C.H.I.M.P.S./Strategies

C.H.I.M.P.S mode requires unique strategies in order to be beaten. Feel free to add them here.

General Tips

 * Because there is no selling, pick towers that will be useful among all stages of the game and/or not cause a significant cost to the defense. You will want a game plan of towers you want to build starting from round 6 all the way to round 100. You do not want to mix and match different towers to handle the early game, middle game, and late game. Your early game strategy should set up for your mid-game strategy, and also late-game.
 * Your options tend to be very limited in the early game, requiring you to get Dart Monkeys, Sniper Monkeys and Monkey Subs. While their placement is important to catch all bloons in the early game, do also make sure that they do not block the placement of more important towers in the mid to late game.
 * It is wise to choose your towers and upgrades very carefully. With the inability to sell your towers and the inability to continue after leaking a single life, any mistake in tower placement or ability timing can be unforgiving.
 * As there is no extra income from farms or other sources, it's worth saving money to place any essential towers when they are actually necessary for the defense.
 * Your budget by Round 40 is roughly $16k, by Round 63 is roughly $56k, by Round 78 is roughly $82k, by Round 90 is roughly $120k, and by Round 100 is roughly $170k. (Refer to the BTD6 Rounds for more details.) This generally lets you get 2 to 3 Tier 5 towers by Round 90+, along with the necessary support for them. Plan accordingly.
 * If you spend too much money on defense, you will likely fall in a dead end as you'll have little leeway for potential alternate defense planning.
 * If you spend too little money on defense, you will likely lose too early and not likely acquire necessary Activated Abilities in time to defend against difficult rounds.
 * After getting a feel for the early and mid game strategies for a map, if you are not successful in completing CHIMPS, test your intended late-game strategies in Sandbox Mode first before retrying; it is very frustrating to finally get to Rounds 90+ only to repeatedly lose to Rounds 95, 96, 98, 99 and 100, and start all over. Even if it looked like a narrow loss, sometimes you need to entirely change the towers you use in order to beat those rounds. Remember to keep your budget in mind, and disable Monkey Knowledge for more realistic results.

