Overview
With one Ninja Kiwi account, one Steam account and two years of experience, I’ve truly seen the best and the worst players on Bloons TD Battles. But I’m bad at describing how to do things, so instead, I’m going to tell you what not to do if you want to be the best of the best.
Don’t disable Sound Effects
Now, this might seem insignificant, but I can’t count the amount of times that I didn’t realise someone had used a Bloon Boost against me because I had looked away from my screen for two seconds. Learn what the different sound effects are and what they mean. Soon, you’ll be able to tell when an opponent has placed a tower, upgraded a tower (even if there’s no change in the tower’s skin), used a Monkey Boost, used a Bloon Boost and even if you or they can’t pop Lead Bloons!
Music isn’t really important, as it doesn’t tell you anything that you or your opponent are doing, but personally I enjoy the soundtrack, so I leave it enabled.
Speaking of looking away from your screen…
Don’t look away from your screen
It’s such an easy mistake to make, especially if you’re playing on mobile. Make sure that your view of your screen is unobstructed. On a similar note…
- Make sure that you’re alone before you go into a match. The worst thing that can happen in Round 42 is somebody walking in on you playing and tearing you away from the game.
- Go fullscreen if you can. It kind of goes without saying that your game will be much easier to see if it fills your entire monitor.
- Mute other programmes and/or close them before playing. Set yourself to Do Not Disturb on Discord so you don’t get that annoying bwoop halfway through upgrading your Ninja Monkey. Close as many other things as possible so your game can run more smoothly.
- Wear noise-cancelling headphones if you have them. Personally, I live near some really loud neighbours, so I do everything in my power to block out outside noises.
- Make sure all your needs are met before starting a match. It’s like playing The Sims. The second worst thing that can happen in Round 42 is suddenly realising you need a glass of water, as I know from personal experience.
Don’t play with a bad internet connection
I have a 364/281 win/loss ratio with my Ninja Kiwi account, but I would bet my life savings that at least one-quarter of those wins are due to the other person losing connection, and at least one-quarter of those losses are due to me losing connection.
- Play as close to your router as possible. If you’re like me and your router is on the opposite side of the house to your computer, either move the router or do what I did and buy an adapter and plug it in as close to your computer as physically possible.
- Don’t play on Mobile Data (mobile users only). Even if your mobile data looks consistent, there’s about a one in four chance that you’ll get disconnected. Ninja Kiwi games and mobile data just don’t get along. If you’ve ever – like me – tried to play using mobile data, you will have already noticed that on some loading screens, there’s a message at the bottom right-hand corner that says “Connect to a Wi-Fi network for the best experience.” It’s not lying.
- Don’t play using a hotspot, either. They’re just… bad for games. They’re alright if you want to Google something, but not for BTD Battles.
Don’t buy things that aren’t worth your money
We’ve all looked at the store at least once, even if we’re broke but we’re just curious. If you play your cards right, BTD Battles isn’t a Pay To Win game, but even so, there are a few purchases that give you a lot of bang for your buck. These are:
- Unlimited Club Room Access. With x2 Medallions from the store and your 8-hour spin, the ability to add extra rules to Tournaments, the ability to enter club rooms as many times as you please and being able to play in brand-new maps, this is probably the most worthwhile purchase you could make in the game, but time it right. At least once a month, Unlimited Club Room Access will be on offer, so get it then and save yourself some cash.
- Monkey Skins. Now, before you go running off to get the fancy Ninja Monkey skin, there are two things you have to do. The first is to buy Unlimited Club Room Access, as every skin comes with 500 free Medallions, and with x2 Medallions, you can crank up this number to 1,000. The second is to wait until a “Double Medallions” event is on, as you then get 2,000 free Medallions instead of the usual 500.
Don’t use a bad combination of towers
Again, this should go without saying, but I once ran into someone with 100,000 medallions using the Tack Shooter, the Bomb Tower and the Monkey Village on Free Powerups. Needless to say, it was a pretty easy win for me. There are much more elaborate Guides out there that tell you exactly what towers to use and how to use them, but I’ll give you a brief overview of the basics:
- Have at least one tower that can detect and pop Camo Lead Bloons. If you don’t then Round 12 will be hell for you, my friend.
- Have a cheap tower in your loadout for early game. The Dart Monkey is my go-to (and a lot of other players’, too) but feel free to experiment in a friendly match or in Yellow Stadium.
- Have at least one tower in your loadout that has a good late game active ability. Both a 2-4 Ninja Monkey and 2-4 Ice Tower will slow down MOABs, BFBs and ZOMGs, which has saved me multiple times.
- Don’t mistake the Monkey Apprentice as a good late game tower. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have full respect for the Monkey Apprentice as a good, cheap Camo Lead Bloons defence. However, when it comes to popping MOABs or above, having multiple 2-4 Monkey Apprentices just isn’t worth it if you can have a 2-2 Super Monkey in a similar price range.
