How to Master Bloons TD6: The Ultimate Strategy Guide

Co-authored by Eric McClure

Last Updated: October 22, 2022 References

Looking to improve your Bloons TD6 win rate? Stuck on CHIMPS mode and unsure why you keep losing? Bloons TD6 is a deceptively complex game, and there are hundreds (if not thousands) possible strategies to choose from. That’s why we’re here to provide the best possible strategies, tips, tricks, and builds so that you can crush those pesky bloons. Remember, you’ll learn a lot just by practicing and playing and there’s no penalty for losing a run, so don’t hesitate to experiment!

Section 1 of 3:

General Strategies

1
When in doubt, start with dart monkeys. Unless you’re pursuing a really unique build path, just start with dart monkeys. This is usually the best Bloons TD6 strategy for starters. Two dart monkeys can easily handle the first few rounds so that you can generate some income for better towers, and you can sell them in the future for a more reasonable price than other units in the game.^{[1]
X
Research source}
- Place your dart monkeys near the front of the map so that you have enough time to recover if you miss a few bloons.
- Do not invest too much into upgrading early units. It’s generally considered more productive to place more units than to upgrade units you already have—at least until the mid- or late-game when your path is mostly covered.
2
Place your hero as early as you reasonably can. Every hero in Bloons TD6 upgrades on their own at the end of each round. This means that the earlier you can place them on the map, the sooner it will be that you can take full advantage of their benefits. Unless you are having trouble clearing the starter bloons, place your hero as early as level 5-7 if you can.^{[2]
X
Research source}
- Do not place your hero if you’re losing life. It’s better to spend an early $215 on a necessary dart monkey that will preserve your life total than it is to take the hit early on by placing your hero.
Advertisement
3
Experiment with build orders to find a playstyle you like. Every tower has 3 tiers of upgrades, but you can only invest up to 5 points total. There are no objectively correct builds—every single upgrade path is viable depending on your gameplan. Play around with the build orders to find upgrades you enjoy playing with.^{[3]
X
Research source}
- Keep in mind, in the early- to mid-game, it’s generally better to place a larger number of towers than it is to upgrade a lot. A few key upgrades are fine if you want to access certain abilities, but don’t go “all in” on a handful of units.
- As a note, when you see strategy guides talk about an 0-0-2 village, or a 1-0-3 super monkey, they’re talking about the build path. A 1-0-3 super monkey has 1 upgrade point in the first upgrade path, 0 points in the second path, and 3 points in the third path.
4
Prioritize the front half of the map in the early game. At level 0, there is an arrow showing you where the bloons will come from. Place your early game units in the front portion of the map, where these bloons will emerge. Build your way towards the back half of the map as you level up. This will give you the most breathing room possible in case any bloons make it past your initial defense so that you can place a last-minute tower and protect your life total.
- Your life total is essential—especially in the early game. It’s better to bite the bullet and place a last-minute dart monkey than it is to let bloons pass.
5
Place towers where they’ll cover the most track. When you click a tower to purchase it, you’ll see a grey circle around the unit. This is the range of the unit. Place your units where they’ll cover the largest percentage of track so that they can stay in the fight longer and destroy the greatest number of bloons.
- For units that fire in a straight line, like the dartling monkey, aim to position them where they’ll have the straightest view of the track.
- For magic units that buff your other towers, ignore the track and pay attention to where your towers are placed.
- Keep the support buildings that don’t actively influence the bloons as far away from the track as possible.
6
Anticipate the camo, lead, and special balloons. The specialty balloons always appear at the same levels. While most of the colored balloons aren’t a big deal, camo balloons can only be seen by certain units, so you’ll need something that can see them by round 24 when they first appear. You’ll also need a plan for lead bloons, which are immune to everything except fire and explosive damage. These show up at round 28.^{[4]
X
Research source}
- Many players memorize the order of the bloons, so start paying attention to what rounds prove especially problematic for you!^{[5]
  X
  Research source}
- The MOAB—mother of all bloons—shows up at round 40. You need a lot of piercing damage to get through this one.
- When it comes to camo bloons, your best shot is to upgrade a handful of units to obtain camo detection. A 0-0-2 dart monkey, 5-0-0 boomerang monkey, and 5-0-0 tack shooter can all do this.
- Upgrading an early boomerang monkey into a glaive monkey is a great way to get some early piercing power for levels with stronger bloons.
7
Build around the hero you choose at the beginning of the game. You only get to place one hero unit per game, so don’t randomly click a hero and place them all willy-nilly. Read your hero’s abilities ahead of time and keep them in mind as you build out your run. If your hero buffs nearby units, place the hero in a central part of the map and build around them. If they passively generate income, place them out of a busy area to avoid over-congestion and free-up real estate.^{[6]
X
Research source}
- If you haven’t unlocked all of the heroes yet, just keep playing. You unlock a new hero on the road to level 28.
- Many of the heroes must be purchased using in-game currency. Do not feel pressured into spending money on the game if you can’t afford it.
- Obyn Greenfoot is widely considered to be one of the best “starter” heroes. You unlock Obyn last at level 28.
- If you do want to pay for a few heroes, Etienne, Geraldo, Psi, and Benjamin are considered among the most powerful in the game.
8
Don’t forget your micro—especially when it comes to military monkeys. Micro refers to micromanagement. While most of your monkeys are automated, and you can totally get far in the game without managing your units manually. However, when it comes to targeting specific areas where a ton of bloons are built up, it’s worth making the few minor adjustments. This is super key when it comes to military monkeys like the mortar monkey.^{[7]
X
Research source}
- For example, depending on the wave, you may want to focus all of your mortar monkeys on one portion of the map to destroy a MOAB or large number of bloons.
- However, if the bloon wave is moving at different speeds, you might get more bang for your buck by spreading out your fire and targeting different parts of the map.
9
Test things out on your own to see what does or doesn’t work. There are four different classes of tower: primaries (blue), militaries (green), magics (purple), and supports (brown). While you generally want to start with primary towers, the world is your oyster after that! Try out different combinations of units to find synergies that work well together. There are thousands of potential different builds, and exploring on your own will help you develop your skills.^{[8]
X
Research source}
- Primaries (dart monkey, tack shooter, etc.) – These are your bread and butter. These towers specialize in killing bloons, and that’s about it.
- Militaries (mortar monkey, dartling gunner, etc.) – These towers also kill bloons, but they fulfill niche needs and destroy specific types of balloons (like mortar monkeys, which pop larger balloons quickly).
- Magics (wizard monkey, alchemist, etc.) – These towers boost and buff (improve) your other towers to make them stronger or more resilient, while also popping bloons.
- Supports (banana farm, monkey village, etc.) – These towers generally do not pop bloons, with the exception of the engineer monkey and spike factory. They may make your team stronger, make you money, or slow bloons down, though.

