Lych

Lych punishes the habits that win other boss fights. Stacking Alchemists, Overclocks and Call to Arms on one big damage tower is a great idea against Bloonarius, and a terrible one against Lych, which steals those buffs and heals while you wait for its souls to die. A good Lych defense is spread out, relies on permanent buffs and has enough pierce to deal with a steady stream of zombie blimps.

Why Lych is dangerous

• Constant healing. 1.5% of max health every 9 seconds adds up quickly at higher tiers, and it grows by 0.3% with every skull lost.
• Buff theft. Brews, Overclock, Ultraboost, Call to Arms, Super Monkey Fan Club and other temporary buffs are drained within 100 units.
• Invulnerable phases. At each of its 5 skulls Lych turns ethereal, and you must pop 3 Lych-Souls (5 on Elite) before you can damage it again.
• Zombie blimps everywhere. Tombstones and Lych-Souls keep spawning Zombie MOABs, and Tombstones also soak up pierce.
• Bad sellback. Selling while Lych is on the map loses a lot of money, so you cannot easily rebuild mid-fight.

Damage sources that work

• Raw, unbuffed damage. Towers that are strong on their own, or that rely on permanent aura buffs, keep their full power.
• Fast multi-target attacks. Aircraft Carrier and Operation: Dart Storm deal with Zombie MOABs, Lych-Souls and Lych itself in the early tiers.
• Anti-regrow. Grow Blocker (0-1-0 Monkey Village) and Cleansing Foam (0-0-3 Engineer Monkey) remove Lych's Regrow, stopping its healing until its next buff drain.
• Bonus boss and MOAB damage, especially from Paragons.
• What does not work: stuns, slows, knockback and percentage damage.

Which buffs are safe

• Safe (cannot be drained): Monkey Village auras such as Jungle Drums and Primary Training, Shinobi Tactics, Elite Sniper, Support Sun Temples, and every hero buff.
• Drained: all Alchemist buffs including Permanent Brew, Overclock and Ultraboost (even Ultraboost stacks), Call to Arms and Homeland Defense, Super Monkey Fan Club, Turbo Charge, Take Aim, Absolute Zero's buff and Elite Defender's passive.
• Workaround: buffs on towers more than 100 units from Lych's path are never drained. Long-range towers like Elite Defender and M.A.D can sit far from the track and keep their buffs.

Best towers and setups

Tiers 1 and 2

• Aircraft Carrier (Monkey Buccaneer) and Operation: Dart Storm (Monkey Ace): great at clearing zombie blimps and Lych-Souls anywhere on the map.
• Sticky Bomb (2-0-4 Ninja) and Overdrive (2-0-4 Tack Shooter) for single-target boss damage, without Alchemist support.
• Grow Blocker Village next to your main damage to cut Lych's healing.
• Spike Factories for the Zombie MOABs that leak through.

Tiers 3 to 5

• Paragons for boss damage that does not depend on buffs.
• Elite Defender and M.A.D placed out of drain range with their buffs intact.
• Strong area damage at the end of the track to handle Tombstone zombies, which grow over time.

Heroes that help

• Any damage hero. Hero buffs cannot be drained, so heroes that buff nearby towers keep working. Pick the one that fits your main damage dealer.
• Benjamin for income, since your sellback is cut and you need cash to keep building.

Powers and Monkey Knowledge

• Powers no longer cause Lych to drain buffs, so Monkey Boost and Energizing Totem are safe ways to add attack speed.
• MOAB Mine handles Zombie MOABs and blimps from the modified rounds.
• Income Powers like Thrive matter, because you cannot rely on selling.

Tier-by-tier plan

1. Early rounds: farm, but avoid building a defense around Alchemist or Overclock buffs.
2. Tier 1 (round 40): combine a single-target damage tower with a fast multi-target tower for Lych-Souls. Destroy Tombstones as early as possible.
3. Tier 2 (round 60): add a Grow Blocker Village near your damage and more pierce for the zombie stream.
4. Tier 3 (round 80): move your main damage to Paragons or tier 5 towers with safe aura buffs.
5. Tiers 4 and 5: healing is now huge in absolute numbers. Plan to break each skull quickly and pop the souls immediately so Lych spends as little time as possible healing.

Normal vs Elite

• Normal summons 3 Lych-Souls at each of its 5 skulls.
• Elite summons 5 Elite Lych-Souls per skull, moves faster and has up to 24 million health at tier 5. Your soul-popping coverage has to reach more of the track.

Counters to each ability

• Regrow: Grow Blocker or Cleansing Foam, plus fast damage so Lych spends less time healing.
• Buff drain: use auras and hero buffs, or keep buffed towers more than 100 units from the track. If you use Homeland Defense, timing it right after a drain gives you up to 12 seconds of buffed attacks.
• Tombstones: kill them fast. They take priority over Lych for towers on Strong targeting, which helps.
• Ethereal phase: spread out multi-target damage so every Lych-Soul is in range of something.
• Low sellback: to move a tower without selling, use a Support Chinook or Special Poperations Heli Pilot.

Common mistakes

• Building an Alchemist and Village-ability stack around one tower and watching it get drained.
• Ignoring Tombstones until they spawn large groups of stronger zombie blimps.
• Having nothing that can reach the Lych-Souls, leaving Lych invulnerable while it walks forward.
• Selling towers mid-fight and losing a large part of their value.

Frequently asked questions

How much health does Lych have?

Normal Lych has 14,000, 52,500, 220,000, 525,000 and 2,100,000 health for tiers 1 to 5. Elite Lych has 30,000, 180,000, 1,100,000, 4,800,000 and 24,000,000.

Which buffs does Lych steal?

Temporary and applied buffs such as Alchemist brews, Overclock, Ultraboost, Call to Arms and Super Monkey Fan Club. Permanent aura buffs like Village and Shinobi Tactics, and all hero buffs, are safe.

How do you stop Lych from healing?

Strip its Regrow with Grow Blocker or Cleansing Foam. It gets Regrow back on its next buff drain, so keep the anti-regrow tower near its path.

What are Lych-Souls?

Mini versions of Lych that appear when it reaches a skull. Lych is invulnerable until you pop all of them (3 on Normal, 5 on Elite).

What is the best tower against Lych?

Aircraft Carrier and Operation: Dart Storm are excellent for the souls and zombie blimps, while Paragons and out-of-range Elite Defenders or M.A.Ds handle the boss in later tiers.

Do Powers trigger Lych's buff drain?

Not anymore. Monkey Boost and Energizing Totem are safe to use against Lych.