Note: This tier list is for each individual tower path, with the Tier 5 image representing its tiers 3-5, in CHIMPS mode. A ‘+’ sign indicates further upgrades that are strategy-specific and shouldn’t always be purchased.



S: Strong in all portions of the game. May be weak to some round types, but succeed when properly supported.


- Top Path Mortar: Immensely powerful as of update 9.0. The Biggest One destroys all super ceramics and deals heavy damage to slow blimps with global range for a cheap price tag, making it especially potent on Expert maps. When supported by Striker Jones, it can even take down DDTs. Best crosspath is 520.

- Top Path Alchemist: Its buffs easily boost good towers into powerhouses, making it a mid-game necessity. Its damage/pierce buff gives massive strength to Ninjas and Subs, while its attack speed buff works well with The Biggest One. Best crosspath is 400+.

- Bottom Path Druid: Recently rose into the S tier thanks mostly to a ridiculous buff to Obyn, who literally triples the theoretical power of this tower. Can evaporate the densest rounds such as r98, but needs a lot of support to handle DDT rounds. Best crosspath is 01+5.

- Bottom Path Spact: A consistently useful tower that has withstood the tests of time, as other towers waxed and waned with each passing balance change. Similar to Sun Avatar, it provides a useful stepping stone into the most powerful towers while also holding its own late-game by shutting down DDTs. Has ridiculous synergy with Maim MOAB, addressed below. Best crosspath is 025.

- Bottom Path Sub: One of the most efficient towers mid-game, and can also be used to success as the sole source of popping power late-game on some maps such as Peninsula with the Sub Commander upgrade. On maps where a group can be placed easily, it is more often than not the best choice for the map. Global range and easy camo detection make it very popular on Expert maps. Best crosspath is 203+.



A: Shine in some portions of the game. Some are exceeding specialists, doing their job like no other tower.


- Bottom Path Glue: Wields a useful form of crowd control against both hyperdense and DDT rounds. A little expensive, but stacks well with Bloon Sabotage to cripple DDTs. Best crosspath is 01+3.

- Middle Path Sub: Useful for one round, r100, but boy is it insane. Two destroy r100 without fuss for around $30k, while one can allow a defense designed against the previous rounds to succeed by simply deleting the BAD's children when activated after 2 or more damage phases. Best crosspath is 040.

- Top Path Super: Sun Avatar is known as one of the few towers that can actually hold its own from the transition into super ceramics. Its powerful beams have the capacity to stunlock bloons of all sorts while dealing appreciable damage and slowing down blimps. Its attack rate and area control give it massive strength when multiple paths are concerned. Best crosspath is 301+.

- Top Path Ninja: A mid-game powerhouse when synergized with Obyn and Alchemist. For less than $6k, this tower effortlessly carries to around r60, combining area cleanup with high point DPS. The Grandmaster + Shinobi strat is less popular since update 6.0, but is still usable in late-game, especially with Pat. Best crosspath is 402.

- Middle Path Ninja: One of the most versatile and useful abilities in the entire game. Almost compulsory against DDT rounds, and still demonstrates remarkable crowd control against hyperdense rounds, acting as a global MOAB Glue. As mentioned above, Shinobi strats also enjoy some degree of success, despite being outclassed by Avatar of Wrath. Best crosspath is 040.



A-: Similar to A tier, but are often less powerful or can be replaced in many circumstances by better towers.


- Bottom Path Bomb: Easily decimates midgame when supported by Striker Jones. It hasn't been as popular recently, but acts as a usable replacement for Sun Avatar in some strategies, being more efficient for strategies leading up towards The Biggest One. Completely evaporates dense ceramic rounds such as r78. Best crosspath is 204.

- Bottom Path Ice: Powerful for its crowd control capabilities that allow it to solo DDT rounds. However, offers less support than other towers at a similar price range against hyperdense rounds, along with weak point DPS. Replaceable by Perma-Spike on most maps. Best crosspath is 01+5.

- Top Path Heli: An all-rounder of a tower. Does solid damage against all types of rounds including r100, especially when supported. Also synergizes very well with Bloon Sabotage, which clumps up DDTs for its machine gun attack to get maximum value. Best crosspath is 501+.

- Bottom Path Mortar: Excels against r98, removing a sizable amount of the RBE for a cheap price tag, but not much else. Useful for strategies built around dealing with DDTs that need extra hyperdense round support, but the sheer strength of Avatar of Wrath results in less usage than in other metas. Signal Flare is unfortunately too inconsistent to be useful and Blooncineration is literally half as strong without MK on. Best crosspath is 01+4.

- Top Path Wizard: Its large, homing projectiles offer powerful anti-MOAB support across the entire map. For its price, Arcane Spike is especially powerful as a supplement to popular stepping stone towers such as Sun Avatar while working towards late-game upgrades. Archmage is generally considered too expensive to be the best choice due to its inability to deal with super ceramics, but is nevertheless useable. Best crosspath is 401+.

