| “ | The Apache Prime leaves most Bloons wishing they'd never been inflated. | ” |
| ~ In-game description |
Apache Prime is the fifth and final upgrade on Path 1 for the Heli Pilot in Bloons TD 6. The dart-firing weapons gained from Apache Dartship are changed into powerful lasers and plasma. The base Quad Darts projectiles are replaced with lasers that deal 6 damage with 23 pierce, and its already deadly frontal machine gun becomes a rapid-fire plasma cannon that deals 5 damage with 11 pierce. Each of the Heli's 4 homing missiles still deals 2 damage with 40 pierce, but they now also deal an additional 15 damage to MOAB-class bloons. The plasma machine gun cannot pop Purples, the rockets cannot pop Black properties, and the lasers pop neither Purples nor Leads. Apache Prime has 50 flight speed. Its Razor Rotors attack increases damage from 4 to 8 and pierce increased from 20 to 40 from Apache Dartship.
This upgrade costs $38,250 on Easy, $45,000 on Medium, $48,600 on Hard, and $54,000 on Impoppable. If this tower is nearby Level 6+ Rosalia's workshop, this upgrade costs $34,425 on Easy, $40,500 on Medium, $43,740 on Hard, and $48,600 on Impoppable.
Description[]
Overview[]
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WIP This section or article is currently a work in progress (WIP), and therefore under construction. Please bear with us while our editors improve the page. |
Apache Prime destroying bloons with its new enhanced plasma lasers and plasma cannon, and exploding bloons with its missiles
Apache Prime is a more powerful version of Apache Dartship with high-tech energetic weaponry that deal much more damage. The Apache Prime itself now has purple paintwork for its wing stripes, but the rotor stripes are still colored red. The helicopter pad of the Apache Prime is dark purple, outlined purple, and in the middle has a red "H". Aside from these aformentioned physical changes on the helicopter and its pad, the Apache Prime doesn't look too different from the Apache Dartship, its previous upgrade. However, the Apache Prime's weapons are significantly stronger, and retains the improved flight speed of its predecessor.
The Apache Prime's dart weaponry is entirely changed; the quad darts are now quad lasers, and the dart machine gun is now a plasma machine gun that shoots purple plasmatic arrowheads. Both the quad lasers and plasma machine gun deal a lot more damage and have more pierce. The missiles are similar in appearance to the Apache Dartship but now deal much more damage to MOAB-class bloons.
Targeting Priorities[]
Apache Prime utilizes touch-based mobility and self-mobility to move around the screen with different flight targetings. It shoots various types of straight movement projectiles, all of which originate from the Heli Pilot with its independent range like an ordinary tower.
- Follow Touch / Follow Mouse: Moves to where the player taps. On desktop versions, Follow Touch instead becomes Follow Mouse, which will make the Heli Pilot move to wherever the cursor is currently at.
- Lock In Place: Stops the Heli Pilot where it is when the Target Priority is selected. Can be adjusted to choose a different locked location.
- Patrol: Patrols between two spots chosen by the player. Can be adjusted to choose different points.
- Pursuit: Equivalent to the target priority First, except the Heli Pilot will follow in front of the bloons while shooting them. It is unlocked with the purchase of the second upgrade on the first path, with the same name as the target priority. Once upgraded to the respective upgrade, it automatically switches to this target priority.
The Heli Pilot's main attacks always default on First based on the range of the helicopter's weaponry. Its rotor attack is locked on Close.
Full Popology[]
Statistics[]
- Updated as of Version 44.2
- Base stats
- Landing Base has a rectangular footprint of 27x27. "Dummy range" of 22. Upon placement, spawn Heli Pilot as the main tower.
- Heli Pilot moves at a flight speed of 50. Can be set on Follow Touch / Follow Mouse, Lock In Place, Patrol Points, or Pursuit. Creates Laser, Missile, and Machine Gun projectiles from centre of Heli Pilot if detecting bloons within range. Passively generate Razor Rotor.
- Follow Touch / Follow Mouse: move towards wherever the screen was last touched, or wherever the cursor is on screen.
- Lock In Place: move towards the locked location, otherwise stop moving
- Patrol Points: move between two points, and also pursue bloons within that range in a stadium-shaped formation.
- Pursuit: move towards bloon on screen, following the first bloon
- Laser:
- Projectile, energy type, 42 range, double spray of 2 ("spray of 4"), 0.4275s attack cooldown, 6 damage, 23 pierce. Projectile size of 3. Projectile speed of 260, projectile lifespan of 1.0s.
- Razor Rotor:
- Zone, normal type, 35 radius, 0.45s attack cooldown, 8 damage, 40 pierce.
- Machine Gun:
- Projectile, plasma type, 42 range, 0.05s attack cooldown, 5 damage, 11 pierce.
- Rocket:
- Projectile, explosion type, spray of 4, 84 range, 1.0s attack cooldown, 1 impact, 135 projectile speed, 90 seeking angle, 375 seeking distance, 250 turning speed, 1.5481s projectile lifespan. Upon expiry, produce explosion of 25 blast radius, 2 damage, +15 MOAB-class damage, 40 pierce.
