Heli Pilot

"Powerful attack helicopter armed with twin dart shooters and multiple patrol options"

- Official Description

The  is a new tower first released in Bloons TD 5 Mobile. The Heli Pilot is an aircraft, like the Monkey Ace, that shoots 2 darts directly in front of it. The Heli Pilot is operated by a monkey. Although the Heli Pilot does hover above the ground, it does not fly like the Monkey Ace and does not have a runway, rather, is free to move about the entire map based on the targeting system chosen by the player. The Heli Pilot is an expensive tower and costs $1275/$1500/$1620/$1800 Cash to place on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable respectively. This tower has many powerful upgrades and helpful additions never before seen in any tower, including Razor Rotors, and Support Chinook.

Targeting System
The Heli Pilot has four moving systems (one of which is unlocked with an upgrade). Lock in Place is a moving system that will make the Heli Pilot stay in one spot based on its current position. Follow Touch is another targeting system which makes the Heli Pilot follow where you touch, like the Dartling Gun. Patrol is a targeting system that makes the Heli Pilot move from one point to another, which are selected by the player. The final targeting system, Pursuit, is the only targeting system that is not readily available at the start and must be purchased. Pursuit will make the Heli Pilot follow and attack the bloon farthest through the map.

Path 1


Path 2


Bloons TD Battles Mobile History
Heli-Pilot was hardly used, mostly because it's too expensive to use as a one-for-all-uses tower for the early-game to early mid-game. Even so, a large number of buffs has allowed Heli-Pilot to be a more usable tower for the early-game, the mid-game, and even the mid-late-game. Most especially is in Version 4.6, where Path-2 upgrades Downdraft and Support Chinook have gotten significant buffs, as well as where Pursuit and Razor Rotors is significantly cheaper.

Overall, the Heli Pilot has been significantly buffed via game updates and has become much more used, with some considering the loadout Heli-Pilot Farm Ace to be the new meta. All abilities (including Crate Drop ability) no longer include initial cooldowns. Apache Dartship cost decreased ($17500 → $14000).
 * Initial
 * 3.7

Pursuit now automatically switches the tower to the Pursuit targeting mode upon purchase. Tower cost decreased ($1500 → $1200).
 * 4.1

Bigger Jets cost decreased ($500 →$250).

Enhanced IFR Instruments cost decreased ($600 → $300).

Razor Rotors attack speed of rotors increased by 50%. Move-tower ability cooldown timer of Support Chinook now starts upon tower selection, rather than as soon as the screen opens.
 * 4.3
 * 4.3.1

Pursuit cost decreased ($500 →$350).
 * 4.6

Razor Rotors cost decreased ($1750 → $1250).

Downdraft cost decreased ($2500 → $1750).

Support Chinook price decreased ($15000 → $7500).

Support Chinook's Downdraft effect attack speed increased by 2x.

Trivia

 * This and the Monkey Ace are the only towers that use aircraft.
 * This is currently the only tower that can have two different abilities without the use of a Specialty Building, or by other means.
 * The Apache Dartship has no visible space for the rocket launcher.
 * The Apache Gunship is a real helicopter, still in use to date.
 * The Heli Pilot's landing pad doesn't change appearance with any of the upgrades.
 * The missiles fired by Apache Dartship home in on bloons, and have infinite range.
 * The Support Chinook's tower moving ability is useless with Monkey Tycoon activated, as the player can sell and place towers in a different location without losing money.
 * If the Support Chinook moves a Monkey Ace's landing strip, the plane will continue to circle around the place where the landing strip was before it got moved.
 * If the Support Chinook moves a Portable Lake (special agent) with water-towers on it, the towers will remain in the same place before the pool was moved; allowing the player to place near-unlimited water towers
 * The same works with pontoons.
 * As mentioned before, the Heli Pilot is a BTD5 IOS, Android, Steam, and Xbox exclusive tower. It is only unavailable in the Flash version.
 * Heli pilot is the only tower in Bloons Tower Defense 5 that has it's path 1 tier 2 upgrade cheaper than tier 1 upgrade.
 * Monkey Aces (including those from Aircraft Carriers,) Radadactyls, and other Heli Pilots all push Heli Pilots.
 * Therefore, two Heli Pilots in pursuit mode would push each other continuously.
 * In Bloons Monkey City Mobile, there is a special mission where you must rescue an endangered Heli Pilot in order to unlock it in the player's city and can be usable in game by paying $1000 to repair it.
 * Its pad size takes up slightly less space than the Banana Farm.
 * The 4/0 Apache Dartship has red lines on the end of its wings, while the 4/2 does not.