Boss Rush

“	Welcome to Boss Rush! Work together with your Team to defeat the Bosses on each Island. Get to the end for huge rewards!	”
	~ Boss Rush description, first line

Boss Rush

Boss Rush is a team event in Bloons TD 6, added in Version 43.0. First announced on the official Version 39.0 patch notes, players contribute to damaging and defeating various Boss Bloons on a sequence of maps. This mode is similar to Contested Territory event and it shares the same Teams menu and Relic Knowledge.

General Overview

The aim of this game mode is to co-operate among the entire team to take down as many tiers of a given Boss Bloon as possible using the rules on the Phayze One Quest. The more tiers taken down, the greater the progression towards the next island. Winning across islands progresses for further currency rewards but at the punishment of more restrictions at the benefit of extra Relic Knowledge. Start with one provided Relic Knowledge, and gain an extra Relic Knowledge per island. Win all 5 islands to gain a massive reward.

Teams

Teams are the same as for Contested Territory, except there is no lobby for competing with opposing teams, nor is there a leaderboard like Boss Bloon Event, so there is just co-operation among the team to accomplish the goal of decimating as many boss tiers as possible.

When joining a team during a boss rush event, there is a 10 minute delay before the player can participate in the event. After this time finishes, the player can participate in the boss rush event as much as they would like for that given team.

Rules

On each island, a pre-determined map and set of rules are chosen. Starting on Medium with three sets of 150 lives and a large amount of starting cash (Bloonarius: $1800, Phayze: $2000, Dreadbloon: $4000), plus a selection of available towers and heroes, the player must complete a Phayze One style defense to beat as many tiers of a boss as possible. Upon completely leaking one set of lives, the player is penalized with the Boss pushing forwards along the track by about 25%, in addition to immediately removing all other bloons on screen and resetting lives back to the original amount. Cash generators other than destroying boss tiers is reduced to one-quarter of its original value. Mana Shield is disabled but life regeneration methods are enabled. If the player loses all their sets of lives, the game is over, and the Boss Rush ends immediately.

All heroes except Geraldo are enabled. A vast selection of tower types, with exception of Banana Farm, are available with all upgrades available; however, the progression of islands randomly eliminates two tower types, in an effort to raise the challenge, although this is somewhat compensated by the completion of each island awarding one Relic Knowledge. Up to 30 towers can be placed at a time. All Monkey Knowledge is enabled, players can sell towers, but cannot use Powers other than Utility Powers (i.e. Portable Lake, Pontoon, Banana Farmer, Tech Bot) and the provided ones via Relic Knowledge. Continues, Hero Boosters, and Double Cash are disabled.

Each player can submit a total of four attempts at a boss that will provide progress against the boss's health for any given day. Each attempt will use up one ticket, and if the player runs out of tickets, they must spend 50 Monkey Money for any future attempts. New tickets are refreshed every 6 hours, up to 4 tickets. When submitting a new score beyond this limit, if the score is higher than the lowest score, the new score will override the lowest score the player has sent. When enough damage is done against a boss on one island, the team progresses onto the next island, where the boss fought may change, and the daily score limit is reset for the new island. The player can still replay bosses after they are defeated for no rewards, although it will still consume team tickets. Leaderboards for boss damage refresh every 10:00am NZST.

Types of Boss Bloons

All Boss Bloons in Boss Rush are modified to become much weaker initially but evolve progressively stronger every 10 tiers and visually evolves its appearance to a higher-tier boss. At 50 tiers lost, the Boss evolves into its Tier 1 Elite variant. At 90 and above tiers lost, the Boss caps at Tier 5 Elite. Every 10 tiers lost, the Boss Bloon strips all its current status effects (e.g. the glue and blimp debuffs of Glue Strike).

Currently, only Bloonarius, Dreadbloon, Phayze, and Blastapopolous (since v45.0) are available. Ninja Kiwi stated that they’ve slated Vortex and Lych for a future patch.

Bloonarius the Inflator

Bloonarius

Bloonarius starts off as a much weaker version of itself. It starts with 400 health, and scales its health in the same formula as the Phayze One quest health scaling, but health multiplier is +6.5%. Upon getting percentages of damage per boss tier, Bloonarius bleeds Bloonarius Minions that scatter across the map randomly between 1% and 75% path distance. Every time that Bloonarius loses a boss tier, it bleeds an upgraded version of those scatter minions. However, upon losing every 10th tier, Bloonarius spews out a "skull wave" in addition to the bleed upon popping a tier normally.

On 110+ pops, the cycle of spawning minions repeats indefinitely.