DPS

 * Necromancers and especially Prince of Darkness are surprisingly strong for their cost to damage ratio and are top tier in many CHIMPS games. The key to use necromancers properly is to understand 'prestacking' summons. Necromancers only recharge their ammo when balloons die near the necro. The spawn rate is dependent on how many stacks they have. A normal necromancer can hold 500. Late game = more bloons = constant max ammo = necro does more damage. The only problem is that if they will spawn even if there are no bloons going to their path, hence wasting their stacks.  This is especially evident in MOAB-type only rounds (necros dont get stacks from MOAB-types), where these MOABs move super slowly, and if you incorrectly place your necromancer, it can waste all of its stacks before it can even hit the MOAB, making it impossible to kill the first MOAB with only necros alone. This means you need to support your necromancers with towers that can destroy the first MOABs. Druids do exactly that.
 * Wall of Fire is the recommended crosspath for necromancers, and is an incredibly cost-effective DPS option for the early-mid game, dealing with everything up to Leads. However, do watch out for the Purple bloons of Rounds 25 and 32, which will break your Wall of Fire. The next Purple round is 45, by which you should have a Necromancer which can pop Purples, or at least a Shimmer or some other camo tower to deal with the camo Purples.
 * Perma-Spike is an excellent choice for any map with a single exit, or a path intersection near the end. With the purpose of catching any leaking bloons, it particularly excels at nullifying Super Ceramics and DDTs in the late game. Without the top crosspath, an Acidic Mixture Dip or MIB is necessary for lead popping power, but the middle crosspath provides better DPS. Both the alchemist and village are recommended anyway due to their attack speed buffs which let the Perma-Spike stockpile more spikes.
 * Apache Prime is one of the go-to choices for many CHIMPS games, due to its excellent damage against all bloons. It is best suited for single-lane maps with long straight path segments, such as Bloonarius Prime, Bazaar, Chutes, Cornfield, Another Brick, and Infernal. (High Finance CHIMPS is actually not recommended due to Prime's cost, and distance from a common village.) Which crosspath to take is situational, but 5-2-0 is generally the safer option not only due to the early camo detection, but also the higher flight speed which helps to catch fast bloons (particularly DDTs and Ceramics). Do note that Apache Prime is actually weak to lead (though not completely helpless) and thus needs MIB support to be properly effective against DDTs. Additionally, saving up for the previous upgrade and then Apache Prime itself is very expensive, and you will need a secondary DPS tower while saving up for Apache Prime, and also to aid in the very late game when Apache Prime can be overwhelmed. Prince of Darkness or Perma-Spike are ideal choices.
 * On easier maps, getting The Tack Zone on a good spot can solo most of the game. This tower is good against regular bloons and MOAB class bloons alike. It especially excels with Primary Expertise and Stronger Stim buffs to its attack speed, damage, pierce and range. Its main weakness is Lead, which can be solved by an Acidic Mixture Dip alchemist and later on a MIB. (You can alternatively consider another lead-popping DPS tower such as Prince of Darkness to complement The Tack Zone.) It also needs camo support, which can be provided for relatively cheap by a Bloontonium Sub, Shimmer Wizard, Etienne, or a x-2-x Village.
 * Inferno Ring is an even better, though much more expensive, alternative. It does not have the weakness to lead that The Tack Zone has, but still needs camo support.
 * Sauda also fulfills a similar role, with the added benefits of not needing cash investments after placement, innate camo detection, abilities to catch bloon leaks, and being able to innately damage all bloon types after leveling up enough. This comes at the cost of using up your hero slot.
 * The M.A.D. can practically solo all the final rounds. However, it requires a very significant investment and is almost useless before then, so it is seldom seen. It is also very weak against Super Ceramics and thus needs a supporting cleanup tower.
 * Sky Shredder is a solid all-around choice for CHIMPS, as it can innately pop all bloon types, its darts deal with regular bloons while its missiles deal with MOAB-class bloons. However, it can be overwhelmed by MOAB-class or super Ceramic spam, and needs DPS support.
 * Carrier Flagship is a reasonably-priced yet solid choice for dealing with the mid game. However, its DPS capabilities start tapering off on Rounds 80+. Aside from DPS, it also fulfills a supporting role by buffing water-based towers and Aces, and allowing other towers to be placed on top of it. The latter can be key to involving land-based monkeys in the overall strategy, especially on maps with very little placeable land such as Flooded Valley.
 * Archmage is another reasonably-priced and well-rounded choice. His main strength is DDT-popping power which he can do without support (assuming the 5-0-2 crosspath, which is the most recommended), along with good MOAB-class damage in general. His main weakness is super ceramics, which another tower such as Prince of Darkness or Perma-Spike can clean up. He also does not synergise well with alchemist buffs. His range and DPS excel on maps such as Adora's Temple.

Support

 * Monkey Village is extremely helpful for successful CHIMPS games. Even if you somehow are building towers that don't need camo or DDT detection, the cheap range bonus and attack speed (via Jungle Drums) is insane.
 * Primary Expertise, apart from massively buffing primary monkeys, also comes with its own formidable mega ballista attack that shreds anything below MOABs, particularly any kind of Ceramics such as in the Round 70s. Do note however that its firing rate is very slow and thus it may not be able to catch all leaks, and it's generally not worth getting without primary monkey DPS towers such as The Tack Zone or MOAB Mauler spam to buff.
 * Most successful CHIMPS games require Berserker Brew or Stronger Stimulant to excel the late early-game or the mid-game, although certain Striker + Mauler + Primary Mentoring strategies rely much less on those two Alchemist upgrades.
 * Overclock and/or Bloon Sabotage tend to be necessary abilities to maximize the DPS of your main tower on more difficult CHIMPS games, especially for Rounds 90+. MOAB Glue is a cheaper and passive, but also more specialized and unreliable option.
 * Out of these 3 options, only Overclock is helpful against the Round 100 BAD.
 * Shattering Shells deserves a mention for being the only tower that can strip the Fortified property off MOAB-class bloons, thus being of great utility on Rounds 89+. It can also be upgraded to Blooncineration, which is a formidable late-game DPS tower. The main issue is that Shattering Shells and Blooncineration require a dedicated investment.
 * A x-2-x Alchemist is the only other tower that strips Fortified, but only for regular bloons. However, its very cheap price makes it a good option against fortified Ceramic rounds such as 74, 83 and 91, and it can be combined with Stonger Stim to be an overall very useful 4-2-0 Alchemist.
 * On easy maps such as Hedge, an Embrittlement or Super Brittle can provide most of the support you need - removing camo and regrow, freezing and permanently slowing all affected bloons, and buffing damage against all affected bloons. However, it is slow to attack and thus unreliable, particularly against fast bloons such as Purple Bloons and DDTs.
 * Etienne is a popular support hero for his global camo detection and his offensive abilities.

