Dart Monkey

"Shoot a single dart that pops a single bloon. A good, cheap tower suitable for the early rounds."

- BTD5 Official Description

"Throws a single dart at nearby bloons. Short range and low pierce but cheap."

- BTD6 description

Description
The Dart Monkey is a tower in the Bloons TD series. This tower is named Dart Tower in BTD1 and Dart Monkey in subsequent games. The Dart Monkey is the first and cheapest tower that is unlocked and available from the start in every BTD game. The Dart Monkey is a standard brown monkey with a single dart in its hand, capable of popping one bloon (two in BTD6) unless it is upgraded. This tower's darts are ineffective against Lead Bloons, unless the premium upgrade Exploding Darts (renamed as Splodey Darts in BTD5) is applied and/or if it is upgraded to Juggernaut or if it's affected by a Monkey Intelligence Bureau (0-3-0 Monkey Village) or Acidic Mixture Dip since it allows monkeys to pop Leads. This will allow the Dart Monkey to pop multiple Bloons without any upgrades and is much more effective against M.O.A.B.s and B.F.B.s.

Appearance
The Dart Monkey is a normal, brown monkey, with deep brown fur, and with tan fur on its face, ears, the front of its hands, the bottom of its feet, and his belly. On the top of his head are two tufts of hair, and on his face are two beady, black eyes, and a tiny nose and mouth. In Bloons Tower Defense games, the Dart Monkeys are much thinner than their Bloons counterparts. In Bloons Tower Defense 5, if upgraded on any two upgrades for the first and second paths, they will receive a colored bandana (red or green). If it upgrades to Spike-o-pult, the monkey will lose its bandana (and will not obtain it again if they upgrade to Juggernaut) and receives a catapult with a spiked ball (the spiked ball becomes much larger if it is upgraded to Juggernaut). If it upgrades to Triple Darts, it will gain an elite black bandana with red in the middle, and a quiver of darts. If upgraded to Super Monkey Fan Club, it will gain a green cloak with a green visor, and hide the bandana under it, and will keep its quiver of darts. 

Bloons Tower Defense


Bloons Tower Defense 2


Bloons Tower Defense 3


Bloons Tower Defense 4


Tower XP


Path 1


Path 2


Differences Between BTD5 Flash and BTD5 Mobile
Dart Monkeys are slightly more useful in mobile versions of BTD compared to flash.

Darts have a larger hitbox.

Super Monkey Fan Club affects Spike-o-pults and Juggernauts (besides using the Super Juggernaut exploit)

Super Monkey Fan Club can no longer cause Spike-o-Pults and Juggernauts to become hypersonic; instead, affected Spike-O-Pults and Juggernauts shoot only darts, or also spiked balls/juggernauts if attempting to use the Super Juggernaut exploit.

Juggernaut pop count registers twice as many bloons popped compared to how many it actually popped (ex: if the Juggernaut pops 3 bloons the pop count will show 6 bloons popped).

Update History (Bloons TD Battles Mobile)
The Dart Monkey is one of the most used towers in the game thanks to its versatility. It has been nerfed via game updates (albeit not as severely as the Bloonchipper), but despite this it continues to be a popular tower among players and is used in various tower loadouts (often with the Banana Farm).

Popular loadouts include Dart-Farm-Ace (arguably the most popular loadout in the game), Dart-Farm-Bomb, Dart-Farm-Ice, and Dart-Farm-Wizard. Dart-Farm-Chipper used to be arguably the most popular one until the Version 4.1 nerf to the Bloonchipper's ZOMG-sucking capabilities, though it still is used (albeit pretty rarely).

Initial Release

Juggernaut cannot pop frozen bloons.


 * 3.1

Triple Darts price increased ($330 → $380).


 * 3.2

Super Monkey Fan Club no longer affects Spike-o-pults or Juggernauts.

Juggernaut price increased ($1500 → $1750).


 * 3.4

Juggernaut can now pop frozen bloons.


 * 3.9

Triple Darts price increased ($380 → $400).


 * 4.1

Triple Darts price increased ($400 → $500).

Enhanced Eyesight price increased ($120 → $160).

Juggernaut price increased ($1750 → $1900).

Super Monkey Fan Club ability duration decreased (15s → 11s).


 * 4.3

Triple Darts price decreased ($500 → $475).

Spike-o-pult popping power increased (18 → 40).

== Bloons Tower Defense 6==

Dart Monkey is one of the first towers to be teased prior to release of BTD6. Its base tower image was displayed as part of the way to convince players of BTD5 that BTD6 is still in production. Later, the Dart Monkey was teased in future BTD6 teasers until the official release of BTD6.

