Hero
Gwendolin
“With enough fuel and air, everything burns!”
Daily challenges
Other heroes
Info
Gwendolin is the fire hero. She unlocks automatically when you reach player level 14 and costs $725 on Medium ($615 Easy, $785 Hard, $870 Impoppable). She levels at the fastest XP rate (1.0x), the same as Quincy.
Attack and damage type. Her pyro gun shoots short-range flames (38 range at level 1) that pop 2 bloons per shot early on and later set bloons on fire for damage over time. Fire pops Lead Bloons, which makes her good on early lead rounds, but it has two hard limits:
- No Purple Bloons until level 16. Before that, every one of her attacks ignores Purples.
- No camo targeting for her main attack. Her abilities (Cocktail of Fire and Firestorm) do hit camo bloons, but she cannot aim at them herself.
Role. Gwendolin is an early and mid game crowd killer with a support side. From level 4 her Heat It Up blast lets nearby monkeys pop Lead and frozen bloons and gives them +1 pierce. From level 5 she makes Ring of Fire, Dragon's Breath and Signal Flare attack faster with bigger blast radius. Her abilities are some of the best answers in the game to dense ceramic rounds such as 63 and 76.
Key power spikes.
- Level 3: Cocktail of Fire, a burning patch on the track that shreds groups.
- Level 4: Heat It Up, the support buff for nearby towers.
- Level 6: her flames start burning bloons over time.
- Level 8 and 9: two flames per shot, then 2 damage per flame.
- Level 10: Firestorm, damage and burn on every non-Purple bloon on screen plus Heat It Up on every monkey.
- Level 13: pierce doubles from 4 to 8.
- Level 14: Cocktail of Fire burns MOAB-class bloons.
- Level 16: she can finally pop Purples.
- Level 17: Heat It Up also adds +1 damage, and +2 more against Lead.
- Level 18 and 20: double attack speed, stronger fire tower buffs, then a much stronger Firestorm.
Monkey Knowledge that helps. Heroic Reach matters a lot because her range is short. Big Bloon Blueprints and Weak Point add damage to every flame, which pays off from level 8 when she fires two flames per shot. Quick Hands, Self Taught Heroes, Empowered Heroes and Ability Discipline (10% shorter Firestorm cooldown) round it out.
Abilities
Cocktail of Fire
Hurls a flask of flammable liquid, burning Bloons that pass through the fire.
Firestorm
Sets the whole screen alight, burning all Bloons and granting the Heat It Up buff to all Monkeys.
Stats
Main attack
- Damage
- 1
- Pierce
- 2
- Attack speed
- 0.5s
- Range
- 38
Levels
Blasts Bloons with fire from her pyro gun.
Slightly increased popping power per shot.
180 XP
Cocktail of Fire: Hurls a flask of flammable liquid, burning Bloons that pass through the fire.
460 XP
Heat it up - Every 40 attacks Gwendolin creates a powerful blast wave of fire that pops Bloons and adds fire to nearby Monkeys' attacks.
1,000 XP
Increased popping power. 10% improved attack speed and radius for Ring of Fire, Signal Flare and Dragon's Breath.
1,860 XP
Attacks cause a burn effect on target Bloon.
3,280 XP
Heat it up has increased radius, Cocktail of Fire is more effective.
5,180 XP
Shoots 2 blasts of fire per shot.
8,320 XP
Initial hit per blast pops 1 extra layer. Gains increased burn damage and duration for every level.
9,380 XP
Firestorm: Sets the whole screen alight, burning all Bloons and granting the Heat It Up buff to all Monkeys.
13,620 XP
Increased attack range, and Cocktail of Fire is more effective.
16,380 XP
Increased attack speed and increases damage of Heat it Up.
14,400 XP
Greatly increased popping power, plus projectiles move faster and last longer.
16,650 XP
Cocktail of Fire does extra damage and sets MOAB class Bloons alight.
14,940 XP
Increased attack speed and increases damage of Heat it Up.
16,380 XP
Firestorm has increased duration and does more damage. Purple Bloons are no longer immune to Gwendolin's attacks.
17,820 XP
Heat it up empowers affected Monkeys to pop 1 extra layer, and do +2 damage to Lead Bloons.
19,260 XP
Increased attack speed and increases damage of Heat it Up. 20% improved attack speed and radius for Ring of Fire, Signal Flare and Dragon's Breath.
20,700 XP
Shoots 3 blasts of fire per shot.
