C.H.I.M.P.S.

Icon for C.H.I.M.P.S. mode

C.H.I.M.P.S. is a brand new game mode in Bloons TD 6. The abbreviation stands for "No Continues, no Hearts Lost, no Income, no Monkey Knowledge, no Powers, and no Selling", being "the true test of a BTD master".

Rules

Despite appearing as a subsection of the Impoppable difficulty, C.H.I.M.P.S. prices towers the same as Hard Difficulty. Similar to Impoppable however, the game starts on round 6 as opposed to round 3, and completing C.H.I.M.P.S. rewards the same amount of Monkey Money as completing Impoppable, which must be completed before attempting C.H.I.M.P.S. Each letter in C.H.I.M.P.S stands for a certain rule. The player is not allowed to:

• Continue the challenge after they lose, meaning you cannot pay with Monkey Money to continue.
• Lose any lives, only set to 1, similar to Impoppable, although no extra lives can be gained either.
• Gain money other than through popping bloons or getting money at the end of rounds. Banana Farms and other money generating towers become useless providing $0, and no extra money is received through any other means. However:
  • Before the 1.5 update, Monkey Town was able to give extra cash per bloon pop.
  • Before the 1.7 update, the mode did not give extra cash at the end of each round.
  • Before the 3.0 update, Druid's "Jungle's Bounty" Ability gave $200 every time it is activated.
  • Currently, Obyn Greenfoot's Wall of Trees ability can give cash if bloons are captured, however it does not grant any extra cash other than what the bloon originally had. Specifically, it gives $0 per Bloon entering the tree and $1 per RBE value on each banana (with cash-limitators included as always with Wall of Trees), thereby equaling the same amount of money as if all popped without Wall of Trees.
• Gain bonuses through the newly introduced Monkey Knowledge Points and skill tree
• Use Powers, such as Monkey Farmers, Portable Lakes, Monkey Boosts, Road Spikes, or Camo/Glue Traps.
• Sell their towers; towers are placed permanently and cannot be altered, except you can reposition them via Support Chinook. All sub-towers such as Engineer Monkey’s Sentries and Obyn Greenfoot’s Nature's Ward Totem cannot be sold either.
• Even though not mentioned in the description, Premiums are not allowed to be used.
  • Double Cash is among the banned Premiums, so avoid wasting real money trying to beat C.H.I.M.P.S. with Double Cash because it simply won't work.

On Co-Op Mode, similar rules apply as above, with some differences that are not existent in normal CHIMPS Mode:

• All players start with less money then $650
  • $550 in 2-player mode.
  • $500 in 3-player mode.
  • $450 in 4-player mode.
• Each of the players are still able to communicate via the use of income requests/transfers.
• The cash from players that have disconnected do not re-distribute to the remaining player(s), essentially losing the money forever. This means it is not possible to regenerate the lost cash, since income generation is disabled.
• Each player may have their own Hero and set of Tier 5 towers.
• Occasionally, the game may automatically refresh as a result of recalibration of the servers (purpose of the regular game refreshing is to fix any potential server-related connection issues), thereby losing any temporary towers or placed road items (e.g. Nature's Ward Totem, Obyn's Brambles, Permaspike stockpiled spike piles, Sun Temple's mini Sun Avatars, etc.) In worst case scenario, bad server communication may result in losing towers.

Rewards

File:BlackCHIMPSMedal.png

Black medal awarded if C.H.I.M.P.S. is completed without loading a save

Beating any CH.I.M.P.S. map will reward the same amount as would for Impoppable. However, this amount cannot be increased even if Mo' Monkey Money is unlocked in the Monkey Knowledge (because MK is disabled during this mode). Winning first time will also reward a small skull-shaped medal beside the Impoppable Medal. The skull can be red or black depending on whether C.H.I.M.P.S. is completed with or without loading the player's save game, with the black medal being regarded as "better" and given if the player completed the map without loading a save.

If all medals are completed on a single track, the player is given a golden border around the track display border. Completing C.H.I.M.P.S. with the black medal will turn this border to a lustrous black color.

In Co-Op Mode, players will always get the black medal if the team wins.

