Ice Monkey (BTDB2)/Strategies/General

TBA
 * This page is a general guide for Ice Monkey. For more advanced guides, see Ice Monkey (BTDB2)/Strategies/Optimization



The Ice Monkey is a freezing cold monkey in Bloons TD Battles 2. Ice Monkey specializes in freezing groups of bloons within a compact area. However, it struggles against White Bloons without support. Bloons affected by a freeze will become temporarily frozen, stopping all movement and Regrow Bloon regeneration. However, Frozen Bloons also prevent sharp attacks from damaging their frozen layers.

The aim of this article is a general guide for using the Ice Monkey. It summarizes how to effectively use Ice Monkey without going into too much intricate detail about meta strategy.

Base Tower



 * Cost: $500
 * Unlock: Default

Base Ice Monkey produces an icy blast that freezes bloons and deals 1 damage each. It is especially effective at popping Grouped Reds and doing a lot of damage to Grouped Blues. However, Ice Monkey is the slowest base tower in the game, and therefore struggles against fast-moving bloons. Ice Monkey's icy blasts do not affect White Bloons, and requires support to deal with them.

Permafrost



 * Cost: $100
 * Path: 1
 * Tier: 1
 * Unlock: Default

Permafrost causes bloons recently unfrozen to permanently move 50% slower. This effect wears off only if the frozen layers are already popped. In effect, Permafrost can keep them closer to the Ice Monkey or to add more time for bloons to progress before getting destroyed. Tier 5 Ice Monkeys can also apply Permafrost to MOAB-class bloons but at 25% speed.

Cold Snap



 * Cost: $350
 * Path: 1
 * Tier: 2
 * Unlock: Default

Cold Snap allows freezing blasts to pop Lead and detect camo. This is a significant upgrade that allows the Ice Monkey to stop rushes consisting of Lead and/or Camo.

Ice Shards



 * Cost: $1,500
 * Path: 1
 * Tier: 3
 * Unlock: TBA XP

Ice Shards causes affected bloons to create shards when popped. This results in a lot of grouped popping power, but requires another tower to pop the bloons for the best results. Ice Shards is still quite a slow tower, so don't rely it on all grouped rushes.

Embrittlement



 * Cost: $3,200
 * Path: 1
 * Tier: 4
 * Unlock: TBA XP

Embrittlement removes Camo and Regrow properties from bloons hit, sets bloons temporarily vulnerable to any type of damage, and causes the affected bloons including MOAB-class to take +1 damage while vulnerable. A very expensive upgrade that does a lot in a single upgrade. As a slow-attacking tower, it should be a supporting unit rather than the main source of decamo and grouped popping, and fast-attacking towers that shoot lots of projectiles help maximize the +1 damage vulnerability on bloons.

Super Brittle



 * Cost: $32,000
 * Path: 1
 * Tier: 5
 * Unlock: TBA XP

Super Brittle makes all affected bloons vulnerable to +4 damage. Super Brittle's slightly faster attack speed and innate re-freezing makes it a much stronger support tower. It is generally used against BADs when paired with fast-attacking towers that shoot lots of projectiles.

Enhanced Freeze



 * Cost: $225
 * Path: 2
 * Tier: 1
 * Unlock: Default

Enhanced Freeze lets the Ice Monkey freeze faster and increase freeze duration. Rate of freezing is improved, freezing many more bloons over a similar amount of time. Note that the freeze length is longer than the cooldown between attacks, causing the Ice Monkey to not hit the same bloon again except with Re-Freeze or similar.

Deep Freeze



 * Cost: $350
 * Path: 2
 * Tier: 2
 * Unlock: Default

Deep Freeze lets the freeze soak 2 bloon layers. If there is another tower that defrosts the bloons before the Ice Monkey can freeze them again, this upgrade can be helpful. Otherwise, Deep Freeze's benefits are redundant.

Arctic Wind



 * Cost: $2,900
 * Path: 2
 * Tier: 3
 * Unlock: TBA XP

Arctic Wind slows every freezeable bloon within its range and freezes much more bloons. This slowdown aura helps keep bloons within the Ice Monkey for longer. Additionally, land towers can be placed on water nearby an Arctic Wind, making it handy on water-heavy maps such as Docks or Ports.

Snowstorm



 * Cost: $3,000
 * Path: 2
 * Tier: 4
 * Unlock: TBA XP

Snowstorm adds an ability that instantly freezes all non-BAD bloons on screen. The freeze also deals damage too, but the freeze duration lasts shorter on bloons that are White, Camo, or MOAB-class. In essence, it can be used as an instant slowdown with a significant slow against the current bloons on screen, particularly MOAB-class bloons.

Absolute Zero



 * Cost: $20,000
 * Path: 2
 * Tier: 5
 * Unlock: TBA XP

Absolute Zero greatly enhances the freeze by lasting much longer for all bloons, and increases attack speed of all Ice Monkeys by a significant amount. An expensive option for a support-oriented role, but proves best on other Tier 5 Ice Monkeys.

Larger Radius



 * Cost: $100
 * Path: 3
 * Tier: 1
 * Unlock: Default

Larger Radius increases range of the Ice Monkey. This helps increase the Ice Monkey's low range and let it freeze much further.

Re-Freeze



 * Cost: $200
 * Path: 3
 * Tier: 2
 * Unlock: Default

Re-Freeze lets the Ice Monkey re-freeze Frozen Bloons. It proves most effective when crosspathed or in combination with multiple Ice Monkeys. When paired with Enhanced Freeze, it can nearly permanently stall oridinary bloons, except Whites, Zebras, and Leads.

Cryo Cannon



 * Cost: $1,750
 * Path: 3
 * Tier: 3
 * Unlock: TBA XP

Cryo Cannon exchanges freezing radial blasts with an ice cannon that shoots snowballs that deal 2 damage and attack much faster. This catches bloons from further and makes it more reliable at destroying bloon rushes.

Icicles



 * Cost: $2,000
 * Path: 3
 * Tier: 4
 * Unlock: TBA XP

Icicles causes bloons frozen by it to grow icicles. It rips through bloons deeply, dealing a lot of damage to them. These icicles can be used to wipe out grouped rushes more effectively.

Icicle Impale



 * Cost: $30,000
 * Path: 3
 * Tier: 5
 * Unlock: TBA XP

Icicle Impale shoots large blocks of ice that can target MOAB-class bloons and deal huge damage to them, and most importantly can freeze them. It proves most effective against DDTs if it can pop Lead and detect camo.

Unlocks
All towers including Ice Monkey start off with upgrades up to Tier 2. All upgrades are unlocked with Tower XP of the respective tower's type, and can be unlocked in any order provided that previous tiers on the same path are unlocked first. In order to suit the tower's varied specialties, some upgrades are better unlocked first before others. Below is a brief guide to unlocking Ice upgrades.