Plasma Monkey Fan Club

"Elite membership of this club grants the Dart Monkeys even more power!"

- In-game description

Plasma Monkey Fan Club is the Tier 5 upgrade of Path 2 for the Dart Monkey in Bloons TD 6. Its special ability transforms up to 20 of the nearest Dart Monkeys into rapidly firing Plasma Blast Super Monkeys for 15 seconds with a cooldown of 50 seconds. During the ability, transformed Dart Monkeys have 40 range and attack every 0.03 seconds with a 2 damage and 5 pierce plasma blast projectile that travels less compared to true Plasma Blasts. The base tower retains the same attack statistics as the Super Monkey Fan Club. Transformed Dart Monkeys will inherit most crosspaths and buffs.

This upgrade costs $38,250 on Easy, $45,000 on Medium, $48,600 on Hard and $54,000 on Impoppable. The Plasma Monkey Fan Club upgrade is unlocked with 30,000 XP.

Description
The Plasma Monkey Fan Club turns the dart monkey into an Elite version of the Super Monkey Fan Club, with a black "B" jersey, red undershirt and underpants, as well as triple plasma goggles characteristic of those found on the larger Plasma Blasts Super Monkey. The transformed monkeys appear identical to a 2-0-0 Plasma Monkey, save for the reduced footprint and quickly fading plasma projectiles (which are also smaller versions of the Plasma Super Monkey projectiles). Both the Plasma Monkey and its transforms have the same footprint as a dart monkey, taking up considerably less space than a Plasma Monkey. The idle animations are the same as the base dart monkey. However, upon activating the ability, transformed monkeys will strike a superhero pose with hands at their hips as an idle animation. The tier-2 Crosspaths have no effect on the appearance or animations of the Plasma Monkey Fan Club or its transforms.

The upgrade icon shows the Plasma Monkey Fan Club closing his arms.

Behavior
The Plasma Monkey Fan Club leader will transform the 20 nearest Dart Monkeys into mini-plasma Super Monkeys according to the following rules.


 * No more than 20 dart monkeys will be transformed (21 including the club leader himself).
 * Dart monkeys must be below tier-3 on paths 1 and 3 to be transformed.
 * Dart Monkeys can be any tier on path 2 and still be transformed.
 * Dart Monkeys belonging to Co-Op players are eligible for transformation, excluding another player's Plasma Monkey Fan Club leader.
 * Upgrading a tier-2 dart monkey to Crossbow or Spike-o-Pult while it is transformed, will untransform that dart monkey into the respective tier-3 tower.
 * The Plasma Monkey transformation will always override the Super Monkey Fan Club Transformation, unless the Super Monkey Fan Club ability is activated by a dart monkey which has already been transformed. In that case, only that super monkey fan club dart monkey will transform from a plasma dart monkey to a super dart monkey.
 * The Plasma Monkey Fan Club and Alchemist's Total Transformation abilities do not stack. If both abilities are used in succession on the same group of dart monkeys (which must be tier-3 or below), then whichever ability was applied first will persist. So a plasma monkey can not be transformed directly into an attack monster and vice versa.

The Long Range Darts upgrade has no effect on the transformed dart monkeys. All other crosspaths provide some sort of buff to the dart monkeys in their transformed state. Enhanced Eyesight increases range, Sharp Shots and Razor Sharp Shots increase pierce, and path 2 upgrades increase rate of fire and damage.

Other Notable Interactions
For a full list of all standard tower Interactions, click here.

The Plasma Monkey Fan Club and its Plasma Dart Monkeys follow all standard tower interactions and inherit all applicable buffs with a few noteworthy points.


 * When using the Door Gunner monkey knowledge on a transformable dart monkey, the ability will actually use the distance to the Special Poperations to calculate if it is nearer than other dart monkeys.
 * There is severely limited interaction with Total Transformation as discussed above.

Costs

 * Updated as of Version 29.4

Summary
The Plasma Monkey Fan Club ability converts 20 dart monkeys into Plasma Super Monkeys that can rapidly deal intense damage to bloons across the map. In conjunction with easily obtainable buffs, the Plasma Monkey Fan Club excels in many categories such as single-target damage, grouped-bloon damage, and map-wide coverage. Conversely, the Plasma Monkey Fan Club proves difficult for even experienced players to utilize as there are several weaknesses to consider. The incredibly high cost of the upgrade makes it difficult to obtain mid-game unless farming is used. Even if afforded, placing all the dart monkeys and supplying buffs can be a cumbersome and space-inefficient task. Additionally, the short ability uptime and weak attack power of the base tower can leave defenses vulnerable when the ability is inactive. However by taking measures to cover these weaknesses, the Plasma Monkey Fan Club can be extremely useful in Boss Events, Multi-lane maps, C.H.I.M.P.S., and Freeplay where its intense bursts of concentrated damage can clear even the largest bloons within seconds.

For general late game and freeplay usage, the Plasma Monkey Fan Club and transforms should be placed in centrally located regions of the track to increase time spent damaging bloons. With decent farming, money is usually not an issue at this point. So, priority should be given on saturating the Tier-5 tower, as well as its transforms, with the proper upgrades and buffs. In terms of crosspath, use path 2 dart monkeys (either 0-4-2 or 2-4-0 Super Monkey Fan Clubs) for the transforms as this will maximize rate of fire and damage. The choice between the 0-4-2 and 2-4-0 is a matter of personal preference as the first provides extended range, and the second offers higher pierce, both of which are comparably useful. For buffs, use Permanent Brew, Primary Expertise, and Energizer to easily buff the transforms and reduce ability cooldowns. Additional buffs include a True Sun God/Vengeful True Sun God, Support Sun Temple, Ultraboost or Overclock and Hero buffs like Ezili's Totem. All of these will enhance the attack power of the transformed monkeys and, in combination, the resulting damage output can outclass that of even a maxed Apex Plasma Master.

