Ascended Shadow

"The complete assassin package for dealing with any Bloon threat."

- BTD6 description of the Ascended Shadow Ninja

"The Bloons will never see me coming..."

- October 5th Teaser Description

The Ascended Shadow is the Paragon upgrade of the Ninja Monkey that was added to Bloons TD 6 in the 28.0 update. Combining major features from the Grandmaster Ninja, Grand Saboteur, and Master Bomber, the Ascended Shadow throws 8 large Shurikens that seek out Bloons. Every 7 shots, the Ascended Shadow throws 5 flash bombs that explode into 3 smaller blue seeking Shurikens and can stun ZOMG bloons and below. With the Deadly Tranquility Monkey Knowledge enabled, 1 projectile is added to each of these attacks. Additionally, the Ascended Shadow throws a sticky bomb at MOAB-Class Bloons. All of these attacks deal enormous damage to all bloon types (including camo), with bonus damage to Boss Bloons only. The Ascended Shadow applies a permanent 50% speed reduction to all bloons other than BADs and Boss Bloons. However it does not inherit the Grand Saboteur's ability to automatically instill a 25% health reduction to newly spawned bloons.

The Ascended Shadow is obtained by having one of each tier 5 Ninja Monkey and purchasing the upgrade which subsequently consumes all Ninja Monkeys on screen. The Degree of the Ascended Shadow ranges from 1-100 and is determined by total cost, pop count, upgrades, and number of Ninja Monkeys sacrificed as explained here. As with all Paragons, the Ascended Shadow cannot receive buffs from any external sources (aside from the debuffing status effects of Cripple MOAB, Glue Storm, and Super Brittle). Additionally, Ascended Shadow is unobtainable in Sandbox Mode but can be created in Challenge Editor.

It costs $510,000 on Easy, $600,000 on Medium, $648,000 on Hard, and $720,000 on Impoppable.

Description
The Ascended Shadow is a Magical Ninja strongly resembling Oni Demons from Japanese folklore. The monkey is fully garbed in a black robe, brown sandals, billowing scarf, mechanical red arms, and two red horns that puncture its woven Kasa hat. Prominent features include a devilish smile, sharply protruding jaws, glowing green eyes (2 in the upgrade portrait, 1 on the in-game tower), and the recurrent BTD6 spirals adorned throughout the body. Animating the Ascended Shadow are two lime-green mist clouds which orbit the tower in a clockwise manner, as well as a continuous stream of falling Cherry Blossom petals (perhaps to represent the infinite duration of the MOAB Slowdown effect, as is shown with the Grand Saboteur). The Ascended Shadow has three idle animations: a Shuriken toss, backflip, and head roll.

As part of its primary attack, the Ascended Shadow throws large seeking Shurikens, red-hot flash bombs, and sticky bombs. The flash bombs can explode apart into four smaller, blue, seeking Shurikens. The sticky bombs are visually replaced by a group of magical paper talismans that adhere to MOAB Class bloons, as shown by the upgrade icon. These talismans have a spiral, and strongly resemble a simplified version of the Monkey Knowledge cards in Bloons Monkey City. However, they are more likely a reference to Shinto and Buddhist Ofuda talismans that are popular in anime series like Naruto. For the purpose of consistency, the following article will still refer to this attack as Sticky Bomb.

Every 20 degrees, the Ascended Shadow gains a more erratic appearance, with an enlarged eye, more horns, a burning-flame on the hat, frillier scarf scarf designs, and orbital talismans.

Like other paragons, all of these visual elements are taken from the constituent tier-5 towers which, themselves, are based on many elements of Japanese culture like the Grandmaster Ninja's woven hat, the Grand Saboteur's black Ninja Garb, and the Master Bomber's Oni Mask. Unlike the other paragons, the name "Ascended Shadow" does not appear to be derived from any of the constituent tier-5 towers. Rather the "Ascended" refers to the powerful nature of the paragon, while "Shadow" retains the stealthy nature of Ninja Monkey tower.

Creating the Ascended Shadow
A base Ascended Shadow can be created by having one of each Tier 5 Ninja Monkey on screen, at which point the upgrade icon for the Ascended Shadow will become available on any of the tier 5 Ninja monkeys. Purchasing the upgrade will change the selected Ninja Monkey into the Ascended Shadow, while sacrificing every other Ninja Monkey on screen (including those belonging to co-op players). Only one Ascended Shadow may exist at a time, even in co-op.

