Paragons

A Paragon is the tier above tier 5. It merges all three tier 5 upgrades of one tower into a single, much stronger unit with camo detection on most Paragons, huge bonus damage against Boss Bloons and a degree from 1 to 100 that decides how strong it is. Paragons are the main damage source in Boss Events and late freeplay.

How to unlock a Paragon

Each Paragon is unlocked with that tower's XP, just like normal upgrades:

• Unlock every upgrade of the tower, including all three tier 5s.
• The Paragon slot then appears in the tower's upgrade menu. It costs far more XP than any other upgrade: from 350,000 XP for the Glaive Dominus up to 1,080,000 XP for the Goliath Doomship.
• Once you buy it, the tower's upgrade menu turns purple for good.

How to build a Paragon in a game

• Place three towers of the same type and take each one to a different tier 5. For the Dart Monkey that means an Ultra-Juggernaut, a Plasma Monkey Fan Club and a Crossbow Master.
• Select any of the three. The Paragon upgrade appears in its menu once all three tier 5s are on the map.
• Before confirming, a slider lets you invest extra cash for a higher degree (see below).
• Confirm. The selected tower becomes the Paragon and absorbs every other tower of that type on the map, plus any Paragon Power Totems. In co-op this includes your teammates' towers of that type.

A few rules to remember:

• Only one Paragon of each type can exist at a time, even in co-op. You can build the tier 5s again afterwards.
• Paragon prices cannot be discounted by villages, knowledge or anything else; they only change with difficulty.
• Paragons cannot be buffed by regular towers, heroes or Powers. Only other Paragons (the Master Builder can overclock them), Monkey Knowledge and some Perks affect them.
• Paragons cannot be moved by Chinooks and cannot be sacrificed to a Sun Temple.
• Selling a Paragon only refunds the tier 5 you upgraded plus the Paragon price, not the towers it absorbed.
• The Crucible of Steel and Flame and the Ballistic Obliteration Missile Bunker do not detect Camo on their own. Every other Paragon does.

How Paragon degree works

The degree is set the moment you create the Paragon and can never change afterwards. It depends on hidden Paragon power. Degree 1 needs 0 power, degree 2 needs 2,000, and each degree after that needs a little more. Some milestones:

• Degree 20: about 11,000 power
• Degree 40: about 31,400 power
• Degree 60: about 66,400 power
• Degree 80: about 120,100 power
• Degree 100: 200,000 power

What gives Paragon power (version 57 and later)

Version 57.0 reworked the sources. On current PC and mobile versions, power comes from four categories, each with its own cap:

• Cash invested, up to 80,000 power. Every (Paragon price ÷ 20,000) dollars spent on the absorbed towers gives 1 power. Money spent on tier 5 towers does not count. For a $500,000 Paragon that is $25 per power, so $2,000,000 in absorbed towers maxes this category. You can also add cash with the slider when you upgrade, at a 5% higher rate.
• Extra tier 5 towers, up to 50,000 power. Each tier 5 beyond the required three adds 6,000. In single player you normally cannot place two of the same tier 5, so this mostly matters in co-op or with exceptions like the Master Double Cross knowledge for the Dart Monkey.
• Damage and income, up to 125,000 power. Every 180 damage dealt by the absorbed towers, or every $45 of income they generated, gives 1 power. This uses the pop and income counters you see when selecting a tower, and it includes the three tier 5s themselves.
• Paragon Power Totems, no cap. Each totem gives 2,000 power. Totems are bought from Geraldo's shop once he reaches level 20, cost about $26,000 on Medium, and restock one per round up to two in stock.

Upgrade tiers on absorbed towers no longer give power after version 57, so older advice about placing 25 cheap tier 2 towers is outdated on current versions. Console versions that have not reached version 57 yet still use the old rules.

What a higher degree does

• Damage rises by 1% per degree plus a flat +1 for every 10 degrees.
• Pierce rises by 1% per degree plus a small flat bonus.
• Attack speed and ability cooldowns improve steadily.
• Every 20 degrees (20, 40, 60, 80, 100) the Paragon gets a new look and an extra 25% damage multiplier against Boss Bloons.
• Degree 100 doubles base damage and pierce on top of a flat bonus.