- Middle Path Spact: Most effective against r100, but can also provide global damage to chip away at the substantial health pool of r99 DDTs. It’s recently gained popularity due to fantastic synergy with Pat Fusty, making it the most efficient way to damage the BAD besides First Strike Capability. Best crosspath is 1+40.

- Middle Path Village: After the reign of Comanche Commander ended, the best late-game towers in the game started to require MIB support once again. Its ability to grant DDT popping power is invaluable for Sub Commander and Avatar of Wrath especially. Often seen in refined CHIMPS strategies in the form of double villages, with the other village upgraded along the top path and both having the discount upgrades. Call To Arms is generally unreliable, but can be used to some success, as seen on Muddy Puddles CHIMPS. Best crosspath is 032.



B: These towers tend to have great use, but are highly map or strategy dependent.


- Bottom Path Tack: Tack Zone has recently been making a resurgence in popularity thanks to update 9.0 introducing Pat Fusty as well as a buff to the 4xx Alchemist. Once again, it can sustain 100% Alchemist uptime when the Alchemist is solely focused on it, and its damage is tripled by Pat’s Rallying Roar. The best way to use it is on a map where it can be placed directly below the track since its tacks originate above center and thus shred anything directly over it. Best crosspath is 205.

- Top Path Ice: Demonstrates incredible support capability with certain towers that deal low damage per projectile, such as Tack Zone and Sun Avatar. Unfortunately, its pathetically small range makes it difficult to use well. Because of this, it also has, to an extent, high map dependence. Best crosspath is 51+0.

- Middle Path Ice: The ability is fantastic for Expert maps in particular, where Perma-Spike is difficult, if not impossible, to use. Its slow is significantly more powerful than MOAB Glue and Bloon Sabotage, especially against r99’s FDDTs. However, it does little to nothing on just about every other round. In addition, while the water freezing capability is interesting and unique, it is almost never worth using. Best crosspath is 041+.

- Top Path Glue: One of the most specialized towers in the entire game. Its sole purpose is to deal with super ceramics, and this it does incredibly well. Unfortunately, the current meta is unfavorable towards it due to the power of The Biggest One, which simply outclasses it in all aspects. Best crosspath is 502.

- Top Path Sniper: Most commonly used due to its synergy with Perma-Spike. When set on Last targeting, Maim MOAB can drag out rounds to unreasonable lengths, allowing Perma-Spike to stack up far more spikes than usual. This, in turn, means that Perma-Spike can, to an extent, do well against hyperdense rounds. In addition, Deadly Precision is decent for its global range, seeing use in all #ouch CHIMPS strategies since update 7.0 to deal with the r40 MOAB. Best crosspath is 402.

- Middle Path Alchemist: The majority of its usage lies in its third tier upgrade, Unstable Concoction. For a very cheap price tag, it gets a very significant portion of the pops from hyperdense rounds when set on Strong. Synergizes best with towers that can hold their ground against groups of super ceramics, such as Perma-Spike, because its massive blimp-wrenching explosions have the side effect of releasing hordes of super ceramics all at once. Total Transformation also sees some use in combination with Super Monkey Fan Club, transforming 5 Darts into towers that vaporize everything they touch for a short time. Best crosspath is 032.

- Top Path Village: Combines decent buffs with a fairly decent attack which can clear out large groups of super ceramics. While neither is particularly powerful, they merge into a tower that supports some Primary towers well, while taking on the role of dealing with super ceramics. For example, Inferno Ring requires the use of this tower to quadruple the power of its meteor attack. It is often seen in the double village strategy in CHIMPS, outlined above. Best crosspath is 502.



B-: Have limited, but occasionally useful, use.


- Top Path Tack: As usual with the offensive Tacks, it’s rather map specific. Ring of Fire acts as decent bloon clean-up, with the fifth tier Inferno Ring being a fun, if not amazing, tower to use. Similar to its partner in crime, Primary Expertise, it combines two roles it does decently into a tower that’s a little more than decent. Best crosspath is 520.

- Bottom Path Boomer: Most useful for its knockback, which has substantial pierce and does well against hyperdense rounds. Seen in the original Puddles CHIMPS solutions, as well as occasionally being a possibility to consider on #ouch CHIMPS. Perhaps its most common usage is against r100, to push the spawned ZOMGs back as far as possible. Best crosspath is 00+4.

- Top Path Bomb: On maps that converge to a single path, this tower completely shuts down every round besides r100 for a very large price tag. Often combined with Sun Avatar to burn through the dense packs of perma-stunned blimps it creates. Unfortunately, its complete lack of damage means that it requires powerful support, such as double First Strike. Best crosspath is 51+0.

- Middle Path Bomb: As the name might suggest, MOAB Eliminator completely trashes the r100 BAD. In addition, it contributes decent damage and can remove some of the RBE from hyperdense rounds. Unfortunately, its price tag means that, for the most part, First Striker on water and Spike Storm/Fan Club on land outclass it. Best crosspath is 050+.

