Bloons TD 6: Geraldo Tier Specials Guide

Dart Monkey
While it is possible to upgrade sharp shots or crossbow, the main use of [G] upgrades on dart monkeys is the triple shots upgrade.

Triple shots can be upgraded, gaining 1 pierce from 3 -> 4 for its three projectiles and benefits most from the early game G1 upgrade and not G2 as these monkeys can be converted into super monkeys later with the cape upgrade.

Boomerang Monkey
The G upgrades for the boomerang make it very easy to decide what crosspaths the 5th tier monkeys will get, as the hot rangs upgrade prevents G tiers. This is great since both of these 5th tiers are already extremely good, particularly the Glaive lord.

Glaive lord gets a small boost, meanwhile perma charge gets a very meaningful increase in overall damage as pierce is typically what it ends up lacking. Highly recommended to use either of these with the [G2] upgrade in the late game.

Bomb Shooter
The newly buffed fragments upgrade is very good, however Geraldo can buff them even more!

This makes the 0-3-2 mauler a very tempting option as the extra overall damage can allow it to hit harder than the top path Crosspath situationally although the range is still more important in deciding which path to pick. Meanwhile the top path 4th tier frags is… well not really very good, even with Geraldos buffs.

It would still not be recommended to use the top path with frags at tier 5 though as the fire rate is better for impact. Keep in mind you will have to wait until G2 for the upgrades to be worthwhile.

Tack Shooter
The tack shooter unsurprisingly is the best tower to pair with Geraldo, so much so that Geraldo can make the tack zone the single best tower in the game on single track maps. The permanent buffs to tack zone allow it to reach obscene performance, meanwhile the buffs to blade shooter make saving up for super malestorm a little easier.

Tackzone is highly recommended for any stage of the game and with the [G2] upgrade it can solo the game on some earlier maps, particularly with pickles and totem.
This combo will likely become the normal way to complete the expert map, workshop, in tandem with Glaive lord.

Ice Monkey
The buff here is actually quite interesting and ludicriously strong, but only for the 4th tier. It causes the icicles to gain an additional point of damage on impact, which vastly increases the damage output. Meanwhile impale (exclusively crosspathed 0-2-5) gains a somewhat insignificant buff since it only applies to the icicle shards, although it could offer some value in the future for getting pops towards an ice paragon.

The military towers overall gain the most from geraldo, almost every tower has meaningful synergy and the increases in overall damage are extraordinary, particularly as many of the towers that can get buffed are already meta towers in a wide array of expert chimps maps.

Sniper Monkey
Probably the best overall tower in the game, sniper monkeys have an answer for the early, mid and lategame, but it is the midgame carry towers that Geraldo can affect.

The bouncing bullet gains a horrifically large power increase, on r76 for example the G2 bouncing bullet gains a 300% increase in damage output compared to the regular 0-3-2 bouncing bullet with the variation getting only more extreme at 4th tier, now being a 150% buff against r98 which is very meaningful in practice.

With alchemists present, the gap is lesser, although the real terms increases are just as large, under Bbrew, the 0-3-2 bouncing bullet dealt around twice as much damage against r78 and the supply drop did 50% more damage.

As for the elite sniper, well as much as it shocks me to say this, it can solo r98 on resort thanks to its massive increase in damage, it would seem like this pierce increase actually makes the bullets bounce another time which increases the [] count of the tower by 1 ontop of adding 1 pierce and damage to all shrapnel.

While elite defender does also see massive gains, it is generally inferior to the elite sniper.

Monkey Sub
The main gains here are to the air-burst darts which now enjoy more pierce and damage, this makes the sub commander even stronger than before and can make Geraldo a better hero for subs than Brickbell since the G upgrades are permanent and not temporary buffs.

Under an Alch buff, the commander and his sub were able to solo r98 on resort, versus leaving mostly Moabs and ceramics to leak without.

The top path can also get G1 in order to help save up for the reactor sub if going for 4-0-2.

Monkey Buccaneer
Hot shots are bad. Used to be a meme but now its true. Adding hot shots to the destroyer stops the grapes getting the G upgrade, so instead use many buccs and go for a MIB to add lead popping, the difference in damage is well… extraordinary.

