Robo Monkey (BTD6)

"Half Super Monkey, half killer robot of death. Shoots from 2 guns at once and can crit!"

- Official BTD6 description as of 27.0

Robo Monkey (sometimes shortened to just Robo) is the third Path 2 upgrade for the Super Monkey in Bloons TD 6. Upgrading to Robo Monkey grants the Super Monkey with a pair of independently shooting guns from each arm, with each dart dealing increased pierce (6 instead of 3). In addition, every 15-20 shots, it deals small crits that deal 10 damage instead of 1, functioning very similarly to Sharp Shooter. Unlike BTD5, it cannot naturally pop Frozen or Lead unless Path 1 upgrades are bought.

Robo Monkey gains the exclusive Alternate Arm targeting priority, a secondary targeting priority that controls dual targeting. Both arms can change position depending on both of their respective target priorities. The main arm is controlled by the bottom setting, and the alternate arm is controlled by the top setting. The Robo Monkey's left and right arms will aim depending on the minimum angle between both arms' separate target priorities. However, both arms cannot use the same target priority, unlike in BTD5, which means each arm is limited to three of four target priorities that the other arm is not currently set at.

It costs $6,800 on Easy, $8,000 on Medium, $8,640 on Hard, and $9,600 on Impoppable.

Summary
Robo Monkey is fiercely powerful at inflicting high single-target damage to various bloon types. Packing with high range, a decent amount of pierce and dual arm targeting, it is a middle ground of other popular Tier 3 Super Monkey upgrades Sun Avatar and Dark Knight. What gives Robo Monkey a slight edge over either two is the potential to inflict critical shots onto targets, albeit randomly but quickly, as if it was a super fast double Sharp Shooter. Since it attacks so fast and both arms have separate crit counters, its crit rate is somewhat consistent, making the damage for any single target range between 1.45 and 1.6 per arm, with ~1.514 being the average. That being said, crit shots do somewhat reduce the Robo's otherwise high tendency to become overwhelmed by bloons.

The Robo Monkey does possess quite a few weaknesses, one of these is the forced dual targeting and double Alchemist buff usage, making it less desirable when compared to its cousins Sun Avatar or Dark Knight. Its stepping stone upgrade Tech Terror is not a bad option, however, given that the Tech Terror's ability can be utilized for its high-damage area-of-effect ability. While having lower buffing potential overall, less money needs to be invested for Robo to make the most out of its value.

Try to make full use of the Robo Monkey by utilizing its large range, full discounts from Monkey Commerce villages, and usage of consistent buffs such as Jungle Drums or Overclock. Alch buffs and Obyn Greenfoot buffs are okay, but are generally not worth pursuing. Pat Fusty would be the best option with Robo spam, but given his low influence range and uptime issues it's generally not worth the effort outside of completing easier maps. In fact, the best buffs for Robo Monkey are based on influence buffs that are also not dependent on a specific hero. Given that Robo is not even the best mid-to-late-game option when paired with hero buffs, the buffing strategies to focus for Robo Monkeys are Monkey Commerce Village strategies.

Besides its critical hit potential, there is one other area that Robo Monkey performs better than the other two Tier 3 Super Monkeys: countering bloons for cheap. With Path 1 upgrades, it has the most pierce out of the three, and unlike Dark Knight, the 2-3-0 Robo Monkey won't knock bloons back, dealing with Regrow Bloons faster than they can regenerate so that they won't multiply fast enough to overwhelm your defenses. Likewise, 0-3-2 Robo Monkey has a slightly better range coverage while still applying Knockback effects to bloons, useful for slowing small groups of Super Ceramics from a wider range at a lower cost. However, since it does suffer from a lack of attack speed when compared to the Plasma Blasts crosspath, it isn't usually an effective choice.

Tips

 * 2-3-0 Robo Monkey is generally better for the +2 pierce and double attack speed, though occasionally 0-3-2 performs better due to the knockback power of the Knockback upgrade and camo detection from Ultravision.
 * While 2-3-0 is able to pop lead and frozen but unable to pop purples and camo, 0-3-2 is unable to pop lead and frozen but able to pop purples and camo.
 * 2-3-0 is superior at inflicting maximum amounts of crits and therefore maximum damage, while 0-3-2 is more support-oriented with its knockback and counters Super Ceramics more effectively.
 * Robo Monkey can benefit from Alchemist buffs, but as mentioned above it uses them twice as fast as both arms will consume the Alchemist buff.
 * Generally speaking, setting a Robo Monkey to First-Close (i.e. main arm on First and alternate arm on Close) is the most useful target priority for a single Robo Monkey in most scenarios.
 * For specifically targeting MOAB-class bloons, Strong-Close is generally the most optimal choice for dealing damage to as many MOAB-class bloons as possible.
 * The Robo Monkey set with any dual arm targeting combination acts no differently if the Robo Monkey's main and alternate target priorities were reversed. The arms will move around according to the angle between the directions of where both target priorities would point. The only major difference is how any arm can be micromanaged while keeping the other arm on the same target priority.
 * For example, a First-Last (i.e. main arm on First and alternate arm on Last) target priority will not attack any differently compared to Last-First (i.e. main arm on Last and alternate arm on First).
 * Each individual arm has a separate crit counter. Combined with its high attack speed and dual arm targeting, a Robo Monkey's crit frequency is fairly consistent overall.
 * To maximize crits, 2-3-0 Robo provides the superior crit rate. Combine with multiple Commerce Villages for the best discount, and have one Village as 2-0-2 and the other 0-2-2 for the camo. Etienne can be used to remove the camo restriction entirely, saving even more money. There is no need for 0-3-2 Robo if there already exists an effective but moderately expensive Super Ceramic counter such as Prince of Darkness or even 0-4-2 Tech Terror.

Sounds
When upgrading to Robo Monkey:
 * [robotic voice] "Techno feel!"

Bugs

 * Current
 * N/A


 * Patched
 * [28.0] x-3-0 Robo Monkey and later were granted the Camo Prioritization option even though they cannot detect camo without Ultravision. Patched in 28.2.

Trivia

 * The 0-3-2 Super Monkey upgrade is often referred to by fans as the "ISAB Monkey".
 * By default, when Robo Monkey is purchased, Robo Monkey's left arm will be set on Last, while its right arm remains at whatever target priority the original Super Monkey was using, unless the right arm is set on Last. If the original target priority was set on Last, its left arm will set on First instead by default.
 * Although difficult, it is possible to achieve 2MPC with the 0-3-2 Robo Monkey, as shown here on In the Loop.
 * In BTD5, Robo Monkey's arms are all the same targeting, but the BTD6 Robo Monkey's arms all have different targeting.
 * Upgrading to Robo Monkey generates a robotic vocoded voice saying "Techno feel!". The same sound can be heard when reloading a game with a Robo Monkey or above on screen.
 * There used to be a bug in version 20.0 that allowed a player to set both robo monkey arms on the same target setting. Unfortunately for the Robo Monkey, its damage output was still rather mediocre compared to other midgame options, and as such this bug was little-known and not very much used due to its meager increase in viability, and not many players used Robo Monkey at the time.
 * It is the second upgrade to add the CRIT! mechanic to a tower, the first upgrade being Sharp Shooter.