Bloon Buster (BTD6)

BTD4

BTD5

BTD6

BTDB2

Bloon Buster
General Information
Game	Bloons TD 6
Tower	Mortar Monkey
Unlocked at	600 XP
Cost	$425 (Easy) $500 (Medium) $540 (Hard) $600 (Impoppable)
Activated Ability	N/A
Targeting Options	Set Target
Camo Detection	No (requires 1-0-3)
Popology
Damage Type(s)
Explosion Lobbed Throw Area of Effect Full Range Erratic Movement Extra Damage
Statistics
Damage	3 (main explosion)
Pierce	45 (main explosion)
Attack Speed	Slow (every 2.0s, excluding additional upgrades)
Range	Infinite (recticle) 28 (blast radius) 30 ("display" range)
Status Effects	N/A
Tower Boosts	N/A
Income/Life Boosts	N/A
Path Upgrades
← Previous	Bigger Blast
← Previous	Bigger Blast
Current	Bloon Buster
Current	Bloon Buster
Next →	Shell Shock
Next →	Shell Shock
Path Info
Path	1
Path	1
Upgrade Tier	2
Upgrade Tier	2
Related upgrades
Bloon Buster (BTD4-BTD5), for the BTD4-BTD5 counterpart
[Source]

“	Smash through 3 layers of Bloons at once!	”
	~ In-game description

Bloon Buster is the second upgrade of Path 1 for the Mortar Monkey in Bloons TD 6. It increases damage of each mortar shell from 2 to 3. When crosspathed with Shattering Shells and Blooncineration, both options deal +3 DoT damage versus bloons, Shattering Shells deals +15 MOAB-class burn DoT damage instead of +10, while Blooncineration receives +2 blaze damage and 150 MOAB-class burn DoT damage instead of 100.

This upgrade costs $425 on Easy, $500 on Medium, $540 on Hard, and $600 on Impoppable.

Description

Overview

Bloon Buster dealing an extra layer of damage to Pinks

The barrel and base of the Mortar become white and its rings become yellow. For upgrades from Burny Stuff and above, the fire decal becomes yellow.

Bloon Buster increases the damage of each blast by +1. Also improves the burn damage of Shattering Shells and Blooncineration, and the damage of all blazes from Blooncineration.

Targeting Priorities

Mortar Monkey has only one target priority, "Set Target". This allows the Mortar Monkey to land shells within anywhere inside the target reticle. Tapping on the "Set Target" button prompts the player to change the target position of where the Mortar Monkey will land its shells. By default, once the Mortar Monkey is bought, the Mortar Monkey's target reticle is placed near the start of the first bloon track.

If Striker Jones's Level 7+ Target Focus ability is activated, all Mortar Monkeys are automatically set to Follow Touch / Follow Mouse temporarily, unless manually re-targeted via Set Target, and snap back to their old Set Target option once the ability is finished.

Full Popology

Updated as of Version 41.3

Base stats

• Explosion:
  • Lobbed projectile, explosion type, targets at a custom-aimed location with deviation of 18, 0.5s deployment cooldown, 2.0s attack cooldown, 28 blast radius, 3 damage, 45 pierce.

Crosspathing interactions

• 2-1-0: Explosion attack cooldown reduced from 2.0s to 1.5s
• 2-2-0: Explosion attack cooldown reduced from 1.5s to 1.08s.
• 2-3-0: Explosion attack cooldown reduced from 1.08s to 0.81s, specialized bloon properties added (Lead = +1, Ceramic = +3, Fortified = +1, MOAB-class = +1, stunned = +2), and damage type of Explosion changed from explosion to normal.
• 2-4-0: Explosion attack cooldown reduced from 0.81s to 0.27s, specialized bloon properties expanded (unstunnable = +1). Bombardment reduces attack cooldown from 0.27s to 0.0645s and blast radius from 20 to 23.
• 2-5-0: Explosion attack cooldown reduced from 0.27s to 0.0645s, specialized bloon properties improved (stunned = +8, unstunnable = +2), blast radius increased from 30 to 34.5.
• 2-0-1: Explosion deviation radius decreased from 18 to 8.
• 2-0-2: Explosion inflicts Burn that deals 1 damage per 1.25s for 3.75s.
• 2-0-3: Explosion adds an additional decamo blast with its blast radius increased from 52 to 72.
• 2-0-4: Explosion inflicts Burn that deals 8 damage per 1.25s for 3.75s, and 23 damage per 1.25s for 3.75s versus MOAB-class.
• 2-0-5: Explosion inflicts Burn that deals 5 damage per 0.75s for 3.75s, and 150 damage per 0.75s for 3.75s versus MOAB-class. Blaze radius increased and pierce increased from 20 to 36, damage increased from 1 to 3.

