Lead to Gold

“	Converts Lead Bloons to GOLD!	”
	~ Bloons Tower Defense 6 description.

Lead to Gold
General Information
Game	Bloons Tower Defense 6
Tower	Alchemist
Unlocked at	2000 XP
Cost	$850 (Easy) $1,000 (Medium) $1,080 (Hard) $1,200 (Impoppable)
Activated Ability	N/A
Targeting Options	First, Last, Close, Strong
Camo Detection	No
Popology
Statistics
Damage	1 (attack potion and acid pools) 1 / 2.0s for 4.0s (corrosion DoT)
Pierce	15 (attack potion, e.a.u.) 5 (acid pools)
Attack Speed	Moderately Slow (attack potion and acid pools, every 1.6s, e.a.u.)
Range	45
Status Effects	Red Acid (1 / 2.0s corrosion for 4.0s DoT, can be overridden by Purple Acid) Golden Lead (attacks by this alchemist onto leads causes them to earn $50, leads only)
Tower Boosts	N/A
Income/Life Boosts	+$50 per affected lead, on-target, generated upon popping
Path Upgrades
Current	[[File:|48x48px|center|link=]] Lead to Gold
Current	[[File:|48x48px|center|link=]] Lead to Gold
Path Info
Path	Path 3
Path	Path 3
Upgrade Tier	3
Upgrade Tier	3
[Source]

Lead to Gold is the path 3 tier 3 upgrade for the Alchemist in Bloons TD 6. As stated in its name, it turns Lead Bloons into Gold, giving more cash when popped.

It costs $850 on Easy, $1000 on Medium, $1080 on Hard, and $1200 on Impoppable.

Strategies

Lead to Gold causes the Alchemist to be able to generate a secondary income to popping bloons when combating Leads, granting $50 for every Lead bloon popped while coated with the acid from an Alchemist with this upgrade. Regular Lead bloons earn money immediately, as they are popped by the acid, while Fortified Leads will earn money upon being popped, regardless of what tower dealt the final blow. While the upgrade is 20% cheaper than even a Banana Farm, the upgrade is best used based on context of the round and the towers behind the Alchemist; Too few Leads, and the upgrade is unprofitable, too many towers that can already pop Leads and the Alchemist is unable to profit from the remaining bloons.

To make sure that the Alchemist gets to Lead Bloons first before the other towers, placing him at the beginning of the track allows for more time before other Lead popping towers can even have the Leads in their range.

In Magic Monkeys Only games, it can be considered as the primary Lead popping source to be both reliable, profitable and having little competition when using other Magic Monkeys with proper upgrades.

Some of the more devastating competition for the practicality of this upgrade are towers with high range or splash that can take out Leads, such as Super Monkeys with Plasma Vision or higher and Bomb Shooters following its first or third paths.

The most devastating tower to compete with, however, is Obyn Greenfoot, as he is cheap, often used at the start of the game, boosts the Magic class to interfere with Magic Monkeys Only games and has a long reaching Lead popping attack. Being able to pop the Lead layer of the first bloons is possible with ideal positioning, but since Obyn's attacks typically follow the track against the bloons, it can lead to the resulting Black Bloons to receive fire and pop the new Leads before the Alchemist has the chance to.

Earnings

Lead to Gold is only effective on rounds with Lead Bloons. On Easy, it takes 17 Lead bloons to earn back the cost of the upgrade. Medium takes 20, Hard takes 22, and Impoppable takes 24. Below is a table listing all of the rounds with Lead bloons, how many are in each round, and the maximum possible earnings from each round.

Round	Maximum Money Earned	Number of Leads per round
28	300	6 Lead
30	450	9 Lead
37	750	15 Lead
38	700	14 Lead
45	200	4 Fortified Lead
50	400	8 Fortified Lead
59	2500*	50 Lead Camo
63	3750	75 Lead
69	2000	40 Fortified Lead
75	1400	14 Leads, 14 Fortified Lead
90	2500*	50 Fortified Lead Camo Regrowth
95	12500*	250 Fortified Lead Camo Regrowth
163	Random	Random Leads (Bloons may have Fortified, Regrowth, or Camo)

Alternate Bloon Rounds

Round	Maximum Money Earned	Number of Leads per round
10	100	2 Lead
23	200	4 Lead
24	50*	1 Lead Camo
28	300	6 Lead Regrowth
30	450*	9 Lead Camo
37	900	18 Lead
38	700	14 Lead
44	500	10 Fortified Lead
45	200	4 Fortified Lead
48	750	15 Fortified Lead Regrowth
50	400	8 Fortified Lead Regrowth
59	2500*	50 Lead Camo Regrowth
61	400	8 Fortified Lead
62	750*	15 Fortified Lead Camo Regrowth
75	28200	550 Lead, 14 Fortified Lead

*The money earned on these rounds may only be obtained if the Alchemist is given Camo detection by another tower, or the camo properties are stripped without popping the bloons with upgrades such as Shimmer or Submerge and Support.

Gallery

BTD6 artwork as seen in the upgrades menu

Lead to Gold upgrade icon

Earning the $50 from popping Lead Bloons from Lead to Gold effect

Lead to Gold Crosspaths (Top: Path 1, Bottom: Path 2)

Trivia

• The upgrade is a reference to the real life Philosopher's Stone which turns base metals into precious gold, as seen with how it works.
• Acid pools created by this Alchemist from the Acid Pool upgrade will also trigger the $50 cash reward from popping leads.
  • The same applies to Rubber to Gold, but only works on Leads and does NOT automatically turn other bloons partially to gold unless the potion directly hits the targeted Bloon.