Bloon Impact (BTD6)

"Explosions become so violent Bloons are stunned for a short time when they are hit. Range is increased and frags are even more effective."

- In-game description

Bloon Impact is the fourth upgrade of Path 1 for the Bomb Shooter in Bloons TD 6. Along with creating singular large explosions as its previous Really Big Bombs upgrade does, the Bloon Impact upgrade allows the Bomb Shooter to stun all non-MOAB-class bloons affected by its explosion for up to 1s. However, its explosions still cannot pop Black Bloons, unless given support or the Frag Bombs crosspath. The Bomb Shooter also gains slightly more range (+3). Blast radius remains at 27.

When crosspathed with Frag Bombs, fragments have 2 pierce, deal +1 damage (2 damage) each, and last even longer.

It costs $3,060 on Easy, $3,600 on Medium, $3,890 on Hard and $4,320 on Impoppable.

Summary
Bloon Impact creates large single explosions to stun groups of bloons over a wide radius. Bloon Impact can refresh the stun effect, making it a good choice for stunning compact groups of regular bloons, especially Super Ceramics. It is also helpful in the mid-game to hold regular bloons in place, although Bloon Impact shines the most during Rounds 81+, where Super Ceramics start appearing and therefore can lock them in place without spawning too many bloon offspring.

Its main role is to reduce the progress of dense groups of regular bloons, to allow more time for other defenses to deal with other bloons. Bloon Impact works really well with Striker Jones + MOAB Mauler spam strategies to combat Super Ceramics, as Striker provides numerous benefits for all Bomb Shooters including this upgrade.

Tips

 * Use this upgrade to stun bloons, especially Super Ceramics. With the 4-2-0 crosspath, the Bloon Impact is capable of permastunning bloons as long as it hits the same bloons.
 * Beware of Zebra and Black Bloons, because it is unable to damage them without Striker Jones Level 5+ or a MIB.
 * The 4-2-0 crosspath is more desired if its stunning potential require an improvement. While the added fragments offered by 4-0-2 are stronger, the extra damage from these fragments don't add much value compared to the Bloon Impact's permastun potential, but the black-popping for explosions can come in handy.
 * Bloon Impact is a viable option for stopping Super Ceramics. Against lower density bloons, a single 4-2-0 Bloon Impact can fully solo the bloons if given black bloon popping power. However, it needs sufficient time as well. It's also worth adding in a 3-2-0 Spiked Balls to clean up any passing Super Ceramics while Bloon Impact stalls the other Super Ceramics in place.
 * Bloon Impact is well paired with Striker Jones + Mauler for spam strategies. Bloon Impact's role in this strategy is to deal with Super Ceramics, although it can struggle if there are too many Super Ceramics passing by.
 * While the best at the late-game thanks to its stalling power, 4-2-0 Impact also works well against Round 63 for permastunning Ceramics in place while chipping them into weaker chunks. In that case, set it on Strong for this purpose.

Bugs

 * Bug Reports
 * [25.0] Striker Jones' Level 5+ and 19+ did not affect Bloon Impact. This bug likely appeared because it coincided with a previous bug fix to energy-type attacks and because Impact recently received a damage type nerf. [fixed]


 * Bug Fixes
 * [25.1] The bug concerning Striker Jones' Level 5+ and 19+ not affecting Bloon Impact was fixed.
 * [27.0] No longer triggers Extra Damage to Stunned because it cannot stun blimps

Extra Notes (Version History)

 * Although Bloon Impact was not directly buffed by improved Path 2 crosspathing attack speed buffs on Version 12.0 and Version 18.0, this still resulted in an overall buff, as utilizing the improved Path 2 upgrades allows the Bloon Impact to inflict higher stun uptime versus bloons.
 * Although Bloon Impact got a damage buff in Version 7.0, its previous upgrade Really Big Bombs received a similar damage buff in Version 20.0, which Bloon Impact does not inherit.
 * On Version 22.0, the Bloon Impact cost was increased by $400 to counteract the tiny pierce buff and the variety of price buffs for its previous upgrades: $300 off Really Big Bombs in Version 7.0, and a total of $200 off in Version 22.0 for the lower Tier 1 upgrades. According to NK, Bloon Impact didn't need to be indirectly buffed in Version 22.0, and the cost was increased presumably to accommodate its already much stronger role.

Trivia

 * In BTD6, the Bloon Impact upgrade creates large singular explosions, whereas in BTD5 the Bloon Impact upgrade creates clusters of explosions. This is because the BTD5 Bloon Impact's previous upgrade is Cluster Bombs, whereas the previous upgrade of the BTD6 Bloon Impact is Really Big Bombs.