Bloonarius's Minions in Boss Rush

Tier	Bleed Upon Damage	Bleed Upon Pop	Vomit
0 pops	10(?) Blues	8(?) Yellows	N/A
10 pops	10(?) Greens	8(?) Purples	25(?) Rainbow
20 pops	10(?) Yellows	8(?) Zebras	25(?) Ceramics
30 pops	10(?) Pinks	8(?) Rainbows	25(?) Fortified Ceramics
40 pops	10(?) Purples	8(?) Ceramics	10(?) MOABs
50 pops	10(?) Zebras	8(?) Fortified Ceramics	10(?) Fortified MOABs
60 pops	20(?) Rainbows	12(?) MOABs	10(?) BFBs
70 pops	10(?) Ceramics	8(?) Decamoed DDTs	10(?) Decamoed Fortified DDT
80 pops	10(?) Fortified Ceramics	8(?) BFBs	4 ZOMGs
90 pops	10(?) MOABs	8(?) ZOMGs	4(?) BADs
100 pops	20(?) Fortified MOABs	10(?) Fortified BFBs	32(?) Fortified ZOMGs
110 pops	30(?) Fortified MOABs	16(?) ZOMGs	N/A

If all current lives are lost, Bloonarius will wobble around and propel itself forwards along the track.

Dreadbloon: Armored Behemoth

Dreadbloon

Dreadbloon starts off as a much weaker version of itself, and begins with Primary Immunity with a Ceramic Shield. It starts off with 130 unshielded health (65 shielded health), and scales its health in the same formula as the Phayze One quest health scaling, but health multiplier is +6.5%. The starting cash is always $4000 ($4200 with More Cash).

Shielded Dreadbloon always has 50% the health of its unshielded Lead layer. Dreadbloon lacks a flat damage reduction (to avoid overinflating difficulty of early-game), but still has the Lead property when unshielded. It always starts with the Ceramic armor. Every time it loses 1 tier, it reshields and sends Rock Bloons, even Primary Rock Bloons. Every 10 tiers, Dreadbloon switches class immunities between Primary → Military → Magic → Support, and loops indefinitely.

Rock Bloons also scale with Dreadbloon's tiers. Health of each Rock Bloon begins with 50(?) HP, and scales at a rate of 1.055x per tier, and always spawns in groups of 6 per wave. The properties of the Rock Bloons match the respective type of Dreadbloon tier. Rock Bloons still move at 88% the speed of a Red Bloon. After 100 pops, Rock Bloons cap health losses.

Rock Bloons in Boss Rush

Tier	HP	Life Loss
0 pops	100 (?)	5 (?)
10 pops	200 (?)	5 (?)
20 pops	300 (?)	10 (?)
30 pops	400 (?)	15 (?)
40 pops	500 (?)	20 (?)
50 pops	600 (?)	25 (?)
60 pops	700 (?)	35 (?)
70 pops	800 (?)	50 (?)
80 pops	900 (?)	65 (?)
90 pops	1000 (?)	80 (?)
100 pops	2000 (?)	100 (?)

If the player loses all of their current lives, and there are still available chances left (up to 2 times), all bloons except Dreadbloon disappear, leaving this Boss Bloon to perform a unique "warping" animation. While "warping", Dreadbloon digs underground, produces a trail of dirt as it travels along the track, and then rise up again with its current health and armor. Dreadbloon takes longer to travel depending on the amount of track length that this Boss needs to take.

Reality Warper Phayze

Phayze

Phayze starts off as a much weaker version of itself, and begins with the Reality Shield. It starts off with 300 unshielded health (75 shielded health), and scales its health in the same formula as the Phayze One quest health scaling, but health multiplier is +6.5%. Upon getting defeated at each tier, Phayze will not warp forward but rebuilds its Reality Shield. Upon getting defeated at every 10th tier, it additionally re-positions the portal forwards for the naturally occurring bloons.

If all current lives are lost, Phayze will phase as if it warped forward normally, but without leaving behind the portal.

Blastapopoulos

Blastapopoulos

Blastapopoulos starts off as a much weaker version of itself. It starts off with 400 health, and scales its health in the same formula as the Phayze One quest health scaling, but health multiplier is +6.5%. The starting cash is always $2000 ($2200 with More Cash).

Blastapopoulos always passively reduces range and increases ability cooldowns while active, but starts with minimum Heat. Blastapopoulos still passively strips off DoT effects, as usual. Every time it loses 1 tier, it gains a smaller amount of extra Heat. Blastapopoulos will still overheat when reaching max Heat, as the Heat system remains exactly the same otherwise. After 10 Tiers, Blastapopoulos will hurl a fireball at the most expensive tower on the field, with the number of fireballs gradually increasing afterwards until it can throw three at once like its original version (i.e. most expensive, closest, and furthest towers). Every 10 tiers, Blastapopoulos will summon 6 Pyroclastic Rocks.

If the player loses all of their current lives, and there are still available chances left (up to 2 times), all bloons except Blastapopoulos disappear, leaving this Boss Bloon to perform a unique "warping" animation. While "warping", Blastapopoulos builds up fiery exhaust to thrust itself forwards along the track.

