Comprehensive tier list for CHIMPS by path, version 23.0

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


SS

- Top Path Alchemist: Its buffs easily boost good towers into powerhouses, making it a necessity for most fast attacking, low damage towers, or anything expensive where the extra speed alone justifies the extra cost. Its damage/pierce buff gives massive strength to Ninjas, Subs, and Spacts, while its attack speed buff works well with Permaspike and The Biggest One. Its sheer power makes expert map CHIMPS run without its use notable. Best crosspath is 400+.


S

- Middle Path Bomb: MOAB Mauler is one of only a few towers that is viable in spam strategies. It has very high blimp DPS for its cost and, in large numbers, can deal with super ceramics effectively due to having increased damage against them. Should always be paired with Jones for his passive attack speed buffs and active damage doubling at level 20. In such a spam strategy, MOAB Assassin is often seen since it has one of the highest BAD damage efficiencies in the game when paired with Jones’s ability reset. On the other hand, MOAB Eliminator is too expensive to be considered viable despite a massive increase to its base attack’s blimp damage. Best crosspath is 130.

- Bottom Path Glue: Wields a useful form of crowd control against both hyperdense and DDT rounds. A little expensive, but can be discounted by bottom path Villages and stacks well with Bloon Sabotage to cripple DDTs. Incredibly deadly with MOAB Press. Doesn’t coexist well with Overclock. Best crosspath is 01+3.

- Bottom Path Sub: One of the most efficient towers early/mid-game, and can also be used to success as the sole source of popping power late-game on almost any map with water, especially in conjunction with Brickell and Pat. Global range and easy camo detection, along with an excellent power curve all the way to Triple Guns, make it very popular on Expert maps. Sub Commander is also needed for Ballistic spam strats. Best crosspath is 203+.

- Middle Path Heli: Downdraft is arguably the single most potent support tower. For a low cost, it helps out at all stages of the game. No other tower at its price range controls super ceramics as well as it does with global range. It is also used in the longest possible stalling strat along with Ice, ignoring regrow farming and highly-specific full Chinook stall. However, its disadvantages is that the need to micro it and its inherent randomness mean it’s avoided whenever possible for black bordering whenever possible. On the other hand, Special Poperations has incredible DPS for its cost. However, it’s burdened by an expensive and generally useless fourth tier as well as its below-100% uptime, making it difficult to use. Best crosspaths are 0+30/052.

- Middle Path Ninja: Bloon Sabotage is one of the most versatile and useful abilities in the entire game. It’s almost compulsory against DDT rounds and still demonstrates remarkable crowd control against hyperdense rounds, acting as a global MOAB Glue. In addition, Shinobi strats are incredibly powerful and even enjoy some success with bottom path Ninja. One remarkable strategy is to build Bloonjitsu, then max out all 20 Shinobis, before saving for Grandmaster Ninja. This potent build order entirely cuts out all stepping stone towers like Sun Avatar, possible because the Shinobis constantly distract super ceramics with crosspathing especially. Best crosspath is 0+40.


S-

- Pat: His level 3 ability, which is upgraded when he reaches level 14, makes any tower with low damage per projectile magnitudes stronger. Such synergies include Tack Zone, Sun Avatar, and Grandmaster Ninja, although lower uptime means the tower(s) he supports needs additional help (e.g. Shattering) on the densest rounds. Also wields surprising amounts of control via stun and knockback, often trivializing early MOABs and dispatching rounds with low amounts of blimps, like r97. Best used for this purpose with Overclock.

- Etienne: Post-buff, his drones during his lvl3 ability are very powerful and deal high blimp damage. This perfectly supplements his most powerful aspect: lvl10. His UCAV demolishes everything when active with global, high-pierce, high-single target damage explosives. No other hero compares in terms of mid-game power, which is why his existence invalidates almost every other hero in terms of running Apache Prime. His lvl20 also offers great DDT damage after its buff in late-game, especially when paired with control towers like Bloon Sabotage and MOAB Glue to bunch blimps up into the explosions.

