Unlock and Build Requirements
Each Paragon has a tower XP requirement before the Paragon upgrade is available. The upgrade also has a cash price that changes by difficulty, so the selected difficulty matters for v39.0+ cash power calculations.
To create the Paragon, the tower family needs its three Tier 5 paths represented. Those required Tier 5 towers enable the Paragon; they are not counted as extra Tier 5 towers for the extra Tier 5 power category.
Inputs That Affect Degree
After the Paragon can be created, its degree is influenced by capped power categories: extra Tier 5 towers, non-T5 upgrade tiers, cash sacrifices and cash slider investment, pops and bonus income, and Paragon Power Totems.
Non-T5 upgrade tiers are counted as actual upgrade tiers below Tier 5. A 4-2-0 tower contributes 6 non-T5 tiers. A 5-x-x Tier 5 path is part of the creation requirement, but additional non-T5 tiers on sacrificed towers still matter within the 10,000 power cap.
Version and Difficulty Checks
Use v39.0+ rules for current BTD6 planning. Legacy pre-v39.0 behavior should be treated as an estimate unless you are intentionally reviewing an older version of the game.
Because v39.0+ cash power depends on Paragon price, changing difficulty changes how much placed cash or cash slider investment is needed to reach the shared cash cap.