Bloons TD Battles 2: Best Tower Upgrades To Unlock First

Bloons TD Battles 2 gives players a lot of freedom in what towers they bring into battle, and their upgrades are often a key factor in what makes them work. Unfortunately, unlocking the upgrades takes quite a lot of time due to the slow XP progression of the game. To make matters worse, players can only acquire XP for a tower by using it, so players will have to struggle with a basic tower for many matches before getting the important upgrades.

Not every tower is created equally, however; while patches aim to fix the most obvious imbalances, one tower is always going to be better than another for a certain purpose. Because of this, players should prioritize which towers and upgrades they’re unlocking so that they can climb the ladder without being held down by low-tier towers. This isn’t to say that players can’t make every tower work, but it will become harder and harder to gain trophies if players are using suboptimal towers or upgrades.

The best way to grind XP on towers in Bloons TD is to create a strong 2-tower combo and throw in a third tower that will be getting XP. Towers gain XP based on how much money is spent on them relative to other towers and the round the game ends on, so with a 2-tower combo, players can defend the bloons while laying down several weak towers towards the end. An example of a string 2-tower combo would be Tack Shooter + Monkey Village; while a third tower would help greatly, Tack Shooters can defend most early game rounds and Monkey Villages will let the Tack Shooters hit anything they normally couldn’t, such as camo bloons.

Essential Tower Upgrades in Bloons TD Battles 2

Players have their own choices for what towers they like in Bloons TD, but since the towers aren’t perfectly balanced, here’s a list of the important upgrades for the game’s “meta” towers.

Boomerang Monkey – All Tier 4 Upgrades

Boomerang Monkeys are pretty lame until their tier 4 upgrades; M.O.A.R Glaives is often considered the best-grouped bloon tower in the game, Turbo Charge is a perfect panic button against rushes, and MOAB Press when spammed lets almost any team handle blimps up until BADs show up.

Tack Shooter – Blade Maelstrom, Overdrive

Tack Shooters with tier 3 upgrades can handle most of the early game in Bloons TD, but they need higher tier upgrades to be worth their tower slot since plenty of towers can handle the early game. Blade Maelstrom is an almost impenetrable defense against early rushes, although if players aren’t careful, they can run out of money when buying and selling it to defend multiple rushes. Overdrive has monstrous DPS against all bloon types when assisted by buff towers like Monkey Village or Alchemist; Overdrive spam can even deal with BADs with the right towers! The 5th tier Tack Zone is more efficient overall but is far from necessary outside of ultra late-game scenarios.

Ice Monkey – Super Brittle, Icicle Impale

The Ice Monkey always works for decent bloon defense at all stages of the game, but two of the fifth-tier upgrades act as invaluable MOAB destroyers. A 2/0/5 ice monkey can handle a nearly infinite rush of DDTs on its own, while helping greatly against all other non-BAD bloons. Super Brittle amps the damage of other towers, especially fast-shooting ones, and is great for all bloon types.

Sniper Monkey – Cripple MOAB, Supply Drop

Sniper Monkeys are infamous in Bloons TD Battles 2 currently, as they can be spammed and defend the mid to late game on their own while also providing an alternative source of income. Supply Drop snipers can handle almost all rushes when spammed, and provide a ton of money over time. These snipers are weak against blimps, but that’s where Maim MOAB and its upgrade Cripple MOAB come into play. Maim MOAB handles early blimps as it can permanently stall small groups of weaker blimps, and Cripple MOAB both amplifies damage and has a stronger stalling effect.

Monkey Sub – Bloontonium Reactor, First Strike Capability

Monkey Subs act as a decent early game defense in Bloons TD, but also reveal camo bloons for other towers with their top path. However, outside of that, monkey subs don’t do much unless upgraded further. Bloontonium Reactor acts as a great grouped bloon defender, although it can get overwhelmed by massive rushes. First Strike Capability is incredible for blimp defense, especially when sold and resold; a few when combined can even pop BAD bloons!

Monkey Buccaneer – Monkey Pirates

Monkey Buccaneers are one of the most efficient towers in the early to mid game, but they’re limited by their water placement restriction. Cannon Ship and its upgrade Monkey Pirates allow the early game defense to scale into the mid game, as Cannon Ship obliterates rushes of weaker bloons while its upgrade can handle larger bloons and blimps.

