Gwendolin (BTD6)

"Gwendolin believes there hasn't yet been a Bloon problem that can't be solved with fire. Lots of fire."

- Bloons TD6

Gwendolin is a Hero in Bloons TD 6. She specializes in fire-based weaponry and is unlocked at experience level 14. Her main attack is a short-to-medium-range fire blast from her flamethrower whose shots can pierce up to 3 Bloons. Due to her attack being fire based, she cannot pop Purple Bloons until level 16. She is also unable to pop Camo Bloons without support, except with her abilities.

She costs $765 on Easy, $900 on Medium Difficulty, $970 on Hard, and $1,080 on Impoppable. If Hero Favors is enabled, she will cost $690 on Easy, $810 on Medium, $875 on Hard, and $970 on Impoppable.

She was part of the initial release of the game (alongside Quincy, Striker Jones and Obyn Greenfoot).

In the 6.0 update, she was given a new skin, named Scientist Gwendolin, with new voice lines and appearance. She wears a blue and white lab tunic and her hair is blue instead of orange. She holds a purple potion instead of her normal fuel. The skin costs 2500 to unlock.

In the 17.0 update, she was given a third skin, named Harlegwen. The skin also costs 2500 to unlock.



Upgrades
As she is one of the original 4 heroes, her relative levelling speed to the rest of the heroes is 1x.

The following are the upgrades:

Activated Abilities

 * Cocktail of Fire - Throws a molotov cocktail, which generates a fiery explosion that burns any Bloon that passes through the flames (including camo bloons), and will continue to burn for about half the cooldown of the ability. When bloons are in Gwendolin's range, she aims it at the furthest bloons advanced. When there are no bloons in her range, or if there are camo bloons that she cannot detect, she throws the cocktail to a random spot in her range.
 * Firestorm - Covers the entire screen with fire, igniting all bloons. Initial blast does 2 damage to everything, and burns a layer every half a second and does 10 damage per second to MOAB class bloons, as well as triggering Heat it Up for all monkeys on screen. Increases initial blast damage to 5, and burn damage to 2 damage per half a second on normal bloons and 15 damage to MOAB-class per second at Level 20.

Cosmetics
Gwendolin has different cosmetics that can be bought to add visual flair to her. These are purely visual and do not influence how she performs in-game. Hero Skins for Gwendolin are available once she is unlocked.

Skins
Gwendolin has two additional skins that can be bought for a one-off purchase of 2500 each. The first one, Scientist Gwen, dons her as a peppy scientist with an affinity for the color blue. The second one, Harlequen, dons her as a pink peppy clown stylized in a similar fashion to Harley Quinn, particularly Harley Quinn's old outfit.

Pets

 * Gwen Firefox Pet
 * Description: This adorable firefox is never far from Gwen's side. Original Gwendolin only.
 * Additional notes:
 * Short name: Gwen Firefox Pet
 * A red fox that regularly produces realistic fox sounds. Runs on placeable land.
 * Trophies: 100

Visual Improvements

 * Gwendolin Fireball Place & Upgrade GwendolinFireballPlacementIcon.png
 * Description: Make sure Gwen's arrival and upgrades are suitably firey with this awesome fireball effect! Original Gwendolin only
 * Additional notes:
 * Short name: Gwen Fireball
 * Adds flame effects when placed and upgraded.
 * Trophies: 60

Profile Pictures

 * Custom Avatar - Harlegwen PFP ProfileAvatar40.png
 * Description: Avatar winner by Qqertynn
 * Additional notes:
 * Short name: tomato
 * Harlegwen pulling a smile
 * Trophies: 10


 * Custom Avatar - Blueprint ProfileAvatar45.png
 * Description: Avatar winner by dungeon-raided
 * Additional notes:
 * Short name: Blueprint Avatar
 * Scientist Gwen as a blueprint.
 * Trophies: 10

Summary
Following the 16.0 buff, Gwendolin has returned as a stronger hero as there is now a reliable way to trigger her buff. Her buff remains a solid choice for towers who appreciate both pierce rather than just pure damage, or more uptime on buffs, in which case Pat Fusty's Rallying Roar may be a better option.