- Crosspathing interactions
- 5-1-0: Flight speed increased from 50 to 87.5.
- 5-2-0: Gains camo detection.
- 5-0-1: Dart projectile speed increased.
- 5-0-2: Dart attack cooldown decreased from 0.4275s to 0.342s, Razor Rotor attack cooldown decreased from 0.45s to 0.36s, Rocket attack cooldown decreased from 1.0s to 0.75s, Machine Gun attack cooldown decreased from 0.05s to 0.04s.
- Monkey Knowledge interactions
Airforce Upgrades: All T3+ Heli Pilots get +1 pierce.- Elite Military Training: All Military Monkeys get a one-off +1000 XP and earn XP in-game 5% faster permanently.
- Rapid Razors: Razor Rotors pop Bloons faster.
- Pops 25% times faster than normal.
- Military Conscription: First military tower costs only ⅔ of the original cost.
- Heli Pilot base cost from $1,360, $1,600, $1,730, and $1,920 → $910, $1,070, $1,160, and $1,285 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
- Advanced Logistics: All Military Monkeys base costs reduced by 5%.
- Heli Pilot base cost from $1,360, $1,600, $1,730, and $1,920 → $1,290, $1,520, $1,640, and $1,825 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
- If Military Conscription is also enabled, the final cost will be $845, $990, $1,070, and $1,190.
- Heli Pilot base cost from $1,360, $1,600, $1,730, and $1,920 → $1,290, $1,520, $1,640, and $1,825 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
- Monkey Education: All Monkeys XP earn rate increased by 8%.
- Better Sell Deals: All Monkeys sell for 5% more. Increases sell potency from 70% to 75%.
- Veteran Monkey Training: All Monkeys reload time reduced by 3%.
Attack Interactions[]
|
WIP This section or article is currently a work in progress (WIP), and therefore under construction. Please bear with us while our editors improve the page. |
- See also: Attack Interactions/Bloons TD 6/Military
- Updated as of Version 44.0
Costs[]
- Updated as of Version 49.0. Listed prices exclude external buffs, any sacrifices, and Monkey Knowledge.
| [Module | Data] | Purchase | Sell | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costs | Easy | Medium | Hard | Impoppable | Easy | Medium | Hard | Impoppable |
| Upgrade (5-X-X) | $38,250 | $45,000 | $48,600 | $54,000 | - | |||
| Total (5-0-0) | $58,860 | $69,250 | $74,795 | $83,100 | $41,202 | $48,475 | $52,357 | $58,170 |
| Crosspath (5-1-0) | $59,115 | $69,550 | $75,120 | $83,460 | $41,381 | $48,685 | $52,584 | $58,422 |
| Crosspath (5-2-0) | $59,625 | $70,150 | $75,770 | $84,180 | $41,738 | $49,105 | $53,039 | $58,926 |
| Crosspath (5-0-1) | $59,070 | $69,500 | $75,065 | $83,400 | $41,349 | $48,650 | $52,546 | $58,380 |
| Crosspath (5-0-2) | $59,365 | $69,850 | $75,445 | $83,820 | $41,556 | $48,895 | $52,812 | $58,674 |
This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: 
Military Conscription, 
Advanced Logistics, 
Better Sell Deals
Strategy[]
Summary[]
The Apache Prime is an excellent late-game tower that features in many games that run to Round 100 due to its sheer power against most types of rounds. Its shortcomings are usually solved by adding support towers. Its largest weakness on paper is in fact DDTs, since its rockets (and since 25.0, its lasers as well) cannot damage them, and since DDTs tend to be spaced apart and move very quickly, the Apache Prime cannot fully utilize its pierce against groups of them. In practice, its largest weakness is its price, as its predecessor the Apache Dartship can struggle against many mid-late rounds on harder maps or without a properly planned strategy. It is recommended to micromanage the Apache Prime to good positions if the player is able to/need to.
Compared to other Tier 5 upgrades of a similar price, the Apache Prime actually benefits greatly from Striker Jones as a way to save money by not requiring a MIB to counter its poor DDT-popping, and Jones's stuns can help clump up DDTs if needed. The Apache Prime tends to benefit better from an Overclock than Alch buffs, given its high attack speed and multitude of different attacks. This is unlike other expensive high-DPS towers of similar cost, such as Sky Shredder and Bloon Exclusion Zone, which both synergize very well with Alch buffs.
Tips[]
- Overclock is a premier partner of Apache Prime, as it greatly increases its power and consistency and is cost-efficient.
- Although Apache Prime struggles little against MOAB-class and Super Ceramics, Bloon Sabotage and MOAB Glue are both very good choices for slowing down bloons, especially on shorter maps. In addition, these upgrades can also be useful to help on non-DDT rounds where the Apache Prime just does not have enough time to pop bloons on certain tracks.
- Bigger Jets does help remedy the Apache Prime's issue of failing to catch up with Super Ceramics, but it loses out on popping power compared to Faster Firing.
