Blade Shooter (BTD6)

Pre-BTD6

BTD6

BTDB2

Blade Shooter

General Information

Game

Bloons TD 6

Tower

Tack Shooter

Unlocked at

2,300 XP

Cost

$465 (Easy)
$550 (Medium)
$595 (Hard)
$660 (Impoppable)

Activated Ability

N/A

Targeting Options

None

Camo Detection

No

Popology

Damage Type(s)

Shatter

Orbital Spray

Straight Attack

Statistics

Damage

1 (spray of 8, e.a.u.)

Pierce

8 (spray of 8)

Attack Speed

Every 1.12s (e.a.u.)

Range

46

Status Effects

N/A

Tower Boosts

N/A

Income/Life Boosts

N/A

Path Upgrades

← Previous

Current

Next →

Super Range Tacks

Blade Shooter

Blade Maelstrom

Path Info

Path

Upgrade Tier

2

3

Related upgrades

Blade Shooter (BTD3-BTD5), for the BTD3-BTD5 counterpart

[Source]

“	Switches tacks out for ultra-sharp, high pierce blades that can shatter frozen Bloons.	”
	^{~ In-game description}

Blade Shooter is the 3rd upgrade of Path 2 for the Tack Shooter in Bloons TD 6. Shooting large circular saw blades instead of tacks, each blade has extra +4 pierce popping up to 8 bloons, and have 4 projectile radius instead of only centerpoint hitbox. Blade Shooter attacks every 1.12s, increased to 0.84s with 1-3-0 and 0.63s with 2-3-0. Blades can also pop Frozen Bloons, changing damage type from Sharp to Shatter. Its range also increases from 31 to 46.

This upgrade costs $465 on Easy, $550 on Medium, $595 on Hard, and $660 on Impoppable.

Description[]

Overview[]

This upgrade changes the tower's colors from pink to blue, and its top emblem changes from a pair of crossed tacks to an eight-pronged blade with a blue circle in the center. In the center, the barrels are replaced with protruding circular sawblades. Due to the size of the sawblades, they are arranged in two overlapping layers of four, with the bottom layer pointing in the cardinal direction and the top layer pointing in the ordinal direction.

Crosspathing changes appearance of the Blade Shooter. Path 1 crosspaths each add another blade into its emblem, two and three with respective Faster Shooting and Even Faster Shooting upgrades. Path 3 crosspaths add a more articulate blade emblem, each increasing the number of teeth of the blade emblem and expanding the hole of aforementioned emblem. Additionally, the Path 3 crosspaths increase the number of blades per layer by one per Path 3 upgrade.

Instead of tacks, the Blade Shooter shoots blades, increasing its pierce from 2 to 8, pops Frozen, and gains even more range. Blades are much large than tacks.

Targeting Priorities[]

Blade Shooter shoots a spray of projectiles in an radial spray. Technically, the Tack Shooter is locked on the Close targeting priority. However, for simplicity reasons, Blade Shooter has no targeting priorities.

Full Popology[]

Statistics[]

Updated as of Version 49.1

Base stats

Blades:
- Projectile, shatter type, 8 per shot, 46 range, 1.12s attack cooldown, 1 damage, 8 pierce. 4 projectile size.

Crosspathing interactions

1-3-0:
- Attacks faster, 0.84s (+33%) instead of 1.12s.
2-3-0:
- Attacks even faster, 0.63s (+33%) instead of 0.84s from the previous 1-3-0.
0-3-1:
- Fires 10 blades per volley instead of 8.
0-3-2:
- Fires 12 blades per volley instead of 10.

Monkey Knowledge interactions

Fast Tack Attacks: Tack Shooter attack speed increased by 8%.
Increased Lifespan: Projectiles shot from Tack Shooter have increased lifespan.
Poppy Blades: Blade Shooter upgrade gets +2 pierce. Pops 10 bloons instead of 8.
Come On Everybody!: Primary towers attack 5% faster if all are below tier 3, and cost 5% less if all are tier 3 or 4.
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[]

See also: Attack Interactions/Bloons TD 6/Primary

Updated as of Version 41.0

Base attack(s)

Blades:
- Shatter
- Orbital Spray (8)
- Straight Attack

Costs[]

Updated as of Version 50.0. Listed prices exclude external buffs, any sacrifices, and Monkey Knowledge.

[Module \| Data]	Purchase				Sell
Costs	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable
Upgrade (X-3-X)	$465	$550	$595	$660	-
Total (0-3-0)	$960	$1,135	$1,230	$1,360	$672	$795	$861	$952
Crosspath (1-3-0)	$1,085	$1,285	$1,390	$1,540	$760	$900	$973	$1,078
Crosspath (2-3-0)	$1,340	$1,585	$1,715	$1,900	$938	$1,110	$1,201	$1,330
Crosspath (0-3-1)	$1,055	$1,245	$1,350	$1,490	$739	$872	$945	$1,043
Crosspath (0-3-2)	$1,150	$1,355	$1,470	$1,620	$805	$949	$1,029	$1,134

This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: Better Sell Deals

Strategy[]

Summary[]

Blade Shooter gains a high amount of pierce for its cost, especially compared to its BTD5 version, making the BTD6 Blade Shooter a good choice for shredding through groups of bloons in the earlier rounds. The downside is that a Blade Shooter still has low range, but placing it along a tight location, such as a sharp corner or bend, should maximize the distribution of the blades and take full advantage of them. Its high pierce potential in the early-game makes it popular in Race Events, especially those that enable Blade Maelstrom.