One of her main advantages comes from beating difficult Ceramic Bloon rounds on her own at Level 10+, especially to the likes of Rounds 63, 76, and 78. With effective ability timing, she can help beat various difficult grouped bloon rounds with ease.

Tips

 * Her burn effect is a powerful ability she gains early on; putting her on 'Strong' targeting allows her to tear through early rounds, including popping leads, but be careful to defend from Purple Bloons.
 * Cocktail of Fire is a very powerful ability, being able to destroy entire Rainbow Bloons, however targeting is random and often unreliable for targeting bloons that have escaped through the primary chokepoint. (However she will throw the cocktail on the bloons she is targeting so timing it well can be very helpful) This is extremely helpful for early game and helps with cleanup later on.
 * Once Gwendolin hits level 17, her Heat It Up ability gives +1 layers of damage to all nearby towers, useful to buff nearby towers. Do make sure she is attacking as she needs to attack or firestorm for Heat It Up to activate. Placing her near the front (but not directly at the front) should allow her to activate her Heat It Up effect as often as possible.
 * Heavy ceramic rushes (especially on Round 63, 76 and 78) can be stopped very quickly with Cocktail of Fire and Firestorm.
 * For Round 63, placing a Cocktail onto the first wave then activating Firestorm on the second wave and then activating another Cocktail on the third wave should eliminate Round 63 with relative ease, but requires good ability timing.
 * For Round 76, she can activate her Firestorm can effectively cancel out the regrowth, burning the bloons faster than they can be regenerated.
 * For Round 78, she can easily use two Firestorms for both waves, as her Firestorm ability only has a cooldown of 60 seconds.
 * With Jungle Drums and Stronger Stimulant's buff, Heat It Up has near permanent uptime, provided Gwen can always attack and is at Level 18 or above.

Original Gwendolin
When selected on the Heroes menu:
 * "Doesn't get hotter than this!"

When placed: When selecting her: When leveling up: When MOAB Class Bloons appear: When popping a MOAB Class bloon: When using an Activated Ability: When leaking a bloon:
 * "With enough fuel and air, everything burns!"
 * "We have ignition!"
 * "Yes!"
 * "Yeah?"
 * "What's up?"
 * "Fired up!"
 * "Hey!"
 * "What next?"
 * "I wouldn't do that if I were you." (when annoyed)
 * "You're on my list now!" (when annoyed)
 * "Alright!"
 * "Yes"(whisper)
 * "Nice!"
 * "Oh yeah!"
 * "Awesome!"
 * "Oh, sweet!"
 * "Haha!"
 * "Haha!"
 * "Doesn't get hotter than this!" - Level 20
 * "MOAB! Burn it!" - MOAB appearance
 * "BFB! Burn it!" - BFB appearance
 * "ZOMG! Burn it!" - ZOMG appearance
 * "DDT! Burn it!" - DDT appearance
 * "BAD? Gonna need more gas!" - BAD appearance
 * "Bloon-cinerated!"
 * "Incinerated!"
 * "Fire bomb!" - Cocktail of Fire
 * "It's all on fire now!" - Firestorm
 * "They're leaking!"
 * "Stop them!"

Scientist Gwendolin
When selected: When placed: When you select her: When leveling up: When MOAB-Class bloons appear: When popping a MOAB class bloon: When using an activated ability: When leaking a bloon:
 * "I like blue hair... and blue fire!" (same as placement quote #1)
 * "I've made some minor modifications!"
 * "I like blue hair... and blue fire!"
 * "Hello!" (excited)
 * "Hello!" (less excited)
 * "Office hours!"
 * "This is it!"
 * "Can I help you?"
 * "What?!" (when annoyed)
 * *grunts* "I'm thinking!" (when annoyed)
 * "This.. is incredible!"
 * "Eur...eka!"
 * "Incredible!"
 * "Eureka!"
 * "Firestorm maxed! Let's use it!" - level 20
 * "That.. looks very flammable!"
 * "Aww.. no hydrogen!"
 * "I'll put this here!" - Cocktail of Fire
 * "You said Firestorm?" - Firestorm
 * "No.. no... NO!"

