Dartling Gunner (BTDB2)/Strategies/General

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



The Dartling Gunner is the most jack-of-all-trades offensive tower in the entirety of Bloons TD Battles 2. Dartling Gunner's various upgrades and respectable early-game makes Dartling fit in an unspecialized role. However, Dartling Gunners aren't the best at every offensive role; Tack Shooter and Super Monkey work more reliably against MOAB-class bloons, Boomerang Monkey is more efficient against grouped bloons, and Ninja Monkey excels against spaced Camos. Dartling has very limited options that bypass Line of Sight, which Heli Pilot always naturally avoids.

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

Base Tower



 * Cost: $825
 * Unlock: 75

Base Dartling Gunner has a reasonable base cost in the game. Its grouped popping is respectable with its quick-shooting darts. Although these darts aim randomly from where the gun aims, these darts are consumed on lots of bloons anyway, which basically makes the most of its early-game popping power. Dartling can change aim with the movement of touch/mouse, or it can be locked away in a favorable position.

Focused Firing



 * Cost: $250
 * Path: 1
 * Tier: 1
 * Unlock: Default

Focused Firing increases accuracy of the darts. This is mostly helpful along straight lines, where random deviation of the darts is undesired. Examples of maps where this upgrade will be significant include the vertical sides of the bloon send lane on Garden.

Laser Shock



 * Cost: $750
 * Path: 1
 * Tier: 2
 * Unlock: Default

Laser Shock adds a Laser Shock damage-over-time that causes bloons to become damaged one more time after some delay. However, the real value from this upgrade comes from the +1 damage from bloons already hit by Laser Shock. Hitting the same bloon again will cause more damage onto it. This effect is mostly helpful against MOAB-class bloons, as they have large hitboxes and do not split into multiple weaker bloons.

Laser Cannon



 * Cost: $4250
 * Path: 1
 * Tier: 3
 * Unlock: 2,600 XP

Laser Cannon deals more direct damage per shot, pops more bloons, and its Laser Shock damage-over-time is improved to last longer. Again, hitting the same bloon again deals +1 damage. Laser Cannon also trades off sharp damage for energy damage, making it naturally pop Frozen but not Purple. This makes it more susecptible to Purple rushes. However, Laser Cannon's single-target damage is reliable and often works better against Regrows compared to Hydra Rocket Pods while being fairly cheaper.

Plasma Accelerator



 * Cost: $11,000
 * Path: 1
 * Tier: 4
 * Unlock: 12,500 XP

Instead of laser projectiles, Plasma Accelerator produces a consistent beam of plasma. There are two distinct parts to this beam of plasma, the beam itself and its endpoint. The endpoint does the most damage, particularly against MOAB-class bloons to which it does much higher damage against. Plasma Accelerator's pierce is extraordinarily high for a Dartling Gunner, making it powerful against both grouped bloons and MOAB-class but at a high cost. Note that micro will be more important with this upgrade compared to other upgrades due to the need to control both the endpoint and the rest of the beam itself.

Ray of Doom



 * Cost: $95,000
 * Path: 1
 * Tier: 5
 * Unlock: 75,000 XP

Ray of Doom is extremely expensive, but its pierce and damage are so high that regular bloons become largely irrelevant with this upgrade. The beam is changed to a solid beam of endless destruction, which means straightaways will be even more important. Placing along straightaways maximizes its pierce and damage, especially against dense groups of weaker MOAB-class and Ceramics.

Advanced Targeting



 * Cost: $250
 * Path: 2
 * Tier: 1
 * Unlock: Default

This is a very cheap camo detection upgrade compared to how much the Dartling itself costs. Players who were familiar with the old Dartling Gunner will need this upgrade to pop Camos. Luckily, this upgrade itself isn't too important to maximize Dartling Gunner, unless opting for a Dartling crosspath that hybridizes accuracy with a pierce-oriented focus. The Advanced Targeting upgrade serves as a very viable mid-game camo option as part of a 3-tower loadout.

Faster Barrel Spin



 * Cost: $500
 * Path: 2
 * Tier: 2
 * Unlock: Default

Faster Barrel Spin greatly increases attack speed of the Dartling while retaining camo detection. In most cases, the faster attack speed upgrade is going to be the best option in most cases anyway, and that specific upgrade comes to form great stepping stones to many of the powerful Tier 3 upgrades.

Hydra Rocket Pods



 * Cost: $5,250
 * Path: 2
 * Tier: 3
 * Unlock: 2,700 XP

Hydra Rocket Pods has high grouped popping power through its unique multi-explosion mechanic. These explosions are powerful enough to pop Black Bloons, which explosives are normally incapable of destroying. With this upgrade, this is enough to let Dartling shred through up to moderate-sized rushes on its own. Unlike most explosive options, Hydra Rocket Pods is best placed along straightaways, because each explosion coming out of a single rocket will explode sequentially upon hitting another bloon, albeit with a very brief delay per explosion that causes explosions to penetrate right through bloons in front of the missile's initial collision.

Rocket Storm



 * Cost: $5,100
 * Path: 2
 * Tier: 4
 * Unlock: 14,000 XP

Rocket Storm's ability consists of waves of high-damage rockets. The main power of this upgrade comes from that ability, enough to pack a quick punch against MOAB-class bloons and regular bloons, cleaning up bloons that are caught in the blasts. Rocket Storm's accuracy for both the main attack and ability can be increased by Path 1 benefits, which narrows down the rocket spread and focuses it better on the desired target(s). There is no initial cooldown for this ability, like most abilities, making it viable to sell-and-rebuy the ability over and over again whenever necessary.