Tips[]

2-3-0 Blade Shooter is more effective for the extra attack speed. 0-3-2 Blade Shooter shoots more blades, as well as cost slightly less, but it loses out on +77% attack speed from the top path upgrades.
1-3-0 Blade Shooter is alright of a stepping stone, gaining more consistent shots at a fair price, particularly for Race Events.
Some use cases for the 0-3-0 Blade Shooter can be made if there's only barely enough money to begin the high-pierce benefit, particularly with Race Events and Tack-enabled Time Attack.
Because Blade Shooter pops Frozen, it pairs very well with Ice Shards, another powerful group-popping tower, as it can activate shards much easier, and also incidentally pop many more Camos that the two of them alone cannot do.
Blade Shooter doesn't stand out much on CHIMPS because of its low range, and its projectiles have deceptively small hitboxes, making it a poor choice on fast-moving rounds like Round 15 unless placed in an optimized Tack spot.
When comparing a 0-3-2 Blade to a 0-2-3 Sprayer, the 0-3-2 Blade has a higher total pierce per shot even when accounting the lesser amounts of projectiles (12 groups of 8-pierce blades versus 16 groups of 4-pierce tacks), but the Sprayer attacks slightly faster and can accept sharp-based benefits such as the Flint Tips Relic. Overall, even without MK, the 0-3-2 Blade still does slightly more pierce per second.

Version History[]

Balance Changes[]

Blade Shooter has been buffed slightly. It has been indirectly nerfed through a nerf to Even Faster Shooting, the dominant crosspath.

Unknown

Blade Shooter now has more pierce (5 → 6)

7.0

Attack speed increased (1.36s → 1.19s), as a result of base Tack Shooter attack speed buff

37.0

“	Blade Shooter has always struggled to find much value without MK or as a step to Maelstrom, so to give it build value on its own we feel like this should be a part of the base value on the upgrade.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Blade Shooter pierce increased 6 → 8

41.0

Blade Shooter damage type changed from Sharp to Shatter
- Note: This change blocks Flint Tips, and since Blade Shooter naturally gets frozen-popping when MK is enabled, it has no difference on MK-enabled Race Events. However, it now has natural synergy with freezing sources, especially Ice Shards.

46.0

“	Every Tack Shooter Tier 3 needed a different attack rate boost, so to tidy this up we’ve moved much of that rate to the base tack shooter. [...] Finally Blade Shooter has always visually increased the projectile size considerably but not actually changed this value at all, Blades will now actually be bigger.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Blade Shooter attack cooldown reduced from 1.19s to 1.12s
- 1-3-0: 0.8925s → 0.84s
- 2-3-0: 0.669375s → 0.63s
Blade Shooter projectile radius increased from 0 to 4.

48.0

“	Range fits well for this path, so we’re working this more into the main attack of middle path	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Blade Shooter range increased from 31 to 46. Also affects subsequent upgrades.
Blade Shooter projectile distance increased from 49.24 to 64

Bug Fixes and General Changes[]

This section is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.

37.0

Description changed from: "Switches tacks out for sharp blades that can pop up to 5 additional Bloons." to "Switches tacks out for sharp blades that can pop many more Bloons."

41.0

Description changed from "Switches tacks out for sharp blades that can pop many more Bloons." to "Switches tacks out for ultra-sharp, high pierce blades that can shatter frozen Bloons."

Extra Notes (Version History)[]

Gallery[]

Official artwork[]

Projectiles[]

Videos[]

Blade Shooter does NOT increase projectile size (38.2)

Close up on Blade Shooter projectile size (38.2)

Trivia[]

One 0-3-0 Blade Shooter in BTD6 placed in Medium Difficulty costs $215 less than a 0-3 Blade Shooter in BTD5 placed on Medium Difficulty. This is due to the Blade Shooter upgrade costing $130 less, the Super Range Tacks upgrade costing $5 less, and the base Tack Shooter upgrade costing $80 less.
Contrary to popular belief, Blade Shooter blades do not have bigger hitbox. Ironically, the Blade Shooter in other games produce blades with larger projectile size.
The slightly increased attack speed of a BTD6 Blade Shooter could be a small nod to the BTD3 Blade Shooter, whose previous upgrade Faster Shooting involves faster attack speed.
- Unlike its Bloons TD 5 version, this upgrade changes the color of the tower from pink to blue instead of retaining the pink color.