Degree Requirements and Attack Statistics
In addition to cosmetic changes every 20 degrees, increasing degrees will elevate the damage output of the Ascended Shadow. The degree is dependent upon total pop count, number of tier 5 upgrades, non-tier 5 upgrades, cost, and number of sacrificed ninja monkeys as discussed here.

The approximate power levels for 20 degree increments are listed alongside the associated damage statistics and some general guidelines on which sacrificial investments to make.

Degree 1 (Base)

 * 70 Range for Shuriken and Flash Bomb attacks (constant for all degrees)
 * Infinite Range for Sticky Bomb. (constant for all degrees)
 * Same footprint as a Ninja Monkey.
 * Bloon Sabotage: All Bloons on screen (excluding BADs and Bosses) are permanently slowed to half speed. This includes the children of every Bloon as well.
 * Main Shuriken: 32 damage, 64 Boss Bloon damage, 128 Elite Boss damage, 4 pierce, 8 projectiles (9 with Deadly Tranquility MK), fires every 0.217s, 70 range, has a 15% chance to distract Bloons. Has aggressive seeking.
 * Flash Bomb: 96 damage, 192 Boss Bloon damage, 384 Elite Boss damage, 50 pierce, 5 flash bombs (6 with Deadly Tranquility MK), stuns Bloons for 3s and Blimps for 1s, emits 3 Blue Shurikens on impact, (4 with Deadly Tranquility MK). Fires every 1.5s. 70 Range.
 * Blue Shuriken: 80 damage, 160 Boss Bloon Damage, 320 Elite Boss damage, 20 pierce. Has aggressive seeking.
 * Sticky Bomb: Infinite range, applies every 5.5s, 3s to detonate upon sticking, creates a single target explosion and a weaker Area of Effect (AoE) upon expiration.
 * Main Target: 16,000 damage, 48,000 Boss Bloon damage, 96,000 Elite Boss damage
 * AoE: 3,500 damage, 4,900 Boss Bloon damage, 9,800 Elite Boss damage, 10 pierce, 40 range.
 * Recommended Sacrifices: 1 Grandmaster Ninja, 1 Grand Saboteur, 1 Master Bomber needed (constant for all degrees).

Degree 20

 * Main Shuriken: 39.08 damage, 100.208 Boss Bloon damage, 200.516 Elite Boss damage, 23.76 pierce, 8 projectiles (9 with Deadly Tranquility MK), fires every 0.165s, 70 range, has a 15% chance to distract Bloons. Has aggressive seeking.
 * Flash Bomb: 115.24 damage, 298.2 Boss Bloon damage, 596.4 Elite Boss damage, 78.5 pierce, 5 flash bombs (6 with Deadly Tranquility MK), stuns Bloons for 3s and Blimps for 1s, emits 3 Blue Shurikens on impact, (4 with Deadly Tranquility MK). Fires every 1.15s. 70 Range.
 * Blue Shuriken: 96.2 damage, 248.7 Boss Bloon Damage, 497.4 Elite Boss damage, 42.8 pierce. Has aggressive seeking.
 * Sticky Bomb: Infinite range, applies every 4.2s, 3s to detonate upon sticking, creates a single target explosion and a weaker Area of Effect (AoE) upon expiration.
 * Main Target: 19,041 damage, 68,545 Boss Bloon damage, 137,090 Elite Boss damage
 * AoE: 4,166 damage, 7331 Boss Bloon damage, 14,662 Elite Boss damage, 30.9 pierce, 40 range.
 * Recommended Sacrifices: Have all three base tier-5 Ninja Monkeys, $125,000 in external Ninja cost investment, 100 tier-4 or below upgrades across all Ninja Monkeys. This is easily doable with 17 (0-2-4) Sticky Bombs for every difficulty.