Dartling Gunner – Rocket Storm

Dartling Gunners have been a part of the meta for a while now, although they recently received a large nerf in the form of a bug fix. This doesn’t mean they’re not still good, however; Hydra Rocket Pods handles early waves on its own and weaker rushes with little to no issues, and the Rocket Storm upgrade can be used for ceramic-tier rushes and general cleanup.

Super Monkey – Tech Terror, Dark Champion

Super Monkeys are the premier late-game tower in Bloons TD, but they’ll pale in comparison to other towers without appropriate upgrades. The Dark Knight and Robo Monkey upgrades both handle the bloons fairly well, but their higher-tier upgrades are where they really shine. The Dark Champion is a blimp-destroying monster and will handle the weaker bloons with ease as well. Tech Terror isn’t quite as strong as the Dark Champion, but is much cheaper and has a panic button active to delete all weaker bloons and blimps around the tower instantly.

Ninja Monkey – Sticky Bomb, Bloonjitsu, Shinobi Tactics

Ninja Monkeys aren’t the best at any particular thing, but their upgrades allow them to be a strong jack of all trades. Bloonjitsu Ninja Monkeys are great at dealing with small groups of bloons, due to their decent DPS but low overall pierce. Sticky Bomb Ninja Monkeys are great at stalling bloons due to their flash bombs and also deal very high blimp damage. Shinobi Tactics Ninja Monkeys aren’t special on their own, but massively buff other Ninja Monkeys around them, so spamming them after getting other ninjas is a great way to scale defenses.

Alchemist – Stronger Stimulant

Alchemists are decent damage dealers early in Bloons TD, but their primary use revolves around buffing other towers with extra pierce, damage, range, and lead-popping capabilities. Without tier 3 or tier 4 upgrades, Alchemists can only provide the lead-popping ability, so players should quickly unlock the buff upgrades to get use out of their Alchemists.

Banana Farm – Any Tier 3 + 4 Upgrade

Banana Farms allow players to play aggressively with their money, as farms can be sold whenever needed to go for an all-in rush or purchase an essential tower. Most BTDB2 maps don’t have a lot of space for farms, so although lower-tier farms are more efficient to buy, players will have to upgrade their farms to maximize their space. Of course, to upgrade a farm, the extra tiers must be unlocked, so players should quickly prioritize one of the three paths: path 1 for all-around farming, path 2 for bursts of income every few waves, and path 3 for ease of use.

Spike Factory – Spiked Balls, Spike Storm

Spike Factories are pretty inefficient at defending on their own in Bloons TD, but have a niche in popping bloons before they’ve even arrived due to the long-lasting spikes that stay on the track. However, two particular upgrades are special for the spike factory. Players can spam Spiked Ball factories to defend against any moderate-size rush that gets past the towers in the front, and Spike Storm factories can be used to deal massive blimp damage and turn any blimp rush into a bloon rush, including BADs!

Monkey Village – Primary Mentoring, Homeland Defense

Monkey Villages are pretty basic until a few upgrades come into play. The Monkey Intelligence Bureau lets towers pop any type of bloon, which can be key to filling a gap in defenses, but more importantly, the upgrades that come after that offer huge multipliers to the damage every tower deals. Almost nothing can get past an active Homeland Defense that has a decent setup beside it. Primary Training and its upgrade Primary Mentoring offer massive buffs to primary monkeys, including Dart Monkeys, Glue Gunners, Ice Monkeys, Tack Shooters, Boomerang Monkeys, and Bomb Shooters. If a player’s defense revolves around one of these, placing a Monkey Village is key.

Engineer Monkey – XXXL Trap, Cleansing Foam

Engineer Monkeys are great at defending early waves in Bloons TD, but their primary use is supportive. Cleansing Foam is a cheap and efficient way to get rid of camo, regrow, and lead bloons, although multiple will be needed for large groups. Bloon Trap and its upgrade XXXL Trap are great at punishing opponents that rely heavily on sending bloons for income, as their sends will go directly to the other player’s money total. XXXL Traps can even delete DDTs!

Bloons TD Battles 2 is available on PC and mobile.

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