Tack Shooter

The Tack Shooter is a tower in the Bloons Tower Defense series that first appeared in the original Bloons Tower Defense. It appears in every BTD game. The Tack Shooter is a pink, tall, and mechanical device that shoots a volley of tacks in eight different directions. As it continues to upgrade, the Tack Shooter undergoes several aesthetic changes.

Although it has short range, these towers are very effective at thinning out crowds of Bloons at corners and intersections. These towers are relatively cheap, making them useful in early rounds. Each individual tack that the Tack Shooter fires have a popping power of 1. This property changes with various upgrades. Tack Shooters have a slow rate of fire compared to other towers, which limits their strength.

Tack Shooters were previously called Tack Towers in Bloons Tower Defense and Bloons Tower Defense 2. This was later changed in later BTD games for unknown reasons.

Bloons Tower Defense
The Tack Shooter, along with the Dart Monkey, Ice Tower, Bomb Tower, and Super Monkey, are the towers featured in Bloons Tower Defense. These 5 towers also appear in every subsequent BTD game. As with every other tower, the Tack Shooter has one upgrade on two different paths: Faster Shooting and Extra Range Tacks. Unlike BTD3 and future BTD games, the Tack Shooter does not change appearance regardless of upgrades.

As mentioned before, it is best to place Tack Shooters at the corners and intersections of the track to have maximum poppage. This tower works best in groups, and do not perform well when alone. It is best to purchase Tack Shooters during later rounds, as starting the game with Tack Shooters will cause a money issue later in the game. Adding Tack Shooters to your defense can really help out with popping all Bloons, and it is a good idea to include them in your defense.

There is a glitch with the Tack Shooter, involving the Tab button on the keyboard.

Bloons Tower Defense 2
The Tack Shooter reappears in Bloons Tower Defense 2. There are no new upgrades for the Tack Shooter, or most towers as a matter of fact. The Tack Shooter undergoes no change between BTD and BTD2, in terms of functionality and appearance.

Bloons Tower Defense 3
The Tack Shooter reappears in Bloons Tower Defense 3. As with all other towers, the Tack Shooter has two upgrades on two separate paths. The first path focuses on offensive upgrades, while the second path focuses on range upgrades. The second upgrade for the first path is the new addition to the Tack Shooter: the Blade Shooter. The Blade Shooter greatly increases the popping power of the Tack Shooter. Besides the Blade Shooter upgrade, there has been no major change in the Tack Shooter since BTD2, appearance-wise and function-wise.

Bloons Tower Defense 4
In Bloons Tower Defense 4, the Tack Shooter, along with every other tower, gets a huge improvement.

Bloons Tower Defense 5
Once again, the Tack Shooter along with all towers in BTD gets a huge improvement.

Trivia

 * Ninjakiwi says that beating the original Bloons Tower Defense with only Tack Shooters is impossible. Despite this, the task has been done many times before.
 * The icon for Bloons Tower Defense (iPhone/iPod) is a Tack Shooter.