Etienne

"This high-tech hero can pursue the Bloons wherever they go with his remote-controlled drone."

- BTD6 description

Etienne is a Hero in Bloons TD 6, released in the Version 20.0 update. He specializes in air-based attacks using drones. He initially has 55 range with his main attack being a ranged attack from his drone. As he levels up, he'll be able to control a greater number of drones, utilizing an increasing number of control patterns for his drones. At Level 8+, he grants camo detection to all towers on screen, like a global Radar Scanner. At Level 10+, a large UCAV (Unmonkeyed Combat Aerial Vehicle) can be summoned with an ability. This ability allows the UCAV to move at a low-flying height while shooting waves of missiles, comparable to a mix between Adora and Spectre, or the Rocket Storm ability. Level 20 modifies the Level 10-19 ability to deal hugely increased damage from the UCAV, while keeping the regular UCAV characteristic of the Level 10 ability active permanently. Note that the Level 20 permanent UCAV is only powerful as the UCAV from the Level 10 ability, discounting UCAV upgrades after Level 10 for the permanent UCAV.

He is unlocked with a one-off purchase of 5000. He costs $720 on Easy, $850 on Medium, $920 on Hard, and $1020 on Impoppable. If Hero Favors is enabled, he will cost $650 on Easy, $765 on Medium, $830 on Hard, and $920 on Impoppable.

A hero skin for Etienne was added in version 25.0. Named "ETn," it is an alien-themed skin that also replaces Etienne's drones with flying saucer drones and fire lasers.

Upgrades
Etienne upgrades automatically after being placed. Unlike most added heroes, Etienne's levelling speed is 1.0x, the same as all four base heroes (Quincy, Gwendolin, Striker Jones, Obyn Greenfoot). To understand Etienne's targeting system, see Targeting. Additional information is added at subpoints.

Targeting
Etienne has three different targeting modes. The first two: First and Divide and Conquer are unlocked at Level 7, with Zone Defense unlocked at Level 11. First sets all drones to target first. Divide and Conquer sets the first drone to target Strong, second to target First, third to target Strong and the fourth to target First. Zone Defense sets the first drone to target First, second to target Strong, third to target Last and the fourth to target Close. Upon activating the Drone Swarm ability, two of the extra drones target Strong, while the remaining two drones target First and Last.

Etienne's drones will change the colour of the small triangular button on their top side:
 * Blue = First
 * Yellow = Strong
 * Green = Last
 * Purple = Close

Original Etienne
When Selected on the Heroes menu:
 * "Ready to fly!"

When placed on the map:
 * "Ready to fly!"
 * "Here we go!"

When selected:
 * "Oui?"
 * "Hé!"
 * "Systems...check!"
 * "Objective?"
 * "Eyes up!"
 * "Oui?" (Different tone)
 * "You want me to do this or not?" - when annoyed
 * "No distractions!" - when very annoyed

When leveling up:
 * "Yeah!"
 * "Oui!" (means "Yes!")
 * "Oui!" (Different tone)
 * "C'est beau!" (means "That's nice!")
 * "C'est beau!" (Different tone)
 * "Upgrade time!"
 * "Drone power!"
 * "Yeah!" (Different tone)
 * "That's some serious damage!" (Level 20)

When MOAB-class Bloons appear:
 * "Tracking M.O.A.B!" - MOAB appears
 * "Tracking B.F.B!" - B.F.B. appears
 * "Tracking Z.O.M.G!" - Z.O.M.G. appears
 * "D.D.T.! D.D.T.!" - D.D.T. appears
 * "Heads up, tracking B.A.D.!" - B.A.D. appears

When a MOAB-class Bloon is destroyed:
 * "Adieu!" (means "Farewell!")
 * "How it's done!"

When using an activated Ability:
 * "Swarm deployed!" - when activating Drone Swarm
 * "Weapons hot!" - when activating UCAV

When a Bloon leaks:
 * "Eyes on that exit!"
 * "C'est la guerre." (a French phrase meaning 'That's war.')

ETn
When selected on the Heroes menu:
 * "Take me to your leader!"

When placed on the map:
 * "Take me to your leader!"
 * "This planet is acceptable!"

When selected:
 * "Affirmative!"
 * "Greetings!"
 * "Seeking objective!"
 * "I come in peace!"
 * "Threat detected!" - when annoyed
 * "Exterminate! Exterminate!" - when very annoyed

When levelling up:
 * "Upgrading progress!"
 * "Upgrade time!"
 * "Drone power!"
 * "The invasion will now commence!" (Level 20)

When MOAB-class Bloons appear:
 * "Large target acquired!" - MOAB or DDT appears
 * "BFB identified!" - BFB appears
 * "Alert! Enemy mothership!" - ZOMG or BAD appears

When a MOAB-class Bloon is destroyed:
 * "How it is done."

When using an activated Ability:
 * "Battle drones deployed!" - when activating Drone Swarm
 * "Engage sub-orbital!" - when activating UCAV

When a Bloon leaks:
 * "Shields up!"