- Jones: Acts as both a control and support hero, especially with his buff that tripled the power of his lvl3 stun. He’s the best hero to use with MOAB Mauler spam (and pure Biggest One DPS) with his attack speed increases and devastating level 20 damage boost. Outside of Bomb and Mortar-based strategies, he remains useful as his Concussive Shell shuts down r40 ceramics, all three waves of r63, and DDT/hyperdense rounds in the late-game.

- Bottom Path Boomer: Most useful for its knockback which has substantial pierce and does well against hyperdense rounds. The main reason that its knockback is so pivotal is that it synergizes immensely well with strategies that have relatively low but consistent DPS such as Sub Commander. Note that Press isn’t really worth using unless it’s combined with MOAB Glue. MOAB Domination provides huge yet unreliable DPS for a massive price tag but is unviable since it can’t reliably deal with ceramics or DDTs. If used, use with Permaspike. Best crosspath is 024 for most cases, 204 on r98.

- Middle Path Sub: First Strike is useful in the vast majority of strategies to deal massive damage to and completely remove the children of r100, especially on Expert maps where the track is usually too short to naturally DPS down the BAD. Ballistic is one of the best spam strategies in the game. On any map where global range isn’t critical (i.e. the two Puddles), with Sub Commander, the missile attack acts as a pseudo-Solver effect to melt all ceramics while the airburst attack destroys blimp layers. In addition, Pre-emptive Strike is decently powerful due to its significantly increased missile attack speed/damage and being able to solo all DDTs with Sub Commander. This means that MIB is no longer necessary since a single 202 Village is sufficient (although the Ballistics’ lack of camo means Reactor should be used). Best crosspath is 040+.

- Middle Path Ace: Ground Zero is best used on hyperdense rounds to clear out super ceramics and deal heavy damage to blimps. Its lack of reliance on Alch and most heroes gives it a special niche. It also works well as pure support and can be used effectivly as cleanup on every late game round with the proper ability timings and stall. Tsar Bomba is niche, but can be used well, especially with Permaspike. Unfortunately, Bomber Ace is relegated to races. Best crosspath is 140.

- 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. Some maps are termed “Prime maps” due to Apache Prime’s dominance on them (Infernal, Geared). Best crosspath is 502.

- Top Path Ninja: An early, mid, and late game powerhouse when supported. For less than $6k (and paired with Stronger Stimulant), this tower effortlessly carries to around r60 on most maps, combining area cleanup with high point DPS. The Grandmaster + Shinobi strat is insanely powerful, especially with Pat, but it’s also usable with Gwen and Obyn. Its synergy with Overclock is simply broken. Best crosspath is 502.

- Top Path Spact: Spiked Balls has one of the highest super ceramic DPS to cost ratios in the game. Just a few under Alch-buff can keep the exit well guarded, or they can be spammed to take everything down in the late-game. They’re also distinctly powerful before r80 as enough to solo r40 can be afforded by then. Spiked Mines has some relevance by clearing out ceramic clusters in the mid-game, but becomes almost comparable to a Spiked Balls against super ceramics. Best crosspath is 320.


A

- Churchill: On most maps (especially easier ones), Churchill’s raw DPS is uncontested among the heroes. As a result, he should be used in strategies that don’t require a hero buff, similar to Quincy and Ezili. Straight lines work best for his level 3 ability, especially when set on last to eat through hyperdense rounds. His level 10 synergizes great with his level 3 ability. Post bug fix, reaching his level 20 is a win condition, so Energizer is surprisingly viable with him.

- Brickell: By far the strongest synergy with Sub as a whole. Her ability doubles water effectiveness at all stages of the game. Her attack is surprisingly strong as a 3d, high attack rate Sniper to shut down fast early-game bloons, and she comes with the potent Mega Mines. The Mega Mines, while sometimes dangerous on hyperdense rounds, can help demolish DDTs and synergize well with First Strike. Good synergy with Ground Zero too.

