Distraction (BTD6)

"Some Bloons will become distracted and move backwards."

- In-game description

Distraction is the first upgrade of Path 2 for the Ninja Monkey in Bloons TD 6. Every attack (including Caltrops and Flash Bombs) will now have a 15% chance to apply blowback onto bloons. Bloons blown away this way move a fair distance away from their original location and move back to a location further away from where they started. This is equivalent to 10-250 units distance.

Unlike BTD5, this upgrade and Seeking Shuriken are now on separate paths.

It costs $295 on Easy, $350 on Medium, $380 on Hard, and $420 on Impoppable.

Appearance
The Ninja Monkey gains a black shuriken and black ring on its head.

Summary
Distraction is unreliable at inflicting blowback, especially compared to Druid of the Storm or Downdraft, but it is still one of many ways to reduce progress of bloons. Its status effects are purely reliant on RNG, so don't primarily rely on this upgrade. However, adding groups of Distraction Ninjas, especially Shinobi Tactics armies, can increase the likelihood of the Distraction effect to occur to bloons.

Tips

 * Distraction can be compared to the Druid's Druid of the Storm upgrade, except that Ninja Monkey's Distraction triggers by a low chance via any attack.
 * If this form of blowback is used on a Regrowth Bloon, unless there is a tower in range, it might regrow on the way back, which means if it is used on a Ceramic Bloon that has been destroyed, it could turn back into a Ceramic Bloon.
 * Having a Bloonjitsu with Distraction can be helpful, but can start Regrow Farms.
 * Distraction is very useful in combination with a couple of other Distraction Ninjas or a Bloonjitsu, which in particular allows it to send back leftover Ceramics backwards quite reliably.
 * Since popular higher upgrades cannot have both Distraction and Seeking Shuriken at the same time, it is best to keep high-level Distraction Ninjas near the path that leads the exit.
 * The chances for blowback by adding Upper Path 1 crosspathing is no different compared to not getting Upper Path 1 crosspathing, as all shurikens spawned from the same Ninja have the same probability of applying Distraction effect. However, in the case where a lucky Distraction effect occurs, there is a much more effective blowback in a single shot.
 * Flash Bomb's Distraction works in a different way; bloons are stunned and then blown back, not blown back while stunned.

Trivia

 * Distraction is the only Tier 1 Ninja Monkey upgrade that was Tier 2 in BTD5 generation games.
 * The only Tier 1 upgrade to apply blowback effects belongs to this upgrade, Distraction.