In Bloons TD 6, a tower defense game where you place towers (“Monkeys”) strategically to defeat enemy units (“Bloons”) that gradually grow in strength and numbers, you are granted a number of different ways to tackle the challenges thrown at you. While you could, theoretically, just place whatever Monkeys you want, wherever you want, it would be an uphill battle to clear game modes. That’s where the Heroes, Powers, and Knowledge systems come into play. There’s a lot of choices, and some choices are better than others, so let’s dive right in and get you situated with the best Heroes, Powers, and Knowledge paths!
Bloons TD 6 Heroes Recommendations
There are 9 Heroes to choose from; each with different effects:
| Monkey | Hero Primary Trait | Cost (Medium) |
| Quincy | Arrows Bounce Between 3 Targets | $540 |
| Gwendolin | Attacks With Fire | $900 |
| Striker Jones | Attacks With Explosives | $750 |
| Obyn Greenfoot | Uses Wolf Spirits To Attack | $700 |
| Captain Churchill | Piercing Bombs Can Explode 3 Times | $2000 |
| Benjamin | Hacks $100 Bonus Cash Every Round | $1200 |
| Ezili | Debuffs / Curses | $600 |
| Pat Fusty | Melee / Slam Attacks | $800 |
| Adora | Seeker Attacks | $1000 |
For newer players, Gwendolin is probably the safest hero to run. In addition to being able to pop Lead Bloons, she has an innate passive (Heat It Up!) which grants fire damage and +2 pierce to all Monkeys in her range every 30 attacks. She also has two powerful AoE attacks; one that lays down on the path and absolutely decimates Bloons that walk through it, and another which is a screen-wide firestorm. Paired with an Alchemist Monkey that’s leveling along the top path (4/x/x to obtain Berserker Brew), Gwendolin gets better uptime on her passive, and can completely destroy waves of MOABs.
Benjamin may seem great at first glance and it is true that he pays for himself fairly quickly. But when compared to another Hero that can pop Bloons, he takes a long time to ramp up, and is sort of a newbie-trap on all game modes…except one. The Half-Cash game mode is real rough on your bank and Benjamin can make it much easier with his extra income generation.
Adora is a powerhouse, no doubt about it, but did you know that there’s a hidden interaction with her? If you choose to upgrade your Super Monkey via the top path (5/x/x) (eventually ending with True Sun God), while Adora is in range, she will evolve into a stronger version, gaining bonus damage and pierce. However, this requires an incredible sum of cash ($500,000 on Medium) to attain, and so should be purchased when you’re more comfortable with the game.
Bloons TD 6 Powers Recommendations
Powers are buyable, one-use items that either provide short-term buffs, or game-permanent boosts. Below is a list of the Powers and what they do:
| Power | Description / Cost |
| Super Monkey Storm | Summons a squadron of Super Monkeys that destroy all Bloons onscreen and deal heavy damage to MOAB Class Bloons. (100) |
| Monkey Boost | Causes all towers to attack twice as fast for 15 seconds. (100) |
| Thrive | Increases cash production from all towers by 25% for the rest of the round and the entire next round. (70) |
| Time Stop | Freezes time for 5 seconds. Doesn’t make towers continue shooting for the full duration, nor does it make cooldowns continue until the time freeze stops. (50) |
| Cash Drop | Spawns a crate full of cash worth $2,500. (200) |
| Banana Farmer | Gathers all bananas spawned by Banana Farms within his radius so you don’t have to. Also collects money crates and health crates.
(50) |
| Pontoon | Provides an area of land on top of water that allows land towers to be placed on. (50) |
| Road Spikes | Deals damage to any bloon that touches it. Each Road Spike pile contains 10 spikes. (50 for 5) |
| Glue Trap | Slows down the first 300 Bloons that touch it before disappearing. (50) |
| MOAB Mine | Detonates when it detects a MOAB Class Bloon nearby, causing lots of damage. (50) |
| Camo Trap | De-camoizes the first 500 bloons that reach the trap. (50) |
| Portable Lake | Provides an area of water on land that allows water towers to be placed on. (50) |
| Tech Bot | Activates abilities for the player when they are available. The bot is placed down on land. (50) |
| Energizing Totem | Increases attack speed of all towers by 25% in its radius for five rounds. (70, can be recharged for 20) |
The important ones are Banana Farmer, Portable Lake, Pontoon, Monkey Boost, and Cash Drop.
Some maps can be a bit difficult due to the terrain, frequently removing most, or all, of the land or water. This prevents some really good combos from being used and can hamper your progression. Pontoons/Portable Lakes fix this, at the cost of some of your Monkey Cash, making these two powers some of the most useful.
Monkey Boost becomes important in later stages. Unless you’ve planned well ahead, some of the later classes of MOAB (such as the BAD or Big Airship of Doom, with its nearly 56,000 effective HP) can easily tank your Monkeys damage. In situations like those Monkey Boost becomes a stellar choice, doubling your damage and allowing you to progress through the harder stages.
Banana Farmer is recommended because I am incredibly lazy and don’t want to play a collection mini-game, but also don’t want to lose those resources. You can skip these if you go towards Monkey Bank (Banana Farm x-2-x), however, these are excellent for top path Banana Farms (4-x-x).
Bloons TD 6 Knowledge Recommendations
Knowledge is similar to talent trees from other games. Every few levels you’ll earn a Monkey Knowledge Point, which can be spent on one of six trees (Primary, Military, Magic, Support, Powers, and Heroes) and grant permanent bonuses to your Monkeys. While you are free to invest these how you see fit, the recommended path is Primary. Start with Extra Dart Pops and Fast Tack Attacks, and follow that down the Fast Glue path. This unlocks a bonus free Dart Monkey at the start of every game, and eventually a bonus starting $200, which can set up a good strong early game.
Afterwards, I would recommend leveling down the Heroes path, then Support, and then clean up with whatever you think helps.
Do you have a favorite Hero? A Knowledge path that really shines? Are you equally lazy and spend all your Monkey Money on Banana Farmers? Let us know!
