Ring of Fire (BTD6)

"Damages many more Bloons with a deadly ring of flame instead of tacks."

- In-game Description

Ring of Fire is the fourth upgrade of Path 1 for the Tack Shooter in Bloons TD 6. It exchanges the hot tacks from Hot Shots with deadly flame rings. These rings shoot at a +33% faster rate (every 0.47s) and deal 3 damage each (+1 per Path 3 crosspath) to up to 60 bloons per fire blast (+10 per Path 2 crosspath). Although much weaker against MOAB-class bloons compared to the previous upgrade, it is extremely powerful versus regular grouped bloons prior to the rise of Super Ceramics. It cannot pop Purple Bloons, a weakness that only itself and Inferno Ring possesses, at least for the Tack Shooter.

It costs $2,975 on Easy, $3,500 on Medium, $3,780 on Hard and $4,200 on Impoppable.

Appearance
The Tack Shooter becomes a flame generator with 8 spouts of black holed pipes for letting out thermal energy. Its body is colored orange, and base is colored black. Replacing the cap of the machine is a flaming blaze that burns indefinitely.

Statistics
The following is a list of statistics of a Tack Shooter with Ring of Fire. It 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 Ring of Fire. 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
Sacrificing its high MOAB-class damage for much stronger grouped damage, the Ring of Fire is an effective method for countering grouped bloons. It is highly effective against mid-game grouped bloons, but it falls off greatly in late-game, where a majority of regular bloons are Super Ceramics. Like most Tack Shooter upgrades, placing a Ring of Fire along a bend will greatly optimize its potential overall.

Tips

 * The better crosspath for Ring of Fire depends on the map. Use the 4-0-2 crosspath for wiping out stronger groups of bloons within a close range, but use the 4-2-0 crosspath for greater coverage and popping of weaker groups of bloons. Because Ring of Fire has poor base range, in most situations 4-2-0 is usually the better option.
 * Like all Tack Shooters, place a Ring of Fire along a corner or bend to optimize its attacks.
 * Ring of Fire is rather poor against Super Ceramics, but it is not at all completely useless against them. Paired with Ice Monkeys with Re-Freeze and Enhanced Freeze, Ring of Fire can deal with larger groups of Super Ceramics pretty effectively, just not very efficiently.
 * When used for CHIMPS Mode, only one Ring of Fire should be bought if wanting mid-game popping power, as Rings of Fire tend to fall out in late-game due to Super Ceramics. If possible, the Ring of Fire can be upgraded to Inferno Ring to scale better versus Super Ceramics and MOAB-class.

Trivia

 * Unlike BTD5, the Tack Sprayer upgrade is now on a separate path, Path 3, which mostly centres around gaining extra projectiles.
 * With the new price as of Version 22.0, the cost of the Ring of Fire is now the same cost as it is in Bloons Monkey City Mobile, which apparently costs $3500 to compensate a possible projectile duplication bug from Monkey Fort.
 * The Tier 3 upgrades Blade Shooter and Tack Sprayer were precursors to Ring of Fire in earlier generations of the Bloons TD series, before BTD5 and during the BTD5 generation, respectively.
 * Ring of Fire is the only Primary Monkey upgrade below Tier 5 that uses the fire damage type. Although Red Hot Rangs uses fire in its boomerangs, it deals normal damage instead.