Degree 40

 * Main Shuriken: 47.48 damage, 146.54 Boss Bloon damage, 293.08 Elite Boss damage, 44.56 pierce, 8 projectiles (9 with Deadly Tranquility MK), fires every 0.150, 70 range, has a 15% chance to distract Bloons. Has aggressive seeking.
 * Flash Bomb: 136.44 damage, 431.2 Boss Bloon damage, 862.4 Elite Boss damage, 108.5 pierce, 5 flash bombs (6 with Deadly Tranquility MK), stuns Bloons for 3s and Blimps for 1s, emits 3 Blue Shurikens on impact, (4 with Deadly Tranquility MK). Fires every 1.04s. 70 Range.
 * Blue Shuriken: 114.2 damage, 360 Boss Bloon Damage, 720 Elite Boss damage, 66.8 pierce. Has aggressive seeking.
 * Sticky Bomb: Infinite range, applies every 3.814s, 3s to detonate upon sticking, creates a single target explosion and a weaker Area of Effect (AoE) upon expiration.
 * Main Target: 22,243 damage, 93,412 Boss Bloon damage, 186,824 Elite Boss damage
 * AoE: 4,868 damage, 10,318 Boss Bloon damage, 20,636 Elite Boss damage, 52.9 pierce, 40 range.
 * Recommended Sacrifices: Have all three base tier-5 Ninja Monkeys, $250,000 in external Ninja cost investment, 100 tier-4 or below upgrades across all Ninja Monkeys. This is easily doable with 34 (0-2-4) Sticky Bombs on Easy, 29 on Medium, 27 on Hard, and 24 on Impoppable. Additionally, have 2.04 million pops achieved across all Ninja Monkeys.

Degree 60

 * Main Shuriken: 55.88 damage, 201.34 Boss Bloon damage, 402.68 Elite Boss damage, 65.36 pierce, 8 projectiles (9 with Deadly Tranquility MK), fires every 0.140s, 70 range, has a 15% chance to distract Bloons. Has aggressive seeking
 * Flash Bomb: 157.64 damage, 588 Boss Bloon damage, 1,176 Elite Boss damage, 138.5 pierce, 5 flash bombs (6 with Deadly Tranquility MK), stuns Bloons for 3s and Blimps for 1s, emits 3 Blue Shurikens on impact, (4 with Deadly Tranquility MK). Fires every 0.972s. 70 Range.
 * Blue Shuriken: 132.2 damage, 491.36 Boss Bloon Damage, 982.8 Elite Boss damage, 90.8 pierce. Has aggressive seeking.
 * Sticky Bomb: Infinite range, applies every 3.56s, 3s to detonate upon sticking, creates a single target explosion and a weaker Area of Effect (AoE) upon expiration.
 * Main Target: 25,445 damage, 122,120 Boss Bloon damage, 244,240 Elite Boss damage
 * AoE: 5,570 damage, 13,809 Boss Bloon damage, 27,618 Elite Boss damage, 74.9 pierce, 40 range.
 * Recommended Sacrifices: Have all three base tier-5 Ninja Monkeys, $250,000 in external Ninja cost investment, 100 tier-4 or below upgrades across all Ninja Monkeys. This is easily doable with 34 (0-2-4) Sticky Bombs on Easy, 29 on Medium, 27 on Hard, and 24 on Impoppable. Additionally, have 8.35 million pops achieved across all Ninja Monkeys.

Degree 76 (Single Player Max)

 * Main Shuriken: 63 damage, 224 Boss Bloon damage, 448 Elite Boss damage, 82 pierce, 8 projectiles (9 with Deadly Tranquility MK), fires every 0.1406, 70 range, has a 15% chance to distract Bloons. Has aggressive seeking.
 * Flash Bomb: 175 damage, 649.6 Boss Bloon damage, 1,299 Elite Boss damage, 162.5 pierce, 5 flash bombs (6 with Deadly Tranquility MK), stuns Bloons for 3s and Blimps for 1s, emits 3 Blue Shurikens on impact, (4 with Deadly Tranquility MK). Fires every 0.93s. 70 Range.
 * Blue Shuriken: 147 damage, 543.2 Boss Bloon Damage, 1,086 Elite Boss damage, 110 pierce. Has aggressive seeking.
 * Sticky Bomb: Infinite range, applies every 3.4s, 3s to detonate upon sticking, creates a single target explosion and a weaker Area of Effect (AoE) upon expiration.
 * Main Target: 28,007 damage, 134,411 Boss Bloon damage, 368,822 Elite Boss damage
 * AoE: 6,132 damage, 15,201.2 Boss Bloon damage, 30,402 Elite Boss damage, 92.5 pierce, 40 range.
 * Recommended Sacrifices: Have all three base tier-5 Ninja Monkeys, $250,000 in external Ninja cost investment, 100 tier-4 or below upgrades across all Ninja Monkeys. This is easily doable with 34 (0-2-4) Sticky Bombs on Easy, 29 on Medium, 27 on Hard, and 24 on Impoppable. Additionally, have 16.2 million pops achieved across all Ninja Monkeys.