Overall Strategies

 * Perhaps the easiest solution for this mode on most maps is the Avatar of Wrath build. It can not only pop bloons early game for a cheap cost, but also has tremendous scaling into late game. It gets stronger the more bloons there are. It can almost single-handedly take down big rounds like 96, 97, 98, and 100. This strategy involves:
 * Clearing the initial rounds with Dart Monkeys, Druid Monkeys, Monkey Subs and/or Sniper Monkeys, then placing Obyn Greenfoot as soon as it is safe to do so.
 * Start placing 6 Druids around Obyn, making sure that all Druids are in range of each other for the Poplust upgrade later. Make sure to have some camo popping power by Round 24; a cheap option is to upgrade a Dart Monkey to 0-0-2.
 * Obyn himself can pop leads, so lead rounds are not an issue.
 * The next camo rounds to worry about are Rounds 33, then 36 and 37. You can upgrade the Dart Monkey further, or if you have a Sub, give it 2-x-x so that it can assist the Dart Monkey.
 * As soon as you are able to, upgrade all Druids to 0-1-0, then as the midgame begins, upgrade them to 0-1-4. After Round 40, get a 2-2-0 Village near the Druids so camo bloons are no longer a problem.
 * Choose one Druid to be your Avatar of Wrath and place a 3-x-x Alchemist as close as possible to him. Now save up for AoW; you should be able to afford him in the late 70s to early 80s. Defend with Obyn's abilities in the meantime, especially with problematic rounds such as 63 and 78.
 * After getting Avatar of Wrath, you're practically in the clear to win the game. Get your Stronger Stim alchemist if you haven't already, upgrade your village to a Monkey Intelligence Bureau by Round 90 to ensure DDT-popping power, and get a Permabrew for Rounds 98 to 100, or if you don't have the cash then get an Overclock instead.
 * Another popular strategy is sub spam: On maps with a a reasonable amount of water (such as Spice Islands, Peninsula, Flooded Valley and Dark Castle), get a 2-0-5 Sub Commander surrounded with 2-0-4 Subs. Along with camo and lead support, they can carry most of the game.
 * Striker Jones + MOAB Mauler strategies see some use.
 * On most easy maps and some intermediate and advanced maps with water, this combo could be utilized. Start with a 0-2-3 crossbow, then get adora, a 2-0-4 sub, and a 3-0-2 wizard by round forty. Make sure to space out the towers enough. Upgrade wizard to 4-0-2 and dart to 0-2-4 ASAP. Next, you have a choice of upgrading either the dart or wizard to fifth tier, though I recommend dart. Do not put more than 1k money into Adora. If you do, you will not be able to get all three tier fives by the time you need them. If you are having trouble with camo, put a 2-2-0 village next to adora. Finally, put a 4-0-0 alch next to each of the four towers. Upgrade them to 4-2-0 and get a 0-2-3 (on strong, everything else on first) glue in range of the village. With your remaining money you can get more subs for the commander. (2-0-4 Make sure they're not in alch range, if they are then sac them with adora.) If there's not enough space start pouring money into Adora. Sacrifices are much more cost efficient. This strategy requires no micro (for easier maps) and no strict placement timings or necessary mid-round buys. For maps like high finance, off the coast, firing range, and dark castle, this strategy is a viable baseline, with some deviations. Hope this helps with that black border!
 * A quick and easy strategy for getting a black boarder is:
 * First, place down sauda, then, put down a tack shooter (in a stretegic position, preferably in a loop area.) and upgrade it to 2-0-3, you will then want to put down a 1-0-2 village in radius of the tack shooter, after that, in the radius of the village, you will want to place a 2-0-3 ice monkey, then, before round 40, upgrade the tack shooter to an overdrive, then, as soon as you can, upgrade the tack shooter and the village to a 4-0-2 and The Tack Zone, then, in radius of the village and the tack zone, place another village and upgrade it to a MIB. You will then want to upgrade the ice monkey to an icicle impale (2-0-5) and finally, at around round 90, you will want to place a perma-spike at the end, being buffed by a 4-0-1 alchemist. At round 100 If you did everything correctly, your tack zone/ice monkey will get the BAD down to almost popped and your perma-spike will kill it and all the moabs in it. Now, enjoy your black boarder :)

Early-game C.H.I.M.P.S. (Rounds 6 to 40)
The early game is one of the most difficult parts of C.H.I.M.P.S. mode. These strategies will keep you alive long enough to place a hero.