- Ezili: A late-game oriented hero that can demolish the RBE of the densest rounds in the game with her level 10 ability. Her base attack sports the highest blimp DPS out of all heroes and can even occasionally neutralize dangerous groups of fortified super ceramics by defortifying them. On the most difficult tracks, it’s even a viable option to purchase level 20 for a free r100 win. Should only be used in strategies that don’t require a hero buff, such as Apache Prime and Permaspike. In particular, her MOAB Hex makes transitioning into a pricy fifth tier easier, although Etienne’s UCAV somewhat outclasses this part of her niche. Her new ability to target the Hex gives her more use against hyperdense rounds than before.

- Top Path Bucc: On a theoretical level, Destroyer actually significantly outperforms a bottom path Sub of equal price due to its double grapeshot and ability to attack from both sides. As a result, it’s meta on specific maps, especially when combined with Permabrew. Unfortunately, although Subs are meta and Flagship buffs all water towers, its outclassed main attack and weak attack speed buff means that it’s rarely incorporated with Sub Commander. Best crosspath is 31+0.

- Top Path Mortar: Synergizes well with Overclock to blast hyperdense rounds into oblivion, as well as the strongest blimp damagers in the game like Archmage and Tack Zone. Uniquely, it has global range, an excellent stepping stone, and the ability to micro for maximum value. Best crosspath is 520.

- 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 such as Sub Commander and Permaspike. Signal Flare is unfortunately too inconsistent to be useful and Blooncineration is mostly unviable due to having nearly half its normal DPS in CHIMPS. Best crosspath is 01+4.

- Middle Path Dartling: Hydra Rocket Pods and mainly Rocket Storm are respectable mid-game options, especially wherever infinite range is preferable. Paired with Ezili's Hex rounds up through the late 80's can be cleared with minimal support. While expensive and reliant on support towers, MAD is at least completely uncontested in pure blimp DPS. Best crosspath is 042.

- Bottom Path Wizard: Post-buff, Prince of Darkness is likely the single most cost-effective tower in the game. Its cheap price tag means it can easily be afforded before r63, and its massive-damage bolt and Wall of Fire attacks decimate mid-game. In the late-game, its constant zombie BFBs do enormous hyperdense damage and can even solo r95 on some maps. As a result, very few towers in its price range scale throughout the game as well as it does. Sadly, Shimmer is still completely outclassed by every camo option in the game except Signal Flare. Best crosspath is 025.

- Bottom Path Druid: Avatar of Wrath can evaporate the densest rounds such as r98, but needs a lot of support to handle DDT rounds. Almost always seen with Sun Avatar and Bloon Sabotage as a result of this weakness. Its limited effectiveness on more difficult map shapes mostly relegates it to easier maps. Best crosspath is 015.

- Bottom Path Spact: A consistently useful tower that has withstood the tests of time. At $32k it’s harder to use as a mid-game stepping stone, but when overclocked with a round staller it’s capable of almost single-handedly defeating late-game. While Maim MOAB is the easiest stall to use, cheaper and even more potent options including 012 Ices, Downdraft, and MOAB Shove can be used in its place. Best crosspath is 025.

- Top Path Village: In MOAB Mauler spam strategies, Primary Mentoring saves a huge amount of cash and helps boost Mauler’s already large range and is thus always run. At the fifth tier, it combines decent buffs with a rather unreliable attack which can sometimes 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 denting super ceramic clusters. For example, Inferno Ring requires the use of this tower to quadruple the power of its meteor attack. Its most popular form however is Primary Training, which greatly buffs MOAB Press and MOAB Glue and thus has a fantastic price to performance ratio. Often seen in the double Village strategy in CHIMPS, outlined above. Best crosspath is 3+02.

- Middle Path Village: Since Call to Arms is too weak for its cost and Homeland is usually unaffordable, the viability of this path is based on MIB. Some strategies simply require its use as they have little to no ability to damage DDTs otherwise. When needed, it’s almost always preferred to run two Villages with one at 2+02 and the other at 032 to provide 20% discounts and all the necessary buffs. However, certain strategies can skip MIB entirely, whether from heroes like Gwen and Brickell or DDT solos like Pre-emptive Strike when buffed by Sub Commander. Best crosspath is 032.

