Heroes are BTD6's replacement for the "more towers" endgame of older titles: seventeen named characters, each with a distinct ability kit, and one allowed per game. The roster has kept growing for years, which is why the count changed from nine to seventeen without anyone announcing a milestone.
How heroes work
- You deploy one Hero per game. No exceptions, no second slot, no swapping mid-match.
- Heroes level automatically from pops they and nearby towers earn, gaining new abilities at fixed levels and peaking at the high twenties.
- There are no upgrade paths for heroes, unlike the 25 towers on the towers page. Their progression is fixed per character, which makes hero choice a build-defining decision rather than a build you shape.
- Heroes are unlocked with Monkey Money earned in normal play, with a few tied to special conditions. Which version added which hero is on the updates page.
The newest heroes
Two recent additions show how the roster keeps evolving:
- Silas, the Ice Shaper (v50.0): an ice-themed hero that empowers Ice Monkeys and detects camo bloons.
- He-Man (v55.0): the closing piece of the Mattel collaboration, unusual for playing as two characters, with Prince Adam deployed and the ability to transform into He-Man mid-match.
Why we are publishing the roster slowly
Seventeen names exist, and most are stable, but hero unlock costs and level milestones are exactly the kind of numbers that drift between versions and between platforms. We are verifying each entry against in-game records before publishing the full table, and our tier list page will inherit that verified roster.
⚠️ Unconfirmed. Community hero usage discussions are loud but not data. When we publish tier rankings, they will carry a version label and an evaluation date, and this page will link them.
Watch: a community hero tier list
We do not publish tier placements ourselves until the tier list page is ready, but this video by Tower Defence Analyst ranks every Hero from D to S and is a fair example of how the community argues about them. The placements are the creator's judgment, not verified fact. Our page sticks to what official sources say.
FAQ
How many heroes are in Bloons TD 6?
17 per the official store listing as of September 2026. Older counts of 9, 14 or 16 come from previous years of store copy.
Can I use two heroes in one game?
No. One Hero per game is a hard rule of BTD6, in every mode that uses standard rules.
Who is the best hero?
It depends on the map, the mode and your build, and the honest answer changes with balance patches. Community consensus exists, and we will publish it with a version label on the tier list page once the roster verification is done.