 * One common strategy on maps with water is to start with a Monkey Sub and a Dart Monkey, with the one closest to the start of the map set on Strong, this strategy is most common on maps like Dark Castle, and Peninsula. On Flooded Valley, the only viable starting tower is a 0-0-0 Sub, as not even a 0-0-0 Buccaneer is strong enough to handle the early-game on its own.
 * On some maps, like Workshop, three Dart Monkeys are the only successful opening strategy.
 * On maps that loop around one spot (such as most Easy maps, Firing Range, and Spillway) a Ninja Monkey, Druid, or Engineer Monkey can often survive the first few rounds.
 * Maps with a tight curve can often be conquered with a Tack Shooter and a Dart Monkey. Even easier maps do not even need the Dart Monkey, only upgrades for Tack Shooter.
 * On some maps, a 0-0-0 Sniper Monkey plus 0-0-0 Dart Monkey starting strategy is necessary to begin CHIMPS, such as on Geared.
 * Some strats to survive early game is to save up for a Heli on most maps because Apache Prime is so influential in C.H.I.M.P.S. when also paired with Overclock and Stronger Stimulant.
 * Some heroes are cheap enough to be placed at the start of the game, and can solo the first few rounds. These heroes are Quincy, Ezili and Sauda.
 * Quincy is the only viable hero for Infernal due to almost requiring him to beat Rounds 6 and 7.
 * Sauda can solo the early game if put around a bend, or require only minimal support (such as a single 0-0-0 Dart Monkey) if guarding a straight path. Once she gets to level 3, her Leaping Sword ability is excellent for catching leaks.
 * Unfortunately, Sauda is useless for starting many more difficult maps, which have multiple paths (such as Muddy Puddles, Ravine or #Ouch), and/or do not allow placement of towers right next to the track (such as Flooded Valley, Infernal or Sanctuary).
 * Ezili is generally an inferior choice. She can help out against round 100 but, generally, there are better heroes that are better suited to CHIMPS, such as Obyn (for magic strats) and Quincy (for early game).

Mid-Game C.H.I.M.P.S. (Rounds 41 to 80)
Most strategies for the mid-game focus on towers with high attack speed and damage.


 * One of the oldest and still successful strategies is to use Obyn Greenfoot with a 4-0-2 Ninja Monkey, a 3-0-2 Super Monkey, a 4-0-2 Alchemist, and a 2-0-2 Monkey Village. The village makes the Super Monkey cheaper, while Obyn serves as excellent early-game popping power.
 * Generally, the Ninja is placed first, followed by Obyn, upgrading it to 2-0-1, then 3-0-1 or 4-0-2, adding the super monkey and the alchemist followed by the village, then upgrading everything.
 * Another Obyn strategy has 6 0-2-4 Druids with an X-2-X or X-3-X Monkey Village. The middle path of the druids increases the number of projectiles while Obyn increases the pierce. This beats the rounds easily even on hard maps like Dark Castle and Workshop.
 * On maps where bloons circulate in the same general area (such as Moon Landing, Firing Range, or Spillway), Striker Jones with a top-path Mortar Monkey is very effective. The top path includes Shell Shock, stunning bloons, and a 4-2-0 mortar can handle MOABs easily. Pairing this with good BFB popping power (such as a MOAB Assassin or two, or a 4-2-0 Monkey Ace or an even better option just straight up going for the Biggest One because of its very big radius dealing 40 damage to M.O.A.B and Ceramics) is extremely effective.
 * A large number of Shinobi Tactics together with a couple 4-0-2 Alchemists is very powerful, especially if you place a Grandmaster Ninja and a Sticky Bomb in the middle. This tactic (with about 12-15 Shinobis) is enough to win CHIMPS mode on Cornfield with Pat Fusty in the middle of the ninjas and all the Shinobi's on 0-3-2. The alchemists enhance the caltrops significantly, creating a Perma-Spike-like effect.
 * On maps where water is available, one 2-0-4 Armor Piercing Darts Sub plus a 4-x-x Stronger Stimulant can carry rounds before Round 60 quite flawlessly, provided sufficient range intel from Advanced Intel. Likewise, a 2-0-3 Triple Guns Sub plus a 3-x-x Berserker Brew or 4-x-x Stronger Stimulant can perform exceptionally well by themselves before Round 40, also provided sufficient range intel. With Admiral Brickell nearby, she can allow the Subs to perform significantly better.
 * It is important to note that a Carrier Flagship can carry throughout rounds 60 up to early 80s by itself. This means that you can spend your extra cash from these rounds on late game towers. The strategy would be to use a destroyer to beat round 40, aircraft carrier to beat rounds 50s and you should be able to purchase the flagship on within round 60. This strategy works on almost all maps with areas of water, even difficult ones like flooded valley.
 * Pat Fusty and the Tack Zone can carry a CHIMPS run due to the Rallying Roar ability multiplying the damage of the tack zone by 2x before level 14 and 5x after level 14. Well-timed ability usage can easily get you through mid-game and a lot of times late game too.
 * The Prince of Darkness increases with power the more bloons is popped nearby, it should be mentioned that Undead Bloons can take advantage of Alchemist buffs.