Many changes have occurred for the Dart Monkey, the most significant of which is that Triple Darts is now separated from Sharp Shots and Razor Sharp Shots upgrades and that the Spike-O-Pult upgrade is now an upgrade from Razor Sharp Shots. In addition to this is an entirely new set of higher-tier upgrades that dedicates to crossbows. 

Path 1


Path 2


Path 3


Update History (BTD6)
Dart Monkey pops two bloons instead of one.
 * Initial (compared to BTD5)

Sharp Shots pops three bloons instead of two.

Razor Sharp Shots pops five bloons instead of four.

Super Monkey Fan Club now has an initial cooldown of a quarter of the cooldown.

Super Monkey Fan Club no longer increases attack range temporarily.

Spike-O-Pult costs less ($500 --> $300)

Juggernaut costs more ($1500 --> $1800)

Triple Shot (former Triple Darts) costs more ($330 --> $400)

Several changes in path placement of the upgrades; some upgrades are moved to different paths.

Enhanced Eyesight cost increased ($120 --> $200)


 * More TBA

Bloons Adventure Time TD
In Bloons Adventure Time TD, the Dart Monkey is a common ally equippable by all monkey heroes except C4 Charlie. It costs $200 to place, has 1 pierce and attacks once every second, working the same way it does in BTD5. Only three Dart Monkeys can be placed per hero at a time, up to 21 if all mentioned heroes have a Dart Monkey in their ally slot and if you have all the monkey heroes in your party.

Unlike BTD5 and BTD6, the Dart Monkey does not have upgrades to increase range or detect camos.

Upgrades

 * Sharp Shots $140: Can pop one extra bloon per shot (2 pierce per shot)
 * Razor Sharp Shots $170: Can pop 2 extra bloons per shot (4 pierce)
 * Triple Shots $550: Throws 3 darts at a time instead of 1

Bloons series
The Dart Monkey from Bloons throws darts to pop the various bloons in the levels. It is the icon for the BFB in BTD4, as well as for BTD5 with a cross through it. It has a long tail, two small dots for eyes, and tan fur on his face, body, hands, and feet. It throws a single dart that can pop an infinite amount of Bloons.

Bloons 2
The Dart Monkey throws darts which your arrow guides. When you pop the Monkey Ace Bloon, the Dart Monkey throws signal flags to guide the Monkey Ace.

Tower tips

 * When a tight cluster of bloons appear, it is best to use 2-3 upgrades, especially on curves, since it can easily pop away all of them due to its fast attack speed and high popping power.
 * But if players want to pop them in a row, 3-0 or 4-0 upgrades are the best, especially on a straight track.
 * Putting 2-3 Dart Monkeys close to each other can easily shred off the Ceramic layer off of a tightly grouped cluster of Ceramic Bloons regardless if it is normal, Regrowth or Camo.
 * The same goes to MOAB-class Bloons whose before 2-4 upgrades. Even before players use its ability, 10 or more of Dart Monkeys with 2-3 or 2-4 can 'drain' its life quickly and absolutely (20 or more for BFBs and 30 or more for Z.O.M.G.s. Recommended).
 * In BMC, if you want to use Dart Monkeys with 2-3 or 2-4 upgrades on D.D.T.s, best use 2-3 upgrade from Monkey Village.
 * Sometimes it's best not to have 0-1 and 0-2 upgrades if players want a 4-0 upgrade because it already has a high popping power.
 * Using the Super Monkey Fan Club Ability, and then upgrading the Dart Monkeys that turned into Super Monkeys to Juggernauts, then the "Super" Juggernauts will spit out the balls incredibly fast. This tactic doesn't work on mobile versions however.
 * Instead, the Juggernaut just shoots like a normal Super Monkey, but with the occasional spiked balls at the same fire rate as the normal Juggernaut. It also shoots from the middle, instead of the side.
 * Spamming the Super Monkey Fan Club Ability will cause the towers to throw darts even faster and do even more damage. So 10 Dart Monkeys all using their Super Monkey Fan Club Ability will be just as powerful as 100 Super Monkeys.
 * 10 Dart Monkeys at 2/4 can destroy 2 Z.O.M.G.s in BTD5, as long as they keep buffing each other to stay at super monkey status.

