Tack Shooter

The  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 tall, pink mechanical device that shoots a volley of tacks in eight 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 has a popping power of 1. This changes with various upgrades. Tack Shooters have a slow rate of fire (it shoots about once every two seconds, twice per second if fast fowarded) 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 the original 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 performs best in groups. 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. Said glitch actually allows one to win using only Tack Shooters, a feat Ninja Kiwi deems impossible.

Bloons Tower Defense 2
The Tack Shooter appears 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.

Tower Costs


Bloons Tower Defense 3
The Tack Shooter appears 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.

Tower Costs


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

Tower Costs


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

Path 1


Path 2


Trivia

 * The Pre-Round Comments in Bloons TD 1 say that beating the original Bloons Tower Defense with only Tack Shooters is impossible. Despite this, the task has been done many times before.
 * Also, in BTD1/2, the player can create hypersonic tack shooters by pressing tab and repeatedly purchasing Faster Shooting . It will be able to shred most bloons easily.
 * The icon for Bloons Tower Defense (iPhone/iPod) is a Tack Shooter.
 * If you have Monkey Fort, Tack Awesomizer, and a Tier 3 Tack Research Center, a single Tack can pierce through 3 bloons (4 every second shot).
 * The Blades spin if the Blade Shooter is shooting.
 * The Tack Shooter range is as short as the Ice Tower range.
 * The x's on the menu's (like the tracks menu) look like tacks.
 * An update to the Ring of Fire increased it's rate of fire shoot 3 times a second.
 * In the artwork for BTD5, the upgrade Faster Shooting gives the shooter 3 tack icons on the top. It actually keeps the crossed over tacks on the top in the game. Vice versa when you get Even Faster Shooting.
 * Tack Sprayer not only increases tacks shot, the rate of fire is increased too (to 0.66 sec).