16,470 XP
Firestorm does hugely increased damage.
17,280 XP
Voice lines
When placed
- “With enough fuel and air, everything burns!”
- “We have ignition!”
When selecting her
- “Yes!”
- “Yeah?”
- “Fired up!”
- “Hey!”
- “What next?”
When leveling up
- “Alright!”
- “Yes"(whisper)”
- “Nice!”
- “Oh yeah!”
- “Awesome!”
- “Oh, sweet!”
- “Haha!”
- “Haha!”
When MOAB Class Bloons appear (MOAB appearance)
- “MOAB! Burn it!”
When MOAB Class Bloons appear (BFB appearance)
- “BFB! Burn it!”
When MOAB Class Bloons appear (ZOMG appearance)
- “ZOMG! Burn it!”
When MOAB Class Bloons appear (DDT appearance)
- “DDT! Burn it!”
When MOAB Class Bloons appear (BAD appearance)
- “BAD? Gonna need more gas!”
When popping a MOAB Class bloon
- “Bloon-cinerated!”
- “Incinerated!”
When using an Activated Ability (Cocktail of Fire)
- “Fire bomb!”
When leaking a bloon
- “Stop them!”
When selected
- “I like blue hair... and blue fire!”
When placed
- “I like blue hair... and blue fire!”
When you select her
- “Hello!”
- “Hello!”
- “Office hours!”
- “This is it!”
- “Can I help you?”
- “What?!”
When leveling up
- “Eur...eka!”
- “Eureka!”
- “Incredible!”
- “This.. is incredible!”
When MOAB-Class bloons appear
- “That.. looks very flammable!”
When popping a MOAB class bloon
- “Aww.. no hydrogen!”
When using an activated ability (Firestorm)
- “You said Firestorm?”
When leaking a bloon
- “No.. no... NO!”
When selected on the Heroes menu
- “Let the madness begin!”
When placed
- “Showtime!”
- “Let the madness begin!”
When selected
- “Yes!”
- “Yes?”
- “Yeah?”
- “Well hello!”
- “Hey!”
When leveling up
- “Oh boy!”
- “That feels good!”
- “Yay me!”
- “Yay me!”
- “And now I have all my toys!”
When MOAB class bloons appear
- “Mine.. mine!”
- “Should we be scared?”
- “I love those colors!”
When popping a MOAB class bloon
- “Again, again!”
When using an activated ability (Cocktail of Fire)
- “One for you... one for you.”
When using an activated ability (Firestorm)
- “Harley says burn!”
When leaking a bloon
- “Is someone napping?”
When selected on the Heroes menu
- “You can celebrate anything with fireworks!”
When placed
- “You can celebrate anything with enough EXPLOSIONS!”
- “Let the party begin!”
When selecting her
- “Ooh! Aah!”
- “Lighting it up!”
- “Hey! I got fireworks here!”
- “Careful! The fuse is lit!”
When leveling up
- “New level, new me!”
- “New level, new me!”
- “What a display!”
- “What a display!”
- “More fireworks!”
- “More fireworks!”
- “We gotta pop more!”
- “We gotta pop more!”
When leveling up (Level 20)
- “Now I can light up the WHOLE sky!”
When MOAB Class Bloons appear (MOAB appearance)
- “MOAB! Send it home!”
When MOAB Class Bloons appear (BFB appearance)
- “BFB! Light it up!”
When MOAB Class Bloons appear (ZOMG appearance)
- “ZOMG! Blast it!”
When MOAB Class Bloons appear (DDT appearance)
- “DDT! Short-fuse!”
When MOAB Class Bloons appear (BAD appearance)
- “BAD! Launch EVERYTHING!”
When popping a MOAB Class bloon
- “I love it when the big ones pop!”
- “I love it when the big ones pop!”
When using an Activated Ability (Cocktail of Fire)
- “Stand back!”
When using an Activated Ability (Firestorm)
- “Happy New Year!”
When leaking a bloon
- “Well, that was a dud.”
Skins
Scientist GwendolinIf my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 1121 degrees centigrade, we're gonna see some serious burnt rubber!
HarlegwenI'm known to be quite vexing!
Firecracker GwenCelebrate anything and everything with Firecracker Gwen’s fireworks!
Pets
Gwen Firefox PetThis adorable firefox is never far from Gwen's side.
