Be the Citys Villain What to Buy With Bounty

Bounty in Be the Citys Villain is a mid-run currency. You earn it by collapsing the city, you spend it without returning to a lobby, and the army does not pause while you window-shop. This page is the buy order. The powers tier list is the why. The bounty spend guide is the checkbox version you can glance at between slams.

This is community meta guidance, not a No brainer studio skill tree. Node names in the live HUD can differ; the axes do not: mobility (Flight), ranged destruction (Heat Vision), area collapse (Ground Slam), burst (Chest Blast).

Rule zero: spend before you are already losing

The worst habit in this game is banking bounty “for a big slam buy” while a gunship is already on station. A small Flight node now beats a large crater node after you are in the respawn queue. If the upgrade panel is a long animation, open it on a roof, not in an intersection.

Second habit to kill: spending every point the moment it appears. Cross a wanted breakpoint with a stored Chest Blast buy if 55 / 75 / 90 is close. Breakpoints are scheduled; your shopping can be too.

Early (wanted 0–40): seed, then leave the street

Goal. Fund a stable takeoff and a laser that works from a hover. Do not max slam.

Buy order.

1. One or two Ground Slam or close Heat Vision nodes if you need seed income and the street is empty. This is the only window where slam-first is correct.
2. Flight until you can take off immediately after a slam and hold a hover without drifting into a facade.
3. Heat Vision until a single building does not require you to stand on the sidewalk.
4. Stop. Do not complete the slam track just because the button is glowing.

Why this order. Early army is light. You can afford a couple of committed slams. You cannot afford to arrive at 40 with a huge crater and a hover that feels like swimming in glue. Getting Started is the full first-run version of this section.

Spend trigger. After two quiet blocks, open the shop. If you still have zero Flight buys and the wanted meter is already in the teens, you are late.

Mid (wanted 40–54): become an airborne demolitionist

Goal. Heat Vision does the farming. Flight does the positioning. Slam becomes a treat, not a job.

Buy order.

1. Flight air control / speed if you still lose hover in a turn.
2. Heat Vision range, then damage. Range is survival; damage is wanted speed.
3. One slam node only if you have a district with no armor in sight.
4. First meaningful Chest Blast node. You want it in pocket before 55, not during the rival cut-in.

Why this order. Wanted 55 is the first hunter. Players who “feel fine” at 50 with a slam-only kit are about to donate a run. Mid-game is where the survive the army habits have to already exist: do not hover in a straight line, do not slam into tanks, do not dump blast on lamp posts.

Spend trigger. Every time you clear a block and the sky is still empty, shop. If gunships are up, shop on the far side of a high roof, then move. Standing still is how mid-game ends.

Late (wanted 55–89): buy the breakpoint, then the farm

Goal. Survive rival supers at 55 and 75, then keep wanted climbing toward 90 without becoming a ground target.

Buy order.

1. Chest Blast if you skipped it. Hunters are the content now.
2. Flight — whatever node makes chase-downs fail. Extra hover stamina, extra takeoff, extra speed; take the one that matches how you actually die.
3. Heat Vision damage so you can farm while kiting, not in a separate peaceful phase that no longer exists.
4. Slam only if you can slam-to-takeoff as a reflex. If your slam deaths outnumber your slam bounty, stop buying it.

Why this order. Late-game slam radius looks impressive in the kill feed of a building. It looks less impressive when a rival super meets you in the dust cloud. Laser plus blast plus an exit is the kit that actually sees 90.

Co-op pairs can keep a slam specialist, but that specialist still buys Flight. Role split is in co-op tips.

End (wanted 90–99 and endless): stop chasing a dump stat

Goal. Finish 99, then decide whether to keep going. The game is endless; your ego does not have to be.

Buy order.

1. Whatever you died to last. Gunship? Flight and irregular hover paths. Mech? Range and blast. Rival? Blast and altitude.
2. Heat Vision if wanted has stalled because you are too busy kiting to farm.
3. Ignore slam “completionism.” A maxed crater is a cosmetic for the rubble.

After 99 you can play greedy. Until the win ticks, play scared and rich in mobility. The route is Reach Wanted 99.

What not to buy (or not yet)

• All four max tracks. You will not have the bounty, and the army will not wait.
• Slam radius before Flight takeoff. Classic trap.
• Chest Blast spam nodes for sidewalk trash. Save burst for hunters.
• Panic random clicks during a chase. If you cannot shop safely, fly first, shop after the rival drops off.
• Anything a script thumbnail told you was a hidden stat. There is no verified injector kit. Spend on the four real powers.

Codes, when they exist, are just extra bounty. Redeem on the codes flow, then return to this order. Do not let a gift derail the plan into a slam-only meme run unless you are still under wanted 20.

Quick order card

1. Seed slam or close laser (optional, wanted under ~15).
2. Flight takeoff + hover.
3. Heat Vision range → damage.
4. Chest Blast before 55.
5. Flight again whenever deaths say so.
6. Slam only with an exit.
7. At 90+, buy the thing that just killed you.

Print that in your head. Then go make the city pay for it.