Degree 100

 * Main Shuriken: 74 damage, 340 Boss Bloon damage, 680 Elite Boss damage, 108 pierce, 8 projectiles (9 with Deadly Tranquility MK), fires every 0.127s, 70 range, has a 15% chance to distract Bloons. Has aggressive seeking.
 * Flash Bomb: 202 damage, 980 Boss Bloon damage, 1,960 Elite Boss damage, 200 pierce, 5 flash bombs (6 with Deadly Tranquility MK), stuns Bloons for 3s and Blimps for 1s, emits 3 Blue Shurikens on impact, (4 with Deadly Tranquility MK). Fires every 0.8803s. 70 Range.
 * Blue Shuriken: 170 damage, 820 Boss Bloon Damage, 1,640 Elite Boss damage, 140 pierce. Has aggressive seeking.
 * Sticky Bomb: Infinite range, applies every 3.2s, 3s to detonate upon sticking, creates a single target explosion and a weaker Area of Effect (AoE) upon expiration.
 * Main Target: 32,010 damage, 192,020 Boss Bloon damage, 384,040 Elite Boss damage
 * AoE: 7,010 damage, 22,420 Boss Bloon damage, 44,840 Elite Boss damage, 40 pierce.
 * Recommended Sacrifices: Have all three base tier-5 Ninja Monkeys, $250,000 in external Ninja cost investment, 9 additional tier-5 Ninja Monkeys, 100 tier-4 or below upgrades across all Ninja Monkeys. This is easily doable with 34 (0-2-4) Sticky Bombs on Easy, 29 on Medium, 27 on Hard, and 24 on Impoppable. Additionally, have 16.2 million pops achieved across all Ninja Monkeys.

Troubleshooting
See Paragons:Troubleshooting

Behavior and Interactions
Like other Paragons, the Ascended Shadow will ignore most tower interactions, such as buffs, discounts, and redeployment as detailed here. However, there are a few noteworthy points of the tower's behavior to consider:


 * The Shuriken and Flash Bomb attacks obey the target priority which is set on the tower. They are restricted by line of sight,
 * The Sticky Bomb will always target the strongest Bloon on screen, unless Camo Priority is enabled. Then, it will target DDTs
 * Despite having infinite range, this attack is restricted by line of sight, regardless of target priority.
 * The Ascended Shadow's primary Shuriken attack gains one extra Shuriken projectile from the Deadly Tranquility Monkey Knowledge.
 * Perhaps unintentionally, the Flash Bomb is also affected.
 * Like all Paragons, Time Stop does not slow down Ascended Shadow, which allows it to deal much more overall damage against all bloon types including BADs and Bosses.
 * The Ascended Shadow attacks deal extra damage to Bloons debuffed with effects such as Super Brittle or Cripple MOAB.
 * If placed on an ice platform created by an Arctic Wind monkey, the Ascended Shadow is not sold when said ice monkey is sold. Instead, it'll hover over the water. It is also immune to Pontoon selling, and Portable Lake selling if an Ice platform is used.

Strategy
See also: Paragons: Strategy

Summary
The Ascended Shadow combines the attacks of the Grandmaster Ninja, Grand Saboteur, and Master Bomber to rapidly fire a piercing array of seeking Shurikens, Flash Bombs, and Sticky Bombs. Alongside its Bloon speed reduction effect, the Ascended Shadow outshines other towers in MOAB-Stalling, single-target damage, grouped MOAB damage, Boss Bloon damage, and long-range attacks. The main weakness of the Ascended Shadow is its exorbitant price, due to being the most expensive single upgrade in the game, and tedious setup process to boost Degree. Additionally, the effectiveness of the Ascended Shadow falls off during very late game (round 250+) due to not being able to receive buffs. As a result, players should plan early and invest in an intense farming setup and sacrifices to maximize the power of the Paragon. Doing so will make the Ascended Shadow an invaluable asset to any Boss Bloon and most Late Game defenses.

During Boss Fights, obtain as high a degree Ascended Shadow as possible. Recall that a max Ascended Shadow can be created by having 16,200,000 pops, $250,000 spent (excluding the base three tier-5 Ninja Monkeys), 100 tier 1-4 upgrades, and 9 (4 in single player) tier 5 upgrades among the sacrificial Ninja Monkeys. Currently, the Ascended Shadow is the most powerful land Paragon in the game, so prioritize its creation and degree maximization over the other Paragons and towers if water is not available. Doing so will trivialize the 3rd and 4th tier Boss Bloons.