Sounds
Other sound effects related to Etienne that are not specifically his voicelines are shown here. For his cat, Pancake, refer to Pancake.

When activating Drone Swarm with Hero Voicelines off:
 * [TBA]

When activating UCAV with Hero Voicelines off:
 * [TBA]

Summary
Most of Etienne's firepower comes from the UCAV unlocked at Level 10, as it is extremely powerful to use on various mid-to-late-game rounds and can help save up more money than most other Heroes. At Level 20, Perma-UCAV also gives Etienne decent damage without an ability active.

However, before Level 10, Etienne's earlygame is dubious and is his biggest weakness as his drones have a combination of questionable stats and shots that have low velocity and no homing, on top of a lack of way to damage Leads then without external support, so always try to pair him with a strategy that can hold itself up until around when Etienne unlocks UCAV. Drone Swarm is still useful to help with some early rounds such as 15, 22, and 23, but it has a long cooldown, so save it for when the burst of effectiveness would be most useful. Drone Swarm can also be used to soften the MOAB of Round 40, so defenses for Round 39 that won't rely on Drone Swarm are bound to suffice.

Etienne's Level 8+ global camo detection via UAV effectively neutralizes the property of camo in later camo rounds, but don't forget to consider having adequate camo popping power alongside just in case his main attacks are not enough until then. Make doubly sure to have coverage against Leads as well, because Etienne consistently has no way to handle them in earlier rounds, and even later on, UCAV takes very long to recharge. Of particular note, Round 63 has a flood of Leads in addition to the 3 Ceramic clusters spaced where UCAV can handle only 2 of them at most, so Etienne would want frontal Lead protection.

The long cooldown of both abilities means that Etienne's abilities take some effort to manage. Do note that upon reaching Level 20, Perma-UCAV antistalls (i.e. kills straggler bloons quickly, even if undesired), so Etienne strategies cannot use traditional stalling methods and have to either slow and stall the bloons from the next wave or use the abilities earlier to allow it recharge in time for the next time it needs to be used.

Because of his unlimited range and ability to give camo detection, he is very powerful in combination with other expensive high-DPS flying towers, especially Apache Prime. In an Apache Prime strategy, the Apache Dartship struggles notoriously with the late 70s and early 80s in the save up to Prime. This weakness can be completely worked around by how powerful UCAV is, being able to almost single-handedly obliterate most rounds.

Tips

 * Etienne is primarily oriented as a mid-game and late-game hero, but mostly aimed at mid-game support. The main features that define him the most are his global camo buff, Drone Swarm ability, and UCAV ability, although outside of abilities he remains relatively weak in popping power.
 * Etienne ignores Line of Sight, which makes him one of the best heroes to use on True Experts, especially Ravine, as well as difficult Experts such as Workshop and Quad. He is also very effective on certain Advanced Maps such as High Finance for similar reasons.
 * When used for pure early-game damage, Etienne is best used on single-lane maps with straight lines. His drones can make for some good spaced cleanup, but don't rely on his drones to do the damage; other towers should be doing the majority of the damage. Drone Swarm's extreme power is not to be underestimated, however, being able to last throughout the entirety of some difficult early game rounds, such as rounds 22, 23, and 36.
 * Note that there is a relatively short 0.5s deploy time before the Level 3+ ability can allow the additional temporary drones to shoot darts.
 * Similarly to Comanche Defense and Comanche Commander, his drones cannot be affected by Alchemist buffs, so Etienne cannot be Alch-buffed at all. On the other hand, this allows Etienne to be placed near alchemists without any risk if him stealing buffs intended for another tower, unlike other heroes. Interestingly however, his drones are affected by Overclock.
 * Watch out for Leads. Of all of the Heroes, Etienne has the most limiting options for personally dealing with them with only UCAV providing as much, which can particularly sting on Round 63 for surprising reasons.
 * Until Level 12+, Etienne's drones tend to struggle much against faster bloons, especially Yellows and Pinks, as the flight speed of the drones and their limited range tend to let them miss such bloons easily. Try adding additional offense-based backup alongside Etienne.
 * Early on, Drone Swarm can provide a burst of effectiveness, providing a wall of attacks to combat fast bloon rushes or the Camo bloons, as well as simply pelting the Round 40 MOAB with the high multiplier of drone attacks. Used right while circumventing the high cooldown, this can provide surprising results.
 * Etienne's one support utility grants camo detection to all towers on screen at Level 8+, rendering Radar Scanner redundant once he reaches said level. As such, he can be incredibly useful on Primary Monkeys Only or for maps with limited space for Monkey Villages.
 * Because of the Version 21.0 buff to the final Perma-UCAV, its ability can be used to wipe out DDTs easily, although not as reliable as alternate options.
 * Try using the UCAV ability to beat Rounds 75 and 76 with ease with just one ability use. Time it late in Round 75 so that it has enough duration to wipe out Round 76 with one ability usage.
 * Etienne's global camo detection buff at Level 8+ is most beneficial for Boomerang Monkeys, Tack Shooters, and Glue Gunners (specifically MOAB Glue and Glue Hose). It is also very useful for towers that benefit far greater from the increased offense crosspath than an internal camo crosspath, with best examples being the 5-2-0 Carrier Flagship, 5-0-2 Sky Shredder, and 5-0-2 Apache Prime.
 * Etienne's best DPS partners in the late-game are Apache Prime and Prince of Darkness, as both of these towers can help support Etienne while his abilities are under cooldown, as well as become much more effective if his abilities are activated. Prince of Darkness's cleanup is also helpful to allow UCAV to target the stronger groups instead of focusing on the weaker groups, as well as act as a counter to DDTs to which he performs the worst against. Apache Prime is easy to afford with Etienne's extremely powerful UCAV midgame, and Apache Prime helps shred through tough, high RBE rounds such as Round 98 where UCAV being off cooldown at times will leave the defense vulnerable.
 * During the mid-game Etienne pairs well with Dark Knight. Combined with Dark Knight's extra MOAB-class damage for low-cost, it plus Etienne's UCAV can deal extremely high damage, making it extremely powerful on many maps, including Expert Maps.
 * While Etienne may struggle in the early-game, he is still a strong early-game hero with his Drone Swarm ability, but before then early-game towers will need to be utilized before he can be placed on the map. Before he unlocks Drone Swarm to handle difficult early-game rounds, his single drone acts as a decent early-game cleanup option. Therefore, during the early early-game, he synergizes well with defenses that can pop many bloons but possibly leave stragglers, such as Boomerang Monkeys or Monkey Aces.
 * It's a good idea to look at the shadow of the flying UAV to determine where the UCAV will start at. Note that the UCAV always spawns exactly at the location where the UAV shadow is currently located at, and will always fly in an anti-clockwise circle.