Late-Game C.H.I.M.P.S (Rounds 81 to 100)
Many C.H.I.M.P.S strategies fall apart after round 80. Towers that could handle ceramics before (like Ring of Fire or MOAR Glaives) are incapable of stopping super ceramics and MOAB rushes overwhelm towers with low pierce. These strategies may help make it easier to get through these tough last rounds, especially in preparation for the most difficult rounds from Rounds 95-100.


 * Avatar of Wrath gets stronger the more bloons there are. It can almost single-handedly take down big rounds like 96, 97, 98, and 100, especially when paired with Obyn Greenfoot, a Monkey Intelligence Bureau, and 5 0-1-4 Druids (or 0-2-4, although Heart of Oak is generally not necessary at this point of the game).
 * The Biggest One (specifically 5-2-0) or The Bloon Solver (specifically 5-0-2) can handle all super ceramics and most MOABs and BFBs. While the Bloon Solver upgrade excels against popping Super Ceramics, The Biggest One is overall better at popping MOAB-class bloons compared to The Bloon Solver. However, The Biggest One requires micromanagement in order to make the most of its sheer power. It is worth noting that The Biggest One is able to benefit much more greatly from attack speed buffs, especially Jungle Drums, Stronger Stimulant, and Overclock.
 * A 4-0-0 Alchemist-buffing the 0-2-5 Spike Factory is capable of handling many late-game rounds on its own, especially when paired with Overclock.
 * Prior to purchasing the Spike Factory, ensure the Spike Factory is placed within range of two 2-x-x Villages so that the Perma-Spike can receive 100% uptime from Overclock instead of just 66%. Two discounts from Monkey Commerce buffs can make a huge difference for increasing such powerful spike production.(No longer valid as of 21.0)
 * Sub Commander is very powerful when paired with multiple 2-0-3 Monkey Subs, but lacks pierce and cannot damage DDTs without support. Adding alchemists and getting a large number of subs (like 6 or more) and getting a Monkey Intelligence Bureau helps a lot.
 * Six 2-0-3 subs plus a Sub Commander, two 4-2-0 alchemists, a 2-4-0 Monkey Alchemist all in a group near the exit, plus a Prince of Darkness near the entrance, is good enough to beat several water maps including Spring Spring and Off the Coast. The extra money can be used for support like Unstable Concoction, Shattering Shells. Bloon Sabotage, or MOAB Shove.
 * One or more 2-4-0 Spike Factories can destroy all DDTs on screen, as can an X-4-X Monkey Ace.
 * First Strike Capability (most effective) or MOAB Eliminator is extremely useful against the B.A.D. For more info, see B.A.D./Strategies.
 * To slow down DDTs and other blimps, Bloon Sabotage or its upgrade Grand Saboteur are effective. If all of your other towers can pop frozen bloons (through upgrades or a Monkey Intelligence Bureau), then Absolute Zero is also useful, slowing D.D.T.s almost to a complete stop as opposed to Bloon Sabotage's 50% speed reduction. Snowstorm can be used to briefly stall blimps so that incoming blimps clump together with existing blimps. MOAB Glue can play a similar role against most blimps as well as against DDTs when granted camo detection. MOAB Shove is the least usable of stall tower because it can only slow one bloon at a time and can quickly get overwhelmed by 2 or more blimps. None the less it is still a stall tower and can still help out a defense though not as effective
 * One 5-0-2 Grandmaster Ninja paired with many Shinobi Tactics Ninjas nearby will combine the incredibly high DPS of Grandmaster Ninja with effective blowback against Super Ceramics by the army of Shinobi Tactics.
