COBRA

"Update 2.0 - Featuring exclusive content!

Get ready for a brand new exclusive tower - the COBRA, also known as Covert Ops Battles Response Agent. Armed with a very particular set of skills and trusty sidearm, the COBRA can affect the course of a game in many different ways. Good luck."

- Ninja Kiwi's Apple App Store update description

 (Covert Ops Battles Response Agent) is a tower featured in Bloons TD Battles Mobile and Steam versions. It was added in the update on August 18, 2014. The tower costs 5000, tallying the third most medallions to get an item in BTD Battles, only overcame by the Sliver and Golden weapon skins. however it can be bought for USD $4.99 or equivalent (still more than all the other towers, for USD $3.99). Winning battles in Battle Arena is essential to be able to afford the tower, given the classic mode's rewards are only a fraction of the cost of the tower.

An incredibly easy to use tower. Its upgrades are generally focused on changing game mechanics in ways that were previously impossible. However, it must be used in combination with good grouped popping power and camo popping power as it possesses neither.

Strategies
Although the COBRA lacks in firepower, this tower's upgrades can lead to useful strategies, even in the Battle Arena.

The following Attrition strategies only apply to Assault Mode and before version 3.1, due to the nerf of not killing the opponent if the opponent is on one life left.
 * Bloon Adjustment - This is simply placing down many COBRA units and upgrading them to the Wired Funds upgrade. This will give the player $80 per round.(160 in banaza club room) Place down as many COBRAs as possible, but make sure to keep your defenses strong. You should stop placing new COBRAs once you hit 15 - 20. You should then upgrade them all to 2/x (2 upgrades on path 1 and any amount on path 2). This will adjust the bloons on the enemy side and give them either camo status, regenerating status, or rank boost of +1. The effects of Bloon Adjustment stacks, so getting around 15 - 20 means you can essentially adjust every single bloon on their side. Multiple COBRAs can also adjust the same bloon. For example, a rainbow bloon on the enemy's side can be adjusted to a (Camo + Regenerating) ceramic. This will happen to nearly every bloon. Eventually the higher ranked bloons should overpower your enemy leading you to victory.
 * Attrition - The COBRA is the only tower in the game that can take lives from your opponent. When stacked, it can pose a major threat to the opponent. This strategy is done in a similar way to the Bloon Adjustment strategy, and can even be used in conjunction with it. Every step up to the upgrading to Bloon Adjustment is the same (although you can upgrade to Bloon Adjustment if you feel better off with it or have the money). Once you get around 10 - 15 1/0 COBRAs, you should start upgrading them to 1/2. If you have 15 COBRAs, you will be stealing 30 lives every 12 seconds, or about 2 - 3 lives every second. This means that in less than a minute, your opponent will be reduced to 1 life, after which you will start gaining $30 instead of the 2 life addition, unless they have Attrition themselves. Once again, make sure you are keeping your defense strong enough to defend against any enemy rushes. This is also used in defensive mode to make the player's lives back to 150 lives if the player had lives leaked.
 * COBRA + Boomer + Village - This strategy is very powerful, because you can get every type of bloon popping power needed in BTD Battles. You can also kill your opponent using the Bloon Adjustment.
 * For this strategy you need the COBRA, Boomerang, and Village. A 4th tower is not necessary, but can be useful if you roll a good late game tower like chippers or Supermonkeys.
 * To start the game, place down 2 0-0 COBRAs. Then, upgrade them both to Wired Funds before round 2 starts.
 * After that, continue to buy 1-0 COBRAs. If your opponent rushes you, add in a 2-0 and eventually a 3-0 Boomerang if you need it. Once you get a 3-0 Boomerang, you should switch all your COBRAs, and all future ones, to target Strong.
 * If you opponent sends spaced pinks or higher, switch some of your COBRAs to target Strong.
 * Once you have around 8 COBRAs, make sure you have a 3-2 Boomerang and get a Village. You need to make sure you can get a 0-2 Village in the range of your Boomerang and as many COBRAs as you can before round 12 starts. Sell COBRAs if you're short on cash.
 * Once you get your 0-2 Village, continue to buy 1-0 COBRAs, setting them all to strong. Try to get them in the range of the village, so you can have more camo ceramic popping power.
 * Once you've amassed 20 or so COBRAs, go through and upgrade all of them to 2-0. The Bloon Adjustment is usually enough to kill them. If not, you can just buy more 2-0 COBRAs.
 * In the event that your opponent gets towers to counter Bloon Adjustment entirely (such as Glaive Lords or Spectres) start building eco. Wired Funds income gets worse and worse as you go into the late game.
 * Now is the time to get a Glaive Lord, your Village to 2-2, and once your eco is high enough, 2-4 Misdirection COBRAs. This will ensure that anything BFBs and below can be sent at your opponent to cause maximum damage. The Attrition will also make your opponent easier to kill.
 * Going into very high late game rounds can get tough for COBRAs. To outlast your opponent, make sure you have 4-2 and 2-4 Villages covering the entire map together, and get at least 50 Misdirections. More Misdirections are unnecessary, but 0-1 COBRAs are still useful to break the ZOMG layer so you can misdirection the BFBs inside to your opponent.


