Lead Bloon

"Leads are slow and easily dealt with if you have the right towers. Otherwise, they could cause you some grief..."

- Round 28 in Bloons TD 5

"This area contains Lead Bloons. They can only be popped by certain Monkey types. Make sure you have Bomb Shooters or similar before attacking this area."

- Bloons Monkey City when the player is attacking a Lead Bloon area for the first time.

The Lead Bloon is a unique Bloon that was introduced in Bloons Tower Defense 2. Lead Bloons have also been featured in every subsequent BTD game. Having a unique ability, Lead Bloons are immune to sharp projectiles as well as laser attacks such as the Super Monkey's Laser Vision, since they're made of metal. They move at the speed of Red Bloons and M.O.A.Bs. Being the only metallic Bloon in the BTD series, Lead Bloons are very easy to tell apart from other Bloons. Popping a Lead Bloon and its descendants rewards a total of 19 or 23 Money. They first appear on round 28 in BTD5. They contain 2 Black Bloons.

General Strategies
As the description says, it is quite easy to kill leads as long as your strategy is not based off "sharp" towers. Try to include a few explosive or "slow down" towers. Leads are mainly dangerous because of their special ability and of the abilities of their children and grandchildren. The blacks are immune to most of the explosions popping the leads whereas the pinks are fast enough to avoid most attacks. Leads can be popped by bomb towers and hot spikes. In BTD5, a 2/1 Glue Gunner (that is, Corrosive Glue) or higher performs very well against Leads with very low upgrade cost (though the rather-expensive Glue Splatter is recommended). On some rounds, you may encounter Camo-Lead Bloons and on special missions. The best way to defend against these bloons are Monkey Apprentice (X/2) as they can pop lead and camo with Monkey Sense. You can also use Dartling Guns (X/2) utilizing the "Depleted Bloontonium" upgrade.

Speed
This bloon moves as slow as a red bloon and a M.O.A.B in Bloons Tower Defense 4. However, despite the fact that it's slow, it's still faster than a B.F.B, since the BFB is slower than a red bloon.

Trivia

 * Due to Lead Bloons being introduced in BTD2 and appearing in every subsequent game, players can no longer pass the game with only Road Spikes or Dart Monkeys. However, this is possible in BTD4 or BTD5 provided that the player has the Splodey Darts premium upgrade or the Juggernaut upgrade in BTD5.
 * Pineapples can pop lead bloons with proper timing.
 * The Super Monkey's Laser Vision upgrade as well as the Dartling Gun's Laser Cannon cannot pop lead bloons even though they're not sharp. This is presumably because the bloons are made of metal and metal reflects light.
 * In the iOS version, this upgrade can still pop lead bloons, possibly because the laser uses heat. (But apparently it doesn't in the computer version).
 * The TV show Mythbusters created a real lead balloon, and despite common assumption, its biggest problem was not its weight. The lead was so fragile that it tore during inflation. They also built aluminum balloons, which apart from being an odd shape, worked perfectly well.
 * It is the only bloon to resist physical attacks not by using hit points. It takes one non-physical hit to pop.
 * If you want all of your towers within a radius to all be able to pop Lead Bloons, you need to upgrade your Monkey Village to Monkey Intelligence Bureau.
 * The Monkey Apprentice's Tempest Tornado can pop Lead Bloons but can't blow them away.
 * If affected by Arctic Wind, Permafrost, and glue at the same time, a Lead Bloon will move slower than a Z.O.M.G..


 * The Lead Bloon, along with the Z.O.M.G. and DDT; are the only bloons that do not have a parent.
 * A Sniper Monkey with the Point Five Oh upgrade can pop an entire Lead bloon since it can pop up to 7 layers.
 * In Daily Challenge #99, all towers upgrades that allow them to pop lead bloons are disabled. To pop leads, you need a Monkey Intelligence Bureau.
 * All towers except Banana Farm have a non-premium upgrade that allows them to pop lead bloons.
 * A x/3 Super Monkey can pop lead, even though it shoots darts.
 * Bloons Monkey City states that Lead Bloons are paradoxical, because they are made out of metal but still can float.

Links
You may be also interested in Upgrades needed to pop certain types of bloons to see what can pop Lead Bloons.