If all current lives are lost, Blastapopoulos will prepare to propel itself forwards, with flaming exhausts from its back jets.

Rewards

Island 1
Monkey Money	Trophies	Team Trophies	Power	Insta-Monkey
100	10	150	1 Random Power	T1 Insta
Island 2
Monkey Money	Trophies	Team Trophies	Power	Insta-Monkey
150	15	300	2 Random Powers	T2 Insta
Island 3
Monkey Money	Trophies	Team Trophies	Power	Insta-Monkey
200	20	500	2 Random Powers	T3 Insta
Island 4
Monkey Money	Trophies	Team Trophies	Power	Insta-Monkey
300	25	750	2 Random Powers	2x T3 Insta
Island 5
Monkey Money	Trophies	Team Trophies	Power	Insta-Monkey
450	30	1000	3 Random Powers	T4 Insta

Events

• Event 1: 30th May 2024 10:00am NZST to 4th June 2024 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Bloonarius, all towers except Glue, Mortar, Alchemist, Village, Farm, Engineer, and Beast Handler, Starting Cash: $1800, Map: Tinkerton, Relics: Alchemist Touch
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Dart, Sniper, Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Candy Falls, Relics: Alchemist Touch and Abilitized
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers Lost: Wizard, Buccaneer. Starting cash: $4000, Map: End of the Road. Relics: Alchemist Touch, Abilitized, Going the Distance
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers Lost: Super, Dartling. Starting cash: $1800, Map: Off the Coast. Relics: Alchemist Touch, Abilitized, Going the Distance, Air and Sea
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Phayze, Towers Lost: Tack, Bomb. Starting cash: $2000, Map: Another Brick. Relics: Alchemist Touch, Abilitized, Going the Distance, Air and Sea, Durable Shots
• Event 2: 13th June 2024 on 10:00am NZST to 18th June 2024 on 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, all towers except Bomb, Tack, Ice, Heli, Wizard, Druid, Farm. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Carved, Relics: Hard Baked
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Alchemist, Mortar. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: Resort, Relics: Hard Baked and Starting Stash.
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Phayze. Towers lost: Super, Beast. Starting cash: $2000. Map: Cracked. Relics: Hard Baked, Starting Stash, Flint Tips.
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers Lost: Dartling, Engineer. Starting cash: $4000, Map: Streambed. Relics: Hard Baked, Starting Stash, Flint Tips, Hero Boost
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers Lost: Ninja, Ace. Starting cash: $1800, Map: Off the Coast. Relics: Hard Baked, Starting Stash, Flint Tips, Hero Boost, Bigger Bloon Sabotage
• Event 3: 27th June 2024 on 10:00am NZST to 2nd July 2024 on 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, all towers except Sub, Mortar, Wizard, Alchemist, Druid, Farm. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Skates, Relics: Starting Stash
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Ice, Village. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: One Two Tree, Relics: Starting Stash, Camo-Flogged
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Engineer, Buccaneer. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: Winter Park, Relics: Starting Stash, Camo-Flogged, Abilitized
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Boomerang, Dartling. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Firing Range, Relics: Starting Stash, Camo-Flogged, Abilitized, Hard Baked
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Dart, Ace. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Cubism, Relics: Starting Stash, Camo-Flogged, Abilitized, Hard Baked, MOAB Clash.
• Event 4: 11st July 2024 on 10:00am NZST to 16th July 2024 on 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Phayze, all towers except Tack, Ice, Ninja, Alchemist, Farm, Spactory, Beast. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: The Cabin, Relics: Abilitized
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Village, Bomb. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Tree Stump, Relics: Abilitized, Going the Distance
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Dart, Glue. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: Off the Coast, Relics: Abilitized, Going the Distance, Royal Treatment
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Wizard, Boomerang. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Chutes, Relics: Abilitized, Going the Distance, Royal Treatment, Bigger Bloon Sabotage
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Boat, Mortar. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Lotus Island, Relics: Abilitized, Going the Distance, Royal Treatment, Bigger Bloon Sabotage, Deep Heat
• Event 5: 25th July 2024 on 10:00am NZST to 30th July 2024 on 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, all towers except Boomerang, Bomb, Ace, Druid, Farm, Engi, Beast. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: End of the Road, Relics: Hero Booster
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Sub, Buccaneer. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Alpine Run, Relics: Hero Booster, Empowered Heroes
