- For the special agent in Bloons TD 5, see Beekeeper (Special Agent).
| “ | This tower has a hive of angry bees that zip to their targets and sting bloons until all layers are popped. Stingers can't get through lead or ice. | ” |
| ~ In-game description |
The Beekeeper (Bloons TD 4 Mobile) is a tower in Bloons TD 4 Mobile that was released on 17 May 2012. It is based on the Bloons TD 5 Special Agent of the same name and attacks similarly, by shooting bees that lock on to Bloons and pop multiple layers. The player unlocks this tower by popping 2,000,000 bloons. Pops do not count retroactively and must be done after updating the game to a patch that adds the Beekeeper.
Initially, the Beekeeper shoots a non-damaging bee every 0.616s, which seek and stick onto one bloon per bee. Bees will latch onto a bloon until it is completely popped, but if it has any child bloons, only one child bloon will retain a bee. Every 0.483 seconds, the bees will damage the bloon they attached themselves to until it is completely popped before returning to the Beekeeper to be redeployed. Only 6 bees can be deployed by one beekeeper at one time, although its second and final upgrade increases this limit to 10 and 30, respectively.
It costs $595 on Easy, $700 on Medium, and $755 on Hard.
Mechanics[]
The Beekeeper will send a bee to attempt to attach itself to any bloon in range that currently does not already have a bee attached to it. Bees have aggressive seeking 
and possess lock-on behavior 
and will follow a bloon until they can attach to it, Once attached, the bee will deal 1 damage every 0.483s to the targeted bloon. Unlike Corrosive Glue, when multiple child bloons spawn from an affected bloon, only one bloon inherits the bee, instead of all of them. Like all damage over time effects, Jungle Drums cannot boost the tick rate of the bees, and will only boost the attack speed of the actual Beekeeper itself. Bees will immediately vanish if coming in contact with a Frozen Bloon or Lead Bloon. Unlike Glued and Frozen bloons, Bloons with a 
Bee retain it when blown back by Summon Whirlwind. Bee projectiles only dissappear if they move off screen or successfully attach to their target.
In addition, each beekeeper can only affect a set amount of bloons before they cannot attack until bees return to them after popping a bloon. By default, this limit is 6, but can be increased to 10 or 30 through upgrades.
Bees can also be applied to MOAB-Class Bloons, including the BFB.
Target Priorities[]
The base Beekeeper uses the standard target priorities: First, Last, Weak, and Strong.
Beekeepers will not attack bloons that already have a bee attached and will instead prioritize attacking new ones. Their bee projectiles aggressive seek and lock onto whatever bloon the Beekeeper targeted. If a specific beekeeper hits their deployed bee limit, they will stop attacking.
Upgrades[]
 |
Fast Deploy COST: $255 / $300 / $325
| |
| Description: Makes the Beekeeper attack much faster.
Effect: Beekeeper attacks every 0.433s instead of 0.616s. | ||
 |
Big Hive COST: $215 / $250 / $270
| |
| Description: Larger hives can hold 10 bees instead of 6.
Effect: This specific beekeeper can now have 10 deployed bees instead of 6. | ||
 |
Killer Bees COST: $1,530 / $1,800 / $1,945
| |
| Description: Deadly killer bees fly twice as fast and pop bloons three times as fast!
Effect: Bees pop one layer every 0.15s and move twice as fast in mid-air. | ||
 |
The Swarm COST: $6,375 / $7,500 / $8,100
| |
| Description: Unleash the swarm! Shoots 4 bees at a time, has a much larger range and can support 30 deployed bees at a time.
Effect: Beekeeper range increases from 150 to 175, can shoot up to 4 bees at one time if 4 bloons without bees are in range, and this specific beekeeper now can have 30 deployed bees. | ||
Total Costs[]
Easy:
| Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | Tier 4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upgrade Costs | |||||
| Base Cost | 255 | 215 | 1,530 | 6,375 | |
| Cumulative Cost | 850 | 1,065 | 2,405 | 8,780 | |
| Base Sell | 204 | 172 | 1,224 | 5,100 | |
| Cumulative Sell | 680 | 852 | 1,924 | 7,024 |
Medium:
| Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | Tier 4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upgrade Costs | |||||
| Base Cost | 300 | 250 | 1,800 | 7,500 | |
| Cumulative Cost | 1,000 | 1,250 | 3,050 | 10,550 | |
| Base Sell | 240 | 200 | 1,440 | 6,000 | |
| Cumulative Sell | 800 | 1,000 | 2,440 | 8,440 |
Hard:
| Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | Tier 4 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upgrade Costs | |||||
| Base Cost | 325 | 270 | 1,945 | 8,100 | |
| Cumulative Cost | 1,080 | 1,350 | 3,295 | 11,395 | |
| Base Sell | 260 | 216 | 1,556 | 6,480 | |
| Cumulative Sell | 864 | 1,080 | 2,636 | 9,116 |
Strategies[]
The Beekeeper is very niche in usefulness, as its tick rate deals damage fairly slowly, and bees' inability to persist through multiple child bloons makes this a poor group popping tower. There are some useful niches, however. The Beekeeper can be useful for whittling down tougher bloons for a cheap price, as unlike Glue in BTD4, Bees can also affect Ceramics and above.
Tips[]
- To unlock the beekeeper quickly, play on Freeplay Mode, as more bloons spawn in Freeplay than normal games.
- The beekeeper is best used against Ceramic Bloons on semi-long maps, but may struggle in hard maps like Monkeys vs. Bloons, due to the short track length giving little time for the Beekeeper's bees to tick.
- If relying on the Beekeeper to pop strong bloons, avoid combining it with the Ice Tower, which can remove the bees if a bloon they are attached to are frozen.
Sounds[]
The Beekeeper does not have any associated sounds exclusive to it.
Gallery[]
Official artwork[]
Projectiles[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- The base price for the tower itself is the exactly the same as the Bomb Tower, although not their subsequent upgrades.
- This tower is the first (and only) non-mechanical tower that is not a monkey or agent that can be bought.
- This tower is the first living animal tower that is not a monkey.
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