Least Tiers

Least Tiers Contested Territory rule popup

Least Tiers example

“	Use the fewest Monkey Towers and Upgrades possible to win the Tile. Each Monkey and Hero placed and each upgrade counts as one Tier. Paid Hero upgrades also count as a Tier. Selling a Monkey does not reduce the Tier count.	”
	~ Least Tiers popup when first encountering this ruleset

Least Tiers is a ruleset in Bloons TD 6, first introduced in Version 32.0(?). When playing with this ruleset, the player must aim to use as few tiers as possible. "Tiers" in this ruleset include purchasing base towers, purchasing upgrades including any crosspathing, and manually upgrading Heroes (including using Adora's Blood Sacrifice). Selling does not reduce the total number of tiers used.

In Contested Territory, unoccupied Least Tiers tiles can be set with a specific score once captured. Any occupied Least Tiers tiles are set with a maximum score and must be beaten below the score in order to claim or re-secure the tile. The aim is to get a low score (i.e. least numbers of tiers). If heroes are enabled, only Sauda, Captain Churchill, Geraldo, Corvus, and Gwendolin (since CT Event 38) are banned.

Boss Bloon Events may use Least Tiers as a Ranked Boss leaderboard rule. Any tie-breakers under this ruleset are decided by the Boss Race time. In the extreme case where both ties are done, the first player to achieve those scores is the final tie-breaker.

Some Quests use Least Tiers. Grow Less Than Galaxili! is a Least Tiers challenge where up to 80 tiers can be bought to beat numerous rounds on Geared without reliable global-ranged towers, with the help of Obyn.

Strategy

Summary

The aim of Least Tiers is to opt for a few numbers of highly synergetic towers. If a hero is available, do try to use it for almost all situations, because Heroes only count for more tiers when manually upgraded. Ensure that all stages of the game are properly covered with the given set of towers on hand, and try to avoid placing extra towers or unnecessary crosspaths if possible. It may be helpful to opt for Tier 5 Upgrades for Least Tiers on harder rules, especially if it involves harder maps, although most maps need at least Tier 3 or 4 upgrades for a satisfactory score.

For advanced strategy, do refer to the Crosspathing page on the wiki for examples on where to remove potentially unnecessary crosspaths.

Tips

• Try to avoid upgrades that require maximal effect with full crosspaths, unless truly necessary for survival. Conversely, try to avoid buying more towers by adding important crosspaths.
• If possible, try to opt for a single expensive tower, such as a Heli Pilot into Apache Dartship or Apache Prime, or a Monkey Ace into Spectre.
• Don't worry too much about spending money on removing obstacles, since they do not count towards removed tiers, only money.
• Farming can be used to make the process of getting powerful but expensive upgrades easier, but does cost some tiers in the process if pursued. Try to only buy income-generators if they will help improve the affordability of expensive towers by a specific stage of the game.
• Note that Adora sacrifices do count as tiers if she levels up from doing so.
• Usually, Heroes are a necessity in Least Tiers if they are available, since they do scale their power by leveling up. It is almost always a good idea to place the Hero at some point in the game to gain its benefits. However, in some niche cases, such as avoiding Level 7+ Benjamin's Trojan to limit his stealing of bloon pops, selling the Hero may be necessary.
• For Ranked Bosses, there are several stand-out towers; Special Poperations and Support Chinook are the most notable on both Normal and Elite thanks to their income generation, ability to stall, ability to reposition towers, and decent offense.
  • For Normal Bosses, M.A.D., Super Mines, and Legend of the Night are all common choices for their great MOAB damage, with M.A.D. and Super Mines not needing crosspathing. These towers may be combined with Ultraboost as well.
  • On Elite, one to two Paragons are usually used, combined with income generators such as non-crosspathed Banana Central, Monkey-Nomics, and Monkey Town, in addition to the aforementioned Support Chinook and Special Poperations.

CT-Specific Tips

• Particularly useful Relic Knowledge for Least Tiers typically allow for a highly synergetic combination of towers that last throughout all stages of the game, preferably one that covers the mid-game transition to a powerful tower as well as the late-game.
  • Bloon property countermeasures: Alchemist Touch, Royal Treatment (e.g. Dragon's Breath, Gwendolin), Sharpslosion (e.g. Spiked Mines), Camo Trap (for saveups involving Camo upgrades locked behind highest tier upgrades, e.g. Spirit of the Forest)
  • Early-game: Flint Tips, Restoration, Road Spikes, Mana Bulwark, Starting Stash
  • Mid-to-late-game: MOAB-Clash, Monkey Boost, SMS, Glue Trap, MOAB Mine
  • Miscellaneous: Hard Baked, Bigger Bloon Sabotage, Rounding Up, Extra Empowered, Hero Boost
• Farming can be used to make the process of getting powerful but expensive upgrades easier (especially Tier 5 upgrades), but does cost some tiers in the process if pursued. Do try to utilize towers that have both an income-generation and an offensive attack (e.g. Jungle's Bounty into Spirit of the Forest, Supply Drop into Elite Sniper) if they can help maintain a solid low score. Try to avoid using income-only towers (e.g. Banana Farm) and income generators that have a minimal offense (e.g. Merchantman).
• Certain combos are able to reach down to as low as 6 tiers with little effort while still surviving until at least Round 60, especially if custom-picked heroes are available to choose and with key Relics.
  • Stand-out combos that can survive all rounds with aforementioned criteria include: Etienne + 0-4-0 Summon Phoenix, Etienne + 4-0-0 Apache Dartship, and a Hero + 0-4-0 Rocket Storm.
• On tiles that contain Heroes, it is possible to complete a tile with only a score of 1. However, it requires a series of multiple Relics to make it work.
• Try to use a Hero if it is available to use, although there are very rare cases where a Hero is not necessary to achieve the optimal score for a tile. However, for any tile that goes beyond Round 60, it is almost certainly a necessity to bring the available Hero.

Version History

32.0 (?)

• Released

40.2 (?)

• Gwendolin is no longer available in CT Least Tiers since CT Event 38 (late-January 2024).

43.0

• Added Rosalia to the available list of heroes of CT Least Tiers.

Gallery

Setting up a Least Tiers record

Completing a Least Tiers tile with a beaten score, showing remaining tiers

"Lowest Tier" Record, possible with Gwendolin with Royal Treatment Relic. No longer possible as of Update 40.X

Least Tiers CT rules sample

Videos

No Gwen in CT Least Tiers

No Gwen in CT Least Tiers since Event #38 (29th January 2024 footage)

Trivia

• In accordance with the Least Tiers ruleset popup, Adora's Blood Sacrifice counts as a "paid upgrade". This is because it involves using financial investment to upgrade Adora, rather than herself leveling naturally.
• Prior to CT Event 38 (late-Jan 2024), Gwendolin could be used to solo on most Beginner Maps up to Round 50 if given a minimum of Royal Treatment, any life-regenerating Relic, and any Relic designed for popping MOABs and Camo (e.g. MOAB Clash, Camo-flogged).