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 and Subs, while its attack speed buff works well with Permaspike, Primary Expertise, and The Biggest One. Its sheer power makes expert map CHIMPS run without its use notable. Best crosspath is 400+.

- 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. 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+.


S

- Brickell: By far the strongest synergy with Sub as a whole. Her ability doubles water effectiveness at all stages of the game, unlike Pat’s buff which starts off significantly weaker. Although her attack is generally thought to be on the weak side (especially the unreliable Sea Mines), she also comes with the potent Mega Mines. The Mega Mines, while sometimes dangerous on hyperdense rounds, can help demolish DDTs and render First Strike unnecessary on r100. Good synergy with Flagship too.

- 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 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.

- Middle Path Engi: While Cleansing Foam is unreliable and Ultraboost is unrealistic in CHIMPS, the real winner of this upgrade path is Overclock. Paying just $16k for a significant power boost is huge, especially for strategies centralized around a single highly-supported tower. It’s important to keep in mind that its uptime reduces from 100% to 67% on towers above $40k. This only really applies to Permaspike which, when discounted, is barely below the $40k threshold. Best crosspath is 040.


S-

- 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 relevant as a weaker but more versatile counterpart to Churchill. He’s the best hero to use for Muddy/Bloody Puddles CHIMPS thanks to his early game power and global range ceramic round decimation. Notably, there is no known start to Infernal CHIMPS besides Quincy. Best used with any strategy that doesn’t force hero support such as Apache Prime and Permaspike.

- 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.

- Middle Path Sub: Ballistic is possibly the most oppressive spam strategy introduced to 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 surprisingly 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). Finally, First Strike is useful in many strategies to deal massive damage to and completely remove the children of the r100 BAD. Best crosspath is 03+2.

- 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 (Muddy Puddles, 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.

- 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. Best crosspath is 015.


A

- 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.

- 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. Sadly, the threat of r95 and r99/100 means that, for actual black border strats, she cannot reliably replace MIB. 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.

- Obyn: A strong, well-rounded hero that can solo early rounds and provide useful support late-game with his blimp-slowing totems. His pierce buff for magic towers in range is also extremely useful for bottom path Druids as it only has 1 base pierce. Other synergies with Obyn include Sun Avatar and Bloonjitsu/Grandmaster Ninja at level 11. Easiest top-tier hero to use by far.

- 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. Turbocharge 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.

- 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. For example, it’s spammed on Bloody Puddles to completely stall out one half of r98 while Sub Commander deals with the other half. 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.

- Middle Path Bomb: After numerous buffs, MOAB Mauler is now 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 1+30.

- 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, 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 Perma-Spike. 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.

- 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) reintroduced a significant amount of its viability. Interestingly, it’s used in the best strategies for two maps initially believed to be unviable for it: Workshop and Bloody Puddles. If using multiple Sun Avatars, mid crosspath is preferred for all but one, especially with Permabrew. Best crosspath is 301+.

- Bottom Path Spact: A consistently useful tower that has withstood the tests of time even as other towers waxed and waned with each passing balance change. 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 have allowed this tower to take down even Bloody Puddles CHIMPS. Best crosspath is 025.


A-

- Jones: Acts as both a control and support hero, especially with his buff that tripled the power of his level 3 stun. He’s the best hero to use with pure Biggest One DPS and MOAB Mauler spam 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.

- 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 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, especially Apache Prime. In particular, her MOAB Hex makes transitioning into a pricy fifth tier much easier.

- 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”). 100% uptime with Overclock makes it one of the strongest and meta primary fifth tiers in the game. 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. Perma-Spike in particular benefits especially from this mechanic. The extended rounds are also amazing for heroes with potent abilities that have long cooldowns. 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 utility due to its DDT support. Best crosspath is 402.

- Top Path Ace: Sky Shredder combines good super ceramic popping power with a powerful anti-blimp missile attack to give it great viability. In particular, 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. Best crosspath is 501.

- 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.

- 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+.

- 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 damage. As a result, it synergizes best with towers that can hold their ground against massive groups of super ceramics, such as Perma-Spike, as 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 030+.

- 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. Best crosspath is 1+40.

- 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.


B

- 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. Best crosspath is 025.

- 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.