- Top Path Buccaneer: Can do decent all-around damage, but has become steadily more and more outclassed and overshadowed by towers with much higher DPS. The nerf to Alchemists in 6.0 also had substantial impacts on Destroyers, causing them to become almost entirely replaced by bottom path Subs. Serious exploits that have existed since the beginning of the game’s history exist that vastly amplify its power, even at Aircraft Carrier, but these are not taken into consideration for this ranking and are not explained here. Best crosspath is 520.

- Top Path Ace: At its third tier, Fighter Plane is an acceptably strong way of dealing heavy single-target damage to blimps, especially useful on r40, for maps where global range is particularly valuable. Above that, Sky Shredder combines two mediocre attacks to give a jack of all trades, master of none tower. Tends to struggle against super ceramics and dense blimp packs, but its relatively cheap price tag makes this somewhat acceptable. Best crosspath is 501+.

- Middle Path Ace: Best used on hyperdense rounds to clear out super ceramics and deal heavy damage to blimps. Due to this, it has enjoyed less viability recently as Avatar of Wrath and The Biggest One occupy the meta. Tsar Bomba is niche, but can be used well, especially with Perma-Spike. Bomber Ace is mostly relegated to races. Best crosspath is 14+0.

- Middle Path Heli: Special Poperations does decent damage but is unreliable without the extraordinarily expensive Energizer. In addition, its move ability rarely comes into use besides Puddles CHIMPS. Downdraft has some use, but is mostly relegated to use in Half Cash. Best crosspath is 230 or 052.



C: Average towers, nothing extraordinary to see here.


- Middle Path Dart: With the continued popularity and dominance of Obyn, Super Monkey Fan Club struggles to find use as a BAD damager facing stiff competition from First Strike and Spike Storm. Triple Darts may seem good, but Ninja is almost always the better choice due to scaling well into Bloonjitsu. Plasma Monkey Fan Club is unusable. Best crosspath is 032.

- Middle Path Boomer: As usual with Boomer, it does nothing very well. Okay group popping power and blimp damage, but nothing to write home about. Turbo Charge can certainly shred, but struggles with low uptime. Perma Charge can only deal with super ceramics while the ability is up, but the same problem arises. Best crosspath is 23+0.

- Top Path Boomer: Exceptionally strong against bloons, exceptionally weak against blimps. As a result, doesn’t really make the cut. The most use it ever really gets is shredding ceramic rounds, but that role is covered by the more well-rounded Biggest One, Perma-Spike, and Sun Avatar. Best crosspath is 402.

- Middle Path Tack: Same situation as top path Boomer, so there’s not much for me to talk about here. Better to spend your money on something that scales into freeplay. Best crosspath is 240.

- Middle Path Glue: Acts as a weaker form of Super Brittle, but with global range. Obviously, best used with towers that deal low damage per projectile such as Tack Zone and Sun Avatar. Glue Hose is very useful for certain strategies that greatly struggle against super ceramics, but these are few and far between with the popularity of Avatar of Wrath and The Biggest One. Best crosspath is 250 (after the bug fix made 052 unable to debuff blimps).

- Bottom Path Heli: This tower offers a fantastic case study into how quickly a tower can rise to prominence before being beat into the ground over and over by the bug fix hammer. Unfortunately, it’s not nearly as fantastic in use. As of update 10.0, Comanche Commander is no longer usable. On the other hand, MOAB Shove is occasionally useful, but MOAB Press scales into late game better. Best crosspath is 1+03.

- Middle Path Mortar: Meant to be an all-rounder between The Biggest One and Blooncineration, but is too unwieldy to be good. Besides, The Biggest One already pulverizes all bloons, so there’s no point in running this tower. The ability isn’t good at all unless paired with Striker Jones, which makes it mediocre. Best crosspath is 240.

- Bottom Path Super: Suffers greatly from an ability to deal damage to super ceramics, unlike Sun Avatar which pierces through all of them and stunlocks them. Its blimp damage gives it some specialization, but it’s outclassed by more effective options for such a purpose like Arcane Spike. Best crosspath is 203.



C-: Almost entirely outclassed by better choices. There’s no more need to talk about each upgrade path specifically.

- Bottom Path Dart
- Bottom Path Sniper
- Top Path Sub
- Middle Path Buccaneer
- Middle Path Wizard
- Bottom Path Wizard
- Middle Path Super
- Top Path Druid

D: Has no redeeming features.

- Middle Path Sniper
- Bottom Path Ace
- Bottom Path Ninja
- Bottom Path Alchemist

D-: Somehow has even less redeeming features than zero.

- Top Path Dart
- Middle Path Druid
- Top Path Spact

F: Actively works against the player in CHIMPS.

- Bottom Path Buccaneer
- Bottom Path Village