pierce for its main attack, increasing pierce of explosions by +2 and increasing number of explosions by +1.
Path Closed
B-
Ninja Monkey
Best Path:
1/0/5Notes
Flash Bomb is underwhelming for its price, lacking consistency and value. It's relegated to a supporting tower in Grandmaster Ninja strategies. Sticky Bomb can be used as a mid game MOAB damager and is decent at BAD damage. Master Bomber received a massive amount of DPS, and can now solo most late game rounds by itself (and even has high BAD damage). It still struggles to hold back multiple lanes at once.
Ninja Discipline
About
Increases attack speed.
Effect
All attacks gain +61.2% attack speed (0.62x attack cooldown).
Path Closed
Master Bomber
About
One Monkey MOAB demolition Machine.
Effect
Throws stronger sticky bombs over any distance that stun affected blimps and deal 3000 damage upon detonation instead of 500, damage of area explosion increases from 100 to 600. Flash bomb attack deals more damage and briefly stuns blimps too, while caltrops deal 5 damage instead of one and +5 more to ceramics.
C
C
Dart Monkey
Best Path:
0/2/4Notes
Crossbow loves to miss its shots, but layerskipping makes it a decent early game. Sharp Shooter is a decent early-to-mid game upgrade that comes after Crossbow, but needs something to clean up the reds and blues it leaves behind. Crossbow Master can be a weaker mid game but it falls off heavily lategame. The buffs make it less of a burden on cash, but not much stronger.
Path Closed
Very Quick Shots
About
Shoots 33% faster!
Effect
Attacks +50% faster than base Dart Monkey (attack cooldown from 0.85x to 0.67x (~2/3x)).
Sharp Shooter
About
Sharp Shooter attacks faster and does powerful Crit shots every few shots that do a lot more damage.
Effect
Deals 6 damage per hit, attacks every 0.6s instead of 0.95s, projectile speed increased and lands a Critical Hit after every 10 shots. Crits deal 50 damage per hit. Also increases range from 56 to 60.
C
Monkey Village
Best Path:
2/3+/0Notes
MIB is only used as DDT support. Often skippable but sometimes necessary. Call to Arms is fairly expensive and is similar to an Overclock but for multiple towers. Homeland Defense is very expensive and typically not worth it. Somewhat usable with subtowers like Sentry Champion and Comanche Commander.
Jungle Drums
About
Increases attack speed of all Monkeys in the radius.
Effect
All towers in the radius of the Village attack +18% faster (0.85x attack cooldown).
Monkey Intelligence Bureau
About
The Bureau grants special Bloon popping knowledge, allowing nearby Monkeys to pop all Bloon types.
Effect
In addition to camo detection, all towers in the radius of the Village gain the Normal damage type. Towers with a lack of targeting of bloon properties also gain the capability to target all bloon properties aside from Ceramics and above.
Path Closed
C
Engineer Monkey
Best Path:
3/0/2Notes
Sprockets lacks both Camo and Lead popping power, but it's a good early game. Sentry Expert is a well-statted attacker in the mid game with good damage and pierce, but its AI actively screws it over sometimes since the reactive system means the sentries are replaced only once every 6 seconds. Sentry Champion is very weak alone, but essentially receives Village buffs twice, as Jungle Drums and Call to Arms boost both sentry deploy and attack rate.
Sprockets
About
Increases sentry gun and Engineer attack speed.
Effect
Nailgun and newly deployed sentry guns attack twice as fast.
Path Closed
Pin
About
Pins Bloons in place for a short time when struck.
Effect
Nailgun nails pin any non-blimp bloon other than Leads and Ceramics. Can give Pin effect to sentries with Sprockets or above. Also lets Cleansing Foam slow down any non-blimp bloons.
C
Beast Handler
Best Path:
4/0/2Notes
Great White can deal some MOAB damage and some splash damage mid game. Orca is a semi-expensive BFB insta-killer that deals some thrash damage around it. Orca with 64 power dragging in ZOMGs transforms it into a below average lategame attacker for 36k. Run with stalls such as Snowstorm and buffs such as Overclock to maximize its thrash damage. Megalodon is now somewhat affordable, but it's just used to flex on Round 100.
Orca (64 Power)
About
The mighty Orca's huge mouth can grab and drag all but the very largest Bloons into the depths. At max Beast Power the Orca can drag down ZOMGs.