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Wizard, Mortar. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: Off the Coast, Relics: Hero Booster, Empowered Heroes, Hard Baked
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Alch, Heli. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Bazaar, Relics: Hero Booster, Empowered Heroes, Hard Baked, Flint Tips
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Glue, Super. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: X Factor, Relics: Hero Booster, Empowered Heroes, Hard Baked, Flint Tips, Deep Heat
• Event 6: 1st August 2024 on 12pm NZST to 6th August 2024 on 12pm NZST. Version 44.0 begins.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Bloonarius, all towers except Dart, Buccaneer, Wizard, Super, Alchemist, Farm, Village, Engineer. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: The Cabin, Relics: Extra Empowered
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Beast, Dartling. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: End of the Road, Relics: Extra Empowered, Alchemist Touch
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Boomerang, Heli. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Moon Landing, Relics: Extra Empowered, Alchemist Touch, Fortifried
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Mortar, Sub. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: Water Park, Relics: Extra Empowered, Alchemist Touch, Fortifried, Box of Monkey
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Tack, Mermonkey. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Spillway, Relics: Extra Empowered, Alchemist Touch, Fortifried, Box of Monkey, Flint Tips
• Event 7: 15th August 2024 on 10:00am NZST to 20th August 2024 on 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, all towers except Boomerang, Sniper, Dartling, Druid, Engineer, Beast. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Winter Park, Relics: Sharplosion
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Ace, Spactory. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: In the Loop, Relics: Sharplosion, Hard Baked
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Ice, Glue. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: Cracked, Relics: Sharplosion, Hard Baked, Extra Empowered
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Tack, Village. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Another Brick, Relics: Sharplosion, Hard Baked, Extra Empowered, Bigger Bloon Sabotage
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Dart, Alch. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Bloody Puddles, Relics: Sharplosion, Hard Baked, Extra Empowered, Bigger Bloon Sabotage, Royal Treatment
• Event 8: 29th August 2024 on 10:00am NZST to 3rd September 2024 on 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, all towers except Dart, Tack, Glue, Wizard, Alch, Farm, Engineer. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Cubism, Relics: Air and Sea
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Boomerang, Dartling. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Sulfur Springs (for the first ~12 hours, formerly Balance), Relics: Air and Sea, Sharpslosion
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Ninja, Ace. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: Carved, Relics: Air and Sea, Sharpslosion, Alchemist Touch
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Ice, Sniper. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Cargo, Relics: Air and Sea, Sharpslosion, Alchemist Touch, Box of Monkey
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Super, Spactory. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Underground, Relics: Air and Sea, Sharpslosion, Alchemist Touch, Box of Monkey, MOAB-Clash
• Event 9: 12th September 2024 on 10:00am NZST to 17th September 2024 on 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, all towers except Tack, Glue, Sniper, Ninja, Alch, Farm, Village. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Frozen Over (Cubism for the first ~36 hours), Relics: Alchemist Touch
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Wizard, Druid. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Bazaar (Sulfur Springs for the first ~36 hours), Relics: Alchemist Touch, Camo-Flogged
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Mortar, Mermonkey. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: End of the Road (Carved for the first ~36 hours), Relics: Alchemist Touch, Camo-Flogged, Deep Heat
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Beast, Bomb. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Pat's Pond (Cargo for the first ~36 hours), Relics: Alchemist Touch, Camo-Flogged, Deep Heat, Royal Treatment
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Ace, Boomerang. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Muddy Puddles (Underground for the first ~36 hours), Relics: Alchemist Touch, Camo-Flogged, Deep Heat, Royal Treatment, Hard Baked
• Event 10: 26th September 2024 on 10:00am NZST to 1sr Septmebr 2024 on 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Bloonarius, all towers except Boomerang, Ice, Buccaneer, Heli, Mortar, Alch, Farm, Spactory. Starting Cash: $???, Map: Logs, Relics: Deep Heat