Under just jungle drums, the G2 destroyer deals around 2.5x damage thanks to its doubled damage and pierce on grapeshot versus r98, this can also help save up for Permabrew.

The upgrade also carries over to the aircraft carrier, since G upgrades also apply to sub-towers and minions, the aces from the carrier actually receive a buff too, which makes the 4-1-0 bucc deal twice as much damage compared to the hot shot version. Purple boats ftw it seems.

As for other paths, the extra grape upgrade works a treat on the trade empire as it can allow the trade convoy to need far less support before round 80, making the economy better on the boats. Just remember you will need a MIB for them if you are using G upgrades on the boats instead of hot shots.

Monkey Ace
Finally, a hero that might finally make never-miss viable on true expert maps! No but in all seriousness the G upgrades are incredible when used on aces, the middle path is largely a waste of the stones however the top path loves the extra pierce when saving up for a sky shredder, especially at G2 shortly before buying. Note that due to the shredder being normal type, this buff will be lost.

Meanwhile the G2 upgrade gives the never-miss that little spice it needed to carry on harder maps, with the overall buff provided being more than a 50% firepower gain with alchemists present and while less important, the G1 upgrade adds a nice 10%~ buff for a low price in the early game, although how useful this actually is would be debatable.

Heli Pilot
Well then, this is the big one. Not only does G1 and G2 make saving up for Apache prime very easy, the fact this upgrade is allowed to affect sub towers makes Comanche commander a genuinely viable option.

For Apache the G1 upgrade actually isnt very significant, but rather the G2 upgrade is closer to when you would afford prime in the early 80s as the buff makes the last few rounds before prime a breeze. Against 84 for example, the G2 Apache saw a 40% damage increase against its regular counterpart.

As for Comanche commander, well frankly its back on the menu, the damage increase here is incredible, from under 120k damage on r98 to well over 170k with the main Comanche out of the way, its very clear the power jump could make this tower useful on maps where it previously lacked the damage output to be the main tower, although it is still inferior to Apache prime.

One last thing you might not have considered is the buff to the Comanche defence, this upgrade is now worthwhile under the G2 buff if you happen to have a moab shove anyway. Even if you wont be buying a Comanche Commander.

Dartling Gunner
Well this is an awkward finish, unlike the other military monkeys this is very much an early game fix, you can buy the G1 upgrade to help save up for a laser cannon or hydra pods, but do note that none of the higher level Dartlings can get these new upgrades.

Imagine if Obyn was actually a useful hero for buffing magic monkeys, wow what a strange idea. Anyway Geraldo is much better than Obyn with magic monkeys, barring only high tiered super monkeys and frankly Geraldo makes him irrelevant in normal gameplay.Super Monkey
By an absolute landslide the most important tower for Geraldo, these monkeys can be converted from your early game dart monkeys which are often annoying and in the way when playing chimps to now very useful t3 limited super monkeys!

Perhaps and not surprisingly the most important super monkey is the “Geraldo Special”, the 0-3-2 super monkey, which is no longer a meme crosspath, instead trading damage for its knockback ability which can be valuable if you don’t plan on making any dark knights.

As for the other crosspath… eww… don’t make 0-2-3 super monkeys.

Ninja Monkey
Remember when Obyn gave ninjas pierce in the early game and it was really overpowered… Haha…

Starting at 3-0-2, your ninja will gain up to a 1/3rd increase in power from G1, with the 4th tier really showing the gains with G1 in the midgame, with this new power making the Grandmaster much easier to go into and the damage gains at G2 for both the 4th and 5th tier being absolutely incredible. Grandmaster will find it much easier to solo maps like dark castle.

As for other paths, while they can be buffed, it is only the shuriken and caltrops that get increases, so they don’t gain as much as the top path.

Druid Monkey
Remember when Obyn got reworked into a druid buffing hero… Do you see where this is going? Dont use Obyn!