 * The many fortified bloons in the late game can overwhelm defenses, especially round 98. This can be countered with Shattering Shells (which removes the fortified property from BFBs and MOABs) or by Unstable Concoction, which not only turns fortified blimps into massive bombs but also strips the fortified property from children ceramics (due to being on the same path as Perishing Potions).
 * Bloon Crush plus Perma-Spike is a surprisingly good combination and a good fit for maps with very little room (like High Finance). You can see an example in Jajajosh's video here.
 * Apache Prime is able to deal a huge amount of damage to MOAB-Class bloons in the late game, but it struggles against Super Ceramics and has some trouble against DDTs. Pairing it with a tower that excels against these bloons, such as Archmage, The Bloon Solver, or the Pre-Emptive Strike, is a good way to reinforce your defense.
 * Another way of dealing with DDT's is the 0-1-5 Icicle Impale paired with a 0-2-0 Monkey Village, this tower slows them down tremendously, If paired with a Apache Prime or another high damaging like Grandmaster Ninja (under a 0-3-0 Monkey Village and paired with 10-20 Shinobi Shinobi Tactics's) or another tower like Sub Commander (also under a 0-3-0 monkey village and paired with some 2-0-3 Triple Guns Sub). This tower isn't seen as often because it is very expensive as a stall tower and is usually avoided in favor of MOAB Glue and MOAB Press both are very cheap and effective.
 * On maps with good range, such as Underground or Off the Coast, a strategy involving Striker Jones + MOAB Maulers + Primary Mentoring is a brilliant strategy once Striker Jones higher levels. On harder maps, he levels up faster, and can even avoid the need for a Monkey Intelligence Bureau due to his Level 5+ and Level 19+ black-popping grants to all explosive attacks, allowing DDTs to be beaten by MOAB Maulers with ease. Slows such as Bloon Sabotage or MOAB Glue are important though, because MOAB Maulers are poor at chasing bloons. Level 20 Striker Jones allows the Artillery Command ability to obliterate even the toughest of blimps, even the BAD.
 * Admiral Brickell + 0-3-2 Ballistic Missiles + 2-0-5 Sub Commander are extremely effective at breaking down Rounds 81+ on maps with good centralized spots, such as on Quad, due to the majority of bloons being Ceramic or above, where Ballistic Missiles are strong against. Admiral Brickell's Naval Tactics ability allows all nearby Subs to attack much faster, and combined with the good accuracy and damage from each Ballistic Missiles, they entire Sub army can obliterate almost anything with ease. Just note that DDTs require the use of the Naval Tactics ability if there is no nearby MIB, so make sure there's still remaining duration for that ability when DDTs come.
 * Admiral Brickell + 2-0-3 Triple Guns + 2-0-5 Sub Commander are extremely effective at breaking down Rounds 81+ on maps with multiple distant paths but few Line of Sight issues, such as on Muddy Puddles or even Bloody Puddles. Combined with the extra damage and pierce provided by the Sub Commander, homing darts are able to chase bloons, allowing them to shred bloons far more effectively. This is particularly enhanced by improving the airburst darts via external buffs, such as from Berserker Brew, Stronger Stimulant, or Admiral Brickell's Naval Tactics ability. Like the Ballistic Missile spam strategy, do save the Naval Tactics ability in preparation for DDTs unless an MIB is nearby the Subs.
 * Getting the M.A.D can be game winning, if one can afford it. This is generally only viable on easier maps.