 * Monkey Sub + COBRA + Banana Farm - This strategy is focused on surprise attacks and is incredibly effective against bloon income strategies. It is also only viable on maps where a Bloontonium Reactor can defend against round 13 rushes, as this is its only defense for these rushes. This means that it should only be used if you know your opponent is going to use bloon income, as farm strategies will crush it.
 * Bring the Sub, COBRA, and Farm. A 4th tower is essential if you are not playing against bloon income, though against bloon income you should not need a 4th.
 * Start out with a 1-0 Banana Farm and then build a 0-2 Sub to defend against income sends.
 * Continue building 1-0 or 2-0 farms. Do NOT reveal the COBRA, even if you are tempted to use Wired Funds for extra money.
 * On round 10, your opponent will gain access to the Lead Bloon. To defend against this simply build a Reactor. You might want to start saving up on round 9 if you expect trouble in affording this. In addition, building Airburst Darts will be needed for ceramics.
 * Once you have 5 2-0 Farms, get one to 3-0 and save up until you have around $4500. If it is round 14 or lower, you should sell the 2-0 farms and upgrade the 3-0 to a 4-0. Either ways, now is when you should start saving up your money.
 * What happens next depends on your opponent's bloon sends. If they are constantly sending income bloons, you can wait until round 17 or 18 to do your attack. If they stop, whenever they stop is when you should attack.
 * To do the attack, simply sell your farms and build Offensive Push COBRAs until you have unlocked Fast Cooldown MOABs(or ceramics if you don't have enough money). Then, bloon boost and send the MOABs or Ceramics until you are out of money. This should be done very quickly to give your opponent the least time possible to react. Sell the COBRAs and send lesser bloons if you want to continue the attack, but the money from the COBRAs can also be used to defend against a counter-rush. If the game goes past round 20 and you haven't won, you will most likely lose come late game unless you have a good 4th tower.

Update History (Bloons TD Battles Mobile)
If the opponent has only 1 life left, another Attrition will not kill the opponent, but instead give the player $30. Bloon Adjustment price increased ($350 → $500).  Bloon Adjustment Price increased ($500 → $550).
 * 3.1
 * 3.2
 * 4.3.1

 Misdirection price increased ($3250 → $3500).

Trivia

 * The COBRA is the most expensive tower in the game, costing 5000.
 * This tower is the first in Bloons TD Battles where all upgrades are unlocked with the purchase of the tower.
 * This is the only tower in Bloons TD Battles that can affect an opponents side of the track.
 * The name COBRA could possibly be a reference to Solid Snake of the Metal Gear Solid video game series.
 * The name COBRA could also be a reference to the german television series Alarm für Cobra 11
 * Misdirection is the only ability which has varying countdown times.
 * Cobra means "snake" in Portuguese.
 * The COBRA and the Banana Farm are the only 2 BTDB towers that don't have an upgrade that allows it pop Lead Bloons.
 * Normally, you would get 7 if you finish a game with 150 lives. However, if you lost some lives and used attrition to get your lives back to 150, you would not get 7.
 * Same for Support Chinook.
 * It is the third tower that shoots from a firearm. First being Dartling Gun and the second being Sniper Monkey.
 * There are only two towers that can regain lives without using premiums first. The COBRA and the Heli Pilot.
 * Sometimes, if both players have the COBRA, one of them will attempt to reduce the opponent's lives to 1 (kill their opponent before version 3.1) by having more 0/2 COBRAs than the other. This is known as an "Attrition War".
 * Offensive Push only affects the bloons, and not regen or camo modifiers.
 * For example, if one gets Offensive Push on level 11, the player will only get grouped blacks and spaced rainbows and not camo modifier.
 * The "Finish Him!" upgrade is a reference to the phrase "Finish Him!" from Mortal Kombat.
 * The COBRA's hair gets less messy as you upgrade it.