Ice Tower

"Pops and freezes nearby Bloons for a short time. Frozen Bloons are immune to sharp damage. Can't freeze White, Zebra, or Lead Bloons."

- Bloons TD 6 description

 is a tower that has been present in the BTD series since BTD1. Originally, it was merely a ball of ice surrounded by snow, and it was known simply as Ice Tower. It was then called Ice Ball in BTD2 and BTD3, but it went back to being called Ice Tower in Bloons TD 4, BTD5, and BTDB. In BTD5, the tower was redesigned as a monkey, and has been portrayed as such in all following sequels. In Bloons Monkey City, Bloons TD 6, and BATTD, it's known as Ice Monkey.

It attacks by freezing the bloons for roughly half a second at first. It has a short range when not upgraded, but is still effective at delaying bloons. Without any upgrades or Specialty Buildings, it is completely ineffective against White Bloons, Zebra Bloons, and MOAB-Class Bloons.

Frozen bloons cannot be popped by sharp objects, and must be blasted or "vaporized" using a tower such as, but not limited to, the Bomb Tower, Super Monkey with Laser Vision, Wizard Monkey's Dragon's Breath, or sunrays shot by a Sun God. Whirlwinds and tornadoes can immediately thaw frozen bloons, though they will still be blown back. MOAB-Class bloons cannot be frozen by the Ice Tower (exceptions in Bloons TD 6) but can be damaged with the Snap Freeze upgrade.

The Ice Tower is a very useful tower because of its abilities once it has been upgraded to the Arctic Wind. In the higher rounds, it is recommended in several guides to have at least one Arctic Wind, as it can slow many bloons down to a crawl. Arctic Wind also has an extra ability in BTD6 that allows you to place both land and water towers in the water affected by Arctic Wind.

As of Bloons TD 6, the Ice Monkey can now pop bloons without being upgraded, like the Snap Freeze did in previous games. However, it is more expensive in compensation, and its pierce was heavily nerfed. It now costs $425 on Easy, $500 on Medium, and $540 on Hard, and $600 on Impoppable.

Game appearances
Ice Monkey makes up to 15 appearances:

Before Bloons TD 4
[...]

Bloons TD 4
In Bloons TD 4, the Ice Monkey returns. [...]

Bloons TD 5
The Ice Monkey makes a return in Bloons TD 5. [...]

Bloons TD 6
In Bloons TD 6, the Ice Monkey returns. It... [...]

Bloons Pop!
The Ice Monkey makes an appearance in the puzzle game Bloons Pop!. It produces six-pointed shards of frost every time it attacks, freezing any bloon other than White or Zebra for up to 3 turns.

Total Costs


Total Costs


Bloons Adventure Time TD
In Version 1.5.0, Ice Monkey has been added to Bloons Adventure Time TD as a Common Ally. He can be equipped to Max, Sam, Captain Cassie, C4 Charlie, Supermonkey, Sai, Juggernaut Max, Commander Cassie, and Ice King. He costs $300 on all difficulties, has an attack speed of 0.42, range of 25, pierce of 8, and initially 0 damage, and a damage type of freezing (actually "N/A" according to the in-game statistics) like the BTD5 Ice Tower.

He comes in groups of 2 per ally slot, allowing up to 16 Ice Monkeys to be placed on the map at one time (+2 with Commander Cassie's "Scramble!" upgrade, and double the total sum with Warrior Bubblegum's "Born to Rule" upgrade).

Differences Between BTD5 Flash and BTD5 Mobile
The Ice Tower has more differences between its Flash and Mobile counterparts compared to other towers.

Quotes
"Ice Monkeys put nearby bloons into cold storage, freezing them and popping them; especially good at corners and junctions. Powerful upgrades include: Snap Freeze, Arctic Wind, Viral Frost, Absolute Zero."

- BMC Flash tower summary of the Ice Monkey

"Temporarily freezes nearby bloons. Frozen bloons are immune to sharp objects."