M.A.D



 * Cost: $60,000
 * Path: 2
 * Tier: 5
 * Unlock: 60,000 XP

Each individual missile now deals much more MOAB-class damage per hit. However, it is noticeably slower and is less accurate due to alternating fire between two different guns, that being the robot's arms. It is not worth spending all efforts just on M.A.D for MOAB-class damage, as its damage output in this game is only barely enough to handle multiple BADs, and it won't have enough to beat DDTs or any BAD descendants without its ability or being supported by other towers. However, when used correctly it becomes a dominating force against MOAB-class bloons alongside an already solid defense.

Faster Swivel



 * Cost: $150
 * Path: 3
 * Tier: 1
 * Unlock: Default

Faster Swivel simply decrease the time it takes for a Dartling Gunner to spin around towards the pointer. This makes it easier to micromanage a Dartling. It also makes it far better on maps with lots of rotations, although it is better off placing a Dartling Gunner away from a location with that type of positioning anyway.

Powerful Darts



 * Cost: $700
 * Path: 3
 * Tier: 2
 * Unlock: Default

Powerful Darts increases projectile speed and pierce. While Dartling already comes with decent pierce, this makes the Dartling far better against grouped bloons, making it sustain longer against those early grouped waves sent by the opponent. The pierce crosspath via this upgrade also helps greatly with those Dartlings that prefer more pierce.

Buckshot



 * Cost: $3,400
 * Path: 3
 * Tier: 3
 * Unlock: 3,000 XP

Buckshot is slow and clunky but each shot produces 6 high-damage buckshots that inflict knockback onto bloons. This is enough to make a difference against stronger regular bloons, especially Fortified Ceramics. Positioning a Buckshot towards a clear straightline spot is ideal. Micromanaging a Buckshot is not viable due to its slow attack speed; locking in place is a better idea. Buckshot's knockback can also be used to push bloons backwards into a favorable location where the rest of the defense can clean up the remaining bloons, such as nearby a Bloontonium Reactor.

Bloon Area Denial System



 * Cost: $12,000
 * Path: 3
 * Tier: 4
 * Unlock: 15,000 XP

Bloon Area Denial System increases attack speed greatly, gaining essentially quadruple attack speed by alternating between each of its four barrels, therefore making the Buckshot attack much more reliable. These buckshots attack fast enough to quickly deal a lot of damage to both blimps and partially stall bloons efficiently. It also comes with an Independent Targeting option that makes this Dartling act like a normal tower with high range. It attacks fairly quickly, making it still viable for micromanagement.

Bloon Exclusion Zone



 * Cost: $58,000
 * Path: 3
 * Tier: 5
 * Unlock: 55,000 XP

Bloon Exclusion Zone further receives greater attack speed, as well as deal more damage, gain more buckshots, and gain extra pierce per buckshot. It is a very expensive option but deals a lot of overall damage to both bloons and blimps. However, it will still not be effective against DDTs unless given lead-popping, such as from an Alchemist's AMD.

Unlocks
All towers including Dartling Gunner 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 Dartling upgrades.

Dartling's first two tiers of each path are mostly oriented for the early-game for countering bloons up to Spaced Zebras. Dartling tends to fall behind in grouped damage, and its Tier 3 upgrades each provide some sort of assistance against that weakness. However, Hydra Rocket Pods is the most versatile but most expensive option, as it provides popping of Camo Leads as well as moderate grouped popping while retaining quick attack speeds. Conversely, Buckshot is the most difficult to use in a defense, so should be the last unlocked Tier 3 for Dartling.

For Tier 4 upgrades, choose a Dartling upgrade that beats MOAB-class and bloons effectively, to which all Dartlings seem to follow closely but with a substantial pricetag attached to each. Dartling's Rocket Storm ability produces bursts of high-damage missiles that pop any bloon type, making its role sort of mix between Maelstrom and Turbo Charge in terms of both role and price. Rocket Storm is also the cheapest of the three Tier 4 upgrades, making it the best first Tier 4 upgrade. On the other hand, Plasma Accelerator offers high reliable MOAB-class damage and great bloon damage but costs more and requires micro to maximize, and so generally should be the second option for a Tier 4 Dartling unlock. Since Bloon Area Denial System requires Buckshot, of which Buckshot feels quite a liability in general, Bloon Area Denial System is often a last choice for a Tier 4 Dartling unlock.

As for Tier 5 upgrades, all of these three Tier 5 upgrades seem to have a specialization for either bloons or blimps, or sometimes both, all of which on all paths are very expensive compared to those from other towers. Bloon Exclusion Zone offers a large amount of reliable DPS without too much micro involved, and while expensive it dishes out reasonable damage for its price, and hence should be Dartling's first Tier 5 unlock. M.A.D is cheaper than Bloon Exclusion Zone in terms of cumulative costs, but it is considerably weak in comparison due to its awkward targeting and slow-firing DPS. As for Ray of Doom, it is the most expensive of the Dartlings, and thus shouldn't really be considered due to being largely impractical in competitive play, on top of being the slowest to unlock, so should be unlocked last.

Overall, a recommended upgrade order could go something like this:
 * 1) Hydra Rocket Pods
 * 2) Rocket Storm
 * 3) Laser Cannon
 * 4) Plasma Accelerator
 * 5) Buckshot
 * 6) Bloon Area Denial System
 * 7) Bloon Exclusion Zone
 * 8) M.A.D
 * 9) Ray of Doom