Harlegwen
When selected on the Heroes menu: When placed: When selected: When leveling up: When MOAB class bloons appear: When popping a MOAB class bloon: When using an activated ability: When leaking a bloon:
 * "Let the madness begin!"
 * "Showtime!"
 * "Let the madness begin!" (In very slightly different tone)
 * "Yes!"
 * "Yes?" (In slightly different tone)
 * "What's up?"
 * "Yeah?"
 * "Well hello!"
 * "Hey!" (When annoyed)
 * "That's gonna get you hurt!" (When really annoyed)
 * "Oh boy!"
 * "That feels good!"
 * "Yay me!"
 * "Yay me!" (Different tone)
 * "And now I have all my toys!" (When fully upgraded)
 * "Mine.. mine!" (MOAB)
 * "Should we be scared?" (BFB, ZOMG, DDT)
 * "I love those colours!" (BAD)
 * "Again, again!"
 * "One for you... one for you." - Cocktail of Fire
 * "Harley says burn!" - Firestorm
 * "Is someone napping?"

Sounds
Other sound effects related to Gwendoin that are not specifically her voicelines are shown here. For her fox, Mo Zillah, refer to Mo Zillah.

When cocktail hits the ground:
 * [smashed and burning molotov]

When activating Firestorm with Hero Voicelines off:
 * [infernal storm]

Gwendolin Plush
Gwendolin Plush is a plush. Ninja Kiwi made an announcement about this plush on Twitter. It is hosted by Makeship, and currently runs from 18th (?) December 2021 till 15th January 2022 on 1:00pm NZDT. She costs $25.99 USD. After the campaign ended, 1409 Gwendolin Plushes were sold. Her campaign can be found here.

Trivia

 * At launch, Gwendolin was the only fully confirmed female monkey in the Bloons series (though perhaps the main character's love interest from the mobile version of Hot Air Bloon may be the first female monkey). Prior to BTD6, the monkeys were gender neutral, although Dart Monkey, Heli Pilot, Ninja Monkey, Wizard Monkey (knows as Monkey Apprentice back then), Super Monkey, Engineer Monkey (known as Monkey Engineer), and Banana Farmer are male (or used male pronouns) in a quote of the tutorial in BTDB Mobile and the "Move on Up" quest opening quote in BMC Mobile, the Crash Site special mission descrption in BMC Mobile, the Double Shot description in BTD5, Monkey Wizard's description in BTD4 (and Wizard Lord special mission introduction for Wizard Lord in BTD5), the comment before Round 14 from Bloons TD 1 and the BSM2 game description, the "Engineering an Escape" quest opening quote (pertaining to the Engineer Rescue special mission), and the BMC Mobile description respectively.
 * Some Special Agents and their pro versions in BTD5 and its variants also use he/him/his pronouns, specifically the Angry Squirrel, Meerkat Spy, Watermelon Spitter, and Mad Snowman.
 * Dart Monkeys and Super Monkeys have once again been referred as male in the Super Monkey Fan Club and Legend of the Night descriptions in BTD6, respectively.
 * The BSM2 Super Monkey mentioned above may have been a hero character rather than the tower that players place in multiple quantities.
 * As of update 18.0, the patch notes monkey (or Patch), as well as Ezili, Adora, Admiral Brickell, and Sauda are also female.
 * It has been confirmed that all monkeys except for heroes and the patch notes one are all genderless.
 * Female monkeys also exist in Bloons Adventure Time TD, and unlike the rest of the Bloons games, there are certain items that function with their gender.
 * Gwendolin is the first hero whose name appears in yellow.
 * This was changed in v14.0 when Adora was added.
 * Admiral Brickell also currently has her name spelled in yellow.
 * Coincidentally, the three of them are all female heroes.
 * Gwendolin's in-game quotes confirm the correct pronunciation of the MOAB Class Bloons; MOAB is said as one word (pronounced as "moh-AB"), while the BFB, ZOMG, DDT, and BAD are pronounced by their initials.
 * Despite this, Striker Jones and Etienne pronounce MOAB by its initials, so MOAB could be accepted both ways.
 * Before the 5.0 update, Gwendolin was also the only Hero so far who calls out the BAD by name.
 * This is no longer true due to the Cyber Quincy skin being introduced in 5.0.
 * Gwendolin used to be the most expensive hero, costing $900 on Medium. With the 2.0 update, Captain Churchill became the most expensive hero, costing $2000 on Medium.
 * Gwendolin is the second hero to receive a second skin.
 * Gwendolin had made appearance in one of Ninja Kiwi's Facebook account posts regarding July 4th 2019. She is seen roasting grilled pineapples on the barbecue at night. She also holds a spatula and a glass of orange juice while a fireworks display is set. This could be a reference to the premium upgrade in BTD5. Link (Facebook Post).

