UPDATED FOR FEBRUARY 2023
Bloons Tower Defense is a game of strategy, tactics and planning.
You’ll use your towers to wreak havoc on would-be trespassers with some being better than others!
There isn’t one bad option in this fun tower defense game so you can place your favorite ones wherever you want on lower difficulties.
If it starts getting too easy then go for more challenging battles utilizing the best towers in the game. Investing your hard-earned cash into the right towers will make your runs a lot easier.
The strengths and weaknesses of each individual tower should be taken into consideration when tackling harder difficulties.
Using these towers, you’ll be able to defeat even the strongest bloons with relative ease.
Costs are taken from Medium difficulty.
10. Monkey Ace
Monkey type: Military
Cost: $900
Path 1 ($46,100)
Final Upgrade: Sky Shredder
For raw popping damage, the first upgrade path will spam the screen with darts, as well as anti-MOAB missiles.
Such an upgrade path can deal with masses of lesser bloons easily but falters when it comes to MOAB-class popping power.
Path 2 ($51,250)
Final Upgrade: Tsar Bomba
This path grants camo detection.
Tsar Bomba grants an ability to drop a mega nuke, dealing heavy damage and stunning all but the B.A.D bloon.
Quite a cheap upgrade path, with the 3rd upgrade granting the ability to deal with lead bloons.
Path 3 ($147,800)
Final Upgrade: Flying Fortress
My favorite upgrade path, the Spectre upgrade is relatively cheap for immense popping power it brings to the table.
The final upgrade is incredibly powerful but extremely expensive.
Summary
Clouding the sun with darts or dropping mini-nukes multiple times per second, the Monkey Ace wields powerful offensive power and can cover the entire map.
9. Monkey Buccaneer
Monkey type: Military
Cost: $500
Path 1 ($38,350)
Final Upgrade: Carrier Flagship
Providing some nice popping power in the form of high attack speed, the first upgrade path is best used for the final upgrade.
Carrier Flagship grants 2 slots to place land towers on, exceptionally useful on water-based maps.
Path 2 ($27,950)
Final Upgrade: Pirate lord
The first 2 upgrades on this path are some of the best for early rounds, being quite cheap and popping bloons en-masse.
Unlocking an activated ability on the last 2 upgrades allows you to harpoon MOAB-class bloons, instantly destroying them.
Very, very useful at later rounds, and quite cheap.
Path 3 ($37,930)
Final Upgrade: Trade Empire
This path grants camo detection.
On water-based maps, Banana Farms are pretty much impossible to rely on as a source of income.
Get yourself a Trade Empire going with this path, providing $800 every round, increased by every other 0/0/3 Buccaneer (max 20 others).
With this upgrade, plus 9 more Merchantmen, you can earn $2780 per round, from an investment of $64750. It’ll take about 20 rounds or so to recoup the investment.
Summary
Full of utility or anti-MOAB damage, this seafaring monkey tower holds its own from the early rounds to the end of the playthrough. Trade upgrades aren’t recommended if you can get banana farms but otherwise, they can provide a nice income on water-based maps.
8. Glue Gunner
Monkey type: Primary
Cost: $275
Path 1 ($35,075)
Final Upgrade: The Bloon Solver
Investing in corrosive glue via path 1 will give you a good amount of popping power, with the final upgrade dealing heavy damage to MOAB-class bloons.
You need to pick carefully, as 2 differently upgraded Glue Gunners cannot apply their glue simultenously.
If you want damage, go for path 1. If you want CC, go for path 3.
Path 2 ($23,925)
Final Upgrade: Glue Storm
AoE gluing, but to be honest, only the first 2 upgrades are actually worth it.
Path 3 ($41,995)
Final Upgrade: Super Glue
In general, this is the only path you should invest in. While the other 2 are decent, the sheer amount of CC brought to the table by the 3rd path is unbeatable.
Fully upgraded path 3 Glue Gunner will immobilise all bloons constantly, including MOAB-class bloons, except the B.A.D of course.
Summary
No matter how strong your towers are, some bloons are super fast and can get through by sheer luck. Applying glue is an easy and cheap way to ensure this never happens.
7. Heli Pilot
Monkey type: Military
Cost: $1600
Path 1 ($69,150)
Final Upgrade: Apache Prime
Upgrading along this path will provide a ton of offensive power.
Including razor, energy, and laser attacks to pop any bloon, and deal heavy damage to MOAB-class bloons.
Path 2 ($47,400)
Final Upgrade: Special Poperations
This path grants camo detection.
One of the most unique upgrade paths in the game, completely changing how it performs on the map.
3rd upgrade applies a downward draft, blowing any non-MOAB bloons back along the track
4th upgrade grants an ability to drop a supply crate, providing cash, or lives. As well as the ability to reposition monkeys.