Monkey Knowledge Interactions

• Elite Military Training: All Military Monkeys get a one-off +1000 XP and earn XP in-game 5% faster permanently.
• Military Conscription: First military tower costs only ⅔ of the original cost.
  • Mortar Monkey base cost from $640, $750, $810, and $900 → $425, $500, $545, and $605 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
• Advanced Logistics: All Military Monkeys base costs reduced by 5%.
  • Mortar Monkey base cost from $640, $750, $810, and $900 → $605, $710, $770, and $855 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
    • If Military Conscription is also enabled, the final cost will be $395, $465, $500, and $560.
• 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/Military

Updated as of Version 41.2

Base attack(s)

• Explosion:
  • Explosion
  • Area of Effect
  • Full Range
  • Erratic Movement
  • Extra Damage (3)

Costs

Updated as of Version 46.0. Listed prices exclude external buffs, any sacrifices, and Monkey Knowledge.

[Module | Data]	Purchase				Sell
Costs	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable
Upgrade (2-X-X)	$425	$500	$540	$600	-
Total (2-0-0)	$1,485	$1,750	$1,890	$2,100	$1,040	$1,225	$1,323	$1,470
Crosspath (2-1-0)	$1,740	$2,050	$2,215	$2,460	$1,218	$1,435	$1,551	$1,722
Crosspath (2-2-0)	$2,165	$2,550	$2,755	$3,060	$1,516	$1,785	$1,929	$2,142
Crosspath (2-0-1)	$1,655	$1,950	$2,105	$2,340	$1,159	$1,365	$1,474	$1,638
Crosspath (2-0-2)	$2,080	$2,450	$2,645	$2,940	$1,456	$1,715	$1,852	$2,058

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

Strategy

Summary

Gives the Mortar Monkey extra damage to better combat multi-layer Bloons in the early game. It has an advantage against Rainbow Bloons in particular, no longer needing to counter the Zebra and Black layers. It is also the preferred crosspath for Heavy Shells and Artillery Battery, giving a decent damage bonus.

Tips

• Like Bomb Shooter's Heavy Bombs upgrade, this upgrade can layer-skip Black Bloons when popping Lead Bloons. It also can layer-skip Rainbow Bloons to bypass Zebra and Black layers, like Really Big Bombs.
• In combination with fire-related crosspaths, the increased damage from Bloon Buster has no effect on fiery attacks until Shattering Shells.
• In Race Events, upgrading to Bloon Buster can be more worth than progressing a Bigger Blast Mortar into a Heavy Shells if extra layer penetration is beneficial and Black properties aren't a concern.

Version History

Balance Changes

Bloon Buster was affected by the Mortar rework in Version 39.0, with a large buff to the total damage of the Mortar with Bloon Buster.

21.0

• Explosion random deviation radius increased (18 → 30).
• Attack speed without Path 2 upgrades increased (2.2s → 2.0s).
• Attack speed with Faster Reload increased (1.54s → 1.5s).
• Attack speed with Rapid Reload decreased (1.07s → 1.08s).

22.0

• Reverted random deviation radius change.

30.0

“	Mortar top path feels too weak for the lead up to the Tier 5, so it along with the T5 have had some general number increases. [...]	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

• Bloon Buster price decreased ($650 → $500)

34.0

“	[...] likewise 205 Mortar is not often used as base damage isn't relevant for Blooncineration compared to attack speed, following along with the idea of Top Path improving burny stuff damage in addition to base hit damage both of these paths will now benefit from increase burn DoT in such a way.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

• Bloon Buster now increases the burn DoT damage of Shattering Shells and Blooncineration.
  • 204 Shattering Shells DoT damage increased 5 > 8
  • 205 Blooncineration DoT damage increased 5 > 8
  • 205 Blooncineration MOAB DoT damage increased 100 > 150

39.0

“	We’re looking to shakeup mortar in a couple small ways this update, along with Striker Jones changes noted further on for ‘multi-mortaring’ synergy. From the base level Mortar has far more pierce than should ever be necessary at low rounds but doesn’t hit beefy enough for the low fire rate, so we are trading up some base pierce for damage, instead moving this lost pierce up into crosspath. [...]	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

• Bloon Buster damage increased (2 → 3)
  • Note: Indirectly buffed due to base mortar +1 damage buff.

41.0

• Bloon Buster now improves Shattering Shells' MOAB-class burn damage

43.0

• Bloon Buster now further increases damage of Blooncineration's "Wall of Fire"

Bug Fixes and General Changes

39.0

• Updated description to account for 3 damage instead of 2

Gallery

Crosspathing (Top: Path 2, Bottom: Path 3)

Bloon Buster dealing 2 damage, pre-39.0

Enough XP to unlock Bloon Buster

Official artworks

Upgrade portrait

Upgrade icon

Instamonkey icon

Trivia

• So far, this is the only upgrade that was downgraded from a tier 3 to a tier 2 upgrade in BTD6.
• The upgrade icon shows a yellow being popped to a red. Until Version 39.0 buffed the Mortar's base damage, there was no variant of 2-x-x Mortar that could deal 3 damage in one hit, or even deal exactly 3 damage at all without accounting certain variants of Extra Damage from Heavy Shells.
  • Fittingly, The Big One, part of the same upgrade path, was the only other mortar upgrade with inconsistencies between upgrade icon and function. This was made more accurate earlier in v30.0 by matching the damage amounts to Zebras (7 damage).