Rogue Legends

Rogue Legends is a roguelike expansion for BTD6, added in version 47.0 as the first of the Legends DLC campaigns. Instead of picking any tower you like, you build a party of Insta Monkeys during a run, move across a hex map of tiles, fight short BTD6 games and collect Artifacts that change how your towers work. Every run is different, and the challenge is making the most of what the run gives you.

It is a paid DLC with an official price of 9.99 USD, though the real price depends on platform and region. You can try a demo first through the Rogue Legends Preview quest in the Quests menu.

How a Rogue Legends run works

The campaign

A campaign has four stages. Each stage is a grid of hexagonal tiles, and you move your monkey one tile at a time along the paths shown by a blue wisp. You cannot go back, so every step is a choice. Some layouts give you two starting points or branching routes, but every route ends at the stage's Final Boss. Beat the fourth Final Boss and you win the campaign.

Hearts

You have five hearts, separate from in-game lives. You lose a heart when you lose a Bloon Encounter or a Final Boss, or when you pay to retry a Mini Game or Mini Boss. With at least two hearts left, you can also spend one to skip a Bloon Encounter entirely. Run out of hearts and the campaign is over.

Insta Monkeys and the party

You cannot use your normal tower list or your main game Powers. Instead, your party holds up to 10 Insta Monkeys, and those are the only towers you can place. In Rogue Legends, Instas cost cash to place. The placement price is discounted (from 10% off for a base tower up to 50% off for a tier 5), but further upgrades cost more than usual, from +15% at tier 1 to +40% at tier 5. Paragons are 50% cheaper. Each Insta is reusable, but after using it you must wait four rounds before placing it again.

During battles you also earn temporary Boosts every few rounds. They can raise damage, range or pierce, or give a one-use Power or Insta Monkey for the rest of that game only.

Heroes and starting parties

Before a run you pick a hero, and that choice decides your starting party: the hero, two specific Insta Monkeys and a unique Hero Artifact. Hero skins that can be bought with Monkey Money have their own, different starting parties, which gives you even more ways to open a run. Every hero page in our Pedia lists its Rogue Legends starting parties, so check them before choosing.

You can also add Permanent Artifacts to your starting party. Each Artifact has an Artifact Power value that sets its cost, and your starting Artifact Power budget limits what you can bring. You collect more Permanent Artifacts by extracting one from your inventory after beating a Final Boss.

Artifacts

Artifacts are the heart of Rogue Legends. They give passive bonuses to certain towers, heroes or your whole party. Some also have a drawback, and some add Insta Monkeys to your party. Most come in three rarities, Common, Rare and Legendary, with stronger effects at higher rarity. You can hold up to 50 Artifacts in one campaign and discard any of them at any time.

The best Artifacts are the ones that support towers you already have. A Legendary Artifact for a tower type you never get is worth less than a Common one that boosts your main damage dealer, though even unused Artifacts are good trade value at Merchants.

Tile types

• Bloon Encounters: standard battles on a random map with custom rounds. Monkey Knowledge, Double Cash and Fast Track are disabled. Winning gives Tokens and Rogue XP. Some encounters add special modifiers, shown by the bloon floating above the tile.
• Mini Games: optional challenges with three score goals. The goal you reach decides whether you choose from Common, Rare or Legendary Artifacts. Failing costs no heart.
• Mini Bosses: like Mini Games, but in a Boss Rush style fight against any boss except Vortex. Powers work normally here.
• Loot Chests: pick one of three Artifacts.
• Merchants: trade Tokens and Artifacts for up to four new Artifacts from a list of eight.
• Camp Fires: choose one effect: Recruit a new Insta, Mentor an Insta to raise one path by a tier (up to tier 4), Enhance a Common Artifact to Rare, or Heal hearts.
• Legendary Augments: two glowing tiles per stage with upgraded rewards, such as Legendary Artifacts or tier 5 Instas.
• Final Boss: a Boss Bloon fight that ends each stage. It uses the Normal version on stage 1 and the Elite version from stage 2, with the boss tier equal to the stage number. Win to earn a Boss Artifact; lose and you drop a heart.

How difficulty scales

Every Bloon Encounter you clear raises the run's difficulty by one. That number increases bloon speed and health and pushes the start and end rounds later. Harder maps reduce the scaling a little, but the more encounters you take, the tougher everything after becomes, Final Bosses included.

Tips for winning runs

1. Take risks early, play safe late. In the first stages, longer routes with more tiles mean more Artifacts and Tokens while the scaling is still low. Later, choose shorter paths with fewer encounters.
2. Cover Camo and Lead. Check your starting party for Camo and Lead answers. If you lack one, use Camp Fires and Merchants to fix it early.
3. Plan for the next boss. Final Bosses use their full mechanics. A tower from a different category helps against Dreadbloon's immunities, for example.
4. Mentor towers you upgrade often. Mentoring adds a tier to an Insta permanently, so you stop paying the inflated upgrade price for it in every fight. Watch that the placement cost does not climb above your starting cash, and avoid locking a tower out of the crosspath you want.
5. Route toward Legendary tiles. They can snowball a run with Legendary Artifacts and tier 5 Instas.
6. Mind your pierce. Later rounds throw dense groups at you, and towers with low pierce get overwhelmed.

Rogue XP, Feats and CHIMPS mode

Clearing tiles, opening chests and trading earn Rogue XP. After a run ends, win or lose, spend it in the Rogue XP Shop on permanent bonuses such as more starting Artifact Power, starting cash, hero XP and recruit rerolls. Rogue Feats are achievement-style goals that add medals to your profile.

Beating stage 4 for the first time unlocks CHIMPS mode. Despite the name, it is not played as normal CHIMPS: it uses Hard difficulty, two hearts, a party limit of eight, 85% starting cash and pricier rerolls. You can add optional Curses, such as No Selling or faster bloons, for extra Rogue XP. A Practice mode also lets you test a starting party on any map for rounds 1 to 65.

For a full walkthrough, see our videos on the BTD6 Master YouTube channel.

Frequently asked questions

Is Rogue Legends free in BTD6?

No. It is a paid DLC with an official price of 9.99 USD, varying by platform and region. A free demo is available through the Rogue Legends Preview quest.

How many stages are in a Rogue Legends campaign?

Four. Each stage ends with a Final Boss that you must beat to move on.

What are starting parties in Rogue Legends?

Your starting party is your hero, two Insta Monkeys and a Hero Artifact. Each hero and most purchasable skins have a different one.

How many hearts do you get in Rogue Legends?

Five in a normal campaign and two in CHIMPS mode. You lose one for each lost encounter or Final Boss.

Can you use Monkey Knowledge in Rogue Legends?

No. Monkey Knowledge is disabled in Bloon Encounters. Rogue XP Shop upgrades act as your permanent progression instead.

What is the best hero for Rogue Legends?

The one whose starting party and Hero Artifact fit your style. Pick a hero whose two Instas give early damage plus a path to Camo and Lead coverage.