Bloons TD 6
Cartoon-style image of a monkey character dressed as a cowboy with a red bandana and brown hat, saluting with one hand. Bold red and white text reads: 'DESPERADO HOW TO UNLOCK,' with a curved arrow pointing to the character. The background shows a desert landscape with mountains and a sunset sky

How To Unlock Desperado

Learn how to unlock the Desperado tower fast in BTD6! This step-by-step guide shows you an efficient strategy using no Monkey Knowledge, focusing on pop farming up to round 76. Includes tower placements, upgrades, and timing tips to get Desperado unlocked quickly and easily.

June 23, 2025
Cartoon-style image of a monkey character dressed as a cowboy with a red bandana and brown hat, saluting with one hand. Bold red and white text reads: 'DESPERADO HOW TO UNLOCK,' with a curved arrow pointing to the character. The background shows a desert landscape with mountains and a sunset sky

How To Unlock Desperado

Want to unlock the new tower Desperado quickly in Bloons TD 6? This guide shows you how to do it efficiently, even without using any Monkey Knowledge. This method also works great for unlocking any other tower that requires a large number of pops.

Requirements

To unlock Desperado in BTD6, you’ll need to click on the Gift icon in the Main Menu (note: you must be at least level 30 to see it). Select Desperado as the active tower to start contributing Pops toward its unlock. To fully unlock Desperado, you need to accumulate 3.5 million Pops.

Screenshot of the main menu in BTD6 showing a prompt to "Unlock at level 30" with a gift icon in the center, used to access the screen for unlocking new towers.
Accessing Tower Unlocks
Image showing the in-game menu to select a monkey for pops to unlock new towers faster in BTD6, featuring the Dartling Gunner, Beast Handler, and Mermonkey, with an emphasis on reaching 3 million pops for each
Selecting the tower to which the pops will contribute

Difference Between Pop Count and Total Damage

You might be thinking that you can just do a high-round run, but the damage you see on the towers doesn't equate to the actual total pop count. In the image, you can see an example of a run with only two towers, and it shows that the total damage is much higher than the pop count we achieved.

Image comparing Pop Count and Total Damage in BTD6, featuring a detailed end-game screen showing statistics for the player's towers, including pop count, total damage, and cash generated.
Pop Count vs Total Damage

As you can see in the table below, here is the approximate figure of how many pops you will earn based on the rounds played.

A table listing the rounded earnings by round in BTD6, with earnings increasing incrementally from round 80 to round 130.
Total Pops Earned by Specific Rounds

The Regrow Farm Trick: A Step-by-Step Guide

The trick to AFK farm monkey pops is to create a Regrow Farm. Regrow farms can be created in rounds that contain a lot of regrow bloons. They used to be used to farm XP for paragons and tower upgrades, but that has been patched. However, we can still use them to farm Bloon Pops. We will be using round 76, which contains 60 Regrow Ceramics. Let’s use a really easy map called Resort on Medium Standard difficulty.

Screenshot of a regrow farm strategy in round 86 on a beach map in BTD6. The setup includes a Downdraft Heli Pilot, Glue Strike Glue Gunner, Crossbow Master Dart Monkey, all buffed with a Monkey Village and an Alchemist, with regrowing heart balloons surrounding the defenses.
Regrow Farm

Instructions: The round guide indicates when to make purchases. For example, "Round 3" means to buy at the end of Round 3, between Rounds 3 and 4, unless stated otherwise. We recommend disabling Auto Start for easier following.

A settings menu screenshot from "Bloons TD 6" in Hard difficulty mode. The "Auto Start" feature is toggled off.
Auto Start Disabled

Round Guide - Resort Medium Standard

First, you’ll need to reach round 60, select Freeplay, and then continue to round 75. At the end of round 75, just before round 76, we will set up the farm. Below is an easy guide to help you reach round 75, which you can skip here.

Round 1

  • Buy Quincy

Quincy is a reliable hero who can detect camo bloons and deal good damage to MOABs.

BTD6 game screen at round 1, featuring the hero Quincy placed near a pool on a resort map. Quincy is set to target the first bloons, with the surrounding environment including beach-themed elements like towels and a palm tree.
Round 1: Buy Quincy

Round 8

  • Buy a Boomerang Monkey and upgrade it to 2-0-2

The Boomerang Monkey will handle the Lead Bloons for us.

