Your choice of starting tower placement is immensely important in Bloons TD6, with the tower of choice being as major as the position on the map in which it is placed.
Placing the wrong tower can have consequences as the rounds progress, as you may not have the towers/upgrades available to deal with lead bloons at round 28, or camo bloons at round 24.
Becoming familiar with the best starting towers is mandatory for conquering harder difficulties in this strategy game.
With so many different towers available that lead into different strategies, it’s important to recognise the best choices.
This list will detail the 10 best towers to start any map in Bloons TD6 with. Rankings are based off cost as well as what early power they offer (dealing with certain bloons), including what strategies they fulfill when completing later rounds.
Note: prices are based on Normal difficulty.
10) Alchemist
Cost: $550
While the Alchemist is a mostly supportive tower, it does offer some special benefits to be used on certain maps.
For starters, Alchemist monkeys throw potions that pop bloons over time and ignore terrain line-of-sight collision.
Those tougher maps with a lot of line-of-sight issues become a non-problem early on with this tower.
However, it does lack in the popping department so it’s recommended to supplement the Alchemist with another tower as soon as possible.
Overall though, the Alchemist is simply the best tower in the game for its potential to skyrocket any other monkey’s popping power.
9) Spike Factory
Cost: $850
Placing lumps of spikes on any nearby path regularly, the Spike Factory is an expensive but capable starting tower.
Especially useful when placed at the very end of the map. Bloons tend to have a slow movement speed during early rounds so there’s always a good stockpile of spikes by the time they reach the end of the map.
You’ll need to spend an additional $1400 in the path 1 upgrades for Spike Factories to pop lead bloons but that’s a non-issue really, as you should have dedicated lead popping bloons further towards the map entrance.
Investing into the 3rd path can yield significant results come late game, costing just over $35,000 yet spikes last for up to 4 rounds. This upgrade is simply the best safety net in Bloons TD 6.
8) Wizard Monkey
Cost: $400
Another magic monkey with the ability to hit bloons behind cover with the right upgrade.
Wizard monkeys aren’t great as a base tower but with a few cheap upgrades, they can absolutely carry the early and mid rounds.
Wall of Fire is one such upgrade that absolutely incinerates most bloons unlucky enough to pass by, yet it costs just $900!
Cheap camo detection is also available for $300.
Leverage such early game power to build an economy with the aim of eventually acquiring an Archmage, one of the best rank 5 upgrades in the game.
7) Bomb Shooter
Cost: $525
Bomb Shooters are a cheap and viable way of dealing with early lead bloons.
Committing to upgrade paths with innate lead popping capabilities can be inefficient for many strategies and it’s often far cheaper to place a simple Bomb Shooter.
Its middle upgrade path is also pretty nice for dealing with MOAB class bloons.
You’ll also want the path 3 upgrade Frag Bombs, as that grants the ability to deal with Black bloons too.
6) Tack Shooter
Cost: $280
Only specific maps can make full use of the Tack Shooter, such as Monkey Meadow and Balance.
Tack Shooters fire tacks in a 360 degree radius around it. To achieve maximum DPS, drop it into places that allow for at least 90% of tacks to hit bloons.
For how cheap the cost is, Tack Shooters offer a ton of DPS to deal with non-speciality bloons. Its particularly good for big groups that spawn from things like Rainbow bloons.
The Tack Zone is the Tack Shooters maximum 3rd path upgrade and it devastates groups of bloons, covering half the screen with tacks. Not only that, it’s one of the cheapest rank 5 upgrades in the game.
5) Dart Monkey
Cost: $200
Although the regular Dart monkey has basically no use past round 40 or so, it’s one of the best towers to place early on.
If you have the Bonus Monkey Knowledge, you’ll even get a free Dart monkey at the start of a playthrough!
On maps that have long, straight paths, I like to place a Dart monkey at the end with the aim of upgrading it to a Juggernaut.
This strategy is good to get early on as it deals with lead & ceramic bloons!
4) Monkey Buccaneer
Cost: $620
One of the most powerful and versatile starting towers in the game, but it’s only placeable on maps containing water.
The first two middle path upgrades, Grape Shot & Hot Shot, are great for tackling bloons of all types as they hit hard before dealing additional damage over time.
Towards the later rounds, Carrier Flagship is invaluable on maps with little land and Pirate Lord is one of the best anti-MOAB upgrades available.
Monkey Buccaneers are just like real pirates though, requiring a lot of cash investment.
3) Druid
Cost: $425
Druids are nice starting magic towers with good damage and utility.
Heart of Thunder is a fairly cheap AoE damage option for dealing with groups of lesser bloons.
Heart of Oak is perfect for converting those pesky regrows into normal bloons. Particularly effective on the difficult Alternative Bloons map mode.
Quite a unique monkey tower type with a mixture of offensive and supportive power. As a starting tower, it will serve you well through the first 30 rounds but it needs a lot of backup thereafter.
2) Boomering Monkey
Cost: $275
Most maps can make use of the Boomerang monkey’s firing arc, as it can deal with a lot more bloons when placed correctly.
The idea is to place it early as a cheap option for getting through the early rounds, investing in Red Hot Rangs for an effective way to pop specialising bloons.
Tons of versatility into later rounds give you options depending on what other towers you’ve placed. Path 1 for example, is great for dealing with lesser bloons while path 3 basically nullifies any kind of MOAB presence.
1) Ninja Monkey
Cost: $500
Considered by many to be the best and most reliable starting tower, Ninja Monkeys throw shurikens with built-in camo detection.
A single, un-upgraded Ninja Monkey is all you need to deal with camo bloons until about round 36. Extend this further with a few upgrades, especially in path 1.
Ninja monkeys are relatively cheap for what they give you, although their late-game power does falter heavily over time as only path 3 has effective anti-MOAB damage.
Overall, Ninja Monkeys should be one of, if not the first tower you place when you start a new map in Bloons TD 6!