Section 2 of 3:

CHIMPS Mode Builds

1
Give the straightforward Adora strategy a shot. This is possibly the best “easy” CHIMPS strategy. Start with 3 dart monkeys close to one another at the front of the map. Near round 9 or 10, place Adora, followed by a ninja. Now, place an alchemist next to Adora and the ninja. This will get you all the way to round 50. Seriously, this is all you need.^{[9]
X
Research source}
- From here, you can upgrade your alchemist, additional support units, or place a handful of military units.
- You’ll likely need a village at some point (likely around round 50) to support your hero and the two nearby units. A 2-2-0 village will dramatically help!
- In the late game, adapt your strategy to the map. If you have water, an aircraft carrier can carry you through the late game. If there’s no water, helicopters and canons are great.
2
Outrace the bloons at the bank with the half cash farm strategy. Farms provide money, and if you can get enough farms up and running, you don’t need to make your income from popping bloons. Go with Benjamin and place some early dart monkeys, boomerang monkeys, druids, or ninja monkeys. When you can afford Benjamin, place him next to a farm. From here, you have a few options.^{[10]
X
Research source}
- Upgrade your banana farms and place primary units as necessary to preserve your life total.
- Take out the IMF loan bank option to go half cash. Put all of that money into upgraded farms to overcome the hit you take to future options.
- Use upgraded alchemists to buff a small army and then slowly build out additional farms.
3
Cut through wave after wave with a druid strategy. Take Obyn Greenfoot as your hero, since he gives all Druids +1 pierce. After you’ve placed 3 dart monkeys, start building your druid army out. Place Obyn in a central part of the map and surround him with 0-0-0 druids. Once you have enough druids to take down larger waves, begin upgrading them. You can use any upgrade path you’d like from here!^{[11]
X
Research source}
- Just keep spamming your druids. The more druids surrounding Obyn, the better!
- A single well-placed village can go a long way when it comes to sustainable damage for your druids.
- You can use Gwendolin instead of Obyn if you prefer. Her fire damage pairs nicely with the druids to make up for their shortcomings with lead balloons.

Section 3 of 3:

Specialty Modes

1
Firing range—rush a 2-0-1 ninja to buy time. Use Etienne as your hero. Place a single ninja monkey on the top square on the righthand bench. Upgrade 1-0-0, then 1-0-1. Once you can afford it, upgrade to sharp shurikens to make it a 2-0-1 ninja. Save up enough cash to afford Etienne and place him on the lefthand square to the left of the tower.^{[12]
X
Research source}
- This should give you enough time and income to purchase your next set of towers. From here, you can build out militaries, primaries, or additional ninja monkeys.
- Many players will place a single alchemist right next to their ninja monkey to perpetually buff it.
- A monkey ace in the middle of the map can really do a ton of damage in the mid- and late-game.
2
Apocalypse mode—place Obyn and then build out a tiny buff army. Use Obyn Greenfoot as your hero, and start by placing Obyn near the entrance where the bloons spawn. Save up enough for a monkey ninja and place them right next to Obyn so he can buff the ninja. From there, upgrade to a 3-0-2 monkey ninja and build out a 3-0-0 alchemist. This will allow you to pop every bloon in the game!^{[13]
X
Research source}
- From here, continue building out units in this tiny area so that your buffs overlap. You can go in any direction you’d like, but this starting setup is key since it allows you to tackle any random bloon that appears.
- Apocalypse mode includes random waves, and the RNG just won’t work in your favor sometimes. It’s okay to quit a losing run and start over. This is one of the toughest modes in the game for a reason!
3
Boss events—go with Benjamin and farm like crazy. You need a ton of income to scale out against the boss bloon (Bloonarius, Lych, or Vortex), which appears every 20 rounds starting at round 40. Start with a standard dart monkey/ninja monkey configuration, and then build out your banana farm. Place Benjamin next to the farm and continue building the farm out. The income strategy will give you enough money to build out a defensive army.^{[14]
X
Research source}
- The Bloonarius spawns other bloons, so you need a combination of speed, piercing damage, and MOAB/boss damage.
- Lych steals temporary buffs (alchemist brew, engineer overclock, etc.) from your towers, stunning them and healing itself in the process. As a result, you should make sure not to have any buffs except permanent village buffs on your towers when Lych spawns.
- Vortex can stun nearby towers, so use long-ranged towers and keep a distance between them and the track.
- As far as the number of farms go, 8 upgraded farms should provide enough income in most games, although elite boss events require more.