Bugs

 * Current
 * [???] Reloading to a save (by exiting and reentering or by reattempting the round) that has Etienne's drone swarm currently active will cause each main drone to hover off center from where it normally should. This can be fixed by reloading the game to a round where the drone swarm is not active.
 * [???] After Drone Swarm ends, there is a chance that a drone will start spinning around Etienne instead of returning; preventing you from activating the ability again. This is temporary, though it may get in the way when in late game.

Teaser
Etienne's first teaser was a wallpaper image of him operating drones, with a desert-based map behind him faintly in the background. On r/btd6, it was shown here, in turn showing the Twitter teaser for Etienne. The desert-based map was revealed to be Mesa.

Etienne's second teaser, revealing his abilities, can be seen here.

Trivia

 * The global camo buff that Etienne provides has the same icon as the Radar Scanner buff.
 * Therefore, the Etienne UAV buff and Radar Scanner cannot stack, not that it would do anything if they could.
 * At Level 8, he produces a green radar flash as he levels up, indicating his UAV buff.
 * When level 8 is reached, there will be the shadow a drone piloted by Etienne that appears to circle the entire map, but cannot be interacted with. The drone is implied to be the item giving the global UAV buff to all monkeys.
 * Etienne is the first hero aside from the four base heroes to have 1x relative hero levelling speed without a bug.
 * Admiral Brickell had 1x levelling speed on release, but this was changed in Version 18.1 to 1.425x relative speed as was intended.
 * Etienne, Psi, Adora, Admiral Brickell and Sauda are the most expensive heroes by Monkey Money cost, as each cost 5000 Monkey Money to buy.
 * Etienne is the second hero to call out a MOAB as "M-O-A-B", with the first being Striker Jones.
 * Etienne Level 20 Perma-UCAV can be a little wink to Perma Charge, and the reason is because it makes the old ability permanent and the ability now buffs damage.
 * Etiennes' UCAV strongly resembles a hypothetical 3-3-3 Monkey Ace crosspath hybrid as it rapidly fires explosive missiles which seek out their targets. This parallels the high rate of fire of the Fighter Plane, explosive nature of the Bomber Ace, and impeccable aim of Neva-Miss Targeting.

Cultural references

 * Étienne is a French name (equivalent to the English-language Stephen/Steven), and therefore it is pronounced "IT-yen." Etienne uses French words in his quotes and speaks with a French accent, so he is French.
 * At level 10 and higher, Etienne also wears France's flag as a circular pin on his hat.
 * UAV is the abbreviation for unmanned aerial vehicle (AKA Drones), and UCAV stands for Unmonkeyed Combat Aerial Vehicle, a reference to Unmanned combat aerial vehicle.
 * "UCM" stands for "Unmonkeyed Combat Mothership"
 * ETn's UCAV design bears a striking resemblance to the Planet Express Ship from the Futurama series and may indeed be a reference to it.
 * ETn's "very annoyed" quote is a reference to the Daleks from the Doctor Who series.