While Obyn provides a better earlygame buff to druids, the G2 upgrade providing +1 damage is incredibly tempting, even with Obyn providing buckets of pierce. Remember, pierce is situational but damage is always useful.

With the druids, the bottom path is the main use case, more specifically on a 6 pack of Poplusts who will enjoy the massive stat bumps from G2. Crosspath them 0-2-4.

At the end of the road are the support towers, there are not very many towers to go over here since geraldo helps the support towers primarily with fertiliser.Spike Factory
The last important tower to consider, not atall for G1, but for perma spike and carpet of spikes at G2.

Perma spike gains +1 damage and +1 pierce per pile, which is great and it can add several thousand to the capacity of its pile, making it even easier to use as a super ceramic sponge in chimps, or just a convenient way to dispose of DDTs without having to worry about them much.

Anyway since there are only three upgrades here to look over, here they all are (at all levels)

Spike storm: G1 does provide an increase in damage, but not much, raising the full damage of its ability from 4,400 to 4,800 (+9%) on 1-4-0 and from 4,450~ to 5,200~ with smart activation (0-4-2), but where its really at is G2, which raises the damage MUCH more, from 4,400 (1-4-0) to a crazy 8,000 damage (+81%) and the smart activation from 4,450 to an even more ridiculous 8,200~ (+85%)
*Note: Smart spike storm is janky af, it does not produce consistent values.

So with this in mind, and remember this is NOT including Geraldos pickles or a village, with those buffs the spike storm (0-4-2) can deal a rather eye watering 38,000 damage (against round 98).

On the other hand, carpet of spikes with just the G2 buff reaches a rather inspiring 18,800 up from the default 12,900 (1-5-2). Adding pickles raises the base to 19,440.

Ok so, the last spike factory to speak of and perhaps the most important, Perma-Spike
Under its normal village and alchemist combo, its spike pile reaches 93,852 after 5 minutes of being left alone with fast forwards, But with the G2 buff it now reaches 104,280 instead, an increase of 11.1%, which is a very nice buff for an already strong spike factory.

Engineer Monkey
The monkey engineer is a bit of a missed opportunity, it lacks the ability to carry G buffs to higher tiers in a meaningful way, instead you can buff the third tier top and middle paths, perhaps to help in the early game. Ironically the G1 buff on the 2-3-0 engineer seems like the most beneficial use case.

With the 3-0-0 engineer, you will see a 33% increase in max damage, while at G2 you can get a much larger 300% firepower increase. Even with this big raise, the damage of the engineer at the point of the game where G2 becomes available is irrelevantly low.

On the other hand, the G1 buff on 2-3-0 will provide a flat 50% increase in sentry pierce and +1 to each blob of foam, which is very helpful for removing special bloon properties.

Shooty Turrets
Geraldo allows you to build a brand new tower called the Shooty Turret, they have 10 base pierce so G1 upgrades provide a potential 10% damage boost, while G2 increases the damage by 50% for low level ones and 25% for high level ones ontop of the pierce.

In general it is quite a waste to use the sharpening stones on Shooty turrets, you are better not using them until there are other towers to apply them to.

Ok so in co-op, you can buff a limited number of heroes, some of them are actually quite large buffs.

Quincy
Quincy… is a bad hero, even with Geraldo buffing the pierce and damage of his arrows he will still contribute little, even if levelled up with an energiser or spending. It is however a good use of a sharpening stone.

Sauda
In the early game, you can throw a G1 sharpening stone at Sauda, since her attacks have quite high pierce it wont make a huge difference, but its still helpful. She loses this buff at level 7.

Brickbell
Just because you can buff Brickbell at G2, does not mean it is a good use of money! This one is so bad its actually just a waste of resources since it only applies to her weak pistol.

Churchill
Also G2 only, Churchills gun at least shoots fast enough to do something useful, this one is somewhat questionable all round though.

Etienne
Geraldo has found a new best friend! A Hero with a large number of low pierce drones that struggles due to a lack of pierce buffs? Now that sounds like a good use of sharpening stones! The buff even applies to the drone swarm ability, so you provide a massive buff to Etienne, especially at G2, helping him immensely while UCAV is off cooldown.