Targeting Priority

 is a special option that most towers in the Bloons TD series have. It is used to indicate to the tower what bloons it should attack. It can be changed by the player at any time. To change it, the player must click or tap the tower, and then choose one of the options found in the Target Priority selector.

Target Priorities
In the Bloons TD series, there are a total of five standard Target Priorities. The priorities are:
 * First
 * Makes the tower attack the Bloons that are farthest down the track in its range. This is the default choice.
 * Last
 * Makes the tower attack the Bloons that are the closest to the start of the track in the tower's range.
 * Close
 * Close makes the tower attacks Bloons closest to the tower in the tower's range. First appeared in BTD5.
 * Weak
 * Makes the tower attacks Bloons that are the weakest in the tower's range. Only appears in BTD4 and its expansion.
 * Strong
 * Attacks the strongest Bloons in the tower's range.

Bloons TD 3
In Bloons TD 3, there are 2 selections for target priority. They are:
 * First
 * Last

Bloons TD 4
In Bloons TD 4, there are an additional 2 selections for target priority, bringing the total up to 4. They are:
 * First
 * Last
 * Weak
 * Strong

Bloons TD 5
In Bloons TD 5, the Weak target priority was replaced by Close. There are also 4 different target priorities.
 * First
 * Last
 * Close
 * Strong

Special Target Priorities
Certain towers have the ability to use different and unique Target Priorities or to use Target Priorities that they didn't originally have.

Heli Pilot
The Heli Pilot has four moving systems, which are selected in the Target Priority selector.
 * Follow Touch / Follow Mouse
 * Follow Touch will make the Heli Pilot move to where the player taps. On desktop versions, Follow Touch instead becomes Follow Mouse, which will make the Heli Pilot move to wherever the cursor is currently at.
 * Lock in Place
 * Lock in Place will make the Heli Pilot stop where it is when the Target Priority is selected.
 * Patrol
 * Patrol will make the Heli Pilot move between two spots chosen by the player.
 * Pursuit
 * Pursuit is the same as target priority First, except the Heli Pilot will follow the bloons while shooting them. It is unlocked with the purchase of the second upgrade on the first path, with the same name as the target priority. On all games except BTDB Mobile, the target priority must be manually adjusted before the Heli Pilot can be on Pursuit.

Monkey Sub
The Monkey Sub has a special Target Priority known as Submerge. Submerge changes the tower's attack to reveal Camo Bloons in the Monkey Sub's Range. It is unlocked with the third path one upgrade, Submerge and Support. If it has the Bloontonium Reactor upgrade, it will reveal Camo bloons, pop bloons, and reduce water tower cooldowns by 15%.

Monkey Ace
Instead of having a targeting system akin to other towers, the Monkey Ace shoots volleys of darts arbitrary to targeting. In its place, the Monkey Ace can change its path of travel around its runway.
 * 8 Path - Causes the Monkey Ace to fly in two small circles, one above and below the runway to form a figure eight pattern.
 * ∞ Path - Causes the Monkey Ace to fly in two small circles, one to the left and right of the runway to form an infinity symbol.
 * O Path - Causes the Monkey Ace to fly in one large, clockwise single circle around the runway.

Mortar Tower
Instead of having standard target system akin to most other towers, the Mortar Tower has one single target option: Set Target. It allows the target to be re-positioned, allowing the Mortar Tower to hit anywhere at the player's will.

In BTD5 Flash, when clicking the tower, the player must place the Mortar's target every time instead of having a "Set Target" button.

In Bloons TD 5 Mobile, Tier 4 Mortar Emplacement allows the Mortar Tower to use the standard Target Priorities, rather than just having to set where it shoots.

Bloons TD 6
Similar to Bloons TD 5, Bloons TD 6 retains the 4 different target priorities featured in the prior installment.

"Strong" priority targets bloons in the following order, from strongest to weakest (a well-established set of Fortified rankings were added in Version 25.0):
 * Boss Bloons
 * Fortified BADs
 * BADs
 * Fortified DDTs (?)
 * Fortified ZOMGs (?)
 * ZOMGs
 * DDTs
 * Fortified BFB
 * BFB
 * Fortified MOAB
 * MOAB
 * Fortified Ceramic
 * Ceramic
 * Rainbow
 * Zebra
 * Fortified Lead
 * Lead
 * Purple (?)
 * White (?)
 * Black (?)
 * Pink
 * Yellow
 * Green
 * Blue
 * Red
 * Test

If there are multi-health bloons of the same ranking and those bloons are the highest rank that can be targeted, attacks set on Strong will always target the highest HP bloon by default. For example, a Druid of the Jungle amongst many MOAB-class bloons and Super Ceramics would vine the Super Ceramic with 60 HP first before one with 59 HP. This is because the Druid's vine attack only targets non-blimps, is hardcoded on Strong, and will target the highest HP non-blimp.

