User:Qwertyxp2000 the second/Heavy Shells (MSM)

"Heavy shells do extra damage to Ceramic, Lead, all Fortified Bloons, and all stunned bloons. Can also pop Black Bloons."

- BTD6 description as of Version 17.0

Description
Heavy Shells is a monkey officer in a green military-style shirt and green beret, paired with black-barreled mortar cannon with two yellow stripes around it. The monkey stands by its barrel to continually press buttons.

During its idle animation, ...

Song
Audio sample:

Instrument: Timpani

The Heavy Shells' contribution to an island's song is a thundering drum sound of timpani, which is created when shells explode onto the ground. The monkey continually presses a button to release a shell.

Breeding
The Heavy Shells can be bred using towers that combine to provide all the elements of Ice Monkey, Heli Pilot, and Banana Farm. Possible combination(s):
 * 000-IceMonkey.png + 040-SniperMonkey.png Ice Monkey and Supply Drop
 * 000-BananaFarm.png + 003-IceMonkey.png Banana Farm and Cryo Cannon
 * 000-HeliPilot.png + 300-DartMonkey.png Heli Pilot and Spike-O-Pult

Damage Rate and Maximum Popping Power
Damage rate is in damage per second and depends on buffs (Buffs increase DPS), also each tower has a limit to how much popping power it has at a time. Increasing the tower's upgrade increases the limit.

[...]

Feeding Towers
Each tower should be supported by buffs. Good buffs include Striker Jones, Jungle Drums, Berserker Brew. Some buffs are more expensive, and may waste its damage potential.

As long as you continually make use of this tower, it should contribute to popping power. Targeting the mortar's reticle every so often should help increase its role in helping you win games.

Synergies
It favors well when paired with the following:


 * Shell Shock
 * Bloon Impact
 * Maim MOAB
 * Ice Monkey



Used in Breeding
TBA

Summary
Heavy Shells is quite expensive for a single tower with moderately slow attack speed and low accuracy, but it becomes a good low-cost option at countering early Ceramics, as well as good support at destroying groups of Black Bloon layers in earlier rounds. In addition, it has a unique synergy with stun attacks by dealing more damage to bloons inflicted by a stun status effect. Similar to most Mortar Monkeys, targeting Heavy Shells along bends will optimize the accuracy of its explosive attacks.

Heavy Shells is usually a stepping stone to Artillery Battery in most cases, but it does a good job as a stepping stone compared to other upgrade alternatives, due to being able to damage any non-camo bloon type, global range potential, and decent pierce.

Tips

 * Since Burny Stuff no longer can apply napalm onto Black Bloons without MIB support, Heavy Shells is a must-need if wanting to pop Black Bloons with a Mortar Monkey.
 * This is a rather low-cost upgrade that can be used to reliably break down early Ceramic Bloons into easy-to-pop chunks.
 * There are certain attacks that can stun bloons, which in turn will trigger the extra damage to stunned bloons from Heavy Shells.
 * These include but are not limited to:
 * Bloons only: Shell Shock, Bloon Impact, Flash Bomb.
 * Blimps only: Maim MOAB, Cripple MOAB.
 * All: Pop and Awe ability, Bloon Crush, Tsar Bomba ability, the Vine Rupture ability (MK only) from Spirit of the Forest, Cave Monkey, the lotuses on Lotus Island, Rocket Storm with the Gorgon Storm MK active.
 * When it comes to maximizing the extra stun damage, the best options to pair with include Bloon Impact and Shell Shock versus bloons or Maim MOAB versus MOAB-class bloons.
 * The best crosspath for Heavy Shells is 2-3-0. Heavy Shells benefits better from the increased damage given by the Bloon Buster upgrade. There is little need to add Burny Stuff because Heavy Shells already reliably pop Black Bloons, and Increased Accuracy is not as helpful as Bigger Blast due to the fact that Heavy Shells already has a decent attack speed.

Name Origin
Heavy Shells is a reference to the fact that its shells are heavy, being made of lead, therefore dealing high damage.

Possible Monster Names
To see all possible names for Heavy Shells, see Tower Names.

Trivia

 * There is used to be a bug where a 0/3/2 Mortar Monkey could not apply napalm to Black Bloons despite the Heavy Shells upgrade allowing to pop Black Bloons. This was fixed on Version 7.0; Black Bloons popped by a 0/3/2 Mortar Monkey will now turn into Pink Bloons with the Burny Stuff effect instead of without the Burny Stuff effect.
 * Heavy Shells changes the Mortar Monkey's activation process into pressing a button on a special handheld remote instead of a ground-level lever.
 * Prior to Version 17.0, the description was "Heavy shells do extra damage to Ceramic, Lead, and all Fortified Bloons. Can also pop Black Bloons." but was changed because of the added bonus stunned bloon damage mechanic.