- 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. Almost always combined with Sun Avatar to burn through the dense packs of perma-stunned blimps it creates, largely because of the exceptional cost efficiency of Avatar to compensate for Crush's extreme price tag. Unfortunately, its complete lack of damage means that it requires powerful support, such as double First Strike. Note that Sun Avatar nerf has significantly decreased Bloon Crush’s viability. Best crosspath is 520.

- 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: Super Maelstrom is best 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 Perma-Spike is highly recommended. In addition, 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. Best crosspath is 23+0, but note that crosspathing doesn’t affect the ability.

- 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 Sabo is much cheaper and less committal. Best crosspath is 205.

- 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 032/250.

-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+.

- 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 heroes gives it a special niche. It also works well with Brickell + Sub Commander to better facilitate the r95 MIB skip and help with r98. Tsar Bomba is niche but can be used well, especially with Perma-Spike. Unfortunately, Bomber Ace is mostly relegated to races. Best crosspath is 14+0.

- Top Path Village: 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. Often seen in the double Village strategy in CHIMPS, outlined above. Best crosspath is 302.


B-

- 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. In addition, the natural tendency of last targeting to cause leaks, as well as Churchill’s weakness to DDTs make Perma-Spike a natural tower combination. In a vacuum, level 10 is a very weak ability. However, it synergizes well with his level 3 ability.

- 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, especially Glue Hose and Arctic Wind. Best crosspath is 51+0.

 - 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 Sabo. Finally, Absolute Zero is a contender for worst fifth tier in the game. Best crosspath is 031.

- 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 sole 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 mid/late-game DPS tower thanks to its newly-buffed shrapnel. 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.

- 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 which necessitates micro. Thus, Big One is generally considered to be its superior. Pop & Awe shuts down DDTs, especially with Jones’s level 10 ability, but is too expensive and unwieldy to be viable. Best crosspath is 240.

- 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.

- Bottom Path Super: The entire path suffers greatly from an inability to deal damage to super ceramics, unlike Sun Avatar which pierces through and controls them. Its blimp damage gives it some specialization, but it’s outclassed by more effective options for such a purpose like Arcane Spike, AP Darts, and MOAB Maulers. Dark Champion is decent DPS but very hard to afford and still requires significant support for the final rounds on shorter maps. Best crosspath is 204.

- 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. Combine 1-2 of these with Poplust spam as a stepping stone to Avatar of Wrath on most maps, granting extra late game money as opposed to using Sun Avatar. Best crosspath is 402.


C

- 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.

- 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. Best crosspath is 520.

- 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.

- 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 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 surprising DPS for its cost. Post Obyn nerf, should be used with Gwen or Pat. Best crosspath is 230.

- Top Path Spact: Spiked Mines is most effective in mid-game as it offers decent ceramic and blimp popping power. Past that, its high ceramic damage keeps it somewhat relevant as a super ceramic chipper. Other than that, Spiked Balls has no redeeming features to it whatsoever. Best crosspath is 420.

- Top Path Engi: Since release Sentry Paragon has always been outshadowed by Archmage due to its horrid stepping stones and pierce. However, thanks to small yet incremental buffs, it finally demonstrates some counterplay, being able to deal with super ceramics better than Archmage. Village buffs in particular (namely, Jungle Drums and Call to Arms) are in fact more potent on this tower than any other as they buff both sentry deploy and attack rate. While selling the Paragons is fun in concept, in practice it's far too difficult and unreliable to be useful. Best crosspath is 500.


 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 Perma-Spike 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 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 similarly outclassed by pretty much everything due to its pathetic range. 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 520.

- 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 050+.

- 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 Perma-Spike 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 0+05.

- 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 incredibly difficult to save up for because its third tier is simply 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. Best crosspath is 00+5.


D

- Middle Path Sniper: Bouncing Bullets is outclassed by almost every other DPS option in the game. It leads into an upgrade that is literal dead weight in CHIMPS, followed by a very weak and expensive buffing tower for Elite Defender. Best crosspath is 032.

- Bottom Path Wizard: Shimmer is almost useless compared to top-tier camo options like camo Village and Reactor. Its sole use is in single-202 Village setups on maps without water and on the top island of Infernal. Necromancer is arguably the worst fourth tier in the game whose only playtime is as a desperation source of purple popping power in Magic only. Finally, Prince of Darkness was destroyed by a bug fix in 18.0 that removed its only redeeming quality: acting as a powerful but short-lived Bloon Solver at the start of each round. Best crosspath is 023+/205.


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 DartTM every round. Please don’t buy it.