User blog:AlthaBlade/The Newbie's Guide To Bloons TD Battles

Hi all, although BTD Battles has been out for a while, I figured I'd make this blog post for all those only starting to play the game as with the right knowledge, you can pretty much be undefeatable up until you reach around 250 battle points. Anyway, I made a new NK account to play BTD Battles for the lulz because it'd been an eternity since I last played it but I didn't want to get wrecked by experts on my main account. I KNOW I KNOW it's kinda cheap destroying newbies that have only just started but I figured that by doing so, I can give a lot of essential *emphasis on preceding word* tips for you on how to play better. Also keep in mind these tips are designed for assault mode as I never play defend mode. Anyhow, in case you're wondering, I play 21 games and I won 18 out of 21 so you're basically going to be unstoppable.

TL;DR This is a newb's guide on how to make all the Monkey Gods and newbies bow down to you and give you free candy  dominate the game up until you reach around 250 Battle Points.

Tip 1. Focus on your own screen as well as your opponent's at all times.
By doing so, you'll be able to point out the flaws in your own defense as well as your opponent's. This way, you'll massively increase your odds of winning and no losing in general...it astounds me how a lot of newbies don't do this despite its simplicity. Also, when looking at your opponent's side, try to make assumptions based upon what they're doing (e.g. if they aren't buying all that many towers, they might be saving up for a bloon rush later on).

Tip 2. Play Aggressively
If you see a flaw in your opponent's defense, then do whatever it takes to guaranteed the victory, even if it comes at the cost of selling your own towers. A lot of beginners choose to play defensively or save up for sending a MOAB at round 18 and the end result usually isn't all that great.

Tip 3. Know your bloons
Every 1/2 rounds, you unlock the ability to send bloons at your opponent (your opponent can do this too of course). Although playing aggressively is the way to go, that not to say that you shouldn't defend against every possible bloon type your opponent should choose to throw at you. Some key rounds to look out for are the following:


 * Round 2: Grouped Reds (I won two of my players buy spamming grouped reds, depressing isn't it)


 * Round 4: Spaced Pinks


 * Round 6: Spaced Blacks


 * Round 8: REGENS - Regen Spaced Whites
 * Round 10: Spaced Leads


 * Round 12: CAMOS - Camo Spaced Leads


 * Round 13: Regen Grouped Rainbows


 * Round 15: Spaced Ceramics (possibly regen/ceramic)


 * Round 18: MOABs

I know what you might be thinking, ALTHABLADE WHY DIDN'T YOU MAKE THE CERAMICS AND MOABs BOLD, THOSE ARE WAY MORE LETHAL THAN THE OTHERS. Well, that's because I won almost every single one of my games on round 13 or before. Firstly, the introduction of regens on round 8 can bring devastating effects to those that are unprepared, I didn't bold it up but it's still something to look out for. You should be prepared to fix up your defenses and perhaps exploit your opponent's defense on this round if possible but up until round 12/13, your defense is your priority.

Another thing I forgot to mention are the leads on round 10, pretty easy to counter but keep them in mind.

On round 12 comes the dreaded camos. There are a lot of possible combinations to use with this new ability (including combining regens with camos) but one major thing to look for are the devilish camo leads. Unfortunately, the only good countermeasure for such bloons within the tier 1-2 towers is the 1-2 Sniper Monkey. x-3 buccaneers and x-3 ninjas work too but are nowhere near as effective. Although one sniper should be adequate, feel free to add in another one if you feel insecure.

And of course on round 13, one of the most well known and evil rushes to send, the regens grouped rainbows, commonly known as the Rainbow Rush of Doom (or RRoD for short). Although out of the games I've played I haven't seen one person who has sent in such a bloon rush, it doesn't mean you shouldn't be prepared for it. A few examples of effective countermeasures would include 3-x boomerang throwers, 4-x tack shooters and 4-x bomb towers. Yes, they are quite costly to defend against but they are pretty much the hardest type of rush to defend against in the game. Of course, you have the other option which is to spam the RRoD at your opponent at the cost of your lacking defense as soon as round 13 starts but it can be a bit of a risk if you're up against someone who appears to be a good player.

