Gameplay

Every Way to Play: Modes and Difficulties

Beyond the standard difficulty ladder, Bloons TD 6 layers on Freeplay, event modes such as Odyssey and Contested Territory, challenge formats, and the two paid Legends campaign DLCs. This page maps every way to play, what each one changes, and which are free versus DLC.

Last updated & fact-checked: 2026-09-15Partially confirmed
Standard modes
Difficulty ladder + Freeplay
Event modes
Odyssey, Contested Territory, Quests
DLCs
Rogue Legends, Frontier Legends

Bloons TD 6's mode list is the game's real depth chart: a friendly difficulty ladder on the surface, a hardcore ruleset and an event ecosystem underneath, and two paid campaign DLCs on the side. This page is the map.

The standard difficulty ladder

Mid-game Bloons TD 6 round with MOAB blimps meeting a fire-based defense and the Gwendolin hero panel open
Mid-game is where MOAB-class blimps start arriving. Round 62 shown, running into a fire-based defense.

Every map offers a difficulty ladder that raises bloon speed, count and rounds as you climb, with harder maps unlocking harder settings. Beating a map's top standard setting opens Freeplay, an endless mode where rounds keep scaling past the campaign end for score and personal bests.

CHIMPS: the community's real endgame

CHIMPS is the hardcore ruleset that defines high-level play, restricting the safety nets that make normal runs forgiving: no continues, no extra lives, no bonus income, no Monkey Knowledge, no Powers and no selling. It is the mode behind most of the community's hardest achievements and records, and the strategy framework is written with it in mind.

Event and special modes

The Legends DLCs

Two paid, self-contained roguelike campaigns sit outside the main mode tree: Rogue Legends ($9.99, February 2025) and the western-themed Frontier Legends ($12.99, December 2025), with pricing detail on the price page. The Netflix edition includes Rogue Legends at no extra cost since March 2025.

⚠️ Unconfirmed. Per-mode reward tables and unlock thresholds change with balance patches and are not centrally documented by Ninja Kiwi. This page describes structure; numbers live in-game.

FAQ

What does CHIMPS stand for?

It is an acronym for its restrictions: no Continues, Hearts, Income, Monkey Knowledge, Powers, or Selling. The name is the ruleset.

Is Freeplay endless?

Yes. After a victory, Freeplay scales rounds indefinitely, and community records run into the hundreds of rounds. It exists for score chasing, not completion.

Do I need the DLCs to enjoy the game?

No. The Legends campaigns are side purchases. The base game's mode ecosystem, events and co-op do not require them.

Sources