Inferno Ring

"Deadly inferno of flame roasts Bloons into oblivion."

- In-game description

Inferno Ring is the final upgrade on the first path for the Tack Shooter in Bloons TD 6. It creates an endless fire ring and increases the range of the tower from 23 to 35. It deals 4 damage per 0.1 seconds (+1 more damage with each Path 3 upgrade) to all non-Camo bloons inside the ring, plus an extra +6 damage against MOAB-class bloons. Each fire blast has 60 pierce, and its pierce can be increased by +10 per Path 2 upgrade. The Inferno Ring cannot pop Purple Bloons, and its basic attack cannot pop Camo Bloons.

Additionally, every 4 seconds, it shoots a meteor at the strongest bloon on screen, dealing 700 damage. The meteor also has an additional explosion that can affect up to 10 more bloons, dealing 50 damage and applying 50 additional damage every second for 4 seconds to them. The explosion has 18 blast radius. The meteor is able to target and pop Camo Bloons (but not Purple Bloons), although meteor explosions strangely do not pop Camo Bloons. This is the only Tack Shooter upgrade capable of targeting Camo Bloons without support. Meteor gains +1 pierce with 5-2-0 and +300 damage with 5-0-2, intermediate crosspaths doing nothing for the meteor.

It costs $38,675 on Easy, $45,500 on Medium, $49,140 on Hard, and $54,600 on Impoppable.

Appearance
TBA

Statistics
The following is a list of statistics of a Tack Shooter with Inferno Ring. This includes its base statistics and all associated crosspathing interactions. Expand the box on the right to see further information.
 * Updated as of Version 27.3

Damage Types

 * See also: Damage Types/Bloons TD 6/Primary

The following are a list of wiki-written damage types associated by a Tack Shooter with Inferno Ring. These damage type statistics include how it attacks and how these attacks would affect bloons. Expand the box on the right to see further information.
 * Updated as of Version 27.3

Summary
Inferno Ring is an effective option at dealing great overall damage to both weak and strong bloons. Its meteor attacks chip down the health of stronger bloons, while its scorching hot flame ring easily cleans up weaker bloons; specifically those below ZOMGs. The increased range that comes with Inferno Ring also helps improve its overall area damage too, making it more versatile on more difficult maps in spite of its high price tag.

Again, like most Tack Shooter upgrades, Inferno Ring benefits the most when placed near as much track as possible, to optimize its powerful flame ring attacks.

Tips

 * 5-2-0 Inferno Ring and 5-0-2 Inferno Ring are both useful in their own regards, but their utility depends on the situation. Both crosspaths serve different purposes, with 5-2-0 Inferno Ring having more effective area coverage and 5-0-2 Inferno Ring dealing greater overall DPS.
 * If increased pierce and range (and therefore more area to deal damage) is more desired, use the 5-2-0 Inferno Ring. On certain maps, a 5-2-0 Inferno Ring can actually deal more DPS than 5-0-2 overall, and this is most evident versus MOAB-class bloons.
 * Otherwise, the +2 damage from 5-0-2 is overall more helpful for inflicting extra damage since the Inferno Ring itself has increased range.
 * Placing Primary Training or Primary Expertise nearby an Inferno Ring is essential for maximizing the power of the Inferno Ring's endless inferno blasts. This not only increases the area that the Inferno Ring can reach, it also increases the maximum number of bloons that may be affected by its inferno blasts at any given time, increasing its popping power immensely.
 * The special meteor will normally only affect one bloon at a time, but its pierce may be increased by towers that grant extra pierce, especially Primary Training or Primary Expertise, which grant +1 and +3 pierce respectively. It also receives +1 pierce by getting the 5-2-0 crosspath.
 * However, as of version 17.0, the meteor will now apply splash damage to nearby bloons upon reaching its pierce cap, meaning that it is able to affect more than one bloon at a time even without pierce buffs.
 * The meteor can attack camo bloons, making it handy on very specific custom challenges.
 * Etienne and Inferno Ring is a strong combo, as Etienne's global detection eliminates the requirement to add Radar Scanner, and his UCAV ability can help save up a lot of money in the mid-to-late-game to afford the expensive Inferno Ring upgrade. Likewise, Inferno Ring itself can help inflict a lot of damage for the higher late-game rounds while Etienne's abilities are under cooldown.

Trivia

 * Since the update for Inferno Ring's new homing meteor attack, which can target camo bloons but only if such bloons are of strongest type, Inferno Ring is the only Tack Shooter upgrade that can damage Camo Bloons.
 * Inferno Ring has been used in 2 Towers C.H.I.M.P.S. with Tsar Bomba in Version 14.2 by benstein999. Round 95 was extremely difficult, and took him 15 hours to beat that one round.
 * Even though Version 17.0 changed the meteor such that it produces an explosion "on impact", buffing that Tack Shooter's pierce via Berserker Brew/Stronger Stimulant/Permanent Brew or Primary Training will still allow the meteor to pop multiple bloons as usual until it runs out of pierce, after which it will explode then.
 * On Version 17.0, there is a bug where the meteor explosion does not affect Camo Bloons even though the meteor can. It is uncertain whether the meteor detecting camo by default was even intended in the first place.
 * The Inferno Ring is locked on Close targeting.
 * The Inferno Ring's meteor explosions cannot affect Black Bloons or Zebra Bloons, including the napalm from the explosions.