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Mermonkey, Druid. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Tree Stump, Relics: Deep Heat, Durable Shots
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Bomb, Ninja. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Tree Stump, Relics: Deep Heat, Durable Shots, Alchemist Touch
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Dart, Beast. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: KartsNDarts, Relics: Deep Heat, Durable Shots, Alchemist Touch, Box of Monkey
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Wizard, Engineer. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Monkey Meadow, Relics: Deep Heat, Durable Shots, Alchemist Touch, Box of Monkey, Abilitized
• Event 10: 10th October 2024 on 10:00am NZST to 15th October 2024 on 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Blastapopoulos, all towers except Dart, Tack, Sub, Mortar, Alchemist, Mermonkey, Beast. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Four Circles, Relics: ???
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Engineer, Ninja. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Tinkerton, Relics: Starting Stash, Alchemist Touch
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Blastapopoulos, Towers lost: Sniper, Glue. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Frozen Over, Relics: Starting Stash, Alchemist Touch, Royal Treatment
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Buccaneer, Ace. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Carved, Relics: Starting Stash, Alchemist Touch, Royal Treatment, Going the Distance
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Blastapopoulos, Towers lost: Boomerang, Super. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Sulfur Springs, Relics: Starting Stash, Alchemist Touch, Royal Treatment, Going the Distance, MOAB Clash
• Event 11: 24th October 2024 on 10:00am NZST to 29th October 2024 on 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Blastapopoulos, all towers except Dart, Bomb, Ice, Sniper, Dartling, Wizard, Alchemist, Farm. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Frozen Over, Relics: MOAB Clash
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Ace, Village. Starting Cash: $???, Map: Adora's Temple, Relics: MOAB Clash, Camo-flogged
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Engineer, Beast Handler. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: Spring Spring, Relics: MOAB Clash, Camo-flogged, Durable Shots
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Boomerang, Mermonkey. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: #Ouch, Relics: MOAB Clash, Camo-flogged, Durable Shots, Hero Boost
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Glue, Buccaneer. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Ancient Portal, Relics: MOAB Clash, Camo-flogged, Durable Shots, Hero Boost, Deep Heat
• Event 12: 7th November 2024 on 10:00am NZST to 12th November 2024 on 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Phayze, all towers except Dart, Boomerang, Tack, Ice, Glue, Dartling, Wizard, Farm. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Town Center, Relics: Durable Shots
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Sub, Beast. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: In the Loop, Relics: Durable Shots, Royal Treatment
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Blastapopoulos, Towers lost: Alch, Ninja. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Alpine Run, Relics: Durable Shots, Royal Treatment, MOAB Clash
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, Towers lost: Engineer, Buccaneer. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: The Cabin, Relics: Durable Shots, Royal Treatment, MOAB Clash, Camo-flogged
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Druid, Spactory. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Tinkerton, Relics: Durable Shots, Royal Treatment, MOAB Clash, Camo-flogged, Air and Sea
• Event 13: 21st November 2024 on 10:00am NZST to 26th November 2024 on 10:00am NZST.
  • Island 1: 850 Team HP, Dreadbloon, all towers except Tack, Glue, Sniper, Ace, Alchemist, Farm, Village. Starting Cash: $4000, Map: Park Path, Relics: Bigger Bloon Sabotage
  • Island 2: 1175 Team HP, Phayze, Towers lost: Ninja, Buccaneer. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Logs, Relics: Bigger Bloon Sabotage, Royal Treatment
  • Island 3: 1850 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Engineer, Sub. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: Moon Landing, Relics: Bigger Bloon Sabotage, Abilitized
  • Island 4: 2850 Team HP, Blastapopouolos, Towers lost: Wizard, Dartling. Starting Cash: $2000, Map: Sunken Columns, Relics: Bigger Bloon Sabotage, Royal Treatment, Abilitized, Air and Sea
  • Island 5: 3350 Team HP, Bloonarius, Towers lost: Bomb, Beast. Starting Cash: $1800, Map: Bloody Puddles, Relics: Bigger Bloon Sabotage, Royal Treatment, Abilitized, Air and Sea, Starting Stash