Tips

There are some useful tips regarding playing C.H.I.M.P.S. mode:

• 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 all have 2 pierce and decent attack speed.
  • However, on water maps subs are viable.
• Pick towers that will be useful among all stages of the game and/or not cause a significant cost to the defense.
  • Using 3 0-0-0 Dart Monkeys at the start of the game is useful to start off each game, though it should be noted that some tower placements and/or tower boosts (especially Alchemist potions) may become less viable, so it is noteworthy to find Dart Monkey placements that are both able to defend the early rounds and not deal too many problems for later defenses.
• 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 nearly unforgiving.
• It's worth saving money to place any essential towers when they are actually necessary for the defense.
  • 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.
• Alchemists, especially Berserker Brew and Stronger Stimulant, are popular towers that can assist going through middle-game (Rounds 40-60), late-middle-game (Rounds 61-80), and late-game (81-100+, though only beating Round 100 is required to win C.H.I.M.P.S.).
• Memorizing significant rounds is necessary for winning CHIMPS. "Significant" rounds are rounds that both involve a turning point in strategical changes and/or a difficult change in bloon formation.
  • 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 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 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, while Round 51 contains many spaced Camo Ceramics. Camo-weak defenses will likely lose on these rounds.
  • 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 59 contains Camo Leads, forcing people to have a defense that mutually pops both camo and lead or lose the game.
  • Round 63 is accompanied with 3 harsh rushes of tightly-spaced Ceramics. Without grouped bloon popping power or stalling towers, losing on this round is almost likely to occur.
  • Round 76 has a harsh large group of Regrowth Ceramics, enough to overwhelm many defenses.
  • Round 78 not only has one harsh rush of tightly-grouped Ceramics, there is 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).
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Round 99 has Fortified DDTs, enough to break any unprepared defense, even to those defenses that can deal normal DDTs very well. Slowing towers is almost necessary at this point as the DDTs on this round has more than 1000 HP.
  • 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 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.
    • 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

CHIMPS History

Specific Map Challenges

Only Expert Maps seemed to become the center of attention when it comes to beating on CHIMPS Mode, with exception of Dark Castle, since even harder Advanced Maps such as High Finance, Peninsula, and Pat's Pond are relatively easy compared to all other maps in the game.

• #Ouch CHIMPS (commonly known by fans as Couch) used to be unsolved after the Version 6.0 Alchemist nerfs. However, it was solved officially on the official subreddit on Version 7.0 using the Comanche exploit. Link.
  • On the other hand, #Ouch CHIMPS was re-solved in Version 8.1. Link. It has been since solved on every version since. 9.0 Link, 10.1 Link, 11.0 Link. Despite being completed in every version since, Black Border Ouch wasn't been solved since the Alchemist nerfs until version 11.0. Link.
• In Version 8.0, using the Level 9+ Striker Jones exploit, an exploit that allowed Top Path 1 Mortar Monkeys to stun MOAB-class and Druid of the Jungle to instakill MOAB-class layers, Quad CHIMPS (also known as Quimps or Cuad) was solved on 6th February 2019 by the BTD6 subreddit. Link. It was resolved on Version 10.1. Link. After The Biggest One nerf, Quad CHIMPS was resolved on Version 11.0 with Grandmaster Ninja and even Black Bordered with no glitches. Gold Border Link, Black Border Link.
• Amidst the possiblity discussions about the Version 9.0 Muddy Puddles CHIMPS (also known as Cuddles) pathing changes, Youtuber "ISAB" first attempted to beat Muddy Puddle CHIMPS early March 2019. Later, he started streaming at March 17th ~7:00am NZT (Link), streaming for more than 12 hours, alongside one hour's break in between 2:20pm to 3:30pm (despite his promise, he actually went for 1 hour, 10 minutes dinner break). In March 17th 2019 6:41pm NZT, ISAB finished Muddy Puddles CHIMPS. Link.
  • He initially was able to beat Muddy Puddle CHIMPS to r25 as of March 11, 2019.
  • ISAB went to between Round 89-92 on Muddy Puddles CHIMPS on 17th March 2019 2:15pm NZT. There were up to ~1000 viewers watching during his gaming stream. However, he has yet to beat Round 89-92 fully without losing Wall of Trees non-profitable cash or losing to future rounds (especially Rounds 95, 98, 99, and 100).
  • Similarly, ISAB had been beating Rounds 95-99 with high precision, starting on 4:58pm NZT. Link.
    • Ever since, Muddy Puddle CHIMPS has been solved on every update, including with Black Border, starting from Version 10.0 with the Quincy base price buff. With Version 11.0, Muddy Puddles CHIMPS is even easier due to further Quincy buffs. 10.1 Link, 11.0 Link.
• Jajajosh has completed Workshop CHIMPS upon its release on September 18, 2019 in the Challenge Editor. Link. It was later completed with a Black Border by fenixkillah on September 24, 2019. Link.
• Due to Co-Op Mode's rules allowing more starting cash, Muddy Puddles CHIMPS was the first of the major three Expert maps to be completed on Co-Op. Shwax was among the four players that was in the team that completed Muddy Puddles CHIMPS. Link.
• Co-Op #Ouch CHIMPS was completed on July 29, 2019 by frds and Shwax. Link.
• Co-Op Quad CHIMPS was completed on August 19, 2019 by fenixkillah. Link.
• Co-Op Workshop CHIMPS was completed on October 4, 2019 by HikingPotato. Link.