For Boss Events, the main goal is prioritizing single target damage. So, the late-game strategies mentioned above will be effective. If money becomes an issue, prioritize the Permanent brew, Primary Expertise, and Energizer buffs above all else. Also, it may be worth forgoing buffs and simply using the Plasma Monkey Fan Club (alongside its transforms) as a stepping stone for a high degree Apex Plasma Master, as the Apex Plasma Master is more optimized to these events. In this case, allow the Plasma Monkey Fan Club to accumulate pops for degree benefits.

In income-restrictive game modes like C.H.I.M.P.S., using the Plasma Monkey Fan Club entails saving up a large sum of money with a relatively cheap defense. Towers like the Sun Avatar and Berserker Brew are able to reliably carry mid-game rounds and also cover ability downtime during late-game. An alternative option is Primary Expertise which can defend bloons with its ballista attack plus providing free upgrades that helps even more with saving money and midgame. In addition, try to delay the round ending as much as possible using ice towers, Downdraft Heli-Pilots and other stalling towers. This gives the ability time to recharge. Even though many other buffs are unaffordable in this game mode, the Plasma Monkey Fan Club can trivialize the heavy MOAB rushes of rounds 90+ if used correctly.

Tips

 * Compared to an equally costly number of 2-0-0 Super Monkeys, the Plasma Monkey Fan Club is preferable as it offers significantly more damage output.
 * In mid to late-game rounds, stalling will boost the effective uptime of the Plasma Monkey Fan Club. Use towers like the Downdraft Heli to achieve this.
 * When choosing cross paths of the Plasma Monkey Fan Club tower, both the 2-5-0 and 0-5-2 upgrades have benefits.
 * Choose 2-5-0 for enhanced pierce to deal with large bloon rushes.
 * Choose 0-5-2 to to enhance range and therefore single-target damage.
 * Don't choose the 0-5-1, 1-5-0, or 0-5-0 crosspaths unless severely restricted on income.
 * When choosing upgrades of the dart monkeys to be transformed, here is a rough rank of most to least useful crosspaths.
 * 0-4-2 will offer the highest DPS and largest range, which is good for single target damage.
 * 2-4-0 will offer the highest DPS and highest pierce, which is good for dealing with large bloon rushes.
 * X-3-X, X-2-X, X-1-X, (essentially any middle path crosspath) will offer the most cost efficient boost in attack speed to the transforms.
 * 2-0-2, 2-0-1, 2-0-0... (any crosspath of paths 1 and 3) are generally not advised as they do not contribute to single-target damage. However, getting an x-x-2 may be necessary in absence of other camo detection methods.
 * 0-0-0 offers no buff to the transforms, but is the cheapest option, allowing for quicker filling of the transformation limit.
 * 0-0-1 is the worst crosspath as Long Range Darts contributes no range to the transformed monkey.
 * Plasma Monkey Fan Club pairs extremely well with Psi and Ezili. Pat and Gwen are used a lot with PMFC but they require putting all 20 darts in one spot, making PMFC just a weaker Total Transformation. Although Pat is the best PMFC hero for Flooded Valley and Ouch, since you are forced to place all 20 darts in one spot.
 * Primary Mentoring is useful for decreasing the ability cooldown.
 * Reduced ability cooldowns help to make the ability not be as punishing, the range is useful buff and the free upgrades help conserve a little extra money.
 * Having a 4-0-2 Monkey Village may not be a bad idea, as it improves further on the Tier 3 buffs. That said it misses out on camo detection that Radar scanner provides. This might not seem that bad to miss out, but a 2-2-0 dart monkey provides the most DPS for the transformation which doesn't have camo detection and the Village can provide a range boost similar to a 0-0-2 Dart Monkey.
 * Do not use Monkey City to generate free dart monkeys in C.H.I.M.P.S. The cost of buying 21 dart monkeys is a far cheaper than buying the Monkey Town and Monkey City (both of which are effectively useless in CHIMPS) to gain free monkeys. However, this would be a useful tactic in other gamemodes.
 * When there is a choice of map, choose tracks with multiple paths and sufficient placement area. This allows for placement of all 20 dart monkeys and utilization of the infinite range of the transformation ability to spread the damage across all paths. Despite this, the Plasma Monkey Fan Club can still be useful on nearly every map.

Sounds
When activated Plasma Monkey Fan Club Ability:
 * [Crowd cheering]

Trivia

 * When taking into account upgrade prices versus base cost, Plasma Monkey Fan Club has the greatest cost difference compared to the base tower's cost, specifically 180x more expensive than the base Dart Monkey. Inferno Ring and Super Mines both come close, at both 162.5x.
 * Before Version 11.0, Plasma Monkey Fan Club could be combined with Total Transformation to stack attack speed boosts for absolutely extreme DPS (every 0.0009s, essentially 1089x shots per second instead of 33x shots per second). Similar stacking could be done with Super Monkey Fan Club, although at half the attack speed. This was removed one update later on Version 12.0.
 * Plasma Monkey Fan Club is the only upgrade that is based on another upgrade in-game, Plasma Blasts. Super Monkey Fan Club imitates the base Super Monkey tower.