- If the player cannot micro the Apache Prime, leaving it on Pursuit still allows it to do its job, although it will not be a truly optimized use of the Apache Prime.
- A 3-0-2 Sun Avatar can be used as a partner for Apache Prime. It helps to avoid the awkward midgame Apache Dartship can have while continuing to support Prime for DDTs, which is its largest weakness.
- Apache Prime performs the best on single-path maps, and maps with only one active lane per round. It also takes advantage of maps where there is hindered placement or tracks with decent length due to its global range, such as High Finance, Infernal or Geared.
- Refer to the page "Apache Dartship (BTD6)#Strategy" for more strategies during the process of affording Apache Prime.
Version History[]
Balance Changes[]
Apache Prime has gained many buffs over time to increase its raw offensive power to make up for its high price. With several buffs, especially on Version 8.0, the Apache Prime has become an expensive but powerful option at high DPS with mobility. As more T5's got buffed over updates, especially compared to Sky Shredder, the Apache Prime was seen less of a carry tower on maps it advances on, and is more seen as an expensive T5 with large weaknesses to DDTs and multi-lane maps.
- 2.0
- Increased movement speed.
- 4.0
- Apache Prime now has much more pierce
- 6.0
- The main plasma cannon gained +1 damage and +1 pierce.
- 8.0
- Machine gun damage increased (3 → 5)
- Rocket damage to MOAB-class increased (11 → 16)
- Rocket base damage increased (1 → 2).
- Machine gun fire rate increased by 25%.
- 20.0
- Affected by Razor Rotors area-of-damage size buff
- 24.0
- Affected by Razor Rotors damage buff
- 25.0
- [Undocumented] Apache Prime's laser attack now is energy type instead of normal type.
- [Undocumented, likely a bug] Apache Prime's plasma machine gun attack now is energy type instead of normal type.
- 25.1
- [Undocumented] Apache Prime's plasma machine gun now is (correctly) plasma type.
- 33.0
| “ | Heli’s Razor Rotors don’t scale with higher tiers so improvements have been made specifically to that attack for Dartship & Apache Prime. [...] | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Apache Prime Rotors damage increased (2 → 8)
- Apache Prime Rotors pierce increased (10 → 40)
- 37.0
| “ | Even with the map-range advantage, rotors are weak compared to any other constant AoE circle like this. [...] | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to Razor Rotors |
- 5-0-2 Apache Prime's rotor attack will now gain 0.80x attack cooldown from the Faster Firing crosspath
- Apache Prime's rotor attack cooldown rate reduced from 0.75s to 0.5s
- 41.0
| “ | Pursuit will now interact with Patrol Points in a limited 'pursuit between points', with this now you will be able to make your pursuit heli stay on one side on multi-path maps without getting stuck in the middle. Razor Rotors is fairly good now, but it could still justify a little more power given the weaknesses of the expensive upgrades that it builds into. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- 5-0-x Apache Prime rotors attack cooldown reduced from 0.5s to 0.45s
- 5-0-2 Apache Prime rotors attack cooldown reduced from 0.4s to 0.36s
- Affected by Pursuit + Patrol Points enhanced algorithm addition
- 45.0
| “ | Among technical players we've received feedback that the massive range of the Heli's missiles causes problems with controlling what heli's choose to attack & when so we've reduced the range of these missiles to a more reasonable number, this is still double the range of the Heli so the missiles will continue to fire first before other attacks but not quite from so far away. [...] | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Apache Prime missile attack range reduced from 173 to 84
- While technically a nerf, this is a "buff" in terms of consistent targeting on simultaneous-lane maps.
Bug Fixes and General Changes[]
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This section is incomplete. You can help by expanding it. |
Extra Notes (Version History)[]
- Version 44.0 buffed Rosalia's Level 6+ discount from 5% to 10%, which changed the prices of Apache Prime when buffed by her:
- Easy: $36335 → $34425
- Medium: $42750 → $40500
- Hard: $46170 → $43740
- Impoppable: $51300 → $48600
Gallery[]
Official artwork[]
Projectiles[]
Trivia[]
- In the upgrade artwork, the Apache Prime appears to be deploying flares in the angel formation, made famous by the AC130 gunship (otherwise known as the Spectre).
- In Version 1.6 of the game, there used to be a glitch that caused the Apache Prime to be extremely powerful, firing its frontal plasma cannon at roughly five times the speed. All its projectiles seemingly did double damage as well. The cause of this glitch is unknown, as it only triggered on certain devices.
- Due to its decent early and high late game power, the Apache Prime has been used in a variety of 2 Tower CHIMPS, most notably being paired with Archmage, Pre-Emptive Strike, Wizard Lord Phoenix and Prince of Darkness. In addition, Apache Prime benefits disproportionately from long length maps due to its global range giving the Apache Prime cruical extra time to consistently mow down the blimps.
- The above 2 Tower CHIMPS are frequently considered some of the easiest to execute on Logs.
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