Effect
Transforms the Great White into an Orca. The Orca can drag down MOABs and BFBs (Whit 250.000 RBE or less) by default. Base Beast Power becomes 16, with 30 splash damage, 20 pierce, and 40 range. Max Beast Power becomes 64, with 90 damage, 60 pierce, and the capability to drag down ZOMGs (and DDTs if Camo Detection is provided)(250.000 RBE or less).
Path Closed
Horned Owl
About
The Horned Owl is strong enough to grab Ceramic Bloons, and has keen eyes that can detect Camo Bloons.
Effect
Transforms the Gyrfalcon into a Horned Owl. Can detect camo and pick up more bloons. Can pick up Leads (if given Lead-popping) equal to pierce minus one; Fortified Leads consume 2 pierce each and Ceramics consume 6. Base Beast Power becomes 3, with 1 damage, 6 pierce and 0.7s attack speed. Max Beast Power becomes 6, with 2 damage and 18 pierce.
D
D
Dart Monkey
Best Path:
5/2/0Notes
Spike-O-Pult is far too slow and weak. Juggernaut's knockback is way too unimpactful to be used outside of early game. Ultra-Juggernaut is very potent on a select few maps with obstacles, including Mesa, Dungeons, etc. Near useless on every other map. Despite buffs, it lacks single target which leaves it hanging after Round 80.
Ultra-Juggernaut
About
Gigantic spiked ball splits twice into 6 Juggernaut balls for even more destructive power against Ceramic, Fortified and Lead Bloons.
Effect
Hurls gigantic juggernaut balls that retains knockback effect and each dealing 5 damage, +8 to Ceramics, +20 to leads and +5 to Fortified, have 200 pierce, travel faster, and split twice into 6 mini juggernaut balls every 100 bloons hit. These mini juggernaut balls each have 2 damage, +3 ceramic damage, +2 fortified damage, and 50 pierce. Both main projectile and mini projectiles can rehit bloons if they hit any walls.
Very Quick Shots
About
Shoots 33% faster!
Effect
Attacks +50% faster than base Dart Monkey (attack cooldown from 0.85x to 0.67x (~2/3x)).
Path Closed
D
Boomerang Monkey
Best Path:
5/0/2Notes
Glaive Ricochet's buffs didn't help it do any better against any higher tier bloons. MOAR Glaives is a decent bloon DPS mid game, but it's completely useless against MOABs. Can complement towers that completely shut down MOABs, but is usually an unnecessary cost. Glaive Lord is barely usable, but is shafted by tiny range and weakness to Fortified Super Ceramics. Without a good bend and other support, it is unable to handle anything.
Glaive Lord
About
Glaive Lord surrounds itself in 3 special glaives that shred anything that comes near. Glaive Lord's glaives now rip through MOAB-class Bloons, slowly tearing them apart from the inside.
Effect
Gains a sharp 30 range zone that deals 2 damage every 0.1 seconds to all affected bloons in radius, including Camo Bloons, +8 to Ceramics and +5 to MOAB-class, and 2 more to Fortified. Main glaive deals +7 damage and +8 to Ceramics and can now inflict a shredding damage-over-time to MOAB-class, slowly dealing 100 damage every 1.0s for 15s.
Path Closed
Red Hot Rangs
About
Allows boomerangs to pop Frozen and Lead Bloons and do more damage to all.
Effect
Pops any bloon type and main attack and Glaive Lord's glaive orbitals deal +1 damage. Gives even more damage with Perma Charge.
D
Bomb Shooter
Best Path:
2/0/3+Notes
A short range low DPS tower that demands a lot of other towers to help with it. Lack of single target on Cluster Bomb requires the purchase of Heavy Bombs, which necessitates Primary Expertise. Recursive Cluster can somewhat beat dense rounds again, but isn't much of an improvement over Cluster Bombs. Bomb Blitz has the same issues as Recursive Cluster but even more pronounced. The extra Fortified damage somewhat helps against Heavy Fortified rounds. Note: this Fortified damage may have been removed in Patch 40 - updates coming soon.
Heavy Bombs
About
Heavy duty bombs can smash through 2 layers of Bloon at once and pop more Bloons.
Effect
Explosions deal +1 damage and can pop an additional +10 bloons.
Path Closed
Cluster Bombs
About
Throws out secondary bombs instead of sharp fragments every shot.
Effect
Produces 1 cluster of 8 smaller secondary bombs that pop up to 8 bloons per secondary bomb. Both explosions pop all bloons, including Black Bloons.
