Welcome to the BloonsGuide.com guide to conquering Middle of the Road on CHIMPS difficulty in Bloons TD 6!
Best of all: this guide requires no Monkey Knowledge, only 4 towers, and minimal micromanagement (apart from some ability usage during the middle game).
Throughout this guide, you'll learn both how to beat Middle of the Road on CHIMPS difficulty and learn a few basic tips and strategies you can use on any map to consistently tackle CHIMPS difficulty elsewhere.
Note: This guide was recorded on BTD6 Patch 40. If you find this guide no longer works, please let us know!
Let's get started.
The Final Middle of the Road Build
If you'd like to see the final build now and reverse engineer it yourself, here's a screenshot along with the list of towers used in this guide:
- Sauda (Hero)
- Wizard Monkey
- Monkey Ace
- Druid
Early Game & Starting Towers
In classic BloonsGuide.com fashion, our hero for this run will be the hero Sauda.
With a calm fury, Sauda can carve Bloons up with her twin razor-sharp swords.
$5,000
Start by placing Sauda as close as you can to the left side of the middle of the map, like so:
Sauda is able to solo some of the early rounds for us - but we'll need to place a tower soon after to ensure no Bloons leak.
Round 10
During Round 10, once you have $865 gold, place a Monkey Ace to the left of Sauda and set the flight pattern to Figure Eight:
Round 15
There's a chance that a Blue or Green Bloon will sneak past Sauda and the Monkey Ace on Round 15 (depending on if the Monkey Ace is able to hit it). If it does, use Sauda's Leaping Sword Attack to pop it as it's about to leave the map.
After Round 18 - Before Round 19
Before Round 19 begins, place a Wizard Monkey directly above Sauda and upgrade it to 0 / 2 / 0, or Wall of Fire in the middle path:
We'll upgrade this Wizard to Dragon's Breath later in the run, which will allow us to power through many of the middle game rounds. You'll soon learn why Dragon's Breath paired with Sauda is such a powerful combination.
Round 24
During Round 24, upgrade your Wizard Monkey to 0 / 2 / 2, or Monkey Sense in the bottom path.
This will allow us to easily pop the Lead Bloons coming on Round 30, as well as Camo Leads and Ceramics later in the run.
Round 31
You should have enough gold at the start of Round 31 for Dragon's Breath. Once you do, upgrade your Wizard Monkey to 0 / 3 / 2, or Dragon's Breath in the middle path.
We've written about the Dragon's Breath + Sauda combination in other articles (like our Cubism CHIMPS guide), but we'll reiterate why it's an amazing combo here as well:
Dragon's Breath is one of the best early abilities in the game, especially when paired with Sauda. Sauda's Level 11 damage upgrade gives her extra damage to "harmed" Bloons - i.e. bloons affected by any lingering on-bloon effects, such as speed inhibitors and/or damage-over-time - which Dragon's Breath is able to supply via a damage over time burn effect.
Dragon's Breath also deals insane amounts of damage by itself. When paired with the bottom path upgrade of Monkey Sense, it's able to target and quickly damage nearly any Bloon / MOAB in the game.
After Round 39 - Before Round 40
Before Round 40 begins, we'll need to acquire some extra MOAB damage. Upgrade your Monkey Ace to 4 / 2 / 0 before Round 40, or Operation: Dart Storm in the top path and Spy Plane in the middle path.
Upgrading to Dart Storm will allow us to acquire both the Fighter Plane upgrade, which shoots twin anti-MOAB missiles that deal 18 damage per shot and affect up to 4 blimps, as well as the damage upgrade to the Fighter Plane's anti-MOAB missles that Operation: Dart Storm provides (increases the missle damage to 24).
This should be more than enough to handle the MOAB on Round 40. We'll upgrade the Monkey Ace to Sky Shredder later.
Round 45
During Round 45, you should gain enough gold to upgrade the Wizard Monkey to 0 / 4 / 2, or Summon Phoenix in the middle path.
We'll use this Phoenix occasionally later in the run for some extra Bloon / MOAB damage, but it's not absolutely vital for the middle game.
Round 60 - 62
You may have some close calls on Round 60, 61, and 62. You may decide to slow your game down this round to ensure no Bloons leak. If necessary, use Sauda's Leaping Sword Attack to finish off any stragglers.
We did not need to use any abilities on these rounds, as the Monkey Ace and Wizard Monkey were able to pop the Bloons that snuck past our main defense. Just be careful!
Round 63 - Ability Usage
When the first dense wave of Ceramic Bloons appear on Round 63, use the Wizard Monkey's 'Summon Phoenix' ability to help clear them out.
You may also need to use Sauda's Leaping Sword attack if they get too close to the end of the map.
Finally, when the last dense wave of Ceramic Bloons appears on Round 63, wait for a short time after they pass through our main defenses in the middle of the map before using Sauda's Sword Charge ability to clear them out.
Don't worry - we'll soon have our Sky Shredder upgrade which will handle many of the upcoming rounds for us.
Round 64
You may decide to slow your game down on this round as well. After the Fortified MOAB makes it past your main defense on Round 64, use your Summon Phoenix ability.
Round 65 & 68
There will be two more close calls at the end of Rounds 65 and 68. To ensure no Bloons leak, use Sauda's Leaping Sword Attack to pop the final Bloons of each round as they near the end of the map.
Round 69
At the start of Round 69, you should have enough gold to upgrade your Monkey Ace to 5 / 2 / 0, or Sky Shredder in the top path. Do this now.
This should significantly reduce this run's ability micromanagement!
Sky Shredder is an amazing tower for popping MOABs, DDTs, and the BAD on Round 100. By upgrading the Ace to Spy Plane in the middle path, we're giving it the ability to hit DDTs as well, which will appear soon in the later rounds.
Round 76
Round 76 is a notoriously difficult round.
To clear this round with ease, use Sauda's Leaping Sword Attack AND her Sword Charge ability as the Bloons enter the bottom of the map.
Round 78
There will be another densely packed Ceramic wave in the middle of Round 78 we'll have to deal with.
Use Sauda's Sword Charge ability on the wave of Ceramics after they've passed through your main line of defense and enter the bottom track. Sauda's Leaping Sword Attack shouldn't be necessary here.
After Round 83 - Before Round 84
After Round 83 ends, you should have enough gold for a max-upgraded Druid.
Place a Druid underneath Sauda and upgrade it to 1 / 5 / 0, or Hard Thorns in the top path and Spirit of the Forest in the middle path.
This will be our final tower of the game. Spirit of the Forest is an amazing upgrade all around and will provide loads of supporting damage, as well as cut our micromanagement to near zero.
Round 95
When the wave of DDTs appear on Round 95, use your Summon Phoenix ability to provide supporting damage.
It's debatable whether this is necessary, but we'll do it just to be safe.
Round 98
On Round 98, you should have enough gold to upgrade your Wizard Monkey to 0 / 5 / 2, or Wizard Lord Phoenix in the middle path. Go ahead and make this upgrade.
The Wizard Lord Phoenix ability will help us clear out the BAD on Round 100 a bit faster. It's probably not 100% necessary to make this upgrade, but it's a fun ability nonetheless that will secure us a win quicker.
Round 100
When the BAD appears on Round 100, use your Wizard Lord Phoenix ability.
Now sit back and watch as the BAD is shredded!
Conclusion
And that's it!
Feel free to check out our other challenge and map guides on BloonsGuide.com, or head over to the Tier Lists to see what towers work best to help you tackle your other CHIMPS runs.