Red Bloon

Any tower that can see a Red Bloon can pop it. The real question is not what pops Reds but how many you can pop at once, because Reds are the final layer of everything you will ever face.

Which damage types work

All of them. A Red has 1 health and no immunities, so darts, tacks, bombs, ice, fire, plasma, acid and energy all work. Two exceptions are worth knowing:

• Camo Reds ignore every tower that lacks camo detection. Projectiles from those towers pass straight through them.
• Frozen Reds cannot be damaged by sharp attacks. If an Ice Monkey freezes a group, basic Dart Monkeys, Tack Shooters and Ninja shurikens will fly past until the ice breaks. The Hard Tacks knowledge lets Tack Shooters pop frozen bloons, and Hot Magic does the same for magic towers.

Why Reds still leak

Reds leak because of pierce, not because they are hard to pop. A tower that hits one bloon per shot spends a whole attack on a single Red. When a Rainbow or Ceramic bursts into dozens of children at once, a low-pierce tower simply cannot keep up, and the stragglers walk out.

The second reason is overkill. Damage beyond a bloon's health is wasted. A Sharp Shooter crit that deals 60 damage still only pops one Red, so towers built for Ceramics and MOABs are often bad at cleaning up the small layers they create.

Early game answers

• Rounds 1 to 5: a single Dart Monkey or your hero handles the pure-Red rounds. On Hard you start at Round 3 and on CHIMPS and Impoppable at Round 6, so you never see the pure-Red waves there.
• Dart Monkey: each dart pops 2 bloons, or 3 with the Extra Dart Pops knowledge. Put it on a corner or a long straight so missed darts still hit something.
• Tack Shooter: 8 tacks per volley at short range. Placed on a tight bend it pops most of an early wave.

Mid and late game cleanup

You need at least one cheap, high-pierce tower near the end of the track whose job is popping whatever survives your main damage.

• Spike Factory: spikes sit on the track, hit Camo bloons without upgrades and catch leftovers. The One More Spike knowledge adds one pop per stack.
• Tack Shooter 0-3-0 Blade Shooter: high-pierce blades that can also shatter frozen bloons.
• Boomerang Monkey 3-0-x Glaive Ricochet: glaives bounce from bloon to bloon, ideal for long lines of Reds.
• Sniper Monkey x-2-x Shrapnel Shot: every shot sprays shrapnel behind the target, and the middle path also gives camo detection.
• Dart Monkey 0-0-3 Crossbow: cheap, long range, 3 damage and camo detection from Enhanced Eyesight.

Hero picks

Quincy's arrows bounce between bloons and he gains camo detection at level 5, which makes him a strong early cleaner. Obyn Greenfoot's wolf spirit homes in on bloons and his Brambles (level 3) act like a big spike pile that pops Camos. Ezili, Sauda, Psi and Silas have camo detection from the start, which matters for Camo Reds.

Powers and knowledge that help

Road Spikes piles pop up to 20 bloons each, including Lead and Camo, which makes them a perfect emergency plug for a single bad round. A Camo Trap strips camo from the first 500 Camo bloons that cross it. Powers are disabled in CHIMPS, so do not plan around them there.

Rounds where Reds cause leaks

• Round 24: the lone Camo Green breaks into a Camo Blue and then a Camo Red. With no camo detection it walks out and costs 3 lives.
• Round 27: 100 Reds, 60 Blues, 45 Greens and 45 Yellows. This is a pierce check. Single-target builds leak here even though nothing is strong.
• Round 33: 20 Camo Reds and 13 Camo Yellows. If you skipped camo detection, this is where you pay for it.
• Late game: every Ceramic, Rainbow and MOAB child ends as Reds. If your leak counter ticks by one or two lives on Round 63 or Round 78, it is almost always Reds and Blues slipping past a defense with no cleanup.

Mode notes

• CHIMPS and Impoppable: you have one life, so a single Red leak loses the game. Always keep a cleanup tower near the exit.
• Alternate Bloons Rounds: Round 5 brings 12 Camo Reds, so you need camo detection almost from the start. Round 27 is 100 Camo Reds plus 150 more Camo bloons, which needs real camo pierce, not one Ninja.
• Freeplay (Round 81 and later): bloons release only one child each, so there are fewer Reds per bloon, but bloons also get faster, so cleanup range matters more.

Common mistakes

1. Building only high-damage single-target towers and wondering why 1-life leaks happen on ceramic rounds.
2. Freezing bloons with an Ice Monkey right in front of sharp towers that cannot hit frozen targets.
3. Forgetting camo detection until Round 33, when 20 Camo Reds walk past a full defense.
4. Putting the cleanup tower at the start of the track, where it wastes pierce on fresh bloons instead of catching survivors.

Frequently asked questions

What is the weakest bloon in BTD6?

The Red Bloon. It has 1 health, no immunities and no children, and any tower that can see it pops it in one hit.

How many lives does a Red Bloon take in BTD6?

One life. In CHIMPS and Impoppable you only have one life, so a single leaked Red ends the game.

What round do Camo Red Bloons appear in BTD6?

The first stand-alone Camo Reds come on Round 33. A Camo Red also appears on Round 24 as the last layer of the Camo Green, and in Alternate Bloons Rounds they arrive on Round 5.

How fast is a Red Bloon?

It moves at 1x, the base speed. Leads also move at 1x, while Pinks are the fastest regular bloon at 3.5x.

Why are Red Bloons leaking late in the game?

Your towers are running out of pierce when big bloons burst into many children at once. Add a high-pierce cleanup tower near the exit, such as a Spike Factory or a Blade Shooter.

Can a frozen Red Bloon be popped by darts?

No. Frozen bloons are immune to sharp damage until they thaw, so pair Ice Monkeys with towers that can pop frozen bloons.