Strategy

Summary

While sharing similarities with the Boss Bloon Event in terms of directly fighting the boss, there are some significant differences that alter the strategies used. The most significant change is that instead of progressing normally through rounds before fighting a boss, the boss immediately spawns, more reminiscent of BMC Bosses in that cash is earned from popping bloons instead of relying on income. Unlike BMC, damage against the boss will not give cash, and instead clearing a tier will award cash that slightly goes up for each successive tier. Despite the cash per tier popped going up after each successive tier, the health of the boss also goes up exponentially in a way that outpaces the cash increase. Because of this change, buy and resell ability strategies will not be as effective in BTD6 as they were in BMC.

Tips

• Since raw money generators are poor in Boss Rush, it is best to opt for a support DPS hero or a Boss-specific DPS hero that assists all stages of the game. Because Geraldo is banned, choose any other hero option.
  • Sauda is best in terms of cleanup, and her innate camo detection makes her useful for accruing pops against Phayze in the early game.
  • Rosalia is helpful for her abnormally high single-target DPS for each of her tiers.
  • Pat Fusty's Roar is useful for boosting the damage of low damage, high projectile towers such as Druids or Tack Shooters at the start of an attempt.
  • Admiral Brickell is an excellent buffing option on maps with large amount of water, and has great synergies with Destroyers.
  • Ezili is oriented for late-game and focuses on her Sacrificial Totem to buff plenty of nearby towers with various buffs, alongside her MOAB Hex to get rid of excess clumps of blimps.
  • Benjamin can make a decent amount of extra money, but he will do very little in the first few boss tiers outside of his Biohack ability, which can be used similarly to Pat Fusty's Rallying Roar but at the cost of forced downtime. In the absence of end-of-round cash generators, he can be a decent option for making money, especially with Level 6+ Skimming, though he lacks any direct firepower and he doesn't snowball at income very well compared to a DPS hero.
• Smart Spikes activates after each tier is popped, meaning that with MOAB SHREDR spam, Smart Spikes can easily be active for a long time because of the sheer amount of damage dealt. Likewise can be applied for Super Mines as both a cleanup and DPS option, provided the Boss is destroyed faster than every 7.14s (and therefore more mines per second than 5-2-0).
• Against Bloonarius, the best method is to opt for relatively rapid, low-projectile attackers such as 2-0-3 or 2-0-4 Tacks combined with blimp buffs and debuffs such as Brittle, alongside another tower that can handle the swarms of bloons, followed by high single-target damagers like AoW and MAD, and build up towards cheap-costing Paragons.
• Against Phayze, Sauda provides good early camo boss DPS for her price. She can help kickstart stronger towers by clearing earlier tiers faster, snowballing into the late game, although she lacks the lategame utility of Adora or Ezili. If the player can afford it, a Sticky Bomb followed by Operation: Dart Storm spam can be useful, then standard Phayze strategies will prove effective as the cash allows.
• Against Dreadbloon, the lack of flat damage resistance disversifies the early-game possibilities for destroying each of its tiers, although the Lead property will remain for the unshielded phases. Additionally, it will only cycle its immunity every 10 tiers, in a rotation of Primary -> Military -> Magic -> Support.
  • Thus, if a player relies on a support monkey oriented strategy, it will only be immune against support after 30 tiers.
  • If Super Monkey is enabled, Sun Temple sacrifices to tower classes affected by class-immune layers of Dreadbloon other than Magic can be substituted instead, in addition to capability to accept all external buffs unlike Paragons.
  • If using a Druid strategy with Heart of Vengeance, leaked Rock Bloons can charge up the attack speed of destroying tiers of Dreadbloon. There’s also enough money to start of with at least a single 1-0-3 Druid or two 1-0-2 Druids.
• The elimination of all bloons from leaking all lives isn't usually a problem, but for towers that specifically depend on massive bloon rushes, such as Apex Plasma Master, Glaive Lord, and The Bloon Solver, this is a net negative. Removing all Bloons on screen also gets rid of cash flow from cash-per-pop generators. The reset lives also harms Heart of Vengeance.
• All income generators involving end-of-round cash (e.g. Merchantman) only trigger upon destroying a boss tier; this is referred as "end-of-boss cash". It is fairly insignificant compared to the cash bounties earned from naturally destroying boss tiers.
• Just because income generation from towers is greatly diminished doesn't imply that income generators are useless. Any generated income can be a small bonus on top of the more purposeful features.
  • Favored Trades can be bought exclusively for the greater sellback of expensive non-Paragon towers, while the extra end-of-boss cash serves as a bonus.
  • Elite Sniper's main benefit is the +33% faster attack speed on all Snipers, which can make a significant difference on Cripple MOAB and Elite Defender, in addition to the situational Elite targeting option.
  • Monkey City boosts its 2-0-2 Village influence range and gives free Dart Monkeys, but the most important aspect actually comes from the Monkey Town benefit for deeper rounds; players would accumulate a lot of income from the naturally spawning bloons and each time that the boss gets killed.
  • Bloon Trap doesn’t lose cash-per-pop value at lower tiers of boss, because the earliest rounds are treated with no cash penalty per pop, but lose value at higher tiers of boss where the cash-per-pop penalty increases. XXXL Trap is more durable at absorbing massive swarms of naturally occurring Bloons, especially if the boss is killed quickly.
• Paragons are worth the effort to invest, giving a huge boost of damage against Bosses, assuming the boss can be killed quickly enough and enough cash generation is prepared beforehand. The easiest to afford and progress are the Primary Paragons, especially Apex Plasma Master.
  • It may be worth steadily building up defense upon the constituent towers in the saveup to the Paragon. For instance, a multi-fanned Super Monkey Fan Club with various blimp debuffs, alongside Ultra-Juggernaut for cleanup. Also, since most maps for Boss Rush are single-lane, Glaive Lord can reliably defend an exit and serve as extra pops for the Dominus.
  • Be aware that Dreadbloon’s immunities can essentially set a Paragon out of commission if Dreadbloon reaches high enough tiers.
• Natural Bloon waves aren’t usually a problem but can quickly overwhelm low-pierce defenses that only focus on boss damage. Towers that would be optimised for Race Events may be helpful to add for the later rounds, such as Tsar Bomba.
• Bosses re-born every 10 tiers, so they'll lose all status effects. A notable example is Glue Strike; always time Glue Strike not too close to the next 10th tier.