In the case of Ceramics and MOAB-class bloons with same health as other bloons of similar rank, the tie-breaker goes to the first bloon. For instance, if there are two normal MOABs with exactly 95 health remaining, the first MOAB will be aimed first.

Special Target Priorities
With the introduction of new upgrades, new targeting priorities are present that are unique from the typical format.

Camo Prioritization
All Ninja Monkeys and many camo-detecting upgrades receive Camo Prioritization, which allows them to target Camo Bloons over non-Camo Bloons. The Camo Prioritization target option can be toggled with an icon of a Camo Bloon attached to the tower's upgrade HUD.

Selectable Target
"Selectable Target" is a target priority added in Version 29.0, initially for Cleansing Foam, Bloon Trap with Larger Service Area, and Obyn Greenfoot's Wall of Trees. It is a secondary target option that adds a green button on the main target priorities that allows certain On-Track attacks to follow a targetable location. On-Track attacks default on Close and can be retargeted anywhere within the tower's immediate range, including range given by range buffs. If target is outside range, it defaults back to Close.

Boomerang Monkey
Boomerang Monkeys gain a new separate target priority above the standard target priority tabber. Above the standard target priority tabber (with the standard four target priorities First, Last, Close, Strong) is a small boomerang button that allows it to swap hands at any time, changing the angle at which throws boomerangs. Formerly, this was exclusive to the Ambidextrous 'Rangs MK (released on Version 15.0), but it is now fully implemented into the Boomerang Monkey starting from Version 22.0.

Tack Shooter
The Inferno Ring upgrade unlocks a new attack that allows Inferno Fireballs to be shot at the strongest bloon on screen, but despite this new attack the main Tack Shooter is still locked on Close.

Ice Monkey
After purchasing the Cryo Cannon, the Ice Monkey gains target priorities like any other tower, and will initially default to First. Before Cryo Cannon is bought, the Ice Monkey is locked on Close.

Sniper Monkey
The Sniper Monkey can gain a special Target Priority known as Elite. Introduced in BTD6, Elite shifts the priority of Snipers to follow an unorthodox target list, seemingly homoginizing the more popular Sniper targeting priorities and using their best aspects to limit the issue of non-MOAB-Class bloons. Snipers with Elite target Ceramics if present, then follows typical Strong targeting priority behaviour. If Bloons are approaching the end of the track, they are prioritized above all else, akin to First. It is unlocked with the final Path 2 upgrade, Elite Sniper, allowing the Sniper himself along all other Snipers on the screen access to the priority.

Monkey Sub
The Monkey Sub retains the special Target Submerge, changing the tower's attack to reveal Camo Bloons in the Monkey Sub's Range. Now this ability is also tied into the Energizer upgrade, still popping bloons as well as increasing Hero XP gains by 50%, halving water tower cooldowns rather than 15%, and a 20% global cooldown to all other abilities.

Monkey Ace
The Monkey Ace has the same movement as the prior entry, with a change to their names as well as a new flight path. Each path also has lights that appear when the Monkey Ace is selected akin to typical Range, allowing for the path to be visualized.
 * Circle - Causes the Monkey Ace to fly in one large, clockwise single circle around the runway.
 * Figure Eight - Causes the Monkey Ace to fly in two small circles, one above and below the runway to form a figure eight pattern.
 * Figure Infinite - Causes the Monkey Ace to fly in two small circles, one to the left and right of the runway to form an infinity symbol.
 * Centered Path - A path method only available after the Centered Path upgrade is purchased for that Monkey Ace, causes the Monkey Ace to fly in a large, clockwise circle around the entire map, ignoring the runway. Centered Path can be adjusted to let the Ace revolve around a different centerpoint. Purchasing the upgrade will automatically set the Monkey Ace to this target priority with its center at the middle of the map.
 * Wingmonkey - Accessible after unlocking and activating a special Monkey Knowledge Point of the same name. It sets the Monkey Ace into a flight path similar to Aircraft Carrier planes.

Ground Zero and Tsar Bomba abilities, ever since they lost their infinite pierce in 24.0, have their bombs set on Close target priority relative to location of the ace's runway, and not relative to the location of the dropped bomb.

Heli Pilot
The Heli Pilot keeps all the prior targeting systems as Bloons TD 5 with several tweaks. Patrol can now be tapped to re-allocate the points where the Heli Pilot patrols without having to swap between another targeting system and back again. Lock in Place now locks where the Heli Pilot is rather than presenting a targeting prompt to tell where the Heli Pilot is to be situated.