- USE THE RANDOM TOWER ROLL IF IT’S FREE. There is no down side to rolling a random 4th tower if it’s free. Even a Tack Shooter is better than nothing.
Don’t rush your opponent with something they can defend
A few hours ago (as of writing this guide) I played against someone who tried to rush me with Camo Regen Lead Bloons when I very clearly had a 4-2 Boomerang Thrower. (here’s the entire match if you’re interested[battles.tv]). It was this match that actually prompted me to write this guide. My points for this section are going to list all towers that can pop specific Bloons, so you know what your opponent can defend and what they can’t.
- Here’s a list of all towers that can pop Lead Bloons:
- A 4-x Dart Monkey
- A 4-x Tack Shooter
- An x-3 Ninja Monkey
- A 0-0 Bomb Tower
- A 1-x Sniper Monkey
- An x-2 Boomerang Thrower
- A 0-0 Monkey Apprentice
- An x-3 Monkey Buccaneer (note that the cannon is independently firing and may not always hit Lead Bloons.)
- A 2-x Spike Factory
- A 2-x Glue Gunner
- A 2-x Ice Tower
- A 4-x Monkey Ace (note that a 1-x Monkey Ace drops Pineapples that explode after 3 seconds. These can pop Lead Bloons, but the likelihood of the Monkey Ace actually hitting its target is very low unless it’s extremely lucky or extremely well placed.)
- A 0-0 Mortar Tower
- A 2-x Super Monkey
- A 4-x Monkey Village (note that an x-3 Monkey Village will allow any towers within its radius to pop Lead Bloons.)
- An x-2 Dartling Gun
- A 3-x Heli Pilot (note that the Heli Pilot has to actually touch the Lead Bloons for them to pop, but a 4-x Heli Pilot only needs to shoot them.)
- A 3-x Monkey Engineer (note that the Lead Bloons have to actually touch the foam for them to pop and that the Cleansing Foam upgrade does not pop Lead Bloons in some different Bloons games.)
- A 2-x Bloonchipper
- An x-3 Monkey Sub (note that the missile is independently firing and may not target Lead Bloons.)
- Here’s a list of all towers that can pop Camo Bloons:
- A 2-x Dart Monkey
- A 0-0 Ninja Monkey
- An x-2 Sniper Monkey
- A 4-x Boomerang Thrower
- An x-2 Monkey Apprentice
- An x-2 Monkey Buccaneer
- A 0-0 Spike Factory
- An x-2 Monkey Ace
- A 0-0 Mortar Tower (note that an x-3 Mortar Tower can reveal Camo Bloons.)
- A 4-x Super Monkey
- A 4-x Monkey Village (note that an x-2 Monkey Village allows all towers within its radius to pop Camo Bloons.)
- A 0-0 Dartling Gun
- An x-2 Heli Pilot
- A 3-x Monkey Engineer (note that the Monkey Engineer cannot detect Camo Bloons with this upgrade; the Bloons must touch the foam to be revealed.)
- A 3-x Monkey Sub (note that the Monkey Sub cannot detect Camo Bloons with this upgrade; it must be submerged to reveal the Bloons. However, the Monkey Sub cannot pop Bloons of any type whilst submerged unless it is upgraded to 4-x.)
Don’t get mad
I know, I know… it’s very hard to stay calm when you run into someone who rushes you with ZOMGs at the earliest opportunity, but BTD Battles is a test of your patience as well as your tower defence abilities. You have to be willing to take those losses in your stride if your going to get anywhere, ergo:
- Don’t rage quit. It is very tempting, but if you do you’re going to look back on it and mentally kick yourself for getting so worked up over a tower defence game. I know I have.
- Don’t blame “the lag”. Whilst lag spikes aren’t exactly a rare occurrence, usually it was by no fault of the server that the Bloons managed to slip past your defences.
- Take breaks when you need to. I’m nobody’s mother, but if you play in one chunk for too long then your decisions will become more and more irrational. Have a 5-10 minute break every few matches (or just one match if it was really long) to collect your thoughts. Don’t swan-dive into a match with your head screwed on backwards.
Don’t be an annoyance
Probably one of the most important parts of the game is knowing when you’ve crossed the line from opponent to general nuisance. I’ve dealt with quite a few of these people in my time, so here’s what not to do if you don’t want to be absolutely despised by whoever you’re matched with.
- Don’t use the chat to spam. By all means, throw your opponent a “Well Done!” if they manage to cling to their last hitpoint by a thread, but constantly using the laughing emoji is just uncalled for. Likewise, don’t say “Late Game!” before the match and then rush your opponent on Round 12.
- Don’t always use the Cobra if you can help it. If you get it on your second ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ then fair dues, but don’t always have it in your loadout intentionally. People who always use the Cobra have a bit of a reputation for being pains in the butt, and that’s not exactly a good thing. Using it now and again is fine – to be fair, it is an expensive tower.