Miscellaneous challenges

• The first 2 tower completion was attempted by Aliensrock50, with the combination of the 5/0/2 Wizard Monkey and Captain Churchill. However, he was not successful.
• As of February 16, 2019, multiple tower combinations have completed Logs C.H.I.M.P.S. with two towers.
  • These strategies include a 2/5/0 Super Monkey and a 5/0/2 Monkey Sub, a 0/5/2 Wizard Monkey and a 0/2/5 Spike Factory , Obyn Greenfoot and a 2/0/4 Super Monkey, and a 5/2/0 Heli Pilot and a 0/5/2 Wizard Monkey.
    • However, the Super Monkey/Monkey Sub combo might not be possible anymore.
  • As of March 6th 2019, 5/0/2 Ninja and 5/2/0 Alchemist have been used to beat two-tower CHIMPS. The added pierce buffs on the Grandmaster Ninja in Version 9.0 have certainly made this duet combo possible.
    • Similarly, 5/0/2 Archmage + 0/2/5 Blooncineration succeeded because of the Blooncineration buff that allowed burning of DDTs regardless of black popping grants.

Update History

Nerfs and buffs listed here are in terms of causing more difficulty/less difficulty for the player attempting CHIMPS walkthroughs. Any "fixes" or any buffs or nerfs to other towers/heroes that cause very significant influence in improving CHIMPS walkthroughs are also listed here.

Overall, the CHIMPS mode has been nerfed to be more possible on harder maps.

Note: Prices given are in Medium Difficulty, not Hard Difficulty as it would in CHIMPS Mode, unless clearly specified.

1.5

• Monkey Town no longer gives extra cash per pop.

1.7

• End-of-round cash is now earned every round.

2.0

• Perma-Spike price increased ($22000 → $25000).

• Perma-Spike fire rate decreased by 66%.

3.0

• Jungle's Bounty no longer gives bonus cash.

• Unstable Concoction no longer causes affected MOAB-class bloons to damage its own children bloons.

4.0

• Sun Temples with Support sacrifices no longer produce cash.

• Popping Super Ceramics no longer give quadruple the cash gain. Popping a Super Ceramic will now give only the same amount of cash as if popping one normal Ceramic (i.e., double the cash gain, where popping one layer will give 2x more cash than normal)

5.0

• Alchemist's Berserker Brews and Stronger Stimulants no longer apply range buffs twice.

6.0

• Mortar Monkey was first released, bringing in Shattering Shells (for beating Round 97-98)

• Stronger Stimulant now only lasts for up to 50 attacks or the same time duration of 15 seconds, whichever comes first.

• Berserker Brew now only lasts for up to 30 attacks or the same time duration of 7 seconds, whichever comes first.

• Gwendolin's Heat It Up will trigger less often and will no longer refresh while Heat It Up is already in effect.

8.0

• Comanche Commander's mini-helicopters now (correctly) consume Alchemist potions.

• Ezili levels up slower.

