Quick answer

BTD6 Paragon power comes from five practical buckets: cash value, pops or generated income, non-Tier-5 upgrade tiers, extra Tier 5 towers, and Geraldo Paragon Power Totems. The final degree is based on total power, but most buckets have caps, so a low bucket can hold back the result even when another bucket is already full.

Power source table

SourceRateCapWatch out for
Cash and sacrifice valueDepends on Paragon price60,000 powerManual cash uses a 5% markup; outdated prices can break estimates.
Pops or generated income180 pops or $45 income = 1 power90,000 powerFull cap equals 16.2 million pops or $4.05 million generated income.
Non-Tier-5 upgrade tiers100 power per tier10,000 powerOnly non-Tier-5 upgrade tiers count for this bucket.
Extra Tier 5 towers6,000 power per extra Tier 550,000 powerThe first three required Tier 5s are not extra Tier 5s.
Geraldo Paragon Power Totems2,000 power per totemNo source capTotal useful Paragon power still caps at 200,000.

Cash and sacrifice value

Cash power is tied to the Paragon price. This is the bucket most likely to be wrong when a calculator has not been updated after a patch. Placed same-type tower value and manual cash investment both contribute to the same cash bucket, but manual cash uses a 5% markup in the public formula.

Pops and generated income

Pops are a large part of high-degree planning. The full pop bucket is 16.2 million pops, or $4.05 million of supported generated income. If your Paragon degree is much lower than expected, missing pops are often the reason.

Upgrade tiers and extra Tier 5s

The 100-tier bucket counts non-Tier-5 upgrade tiers. A 2-4-0 tower, for example, contributes six upgrade tiers. Extra Tier 5 power is separate and only counts Tier 5 towers beyond the required three. Mixing these two ideas is one of the easiest ways to overestimate a setup.

Geraldo totems

Geraldo Paragon Power Totems add 2,000 power each. They are best used after the capped sources are full or close to full, because totems can cover the final gap to degree 100 without caring which earlier bucket was missing.

Related pages

Sources

Rates and caps are based on the public Bloons Wiki Paragons reference. TDGameTools is independent and unofficial.

Bloons Wiki Paragons

FAQ

Which BTD6 Paragon power source matters most?

It depends on what is missing. Pops and cash have large caps, but once a source is capped, the missing power must come from another bucket.

Do buffs or support towers count as Paragon sacrifice value?

The public formula focuses on same-type sacrificed towers, pops or supported income, upgrade tiers, extra Tier 5s, and totems. Treat unrelated buffs as not filling the main power buckets.

What is the total power cap for a BTD6 Paragon?

Degree 100 uses 200,000 total power. Additional power beyond that does not raise the visible degree further.