- Middle Path Engi: While Cleansing Foam is serviceable and Ultraboost is unrealistic in CHIMPS, the real winner of this upgrade path is Overclock. While only useful for strategies centralized around a single highly-supported tower, like Apache Prime, paying just $16k for a significant power boost is huge. Best crosspath is 040.


A-

- Gwen: Post-buff, she's an interesting hybrid of Obyn and Pat. Early-game her cocktail makes her better than Pat but worse than Obyn, and late-game her reliable if somewhat weak buff makes her better than Obyn but worse than Pat. With a recent buff, her Heat It Up uptime is almost maxed when buffed properly, thus making the black border threat of r95 and r99/100 less unreliable then before. Best used on towers classically used with Obyn if the weaker early-game is acceptable such as Sun Avatar and Grandmaster (but not Avatar of Wrath). Interestingly, Comanche is essentially only viable with Gwen as her buff to it is almost equivalent to Pat’s to non-DDTs but with much higher uptime. Focus on buffing her attack speed since the more she attacks, the higher uptime her buff has.

- Quincy: Used mainly as a CHIMPS start to easily clear out the early rounds. Later in the game, his powerful ceramic clearing capabilities and surprisingly high blimp DPS keep him somewhat relevant as a weaker Churchill. He’s the best hero to use for Muddy Puddles CHIMPS thanks to his early game power and global range ceramic round decimation. Best used with any strategy that doesn’t force hero support such as Apache Prime and Permaspike.

- Middle Path Boomer: Combined with Overclock and MIB, this tower can decimate the late game hyperdense and DDT rounds alike, even on short sections of track. Turbo Charge is also a strong mid-game ability, serving as one of the cheaper ways to deal with multipath MOABs. The best hero to use with Perma Charge is Gwen as she allows the MIB skip. Best crosspath is 250.

- Top Path Bomb: On single-path maps, Bloon Impact has no competition for anti-super ceramic power. Not only does it require no micro or include any randomness, it rarely runs out of pierce on hyperdense rounds. Since Jones is already on the board, it’s seen in every MOAB Mauler spam strategy. Bloon Crush is too expensive and weak against r100 to be truly viable. Best crosspath is 420.

- Bottom Path Tack: Despite being a fast-attacking tower, Tack Zone can sustain 100% Alchemist uptime when the Alchemist is solely focused on it (a technique known as “Alch isolation”), and its damage is tripled by Pat’s level 3 ability. 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 (this is known colloquially as the “dead zone”). Best crosspath is 205.

- Bottom Path Ice: Icicle Impale is powerful for its crowd control capabilities that allow it to solo DDT rounds. However, it offers less support than other towers at a similar price range against hyperdense rounds, along with weak point DPS. Replaceable whenever DDTs aren’t an issue, especially since Bloon Sabotage is much cheaper and less committal. Best crosspath is 205.

- Top Path Sniper: Most commonly used due to its ability to stall. When set on Last targeting, Maim MOAB easily drags out rounds to unreasonable lengths. Permaspike in particular benefits especially from this mechanic. The extended rounds are also amazing for heroes with potent abilities that have long cooldowns. On the other hand, 420 Sniper offers a powerful global-range area stun at the expense of weaker early-game. In addition, Deadly Precision is decent for its global range, seeing use in most #ouch CHIMPS strategies since update 7.0 to deal with the r40 MOAB and early/mid-game. Of all the methods to stall out rounds, Maim MOAB has the most control over DDTs. Best crosspath is 420/402.

- Top Path Ace: Sky Shredder combines good super ceramic popping power with a powerful anti-blimp missile attack to give it great viability. Its ability to ignore obstacles and cover the entire map is useful for Expert maps. Alch buff also greatly enhances its power by buffing both the darts and missile pierce. Note that Fighter Plane and ODS are very weak stepping stones and must be run with something else to afford Shredder. Best crosspath is 501.