• Level 9 Ezili no longer strips properties of Purple Bloons

• Obyn pops more layers (1 --> 2)

• Obyn Level 9+ pops more layers (2 --> 4)

• Obyn Level 14+ pops more layers (3 --> 6)

• Obyn Level 19+ pops more layers (4 --> 8)

• Obyn's Level 2+ Nature's Wrath gives additional pierce to Magic Monkeys (+1 --> +2)

• Bloon Impact and Bloon Crush can now refresh their stuns

9.0

• Stronger Stimulant cooldown between expired potions on target stimulated tower decreased (12s --> 5s), to be consistent with Berserker Brew cooldown between expired attacks.
• Ezilis MOAB Hex now jumps between M.O.A.B. Class Bloons if the target is destroyed before the duration wears off
• The Biggest One deals 3x more damage to Ceramics and above.
• The Biggest One costs more ($24k --> $28k)

10.0

• Shattering Shells price increased ($10k --> $11k)
• The Biggest One without MIB can now (correctly) deal damage to decamoized DDTs, or any DDT if camo detection is granted.
• Laser Blasts costs less ($2700 --> $2500)
• Plasma Blasts costs less ($5000 --> $4500)
• Plasma Blasts pierce bonus decreased (+2 --> +1, so 3 pierce by default)
• Sun Avatar has less pierce (7 --> 6; still gains +3 pierce upgrade above Plasma Blasts)
• Sun Avatar costs more ($21k --> $22k)
• Epic Range now increases pierce of all attacks by +1.
• Epic Range now increases projectile speed of all attacks by +25%
• Robo Monkey (and by extension Technological Terror and The Anti-Bloon) has +1 pierce on top of the +1 pierce bonus from Epic Range (4 --> 6, for Robo Monkey)
• Dark Knight pierce increased (2 --> 3)
• Quincy base price decreased ($700 --> $540)
• Quincy's Rapid Shot ability increases by 0.5 seconds for every level Quincy has.
• Pat Fusty's Rallying Roar ability no longer gives the Level 14 bonus at Level 3-13.
• Alchemist Dips and Brews now add a visual indicator to towers buffed

11.0

• Obyn base price increased ($600 --> $650), can no longer be purchased from the start (he now costs $700 on CHIMPS).
• Obyn's level 2 Nature’s Wrath pierce buff reduced (+2 -> +1)
• Obyn level 11 now increases pierce bonus by 2, totaling 3 extra pierce
• Shinobi Ninja now buffs pierce by 8% (maximum of 160%)
• Quincy’s base projectile speed increased (320 -> 420)
• Quincy’s level 7 Exploding Arrow’s now continue to pierce and ricochet after the initial explosion
• Quincy’s level 10 Arrow Storm damage increased (3 -> 6)
• Quincy’s level 10 Arrow Storm deals 2x damage to MOAB-Class bloons
• Quincy’s level 20 Arrow Storm damage increased (5 -> 10)
• Ezili’s level 1-3 basic attack now immediately has an 8 radius, 5 pierce splash for 1 damage
• Ezili’s level 4+ now allows the main attack to curse all targets hit by the splash
• 5xx The Biggest One bonus damage to ceramics and higher reduced (+40 -> +20)
• 5xx The Biggest One larger shockwave radius now deals extra damage to ceramics (+0 -> +20)

12.0

• Engineer Monkey was first released, bringing in Overclock (for the activated ability that doubles attack speed of selected tower)
• Maim MOAB price reduced from $7k to $5k
• Airburst darts pierce of each burst projectile reduced from 3 to 2. Also affects subsequent upgrades.
• First Strike Capability ability damage reduced from 16700 to 10000. Also affects Pre-Emptive Strike.
• MOAB Press special MOAB attack will now crosspath. Also affects MOAB Domination.
• ​ The Biggest One shockwave bonus ceramic damage decreased from +20 to +10
• Knockback effect on lead, fort and ceramic reduced from -100% to -60%. xx3 Dark Knight restores full knockback against these types (-100%)
• Perma-Spike duration decreased from 350s-> 300s
• Perma-Spike price increased from 25k to 30k
• Perma Spike max rounds reduced from 4 -> 3
• Obyn’s totems now have 0 footprint and will not interfere with placement of towers near them
• Obyn’s level 11 Nature’s Clarity no longer applies range to all tower types
• Multiple Obyn’s in co-op can now all use Wall of Trees
• All temporary towers (including Engineer Monkey sentries) and totems now have 0 footprint.
• Overdrive attack speed bonus increased (2x --> 3x). Also affects The Tack Zone.
• Many road items will now save, including: Obyn & Ezili’s Totems, Heli Positions, Heli’s Marine, Temple’s Mini Avatar, Engineer’s Sentries, and Permaspike spike piles will be included in this list.
• All subtowers (i.e. Engineer Monkey Sentries, Special Poperations' Marine, Comanche Defense's temporary mini-comanches, Comanche Commander's permanent mini-comanches, Sun Temple's and True Sun God's mini Sun Avatars) no longer accept Alchemist buffs. Monkey Village buffs are still accepted.

