I had no idea portals in time existed. I remember being a lil’ 17-year old, surfing the ‘net, looking for fun flash games to play, and would hit up the usual suspects. Newgrounds primarily, but also Free Flash Games type sites, because I didn’t care if the school computers got infected with viruses. Then I stumbled on Bloons Tower Defense, a quirky little game where you place Dart Monkeys strategically around a map to pop an increasingly difficult amount of balloons. I especially remember the game choking and freezing as my 20 or 30 Tack Shooters clogged the screen with projectiles, causing my poor school computer to literally die. You know, typical Flash game stuff.
So imagine my surprise when I discovered Bloons TD 6! It’s been out for a year or so already, but playing it instantly warped me back to my younger days, and I’ve been having a blast. This is absolutely a lot more complicated than its original counterpart, however, and I’ve got the tips and tricks necessary if you’re interested in tackling the harder content.
Getting Started in Bloons TD 6
First, an introduction for the uninitiated: Bloons TD 6 is a tower defense game; in that you purchase towers (referred to as “Monkeys” from now on), in an effort to defeat enemy units (“Bloons”) that travel along a set path. Your Monkeys can be leveled along one of three build paths, providing tactical decisions, and can be sold for cash once they’ve outlived their usefulness. Furthermore, there are four categories of Monkeys: Primary, Military, Magic and Support.I’ll cover these in more detail later on. There are also Hero Units (just “Heroes”) that are special monkeys; they need no further interaction from you, instead, they level on their own and provide bonus effects or abilities.
Bloons come in a variety of flavors, starting with your typical colored variations (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink), with each color containing the color before it. Red Bloons contain nothing and disappear when popped, however a Pink Bloon will spawn a Yellow Bloon when popped, and Yellow will spawn Green, and so on. You also have specialty Bloons, which I’ve listed below:
Black | Spawns two Pink Bloons // Immune to Explosions |
White | Spawns two Pink Bloons // Immune to Freeze |
Purple | Spawns two Pink Bloons // Immune to Plasma, Fire, Energy |
Lead | Spawns two Black Bloons // Immune to Sharp attacks, cannot be Frozen |
Camo | Cannot be targeted except by special abilities (Ninja Monkey can see Camos innately.) // Can be popped by AoE effects, spikes, and environmental damage. |
Zebra | Spawns one White and one Black Bloon // Immune to Explosions and Freeze |
Rainbow | Spawns two Zebra Bloons |
Ceramic | Spawns two Rainbow Bloons // Immune to Glue slow, but affected by other Glue effects |
There are also Blimp Bloons—commonly referred to as MOABs, or Massive Ornery Air Blimp—which contain a massive number of other colored Bloons, but are slow moving. These typically have high health or other properties in addition to containing many Bloons, and so require different tactics to tackle, which will be covered later.
What Towers/Monkeys Should You Upgrade First?
With the sheer amount of Monkeys available, it can be tough to pick and choose which ones to level up first. The Tier 5 upgrades in particular require an awful lot of playtime per Monkey, so you really want to get the good stuff going first before unlocking the rest. I recommend leveling Dart Monkey, Bomb Shooter, Ninja Monkey, Alchemist, Super Monkey, Banana Farm, Monkey Village and Spike Factory. Afterwards, you should level everything else as you see fit.
Below we have a rundown of all the Monkeys available.
Bloons TD 6 Tower/Monkey Types
As mentioned earlier, your Monkeys coming in four categories: Primary, Military, Magic, and Support. While some maps have restrictions (for example, Military Units Only), for the most part you can mix and match different categories to suit your needs. All costs listed are using the Medium”difficulty modifier; Monkeys are cheaper on Easy and more expensive on harder difficulties.
Primary Towers/Monkeys
These are the low-cost bulk of your forces. They will be your bread-and-butter for most maps. The Bomb Shooter in particular has one of the highest damage outputs in the game, and the Glue Gunner can slow massive amounts of Bloons constantly.
Monkey | Description | Cost (Medium) |
Dart Monkey | Throws a single dart at nearby Bloons. Short range and low pierce but cheap. | $200 |
Boomerang Monkey | Hurls a boomerang that follows a curved path. Good range and pierce. | $325 |
Bomb Shooter | Launches a powerful bomb at the Bloons. Slow rate of fire but affects a radius around the explosion. | $600 |
Tack Shooter | Shoots a short-range volley of sharp tacks in 8 directions. | $280 |
Glue Gunner | Shoots a blob of sticky glue that slows Bloons down by 50%. | $275 |
Ice Monkey | Pops and freezes nearby Bloons for a short time. Frozen Bloons are immune to sharp damage. Can’t freeze White, Zebra or Lead Bloons. | $500 |
Military Towers/Monkeys
These are your utility damage-dealing units. Monkey Sub, for example, can be upgraded to gain global range, while Heli Pilot can be upgraded to do constant AoE damage around it, and also push MOABs back for a few seconds. Buccaneers can solo the first twenty waves by investing in their second upgrade path (1/2/0) but requires a stage with water, or a Monkey Pool power!
Monkey | Description | Cost (Medium) |
Monkey Sub | Shoots homing torpe-darts at nearby Bloons. Must be placed in water. | $325 |
Sniper Monkey | Can shoot Bloons it can see anywhere on the screen with a long-range rifle, and pops 2 layers off Bloons hit by it. | $350 |
Monkey Buccaneer | Shoots a single, heavy dart from both sides of the ship. Must be placed in water. | $550 |
Mortar Monkey | Launches an exploding mortar shell to a fixed location anywhere on the screen. | $750 |
Monkey Ace | Flies above the ground shooting volleys of high-pierce darts. | $800 |
Heli Pilot | Hovers wherever you direct it. Shoots from twin heavy dart guns. | $1500 |
Magic Towers/Monkeys
These are your heavy hitters; Super Monkey, in particular, has access to extremely deadly upgrade paths, while Ninja Monkey can lay on the hurt (and see Camo Bloons innately!) Alchemists are just all around good, and should be a priority.
Monkey | Description | Cost (Medium) |
Druid | Creates a blast of thorns for each attack. Upgrades can call forth the powers of the Jungle, Storm, or Wrath. | $425 |
Ninja Monkey | Stealthy and fast Monkey that throws bladed shurikens to pop the Bloons. Can target Camo Bloons. | $500 |
Wizard Monkey | Hurls magical bolts of energy at the Bloons. Can upgrade to a variety of powerful spells. | $450 |
Alchemist | Harnessing powers of science and magic, splashes Bloons with acid, also brews various potions with different effects. | $550 |
Super Monkey | Throws hundreds of darts at hypersonic speed with a huge attack range. | $2500 |
Support Monkeys
These Monkeys are your backline supporters. Banana Farm adds an mini-game to give yourself bonus cash, while a properly trained Monkey Village (2/3/0) can allow all surrounding Monkeys to pop all Bloon types!
Monkey | Description | Cost (Medium) |
Banana Farm | Generates Bananas each round that convert into game money to spend on more stuff. | $1250 |
Spike Factory | Automatically generates piles of Road Spikes on the nearby track. Excellent last line of defense. | $800 |
Monkey Village | Hub of Monkey industry, has a number of different benefits to aid all of your Monkeys. Increases range of all monkeys in its radius by 10%. | $1200 |
Monkey Engineer | Holds a trusty nail-gun to pop Bloons. Can upgrade to create its own nail-shooting sentry turrets. | $450 |
And that’s it! Hopefully these recommendations help with your Bloon popping efforts!