- Top Path Super: Sun Avatar has great value both before and after super ceramics show up. It effortlessly solos up to r80, then is able to provide consistent crowd control by stalling super ceramics. Note that its ability to slow DDTs by 30% (introduced alongside the knockback nerf to ceramics) readded a significant amount of its viability. If using multiple Sun Avatars, mid crosspath is preferred for all but one, especially with Permabrew. Best crosspath is 301+.

- Bottom Path Super: Dark Knight, on some maps, is an incredible and mobile mid-game option thanks to its Darkshift ability and good pierce post-buff. In late-game, it retains some use by perma-stalling super ceramics. Can be spammed with Permabrew to good effect, and is often paired with Etienne to fully take down mid-game. Dark Champion is decent DPS but very hard to afford and still requires significant support for the final rounds on shorter maps. It’s the only fourth tier (besides Sun Temple) to benefit from the 21.0 Overclock rework with 100% uptime instead of 67%. Best crosspath is 203.

- Middle Path Alchemist: The majority of its usage lies in its third tier. For a very cheap price tag, it’s by far the most efficient tower in the game in terms of pure potential damage. As a result, it synergizes best with towers that can hold their ground against massive groups of super ceramics, such as Permaspike, since its massive blimp-wrenching explosions have the side effect of releasing hordes of super ceramics all at once. A less common but still viable strategy is to use Total Transformation on Ninjas/Druids, which stack with their respective buffs to gain considerable DPS. Best crosspath is 031.

- Middle Path Spact: Spike Storm is most effective against r100, but can also provide global damage to chip away at the substantial health pool of r99 DDTs. It’s best used with Pat who makes it by far the most efficient way to strictly damage the BAD layer. Carpet of Spikes is one of the worst fifth tiers in the game. Best crosspath is 1+40.


B

- Obyn: A well-rounded hero that can solo early rounds and provide useful support late-game with his blimp-slowing totems. Due to being hit hard by nerfs over time, he is mainly only used for his small pierce buff to magic towers, especially useful for bottom path Druid as it only has 1 base pierce. Other synergies with Obyn include Sun Avatar and Bloonjitsu/Grandmaster Ninja at level 11, however Pat boxes him out with both. One of the easiest CHIMPS-viable heroes to use.

- Top Path Boomer: Exceptionally strong against bloons, exceptionally weak against blimps. Best used as a complement to towers with high blimp damage like AP Darts and Arcane Spike to crush mid-game while saving up for fifth tiers. The fifth tier, Glaive Lord, is usable in CHIMPS, although not commonplace because of its tiny range and inability to actually deal with fortified super ceramics. Best crosspaths are 420 with Alch buff or 402 otherwise.

- Bottom Path Bomb: With Jones, Recursive Cluster easily blows up mid-game due to having similar bloon popping power as MOAR Glaives and significantly more blimp damage. Compared to other options, it surprisingly is able to maintain some competency against super ceramics post-r80. Good complement to MOAB Mauler spam to cover mid-game. Despite Bomb Blitz’s massive damage buff, it’s still unviable in CHIMPS since it’s weaker than its cost in Recursives. Best crosspaths are 204/025.

- Middle Path Tack: Maelstrom has great use in the mid-game since it one-shots two waves of r63 and all of r76 and r78 given camo detection for the latter. In addition, Super Maelstrom can deal incredible damage when used with Pat since its blades do just 2 damage. When up, this combo demolishes everything, but the inherent inconsistency in relying on two ability-based towers means that Permaspike is highly recommended. Best crosspath is 0+40, but note that crosspathing doesn’t affect the ability.

 - Middle Path Ice: Arctic Wind’s water freezing capability (known as “ice bridging”) is moderately useful for gaining extra land on Peninsula, better tower placements on Quad, and utilizing both subs and land towers in the center on #Ouch. Snowstorm is mostly bought for its increased range since its actual ability is almost completely outclassed by Bloon Sabotage. Finally, Absolute Zero is a contender for worst fifth tier in the game. Best crosspath is 03+1+/250.