TL;DR Prepare to both send and defend against camo leads on round 12 and regen grouped rainbows on round 13 and you will be very successful.

Tip 4. Your Income
Out of all the newbies I've gone up against, I don't think even one of them understood the income system too well. Anyhow, unlike BTD5 where you earn money based upon the amount of bloons you pop, you instead earn a certain 'income' every six seconds. This starts at +250 and will rise up when you send bloons at your opponents (the game will show you the amount each bloon type will do so by rolling your mouse over it). I'd recommend bumping it up to around +500-600 by around rounds 8-10 before saving up for the chaos that would ensue at around rounds 12-13. You should do this mainly by spamming grouped reds/blues/greens/yellows, which unlocks at rounds 2/4/6/8 respectively, The reason why is because top row bloons are more economically beneficial compared to bottom row bloons, which are more oriented to slaughtering your opponent. Still, ensure you maintain your defense while rising your income.

TL;DR Spam grouped reds, blue, greens, yellows early on for more money later on when you need it.

Tip 5. Towers!
When you start off, you (and hopefully your opponent too) will only have five towers available for use: A lot of things depends on the maps you play on but I would always select the Sniper Monkey and the Bomb Tower regardless of what happens. I feel I don't need to talk much at this stage because you'll probably dominate your opponents with the preceding knowledge I've given you.
 * Dart Monkey: Just a general all rounder tower that can be upgraded to detect camos
 * Tack Shooter: Very useful tower if positioned correctly, upgrades such as the Tack Sprayer are extremely useful
 * Ninja Monkey: Good for countering early strong bloons (e.g. spaced pinks/blacks) and has camo detection by default
 * Bomb Tower: Useful for crowd control as well as being the only good tower for taking out leads
 * Sniper Monkey: Your one and only camo lead detection unit

After you reach 50 Battle Points, you will attain four new towers: Now, looking at this new list and the preceding one, you should think of a few important types of bloons to counter: Upon gaining access to the tier 2 towers, I'd generally advise experimenting with differing towers and upgrades and finding what's effective yourself but two towers I find to be the best myself are the tack shooter (on most tracks), monkey buccaneer and probably the boomerang thrower although I didn't use it at all while on my new account. But generally speaking, make sure you have towers and upgrades that are capable of countering every possible bloon type your opponent may send at you.
 * Ice Tower: Generally not too useful if you don't combine it with the right towers
 * Glue Gunner: As much as I loved this tower in BTD5, it barely serves a good purpose in this game
 * Boomerang Thrower: Nice all rounder tower that can handle a variety of situations, upgrades maybe be a little costly however
 * Monkey Buccaneer: Cheaper all rounder tower that can be upgraded for camo detection
 * Crowd Control - Any form of a rush that comes grouped (e.g. grouped yellow bloons)
 * Strengthy Bloons - Spaced bloons that are fairly strong (e.g. spaced black bloons)
 * Camos, Leads, Regens, and combinations of them all - Self-explanatory (e.g. camo leads)
 * Regen Grouped Rainbows - Yes they come in their own category, they are just that effective

TL;DR Your four towers should be able to counter everything I said on tip 3

Le End
WOAH dang I wrote a lot but I hope this helps. Oh and by the way, remember how I said I won 18 out of 21 games? Yeah, those three games I lost were all against hackers...yeaaah the game is a little broken but it doesn't take away toooo much from its entertainment value. Hope this helps!

EDIT: Turns out that one of my other opponents I had was also a hacker but surrendered before the match even started for some reason, still...proves further how broken the game is :/

TL;DR the TL;DRs: Spam top row bloons until round 8, fix and exploit flaws in you and your opponent's defenses, camo leads and regens grouped rainbows are deadly, tack sprayers are beast, go for the kill if possible and this guide will help up to when you get 250 battle points.