Trivia

 * In BTD5, both Long Range Darts and Enhanced Eyesight increase the range by 25% of the base tower's range.
 * The Dart Monkey in Bloons TD series is based off of the dart throwing monkey in the Bloons games.
 * Dart Monkeys are right-handed, which means they will throw darts from the right side of the tower.
 * If a Dart Monkey with no third or fourth tier Path 2 upgrades is transformed by the Super Monkey Fan Club ability, by quickly upgrading these affected Dart Monkeys into the Juggernaut upgrade, it will become a hypersonic Juggernaut Monkey, throwing spiked balls extremely quickly. This speed can be enhanced with M.I.B. Call to Arms ability, or even the Overclock ability from the x/4 Monkey Engineer in Bloons TD 5 Mobile and Bloons TD 5 Deluxe.
 * The Juggernaut and the Crossbow Master upgrades are the only non-premium upgrades that allow the Dart Monkey to pop Lead Bloons.
 * If one has a Tier 4 Specialty building on BTD5 Mobile or the Splodey Darts premium upgrade for the PC version, the only upgrade that is not able to pop lead bloons is the Spike-O-Pult upgrade.
 * A Dart Monkey does not change its appearance in BTD1, BTD2, or BTD3 no matter what it is upgraded to.
 * Path 1 upgrades focuses on popping power, while Path 2 focuses on the darts.
 * Super Monkey Fan Club range stacks, albeit temporarily.
 * In BTD6, the Dart Monkey's upgrade paths stack with the Super Monkey Fan Club upgrade.
 * The top path gives extra pierce on the transformed monkeys, up to second tier.
 * The middle path gives extra speed, including Triple Shot (only 1 dart is shot out at a time, but the speed bonus is kept).
 * The bottom path gives extra range and camo detection, up to second tier.
 * A Dart Monkey appears on the top of a B.F.B., being crossed with an anti sign.
 * The hotkey for Dart Monkeys Q will not select free dart monkeys if the player does not have enough money to buy one, regardless of whether the player has free Dart Monkeys (due to its Specialty Building in BTD5 and special item in BMC). The player must manually click the Dart Monkey's panel on the right.
 * Same with some free towers awarded from completing quests in BTD5, e.g. if you don't have enough money to buy Monkey Buccaneer and you have one free, the hotkey D will not trigger the free Monkey Buccaneer to be selected.
 * Interestingly enough, in Bloons Monkey City, the upgrade image at the Monkey Academy without any upgrades depicts him holding three darts in his left hand. This does not show in the upgrade image in a tile battle.
 * The Dart Monkey is one of the two towers whose Tier 4 upgrade completely changes its tower, the other being the Monkey Buccaneer.
 * Placing a 0/2, 3/x or 4/x Dart Monkey at the top or bottom of a straight line with the targeting at last can pop more bloons.
 * When you upgrade a Dart Monkey, the arm moves farther to the right than normal. After the first attack, the arm returns to normal.
 * Super Monkey Fan Club ability will change the x/4 monkey itself too, it shoots hyperspeed triple darts.
 * This has been patched. If Super Monkey Fan Club is activated on Triple Dart Monkeys, they will only shoot ONE stream of hyper-speed razor sharp darts (which means it could still pop 4 bloons per dart).
 * In Mobile, Triple Dart Monkeys and the Super Monkey Fan Club Monkey will shoot one stream of darts super fast, and triple darts at the same speed before the transformation.
 * It is possible to beat BTD1 using only Dart Monkeys since there is no Lead Bloons to pop. This was proven impossible in BTD2 and BTD3, as Lead Bloons could not be popped with any of the Dart Monkey's upgrades. In BTD4, it became possible again, although Splodey Darts had to be used since it is the only way to pop Lead Bloons using Dart Monkeys. With the Juggernaut upgrade popping leads in BTD5, it became possible to win a game using Dart Monkeys normally again.
 * In BTD6, the first upgrade path specializes in popping power, the second path specializes in darts and the third specializes in crossbows and archery.
 * In BTD6, the 4th and 5th tier upgrades of its final upgrade path grants the Dart Monkey the ability to crit. These crits do 50 damage flat, enough to one shot any bloon.
 * In Bloons TD 6, the 1st and 2nd tier upgrades of Path 1 of the Dart Monkey have a band on his tail, while the Path 2 has a bandana on his head, whereas the Path 3 has bands on his arms.
 * In BMC, a 2/0 or 2/1 Dart Monkey has a headband blocking one eye, a red pupil in the other, and looks aggressive.
 * In BTD6, the Dart Monkey is said to have a base range of 32. Rohan from Ninja Kiwi has stated this in their Version 7.0 Reddit post while addressing the Snowstorm and Absolute Zero buffs to the Ice Monkey.

Bloons games
Darts throwing sound in bloons 1 games Darts throwing sound in bloons 2 games