Cash alone can reach about degree 65, and damage alone about degree 81. Max both and you have 205,000 power, enough for degree 100 in single player without any totems. Gains get smaller as you climb, so two mid-degree Paragons often beat one maxed one.

All 14 Paragons

Prices are for Medium difficulty. On Easy they cost 15% less, on Hard 8% more and on Impoppable 20% more.

• Apex Plasma Master: Dart Monkey, $150,000, added in version 27.0
• Glaive Dominus: Boomerang Monkey, $375,000, version 27.0
• Ascended Shadow: Ninja Monkey, $500,000, version 28.0
• Navarch of the Seas: Monkey Buccaneer, $550,000, version 29.0
• Master Builder: Engineer Monkey, $600,000, version 32.0
• Goliath Doomship: Monkey Ace, $900,000, version 33.0
• Magus Perfectus: Wizard Monkey, $800,000, version 37.0
• Nautic Siege Core: Monkey Sub, $400,000, version 41.0
• Crucible of Steel and Flame: Tack Shooter, $200,000, version 46.0
• Mega Massive Munitions Factory: Spike Factory, $750,000, version 48.0
• Ballistic Obliteration Missile Bunker: Bomb Shooter, $650,000, version 51.0
• Herald of Everfrost: Ice Monkey, $300,000, version 52.0
• Root of All Nature: Druid, $475,000, version 54.0
• S.P.I.D.E.R. Monkey: Sniper Monkey, $800,000, version 57.0

Which modes allow Paragons?

• All regular difficulties and modes, as long as the tower and its tier 5s are allowed. In Primary, Military or Magic Monkeys Only you can only build Paragons of towers from that category.
• CHIMPS technically allows them, but saving hundreds of thousands of dollars without income tricks is rarely realistic.
• Sandbox only offers a Paragon after you have built it at least once in a normal game. The Challenge Editor has no such restriction.
• Boss Events usually limit you to four Paragons per player at once, depending on the event.
• Challenges and events can disable Paragons or specific tier 5s through their rules.
• Rogue Legends allows Paragons at half price, and they are affected by artifacts there.

Paragon tips

• Build the tier 5s early and let them work. Damage and income from the absorbed towers count for a lot of power, so towers that have been popping for many rounds make a better Paragon than fresh ones.
• Income counts too. Merchantmen feed the Navarch of the Seas, and Bloon Traps feed the Master Builder through their income counters.
• Unlock Paragon of Power. This Monkey Knowledge makes Paragons attack about 20% faster while no tier 5 of the same tower is on the map, so do not rebuild tier 5s next to your Paragon against Bosses.
• Use totems on expensive Paragons. Geraldo's totems give more power per dollar than cash investment on every Paragon except the cheap Apex Plasma Master and Crucible of Steel and Flame. Place them right before you upgrade, since the next Paragon absorbs all of them.
• Aim for multiples of 20 against Bosses. Each step of 20 adds the Boss damage multiplier, so degree 60 is a much bigger jump than degree 59.
• Watch Big Bloon Sabotage. That knowledge lowers blimp health, which means fewer damage points for your Paragon. Some players switch it off in Boss Events.

For full Boss Event setups with Paragons, check the BTD6 Master YouTube channel.

Frequently asked questions

How many Paragons are in BTD6?

There are 14 Paragons as of version 57.0, the latest being the S.P.I.D.E.R. Monkey for the Sniper Monkey.

How do you get a Paragon in BTD6?

Unlock all of a tower's upgrades and then the Paragon with tower XP. In a game, place all three tier 5s of that tower and buy the Paragon upgrade on one of them.

Can you have two Paragons of the same tower?

No. Only one Paragon of each type can exist, even in co-op, but you can have Paragons of different towers at the same time.

How do you get a degree 100 Paragon?

Max out both the cash category (about four times the Paragon's price in absorbed towers or slider cash) and the damage category (about 22.5 million damage), or add Geraldo's Paragon Power Totems to make up the difference.

Do upgrades on sacrificed towers still raise the degree?

Not since version 57.0. Cash spent, extra tier 5s, damage and income, and totems are the only sources now.

Can you build Paragons in CHIMPS?

Yes, they are allowed, but the cost makes them impractical in most CHIMPS games.

Do Powers like Monkey Boost affect Paragons?

No. Paragons ignore all Powers, including Monkey Boost and Time Stop.