Boss bloon

Bloonarius

Info

Bloonarius the Inflator is the first Boss Bloon added to BTD6 (version 27.0) and the most straightforward one. It is a giant, extremely slow green blimp with no tricks against your towers. Instead it has the highest health pool of all the normal bosses and keeps throwing bloons onto the track as it loses health. Beating it is mostly about economy and damage output.

Type: Boss Bloon (counts as MOAB-class, so bonus MOAB and boss damage both apply)
Where you fight it: weekly Boss Events (rank 20+), the Boss Challenge menu, Boss Rush, and boss tiles in Contested Territory (Normal tiers 1 and 2 only)
Speed: 5% of a Red Bloon at tiers 1 to 3, 6% at tiers 4 and 5 (Normal and Elite)
Skulls: 3 on Normal, 7 on Elite
Immunities: like every boss, it ignores stuns, slows, knockback, instant kills and percentage damage (MOAB Hex, Big Bloon Sabotage)

Health per tier

Each tier spawns 20 rounds after the last: tier 1 on round 40, tier 2 on round 60, tier 3 on round 80, tier 4 on round 100 and tier 5 on round 120. You have 20 rounds to pop each tier.

Tier 1: 20,000 (Elite 50,000)
Tier 2: 75,000 (Elite 300,000)
Tier 3: 350,000 (Elite 2,000,000)
Tier 4: 750,000 (Elite 8,000,000)
Tier 5: 3,000,000 (Elite 40,000,000)

In co-op each extra player adds 20% health, up to +60% with four players. Double HP MOABs and boss health modifiers raise it further.

Abilities

Bleed: every 1% of health lost, Bloonarius scatters a few bloons along the track ahead of it. On Normal these go from Greens (tier 1) to Yellows, Pinks, Zebras and Rainbows (tier 5).
Skull wave: at each skull it stops for half a second, scatters a bigger burst and spits a rush of strong bloons in front of it. Normal skull sends grow from 30 Ceramics (tier 1) and 60 Ceramics (tier 2) to 6 MOABs, 10 ZOMGs and finally a BAD at tier 5.
Elite: skulls come every 12.5% of health and the sends are much stronger, ending with 4 Fortified BADs per skull at tier 5.
No damage cap: a big enough hit can break through several skulls at once and trigger all their waves together.

Bloons that come out of Bloonarius give no cash. In Boss Rush, Bloonarius starts with only 400 health, gains health with every tier you pop, and adds an extra skull wave every 10th tier.

How to pop Bloonarius

Bloonarius is the boss most players beat first, and it is the best one to learn boss fights on. It does not stun, drain or block your towers. It is simply huge, slow, and constantly spills bloons onto the track. If you farm hard early and buy enough single-target damage, it goes down. Most losses come from the bloons it spawns, not from the boss itself.

Why Bloonarius is dangerous

The biggest health pool of the regular bosses: 3 million on Normal tier 5 and 40 million on Elite tier 5, which is more than 13 times the Normal value.
Bloons spawn ahead of it. The scatter lands up the track in front of Bloonarius, so a kill zone that only covers the boss gets bypassed.
Spawned bloons pay nothing. Pops from Bloonarius and its minions do not give cash, so income has to come from farms and other sources.
Skull waves stack. Heavy burst damage can trigger several skulls at once and flood your track.

Damage sources that work

Bonus boss and MOAB damage. Bloonarius counts as a MOAB-class bloon, so MOAB damage upgrades work, and Paragons deal extra damage to bosses.
Sticky effects and constant single-target damage: Sticky Bomb, Overdrive Tack Shooters, M.A.D, Avatar of Wrath.
Debuffs that increase damage taken such as Embrittlement and Cripple MOAB help every other tower.
What does not work: stuns, slows, knockback, MOAB Hex, Big Bloon Sabotage and other percentage damage. Like every boss, Bloonarius is immune.

Best towers and setups

Tier 1 (round 40)

Sticky Bomb (2-0-4 Ninja Monkey): a classic cheap single-target answer.
Overdrive (2-0-4 Tack Shooter) with debuffs: very high damage when Bloonarius sits in range for a long time, which it does because it is so slow.
Ring of Fire (4-2-0 Tack Shooter): the most efficient tower for the minion bloons on tier 1, especially on maps with loops.
Spirit of the Forest (Druid): its thorns kill every minion on contact and grind Bloonarius down; it can solo tier 1, even on Elite.