Balance changes

 * Before version 6.0, Gwendolin can throw three Cocktails of Fire instead of one by having all Monkey Knowledge in the Heroes section and being near a 5/X/X Monkey Sub.
 * Despite the Ninja Kiwi patch notes in Version 22.0, Gwen's balance changes were actually a mix of buffs and nerfs. In fact, the "Level 4 Heat it up! cooldown reduced from 15s to 4.5s" does not match community testing; it is discovered that it now takes more shots (60 instead of 30 pre-update) for base Gwen to get the natural Heat It Up effect, Gwen's required shots increases with her natural attack speed bonus levels, but Gwen can now refresh the Heat It Up effect like the pre-6.0 Gwen no-refresh nerf.

Blog posts

 * According to Ninja Kiwi's 6th August 2018 blog, Ninja Kiwi acknowledges that some players have mistaken Gwendolin for a guy.
 * According to Ninja Kiwi's 15th February 2019 blog, in a comment about Gwendolin's yellow-and-red hair color coloration, Ninja Kiwi does not wish to talk about it, rather hinting that it may be involved with a Molotov cocktail accident.
 * As of Ninja Kiwi's 17th May 2019 blog, Gwendolin is 337 days old. This makes her birthday June 14th, 2018, the same day as the release date of Bloons TD 6.
 * According to Ninja Kiwi's 18th October 2019 blog, Gwendolin has signed up for an annual subscription of Apple Arcade and greatly enjoys playing Hot Lava and "Reign of Red" (presumably Red Reign, a game also made by Ninja Kiwi).
 * In a blog post released on February 28 2020, in response to a user question, it was suggested that Gwendolin likes to roller skate.
 * According to Ninja Kiwi's 8th May 2020 blog, Gwen "just really loves" fire, as part of her backstory.
 * According to Ninja Kiwi's 4th June 2021 blog, Gwendolin is confirmed to be a tomboy (i.e. a female who behaves in a masculine way).
 * From the same blog, Gwen once popped bloons with firecrackers, but they are no longer used since she got too enthusiastic with them.
 * Gwen would play the pyro class in Team Fortress 2.
 * According to Ninja Kiwi's 18th June 2021 blog, Gwen denies responsibility over the destruction of the Bloonchipper blueprints in a fire.
 * According to Ninja Kiwi's July 30th 2021 blog, Gwendolin really enjoys spicy food, to the extent that she puts Carolina Reapers as a garnish to everything she eats.
 * According to Ninja Kiwi's October 29th 2021 blog, Gwendolin's favorite musician is Johnny Cash.
 * According to Ninja Kiwi's December 10th 2021 blog, Gwen hates losing, and thus throws tantrums.

Cultural references

 * One of Gwendolin's in-game quotes, "With enough fuel and air, everything burns!" is a possible reference to the Joker's quote from The Dark Knight; "Everything burns!"
 * The "Its all on fire now" poster is reference to meme known as "disaster girl" where a small girl is evilly smiling in front of burning house in background.
 * Scientist Gwendolin's quote "Aww.. no hydrogen!" when popping a MOAB-Class Bloon might be a reference to the fact that airships previously used hydrogen as the lifting gas, which is highly flammable.