Bloons TD 6 tips & tricks: The best strategies to defeat the inflated invaders

For fans of the tower defense genre, there are few titles with as much history as Ninja Kiwi’s Bloons. With the release of Bloons TD 6 on Android, the dart throwing monkeys must once again rise to arms to fend of the invading bloons.

Although Bloons TD 6 sticks to the formula that made it famous, there are enough new features to keep even veterans on their toes. Whether you’re a bloon poppin’ maniac or picking up the series for the first time, this list of tips and tricks for Bloons TD 6 is just what the monkey doctor ordered.

Upgrading towers in Bloons TD 6

Unlike the previous entries in the saga, in Bloons TD 6 you can no longer upgrade towers to their highest level just by collecting cash. You need to unlock those levels by using the towers and gaining experience.

On top of that, each tower now has three build paths with five stages each. That adds a lot of cool new towers and skills to the game, but it also means that you’ll need to grind out experience to unlock them all.

The final fifth tier unlocks cost upwards of 50,000 exp each. Add it all up, and you’re looking at millions of experience to unlock everything. Fortunately, there’s a quick and easy way to gain experience.

How to gain experience quickly

As stated above, all you need to do to gain experience on your simian towers is use them. The more of them you place down, the faster you’ll gain experience.

Plopping down tons of the same tower will level them up fast, but it isn’t the best strategy if you want to make it to the later waves, so stick to beginner maps and easy mode. Some towers might also be able to take down medium, depending on their strengths.

It’s worth mentioning that even if you fail the map, you still retain all of the experience gained. Don’t panic when your health starts to dwindle, but winning does come with a decent stack of monkey money.

Heroes to the Rescue

Another big change in Bloons TD 6 is the introduction of hero towers. With the release of Captain Churchill there are now five heroes to choose from, although they’ll need to be unlocked with monkey money first.

The great thing about heroes is that they level up automatically, so you don’t have to spend any more than the initial cost to scale them into later stages. The trade off is that they have higher than average starting costs.

You’ll want to invest some of your early monkey money into unlocking these heroes. Fortunately, the first two available are generally agreed to be the best you can get.

Quincy and Gwendolin are both great heroes that remain useful into the Bloons TD 6’s most difficult stages. Just don’t forget to place them early to get full value out of their automatic leveling!

Camo and lead bloons, oh my!

While hordes of bloons are a constant threat, two types in particular are likely to ruin your day. Camo and lead bloons will float right past your defenses if you aren’t properly prepared.

Camo bloons are easy to deal with if you know they’re coming. Even dart monkeys can pop them with a few cheap upgrades. Snipers, wizards, and boomerang towers can be upgraded to hit them as well. Ninjas can even hit camo bloons without any upgrades at all.

As for lead bloons, you’ll need a cannon to pop through their hard shells. A number of other upgraded towers can take care of them too. You don’t need too much firepower, since any tower can take them down once their lead coating has been cracked.

Of course, any tower can hit camo bloons with a monkey village with the radar scanner upgrade. Likewise with lead bloons, which can be cut through like butter by any old monkey thanks to the alchemist’s acidic mixture dip upgrade.

Ninjas and alchemists will get you far in Bloons TD 6

There are a number of tower combinations that work, but I’ll just cover one in this list of tips and tricks for Bloons TD 6. This combination is more than enough to take down any stage on easy or medium, and provides a good base coming forward.

Ninjas are a strong early unit because they can hit camo bloons and shoot quickly. Their weakness lies in lead bloons, which is where alchemists come in. As mentioned above, their acidic mixture dip upgrade gives any tower the ability to pop lead bloons.

A well placed 4-0-1 ninja paired with a 4-0-2 alchemist can handily defeat all 40 waves of any easy map, and all 60 waves of some stages on medium difficulty. Upgrade to a grandmaster ninja and you’ll go even further.

Once the going gets tougher, drop down some super monkeys to provide extra firepower. By then you should be able to afford them.

Knowledge is Power

In Bloons TD 6, the Monkey Labs are replaced by knowledge points gained by leveling up. Once you’ve unlocked all of the towers at level 30, subsequent level ups will occasionally provide knowledge points.

These knowledge points can be invested into one of six knowledge trees. Each one provides unique benefits to certain towers, but not all are created equal. Here are a few quick tips for knowledge in Bloons TD 6.

The first key knowledge point is More Cash, which is at the bottom of the Primary Knowledge Tree. It gives you an additional 200 cash at the beginning of each level, which opens up a lot of options early on.

The second important knowledge point is Mana Shield at the bottom of the Magic Knowledge Tree. It provides a 25 point health shield that regenerates slightly between waves. There is no better insurance policy in Bloons TD 6.

The final knowledge point you should prioritize can be found at the end of the Heroes Knowledge Tree. Empowered Heroes starts your heroes at level 3, and combined with the 10% discount just above it, your heroes will become even more useful.

You’ll notice a significant power spike each time you pick one of these knowledge points up, and you’ll need them to take on hard mode. You’re on your own in CHIMPS mode though, no knowledge points are allowed there.

More Bloons TD 6 tips and tricks

Hopefully this list proves helpful for Bloons beginners and veterans alike. Have any more tips and tricks for Bloons TD 6? Let us know in the comments!