Bloon Master Alchemist

"Secret shrink potion converts all affected Bloons into Red Bloons."

- In-game description

The  (commonly referred to as BMA) is the fifth upgrade of path 3 for the Alchemist. It allows the Alchemist to throw special insta-shrinking potions every 10.0s. These potions have infinite range and, when thrown, will target the strongest non-BAD bloons, and once splashed onto the main target the insta-shrink potion will subsequently hit up to 200 bloons (or up to 10 MOABs, 4 BFBs, 4 DDTs (with camo support), or 2 ZOMGs), permanently transforming all of the affected bloons into Red Bloons in the process. Each insta-shrink potion has 200 pierce, but MOAB-class bloons consume extra pierce depending on type: MOABs consume 20 pierce, BFBs and DDTs consume 50, and ZOMGs consume 100, while BADs consume zero pierce because they cannot be transformed at all.

In addition, regrowth/camouflage property on any non-MOAB class bloons gets removed on bloons once they transform into a red bloon (requires camo detection for decamolization)

It costs $34,000 on Easy, $40,000 on Medium, $43,200 on Hard and $48,000 on Impoppable.

Summary
At the cost of slowly depleting pop-based income, Bloon Master Alchemist comes with powerful global-ranged shrink potions that transform any bloon (except BADs) into Red Bloons, essentially acting as an instakill to bloons especially MOAB-class bloons (because a Red Bloon has comparatively less health). Usually, a stable defense and income flow is required to make use of Bloon Master Alchemist without repercussions. It sees the most use in extreme late-game runs and on special challenges involving the need to instakill powerful groups of bloons.

Tips

 * The potions cannot target DDTs and Camo Bloons without additional camo detection. Alongside, it is not ideal for DDT defense anyways due to how slow the Alchemist fires the shrinking potion compared to the fast speed of DDTs.
 * Be aware that Bloon Master Alchemist can lose out on a lot of money whenever it transforms strong bloons into measly Red Bloons. It is recommended to only purchase it once income losses are manageable.
 * However in late game, (Round 101+) Bloons don't give much cash so Bloon Master Alchemist is very useful because you won't be getting much cash anyway without Banana Farms, support Sun Temples, or Merchantmen, for example.
 * Although not completely useless, Bloon Master Alchemist is not recommended to be used on CHIMPS Mode. Despite being able to shrink group of bloons to reduce the threat, the amount of lost cash often outweighs the gain of Bloon Master Alchemist. Combined with the above problems against DDTs and having near-useless step-ups to get this upgrade in CHIMPS mode, it's often not worth investing for Bloon Master Alchemist.
 * One Bloon Master Alchemist can solo Round 97 on its own, provided that it has enough range to pop the resulting Red Bloons from the transformations.
 * Additionally, on Logs, it can solo Rounds 94 and 98.
 * The shrinking potion always targets Strong no matter what targeting the original Alchemist is set in. This means it will always prioritize ZOMGs over DDTs, but it will target Fortified DDTs over any ZOMG.
 * It takes time for the shrink potion to move towards its intended target. Against really fast bloons, Bloon Master Alchemist can miss easily. Try timing its shrink potion attack around where the bloons move in a curve, specifically in regards to blimps. Alternatively, you could stun the bloons to make them easier to hit.

Sounds
When converting bloons into gold:
 * [golden bling sound]
 * [golden bling sound]
 * [golden bling sound]
 * [golden bling sound]
 * [golden bling sound]

When converting a bloon into a Red Bloon:
 * [magical acidic drenching splash]
 * [magical acidic drenching splash]
 * [magical acidic drenching splash]
 * [magical acidic drenching splash]
 * [magical acidic drenching splash]

Trivia

 * Before Version 2.0, the Bloon Master Alchemist's shrink potions could attempt to target BADs despite not doing anything to it. This is no longer possible as of Version 2.0.
 * The shrink potions do not generate extra cash from shrunken bloons. Ninja Kiwi says that this is intentional and not a bug.
 * The potions will target Red Bloons, but only if they are the only bloon on screen. It will proceed to do nothing to the Bloon.
 * It can also shrink Ghost Bloons into Red Bloons, although they will target these bloons last. It is one of the few towers capable of popping an entire Ghost Bloon on its own. The transformed Ghost Bloon will still be displayed as a Ghost Bloon, but it only takes 1 hit to pop.
 * The Insta-Shrink potion is a large long-necked yellow potion.
 * There are two achievements that revolve around the Bloon Master Alchemist. One of them is Alchermistman and Bloonacleboy, and the other is Bloon Master Populous.
 * Bloon Master Alchemist has the second-lowest XP requirements for a Tier 5 upgrade alone, the first-lowest being Ultra-Juggernaut.
 * According to Ninja Kiwi's October 29th 2021 blog, Bloon Master Alchemist is not blind, rather this Alch wears them to look cool. In real life, some people intentionally wear sunglasses to denote their blindness status.