And the 4th ability summons a monkey with a powerful machine gun on the heli.
The ability to change a tower’s location can be invaluable with the right strategy, as you’ll see when you reach the number 1 spot on this list.
Path 3 ($52,100)
Final Upgrade: Comanche Commander
Amazing path for the 3rd upgrade, MOAB Shove. This upgrade will prevent multiple MOABs from moving past the heli.
The final upgrade calls in multiple more heli pilots permanentely, adding even more CC and popping power.
Summary
The most expensive tower to place on the map, but one that can patrol the entire path with infinite range. A variety of different heli monkeys is a good way of establishing air superiority on the field.
6. Banana Farm
Monkey type: Support
Cost: $1125
Path 1 ($124,350)
Final Upgrade: Banana Central
Throwing out bundles of bananas to collect each round, no other Banana Farm path will provide as much income.
You’ll need to pick up the bundles every round though, or they will disappear. Alternatively, a Monkey Farmer will do it for you.
A single 5/0/0 tower will grant $6000 per turn, as well as increasing any 3/0/0 farm income from $1500 to $1875 a round.
Path 2 ($113,150)
Final Upgrade: Monkey-Nomics
If you’re incredibly lazy like me, or prefer to afk, you’ll like this upgrade path a lot more.
The 3rd upgrade grants income passively, gaining more and more until it reaches the max of $9500, where you are required to cash out.
Other paths will give more total money, but the ability to afk, or skip using a farmer, is too good to pass up.
My go-to strategy is to invest in a 2/3/0 Banana Farm as early as possible and use the income earned to invest in more of the same Banana Farms.
By round 70 or so, you’ll be earning enough to purchase rank 5 upgrades regularly!
Overall, this is the best path for the Banana Farm tower.
Path 3 ($79,600)
Final Upgrade: Monkey Wall Street
For total, complete, afk income, this path is your best bet.
Providing the least (but still good) income comes with no fuss, as you don’t need to collect the income yourself, at all.
Summary
Your primary go-to source of wads of cash, banana farms are best placed early to reap those sweet rewards over time. Upgrading to monkey banks, then spending their profit for more monkey banks, can give you tens of thousands of cash by round 60 or 70 and is almost entirely passive!
5. Super Monkey
Monkey type: Magic
Cost: $2500
Path 1 ($631,200)
Final Upgrade: True Sun God
Definitely the most powerful rank 5 upgrade in the entire game, as well as the most expensive.
Even the 3rd upgrade, Sun Avatar, is worth investing in, popping any bloon type and melting MOAB-classes in a few seconds.
Then you get the 4th upgrade, Sun Temple, absorbing any nearby towers to gain additional powers.
If you somehow manage to acquire an insane amount of cash, you can invest in the True Sun God. Absorbing any nearby towers once again.
Each tower, as well as the total cash invested in the type of towers (magic, primary, military etc) grant different powers and abilities.
Recommend you spend some time on the wiki entries, as they have a detailed break-down of all the upgrades!
Path 2 ($125,900)
Final Upgrade: The Anti-Bloon
The first 2 upgrades are an absolute must, as they increase the Super Monkey’s range to span most of the map.
The activated ability can instantly destroy almost every bloon & MOAB on the map, and the passive damage upgrades are great too.
Path 3 ($312,200)
Final Upgrade: Legend of the Night
This path grants camo detection.
Once a meme upgrade path, now extremely potent.
Gaining the Legend of the Night will grant an ability to teleport itself across the map.
Spawning a black hole when bloons reach the end of the map, which sucks in literally every bloon and MOAB that comes near, including the B.A.D!
Summary
Investing in an early Super Monkey can give you the peace of mind to build up farms to get an economy and eventually hit those expensive upgrades. This is an excellent strategy used to conquer some of the hardest difficulties.
4. Monkey Village
Monkey type: Support
Cost: $1175
Path 1 ($31,400)
Final Upgrade: Primary Expertise
Path 1 is best used for the range increase, allowing the village to grant its buffs to more towers.
As you upgrade to the 5th one, all your primary monkeys will receive huge buffs to their damage output, as well as getting their upgrades to free.
Such bonuses are neglibile though, as primary monkeys tend to lack in the damage department.
That being said, the 5th upgrade can be a nice bit of additional burst damage.
Path 2 ($70,950)
Final Upgrade: Homeland Defense
Radar Scanner is the highlight of this upgrade path, granting camo detection to all towers in its radius.
The other upgrades aren’t too amazing, $60,000 total for an activated ability that increasing the attack speed/popping power of every bloon on the map? You could get a lot better with that money.
Path 3 ($20,200)
Final Upgrade: Monkeyopolis
An early Monkey Town can produce a butt load of income from then on, doubling any income earned from bloons popped by towers in its radius.