Tier 2 (round 60)

Overdrives with every debuff you can stack, M.A.D or Avatar of Wrath for boss damage.
Super Maelstrom with Glue Storm is a very efficient combination for tier 2 minions.

Tiers 3 to 5 (rounds 80 to 120)

Paragons can solo tiers 3 and 4.
Tier 5 usually needs several Paragons or a Support True Sun God with Sun Avatars plus debuffs.
Vengeful True Sun God and M.A.D are the main non-Paragon damage dealers.

Heroes that help

Benjamin: extra income is valuable because Bloonarius gives none. Early farming decides most Bloonarius scores.
Hero choice matters less than economy here. Pick the hero that best boosts your main damage dealer, for example Striker Jones with Bomb and Mortar setups.

Powers and Monkey Knowledge

Economy Powers and knowledge pay off most: Thrive, Banana Farmer and More Cash.
Monkey Boost doubles attack speed on screen for 15 seconds, a good way to push through a skull quickly.
MOAB Mine still hits the MOAB-class bloons Bloonarius sends at tier 3 and above.
Big Bloon Sabotage does nothing to the boss itself.

Tier-by-tier plan

Rounds 1 to 39: farm aggressively and only build the defense you need. Bloonarius rounds 40, 60, 80 and 100 are modified (round 40 sends 6 Ceramics instead of a MOAB, round 60 sends 6 MOABs instead of a BFB, and so on), so expect a few extra Ceramics and blimps.
Tier 1: combine a single-target damage tower with an area tower for the Green scatter and the 30 Ceramics at each skull.
Tier 2: the skull sends double to 60 Ceramics. Add a strong area tower such as Super Maelstrom or Ring of Fire near where the sends land.
Tier 3: skull waves now include MOABs. Switch your main damage to Paragons or tier 5 towers.
Tier 4: each skull sends 10 ZOMGs. Make sure there is serious blimp damage across the whole track, not only where the boss is.
Tier 5: each skull sends a BAD. Plan for the BAD as carefully as for the boss.

Normal vs Elite

Normal has 3 skulls and sends Ceramics, then MOABs, ZOMGs and one BAD.
Elite has 7 skulls (one every 12.5% of health), far more health, and huge sends: 70 Ceramics at tier 1, 16 BFBs at tier 2, DDTs and a BAD at tier 3, Fortified DDTs and Fortified BADs at tier 4, and 4 Fortified BADs per skull at tier 5. Elite tier 5 also scatters DDTs (without camo) and Fortified ZOMGs with every 1% of health lost, and the tier 3 and 4 skull sends include regular DDTs, so you need camo and Lead coverage from tier 3 on.

Counters to each ability

Bleed scatter: keep area damage along the whole track, not only near the boss. If the scatter is overwhelming, deal damage a little slower so the minions arrive in smaller waves.
Skull waves: know the next send before you trigger the skull and build for it in advance.
Multi-skull bursts: avoid huge one-shot damage when your defense is not ready, since it can trigger several skull waves together.
No cash from minions: rely on Banana Farms, Benjamin and other income, not on pops.

Common mistakes

Building only boss damage and losing to the scatter.
Expecting Monkey Town or pop-based income from Bloonarius minions; they give nothing.
Using MOAB Hex or Big Bloon Sabotage, which do nothing to bosses.
Forgetting that Elite tier 3 and 4 skulls send DDTs, so towers without camo detection miss them.

Frequently asked questions

How much health does Bloonarius have?

On Normal it has 20,000, 75,000, 350,000, 750,000 and 3,000,000 health for tiers 1 to 5. Elite Bloonarius has 50,000, 300,000, 2,000,000, 8,000,000 and 40,000,000.

What is the best strategy for Bloonarius?

Farm aggressively, buy one strong single-target tower per tier (Sticky Bomb or Overdrive early, Paragons later) and keep area damage across the track for the bloons it scatters.

What round does Bloonarius spawn?

Tier 1 spawns on round 40, then a stronger tier every 20 rounds: 60, 80, 100 and 120. You have 20 rounds to pop each tier.

Do Bloonarius minions give money?

No. Bloons spawned by Bloonarius give no cash, so you need farms or other income sources.

Can you stun or slow Bloonarius?

No. Like all Boss Bloons it is immune to stuns, slows, knockback and percentage damage.

How do you unlock Elite Bloonarius?

Beat all five tiers of Normal Bloonarius during a Boss Event. Elite then unlocks for that event.

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