- BMC Steam tower description of the Ice Monkey

BTD1-BTD5

 * It is possible to stall bloons forever by putting two of these 1/1 that cover the same range, having one under the effect of Jungle Drums, or using a 1/3 Ice Tower. However, this is not possible in the mobile versions of the games as the freeze effect cannot hit frozen bloons. While not the case in BTDB Mobile, round automatically continue after a certain amount of time, so it's not "forever" stalling.
 * Along with the Monkey Ace, the Monkey Apprentice's Summon Phoenix, the Glaive Lord, the Wizard Lord, Banana Research Facility, Monkey Village, and the Monkey Buccaneer, the Ice Tower is one of the towers with an idle animation (which is the snow around it).
 * An Absolute Zero Ice Tower, however, has no idle animation.
 * The Ice tower is the only tower in Bloons TD 5 that has its path 1 tier 4 upgrade cheaper than tier 3 upgrade.
 * In BTD5 Deluxe however, the Tier 3 and 4 Bloonchipper's Path 2 upgrades both cost the same as well.
 * In Bloons TD 4, it is the only tower that does not change its appearance at all until it is upgraded to the fourth upgrade.
 * In Bloons TD 5, the ice tower's name does not change in any way when it is upgraded.
 * The Arctic Wind upgrade is very useful in Bloontonium Lab when the tower is placed in the middle.
 * The Arctic Wind in BTD4 has a popping power of 40, so it can freeze 40 non-MOAB-Class bloons per blast.
 * Regen Bloons won't regain layers while frozen, which can allow players to do Regen Farming using this tower.
 * The Ice Tower is the only tower in the series to have a major design overhaul at some point; in BTD1-4, it's seen as a big ball of ice, but in BTD5 onwards it's shown to be a monkey with cryokinetic powers.
 * The monkey actually feels cold when it is upgraded. This is extremely noticeable with Viral Frost, when it shivers visibly on the game screen, or wearing a thick coat with Absolute Zero.
 * Viral Frost and Absolute Zero ability can freeze Camo Bloons without camo detection and pop White and Zebra Bloons (Viral Frost freezes Camos, Whites, and Zebras independently only in Bloons TD Battles Mobile).
 * If Arctic Wind is paired with a Tier 3 Ice Fortress, it can take down an insanely high number of any non-M.O.A.B. Class Bloons.
 * When a Snap Freeze Ice Tower pops the first layer of a Rainbow Bloon it will freeze Zebra Bloons, even though they cannot be frozen normally. If the frozen Zebra Bloons are popped by Sonic Boom Boomerang Thrower then the White Bloon underneath will be frozen if the tower has the Deep Freeze upgrade. This does not work in BTD5 Mobile.
 * Ice Towers used to be used very frequently in Bloons TD Battles to make rounds last forever and give the player using them a massive income, but Ninja Kiwi made it so that the next round automatically begins 30 seconds after the last bloon in a round spawns, making this strategy useless. However, some people still use it but include a 2/x ice tower since this "ice-stalling" no longer makes the rounds last forever. This is called "ice shredding" by the fan base.
 * An Ice Tower upgraded to Viral Frost can be very useful against groups of Ceramic Bloons.
 * Unlike Bomb Towers, which will attempt to pop black and Zebra Bloons, Ice Towers will ignore White and Zebra Bloons unless it is granted the capability of popping such bloons by use of Monkey Intelligence Bureau or Tier-3 Ice Fortress.
 * The Ice Shards upgrade for Ice Tower is similar to the Frag Bombs upgrade for Bomb Shooter.
 * The official artwork for the Ice Tower was changed in an update. The Ice Shards upgrade reuses the old artwork (with added shards to it), similar to the Monkey Apprentice, whose old official artwork is used for the Monkey Sense upgrade, the Monkey Buccaneer who's old official artwork used for the Longer Cannons upgrade and to the Banana Farm, whose old artwork is used for the More Bananas upgrade.
 * In Bloons Monkey City and Bloons TD 6, it is called Ice Monkey.
 * The Ice Tower never changes its rate of fire in any of its upgrades, only its freeze length.
 * This is no longer true in BTD6.
 * The Ice Tower will still try to freeze White Bloons and Zebra Bloons in BTD4. In BTD5, it does nothing when they pass by it unless upgraded to Viral Frost or supported with a Monkey Intelligence Bureau.
 * If the Ice Tower gets either of its tier 1 upgrades purchased, the stone below it turns blue. When the tier 2 upgrades are purchased, it will have a snowflake symbol on its head.
 * The BMC artwork for Ice Monkey is similar to the BMC artwork for Monkey Apprentice.
 * The BTD5-generation Flash incarnations of the Ice Monkey are the only towers in the series to have infinite pierce without upgrades.