Rogue Legends starting party
Pyromaniac
Starting monkey1-1-0 Tack Shooter
Starting monkey0-2-0 Wizard Monkey
Starting artifactFlaming Hot Punch-A-Rang Common
Scientist Gwen
- Starting monkey2-0-0 Alchemist
- Starting monkey3-0-0 Glue Gunner
Starting artifactAlchemic Engineering Common
Harlegwen
- Starting monkey2-0-0 Heli Pilot
- Starting monkey0-0-0 Dartling Gunner
Starting artifactBouncing Projectiles Rare
Firecracker Gwen
- Starting monkey2-0-0 Wizard Monkey
- Starting monkey2-0-0 Spike Factory
Starting artifactBlitzing Ape Barrage Emitter Legendary
Monkey Knowledge
Knowledge upgrades that change Gwendolin.
All heroes get slightly increased range.
Heroes' explosives get +2 pierce per shot.
Hero level 10 Ability cooldowns reduced by 10%.
At level 20, Heroes' level 3 Ability cooldown reduced by 30%.
Requires: 3 Knowledge Points Ability Discipline
Heroes' base cost reduced by 10%.
Requires: 3 Knowledge Points Quick Hands Self Taught Heroes 250
Heroes do +1 extra damage to MOAB-Class Bloons with their base attack.
Requires: 8 Knowledge Points Ability Mastery 500
Heroes receive 5% more experience per each Hero placed.
Requires: 8 Knowledge Points Empowered Heroes 1000
All Heroes deal +1 damage to Ceramic & Fortified Bloons.
Requires: 8 Knowledge Points Big Bloon Blueprints Monkeys Together Strong 1000
How to use Gwendolin
Gwendolin is a hero you play around her abilities. Her basic flames are good, but Cocktail of Fire and Firestorm are what let her delete rounds that would break most defences.
When to pick Gwendolin
Pick Gwendolin when:
- Your defence uses fire towers. Ring of Fire, Dragon's Breath (and the Phoenix upgrades built on it) and Signal Flare all get faster attacks and bigger blasts from her passives.
- You need Lead popping early without buying a dedicated tower. Her flames pop Lead, and Heat It Up lets nearby sharp towers pop Lead and frozen bloons too.
- The hard rounds are dense ceramic rushes. Cocktail of Fire plus Firestorm can clear rounds 63 and 76 almost alone with decent timing.
- You want cheap support for many small towers. +1 pierce from Heat It Up is a big buff for low-tier towers.
Skip her when Purples are a real threat before you can reach level 16, or when your plan relies on a hero that sees camo on its own. She also does little direct damage to tough MOAB-class bloons until Firestorm and her level 14 Cocktail come online.
Leveling and power spikes
She uses the fastest XP scale (1.0x), so placing her early pays off quickly.
- Level 3: Cocktail of Fire. From this point she can handle grouped early rounds.
- Level 4: Heat It Up. She releases a fire blast every 40 shots, and nearby monkeys get +1 pierce and Lead/frozen popping for a short time. She must be attacking for it to trigger.
- Level 7: bigger Heat It Up radius and a much stronger Cocktail (faster ticks, more pierce).
- Level 8 to 10: two flames, double damage, then Firestorm. This is her first big spike.
- Level 12 to 15: faster attacks, 8 pierce, stronger Heat It Up damage, and Cocktail that burns blimps.
- Level 16: Purple popping and a longer Firestorm burn.
- Level 17: Heat It Up adds +1 damage to buffed towers, +2 more against Lead.
- Level 18 to 20: double attack speed, 20% fire tower buffs, three flames, and a much stronger Firestorm.
To level her faster, place her as early as you can, use Monkey Education, Self Taught Heroes and Monkeys Together Strong, or park her near an Energizer (Monkey Sub 5-0-0) for 50% faster XP. Buying levels with cash is also possible in the late game.
Best tower combos
- Tack Shooter Ring of Fire (4-x-x). Gets faster attacks and a larger ring from her level 5 and 18 passives. Place the Tack inside her range so it also gets Heat It Up.
- Wizard Monkey Dragon's Breath (x-3-x). The flamethrower attack gets faster and wider with her bonus. A bottom-path crosspath (x-3-2) adds camo detection that she lacks.
- Mortar Monkey Signal Flare (x-x-3). Another of her three named fire upgrades. Signal Flare also removes camo, covering her weakness.
- Sharp towers that hate Lead. Heat It Up lets Dart Monkeys, Boomerang Monkeys, Ninja Monkeys and Tack Shooters pop Lead and frozen bloons while buffed. Keep them close to her.
