First it was Clash of Clans. Then it was Clash Royale. Now, a new mobile game taking South by storm. The newest addition to the Ninja Kiwi gaming franchise, Bloons Tower Defense 6, has started to drain student’s batteries since it was released on June 14. The old balloon popping strategies from previous iterations of the monkey versus balloon game has now evolved. Optimist staff members have spent hours formulating strategies to benefit the students of South. Here is our take on the most useful ways to succeed in Bloons Tower Defense 6.

Top 3 Towers:

Super Monkey. This tower is perhaps the most obvious choice on our list. Its immediate benefit of extremely rapid firing darts is powerful in the early stages of the game, but even that is not comparable to the MOAB shredding capacity of a Sun Avatar. It is also worth experimenting with the capabilities of the Dark Knight, whose anti-MOAB blades pair well with camo vision.

Heli Pilot. The Heli Pilot is probably the most powerful early game monkey and has moderate late round potential. When you acquire enough Monkey Knowledge to purchase the Military Conscription upgrade, a half priced Heli Pilot from the start can last you through round 35 with a 3-2-0 upgrade path. The Apache Dartship and Comanche Defense can also find use, particularly with Super Monkeys possessing Knockback.

Monkey Ace. The most challenging round in the Chimps and impoppable formats is almost certainly Round 95. The seemingly endless waves of the camo and lead DDT’s is enough to power through Super Monkeys, Tack Tower Piles, and Apache Dartships alike. A 0-4-2 Monkey Ace allows for the Ground Zero ability to be used. Three of these Ground Zero Monkey Aces can eliminate the entirety of the round by themselves.

Worst 3 Towers:

Ice Monkey. Unfortunately, the Ice Monkey has not been a popular choice in this game or in the five prior versions. The lack of popping potential on this tower makes it a very difficult tower to take advantage of. The only way to make up for this deficiency is in 0-2-4 upgrade path that get the “Icicles” upgrade in order to pop more layers. However, this path costs a total of 4,875 Cash for an Ice Monkey that is only slightly efficient. Staff members would suggest player spend this Cash to get a Super Monkey with epic range or laser blasts instead.

Tack Shooter. The Tack Shooter finds it’s struggles in the same area as the Ice Monkey. To find any value in this tower, players must purchase the ring of fire to find any popping power. However, the Tack Shooter could provide support in early rounds because of its skill to pop lower level bloons. The 5,700 Cash that the ring of fire would cost in total is not worth the lack of potential that the tack shooter holds.

Dart Monkey. The most basic tower in Bloons Tower Defense is the Dart Monkey that costs 215 Cash. They can provide support within the first 10-15 rounds of the game, but they don’t show much purpose without the upgrade triple shot. The Dart Monkey’s popping power is very low, so there are not many ways to find value in this tower. The best way to make use of the tower is to purchase three of these at the beginning of the game, for stability,  until a hero can be bought.

Sleeper Tower: Monkey Village

The Monkey Village is easily the most underrated tower in BTD6. It doesn’t even pop bloons, though, right? While it does not pop bloons, it does allow other towers to become absurdly powerful for their round. The Monkey Village’s immediate cost is daunting; but if purchased, a 0-0-2 upgrade path will save you 3,690 cash when purchasing a Sun Avatar on Hard Difficulty. The tower’s range increases by a fair amount as well. The Monkey Village also displays versatility in its top two upgrade paths. The extended range option can allow this support tower to benefit more monkeys. The second path offers camo detection and the wildly powerful Monkey Intelligence Bureau.

A new feature added to Bloons Tower Defense are new towers deemed heroes. Each hero has two special abilities achieved by leveling up that can boost either monkeys or income to help in the later game setting.

Heroes Ranked Best to Worst:

Benjamin

Captain Churchill

Obyn Greenfoot

Quincy

Striker Jones

Gwendolin

Bloons Tower Defense 6 is easily the most complex and strategy-oriented version of the Bloons games to date. The sheer variety of combinations and permutations of towers on the multitude of tracks creates a widely diverse gameplay experience. With that large amount of variety comes difficulty in completing certain maps and game modes. Hopefully, this guide gives South students a better idea of how to become a better BTD6 player.