D
Monkey Ace
Best Path:
2/0/3Notes
Neva-Miss Targeting is an okay early game option, but is shafted due to not transitioning to mid game well and inability to handle Ceramics for its price. Completely dependent on Alchemist buff to do pretty much anything. Spectre is an overpriced T4 that is underwhelming for its cost and is not a good tower overall. Fortress is not going to be affordable.
Lots More Darts
About
Shoots 12 darts at a time.
Effect
Each dart volley shoots 12 darts at a time. Spectres and Flying Fortress instead add +25% pierce to their darts.
Path Closed
Neva-Miss Targeting
About
Darts automatically seek out and pop Bloons by themselves.
Effect
Darts will automatically rotate to continuously seek at nearby bloons.
D
Engineer Monkey
Best Path:
0/0/3Notes
Double Gun can get an early Churchill on some hard maps, but is fringe otherwise. Bloon Trap is much worse than Spiked Balls. XXXL Trap gained some attack speed back, but is still far too slow to deal with DDTs or MOABs. The rapid ZOMG instakill doesn't justify the high price with no saveup. Trap can eat up Bloons while traveling in the air, so targeting trap far from the Engineer increases consistency.
Path Closed
Path Closed
Double Gun
About
Two guns for twice the fun.
Effect
Double nailgun attack speed.
F
F
Monkey Buccaneer
Best Path:
0/2/5Notes
Since income generation isn't allowed in CHIMPs, this tower is not useful.
Path Closed
Hot Shot
About
Burning hot grape shot can pop Lead Bloons and set Bloons on fire.
Effect
Converts grapes into hot grapes of fire, popping Lead Bloons and applying napalm. Hot grapes can no longer pop Purples.
Trade Empire
About
Generates more cash per round, increases cash earned by up to 20 other Merchantmen by the number of Merchantmen, and boosts all Merchantmen damage.
Effect
Boosts income of up to 20 Merchantmen or Favored Trades by +$10 for every Merchantman and +$20 for every Favored Trades on screen. All Buccaneers with at least the Merchantman upgrade gain +1 damage and another +1 damage to MOAB-class and Ceramic. Generates $800 per round.
F
Alchemist
Best Path:
1/0/5
Larger Potions
About
Larger potions splash in a larger area.
Effect
Acid potion attack deals a large splash radius and can hit up to 20 bloons per shot instead of 15.
Path Closed
Bloon Master Alchemist
About
Secret shrink potion converts all affected Bloons into Red Bloons.
Effect
Throws a shrink potion that converts up to 200 bloons into Red Bloons, including MOAB-class (up to a Z.O.M.G), although MOAB-class bloons consume more pierce. Shrink potions have unlimited range and always target the strongest transformable bloon types on screen. Does not reward extra money for converted bloons.
F
Monkey Village
Best Path:
2/0/5 Jungle Drums
About
Increases attack speed of all Monkeys in the radius.
Effect
All towers in the radius of the Village attack +18% faster (0.85x attack cooldown).
Path Closed
Monkeyopolis
About
Absorbs all nearby Banana Farms and their income, freeing up space for new Monkeys.
Effect
All Banana Farms within range up to Tier 4 are sacrificed to generate more income based on the monetary cost of the Banana Farm sacrifices, rounded up, at a rate of $200 per $2000 worth of sacrifices. Cost of the upgrade increases additively (+5,000) per Banana Farm within range. Gives a base $1250 per round, resulting in a minimum of $1450 per round.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some FAQs about this tier list, how it was made, etc.
How was this tier list made?
This tier list was compiled by Reddit User /u/Wish_Solid and the BTD6 Index community, so a huge thank you goes out to those players who are at the top of their game. The placements, upgrades & crosspaths, and notes all come from Wish_Solid and the BTD6 Index community. According to Wish_Solid, "[the tier list] went through many iterations before becoming what you see now."
Can I see justifications for the choices made?
Wish_Solid and the BTD6 Index community have compiled a Google Doc explaining all their choices for the tier list placements. You can view that here.
Which game mode is this tier list made for?
This tier list focuses on CHIMPS mode. Many of the choices here, however, can be translated to other game modes. Other game mode tier lists will be coming in the future!
Is this tier list finished?
Definitely no. This tier list is a work in progress, and build changes/optimizations - like including non-max-upgrade Towers and better crosspaths - should be expected in the coming week or two!