For general late game usage, the Ascended Shadow is recommended as its sticky bombs and main attacks provide very high DPS and MOAB stalling power. There is the additional benefit of having a permanent duration Bloon Sabotage ability. However, this power falls off during high Late game. As a result, the Ascended Shadow is most relevant between rounds (100-300).

In either case, all attacks are restricted by Line of Sight, so place the Ascended Shadow in areas with fewer obstacles and more track area to maximize time spent attacking bloons. If possible, try to align the placement so Ascended Shadow has direct line of sight to the track entrance, allowing for more usage of the sticky bomb.

Tips

 * Even though Paragons cannot be buffed directly, it is worth giving the Ascended Shadow support with any type of Debuff status effect (e.g. Cripple MOAB, Super Brittle, Glue Storm).
 * 0-2-4 Ninja (not 2-4-0 Ninja) is the most expensive tier 4 Ninja, and is optimal for sacrifice.
 * 2-4-0 Ninja costs $8100 on Medium, and so does 0-4-2 Ninja, but $9050 on Medium for 2-0-4 and $9250 on Medium for 0-2-4 Ninja.
 * Note that while 0-2-4 is the most expensive ninja, the 0-4-2/2-4-0 ninjas have the Shinobi Tactics buff and the Bloon Sabotage ability, which can make it significantly easier for ninjas to gather pops in freeplay, as attacks like Sticky Bomb will quickly become inconsequential because of health ramping.
 * Ascended Shadow is a vital option in extreme late-game runs due to having a permanent Bloon Sabotage effect. These sabotage effects will penetrate blimp layers. Grand Saboteur will still be a useful choice in combination with Ascended Shadow because Grand Sabo still retains its unique instant -25% blimp health from blimps entering the screen.
 * Setting the Ascended Shadow to Camo Priority is generally not recommended as it will prevent the sticky bomb from dealing maximal damage to the strongest Bloons on screen.

Bugs

 * Current
 * [28.0] The Deadly Tranquility Monkey Knowledge adds 1 extra projectile to the Shuriken, Flash Bomb, and Mini-Shuriken attack. As the Monkey Knowledge point only specifies increasing Shuriken Projectile number, and the regular (x-x-3) Flash Bomb Ninja is not affected, the Ascended Shadow Flash Bomb projectile boost is likely unintentional.

None, so far
 * Patched

Quotes
"*New Paragon - Ascended Shadow Ninja
 * To combat this new evil, the Ninja Paragon unleashes its triple mastery on Boss Bloons
 * Painfully expensive but deals incredible damage, especially at high Degree"

Trivia

 * Ascended Shadow is the first Magic Monkey paragon to be announced and released.
 * It is unclear whether or not the Ascended Shadow is wearing a mask, or if the demonic face is part the tower's actual body.
 * Ascended Shadow is now the most expensive single upgrade in the Bloons TD series surpassing True Sun God (if not counting VTSG as an upgrade.)
 * It was initially revealed here on 5 October 2021.
 * The teaser featured the quote "The Bloons will never see me coming...", which is notable for being in first person perspective.
 * The files for Ascended Shadow's Shurikens does not include the ones for Level 2 and 3 (i.e. Degrees 21-40 and 41-60, respectively), as Ascended Shadow from Degree 1 to 60 use the same sprites.
 * The Ascended Shadow could be very effective against Bloonarius the Inflator. The Degree 1's Sticky Bomb has the capability of one-shotting Tier 2 Normal and Tier 1 Elite Bloonarius. The Degree 100 has the capability to one-shot Tier 3 Normal and Tier 2 Elite Bloonarius! This comes with the caveat of impossibly intense farming in co-op before round 80 to get a Degree 100, which is impossible anyway because of the limited RBE count. The only theoretical way to get the power required would be mods, which could risk flagging your account.
 * The Bonus Boss Damage from the secondary explosion of the sticky bombs is effectively useless since the explosion, purportedly, can not damage the Bloon which the bomb is attached to. Since the sticky bomb explosion delay is always less than the attack speed, the Sticky Bomb will always be attached to Boss Bloon and never be able to deal secondary bonus boss damage.
 * This is not true if Camo Prioritization is unlocked, allowing a DDT to carry the bomb's explosive damage to the Boss Bloon, but Camo Priority is generally not recommended for the Ascended Shadow, as it lowers the overall DPS of the tower in Boss Events.