Crossbow (BTDB2)

"Uses a long range Crossbow that can pop 3 layers of Bloon for every hit."

- In-game description

Crossbow is the third upgrade of Path 3 for the Dart Monkey in Bloons TD Battles 2. Alongside increased range, it converts the Dart Monkey into a crossbow operator, shooting piercing arrows that pop up to 5 bloons each and deal 3 damage, and arrows have increased projectile speed too. Unlike its BTD6 counterpart, Crossbow has much greater pierce and a lower price.

It costs $575, and is unlocked with 1900 XP.

Appearance
A Crossbow Dart Monkey gains a purple eyeband and its wristbands change from red to purple. It gains a crossbow to fire from, and carries a small bandolier of darts.

Adding Path 2 crosspaths gives it a colored headband, while the Path 1 crosspaths gives it a colored tailband.

Costs

 * Updated as of Version 1.1.0

Summary
Crossbow excels at reducing the strength of stronger early-game bloons into groups of weaker bloons for a remarkably low price. It also has decent pierce and projectile speed. Optimize its high damage potential by setting on Strong and letting it attack along straightaways. Having a number of them can help chip away at stronger early-game rushes, making them easier to handle by other defenses.

Tips

 * A 0-2-3 Crossbow is generally better than a 2-0-3. While the pierce bonuses from the top path allow the crossbow to pierce through 8 Bloons in a single shot (opposed to 5 without crosspathing), the 33% faster attack speed provided by the middle path far outweighs it in most situations. This is due to it not being able to make the most of its pierce in the majority of situations.
 * One Crossbow can be used to give other towers an easier time to pop Yellows, Pinks, Blacks, Whites, Purples, and Zebras on earlier rounds. Set it on Strong to let it chip away at the layers of those bloon types.
 * Crossbows have a tendency to miss bloons at the edge of their range, or when firing perpendicular to the bloons' movement. In order to maximize accuracy, try to set crossbows close to their most important targets when possible, and facing the bloons' movement head-on.

Trivia

 * Crossbow's base pierce in Battles 2 is between the pierce of a 1-0-3 Crossbow and 2-0-3 Crossbow in BTD6.