- Ice Monkey plus sharp towers. Frozen bloons block sharp damage. Heat It Up removes that problem near her.
- Monkey Village (2-2-0). Jungle Drums speeds up her attacks, which also means more frequent Heat It Up blasts, and Radar Scanner lets her hit camo.
Best maps
Her range is short (38, rising to 41 at level 11), so placement matters more than for most heroes.
- Maps with a dense section of track close to the start, where she can sit inside a bend and attack constantly. Constant attacking means constant Heat It Up blasts.
- Short expert maps such as Dark Castle, Sanctuary and Quad. Bloons reach your defence fast, and Cocktail of Fire placed on the lane gives a lot of value in little space.
- Beginner maps such as Monkey Meadow or Logs for learning her ability timing.
Place her near the front of your defence but not at the very front, so she always has targets and her Heat It Up buff covers the towers doing the real work.
Gwendolin in CHIMPS
She costs $785 on Hard, so you cannot buy her on round 6 with the $650 you start with. Place her after one or two rounds. Her flames handle early Lead rounds, and her abilities make the classic ceramic walls easier:
- Round 63: drop a Cocktail on the first group, Firestorm the second, and a fresh Cocktail on the third.
- Round 76: Firestorm burns the regrow ceramics faster than they can regenerate.
Plan dedicated Purple and camo answers. Her late game is support and burst rather than raw blimp DPS, so build a separate MOAB plan.
Gwendolin in Impoppable and boss events
In Impoppable she costs $870, but Monkey Knowledge is on, so Empowered Heroes gets her Cocktail of Fire immediately. Her ability burst is great insurance against the single leak that ends an Impoppable run.
In Boss Events her main value is support: Heat It Up on the whole screen through Firestorm, and the fire tower boosts for Ring of Fire, Dragon's Breath and Signal Flare. On her own she lacks the single-target damage to carry a boss fight.
Abilities: when to use them
Cocktail of Fire (level 3). Throws a flask that creates a burning blaze on the track, similar to Wall of Fire. It hits camo bloons, lasts up to 12 seconds and has a 30-second cooldown. Level 7 makes it tick faster with more pierce, level 14 doubles its damage and makes it burn MOAB-class bloons, and level 16 lets it hit Purples. You can target it anywhere inside her range. Put it a little up the track from her so leakers walk through the fire before reaching her, and fire it just before a dense group arrives.
Firestorm (level 10). Damages and burns every non-Purple bloon on screen (all bloons from level 16) and instantly gives Heat It Up to every monkey on the map. Cooldown is 60 seconds. Use it on the densest part of a ceramic or regrow round, or right before a big wave reaches your buffed towers so the screen-wide Heat It Up lands when it matters.
Skins
Gwendolin's skins are cosmetic only and do not change her stats or abilities.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting about Purples. She cannot touch them until level 16. Rounds with Purple groups need another tower.
- Assuming she sees camo. Only her abilities hit camo. Her main flames need a Radar Scanner or other camo support.
- Placing her too far back. Heat It Up only triggers when she attacks, so a hero with nothing to shoot buffs nobody.
- Wasting Firestorm on easy waves. Save it for rounds like 63 and 76.
- Ignoring her fire tower bonuses. If you pick Gwendolin, build at least one of Ring of Fire, Dragon's Breath or Signal Flare.
For round-by-round examples, see our videos on the BTD6 Master YouTube channel.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gwendolin good in CHIMPS?
Yes, especially on maps where ceramic rushes are the main danger. Plan separate Purple, camo and MOAB answers.
What level can Gwendolin pop Purple Bloons?
Level 16. Before that none of her attacks, including Firestorm, damage Purples.
Can Gwendolin pop Lead Bloons?
Yes. Fire damage pops Lead, and from level 4 her Heat It Up buff lets nearby monkeys pop Lead and frozen bloons too.
What towers does Gwendolin buff?
From level 5 she boosts Ring of Fire, Dragon's Breath and Signal Flare. From level 4 her Heat It Up gives +1 pierce and Lead/frozen popping to nearby monkeys, plus +1 damage from level 17.
When does Gwendolin get Firestorm?
Level 10. It damages and burns all non-Purple bloons on screen and gives Heat It Up to every monkey, with a 60-second cooldown.
Does Gwendolin have camo detection?
Her main attack cannot target camo. Cocktail of Fire and Firestorm do hit camo bloons, and a Monkey Village with Radar Scanner gives her full camo detection.