Gallery

C.H.I.M.P.S. mode explained

Cubism finished with black border, achieved by completing all medals plus the exclusive Black CHIMPS badge

Logs completed with Golden Border; all medals completed but only Red CHIMPS badge.

Playing CHIMPS Mode (note crossed out Powers button)

Sell button locked in CHIMPS Mode

Completing regular CHIMPS badge but no bordered map icon

Completing Black CHIMPS badge but no bordered map icon

Winning on CHIMPS Mode. Also note crossed out Powers icon to distinguish from other modes

CHIMPS Mode on a widescreen device. Note the greyed out icons of Powers

Black Border Logs completed

Trivia

• The mode might be based on the common term NAPSFRILLS, which was commonly used in BTD5 that also have similar objectives, being unable to use agents, premiums, speciality buildings, farming, road items, lose lives, or sell a tower.
• As of March 2019, all of the tracks in the game were completed on normal C.H.I.M.P.S. mode. Alongside, all tracks can be Black Bordered (and thus completed on Co-Op) as of August 2019.
  • The hardest maps to clear on C.H.I.M.P.S. has changed as versions went by. At the launch of the game, maps past Underground in difficulty were impossible to beat on C.H.I.M.P.S. Eventually, #Ouch was completed on C.H.I.M.P.S. in version 2.0, leaving Muddy Puddles and later Quad to be the hardest to complete. However, with the Grandmaster Ninja strategy being used on version 11.0, it became possible to beat all the maps with a Black Border, although #Ouch became the hardest to beat with a Black Border. Version 12.0 released with Workshop, being regarded by many as the hardest map in the game, alongside many tower nerfs making Quad and Muddy Puddles CHIMPS harder to complete, although they are both still possible to Black Border.
    • Using the Level 9+ Striker Jones exploit, an exploit that allows Upper Path 1 Mortar Monkeys to stun MOAB-class and Druid of the Jungle to instakill MOAB-class layers, Quad CHIMPS has become solved on 6th February 2019 by the BTD6 subreddit. Link. However, it was solvable with a Black Border again under normal means via Grandmaster Ninja on version 11.0.
    • Prior to version 9.0, only up to Round 9 for Muddy Puddles was possible, due to Round 10 not being possible due to the previous lane-alternation system plus the lack of money for reliable Round 10 defense. This was changed since version 9.0 with the Muddy Puddles pathing modification update. On March 17, 2019, ISAB became the first one to beat Muddy Puddles on C.H.I.M.P.S.
  • Versions 11.0 and 12.0 are currently the only versions that all maps are possible to be Black Bordered without glitches.
• This mode may be considered easier than Half Cash due to the amount of money gained is standard, despite its restrictions. Also, it is possible for C.H.I.M.P.S. mode to be near impossible on a particular map, especially on Expert maps. Half Cash is much more beatable on said track because Premiums, Powers, Monkey Knowledge, etc. are allowed to be used.
  • In most easy tracks, it is also easy to win without the need of extra income capabilities, Monkey Knowledge, Powers, premiums (continues, cash injections, etc.), without need to do any selling, or having to lose lives.
  • On the other hand, harder tracks are a lot more difficult to do without any of the forementioned benefits.
• There are alternative names for #Ouch, Quad, and Muddy Puddles CHIMPS that were created by the fandom. They are "#couch", "qimps" or "quimps" or "cuad", and "cuddles" respectively.
• C.H.I.M.P.S. on Co-Op Mode can be considered somewhat easier than on single-player mode as the players are provided more starting cash and can use multiple heroes. Due to this, Muddy Puddles CHIMPS was quickly completed on the release of Co-Op.
• Even though the badge for a red Co-Op CHIMPS medal exists in the game, it cannot be obtained under normal circumstances as the player cannot leave a Co-Op game and come back, meaning that the players who complete CHIMPS on Co-Op will always get the black medal.
• Since Version 2.0, Banana Farms were disabled by default. However, Challenge Editor, first introduced in Version 9.0, allows challenge creators to include Banana Farms in CHIMPS Mode.