- Middle Path Glue: Glue Storm acts as a weaker but more versatile form of Super Brittle since it has global range and is much less committal. Obviously, best used with towers that deal low damage per projectile such as Tack Zone and Grandmaster Ninja. Glue Hose is very useful for certain strategies that greatly struggle against super ceramics, especially on longer maps. Great synergy with Downdraft. Best crosspaths are 032/24+0.

- Middle Path Sniper: Even while having a useless ability, Elite Sniper acts as a very effective solo mid/late-game DPS tower. Due to a recent buff, in most situations it boxes out its bottom path brother Elite Defender. Bouncing Bullets is ok at best, helping slightly when saving up for the 4th and 5th tier, but thats about it. Best crosspath is 250.

-Top Path Sub: Reactor has a niche use in maps such as Quad where the map is just long enough that it can decrease the First Strike cooldown enough for two activations. As a camo removal, it’s necessary for Brickell strategies that skip MIB without Pre-emptive as r95 is impossible otherwise. However, in general use, camo Village is generally preferred. Best crosspath is 400+.

- Bottom Path Ace: Spectre acts as a weaker version of Sun Avatar, trading power and late-game control for global range, and is used almost exclusively as a stepping stone towards expensive fifth tiers. In a similar manner, Neva-miss Targeting is an acceptable stepping stone for both Spectre and other fifth tiers since it can offer similar coverage to Subs wherever they are unusable. Almost all maps that Apache Prime dominates can use a highly-supported Spectre instead, although it’s never preferred. Best crosspath is 1+04.

- Middle Path Mortar: Artillery Battery is one of the most efficient DPS towers in the game on a theoretical level. Unfortunately, in practice it’s burdened by its pathetic explosion radius and terrible variance. Thus, The Big One is generally considered to be its superior. Pop & Awe shuts down DDTs, especially with Jones’s level 10 ability, and has somewhat-decent DPS for its cost. Use Maulers + Recursives to save up for it. Best crosspath is 240.

- Bottom Path Dartling: While Buckshot can be a downgrade for $4.3k due to its 10x reduced attack speed, BEZ is the true star of the path as one of the few viable $64.8k towers in the game. BADS is decent, but it's a little too cheap and weak to consistently save up for BEZ. Etienne is great for patching this weakness. Best crosspath is 025.

- Top Path Wizard: Its large, homing projectiles offer powerful blimp support across the entire map. For its price, Arcane Spike is especially powerful when supplemented with a strong bloon clearer like MOAR Glaives. Interestingly, with Obyn and Alch buffs 420 Wizard significantly outperforms 401 in mid-game. While less versatile due to map specificity, Archmage nevertheless excels when visibility is poor such as on Spillway and Workshop, especially when paired with a super ceramic clearer like Biggest One. Has good synergy with Overclock. Best crosspaths are 420/401+.


B-

- Adora: As a pure DPS hero, she’s often compared to Churchill. Relatively, she has significantly less DPS at all stages except at level 20 but sports much more versatility due to costing less, synergizing better with Alch, and having homing, obstacle-ignoring projectiles. For example, while her level 10 ability does less damage theoretically than Churchill’s level 10, in practice it’s much more viable as it can deal with both blimps and bloons. Her level 7 ability is best used on early-game towers to make room and on discount Villages once all value has been extracted from them. This is particularly important on Expert maps where her level 20 is both accessible and incredibly strong.

- Bottom Path Dart: Crossbow is problematic in CHIMPS due to its lack of synergy with Alch buff and tendency to miss, resulting in being largely outclassed by Subs and Ninjas. However, thanks to enormous buffs in 12.0 and 18.0, Crossbow Master is now a weaker yet valid substitute for Sun Avatar as it has remarkable super ceramic clearing abilities. Still needs lots of straight lines to be usable and is thus highly map dependent. Unfortunately, Crossbow Master took a big hit in 21.0 by no longer having 100% Overclock uptime. Best crosspath is 025.