Team-specific Tips

• Do try to go for the four top scores before the leaderboard refreshes, so the island Boss gets destroyed efficiently. Spending Monkey Money for a few tickets or two may be necessary for this tactic, however, if quickly doing battles within a short timeframe.
• If all 15 players in a team are very active, even against the final Island, each player must contribute an average of 224 damage against the boss. Thus, even without great skill, an active team can quickly rush through all 5 bosses in a single day if they wanted, since they only need an average of 56 tiers per attempt at most, and even less for earlier bosses.
• It may help to play BTD6 every few hours in the day, in case there is an opportunity to squeeze just a few more points for the team, whether it be doing the next island's giant Boss Bloon or squeezing the last few points to finally kill the giant Boss Bloon.
• If possible, check the Boss Rush event at least once in the morning and once at the night, and at least once a few hours before the leaderboards refresh at 10am NZST. This helps monitor the Bosses regularly, in case other team members have beaten the current Boss between your sessions and so you can still have an opportunity to gather your top 4 scores for the new Boss.
  • Sometimes, it is a good idea to intentionally leak quickly so you can contribute scores faster.
• Most tiles allow for between 80-120 score as the general highest score. If there are towers that are especially efficient for Boss Rush (especially Village, Spactory, Dart), and the current map is a gimmickless single-lane map, it is typically expected that general high scores will reach between 100-120.
• Generally, assuming the daytime hours for an average player is 8am-11pm, it is best to co-ordinate multiple players at once between NZST 12pm-2pm for NZ + US players, and NZST 8pm-10pm for NZ + European players.
• For a primarily four-person team who contributes an average of 80 score per island every day, the following is a decent guide, assuming that spending extra tickets isn't a concern:

1. By the end of Day 1 (NZ Thursday → NZ Friday), beat Island 1 in a single day, and get all four scores for Island 2, and aim to beat Island 2 on the same day as well. Minimum of 2 players should be enough for Island 1. Co-ordinate with at least 3 players to beat Island 2 on the same day, if possible.
   • On Island 1, which generally has very few restrictions, a three four-ticketed people that contribute an average of 80 score will quickly beat the island, reduced to two people if the average is 100 score. If all four players contribute, only 54 score average is required.
   • On Island 2, three four-ticketed people that contribute an average of 80 score will only get 960 score, but 98 average will ensure Island 2 is beaten in a single day.
   • An average of 147 score among 2 players will be required to beat Island 2 in a single day.
   • Always try to add all four scores for Islands 1 and 2. For four players, it takes 74 score average to beat Island 2 in a single day.
   • Island 1 generally should be so easy that 100 score is obtainable with little effort.
2. By the end of Day 2 (NZ Friday → NZ Saturday), Island 2 must be already beaten, and beat Island 3 on this day with some score chipped into Island 4 after beating Island 3.
   • Always try to add all four scores for Islands 2 and 3. From four four-ticketed players, it takes 74 score average to beat Island 3 in a single day, and chipping an 80 score average among four four-ticketed players would take 2 days if used on a full-HP Island 3 Boss.
   • Four four-ticketed players chipping an average of 80 score from a full-HP Island 3 Boss will be equivalent of 69%.
   • During the NZ Friday-to-Saturday transition, many players from the eastern side of the timezone may be taking a Friday night frenzy, which is a peak point for gameplay of Boss Rush.
3. By the end of Day 3 (NZ Saturday → NZ Sunday), Island 4 must be completed with some score chipped into Island 5. If Island 4 is beaten on this day, chip score into Island 5. Ideally, focus on beating a big chunk of Islands 4-5 on this day.
   • Always try to add all four scores for Islands 4 and 5. From four four-ticketed players, it would be impossible to finish Island 4 in a single day. An average of 80 score among the four four-ticketed players would take an equivalent of 2.23 days. Expect Island 4 to take 2 whole days plus the extra score added from chipping extra score into Island 4. Island 5 takes yet longer for the same criteria, at an average of 2.62 days. Four four-ticketed players chipping an average of 80 score from a full-HP Island 4 and 5 Boss will be equivalent of 45% and 38% of the boss damaged.
   • During the NZ Saturday-to-Sunday transition, many players from the western side of the timezone may be taking a Friday night frenzy, which is a peak point for gameplay of Boss Rush.
   • Also during the NZ Saturday-to-Sunday transition, many players from all sides of the world would become available to play games. Day 3 (NZ Saturday → NZ Sunday) would likely be the best time to gather maximum score within a single day.
4. By the end of Day 4 (NZ Sunday → NZ Monday), Island 5 should be chipped as much as possible for this day. A large chunk must be reduced from an already damaged Island 5 Boss, to have enough time by Day 5 (NZ Monday → NZ Tuesday) to chip the rest of the damage.
   • Island 5 is expected to have the lowest of score averages, even 60-80 is generally considered a reasonable average on Island 5.
   • This is a lowpoint in activity because players on the eastern side of the timezone would be in a weekday, many of which tend to feel unhappy on Mondays. Hence, this day should be expected to have a bad performance.
5. By the end of Day 5 (NZ Monday → NZ Tuesday), all of Island 5 must be completed, from a low HP to 0 HP.
   • This is the lowest point in activity because all players would be in a weekday. Hence, this day should be expected to have the worst performance.