Important Rounds
This section notes the most notable rounds of CHIMPS, and contain tips to get past them
 * It's often the best choice to start off each C.H.I.M.P.S. mode game with 3 0-0-0 Dart Monkeys on different areas of the track, as the Dart Monkeys are extremely cost effective with 2 pierce.
 * However, on water maps, subs are usable, especially with perfect positioning.
 * It is recommended to use online guides or ask for help if struggling to start a CHIMPS game.
 * Rounds 6-15 and Round 17 are some of the few early-game traps that often cause inexperienced players to lose on.
 * Round 6 will have several Green Bloons and some Red Bloons on such an early round with only $650; very few strategies are able to defeat such rounds with such little cash, especially on maps with multiple paths like Quad and #Ouch.
 * Round 10 has many Grouped Blues at the end. Be aware of those; although not very densely packed, it can cause some trouble for defenses that are poor against grouped bloons.
 * Round 15 is exceptionally difficult for low-level defenses, because of having many spaced Yellows and Pinks coming at once.
 * Round 17 contains Regrow Yellows, rendering overly spaced or overly clumped defenses to struggle.
 * Round 24 has a Green Camo Bloon. Non-camo popping defenses likely will lose on this round.
 * Round 25 has Purples. Will cause issues for defenses focusing on fire, energy or plasma damage.
 * Round 28 has Lead Bloons. Lead-weak or non-lead popping defenses will likely lose on this round.
 * Round 33, Round 36, and Round 37 are some of the other earlier Camo rounds to prepare for.
 * Round 33 has spaced Camo Yellows, Round 36 has Camo Regrow Greens in between a large wave of normal grouped Pinks, while Round 37 contains Camo Whites on the last wave.
 * Round 38 has the first Ceramics.
 * Round 40 has the first MOAB. Defenses incapable of dealing with MOABs will likely lose on these rounds.
 * Round 42 contains Regrow Rainbows and Camo Rainbows. Camo-weak defenses will likely lose on these rounds.
 * Round 49 contains fairly strong rushes. Generally easy, but occasionally will cause problems.
 * Round 50 has two MOABs, one at the start and one after a wave of Ceramics. This is where MOAB popping power is vital as more MOABs will come on subsequent rounds.
 * Round 51 contains Camo Ceramics, which may overwhelm your defense if not given effective camo detection.
 * Round 55 contains fairly strong Ceramic rushes. While usually not game-losing, it still is an important round to note.
 * Round 59 contains Camo Leads, forcing people to have a defense that mutually pops both camo and lead or lose the game.
 * 0-2-2 Wall of Fire is the easiest method for single-handedly surviving the Camo Leads.
 * Round 63 is accompanied by 3 harsh rushes of tightly-spaced Ceramics. Without grouped bloon popping power or stalling towers, losing on this round is almost likely to occur.
 * Simple strategies for countering this round are not too difficult. Ice Monkeys can be used to stall partial waves of Round 63.
 * Two Blade Maelstroms can be used to beat Round 63 with little issue, provided the Leads are not in the way of the storms of blades.
 * Gwendolin can be used to beat this round with not too much issue. One Cocktail for the first wave, Firestorm for the second wave, and Cocktail for the third wave.
 * Round 64 is not nearly as difficult as Round 63, but a dense group of MOABs plus a few Fortified MOABs may cause trouble for defenses that lack effective grouped MOAB-class popping power.
 * Round 75 comes with dense triplet BFBs that may be too clumped for certain defenses.
 * Round 76 has a harsh large group of Regrowth Ceramics, enough to overwhelm many defenses.
 * Again, Maelstrom is a good choice for easily wiping out Round 76, but if you know that Round 76 will be hard, ensure the Maelstrom is purchased on before such a round begins.
 * Alternatively, with the new updates, using one or more 2-2-0 Druids near the entrance can eliminate the regrow property, making this round much easier.
 * Round 78 not only has one harsh rush of tightly-grouped Ceramics, but there is also one more harsh rush of tightly-grouped Camo Ceramics, rendering most popular methods of popping such tightly-grouped Ceramics useless unless there is nearby reliable camo detection (Radar Scanner often fixes this problem). Additionally, Purples reappear on this round.
 * Bear in mind that there is quite a lot of time between the two waves of Ceramics, specifically around 60 seconds, so having Gwendolin is easy with just one use of the Firestorm ability each for the two waves.
 * Beyond Round 80, all Ceramics that spawn from any bloon type become Super Ceramics, variants of normal Ceramics that have 60 health (120 health for Fortified), and spawn only one child per bloon.