The first 2 upgrades can also save you a pretty penny when it comes to placing other towers, especially the Super Monkey, as they get their upgrade costs reduced by 10% (up to tier 3).
Summary
Monkey Villages are perfect for giving a select few towers the upgrades and bonuses they need to dominate a map. An early 4th upgrade on the tier 3 path can give an insane amount of cash if you can get it around level 40 or so.
3. Ninja Monkey
Monkey type: Magic
Cost: $500
Path 1 ($39,750)
Final Upgrade: Grandmaster Ninja
All about the attack speed and pierce power of the Ninja’s shurikens, a Grandmaster Ninja buffed by other towers is an absolute unit.
At max rank, it’ll be firing 40 shurikens per second!
Path 2 ($29,250)
Final Upgrade: Grand Saboteur
At higher rounds, particularly the harder difficulties, dealing with MOAB-class bloons is a tough challenge to face.
With the Grand Saboteur ability, all MOABs will spawn with less health.
Paired with the Big Bloon Sabotage Monkey Knowledge, MOABs will spawn with far less health, beating them becomes a breeze.
Path 3 ($48,400)
Final Upgrade: Master Bomber
Throwing a bomb every 2 seconds at a MOAB for 1000 damage is no joke, as it’ll one-shot even B.F.Bs by itself!
Getting to that upgrade is made a lot easier with Seeking Shuriken upgrade, further bolstering the Ninja’s reputation as an early-game monster.
Note
The Ninja Monkey ranks so high mainly for the built-in camo detection and high pierce power, making it a staple of any play-throughs on high difficulties.
Summary
Excelling in the early stages of a playthrough, Ninja Monkey’s built-in camoflauge detection gives you a lot more options when it comes to tower choice and placements. Late-game popping power isn’t too great but the cheap rank 5 upgrades are well worth investing in.
2. Wizard Monkey
Monkey type: Magic
Cost: $400
Path 1 ($45,400)
Final Upgrade: Archmage
Arcane Spike, the 4th upgrade, is a great early upgrade to deal with MOAB-class bloons.
Archmage, the 5th upgrade, has to be one of, if not the most cost-effective upgrade in the entire game!
Insanely high MOAB damage is featured in this upgrade path. Get an Archmage set to target “Strong” and you’ll have no trouble with MOAB-class bloons for a long time.
Path 2 ($68,750)
Final Upgrade: Wizard Lord Phoenix
Great for dealing with masses of bloons, path 2 grants the ability to pop lead bloons.
The Wall of Fire upgrade is remarkably cheap for how much it does, it can legit solo entire rounds until the 40s or 50s.
Path 3 ($30,450)
Final Upgrade: Prince of Darkness
This path grants camo detection.
Having seen many buffs over the years, the 3rd Wizard Monkey path is now a force of nature.
Spotting camo bloons and unveiling them for other towers, the necromancy upgrades will spawn zombie bloons, even zombie MOAB classes, to glide towards the entrance.
As you can imagine, this is a ton of damage against bloons of all classes and variants.
Summary
Ever reliable and capable, the Wizard Monkey has a wide variety of powerful upgrades to tune to your requirements. Placing multiple Wizards for different upgrade paths is a fun way of beating tough gamemodes.
1. Alchemist
Monkey type: Magic
Cost: $550
Path 1 ($64,900)
Final Upgrade: Permanent Brew
On the list and rankings first specifically due to this upgrade path, the Alchemist is a staple of 99% of strategies for beating most maps and game-modes.
Launching a concocted brew at nearby towers to bolster attack speed, pierce damage, and range, allows the Alchemist to turn meh towers into gods.
With the Permanent Brew upgrade, you can use a 0/4/0 Heli Pilot to move the Alchemist across the map, applying a permanent buff to every tower you’ve placed!
Path 2 ($53,775)
Final Upgrade: Total Transformation
Another upgrade that can buff nearby towers, the activated abilities will grant a huge amount of attack speed, range and popping powers to nearby towers, temporarily.
Note that only monkey based towers are affected, so things like Spike Factories, Tack Shooters, and Monkey Subs don’t get the buff.
Path 3 ($45,400)
Final Upgrade: Bloon Master Alchemist
Very quirky upgrade path that isn’t the best when it comes to dealing with bloons, but it’s very fun to use!
Lower upgrades will turn bloons to gold, granting some nice bonus income.
At rank 5, the Master Alchemist will turn anything, other than B.A.Ds, to a single cute red bloon.
So why is it so bad?
When a bloon is turned to a red bloon, that’s a lot of income lost. Not so bad if you have a ton of Banana Farms or Merchantment, but it’s still lost income overall.
Summary
Clearly the most important monkey in the game for its brew boost, turning affected towers into living cannons that can demolish groups of bloons and MOABs from range.
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