- Top Path Ice: Super Brittle demonstrates incredible support capability with certain towers that deal low damage per projectile, such as Tack Zone and Grandmaster. Unfortunately, its mediocre range and ability to handle super ceramics make it hard to use well. Since its attack does vaporize any super ceramics caught in it, Super Brittle should be paired with bloon control towers like Glue Hose and Arctic Wind. Best crosspath is 51+0.

- Top Path Glue: Bloon Solver is 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. Its sheer concentrated power is a great counter to fortified rounds, in which the greatest threat is the beefy ceramic children. Unfortunately, when compared to Biggest One it essentially only has the advantage of being cheaper. In every other aspect, Solver is completely outclassed. Best crosspaths are 3+20/502.

- Bottom Path Sniper: Elite Defender has two different use cases depending on the crosspath. 205 excels at global-range point damage and can be used to good effect against the BAD. On the other hand, 025 is much more well-rounded and acts as a solo mid/late-game DPS tower. Since it excels on maps where global range is needed, it’s often seen with Sky Shredder. Best crosspath is 025.

- Bottom Path Heli: Comanche Commander is a less expensive and significantly weaker alternative to Apache Prime. By default, it should be run with Gwen since her buff is nearly equal to Pat’s, has far more uptime, and even allows for skipping MIB. However, it’s burdened by an inability to accept Alch/Overclock buffs as well as a good candidate for the single worst fourth tier in the game. Best crosspath is 01+3/1+04+

- Top Path Dartling: Only Plasma Accelerator is worth talking about, and it's usually too weak for its hefty price tag to justify use over other mid-game options. Falls off hard against super ceramics. Laser Cannon is very weak for its cost and offers very little extra DPS, while Ray of Doom is far too expensive to be useful for anything at all. Best crosspath is 420.

- Bottom Path Ninja: Never quite been viable due to the unreliability of Flash Bomb and extreme specialization of Master Bomber. However, with Shinobi spam, Flash Bomb is a cheap way to further power up Grandmaster by decimating ceramic rounds in the Bloonjitsu + max Shinobi stage and permanently stunning super ceramics in the late game. In addition, mass Shinobis greatly enhance the power of Master Bomber's blimp stun to become a strange yet effective substitute for Bloon Crush. Best crosspath is 103.

- Top Path Engi: With a recent change to crosspathing, Paragon now has an easier time handling MOABs and Fortifieds. This tower is unique in the way that it recives buffs, Village buffs in particular (namely, Jungle Drums and Call to Arms) are in fact more potent as they buff both sentry deploy and attack rate. Selling the Paragons is fun in concept, in practice it's far too difficult and unreliable to be useful. While Paragon can be powerful, saving up for it will always require external assistance. Sprockets is outclassed early game, and besides the rarely spawning ice sentry, Sentry Expert is hot garbage. Best crosspath is 520.


C

- Middle Path Dart: PMFC is similar to but weaker and more unwieldy than Total Transformation. Gwen is recommended since her buff is comparable to Pat’s and has much more range, which works best given the need to cover 20 towers at once. Primary Mentoring is highly recommended as it reduces ability cooldowns, increases range, and saves money in the long run. Whenever possible, 220 Darts should be used for the substantial pierce increase. However, if range is necessary and/or camo detection is difficult to grant, 022 is acceptable as well with Gwen’s pierce buff. Best crosspath is 250.

- Top Path Tack: As a whole, very map-specific and thus quite weak. In a vacuum Hot Shots is a powerful tower, but its lack of Alch synergy means that Tack Sprayer is almost always the better choice. Ring of Fire is decent for its high-damage, 80 pierce attacks that can do heavy damage in mid-game. Finally, Inferno Ring is only viable with Primary Expertise in highly specific spots and has one of the largest power gaps from its fourth tier, making it difficult to save up for. Best crosspath is 302/4+20.

