User blog:The Primordial Clok-Roo/C.O.B.R.A. BTD6 Concept

Yeah, yeah. Original thing for someone to do these days in this community... But hey, I'm taking this seriously! I have created a list of upgrades and upgrade paths for the C.O.B.R.A. tower if it were to return in BTD6 at some point in the future. Will it? Doubtful... but here's a proof of concept that is pretty close - in my eyes - to what NinjaKiwi would cook up on their own. Here's a mock-up of what the tables could look like on this wiki, along with small details to explain the build of the tower along the way and infoboxes for the base tower AND its Tier-5 upgrades.

The C.O.B.R.A. is designed as a Support category tower.

Base Tower
The base C.O.B.R.A. is rather underwhelming offensively. While it has a relatively fast attack speed - able to attack two times per second - it only ever has one 'Sharp' pierce per shot, similar to a Sniper Monkey. It also has a pretty small range, only being slightly larger than a Dart Monkey. However, it makes up for this by having some effective and inexpensive early-game upgrades that balance well with cross-pathing.

Path 1
Path 1 is almost PURELY offensive. It's also the path that retains the most amount of previous C.O.B.R.A. upgrades from BTD Battles - Double Tap, Attrition and Misdirection. The effects of Double Tap are unchanged, as it gives the tower a second pistol to double its attack speed. Attrition functions closer to how it worked in Bloons Adventure Time Tower Defence, giving the tower +1 MOAB and Fortified damage.

Misdirection functions completely differently. It now works like Ninja Monkey's Distraction, albeit with a small percentage owing to the towers rapid attack speed. It also increases the damage output of C.O.B.R.A. against both normal Bloons as well as increasing the benefit of Attrition. Misdirection provides +1 damage; +1 MOAB and Fortified damage; and has a 5% chance to blowback Bloons 10 units.

The next two upgrades take inspiration from the Men In Black series. Bloon Ban - named after the RayBan glasses - triggers a flash affect that stuns Bloons for 1s in a range that is slightly small than the towers base range. The flash triggers very slowly, however, and has a limit to the number of Bloons it can stun. Bloon Ban triggers every 8s; stuns Bloons for 1s; has a range of 30; and a pierce cap of 100.

Here comes the Monkey In Black Blooniverse defender Here comes the Monkey In Black He won't let the Bloons remember. This tower is a complete upgrade to the C.O.B.R.A. in every way possible. It is completely offensive with the additions of its support properties. The best way to understand what has happened is to read it's 'Popology' in the table, because a LOT of things have happened to it. However, it is a relatively cheap Tier-5 upgrade, and that is because it is not a viable late-game option offensively. It's flash and distraction properties may be useful, but it's not going to be doing the bulk of the damage to MOAB-Class Bloons. Also, one change that is not mentioned in the 'Popology' is that it now deals 'Normal' damage, allowing it to affect DDT's. It requires cross-pathing to see Camo, however.

Path 2
Path 2 is more supportive, with an emphasis on cash generation in a way that is similar to Benjamin. In fact, the names of this path's Tier-4 and Tier-5 upgrades hint at this connection (and are taken from a mod that already exists for C.O.B.R.A. in BTD6). Unlike Path 1, it only has 2 returning upgrades, though one in name only: Wired Funds which adds instant cash at the end of the round, albeit less than in BTD Battles at $50, as opposed to $80.

Finish Him! returns, but now adds the 'Weak' target priority. This can be cross-pathed with Path 3 to grant the priority to other towers. The purpose of the 'Weak' priority is mostly meant for late-game, so that towers can target the lower and potentially more dangerous MOABs and ceramics without getting distracted by the BFB's.

Extra Income is basically a budget Monkey Town. And it only affects the C.O.B.R.A. - nothing else. It's quite a lot cheaper, however, so it makes for a great early-game boost. Extra Income gives 10% more cash per Bloon popped by the tower.

Benjamin's Assistant unlocks the Power Shot ability. Power Shot is basically Benjamin's Level 3 Biohack, but with a difference. The downside is that it can only affect one other tower; the upside is that it can affect ANY tower of the player's choosing, including the C.O.B.R.A. itself. It does have a slightly longer cooldown, however. Additionally, this tower also makes more end of round money. Benjamin's Assistant now generates an additional +$50 end of round cash. Power Shot gives boosted monkeys +1 damage for 6s, before disabling them for 2s; on cooldown for 40s.

Benjamin's Right Hand Man upgrades effectively everything about the last two upgrades. For a start, Power Shot is even stronger and has a quicker cooldown. Plus, it can now be used twice by default, though each use has its own cooldown. The money generation methods of this tower are also improved, and as one final bonus to make it worth the cost - and to benefit from its cash per pop boost - the base tower has been made stronger. Benjamin's Right Hand Man provides +2 damage; +5 range; +25% attack speed; generates an additional +$100 end of round cash; and gives an additional +15% cash per Bloon popped by the tower. Power Shot can now be activated twice; and gives boosted monkeys +2 damage for 8s, before disabling them for 1s; on cooldown for 30s.

Path 3
Path 3 is even further supportive, albeit in a different way to Path 2. Instead of cash generation and an ability to provide a temporary power boost, Path 3 focuses on providing benefits to other towers. Upgrades 1 and 2 - X-Ray Goggles and Long Range Pistols - are straight forward upgrades that provide the tower with  camo detection and a +15 range boost respectively.

Operative Information is basically the return of the Meerkat Spy Agent from BTD5... sort of. Instead of providing camo detection to towers in range, all Bloons in range of the C.O.B.R.A. become seeable by all towers. Think of it like the Advanced Intel upgrade for the Monkey Sub. Of importance is that this upgrade does NOT strip camo properties; it merely makes it so that towers can attack them while the camo Bloons are in range of the C.O.B.R.A.

Monkey Stim returns and in all of its original glory. It will provide any towers nearby with an ability cooldown reduction, allowing you to use abilities a lot quicker. In addition to this, if you are cross-pathed with Finish Him!, affected towers will also gain the 'Weak' targeting priority. Monkey Stim reduces ability cooldowns of nearby towers by 10%; and grants 'Weak' targeting priority if Finish Him! is purchase.

Monkey Spy is incredibly powerful, and is therefore incredibly expensive. To put it simple... image a 2-3-0 M.I.B. mixed with an Energizer mixed with Etienne's UAV. THAT'S Monkey Spy. It now provides its benefits to EVERY tower on the map, regardless of whether they are in range of the C.O.B.R.A. or not. And on top of that, it also has a few extra bonuses to make it even better, and justify it's incredibly high cost. Monkey Spy affects all towers on screen; reduces cooldowns by 20% ; increases attack speed by 10%; grants camo detection; grants 'Normal' damage type; and grants 'Weak' targeting priority if Finish Him! is purchase.

Monkey Knowledge
Here are some ideas for Monkey Knowledge that the C.O.B.R.A. could have. Please note that I am not suggesting that ALL of them should be used; these are just concepts from which you can pick the ones you like the most.

Additional
As an extra bonus, Benjamin would be changed slightly to allow him to buff C.O.B.R.A.'s. Specifically... Level 8: Income increased from $150 to $250. C.O.B.R.A.'s earn more end of round money. (Wired Funds earns 10% more) Level 15: Income increased $300 to $500. C.O.B.R.A.'s earn even more end of round money. (Wired Funds earns 25% more) These buffs would also affect the higher upgrades along Path 2.