Bugs

Current

Geraldo Boss Rush bug demonstrated in Version 44.0

• [44.0] Although Gerardo is banned he can be enabled on Boss Rush by selecting him in the heroes menu during the main menu. He will initially appear to be Quincy in the Boss Rush menu but when you go into the game, Geraldo will be the listed hero.

Version History

Balance Changes

43.0

• Released

Bug Fixes and General Changes

44.0

• Changed "Stage" to "Island" when referring to each sequential Boss Bloon in a Boss Rush event

Gallery

Boss Rush rules (pt1)

Boss Rush rules (pt2)

Boss Rush active event menu with team's island

Boss incoming...

First island selected

Island selection menu

Game over, boss teleports to exit upon loss

Boss Rush attempt completed

Player Callout and statistics

Boss mini-leaderboard of best tier kills

Some messages about team members done Boss Rush attempts

Boss Rush hero selection menu, note lack of Geraldo (Corvus is placed instead)

Victory Screen with Score Improved message

Pause Menu with MM option for "Try Again" instead of ticket

Island selection menu, now with mm for attempts instead of tickets

Late defeating of the Boss

Boss Rush islands sinking to pave way for new Boss

Previous boss island finished

"Final Strike" notice on a Boss Rush tile

Rewards given at end of Boss Rush event, sent 1 day after event ends

Island 5 selection menu, with all available relics and towers

"Your Team Damaged Boss" message

Final part of Boss Rush event complete

"Boss Rush Complete!" message in the Messages section

Completed Boss Rush with all five islands beaten

Another team member eradicates HP off a Boss

Bloonariuses

Crippled Bloonarius

Bloonarius is summoned

Bloonarius summoned from entrance

T2 Bloonarius summoned via T1 Bloonarius, 10 tiers beaten

T4 Bloonarius summoned via T3 Bloonarius, 10 tiers beaten

T1 Elite Bloonarius at 51 tiers

Elite T5 Bloonarius at 119 tiers

Phayzes

Phayze as a Stage 2 Boss

Dead Phayze in Boss Rush

Damaged Phayze

Very damaged Phayze

Phayze rushing through after losing all current lives

Dreadbloons

Slightly damaged Dreadbloon

Quite damaged Dreadbloon

Dreadbloon arrived in Boss Rush

Dreadbloon dying

Dreadbloon is about to die

Dreadbloon is dead

Dreadbloon Magic immunity

6 Rock Bloons per wave of Rock Bloons

6 Rock Bloons per wave of Rock Bloons

Blastapopouloses

Blastapopoulos arrival

Boss battle

Bottom side of Blastapopoulos

Blastapopoulos

Overheat on all towers on screen except Ice

More than three meteors onto towers at higher tiers

Magma-ed Super Mines and Jungle Drums, plus highly damaged Blastapopoulos

Blastapopoulos Elite Pyroclastic Rocks in Boss Rush

Dragon's Breath not dealing damage to Blastapopoulos, even with Royal Treatment (patched 45.2)

Blastapopulos enters

Island Complete

Island 1 Complete

Island 2 Complete

Island 4 Complete (plus bonus July 4th Collection Event rewards)

End of Event

Completing Boss Rush event with no bosses defeated

Completing Boss Rush event with 4 of 5 bosses defeated

Completing Boss Rush event with all bosses defeated

Videos

Boss Rush demonstration - Bloonarius

Event 1, Island 1 demonstration

Boss Rush demonstration - Phayze

Event 1, Island 2 demonstration

Boss Rush demonstration - Dreadbloon

Event 1, Island 3 demonstration

Boss Rush — Bloonarius 2

Event 1, Island 4 demonstration

Boss Rush - Phayze 2

Event 1, Island 5 demonstration

116 Score Phayze Bazaar, Boss Rush Week 5 Island 4

Another Phayze demonstration

Geraldo on Boss Rush

Demonstration of the Geraldo bug in 44.0

Boss Rush Island 5 Underground Dreadbloon with MOAB Clash

Final Strike demonstration on the 5th and last Boss in Boss Rush

Trivia

• According to Ninja Kiwi's 29th July 2022 blog, when asked about a Boss Rush mode, Ninja Kiwi originally stated they were not planning on adding a boss rush mode, as it would be too difficult.
• If Geraldo is in Boss Rush by any means, his Rare Quincy Action Figure and Fertilizer will always be banned, and round-based item lifespans work just like in Apopalypse.
• On moderately widescreen devices, the 5th island fits the icons of the selected hero and all of the available tower types without needing to horizontally scroll the "Monkeys Available" sub-menu. There are 9 icons that neatly fit that sub-menu.
• On October 14th 2024, Rohan Spibo from Ninja Kiwi confirmed that Ninja Kiwi balances Boss Rush bosses at about an average of 75 score.