 * Many towers can struggle with beating Super Ceramics. Instead, use towers that would benefit more from Super Ceramics than normal Ceramics, such as 0-1-2 Ice Monkeys, 5-0-2 Bloon Solver, or x-3-x Downdraft.
 * Round 90 has DDTs, which are very fast and immune to many projectiles. Most defenses not ready for DDTs may likely lose on this round or otherwise end up in a near-loss win of the round, only to get beaten by Round 93, 95, or 99.
 * It is recommended to have a Radar Scanner or Monkey Intelligence Bureau nearby, as few defenses are capable of defeating DDTs without sufficient support.
 * Round 95 is one of the most difficult rounds containing DDTs. This is where having a near-indestructible defense and Monkey Intelligence Bureau would become almost certainly necessary, as the many waves of DDTs will often overwhelm most defenses.
 * MOAB Glue under Radar Scanner can slow down DDTs pretty well.
 * Bloon Sabotage is a very important upgrade to deal with DDTs
 * Icicle Impale under Radar Scanner can immensely slow DDTs. When added Acidic Mixture Dip or MIB, it can damage DDTs in the process too.
 * It has also been the death of many "2 tower CHIMPS" challenges
 * Round 98 has full of ZOMGs and Fortified BFBs. Very intensive RBE on this round. Other than rounds 99 and 100, round 98 is often the final straw of defenses lacking enough grouped MOAB-class popping power.
 * Using Unstable Concoction can help break through most of the BFBs and ZOMGs.
 * Avatar of Wrath can also maximize its popping power on this round to easily pop the bloons. Ensure Obyn is nearby for the exclusive Druid benefits, particularly the extra pierce, to make it easier to beat Round 98 with ease.
 * Shattering Shells can break the fortified layers of the Fortified BFBs, making it slightly easier to deal with them. Using this will basically make this round similar to round 94 but with 2 more ZOMGs.
 * Round 99 has Fortified DDTs, enough to break any unprepared defense, even to those defenses that can deal with normal DDTs very well. Slowing towers is almost necessary at this point as the DDTs on this round have more than 1000 HP.
 * One of the biggest enemies of this round is Pre-emptive Strike: because the passive ability missile also deals area of effect damage and there is a train of MOABs on this round, the missile will be triggered multiple times. This means that the damage will be extended to Fortified DDTs that pass by, popping them even though the missile on its own doesn't deal sufficient damage.
 * Of course, the player must own towers that can take down the Ceramic Bloons that pop out of the DDTs, otherwise the effort of the Pre-emptive Strike will be in vain.
 * Round 100 contains the first B.A.D., which is bad news for all players. The main hazards there include the huge HP of the B.A.D. layer, the B.A.D.'s resistance to slowing attacks, and the sudden fast DDTs that reveal upon popping the BAD layer.
 * Use of a First Strike Capability ability is one of many ways to easily strip off B.A.D. health and if timed properly on the last stage of damage, can also pop the B.A.D. without having to worry about the insides.
 * 1-4-0 or 2-4-0 Spike Storms may also help strip down the BAD layer well on most maps.
 * Besides early game and rounds 95 and 98, this round is the death to many "2 tower CHIMPS" challenges.

Map-specific Strategies
Below are tables illustrating possible strategies that suit particular maps the best. Most Beginner Maps (except Lotus Island and Hedge) can easily utilize strategies that are suited for Intermediate Maps and harder, so all Beginner Maps are excluded.

The following map strategies summarize optimal tower loadouts during the early-game, mid-game, and late-game for each of the Intermediate and harder maps. For more specific information about how to utilize these strategies on each map, refer to strategy pages for each of the maps.

Intermediate Maps
Below is the recommended combos to start off with for early-game, mid-game, and late-game for Intermediate Maps. They aren't necessarily the only possible combos, but for the best results try following these tower combinations.

Advanced Maps
Below is the recommended combos to start off with for early-game, mid-game, and late-game for Advanced Maps. They aren't necessarily the only possible combos, but for the best results try following these tower combinations.

Expert Maps
Below is the recommended combos to start off with for early-game, mid-game, and late-game for Expert Maps. They aren't necessarily the only possible combos, but for the best results try following these tower combinations.