- Middle Path Bucc: Despite being a much stronger ability, Pirate Lord’s cooldown is simply far too long to have any kind of usage as it barely dents hyperdense rounds like r98 before they leak. Highly ineffective against DDTs as well, but has decent damage due to having triple cannons at the fourth tier and double attack speed at the fifth tier. Monkey Pirates is too specialized as a blimp counter in early mid-game to be useful past that. Should be used with Energizer and Brickell, if at all. Best crosspath is 250.

- Middle Path Wizard: Despite being the king of 2 Tower CHIMPS, Wizard Lord Phoenix’s sheer price tag, mediocre fourth tier, and weakness during downtime makes it difficult to use on advanced maps. Surprisingly has little point DPS and thus suffers to r100, but cleans up hyperdense and DDT rounds when managed properly. Due to its low uptime, it should almost always be paired up with a round staller. The transition from r98-99 is especially brutal as the ability has the tendency of cleaning up rounds and thus not being up for the fDDTs. Best crosspath is 031+.

- Middle Path Super: Decent mid-game option at the third tier. The path sadly suffers from a host of problems, including strange and unreliable dual targeting, doubled Alch buff usage rate, horrible fourth tier ability, and virtually unaffordable fifth tier. Nevertheless can be a somewhat competent replacement for Sun Avatar on easier maps since it has good DPS for its cost. Post Obyn nerf, should be used with Gwen or Pat. Best crosspath is 230.

- Top Path Druid: For a reasonable price, Druid of the Storm and by extension Ball Lightning are respectably powerful towers that carry mid-game and can control super ceramics with the tornado. While you can combine 1-2 of these with Poplust spam as a stepping stone to Avatar of Wrath on most maps, most of the time they are unnecessary costs and can be subsitiued for other towers. Best crosspath is 3+02.


 C-

- Ben: Completely worthless in CHIMPS due to all his income generation being disabled. The sole exception is his level 10 ability which removes huge amounts of RBE (and cash) on r98 in particular. However, the only tower that really benefits from this is Permaspike, as it excels against DDTs and the BAD which Syphon cannot affect. One incredibly niche strategy that can be done on Expert maps only is that, by placing him on r23 or earlier, he naturally levels to 18 for r98. This allows him to Trojan BFBs, demolishing the round’s RBE even harder.

- Top Path Dart: Interestingly, if the only maps in the game were Hedge, Moon Landing, and Cornfield, Ultra-Juggernaut would probably be in SS tier. Considered to be by far the most map specific tower in the game due to it absolutely decimating on certain maps but doing almost nothing on every other map. Its disgusting hyperdense power should be further strengthened by Pat and Overclock, although the 21.0 Overclock rework made it far less viable than before. Best crosspath is 520.

- Middle Path Druid: Spirit of the Forest’s viability is almost entirely tied to the length of the map. Its ground vines deal low but consistent damage with infinite pierce, best used as a counter to super ceramics. It’s difficult to save up for because its third tier is weak and its fourth tier does almost nothing in CHIMPS. Best crosspath is 0+50.

- Bottom Path Engi: XXXL Trap is very expensive for CHIMPS at $70k, but it provides functionality that’s unique and unmatched besides Bloon Master Alchemist. However, fast bloons like DDTs and ceramic clumps will often slip through, requiring a defense capable of dealing with them. Double Guns is a fun yet niche early-game option. Best crosspath is 023/204+.


D

- Bottom Path Alch: BMA has absurd potency against hyperdense rounds but is catastrophic in CHIMPS since it gives no money for whatever it affects. Since both its attack and projectile speed are very slow, it essentially does nothing to DDTs. This gives it natural synergy with Permaspike which counters DDTs and the BAD layer but struggles to hyperdense rounds. The third and fourth tier do literally nothing in CHIMPS. Best crosspath is 005.


F

- Bottom Path Bucc: In terms of impact in CHIMPS gameplay, at best you get to pay $2,300 to have the privilege of buying Trade Empire to marginally buff damage, which can then be followed up with spending another $6,000 to double attack speed of what is functionally a 022 Bucc.

- Bottom Path Village: Only Monkey City does anything in CHIMPS, offering increased range and one free Dart every round. Please don’t buy it.