 * Follow Touch / Follow Mouse
 * Follow Touch will make the Heli Pilot move to where the player taps. On desktop versions, specifically BTD6 Steam or the Microsoft Store version of BTD6, Follow Touch instead becomes Follow Mouse, which will make the Heli Pilot move to wherever the cursor is currently at.
 * Lock in Place
 * Lock in Place will make the Heli Pilot stop where it is when the Target Priority is selected.
 * Patrol
 * Patrol will make the Heli Pilot move between two spots chosen by the player.
 * Pursuit
 * Pursuit is the same as target priority First, except the Heli Pilot will follow in front of the bloons while shooting them. It is unlocked with the purchase of the second upgrade on the first path, with the same name as the target priority. Once upgraded to the respective upgrade, it automatically switches to this target priority.

Mortar Monkey
Just like BTD5, the Mortar Monkey uses a very different targeting system compared to most other towers. Like BTD5, the "Set Target" option allows targeting of the Mortar Monkey to shoot anywhere on the map.

Dartling Gunner
Dartling Gunner gains two target priorities: "Normal" and "Locked". "Normal" allows it to follow the mouse or follow in the direction of where the player last tapped.


 * Normal
 * On mobile versions, the Dartling Gunner will rotate towards the direction where the player last tapped. If the location where tapped is let go, it will lock itself in place until the player taps the screen again. On desktop versions, specifically BTD6 Steam and the Microsoft Store version of BTD6, the Dartling Gunner will always rotate towards the direction of where the cursor is currently at.
 * Locked
 * Locks the Dartling Gunner in place. By default, it locks at the center of the map, but can be changed in the same way as it is possible for a Mortar Monkey.
 * Target Independent
 * Exclusive to Bloon Area Denial System and Bloon Exclusion Zone, this target priority is the third option for those two tower types. It allows its barrels to alternate between First, Last, Close, and Strong, starting from barrels at the top. Bloon Exclusion Zone, which gains 6 alternating barrels instead of 4, has its lowest 2 barrels set to First and Strong. When upgraded, the Target Independent option becomes unlockable but will not default to that targeting and instead leave the currently set target priority for that Dartling Gunner.

Super Monkey
Super Monkeys with Robo Monkey or above gain two separate target priorities for First, Last, Close, and Strong. Both arms cannot use the same target priorities, however. This special targeting priority is coined as "Alternate Arm".

Spike Factory
New to Bloons TD 6, the Spike Factory gains four unique targeting priorities once the Smart Spikes (formerly named "Directed Spikes" before Version 14.0) upgrade has been purchased. Unlike other target priority upgrades, Smart Spikes does not automatically change target priority of the Spike Factory, and instead it defaults to "Normal".
 * Normal
 * Causes the Spike Factory to fire onto the track sporadically, serving as the default mode for all other Spike Factories without the upgrade.
 * Close
 * Unlike the priority of the same name for other non-special target priority towers, this causes the Spike Factory to fire off spikes to the closest area from itself to the track.
 * Far
 * Causes the Spike Factory to fire onto any portion of the track that is on the fringes of its range.
 * Smart
 * Causes the Spike Factory to fire towards as far towards the exit as possible. This is the algorithm for this target priority as of Version 24.0.
 * Before Version 24.0, it would fire in a "smart" fashion, firing as early on into the track within its range. If bloons have already passed that portion of the track, the Spike Factory can begin piling spikes onto a part of the track further down the bloon's path if that segment is also in its range. If all bloons have passed all of the Spike Factory's possible areas of smart piling, it will default to its first area of smart piling in preparation for any more bloons.

Towers without Target Priorities
Certain towers do not have Target Priorities through the series, with some exceptions and instances where they gain priorities in sequels.
 * Tack Shooter
 * Ice Tower
 * In Bloons TD 6, Cryo Cannon, Icicles and Icicle Impale causes the Ice Monkey to gain the standard targeting priorities, defaulting to First (Close prior to around Version 5.0 or so) when initially upgraded.
 * Banana Farm
 * Monkey Village
 * When the Monkey Village is upgraded to High Energy Beacon or Primary Expertise, standard Target Priorities become available.
 * Dartling Gun
 * The Tier 3 Dartling Ammo Dump allows the Dartling Gun to fire toward a fixed position.
 * In this case, their two settings would be "Mouse" and "Fixed".
 * Spike Factory
 * In Bloons TD 6, Smart Spikes provides its own unique special targeting priorities once purchased: Normal, Close, Far, and Smart.