BTD6 gameplay screen during round 8, featuring a Boomerang Monkey placed near a pool. The left menu shows the Boomerang Monkey’s upgrades, with Glaives and Red Hot Rangs unlocked.
Round 8: Buy and upgrade a Boomerang Monkey

Round 15

  • Upgrade the Boomerang Monkey to 3-0-2

Round 19

  • Buy a Sniper Monkey and upgrade it to 0-2-0

The Sniper Monkey will be our main tower in this run, as he can handle all types of bloons with the help of the Alchemist, which we will acquire later.

BTD6 gameplay screen during round 15, featuring a Sniper Monkey placed near a pool with a small track surrounding it. The left menu shows the Sniper Monkey's upgrade options and current stats.
Round 19: Buy and upgrade a Sniper Monkey

Round 27

  • Upgrade the Sniper Monkey to 0-2-3

Round 36

  • Upgrade the Sniper Monkey to 0-2-4
  • Buy an Alchemist, upgrade it to 2-0-0 and set its targeting to Strong
BTD6 gameplay screen during round 36, featuring an Alchemist placed near a pool. The left menu shows the Alchemist’s upgrades, including Acidic Mixture Dip and Berserker Brew, with a focus on the Alchemist's strong targeting.
Round 36: Buy and upgrade an Alchemist

Round 39

  • Upgrade the Alchemist to 4-1-0

Round 44

  • Upgrade the Boomerang Monkey to 4-0-2
  • Upgrade the Alchemist to 4-2-0

Round 50

  • Upgrade the Sniper Monkey to 0-2-5

Now you’re set to reach Round 75 without any additional tweaks. Just make sure that auto-start is disabled before then.

Round 60

Be sure to continue in Freeplay mode.

A "Victory" screen in BTD6 after completing a track on Medium difficulty. The screen shows a monkey celebrating with a "Freeplay" option highlighted at the bottom right for players who wish to continue.
Freeplay Mode

Round 75 - Regrow Farm Setup

  • 0-3-0 Heli Pilot
  • 0-4-2 Glue Gunner
  • 0-2-5 Dart Monkey
  • 4-1-0 Monkey Village
  • 4-2-0 Alchemist

Now we can set up the Regrow Farm for Round 76. First, set the Heli Pilot’s targeting to 'Lock in Place' and position him in the top right corner, centered on the small platform. Above him, place a 0-4-2 Glue Gunner, and in the bottom left corner of the map, place a 0-2-5 Dart Monkey, buffed with a Monkey Village and an Alchemist. Then, start Round 76 and let it run. When you're ready to stop, sell the Glue Gunner and Heli Pilot, and then purchase an additional 4-0-2 Boomerang Monkey or another tower to clear the remaining bloons.

BTD6 game screen showcasing a Heli Pilot with the Downdraft upgrade, locked in place over a pool in round 75. The menu on the left displays the Heli Pilot's upgrade options and stats.
Lock the Heli Pilot in place
Screenshot of a regrow farm setup on a resort map in BTD6 during round 75. The setup includes a Dart Monkey Crossbow Master, a Downdraft Heli Pilot, and a Monkey Village on the left side of the screen, with the track leading to a pool on the right.
Full Build - Regrow Farm

Regrow Farm Results

As mentioned, once you're satisfied, finish the round with additional towers, then sell them in the next round to intentionally lose. As you can see in the image, I managed to gain around 1 million pop counts in just 15 minutes of AFK-ing.

End-of-game screen in BTD6 showing a "Game Over" message with the player’s final statistics. The player, named "DOGEKING," popped 881,363 bloons with 10 towers placed, totaling 247,074 in damage and 173 MOABs popped.
Regrow Farm Results (15min)

After you've accumulated 3.5 million pops, you can then unlock Desperado by clicking on the present in the main menu of BTD6 and selecting Desperado.

BTD6 main menu with a cursor pointing at a gift box located near the Explorer Monkey. The background shows a village setting with various monkeys and menu options, including Monkeys, Heroes, Play, Play Social, Powers, and Knowledge.
Clicking on the Present

Support Us (Use Our Creator Code)

Consider supporting us by using our Creator Code "GameSteed" for your next BTD6 purchase. This helps us continue creating content for our Website and YouTube Channel.

Bloons TD 6 creator support screen with a message encouraging players to support their favorite creator by entering their creator code. The screen displays the text 'Support your favorite Bloons TD 6 creator by entering their creator code here. Any purchases you make in-game will support that creator as well as the Ninja Kiwi dev team!' followed by a field with the creator code 'GAMESTEED' and buttons for 'Clear' and 'Close'.
Creator Support

Check out the YouTube video covering this guide

Bloons TD 6 playlist

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Want to find even more of our content? By subscribing to our YouTube channel, you can make sure to get access to our newest guides.

SUBSCRIBE
info icon
URL copied to clipboard!