Bloons TD6 - Beast Handler guide
One of the latest additions in the world of Bloons TD is a Beast Handler Monkey. Today you'll learn how to use it efficiently
In the world of monkeys vs balloons, choking hazards vs primates, there may be no room for a third party. But the Beast Handler defies that standard and dares to ask, “What if a monkey could command a dinosaur to destroy a balloon?”
Well, we’re here to answer that question and give you a basic guide on how to use the Beast Handler Monkey in Bloons TD6. So if you’re a fan of Ninja Kiwi’s simian strategy game, or even a complete newcomer then here’s what you need to know.
What is Bloons?
Bloons is a mobile tower defence game where you control a squadron of monkeys that aim to destroy an advancing wave of, well, balloons. But while it might start off simple, with one monkey shooting blow darts at a few of these brightly coloured objects, it quickly escalates into all-out warfare with magic missiles being thrown and zeppelin-sized balloons creeping towards your base.
You place your monkeys aside on three separate paths that lead to the end goal. Naturally, your job is to prevent them from reaching this. Each monkey has a variety of different capabilities and stats that will affect how they deal with encroaching enemies.
With that in mind, there’s a surprising depth of strategy here, and one of the newest changes - relatively so, added in April 2023 - to that ongoing meta has been the Beast Handler monkey.
What does the Beast Handler do?
Initially, the Beast Handler is relatively weak, shooting small projectiles that do low damage. That’s because it’s meant to actually function as a support monkey, instead of doing direct damage. The Beast Master’s real strength comes from its ability to summon and place beasts on one of the three paths on the map.
The first path features aquatic animals that need nearby water and do high single-target damage. The second path features dinosaurs of varying types which focus on doing damage to multiple targets. And the final, third, path features airborne birds which can move the bloons to different tracks, letting you spread out their assault if necessary.
To place beasts you simply follow the usual process of upgrading your monkey. In this case, you’ll first get access to the weakest beast, for example, a piranha if you’re using the first path. As you progress you’ll unlock progressively stronger and stronger versions, like the Velociraptor for path two. Eventually, you’ll reach the final form, Pouakai on path three (it’s a type of giant killer bird in Maori mythology, if you didn’t know.)
Strategy
On their own, Beast Handlers are not necessarily the most powerful. However, up to five of them can be grouped together to ‘handle’ a single beast and boost its power. This means that if you play your cards - or monkeys - right you can effectively close off a single lane to enemy bloons, at least until the arrival of bosses like Bloonarius.
Early on the Beast Handler does do at least some damage, but you’ll ideally want to get a beast upgrade as soon as possible. You also don’t need to buy a straight upgrade each time, as you can actually merge two beasts of a lower tier into a higher-tier beast. For example, two tier-1s make a tier-2 and so on. You can also reposition beasts if necessary anywhere within range, if you pair more than one beast handler then you can place them anywhere within that group’s range.
For more info on Bloons TD6 to make you the best monkey commander there is, we have a BTD6 hero tier list!
